Yesterday, August 17, was Indonesia’s Independence Day, celebrated all over the country. About a year ago, my husband and I had occasion to visit the place where the Indonesian flag was born: Hotel Majapahit in Surabaya. The days following the Indonesian Declaration of Independence, on August 17 in…

Hello dear friends, Vacation is over and this week I have been diving into my Work-In-Progress manuscript. Thought I might come up to the surface and give you a sneakpeak into what will be my imaginary home this fall. Part of my manuscript takes place in the Javanese Jungle, complete with demons a…

Elections in young democracies, as we have learned by experience, can be vulnerable. After a week of waiting for the results, today Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was declared winner of the Indonesian presidential election. As congratulations pour in from the rest of the world, Jakarta ex…

Summer is here! This is at least what my “body-clock” is telling me. Growing up in Sweden gives you a very precise sense for when to expect snow, darkness and cold or light evenings, birds chirping and warm winds from the ocean. It is in the way Swedes think and speak and plan the year. “We’ll go…

Soccer is a huge sport in Indonesia. Even when traveling through the smallest village on an island you will see young boys playing soccer between goals of bamboo, shouting pretend names to each other such as Zlatan, Ronaldo, Neymar. As the boys grow up, some of them still dream of playing in the b…

Selamat sore! Good evening! Here is a picture that didn’t make it into the Gallery Backstreets of Jakarta, but wanted to join in as well. 🙂 It is amazing that this small road can be found in a city that would fit the entire population of Sweden! I love how the flowers climb the wall, the frangipan…

Yesterday I brought the camera going through Pejaten and Kemang in the south of Jakarta. These small backstreets are only minutes away from the busy main roads, but still they feel like a different world. I almost forget about the crowded streets and imagine myself in a village — the laundry hangi…

Or Things I learned from an Indonesian tile floor. No need for perfection. No need for sama-sama (the same). No need for matchy-matchy. No need for new and shiny. No need for regularity. Instead: Many different makes a beautiful whole. Function increased; you’re not only walking on the floor, bu…