The aventure begins

It is Friday, 20 March, 2009. I'm at the Phoenix airport with my family waiting to board the first leg of our flight to Indonesia. The last few days have been full of last minute flurrying, challenges, and good-byes. I think I spoke to everyone I know at least twice in the last week as everyone tried to squeeze in the last conversation, the last visit, the last email before we left.

My boss tells me that on international assignments - he had one earlier in his career in the Philippines - are full of surprises, and they occur on both sides: good, and bad. For this international assignment, we've already had two bad surprises. The first one occurred when we were delayed 3 months as a result of layoffs. The second one occurred this week. On Wednesday, I received an email informing me that my 8 day vacation in Bali could only be 3 days. The reasoning was that the Indonesia government requires us to register for residency within 7 days of arrival, and we must do it in my city of employment - Jakarta.

My immediate response was shock, anger and frustration. I still have the emails from January when I shared my plans with all parties involved - including the person who was now informing me I could no longer spend a week long vacation in Bali with my family. After some back and forth, several phone conversations, and $4,000 of my own money (which I'm not thrilled about), we have reached a compromise. Instead of flying from Phoenix to Bali, staying for 8 days, and then going to Jakarta, we are now flying Phoenix to Jakarta, finishing our immigration paperwork, and flying to Bali 2 days later.

We are very excited about our trip to Bali. We will be there for the Balinese New Year, and all of the accompanying festivities. Several people have also made recommendations we intend to pursue - The Monkey Forest, Kecak Festival at sunset, the Bali water park, and Safari Park. So much for a relaxing beach vacation!

Finally, before signing off, I've been thinking a lot about how I plan to use this blog. Thus far, I've reported my business trips, and the focus has been a mix of work and my cultural experiences. Though I am sure I will still make references to work - it is, after all, the reason we will be in Jakarta - I am shifting the focus of my blog to life as an expatriate in Jakarta. To some extent, I am hoping it will be a resource for other families relocating to Jakarta - restaurants, activities, schools. Most of all, I want it to be the story of our time there: the joys, the sorrows, missing our family, making new friends, seeing this part of the world. Finally, I hope to reach a larger audience.

What it you are not likely to find, as is my philosophy, are names of people. I protect my own privacy, and intend to extend that favor to those with whom I work. At some point I may decide to refer to people using names, as it is easier for the reader to identify with a character by name than by description. If I do so, I will not be using their real names.

One last note - for those who don't know, my wife and I are expecting another child in October. When we arrive, I'll scan and post the few ultrasounds we have - it looks like and is the size of a gummy bear at the moment.

Wish us well, check back often, and post comments and send emails frequently.