We were honoured to receive an invitation from our driver to attend his sister's wedding.
The wedding was held in what seems to be the local community hall, with a street party happening outside.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The wet hands philosophy
If there's one thing I cannot get used to, it's the wet hands philosophy.
As a child I was taught to always dry my hands after I wash them. Years of repetition means having wet hands feels abnormal and wrong, especially, for some reason, when leaving a loo.
Jakarta, however, seems to have a philosophy of letting ones hands dry naturally....on your trousers, your shirt, or maybe the person your about to meet and shake hands.
Often there is no choice as there are no drying facilities provided. The traditional electric hand blowers are about as common as free flowing traffic and the paper towel dispensers seem only to be replenished once a year when the new budget kicks in.
But even when there are paper towels available, 99% of Indonesians shun them in favour of a quick shake and maybe a quick pat across their chest.
And to think the first time I met with some visiting vendor I was surprised at how many of the team seemed to have cold sweaty palms when we shook hands.......best not to think about it too much!
As a child I was taught to always dry my hands after I wash them. Years of repetition means having wet hands feels abnormal and wrong, especially, for some reason, when leaving a loo.
Jakarta, however, seems to have a philosophy of letting ones hands dry naturally....on your trousers, your shirt, or maybe the person your about to meet and shake hands.
Often there is no choice as there are no drying facilities provided. The traditional electric hand blowers are about as common as free flowing traffic and the paper towel dispensers seem only to be replenished once a year when the new budget kicks in.
But even when there are paper towels available, 99% of Indonesians shun them in favour of a quick shake and maybe a quick pat across their chest.
And to think the first time I met with some visiting vendor I was surprised at how many of the team seemed to have cold sweaty palms when we shook hands.......best not to think about it too much!
posted from Bloggeroid
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Bogor
I had planned to have late sleep in, but a work colleague would have none of it and insisted I be ready to rock and roll by 7am. The stupid git was right of course, otherwise I would have missed this!
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