- Joined
- Jul 16, 2016
- Messages
- 3,761
(the little intro up there courtesy of the Rolling Stones)
Anyway I haven't formally done my bit in the noobies nook yet so I figured I would migrate the following across to this forum with me as it serves to give an insight into me- my life and where we live.
I am from the UK , female and married to an Indonesian man.
~~~~~~
My life in Indonesia...
I live in the hills of Bandung, every day is like a warm English summer's day & it is lovely here (compared to places such as Jakarta) as it gets quite cool at night.
I sit at my computer and can see right over the basin of the city to the mountains at the other side. I live in a small village but am only about 15 minutes away from city life.
I love the greenery; there are banana trees, coconut trees, papaya, cassava, aubergines, coffee, tobacco & many other wonderful plants growing all around.
I am saddened by the lack of birds, however I am very lucky in that it is a pretty regular thing for me to sight Javan hawk eagles- they are an endangered species, so it is wonderful to be able to see them in their natural habitat, although, of late it seems they have taken an interest in our chickens.
I like that I have the best of both worlds.
The village is quiet; the mosque is central to life for most villagers, alongside scraping a living from goats & chickens. Many of my neighbours don't have electricity and can be seen out & about gathering wood so that they can make a fire to cook their food.
The daily diet is tofu, tempe, noodles, fruit & vegetables (many of which I did not encounter when I lived in the UK).
Hubby is one of 6 children, we have a fairly large extended family and all my young nephews love to hang out at our house- mainly because we have the 3 dogs & the 3 chickens for them to play with. And, unlike in the UK using the ipad comes 2nd to playing outside.
We employ a friend of my husband to keep house for us & care for the animals, he is from Padang & happens to be a wonderful cook too- so he is priceless.
The downside to village life is that we never leave our home unattended as it is entirely likely that some of our animals might disappear... a lot of places in Indonesia experience theft- usually of scooters, or possessions- in our village it is livestock that vanishes in the night, so there tends to be someone awake at all hours in our home- I like the nightshift, I get to chat with all my UK friends & family until the wee small hours, then sleep until about 11 am.
It is usual for us to have lots of visitors; friends, family & hubby's bandmates & the guitar (& amps) are a regular part of our life- Metallica, Stones' Helloween etc being the soundtrack to my life- and it sure beats listening to Dangdut.
Our home is populated with many small lizards- known as cicak & I have a love-hate relationship with them: The one that lives in the light fitting above my desk has been known to shit on me or my work more than once, they have dropped on me out of nowhere in the night, they poop on everything, they do not discriminate...
The other wildlife we have experienced at our house: Tarantulas & snakes of differing varieties ... the snakes so far have been small & whilst I am not ever going to kill one- they do get a flying lesson on the edge of the shovel over into the cassava field - sorry to snake lovers out there... but I figure that I will get thru my phobia eventually & on the plus side I am not beheading them with the shovel.
Tarantulas are way easier and really quite cute.
Due to the lack of birds, butterflies and caterpillars are everywhere, to the point of pestilence. The caterpillars can strip a 10metre tree bare in a matter of days. so sad to see the eco-system out of balance.
Frogs & toads, well the snakes love 'em, one of our dogs tried a toad once- luckily for him I was around to see his reaction & managed to sluice his mouth out- he leaves them alone now.
On a daily basis I get yelled at in the street "bule","hello mister", "hello miss" ,"my name is ", "what is your name?" & my personal favourite "hello beautiful lady", I have decided that Bule (sounds like boo - lay) is short for beautiful lady & therefore it no longer irks me to hear it.
People have fallen off their bikes from rubber necking at me as I sail past on my moped... A boo-lay on a bebek!!??? - to make matters even more entertaining I usually have the hubby on the back... so a boo-lay on a bebek with a man behind her!!!
Incredible!
Mix into that the fact that my hubby weighs in at 45kg - about the size of my left leg- we are a strange sight, no doubt!
Anyway- that is an insight into some of the things in my day to day life... the current trials & tribulations are with one of the dogs being full of fleas... or he was until he got doused in coconut oil. [Edit:no fleas for ages now!- caved in and used the flea drops from the vets]
I came to Indonesia & fell in love with the place, even when issues in my life have been at their lowest ebb, I have never even contemplated leaving here.
I can be having a downer day & something crazy will happen or I'll see something breathtaking or there will be some funny story in the family & worries are forgotten.
[edit- since I originally wrote this the crazy just got crazier... I can safely say I have never been bored here... oh except once waiting for hubby to play a gig, he is obsessed with arriving early- I had forgotten my book & I spent 4 hours sitting on a small wall staring at a blank wall, because him & his mates had huddled round a bottle of whisky blathering on in rapid & somewhat sozzled Sundanese- I had zero chance of understanding more than a couple of words]
In the UK, hmmm, well it is different, so conformist, so H&Safety conscious, a litigation state... it is for me a lot like living in a 30-year time warp here.
I find it fascinating to watch all the changes taking place as the country grows into its democracy. As it grows in to its independence and as westernisation infiltrates - where I live I can go months without seeing another white person, so it is kinda fun to see how people react to me.
Some of the older people, they just want to come up and touch me with tears in their eyes as if I hold some magical properties... that & making babies cry hahaha, I guess I scare babies because I am blonde with green eyes & nothing like they are used to seeing.
Thanks for reading
B_a
Anyway I haven't formally done my bit in the noobies nook yet so I figured I would migrate the following across to this forum with me as it serves to give an insight into me- my life and where we live.
I am from the UK , female and married to an Indonesian man.
~~~~~~
My life in Indonesia...
I live in the hills of Bandung, every day is like a warm English summer's day & it is lovely here (compared to places such as Jakarta) as it gets quite cool at night.
I sit at my computer and can see right over the basin of the city to the mountains at the other side. I live in a small village but am only about 15 minutes away from city life.
I love the greenery; there are banana trees, coconut trees, papaya, cassava, aubergines, coffee, tobacco & many other wonderful plants growing all around.
I am saddened by the lack of birds, however I am very lucky in that it is a pretty regular thing for me to sight Javan hawk eagles- they are an endangered species, so it is wonderful to be able to see them in their natural habitat, although, of late it seems they have taken an interest in our chickens.
I like that I have the best of both worlds.
The village is quiet; the mosque is central to life for most villagers, alongside scraping a living from goats & chickens. Many of my neighbours don't have electricity and can be seen out & about gathering wood so that they can make a fire to cook their food.
The daily diet is tofu, tempe, noodles, fruit & vegetables (many of which I did not encounter when I lived in the UK).
Hubby is one of 6 children, we have a fairly large extended family and all my young nephews love to hang out at our house- mainly because we have the 3 dogs & the 3 chickens for them to play with. And, unlike in the UK using the ipad comes 2nd to playing outside.
We employ a friend of my husband to keep house for us & care for the animals, he is from Padang & happens to be a wonderful cook too- so he is priceless.
The downside to village life is that we never leave our home unattended as it is entirely likely that some of our animals might disappear... a lot of places in Indonesia experience theft- usually of scooters, or possessions- in our village it is livestock that vanishes in the night, so there tends to be someone awake at all hours in our home- I like the nightshift, I get to chat with all my UK friends & family until the wee small hours, then sleep until about 11 am.
It is usual for us to have lots of visitors; friends, family & hubby's bandmates & the guitar (& amps) are a regular part of our life- Metallica, Stones' Helloween etc being the soundtrack to my life- and it sure beats listening to Dangdut.
Our home is populated with many small lizards- known as cicak & I have a love-hate relationship with them: The one that lives in the light fitting above my desk has been known to shit on me or my work more than once, they have dropped on me out of nowhere in the night, they poop on everything, they do not discriminate...
The other wildlife we have experienced at our house: Tarantulas & snakes of differing varieties ... the snakes so far have been small & whilst I am not ever going to kill one- they do get a flying lesson on the edge of the shovel over into the cassava field - sorry to snake lovers out there... but I figure that I will get thru my phobia eventually & on the plus side I am not beheading them with the shovel.
Tarantulas are way easier and really quite cute.
Due to the lack of birds, butterflies and caterpillars are everywhere, to the point of pestilence. The caterpillars can strip a 10metre tree bare in a matter of days. so sad to see the eco-system out of balance.
Frogs & toads, well the snakes love 'em, one of our dogs tried a toad once- luckily for him I was around to see his reaction & managed to sluice his mouth out- he leaves them alone now.
On a daily basis I get yelled at in the street "bule","hello mister", "hello miss" ,"my name is ", "what is your name?" & my personal favourite "hello beautiful lady", I have decided that Bule (sounds like boo - lay) is short for beautiful lady & therefore it no longer irks me to hear it.
People have fallen off their bikes from rubber necking at me as I sail past on my moped... A boo-lay on a bebek!!??? - to make matters even more entertaining I usually have the hubby on the back... so a boo-lay on a bebek with a man behind her!!!
Incredible!
Mix into that the fact that my hubby weighs in at 45kg - about the size of my left leg- we are a strange sight, no doubt!
Anyway- that is an insight into some of the things in my day to day life... the current trials & tribulations are with one of the dogs being full of fleas... or he was until he got doused in coconut oil. [Edit:no fleas for ages now!- caved in and used the flea drops from the vets]
I came to Indonesia & fell in love with the place, even when issues in my life have been at their lowest ebb, I have never even contemplated leaving here.
I can be having a downer day & something crazy will happen or I'll see something breathtaking or there will be some funny story in the family & worries are forgotten.
[edit- since I originally wrote this the crazy just got crazier... I can safely say I have never been bored here... oh except once waiting for hubby to play a gig, he is obsessed with arriving early- I had forgotten my book & I spent 4 hours sitting on a small wall staring at a blank wall, because him & his mates had huddled round a bottle of whisky blathering on in rapid & somewhat sozzled Sundanese- I had zero chance of understanding more than a couple of words]
In the UK, hmmm, well it is different, so conformist, so H&Safety conscious, a litigation state... it is for me a lot like living in a 30-year time warp here.
I find it fascinating to watch all the changes taking place as the country grows into its democracy. As it grows in to its independence and as westernisation infiltrates - where I live I can go months without seeing another white person, so it is kinda fun to see how people react to me.
Some of the older people, they just want to come up and touch me with tears in their eyes as if I hold some magical properties... that & making babies cry hahaha, I guess I scare babies because I am blonde with green eyes & nothing like they are used to seeing.
Thanks for reading
B_a
Last edited:
