Diving Right In

Hello, again

I started drafting this as I sat in yet another FAO meeting held on an official UN holiday. Because we all know that we don’t need to take our official holidays. I could be out zipping around Jakarta, enjoying the light traffic! At least they let us start a little late. It left time for a trip to the gym and to pick up coffee and pastries to have during the meeting…

Wow, I practically need to get out my calendar to look up all the things I’ve done since I blogged about the ultimate frisbee weekend on Bali. I’ve had a few more crazy clubbing weekends here in Jakarta, which is basically becoming the norm for weekends in town. It’s either that or go to the malls. Personally, I’d rather have a long night dancing, followed by a quiet, restful weekend and a trip to the spa than to wake up on Saturday morning and plan only to go the mall.

I put in a ton of work on short notice to prepare a preliminary report on my project for USAID. Naturally, after all that work, discussion of the report and project were skipped over on the meeting agenda. Fabulous. The only good thing to come out of that intense effort was two extra days off, which I used to take a dive certification course on Bali. Ha, ha, ha!

So, I declared my time off and booked a flight to Bali. Bali Scuba, in Sanur, was having a special on dives and courses. All the FPFs – Ali, Jenni, and Stacie – had taken the PADI Open Water certification course there, so I knew it was good spot. Got in very late on Wednesday night with an early start the next day. As part of the package, Bali Scuba had booked me into the Puri Sindhu Mertha Suites, a small, newer hotel which is just down the street from their office. Overall, very nice and mod. And with a clever way of providing for the requisite Bali al fresco shower!! However, the breakfast left a lot to be desired. I couldn’t even get nasi goreng that early before class. Mie goreng (fried noodles) instead…

The first day was spent entirely in the classroom watching videos. My instructor, Chris, is Indonesian and had also been Jenni and Stacie’s instructor. He’s lots of fun! I got to know my classmates – Puput from Yogya, and Alex, Aster, and Jon who live in Jakarta. I was impressed by the gender and racial balance of the PADI video actors. Too bad each unit ended with a terribly cheesy line about diving such as, “Divers do it under pressure.” I’m surprised that there wasn’t a t-shirt with all these wonderful one-liners…

That first night I had sushi for dinner with a few classmates before crashing out asleep. The second day of the course was another early morning, only this time we headed to the pool. Bali Scuba is building their own pool in Sanur. In the meantime, they use a pool at a condo complex a short drive away. Another group of soon-to-be divers, who had spent the previous day in the other classroom, were there as well. After the requisite swim tests, we began. We put together our gear for the first time, put on our wetsuits and weight belts, and we jumped in. Putu was my dive buddy. Chris put us right to work demonstrating the required skills. I have to admit, yes, I got a bit freaked out when we first started breathing under water. But I did NOT break for the surface and, instead, continued on with everything Chris was asking us to do. There were many skills to demonstrate, and we all did really well. Patrick, a Swiss guy in our dive group, was keen to do all of it. Diving is clearly a new-found passion for him! As for me, I wasn’t in love with it yet. I was glad to be going through the course but didn’t think I’d likely be adding a bunch of dive gear to my burgeoning collection of sports and outdoor equipment…

After a long day in the pool, we had a beer at the bar next door to the dive shop before we headed back to the hotel. I walked on down to the beach for dinner at Stiff Chili, a favorite beachside spot from my Ramadan trip to Bali. The maitre d' even remembered me! The next morning we got to sleep in a bit. I was sick of eating Indonesian (breakfast and lunch for 2 days running) so I suggested that we use some of the extra time to have a nice breakfast at a local café. Well-fueled and adequately caffeinated, my classmates and I took on the final exam. After the exam was over, we headed to another dive shop where they sell lots of gear. A new mask and snorkel later, I had lunch with the whole gang. Then it was back out to Sanur beach for our first 2 open water dives.

They loaded us up in vans, and then we transferred to outboard boats. We didn’t go very far out, and the sea floor at Sanur isn’t terribly full of coral or exotic sea life. Rather, it is sandy, has a bit of sea grass, and some sea critters. Again, I had a few desperate moments adjusting to breathing with the regulator just as we went below the surface. Later, I realized that my anxiety/panic could have something to do with what, at the time, felt like a near-drowning when I went rafting on the Arkansas River in Colorado. It was funny, because I hadn’t even considered the fact that the anxiety of my rafting experience might return as I learned to dive. I figured out to take slow, deep breaths and just try to relax with it. Diving in the ocean was most certainly more exciting than being in the pool. It started to occur to me that this was actually meant to be fun! Ha, ha, ha…

Dinner that night was in Sanur, followed by a jaunt to a club in Kuta to meet up with friends of friends. I’m not particularly keen on Kuta – too crowded, too glitzy, too much going on for peaceful Bali – but that was a good night. And I was really looking forward to our dives at Tulamben the next day. Yes, back to the Liberty class wreck at Tulamben. It was an early morning drive with lovely views of the beach, green forests, rice paddies, and Mt. Agung. We alighted at a different resort than the one I went to with Jenni and Stacie before at Tulamben. This place was right off the wreck; no walk down the beach required. Fortunately, our group had already completed almost all of the skills we had to demonstrate to get certified, so we mostly used our time to explore. The wreck was impressive. I hadn’t realized before the full extent of its size. We made two dives at the wreck, with a lunch break in between. Lovely. My fun day diving was rounded out by a wonderful beachside seafood dinner with Alex and Jon at Jimbaran. Really, I had a magical end to a fabulous day and a remarkable extended weekend.

Diving in Bali was one of the top weekends I’ve had here in Indonesia, and certainly one of my best weekends ever. However, the following weekend – a sailing and diving trip to Krakatoa (known as Anak Krakatau here in Indonesia) – was It. Quite possibly the best weekend ever. Certainly the best I’ve had here…

The weekend was planned by Jill, a friend of Caesar and Nitara, and included Jill, Jenni, Stacie, Caesar, Nitara, Phil, Phil’s friend John, Camilla (aka ‘Croatia’), and myself. We chartered the ‘Cecilia Ann,’ a 60-foot ketch. The boat sleeps 10 but our group had downsized to 9. We rented a minibus, loaded it up with supplies, and drove to Anyer in Banten Province. It usually takes about 2 hours to get to Anyer. But this was Jakarta on a Friday night. So it took more like 4 hours. On our journey, we discovered the restrooms at the toll booth – not my first choice of relief stations in Indonesia, but it could be worse. Then there was a stop at Dunkin Donuts before we arrived at the marina. We all wanted a proper dinner before shoving off. So, nasi goreng it was! I don’t think I can leave on any adventure here in Indonesia without being fueled by nasi goreng.

Once we were fed and fully on board, we set off for the islands of Krakatau. Camilla was new to our group, having been invited on the trip by another friend who subsequently didn’t come along. Camilla had seemed a bit anxious in the van and turned out to have been popping tranquilizers all during the drive. Apparently they weren’t enough to cover for her fear of sailing and the ocean. She had a full-blown panic attack within a short time of leaving the marina. With no relief in sight, even after someone dug out a Xanax for her, we turned the boat around and took her back to shore. Probably the best outcome for all involved.

So, back to the open ocean. It was a bit rough bouncing along through the waves. A few of us managed to sleep in the cabins below deck, but others toughed it out in the spray on deck. At some point in the dark we got to where we needed to be and anchored. When I came up to the nicely still deck in the morning, we were moored off an island in direct sight of Anak Krakatau. 'Anak' means child, so this volcano is the 'child' of the famous Krakatoa which erupted so ferociously the boom could be heard all over the globe. The volcano was active - spewing ash and rocks into the air every few minutes with an occasional deep boom as it erupted. We had a nice breakfast with an even better view. We made a dive there just off the boat. Although the visibility was poor, it was pretty cool to be diving again within a week after I completed my certification. The ocean surge took us up and down, and there was a reef right there. That’s how we spent our day. Lounging around on deck, checking out the nearby erupting volcano, and making dives off the boat.

We motored around to the other side of Anak Krakatau’s island, where there was a small beach of black volcanic sand. The island is a park, and normally we would get to climb partway up the volcano. With all the volcanic activity going on, though, the park was closed and the island off-limits to visitors. It was only a short way from the boat to the island so we swam to shore for a few minutes. With an option to check out another nearby island, we declined and returned to our same moorage point with the fabulous volcano view. As the sky got dark, we could no longer see the ash plumes. Instead, we could see RED, HOT LAVA (ok, technically ‘magma’ or maybe ‘molten rock’) spewing into the air and pouring down the sides of the mountain. Nature’s fireworks. A more exotic restaurant view has never been had. Dinner was lamb roasted on a BBQ off the boat rails, eaten on deck, to the great soundtrack supplied by a multitude of iPods. We were tired. Amazingly happy and tired. I had the crew tie up my hammock on deck, and that was it for me. I settled into my hammock with a pillow and blanket, on the gently rocking boat, within sight of an erupting volcano. Oh, did I add there were more stars overhead than I have ever seen in a lifetime of gazing at stars? Ethereal. I would sleep for a little while, hear a boom from the volcano, wake up to look at the streams of lava running down, look up at the multitude of stars, and then the waves would lull me back to sleep. Truly awesome.

I awoke at dawn when it was dark enough to still see the molten lava but light enough to be day. My hammock had slipped down a bit, so I went below deck to lie horizontally for a little while. Repeat of the morning before – good breakfast, fabulous view, and the very, very best of company. I couldn’t have asked for more. We made another dive that morning. And many more jokes. (Did anyone see that green Teletubbie floating by?) Lunch was fresh red snapper and squid bought directly from a fishermen’s boat that had come along. Their catch was cleaned off the back of our boat and grilled off the side. Sadly, after lunch it was time to head back. I managed to claim one of the most comfortable deck chairs for the 4-hour trip back to the marina. With my own personal MP3 soundtrack filling my ears, I alternately took in the sunlight on the water and the sails with blue sky above. Honestly, it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

It took a few days to get my land legs back – the world kept bobbing along even as I sat at my desk in Deptan. I managed to stay elated until later in the week, when the reality of no longer being on the boat finally caught up with me. But now, as I’m sweating on my walk to the busway, the right piece of music and a glimpse of blue sky will put me right back there.

Peace and love to all,

E

My Job

Well, I promised to write about my work here before putting anything else up. Yes, that was a while ago. And I’m sorry it has taken this long. I never was good at keeping a journal. I used to be good at writing real letters, but we all know how rare they have become these days…

Anyway, back to “fighting” bird flu. Riiiiiight! Unlike most other countries in the world that have had cases of the H5N1 avian influenza (with the exceptions of Egypt, Bangladesh, and maybe Viet Nam), bird flu is endemic in Indonesia. This means that the disease is continuously present and widespread in this country. While there may be outbreaks of disease on a local level, the country as a whole doesn’t have ‘outbreaks’ because disease is happening somewhere nearly every day. FAO has created a Participatory Disease Surveillance and Response (PDSR) program to detect and deal with disease in village poultry. We have trained more than 2000 officers – most already working for district animal health departments – under the PDSR system. Right now, nearly all the funding to support the PDSR program comes from international donors. You can be sure that the funding will not continue at its present levels, and the Indonesian government will be asked to take over PDSR, resulting in a decline from its present level of activity.

I was hired as a Field Program Facilitator (FPF). My intended job was to go out in the field (I was assigned to western Java and southern Sumatra) to visit with and observe the operations of PDSR officers in the field. I got out on 2 field visits – last September and early last December – before the role of FPFs was, for all intents and purposes, abolished in January of 2008. A full six months after I arrived. But we won’t talk about that. Field visits were lots of fun. Sitting behind my desk at Deptan for months was not.

So, we FPFs had to find something else to do with ourselves. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is our primary source of funding and wanted us to plan to intensify our prevention and control program in western Java for the coming project year, specifically to include small commercial farms and using vaccination. My response to that was to suggest that we map and catalog the farms in the areas where we planned to intensify our campaign, at least so we would know how much vaccine we would need and how to plan such an intensified campaign. PDSR operates at the village level. However, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80% of the poultry on Java are reared in commercial farms. Although FAO had started a dialog with the commercial poultry industry at a higher level, we know virtually nothing about commercial poultry farming in Indonesia. The government has next to no regulatory authority over commercial farms (or certainly no effective regulation). Thus, the “Western Java Commercial Poultry Profiling” project was born.

Nearly six months after its inception, the project is almost complete. We partnered with a FANTASTIC local NGO, CREATE, to execute the data collection. CREATE is based in Bogor and headed by Widiyanto Surya. Widi is, without a doubt, the most effective Indonesian I have worked with. He is a veterinarian, on the faculty at the local veterinary school, and has a PhD in communications. He can get done in a few hours what FAO would need probably weeks to do. He is also wonderfully sweet and very patient with all the frustrations of dealing with FAO and this project. We chose to work with CREATE because of their knowledge of and contacts in the commercial poultry industry.

The first step of our project has been to take a census of all commercial poultry operations in the selected districts. (USAID and FAO ‘senior’ staff selected the 13 districts for this project.) This process is executed by teaming up with the district animal health agency and sending their officers (some of who are trained in PDSR) with GPS units to all of the poultry farms in their district. Basic information about the farm owner, location, and number and type of birds is collected. Once we have all this information, we select a representative subset of producers in the district for further surveying. Teams of enumerators from the district and CREATE administer a questionnaire to the selected farmers. The questionnaire asks about management practices, poultry species kept on the premises, perceptions about poultry disease, contact with other farms, and other factors that can affect disease transmission as well as poultry and business management. Once we have all of this information, we will analyze the data to see if we can group producers by common characteristics and identify groups with higher risks for poultry disease than others. We also hope to use the data to identify opportunities for dialog with these poultry producers.

So, that’s what I’ve found to do with myself here in the past few months. The start of the profiling project was delayed and has taken longer than expected. Although we will do as much as we can with the data as quickly as we can, many of the analyses will probably take place after I have finished my term here. My personal victory out of all of this is that the local authorities will receive the maps and information about the commercial poultry farms in their respective districts at the conclusion of the project. In Indonesia, the decisions made locally seem to have, in my opinion, the greatest effect and, therefore, the greatest chance for success. Clearly, a nationally-coordinated program for HPAI prevention and control is needed. But this is a big country, and if a few districts can start to get a handle on the disease, so be it. I have heard time and again from district authorities that other groups come in to collect information and never give the districts the info back. Well, with this profiling project each district will get all their own info back, including electronic maps, to use as they see fit. I only wish we could do this exercise for more districts!

There, now. I’ve talked about my work. Good stuff, too…

Next up - getting glamor in Yogya and dive certification!

E

weekends not wasted

Wow, so here I am again after an extended blog hiatus. I could make excuses. And so I shall. But just a few. No, it doesn’t mean I haven’t had any fun lately. I have definitely had some fun weekends since Stacie’s b-day in Bali. In fact, I’ve even back to Bali again. Maybe I need a critical mass of fun weekends before I am motivated to write? Yeah, that sounds like a good theory. My internet connection is great when it is working and disconnects every few seconds when it is not working. It tends not to work as well in evenings when I am home, so photo uploading doesn’t happen very quickly. However, tonight I uploaded lots of photos BEFORE writing my blog entry. Aren’t you impressed? And, for those of you who missed it in an earlier post, my photos can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsetvet/ Don’t lose it this time!

The two most obvious reasons I don’t keep up on my blog are 1) I must be getting used to life here, so things don’t always seem as blog-worthy as when I first got here, and 2) I generally don’t like to get into the complexities, frustrations, and disappointments of my job here. I do have some good stories to share from a project I am working on, and I endeavor to do that in my next posting. First I gotta catch up on the real living. Deal?

So, after Stacie’s b-day weekend – a mere two months ago when I last blogged – I’ve mostly been stuck here in Jakarta. The first weekend after my last Bali visit, we neutered Stacie’s cats on her desk. Yes, I know – tabletop surgery is a no-no. But we had the right drugs, sterile gloves, and everything turned out fine. The following weekend we had a goodbye party for Sonny, our main communications and media relations guy. He left our project to pursue a graduate degree in the UK. Sonny always had a smile on his face and is dearly missed. (John, our #2, and Leo, our epidemiologist, have also now gone, shortly after Sonny left.) His goodbye blowout started at Star Deli in Kemang. The band was great! Blues and rock covers. I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of FAO-ers, a few in dressy batik, even!

After much joviality, Sonny, Stacie, and I bailed out for Stadium, a legendary Jakarta night club. This place is essentially an indoor rave open from Thursday through sometime on Monday. One can book hotel rooms there and folks fly in from all over SE Asia to spend the weekend. We just wanted to see it. Well, a lesson learned is how fast the fingers are at Stadium. My Blackberry was stolen out of my bag before I even paid my cover charge after getting out of the taxi. So that put a damper on things. Suffice to stay, Stadium is a bit like Vegas for me. Needed to see it once, but once was pretty much enough. Stacie and I stayed dancing until quite late, ran into some friends, and also made some new friends along the way. I made the police report for the stolen bberry, expecting - but not getting - a lecture and having to pay only a nominal “fee” for the official letter to give the insurance company. Then, bberryless, my computer modem died. This is the second one that has died on me here. I was completely cut off from all after-work communication for at least 24 hours. It was miserable. However, Stacie hooked me up with a loaner cell phone and FAO replaced my bberry within 10 days or so. My replacement is one of the older, bigger, clunkier ones – I much prefer the sleek one I started with – but I can’t complain TOO much. I think I’m becoming a crackberry addict. And the ugly clunky one is probably just desserts for having one stolen at a club. But I can also drop it and not have the battery fall out!

The weekend after Sonny’s goodbye, Jenni and Stacie were off to Lombok – the island east of Bali – for Jenni’s 30^th b-day weekend. I had decided not to go and went to see the world’s #3 DJ, Paul Van Dyke, with Caesar, Nitara, and the rest of the crew. Ran into a few of my new friends from Stadium, too. The event was held at Ancol, a big entertainment park on the north shore of Jakarta. There is a restaurant there called Segarra that is very much like Ku De Ta on Bali. Will definitely have to check it out under less-crowded conditions. Jakarta’s beach isn’t nearly as nice, but it would be great if this place has some of Ku De Ta’s ambiance.

On the following weekend, we had another celebration for Jenni’s b-day, with a pink theme. There was a lot of pink to behold! The party started at Café Pisa where a few FAO folks joined in singing with the house band. It was a bit loud and very full of Indonesian families, so we migrated to Pure – a club with a rotating seating area that gives a panorama view of Jakarta. The party continued there with lots of dancing and fun with several folks from work as well as other friends. The surprise was the number of great dancers we had hiding on our HPAI control team! Ah, another night of clubbing in Jakarta. I must admit that I really do like the techno music here. That is something I will miss. My new gym, Fit By Beat, has a DJ booth and some fairly good music at times. The beat gets me going and I end up getting a better workout than I would just watching Animal Planet without the tunes…

Post-pink, we had a long weekend for the Islamic holiday of Hari Raya. I joined up with Unik and Shanti, both survivors of the Green Canyon canyoneering weekend trip, to go back to Batu Karas – a tiny surf beach on the south coast of Western Java. We were going to celebrate Girls’ Surf Weekend. Remember when I helped Unik catch her first wave on canyoneering weekend? This was the follow-up to help her catch more. A few other ladies were to join us but canceled due to the difficult travel plans. Unik, Shanti and I traveled 11 hours overnight to get to Batu Karas from Jakarta. First by public coach bus, which didn’t turn out as badly as I had thought it might. A good neck pillow, eye mask, and noise-canceling headphones made all the difference. Except for the guy in front of me whose seat was broken and wanted to recline all the way back. He kept hitting my knees, at which point I would bounce them a little, so he finally had to give up and sit up all night. Sorry! We arrived in Banjar at 6am and hung around the station until a local bus came to take us closer to Batu Karas. That was the worst local bus ride – 2.5hrs instead of 1hr, very cramped seats, hot, lots of stops, and lots of people smoking. By the time we finally got off I was nauseous. Then we spent the final 30mins on ojek, which was a wonderfully refreshing change. Fresh air, good scenery, and we crossed a bridge made entirely of bamboo, only for motorcycles. I wish I had taken a picture!!

Finally, we had arrived at Batu Karas. We settled into our favorite restaurant for a traditional breakfast of nasi goreng. Then we found a room with bunk beds for 40,000 Rp. each per night. I hung my lovely travel mosquito net, and we headed for the beach. We heard the legend of Usni, the “Tsunami Rider,” who should be in GQ and was supposedly out on a surf board when the tsunami hit. But mostly, the tsunami left Batu Karas intact because it was protected by the picturesque rocky point that sticks out. Where the wave came on land before the point, a few buildings were damaged and are now abandoned. It was interesting to talk to our local friend, Doyok, about his experiences that fateful day. We spent the rest of the weekend lounging on the beach, swimming, surfing, throwing my glowing frisbee, and hanging with the locals. I got sunburned, hung in my hammock, wrote in my journal for the first time in months, and generally enjoyed myself. But it just wasn’t enough. I needed at least a week, not 2 days!! The trip back was by ratty-but-fun surf van, horrid local bus, and then a nicer, quieter air-conditioned coach. The horrid local-type bus was going all the way to Jakarta, but without AC and with the smoke, I knew I’d never make it. Shanti and I jumped off at Banjar and hopped onto the coach, dragging poor Unik with us. The coaches cost 5,000 Rp (50 cents) more than the local-style version and have not only a bathroom in the back, but a small booth for people to smoke in. As long as it gets them away from me!

With all that travel, AC, smoke, and exhaust fumes, it’s no wonder I developed a cough during that trip. Three weeks later, I’m on antibiotics, a bronchodilator, some other stuff I don’t recognize, plus an inhaler. Three cheers for public transportation! Although it is cheap – the coach is about $5-6 each way – the lingering effect isn’t worth it. But it’s so far that ya gotta go overnight; and, Unik and Shanti couldn’t afford to share a car and driver with me. Hmmm. Not sure when I’ll be going back again. But I wouldn’t mind doing it!

Then another mall weekend in Jakarta before the long Easter weekend. Ok, I have a confession to make. I was supposed to meet someone in Bali that weekend whom I had met online. He was to fly out from America. But he bailed out on me less than a week before the trip. Stacie and Jenni were taking a boat trip to Kalimantan to see orangutans with some folks Stacie knows. I could have joined them but something was telling me to go on to Bali. So I did. I had planned 2 nights at the popular beaches and 2 in Ubud. Instead, I met Adam. And Peter. And Bill. At the airport in Denpasar. They had come out to Bali from Saipan to play in an ultimate frisbee tournament. Before I knew it, I had piled into Bill’s driver’s van and was getting a ride to my hotel in Seminyak. Then, in the lobby, I met Fran and another Peter (aka Pedro). Also from the frisbee team. That was it! My fate had been decided. I was to spend an unexpectedly fun weekend in Bali with my new friends from Saipan. Yea!

My hotel, the Mutiara Bali, was very nice and reasonable. However, I had only booked it for one night and knew I’d have trouble finding something else with all the tourists there for the Easter weekend. Everything was full! During breakfast at the hotel I searched online in vain for new digs. Luckily, the Mutiara folks were able to move me into an even nicer room – with one of those fabulous Balinese al fresco bathrooms – for the next 3 nights. Done! I had a swim and then joined up with Fran to go watch the matches at the field. The Saipan team wasn’t doing too well, but it was fun to watch them play. The organizers had boxed lunches (wraps), free fruit, massages, and, later, beer. When all the matches were over, we went back to our hotels. A few of us (Adam, Bill, Peter, Fran, and myself) made it to Ku De Ta for drinks before dinner, although it was too overcast for a sunset. I love Ku De Ta! Then we joined the team for dinner at Seaside, Blue Ocean Beach. As they had to play again the next day, it wasn’t a particularly late night for most of us. But fun.

Fran and I declined to get up for the first matches the next morning. I slept in, ate breakfast, and then we walked to the beach. Kuta Beach was down a way in the distance. The waves were lovely, but the beach was not so clean – litter, dog poop. We stopped for beverages at a lovely beachside hotel before walking back and doing a little shopping on the way. One body scrub later, each, at our hotel, and we were ready to head back to the field. The festivities were in full swing. The final was plagued by a hard downpour, but no one cared. All in the spirit of frisbee and fun. I took another lap in the pool before dinner, and then we headed back to Ku De Ta again for cocktail hour. This time we had more people with us, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Some folks got stranded by the weather in a tent pavilion set up for the Easter egg roll held at KDT that morning. However, the weather gave me a chance to try such yummy concoctions as an apple thyme martini and a watermelon crush. Delicious!

It was time for the official tournament dinner at Fabio’s, with a ‘tropical life’ theme. Fran and I had pulled off a little more shopping in preparation, and a fun night was had by all. At dinner, I had the best krupuk (shrimp crackers) EVER in Indonesia. Yum! Some of the awards were coupons for bungee jumping, to be redeemed later that night. We did a little bar hopping before ending up at Double 6, a club next to the beach. No fewer than 6 members of the Saipan team went bungee jumping there, one in a Spiderman suit. The high bule quotient (the large number of bules concentrated in one place) made me a bit nervous to be there, and I preferred to be outside. The music left something to be desired (am I becoming a club techno snob?) so I danced only for a little while. Good people-watching, though!

The next morning I broke from the gang and went up to Ubud. The dog shelter was having an open house. I stayed for about an hour before making my way to Kafe for a yummy, yummy salad and ginger carrot soup. Did a little shopping and then went back down to Seminyak to meet up with the gang again. We went for pizza and ordered each of the 13 pizzas on the menu. Another fun time had by all. I had to leave early for the airport the next morning – it’s always a bit tragic to leave Bali.

And so now here I am, having a DVD marathon weekend in Jakarta. I got out today to see “Horton Hears a Who” – it was fun! But otherwise I’m mostly trying to avoid the rampant cigarette smoke and to see if I can’t kick this cough. Sadly, no techno gym for a while.

Hope everyone is doing well! Please do drop me an email or look for me on Skype. I can actually use it now and get a fairly decent connection…

Much love,

Edie

Trips home and back

Hello, again

Still trying to catch up, and no photos yet. I promise that will be my next online task! Now, where did I leave off?

After 2 intense weeks of canyoneering, shepherding visitors from Rome, clubbing, and crazy field visits, I was ready to pack to come home. Lots of last-minute Christmas shopping needed to be done; I had a whole suitcase to fill up just with oleh-oleh for my family!

The trip home included an intentional layover in Singapore on Friday night. Why? Tango, of course. I got my bags at luggage claim, changed in the nearest bathroom, stashed my stuff in short-term storage, and took off for tango, stopping for coffee along the way. The venue was lovely - comfy seating, salon atmosphere, mood lighting, shoes on display. I spoke with several very interesting and kind tangueros and even managed a few dances. When the milonga ended around 2am, I decided to grab a bite to eat on the street with one of my new tango friends, Benjamin. Around 4am I started to really fade, so I returned to the airport, showered, changed clothes, and waited for my flight. A night of tango sure beats hanging around the airport or a hotel!

The rest of my flights back to Seattle were mostly uneventful. An attractive man sitting behind me from Singapore to Tokyo showed his ugly side by trying to prevent me from tilting my seat back. This is my biggest air travel pet peeve!! Why do people think they have the right to do that to someone? These same people would probably have a fit if someone did it to them! As the seats are made for people taller than myself, the neck cushion hits me in the back of the head, making sitting upright for too long fairly uncomfortable. I MUST tilt my seat back or it makes me miserable! This jerk tried to prevent my tilting action by crossing his athletic legs and bracing against the back of my seat. Being short means I can get my legs on the arms of the seat in front of me and push with all my leg and back muscles. Usually when people try to block my seat like that, I push a bit with my legs and they let go. This jerk fought me the whole way. But I still won. I just didn't feel he deserved any charming to convince him to "let" me tilt my seat back; I just wasn't in the mood. The look of surprise in his eyes at having lost a little of his leg space to an innocent, petite woman was certainly rewarding, though.

At last, I arrived at home in lovely Seattle to my family, friends, and my cat. After 10 more days I had spent Christmas with my family, skied with my brother and friends, went snowshoeing twice, learned how to use an avalanche beacon, went hiking for hours in the snow in tennis shoes, and really enjoyed catching up with everyone. My mom, bro, and I went to the new Olympic Sculpture Park along Seattle's waterfront. The sun was setting over Puget Sound as ferries cruised by. I smelled a passerby's coffee. We were just missing orcas and salmon jumping in the water and bald eagles flying overhead. Remind me again why I left Seattle? It was a fantastic trip home and altogether too short. I spent so much time in the snow I didn't have any energy left for tango. Can you believe it?

My brief visit to California was a bit more stressful. Not wanting to use my Blackberry in the U.S., since it would all be international calls, I had to rely on non-mobile means of communication. Gasp! My flight was late getting in, and the prepaid phone card I picked up at SFO wasn't working too well. I finally arranged to meet with Alisa, from Ohlone Vet Emergency Clinic, for an early dinner. It was great to catch up with Alisa, Clair, Owen, Jake, and the others I managed to fit into my compressed time schedule. I got a few errands run in Davis, leaving enough time for - you guessed it - tango! Saw Chris & Dan's new tango venue - Firehouse 5 Dance - before we made our Wednesday night migration to Cell Space. Yea! It was so great to see everyone and get back on the dance floor. I crashed that night at my sister's SF apartment, although she was still in Seattle. Imagine my shock and dismay to discover that my rental car had been towed the next morning. I was able to sort that out in time to make my flight, but it wasn't a fun way to try to leave when I was already sad to be going in the first place. Maybe that was an omen?

I couldn't waste another layover in Asia, so I had worked out my time in Hong Kong to include a visit with Ed, a friend from England I hadn't seen since vet school. He met me at the airport and took me out for some really good (read: authentic) Chinese food. After much catching up and a little wandering around, I was ready to crash. We had a slow morning the next day before finally getting out to walk around the pet fish market and to take one of the ferries. I can't believe I forgot my camera! So, no views of the HK skyline. Sorry. Guess I'll have to go back and get one another time... Then it was back to the airport, another delayed flight (killed time with a glass of white wine and some pineapple sorbet while listening to live jazz), a nasty non-tango layover in Singapore, and a bewildered, jet-lagged return to steamy Jakarta.

Since I've been back, things are mostly back to the same old routines. However, one night I went out for seafood, Indonesian street style, with friends. The area is called Benhil, and my friends knew just the place to go and when to get there in time to get seats. We piled our plates high with green-lipped mussels, fish, prawns, and crab. Quite the night, I'll tell you.

Then, this past weekend, Stacie and I went to Bali for her birthday. This time we chose to spend nearly all our time in Ubud, Bali's center for yoga, New Age spirituality, and all things generally healthy. On our drive up from the airport, which was arranged by our lodging in Ubud, we met up with my Bali tango friends so I could have a final fitting of my new tango shoes. It was so exciting to finally have the shoes in hand and to be out of Jakarta for another lovely Bali experience.

We stayed at Murni's Houses, a collection of traditional-style buildings near the edge of town. The House, the building where we stayed, had screened windows, ceiling fans, lots of geckos on the walls, and traditional decor. It was perfect. The bathrooms were those open-air, landscaped Balinese bathrooms I like so much. Can't argue with an outside shower fringed by orchids! We got up early the next morning to go to yoga at the Yoga Barn. After a little confusion in figuring out where we were supposed to be, we entered the tranquility of this lovely open air yoga studio overlooking rice paddies. I hadn't done yoga in a few weeks. Well, ok, a few months! So 4 hours in one day was a bit daunting. Bridget, who was putting on this one-day anasara yoga workshop for Bali Spirit, was fantastic. It was hard work, and it was hot, but by the end of the morning session I felt really good. Perfect timing for a brunch of very yummy greens and salads, served by Kafe. We spent some time shopping before going back for another 2-hour session. After the second go, I felt really energized, although my body was very tired.

For dinner, we had signed on as Australia Day celebrants, again at Kafe. It was a great way to unwind, eat some good lamb and yummy pavlova, and to meet people. We met a woman from Bali (dog) Adoption & Rehabilitation Centre, or BARC, who convinced us to come out and have a look the next day. After our Australia Day festivities, we made our way to the Jazz Club for some good live music. I made sure to take a little Advil before bed, knowing it would be hard to get up the next morning. At breakfast I met a really nice American couple who were staying in Ubud for several days after being involved in a motorcycle accident. At least they had helmets on! Then it was off to BARC. The dogs were everywhere, and the shelter is struggling, as many do, with very limited staffing and resources. Most of their medications were donated and, hence, expired. We did our best to toss out the worst of the lot, although they have a long way to go to building up a respectable pharmacy for themselves. We hope to provide them with some protocols for deworming, treating mange, etc. and a list of commonly-used medications and their indications.

Our next stop was for lunch at, again, Kafe. It's just so yummy! Then we went to a spa for a much-needed rubdown. I partook of a massage, hot stone, and oil-dripping treatment that was to help realign my chakra. As I lay there being massaged by 2 people at once, the weather stormed over the rice paddies right outside. The sound of falling rain and thunder was vigorously punctuated by a couple of very determined frogs. Although they were a bit too loud and persistent at times, it was interesting to listen to them change rhythm and play off each other. A froggie jam session. After my fantastic massage and oil treatment, I was scrubbed down with fragrant spices. I walked out of the treatment room smelling like a spice vendor in a market somewhere, relaxed and radiant with pleasure. We stayed in that night, having dinner delivered from - where else? - Kafe. Stacie had another go at yoga the next morning while I decided to sleep in just a little longer and then linger over breakfast with my new friends.

We had our same driver take us down to Ku De Ta, near Seminyak. This place is legendary, especially for watching the sunset with a cocktail in hand. After a late lunch there, Stacie laid out in the sun, holding for us two spots for the appointed sunset hour. It is a beautiful venue, full of beautiful people, serving lovely food, playing cool tunes, and pouring very smooth drinks. A must-see for the well-heeled visiting Bali. The people-watching is great. I especially enjoyed watching the reactions of the foreign women sunbathing topless on the beach as Indonesian uniformed sailors walked by. One soldier even pulled out his camera. The women didn't mind if other foreigners stared at their bare breasts but clumsily hid themselves while the sailors were around. If you're gonna hang them out there for all to see, get over yourselves and stop acting embarrassed when everyone notices!

After partaking of the Ku De Ta sunset ritual, we packed up and headed off on our final mission in Bali: tango shoes. Just around the corner from Ku De Ta was a building called The Sunset Restaurant, which doubles as a dance studio. It was there that I met up with Iris and other Bali tangueros, to pick up my new shoes and take them for a turn on the floor. The venue has regular Latin dance events and seemed a very comfortable place to be. My new shoes - cherry red patent leather - fit like a glove. And it just so happens that in Jakarta, a new tango venue is opening this weekend...

It was with sadness that we have left lush, luxe Bali for the grunge of Jakarta. We're already planning our next trip back.

E

Catching Up in the New Year - Part 2

The week following canyoneering was one of the busiest I’ve had since coming here. I shepherded around two visitors from Rome who had come to talk about a project we were arranging together. The 24-hour Starbuck’s – the ONLY place to get coffee at a reasonable hour of the morning (more on that later) – was my savior. Although I was always on the go to get to meeting after meeting after meeting, it was an exhilarating change after being chained to my desk for so long. I met Darren Collins at the Wildlife Conservation Society office in Bogor, who is on leave as head of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. It just so happened that he had known, and lived right around the corner from, my grandmother. He also knew some of my vet school classmates. A small world, indeed. We visited two live bird markets early in the morning, chatted with folks at a somewhat furtive U.S. Navy laboratory, met with a Jakarta higher-up, and spent loads of time in the car and in traffic. A busy, but successful, week.

By Friday, I was tired and ready to let loose. Cue Armin Van Buren, DJ Magazine’s “World’s #1 DJ.” At Thanksgiving, we had all decided that the next get-together was to see / hear him mix, DJ, perform, or whatever you want to call it. So, off to The Stadium we went. Fortunately, our dear expat friends are experienced club-goers and, thus, excellent guides to the scene in Jakarta. Armin started at 2am and continued until just after 6am. A long but very, very fun night. The most fun I’d had in far too long.

I spent the rest of the weekend recovering before heading off to Bandung for yet another meeting. I find it amazing that Indonesians continued a meeting until 11pm on a Sunday night, but, unfortunately, I was there to witness it. I was without the requisite batik shirt, so, naturally, I received a lecture on dressing appropriately. That meeting couldn’t end soon enough, because I was to head out into the field from there. A quick change of plans had me delaying my field visit by a day to travel to Tangerang, the site of 2 recent – and several prior – human cases of avian influenza. The government veterinary lab was going to collect samples and had, for the first time, offered FAO a chance to tag along. Off I went. We went out to collect samples from around the homes and workplaces of two suspected cases, one of whom had already died. While out in the field, a text message came through confirming disease in the second case. He died later that week. Then it was a mad rush for me to get 5 hours to the site of my field visit for the next day. The rest of the week was spent madly getting from field visit site to field visit site. But, ah, the field is a vastly better place to be than behind my desk.

In Bandung, we were informed that they wanted to take us to a site 4 hours from the office. Lucky field officers would get to ride with us instead of doubled up on the motorbikes. As we climbed our way through lovely hillsides planted with strawberries, I was informed that our visit site was on a tea plantation. Hallelujah! God smiled upon me that day. I have always wanted to visit a tea plantation. I had never dreamed my job as a veterinarian would take me there. The drive turned out to be only 2.5 hours. The dense darkness of the jungle was sliced open to reveal misty hillsides reflecting light from the tops of tea plants. The plantations were certainly a bit sterile in comparison to the richness of the jungle. Yet still beautiful, as the ridges dropped away from us and the clouds swirled. I was told that on a clear day the view stretches all the way to the ocean. Maybe to the north coast of Java? Anyway, the workers on the plantation had been raising chickens when an outbreak of AI struck last spring. All the birds were culled, and we were to see if they were raising chickens again. We discussed with the plantation manager, over a wonderful cup of tea (without sugar!), who said the plantation had banned the workers from raising chickens and was encouraging them to raise rabbits for consumption. On our way out, he sent us with oleh-oleh – plunder from our visit away - in the form of exquisite tea, which is only sold to the export market.

Our next stop after the tea plantation was a crater, Kawah Putih, or White Crater, filled with the same bluish waters I saw in Kawah Ijen. This crater is much more accessible and very popular, due to its appearance in an Indonesian movie. We walked up from the parking lot along the trail into the crater, and I kept seeing these mature Indonesian women, all dressed to the nines. It seemed an odd place for these ladies to be so dressed up. Turns out they were taking photos for a wedding. I got my photo with them, too, in all their glamour. After the crater we stopped for lunch at a pleasant little warung, just before a downpour hit. It was there I tasted my new favorite Indonesian food – ayam pepes. Pepes is a style of slow cooking where the food is wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked with leaves, I’m told, of laurel and some other seasonings, for hours. I couldn’t believe I’d been missing out on pepes this whole time. It is amazing! [I have since tried mushrooms and 2 kinds of fish (ikan) cooked pepes style. They were tasty, yes, but not quite as good as that first taste of chicken…] On our way back to the dinas office, to drop the officers off, we continued through a good downpour. That part of Bandung has many more carriage horses than I see in most places. Their drivers have fashioned raincoats for the horses to wear in the rain. It was a bit of a trick to get a photo of them, but I finally did. Will try to get it posted soon. All in all, a fantastic day in the field. Certainly no comparison to being chained to my desk in Jakarta!

Since Bandung is known for outlet shopping, my translator and I made sure to do our share before heading back to Jakarta. What else? Shoes and bags. Oh, and dress shirts that aren’t batik. The weekend after my field visit was time to finish my Christmas shopping.

Christmas stories and tales of my return to come…

Love and hugs to all! E

Catching Up in the New Year - Part 1

So, yes, I have been horribly remiss in keeping my blog updated. Really, I am sorry, loyal readers. In the 2 weeks after my last post, I was terribly busy, then I went home for the holidays, and now I’m trying to catch up after my return.

Excuses aside, it has been a very eventful past month and a half. In my last post I mentioned that I would have another exciting beach getaway. It was wonderful! I went with the same group as before, FunTrips2Volcano, to the southeastern corner of West Java. After driving in a packed mini bus all night, we arrived at a beach in Cilacap for breakfast. Nasi goreng, of course! The area was fairly industrial, probably the least appealing beach I have visited in Indonesia. But the light on the water was beautiful. After eating, we toured the ruins of a Dutch colonial fort that have been somewhat transformed in order to make them more appealing to local tourists. Somehow the addition of large dinosaur statues to the scene, with an oil refinery just over the fenceline, seemed a bit ironic. The remaining parts of the fortress were lovely. Unfortunately the gaudy additions to the area detracted from my historical experience.

After the fortress, we drove a bit down the road to hop into a boat that would take us through the mangrove swamps. There was a fish market and a few other interesting sights at the loading dock, not the least of which was a bigger “party boat” with the words “ECONOMY CLASS” on the side. We piled into our covered outboard boat (actually a platform built over 2 separate canoe hulls) and took off. The next couple of hours were spent lounging on the boat and watching the mangroves go by. We alighted in a small village to grab lunch to go. While eating in the boat – noodles, squid, stewed veggies, the usual stuff – we were headed to yet another secluded beach. To land on the beach we needed to transfer to a more traditional outrigger canoe. A short hop over a spit of land, and the beach was ours. It was a gloriously sunny day, and the surf was strong. Before the beach was tracked up by enthusiastic beach-goer prints, I found two lines of tracks from a very large lizard – maybe a monitor? Took photos since I had never seen such large lizard tracks, especially on a beach. Lots of shells to look through and waves to play in! There was a rip tide right where we were playing, so I wore a life vest. No, not especially comfortable or attractive. But with the sketchy currents in that area and no Coast Guard post in sight, I thought it best to play things safe. (I’m sure my dad, Mr. Safety Conscious, is glad to hear this…)

After enough sun and more than enough of Budi’s jumping photos, we hopped back on the outrigger canoe and went back to the village for a shower and cold drink. There was the traditional handout of books and toys to local children, while I snuck bits of food to an imprisoned monkey (maybe a marmoset?). Yes, to those of you who know I’m not particularly fond of monkeys, I was nice to a monkey, and I have the photos to prove it. I felt bad for the poor thing, and it didn’t attempt to bite or throw feces at me. So I could certainly hand over some oranges and dried bananas. We spent that night in a hotel (!) at Batu Karas, a known surfing beach. Our hotel was a little way down the road from the main beach, but clean. Other hotels were across the road from the beach. The beach sand was very fine and black – I could run it through my hands all day. Breakfast was, of course, nasi goreng, served on the beach. A few trip participants went for a ride on the “banana boat” while I gave a very brief surf lesson. The beach has a very gentle and consistent left-hand break, perfect for a novice goofy-footer such as myself. Unik, who is relatively new to the ocean and had never ridden waves in any form, was thrilled when I put her on the board, aimed her toward shore, and helped her catch her first wave. It’s not every day you get to make someone else’s day. Yea! Although we don’t have a set date yet, I hope to have a girls’ surf weekend back at Batu Karas in the near future…

After an hour in the surf, we loaded up again. This time we went in toward the forest for a caving and canyoneering adventure. After rendezvousing with our local guides, we (all 20 of us) hopped into a pickup truck filled with people, life vests, and innertubes. We headed up into the jungle, with a few of the larger guys hopping off the back when the road became too steep for the overloaded truck. We finally stopped far up on a ridge, donned our life vests, and went down the steep side of the hill down to the river below. Just a short walk down from where the trail ended at the river was the large opening to a limestone cavern. Full of bats. And guano. One of the local guides advised taking off our sandals. As this advice was correct for the last cave I went into with this tour group, I obeyed. Big mistake. The guano wasn’t that deep, and the rocks were sharp. All of my public health sensibilities were shrieking – I was sure to pick up some horrible nameless disease either through the cave air or guano injected into my tender feet. Later, the same guide who told me to take off my water shoes then told me I should have worn shoes. All while he is clomping around in rubber boots. Thaaaaanks! There was another opening at the back of the cave in the ceiling that provided a lovely soft light. The bats congregated back there and circled nervously with our presence. A neat thing to see. Something to remember until I was sure to die of a horrible tropical disease. Thank goodness I have been vaccinated for rabies!

I was very ready to jump into the river after being in the cave. I couldn’t rinse off fast enough. So, when they sent an innertube tied to a very long guide rope down the river and told us to jump in, I jumped. Unfortunately, they hadn’t told us which way to go in the current around the first rock, and I was swept right across a barely-covered boulder. Not 5 minutes after we started, I was bruised and bleeding from multiple sites. It was only then I realized that the only person in the whole group who had a helmet was our fearless leader, Budi. Leo, our epidemiologist from FAO, was also on the trip. The looks between us told me we were thinking the same thing, that this excursion down the river could end up very, very badly. We had a long way to go and many inexperienced people. Flashbacks of my last rafting trip – taking on class 4+ rapids in the water instead of the boat – surfaced with a chill.

Fortunately, things got better from that point on. The river traveled down a narrow canyon carved out of limestone. The canyon walls and cliffs surrounding us were unusual and beautiful. We saw trees, sunlight, and amazing butterflies. At one point, we were walking over the tops of large boulders under a long, misty shower of water running off the cliff edge above. It was one of the most beautiful spots (although a tropical cliché) I have ever seen. I could have stood for an hour watching drips fall straight down toward my face, yet not striking me. A bit like the stars going by in ‘warp speed’ in a movie. As we became more comfortable with our staff and the river, the mood lightened somewhat and laughter could be heard echoing from the canyon walls. We reached the end of our time in the water a few hours later, at a huge archway of limestone. Several outboards awaited us. The part of the river below the arch is what most tourists see – nothing as lovely as what we had just been through. Although the trees, birds, butterflies, and flowers were lovely, the water was sluggish, the river wide, and the best part of our experience over. Happy, tired, and wet, we were treated to a wonderful traditional Indonesian feast to recharge our batteries. Hot tea, scrumptious tempeh, chicken (with bones thrown to the cats), rice, veggies, tofu, fried fish, fruit, and I-don’t-remember-what-else really hit the spot. A tropical deluge made us feel that much more cozy back on land, and I was ready for a good nap in the mini bus.

It was sooooo hard to come back to Jakarta…

A few of the photos from this trip have been posted; I'll work on getting more of them up. Downloading photos takes HOURS and is frequently interrupted by a loss of connection to the server. Please be patient with me! More updates to come. E

random bits

Ha, ha, ha. I have thwarted my modem, laptop, and Blogger's propensities to lose my writings. I have been jotting down random thoughts about apartment living and Thanksgiving - both topics I have previously started in on, only to lose them before they were posted. Thus, the following is a mish-mash of those thoughts, regurgitated into the safety of Word and cut 'n pasted to here. I thought I would post it before I take off to another secluded-beach weekend with some crazy, young Indonesians. Too much time behind my desk at Deptan; gotta get out of here... Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Ongoing Blog Thots… Apartment Living (Part 2) and Thanksgiving

Steps to doing the laundry with a manual washer: 1) Make sure the washer dial is on something other than “drain.” 2) Turn on water from spigot to fill washer. 3) Add detergent & clothes. 4) When water to desired level, turn off water from spigot and turn washer timer as much as possible. 5) Close lid. 6) Since timer on washer is broken, start timer again as needed to achieve desired length of wash cycle. 7) When washing is finished, turn dial to “drain.” 8) Wring out half of clothes and place in spinner. 9) Turn spinner timer to whatever makes it start. 10) Since spinner timer is broken, estimate appropriate spin time and turn dial back or unplug machine to stop spinner when indicated. 11) Remove spun clothes and place back in washer. 12) Repeat steps 8 – 11 for other half of washed clothes load. 13) Repeat steps 1 – 12 (without adding detergent in step 3, maybe add softener instead) for rinse cycle. 14) Hang clothes to dry on line, hangers, or rack.

My drinking water comes from a 5 gallon container in a dispenser that has both hot and cold features. One of the best perks of apartment living is the ease of which I can get drinking water! I merely call the number, request a water delivery, and in about 15 minutes a guy will come up and exchange the empty bottle for a full one. He even expertly hoists it up into the dispenser without spilling! And all for just over a dollar. Excellent value – maybe the best in all of Indonesia…

Elevators. Not having lived or worked in a high rise before, I feel that I spend a relevant portion of my day waiting for and riding in elevators. There are 3 elevators in the Taman Rasuna towers. One is a larger service elevator, and it stops at all floors. My building has a “nice” one with (beaten up) wood molding and mirrors. One of the remaining elevators serves only even-numbered floors. The other serves only odd-numbered floors. There is no 13^th floor. A complicating factor in the apartment community is that each tower has a unique combination of floors for access to the central plaza and to the outside world. In some buildings the plaza is accessed via the 4^th floor; in others it is the 5^th. To go outside the complex, one will exit at either the upper ground (UG) or lower ground (LG) floor. Taken all together, it takes a bit of memorizing to get your way around between the plaza, the outside, and the correct elevator to get you where you want to go.

Electricity, aka ‘listrik’. The electricity is metered by a unit in the kitchen. There is a “key” with a microchip in it that provides prepaid credit for the electricity. The meter shows how much credit, in rupiah, is left on the key. To recharge my listrik, I have to remove the key and go down to a weird little office in the parking garage. This office tends to have strange hours and, correspondingly, sometimes long lines. Ramadan was especially frustrating because I thought I had gone early enough to still get in, but, no. It had closed at 2:30. Apparently there are people here who will go fetch ‘listrik’ for you – for a price. I haven’t quite resorted to that yet, but I dislike going to get listrik. I never know if the office will be open or how long the line will be. The garage is hot, and the elevator to the garage is scarily temperamental. I would hate to get stuck in it! Also, my key is touchy. A few days after recharging once, my electricity was off when I got back to my apartment. Apparently there is a trick to making sure the meter is reading the key after recharging. Too bad I didn’t know that before all my food went bad.

Thanksgiving. Jenni was having a really bad week out in the field, so I suggested that we go to the Four Seasons (her favorite) for dinner Thanksgiving night. The idea was met with ecstatic agreement. The security at the Four Seasons was the most rigorous I have seen at any hotel or office building here, at least comparable to the U.S. Embassy. They had a nice, if small, buffet with turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, CORNBREAD stuffing (my favorite!), mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The yummy turkey, stuffing, and other fixin’s went nicely with a buttery Napa (read: American) chardonnay. It was a good chance to catch up on tales from the field and Deptan. Our Real Thanksgiving happened on the Saturday after the actual day. After all, the UN does not give us the day off to cook all those yummy foods that make the day special. We were invited to the lovely apartment of a young American couple the 3 FPFs had met. It turned out to be a very international party, with Canada and Israel also represented. I was tasked with making my family’s traditional cornbread stuffing and a cranberry pie that I like. Our hosts provided the turkey and a pumpkin pie. Jenni did the sweet potatoes, which were actually white, and Stacie did two “veggie” casseroles. [I say “veggie” because they contained vegetables but were far from healthy. Only yummy counts on Thanksgiving!] Chasing up stuff for cornbread was a chore, but eventually we found a mix. The stuffing was a bit dry but very satisfactory. Yea! My first time making it. J The pie crust got a bit dark in the oven, but the cranberry filling – made from dried, sweetened cranberries instead of fresh ones the recipe calls for – came out well. Many bottles of wine, lots of calories, and tons of good conversation later, we called it a very successful Thanksgiving.

Ciao! I'll get lots more beach photos to share...
E