The Foreign Service Journal, October 2010

I miss the Muslim call to prayer. I know that’s an odd statement for a Christian woman living in the world’s largestMuslimcountry tomake. At my last overseas post in Sarajevo, though,myhousewas across a valley from a mosque where the imamsang the call to prayer without the aid of any speakers. His lovelyvoice echoed through the valley and into my bedroomin thepre-dawnhours. I thought of it as a lyrical re- minder of the things I loved about my new home. Now I’m living in Jakarta, and there aremosques dottedall across the city. None are quite close enough, however, to hear the call to prayer from inside my home. Sometimes I pause to listen to it when I’m outwalking. If I’mlucky, I hear a live voice. More often, I hear a tinny, almost screechy, sound coming through a loudspeaker that needs a tune-up, and cringe. Longing for the sound of the call to prayer is something I would never have guessed would become part of my life. Then again, there is little we can predict about the lives that we lead in the Foreign Service. At my current post, my husband and I hiredahousekeeper. We’venever had full- time help before, so I was startled when I came home on the housekeeper’s first day to findmyunderwear (whichIhavedump- edunceremoniouslyintoadrawermywhole life)neatly foldedandstacked. Not themost unusualpartofIndonesia,surely,butit’sone of the things that surprisedmemost onmy fourth day in the country. Another Big Surprise A fellow beagle owner here in Jakarta delivered another big surprise. Most Indonesians don’t like dogs, as they are haram —forbidden forMuslims. The side- walks can be narrow and uneven, and sometimes form an extension of the road fordrivers. Socrossing the street is likeplay- ing a real-life game of “Frogger,” andwalk- ing a dog can be a real problem. My col- league shared her friend’s solution: a bea- gle-exercise regimen consisting of time on a treadmill. As I imagine it, this owner enticed the beagle onto the treadmill with a treat, and then turned the machine on. After the stunnedbeagle got over the initial shockof being dumpedunceremoniously onto the floor, I expect she got the hang of it. And nowthat beagle enjoys a regular runon the treadmill, harnessed to the front to ensure she stays on track—ever seeking the elu- sive treat that rests just beyond the end of the apparatus. It’s not what I would have expected, but it’s a practical solution from a flexible Foreign Service colleague. I’ve also learned something surprising about gardening, which I always thought was pretty much the same everywhere in the world. Having lived in a country on the equator before, I knew that the yard can grow out of control pretty quickly. So my husband and I hired a part- time gardener. But imagine our surprise to learn that he cuts our lawnusing scissors. It’s not that we don’t have a lawnmower. But here in Indonesia using lawn scissors or hedge clippers is simply the pre- ferredway to cut the grass. I am told that 30 gardeners line up in a row to cut the golf courses, marching across the grass using their lawn scissors to keep the perfectlymanicuredgreens at the right height for optimal golfing. What FS Life Teaches And yet, for all the little differences that we findwhenwearriveat anewpost—dif- ferences which might make us smile or cringe—it’samazingtoseehowtheForeign Service life teachesus torollwiththepunch- es. Local customs can seemunusual at first. But who am I to argue about the state of my lingeriedrawer?Maybe it didneeda lit- tle more discipline. And why should I micromanage the way the gardener does his job? It’s only appropriate that we learn tobe a little more flexible. If I miss hearing the call to prayer, maybe it’s a sign I need to takemorewalks near the localmosque, the one that doesn’t use a speaker system and whose voice brings me back to my fond- estmemories ofBosnia—where theprayer echoing across the valley used to lullme to sleep at night. ❏ Melanie Harris Higgins recently joined Embassy Jakarta as a political officer following a posting in Washington, D.C., as public affairs adviser in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. A F S A N E W S OC T OB E R 2 0 1 0 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 49 A Call for Flexibility BY MELANIE HARRIS HIGGINS The Baturrachman Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, is one of the first exam- ples of a domed mosque in Southeast Asia. SHAWN DORMAN