An Expat Talks about Living in Jakarta, Indonesia

What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?

Jakarta

How long have you lived there?

Almost 3 years

What activities, clubs and organizations would you recommend to newcomers to help them meet others?

Travel, Java Lava mt hiking club, BIS PTA, Cub scouts (either British First Kemang or American scouts) and the various artist groups.

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In terms of religious, racial, economic and cultural diversity, are the people of this city or town diverse? Are they accepting of differences? Describe.

Religion is not diverse. It's mostly Muslim among the locals, and aetheism and Christianity among the expats. Their are of coarse plenty of folk beyond that mold though.

What are the main industries in this city? What types of career opportunities commonly exist? How do most people find new jobs?

Oil/ trade and / new business development

In general, what are peoples' priorities in this city? For example, do lives revolve around work, family, socializing, sports, etc.?

The local's lives revolve around work, getting to work and family affairs, photography and facebook but beyond that I can't comment.

Expat lives revolve around work and family too of course but the family bit comes and goes. Many seem to let the nanny's take over and participate in a lot of Golf or women's organizations, and football/rugby. For us we travel, throw house parties, and participate in school activities.

If a friend of yours was thinking of moving to this city or town from far away, what other advice would you give them.

Don't worry too much. It's pretty easy life here but will require patience a plenty. Traffic is horrible! But I get lots of reading done in my Mitsurbishi Grandis. Good staff are very important and should be rewarded with your trust and better than average pay if you find good ones. We love ours. Finally, as usual, a little bit of the local language goes a long long ways. Vocabulary is the key here b/c the rest of the language is easy.