OSM Instructor To Teach In Indonesia

Message from Marybetts Sinclair, LMT, Oregon School of Massage Instructor

First Day In Jakarta, Indonesia – Living Well

Hey everyone,

After an uneventful trip, arrived in Jakarta and was picked up by Fifi Lim, the spa owner who invited me to teach for her. She has me ensconced in a 3 bedroom 3 bath apartment with marble floors in the Belagio Building next door to the Jakarta Marriot. Next morning had a breakfast meeting with Fifi and the architect of her fancy new spa, to discuss class details and give feedback on the plans for the spa. (She asked me about my pretty batik shirt with the “made in Indonesia” tag that I was wearing and I had to admit I got it for 50 cents at the thrift shop in Corvallis!)

Indonesian Elegance

Later a wonderful lunch in a tall super ritzy Jakarta Hotel-by which I mean it makes the swankest hotel I have ever been in look like a broken-down shack. Marble mosaic floors, velvet furniture, gold fittings on everything, a porcelain tiled parking garage, and in the restaurant, a flower arrangement as big as my kitchen, filled with fresh hydrangeas, lilies and other flowers. The waiters and waitresses were all in black suits and ties, and the decor was old French, with French furniture, a huge painting of Napoleon on the ceiling, more beautiful flower arrangements and antiques. I wonder what the appeal of French culture is in this country that was ravaged by European colonists?

Old jazz music playing. Lunch was cooked at the table, with fresh wiggling shrimp going into the pot right under my nose. scrumptious Indonesian food, with chocolate mousse for dessert.

Jakarta, A City of Contrasts

There is obviously quite a lot of wealth in Indonesia! Stepping outside, however, Jakarta has many other realities. Thousands of people are taking their lives in their hands every day by riding motor scooters through the incredibly heavy traffic. The air is dirty as vehicles spew their emissions with abandon. A ride across town can take 2 hours, in fact it may take 20 minutes to go through one intersection during rush hour.

Rich people have a lot of servants, for example Fifi who is the mother of two, has 2 nannies, 3 maids, and a full-time driver. Not sure how many poor people in ratio to such rich people…

After lunch, a tour of the maternity and baby spas, quite interesting to see a mother and grandmother watching a baby float in a tub of warm water and then get a massage from a therapist. Fifi clearly knows how to run a business, she currently has 30 therapists working for her.

Getting Out Of The City

Next, a 4 hour car trip to Bandung so I could do a rainforest hike today. Beautiful forest, wow, to hike through large wild patches of flowers I have been buying little ones of in a nursery for my whole life, orchids, lantana, impatiens, black eyed susans, nicotiana. even spotted Ylang-ylang plant and pulled up the root, smelled like the essential oil. Hiked up to a crater where there is super hot sulphurous water too…

Now just finished my third incredible Indonesian meal, soup with lemongrass, rice and tofu, fried fish, tons of ginger and garlic my favorites!! getting fat but happy. Tomorrow back to Jakarta, and begin teaching classes Monday. Driving is getting old, but everything else is so interesting! Hope this is not too much detail. In a day or so I’ll tell you more about the training I am doing.

Hope all goes well and love to you all,
Marybetts