This post from nearly 5 years ago has certainly received a lot of feedback – currently at 221 comments. And there were many more comments not approved or moderated for various reasons (and I’m very lenient). It appears the nature of relationships between Asian women and foreigners is a hot topic. Unfortunately, the discussion also seems to breed hate, blatant racism, extreme generalizations, and the other crap that comes with the telling of peoples’ personal history. Each of these delicatelyRead more
Posts filed in: Bule Behavior
7 years of blogging: The Java Jive turns 7.
This month marks the seventh year of this blog. A tremendous amount has changed in these seven years, and through it all, I’ve kept this old thing running – something I never envisioned in 2002 as a naive, fresh-off-the-plane expat. In many ways I supposed I’ve “grown up” in front of anyone who has followed this blog; writing styles have changed, perspectives altered, and life experiences have dramatically morphed my views of the world. The archives aren’t functioning ideally atRead more
Expat experiences: making new friends, approaching foreigners
The other day at the gym, a Chinese/Indonesian woman I know comes up to me and says, “Why don’t you ever talk to anyone at the gym?”, “And you always wear headphones, so no one can talk to you. And when you workout you don’t smile.” Those of you reading this from the States or similar countries will agree with me that this isn’t exactly something a gym-friend would normally ask you in America. (gym-friend is a term I coinedRead more
Bule Gila atau Bule Bodoh
I believe I’ve captured the Bule Gila (or Bodoh?) award for the week. Tonight, after working 4 hours straight at a cafe on reports (after 9 hours at work), I picked up Novita and the maid from the front of the mall. After the maid finished loading some items into the car, we drove off. We were well down the street, when Novita turns to me, “Where’s Sri?!!??”. I exclaim, “Where IS Sri?!?”. I hit the brakes and pulled over.Read more
Vacation in My Mind
If you’ve noticed, I’ve strayed from the world of prose lately, posting only photos. Reason: We had a 9 day break for the Muslim holiday, Idul Fitri. Only, um, I didn’t go a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e. ADUH! I did manage to really concentrate on ways to improve my photography. Am I a geek? Probably. I lived on the ‘net self-educating as much as I could. More about that later (tomorrow maybe). A few days I went around taking pics in the kampung (village)Read more
Western Men, Indonesian Women.
Thang D. Nguyen has written an interesting post and subsequent discussion in regards to Western men and Indonesian women. I’ll leave my own thoughts out of this one, but would be interested in hearing how Indonesian women feel after reading this. Here’s an excerpt from his post: As my friend and I sipped our coffees last Sunday afternoon at Plaza Indonesia, he asked, “Don’t you think that many of the Indonesian women that white foreigners (buleh) go out with orRead more