Living the expat life as a teenager in Jakarta

Living the expat life as a teenager in Jakarta

Diana Mehta, Contributor, Jakarta

Indian citizen -- Nonresident: That's how my passport labels me.
Ironically, I don't even remember living in India as my family
left the country when I was only two years old.

I have lived the expat life for about 15 years now. Being an
expatriate has two sides to it. Among the disadvantages, there
is always the age-old dilemma of answering the question "So,
where are you from?" What IS the perfect answer?

I usually compromise by saying, "Indian by origin but living
in Jakarta". This however, appears to be a rather long winded
response that often gives rise to confused looks and raised
eyebrows!

Another potential disadvantage of being an expatriate is that
one never truly gets to put down roots permanently in one place.
When the summer holidays roll round and most people talk of going
back "home", I don't have that privilege.

For me "home" is simply where my family and I decide to unpack
our bags for the next couple of years. On the up side, however,
one gets to literally make friends all around the world. I, for
one, can confidently state that I have friends in Oman, Kenya and
Indonesia.

Exploring new countries and reveling in the different cultures
unique to nations is another definite perk. If you're lucky, a
wide array of holidays to exotic places in the region you live in
is also on offer, as airfare and travel charges are considerably
lower to residents.

As a student, I have had to change schools three times so far,
once in the middle of my IGCSE course. It certainly isn't easy to
just pack up and leave, but one learns to adapt. The
international schools available to expatriate students add a new
twist to the term "overseas education".

The facilities and the quality of teaching more than make up
for the initial difficulties that come with making friends all
over again. In fact, after a couple of months it's often hard to
decide which school one prefers.

Being an expatriate also introduces your taste buds to an
enormous array of new and mysterious culinary delights. I
remember my first taste of nasi goreng (fried rice) -- I was so
smitten with this Indonesian dish that it became part of my
standard diet for months! In some cases, however, one's stomach
can suffer the consequences of nutritional experimentation, such
as when I decided to try spicy Padang curry!

Each country presents its own day to day way of living that
one learns to fit into. In Kenya, for example, seeing a wild
bamboo on the roads was not an uncommon occurrence and traffic
jams were considered out of the ordinary. In Jakarta, however, I
have learned to keep aside an entire hour -- sometimes more --
for city travel.

Obviously, being an expatriate causes one to stand out from
the crowd at some point in time, particularly when venturing out
of the protective enclaves of the expat community. However, with
an open mind and a positive mental attitude, the locals of the
region (Indonesians in particular) are usually more than happy to
help you merge in with the national lifestyle.

After 15 years of living outside my country of origin, I have
learned that being a successful expatriate definitely depends on
one's state of mind. Flexibility, acceptance of new countries and
respecting their cultures is vital.

Being an expatriate teaches one so much about other nations
and their people. Eventually one may say that, rather than simply
being a citizen of a given country, expatriates are citizens of
the world.