Christmas in Jakarta

One would likely think that Christmas in a tropical, Muslim country doesn't quite feel like Christmas.  Other than lacking snow - which we never had in Arizona, either - the only difference in Jakarta is that we don't aren't inundated with the advertising because we don't watch TV or listen to the radio.

The malls in Jakarta are a close proxy for their US counterparts.  All of the malls are busy and decorated in Christmas fare:  Christmas trees, ornaments hanging from the ceiling, one even installed an ice skating rink and sledding hill on the ground floor.  There aren't as many Christmas sales, and decorations are a little more difficult to find (and what we do find is quite expensive), but Christmas is alive and well in Jakarta.

Last week Friday, my first and only day in the office that week after our trip to Singapore, my company had our office Christmas party.  At 4:30, our cafeteria echoed with songs sung by a children's choir.  This particular travels, competes in international tournaments and often wins.  They were, as you would expect, very good.  In addition to the choir, we had a sermon by a local priest, two other choral groups, group singing, and a skit, followed by a dinner.  The skit was, to put it lightly, a bit odd.  The entire skit was in Indonesian, so I'm relying on the translation of the person next to me who was nice enough to explain what was going on, but I doubt preventing suicide would traditionally be part of a Christmas program in the US.

The biggest difference for me is I'm not juggling coverage at work.  Of my thirty-five member team, only three people are taking time off of work - and one of those is because he is getting married.  September, on the other hand, during Ramadan, more than 75% of my staff takes time off of work.  All part of working internationally.

Merry Christmas everyone!