A New Life - Part I

 
**It's 9:30pm. I sit here now and the call to prayer echoes around me. It is a beautiful sound that takes me back so fondly to our trip in the Middle East. Even though our time was only short there, the familiarity of the sound is both comforting and feels like home.

The journey thus far has been incredible {and hard at times too}. Not hard in an adjusting sense. Throw me into a new situation any day, especially if it means I can travel somewhere new.

I take in everything around me as much as I can with little ones that need me, and I'm still yet to capture on 'film' (I know it's not really film :) the sites and scenes that have become my life. The traffic. The smells. The sounds. The people. Oh the people. Incredible (and so fascinating!)

If I listen beyond the call of prayer, I hear the never ending sound of motorbikes busying by. If you know anything about Jakarta, you know the traffic is full of life and doesn't stop (actually it does stop, but only when you're in a traffic jam!). That's what happens when you live in a city the size of Sydney with 12 million people in it**

Fast forward about 4 weeks since I started writing this post, and I again find myself sitting here at 9:30pm with the sound of traffic busying by. We have settled into this new life and are loving the adventure of it all (but we really miss our family! and friends)  

The Juxtaposition of this city I now call home is everywhere I turn. Wealth and poverty side by side, literally. It is shocking and confronting. I am again reminded that Australia is a lucky country, and life there is so easy. It's hard to understand that on almost every street corner there is another huge shopping mall (5 star style) selling the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci and next to that building, people live in conditions that we can barely comprehend. I look at the price tags in the shops (it is expensive here!) and I wonder over and over again, how do people survive in this city? In reality, many people are barely surviving, but even when it's staring you in the face, it's hard to grasp that reality.

We take a walk around our new neighborhood and the moment we step out the front door (which includes multiple doors and security gates), the contrast is striking. We are greeted with smiles and 'Salamat Datang' everywhere we go. We meet amazing people who share a moment of their lives with us and I wonder if they realise how affected we are, I am, by the interaction. We see living conditions that are so humbling, it's hard to walk next door to the place we call home.

As our hearts open to this city and the people around us, I wonder how we ever questioned if we should move to this amazing country.