How has your life changed in Indonesia

On a scale of 0 to 10, tell us how much your expatriation in Indonesia has transformed your life (0 = no change, 10 = dramatic change).

10, or maybe 20 ... and seriously positively.
I'll explain in detail later.

I worked as a DJ (and related stuff) for many years back in the UK and did very nicely out of it but, and there's always a big but, trade was starting to fall off as the pub industry died.
A few mates in the same racket went bust and I could see a better than average chance I was going to join them stacking shelves in Tesco.
Anyway, I called it a day when my wife declared she had no interest in moving to England because it was too cold.
My first three years in Java say me doing the odd visit to a school and not much else so things were pretty relaxed. We were spending almost nothing a month because we lived in a village so cash just wasn't an issue.
My wife fancied a move to a larger town so Purwokerto was our next move, still very cheap but I had to do a little work from time to time in order to make sure we had cornflakes on the table.
Moving to one of Jakarta's satellite towns increased our spend a lot so I ended up doing a bit of this and a bit of that to make sure those cornflakes still poured out of the box.
I was offered an almost real job and that has made a serious difference because they keep asking me to do real work.

My seriously chilled out lifestyle has been destroyed in favour of deadlines.
I may move back to Wonosobo where bugger all a month is easily enough.

Mood is generally good, but Indonesians tend to be chilled out so that sort of rubs off.
Income has started to matter again as this place costs a bundle by local standards, but disposable income is far higher than back in the UK because most things are so cheap here when compared with England.
I still keep in touch with a few old mates from the old country but the majority of the people I know here are locals - I saw little point in hanging in a new country if all I did was hang about in expat bars.
Even small money out here goes a long way so my standard of living is much better than in the UK.
One of the big differences is the lack of serious crime. Whilst there is still a bit of a problem, it's tiny when you consider the mess the UK is in and that makes for a relaxed time. You simply don't have to worry about someone breaking into your house because it's so rare.
I think this difference is the very limited 'recreational' drugs trade here.

The long and the short - I'm far more relaxed over here.

Has my life changed ??? Certainly a minimum of a 10

When I came here back in January 2015 I had a Thai wife , who didn't particularly "travel well" and went back to Thailand in the August. I subsequently met a lovely Indonesian lady who moved in with me later in 2015.
Two years to almost the hour  I walked off that plane to start work here in Jakarta she gave birth to a very handsome and cute baby boy. Our "Indonesian Bule" because his skin is the same colour as mine.

Also for the first time in my life I have been able to converse both verbally and in written word in a second language and I don't mean American !!

So yes Indonesia has dramatically changed my life and the lives of other people.

Fortunately I am lucky enough to travel back and fourth between Bali and USA.
If I had to remain in Indonesia year round, I would go crazy. At the same time, if I had to live year round in USA, I would go even crazier.
I have been in Bali more than 20 years and I still must admit that dealing with Indonesians can be frustrating but I am pretty sure that they think the same about dealing with me?  All and all, I am pretty sure this will be the place I die but hopefully not for several more years.  Thing I don't like is the development. But it is the same pretty much everywhere that has substantial population; the way of our changing world...should have been born during prohibition in the 20's and been a bootlegger.

5 I like it !😉

When I was suddenly asked by my boss to go to Indonesia to open an office I was truly shocked at how different Indonesia was to my previous posting in northern Europe. I found the people to be friendly and easy, the girls to be beautiful and the cost of living very cheap indeed. I especially enjoyed the local food such as soup, rice and noodle dishes. Nowadays I have progressed to drinking Es Jeruk and eating fried frog and catfish.

The biggest difference is the temperature. In my last placement the temperature was often Nine Below Zero, but nowadays it is more like 31 Deg C. Before I needed to wear thermal underwear whereas now I find wearing underwear uncomfortable and needed to buy linen slacks and buttoned shirts that can be unbuttoned according to the temperature of the day, which is generally very hot.

Fortunately I have a driver so I do not need to driver in the very hectic traffic and risk having accidents.

However, due to the extreme temperature of this country I cannot wait until they relocate me to another place.

When I was living there my life changed for the most part. Thanks to the friendly people and the secure atmosphere, I found it easy to get along and network. Also I was in martial arts and continued my learning with most of the locals. It was indeed fun to travel around and see the sights. I have to say I enjoyed that the most, yet I put a lot of effort into getting most things done.

I also had a really good girlfriend there, that I almost asked to marry... well life happened. Anyhow overall It made me more of a positive person, and encouraged me to  face fear in new creative ways. Im working on coming back now to settle in this time. Before I was there back in 09-11. So now I want to stay a LOOTT longer than that.