Diary of an Escaped Expat, Part 1

In 2000, I switched from Teletech (Denver)'s Clara Project (for Covad, the #1 privately owned DSL company at that time) to Rhythms NetConnection (#3). Having already learned a fair amount about DSL provision through TTC, such as ordering, customer service, escalation, trouble-shooting stalled orders, etc., I was pretty well prepared for anything...except the dot com crash. Every 3 months, Rhythms laid off masses of people, and those that remained were demoralized and many were demoralizing. The work ethic decayed and I had to put a message on my whiteboard telling everyone I didn't want to hear the negativity. While others bided their time and played video games, I kept at it. I survived the 2nd layoff in early 2001, and made friends with a lady in Indonesia, Vicky, who was also a techie and had a company. I survived the mid-2000 layoff and told her what was going on. She offered me a leading role in her company if I'd move to Jakarta. I thought about it and, having always been fascinated by Asia since childhood due to the TV series "Kung Fu" and many kung fu movies, I figured I'd be a fool to say no. I told Vicky yes, she introduced me to a friend of hers, Mara, that she thought (with no input from me) was a good match, and I started researching airplane tickets.

Months ahead of time, I got tickets to leave on October 31, 2001. Some people - those who are foolishly superstitious - would say that is an inauspicious date, but I don't believe in nonsense. I got a 1-way ticket for about $800 to Jakarta and I was getting a mixed bag of feedback from people whom I told about my impending move. Some people were supportive, some were neutral, and some were pretty darned negative, especially after 9/11/01. The news bombarded us with innuendo about Indonesia, because it was the nation with the largest Muslim population - as if that made it the terrorist state that some other countries are. Yes, Indonesia was experiencing unrest in Sulawesi, Aceh, Timor (now half of it is the country of Timor Leste), Irian Jaya (now Papua) and other places, and the Muslims ranged from mystic Sufis to fanatical terrorists, but with most people being moderates. Indonesia wasn't anywhere near as dangerous as some people claimed.

I got into a relationship with Bethany, a wonderful young lady in Denver, but she wasn't ready for what I was looking for. She was a DJ finishing university and had signed up for the Peace Corp in W. Africa.

Mara worked in an office, was of Sundanese descent, and I had a feeling that our relationship was not going to work out - but I committed to it anyways because I don't give up easily on someone I've never actually met.

This series is going to be about my 15.5 year adventure in Indonesia - from teaching and public speaking to marriage and parenting to neighbors and partners to culture and religion to cuisine and art, and more! I'll give an honest, sometimes touching and even shocking look at what it was like to live there for all of you. I hope you'll enjoy it and support my effort to put it all into writing!

Edited: added names

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