What does September bring?

The saying goes: April showers bring May flowers......and Mayflowers bring Pilgrims!

Well, September in Jakarta brings fasting, illness and expats. It seems everyone around me is falling ill. The cubicles outside my office resonate with the sound of hacking and coughing. For some, I think it is a dry cough of dehydration. A side effect of forgoing drink during the fast. For others, I have learned, it comes from poor diet during the fasting month.

Prior to the fasting, an expat friend of mine told me that many people have tremendous difficulty balancing their blood sugar during this time. They exacerbate the situation by breaking fast with sweet drinks and cakes instead of real food. The Friday before fasting began, my company even sent out a memo reminding everyone of good dietary habits during the fasting month. On my ride home today, my driver was sneezing and coughing. I asked him if he was catching a cold. He told me that he had forgotten to eat rice - a staple of his diet - for the last three days because he has had nothing but cakes! The fasting seems to be taking a toll on everyone. I fully understand how it can teach the suffering of the poor and provide a better understanding of their plight.

The flip side of fasting is the arrival of the large, loud, gluttonous expats. They are the ones you see walking down the street eating an ice cream cone as all the people fasting conserve energy under the shade of a lean-to. Our neighborhood is filled with kids playing in the streets, the tennis courts, and the playgrounds into the early evening. The gym is more crowded, the pool always has someone in it. Many people had told us that expats disappear for the summer and for Christmas. Well, they're back. Summer must be over.