6th Anniversary

On 23 December, my wife and I celebrated six years of marriage.  Our anniversary tradition is to eat at the Melting Pot for dinner, and buy a traditional gift.  Traditional gift for a six year anniversary is candy or iron.    There are no Melting Pot's in Jakarta, and my wife does not play golf or eat sweets, so I was not in a good place heading into this week.

I thought of buying her some spinach because it is high in iron, but I didn't think that would be much appreciated.  Then I remembered that when my father and sister were visiting, I found iron handicrafts of the local bicycle taxis and the horse-drawn carriages we see a lot at the birthday parties.  I was still planning to look for something else - iron jewelry, flatware - but bought the handicrafts as a failsafe.  On Monday, while I was at the gym, I thought of the perfect gift idea.  My wife has been asking for a personal trainer to help her finish off the baby weight.  Trainers help you lift weight - "pump iron".  So that's what I bought and decided to give her the handicrafts for Christmas.

The day before our anniversary I finally found a restaurant that served fondue - at least the review of the restaurant said it served fondue.  Even better, it was walking distance from our house - though we still used our driver.

The day of our anniversary, I stopped at the flower shop just outside our neighborhood.  Like many places in Jakarta, you can haggle on the price.  I like to haggle.  I also always remember the first rule of negotiation - whoever gives a price first, loses.

I knew I wanted to buy red roses.  I pointed to the bundle of two dozen roses and waited for him to give me a price.  Based on what I know roses cost in the US, and on my last experience at this flower shop, I was planning to counter any offer with a price of $20.  His initial quote for two dozen roses was $10, which I felt fair, so I didn't bother negotiating.

Pictures below are of us in front of the restaurant and the roses.

42nd Anniversary - A Culture Share

Today was an interesting day at work. 16 April, 2009 marked the 42nd anniversary of our company in Indonesia. Every year, our company celebrates the anniversary in a unique way. First, at 6:30 AM, a large contingent of the corporate office - which must have a representative sample of every department - takes a bus from the corporate office to the cemetery where the company's founder is buried. Here, the crowd pays their respects and then boards a bus back to the office.


At lunch today we had guests of honor - past presidents and the daughter of the company's founder. Everyone gathered in the company lunchroom - which happens to be on my floor. A host introduced the administrative head of our organization who provided a brief history of the organization over the years. Then, the host introduced the daughter of the founder, who also spoke briefly about what the company has meant to her and her family - especially her father. Finally, we shared in a Muslim prayer to bless the food, the company, and the employees prior to consuming an Indonesian feast. Of course, I'm only picking up every 10th word or so as all of the speeches were in Indonesian. I also, apparently, have the "Bule" disease. I arrived at the event with my management team. I sat in the second row, they all sat behind me in the third row, which then meant two seats to the left and the right of me were the only vacant seats in the house the whole time. I have a stuffy nose, so maybe I just couldn't smell my own BO.


This weekend will be an interesting time for us. Friday, our complex is having a belated Easter celebration for the kids. It takes place at 3 PM, so I won't be able to attend, and includes an egg hunt and other events for the kids. On Saturday, we're making the 2 hour drive the closest clean beach to Jakarta. Sunday we'll finally head over to the American Club and see if we can have some bagels and sample their Mexican restaurants. This weekend I'll finally upload some more pictures.


Speaking of which, my wife accused me of not loading any pictures of her from Bali...so here they are.