The Other Side of Life

Many expats complain of the lack of social life here. True, there are no movie theaters, no malls or department stores, few restaurants, and little opportunity for sports. We usually enjoy hanging out with friends, learning to cook and speak, and eating. Jared cruises around town with the guys, visiting coffee shops and finding restaurants where musicians perform (the way to hear live music here). Shopping for food and clothes is also an outing for us, and at home we enjoy talking, reading, or playing Boggle.

This is our bread and butter, low key entertainment. However, we have kept surprisingly nimble in our "formal" social engagements - we sporadically break into the diplomatic circles. With such a small pond of expats, we get invites from friends, and it helps that Jared is the music teacher since most events are musical ones.

*FEBRUARY: To the national museum's theater to hear a Canadian classical guitarist, sponsored by the Canadian Embassy

*MARCH:

• To the South African Residence (where the ambassador lives) to celebrate their national day - complete with all foods/beverages imported from South Africa, including some kind of worm delicacy!
• To the Indonesian Embassy for their cultural fair.
  
  
  
  

  Jared examining traditional instruments -
  perfect for his classes on Asian music.

*JUNE:

• To the British Residence to hear a classical pianist and vocalist perform.
• To hear the Germany Embassy-sponsored Jazz Ensemble, from Germany of course.
• To a gathering of the British and Commonwealth Women's Group at the Indonesian Residence for a presentation on the many uses of the Indonesian wrap, involving demonstrations and fashion shows on how to tie them (think of a typical British WI - Women's Institute - meeting, here).
• To our city's theater to hear a famous Bossa Nova group from Brazil (Jared teaches two Brazilian kids, whose father is a diplomat).

*AUGUST

• To dinner with the Anglican Bishop for our region
• To the French Consulate to hear traditional music by a Sufi Ensemble

[Isn't it ironic that we weren't invited to our own two nations' national celebrations?! The Queen's Birthday and the Fourth of July are two of the biggest events on the expat calendar here.]

Mostly, we enjoy these events for the good music, and also the free food. You might guess we're out of our league since we often 'network' with our students whose parents are the big wigs; and since we don't have our personal driver drop us off and pick us up - we walk to the street and hail a taxi. Still, it makes for a nice change of pace, and in a place where it's all about who you know, it definitely helps to have some friends in high places.

[Incidentally, since we celebrate everything, we did pull off our own Fourth of July complete with camel burgers, corn (canned; cobbed corn is more for animal feed and isn't sweet, so we found), ice cream and watermelon.]