Six Degrees South

I have been fortunate. Despite some inconveniences and challenges, my 2020 has been good and better than most people, I think.  I cannot complain, though I sometimes do. To end this year on a positive note, I wanted to do something fun, though I am still in quarantine. After I accepted my new position, I scoured Google to see what sorts of amenities were near my new Jakarta home.  Much to my euphoric surprise, I discovered that there was a Paulaner Brauhaus and restaurant just a couple of miles from my apartment. For those who are not a Germanophile like me, Paulaner is a brewery that was established in Munich in 1634 and the fact that one of their brewery/restaurants happens to be situated in my back yard, was a fact that was particularly pleasing. Today, I discovered that Paulaner delivers to one's door, so I decided to bring in the new year by celebrating with a genuine German fest of great food. And I was not disappointed.  The delicacies I selected were authentic and a tasty c

Let us not deceive ourselves. The planet earth consists of two worlds: one of plenty and one of poverty. We can avert our gaze. We can ignore the other world, but it remains no matter how tightly we close our eyes.   I have included images of the two worlds here in Jakarta, both images photographed from exactly the same window in my 17th Floor apartment.  One image is of the world of gated communities containing swimming pools, a playground, a Starbucks, a small soccer pitch with artificial turf, and enough air conditioning to completely soothe the soul. I only needed to turn my phone 45 degrees to capture the second image.  This is an image of the world where there are no pools or Starbucks. Right under my nose is a neighborhood, though I have not yet explored beyond my quarantine skyscraper perch, that clearly does not benefit from the bounty of riches amassed here.  It is the challenge of those of us in the world of plenty.  What must we do about the other world?  Indifference, I am

Every time I arrive in a new country I am overtaken by the feeling that my life is unreal, or perhaps the better term is surreal.   After living in Japan in an apartment not much bigger than a shoebox, in an apartment in Mantova, Italy adjacent to both the train station and the busy "Street of Trucks" (also above a pizza joint where I would be awakened at least one night per week by the smashing of plates, hurled at each other by the highly vocal and emotional husband and wife team who owned the place), in a haunted medieval Dutch castle with peacocks and geese shrieking and honking half the night, in a renaissance era complex of villas overlooking the Florentine skyline, in a campus that resembled a giant yellow spaceship that was nestled in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, and now in a high-rise apartment building in the metropolis of Jakarta, home to 30 million residents, I feel as though I haven't been living a life as much as I have been inhabiting a peculiar dream.   An

Have finally arrived in Indonesia after an uneventful trip.  That's the best kind of travel in this age and time.  I am in quarantine now, but I have a wonderful view from my 17th floor apartment to enjoy.  Hope you also enjoy the Jakarta sunset.

Why is my new blog entitled Six Degrees South?  Because it will be chronicling my new life six degrees south of the equator in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Look here for more details.  Will be arriving soon.