Home Sweet Home. We're finally in our apartment. It is great to have a place to call home, athough it is shocking how little stuff we have to put in the apartment itself. We headed to the Carrefour and Ambassador shopping mall where all the deals are to be had. Carrrefour is like Target for Indonesia, there is pretty much nothing you cannot get and the Ambassador mall itself is more like a giant flea market, also where there is nothing you cannot get. Recommended any time you are looking to buy cell phones or DVDs, the Ambassador is a real shopping experience.

As it was a long day at work and we did not want cranky Haviva to surface, we started with dinner and then hit the Ambassador to pick up some DVDs. Our new apartment does have cable, but it also has a great surround sound system, so we thought it would be good to pick up some 60 cent dvds and curl up on the couch with a movie. Yes, you heard me right, 60 cents. Tables of DVD sellers line the mall and since the food court was on the top floor, we started there. But, alas, they wanted 70 cents at that table since their DVDs came in fancy boxes, so we headed back to the first floor where they were only 60 cents. You would not believe the amount of movies they have. Even things that have not come out yet in the theater, or just came out yesterday - The Departed, Borat, even that small independant movie about Jews and Passover that did not make a big splash in the US. Howie and I sifted through and decided to take advantage of the "Buy 10 get one free." We had chosen about 10 and the woman was playing them all in the DVD player for us to prove they worked (she was even so nice as to tell us what not to even bother buying because of thei poor quality...) About half way thru the process, she walks away and clearly is not helping us anymore. We look around....suddenly, no one is buying DVDs. The women behind the counter grab their bags and start to run. Still confused Howie and I stand there, holding about 8 DVDs that we have not paid for, but we know work. It was a raid. Undercover policemen starts dumping all the DVDs into big garbage bags and shooing people away. Deciding that Indonesian jail is not where we want to spend the night, we put the DVDs back and run upstairs, hoping the raid started on the first floor and they have not gotten to the upstairs tables yet. No such luck. The hundreds of DVDs we had seen only minutes before were all gone. People were just standing around, looking confused and, like us, wishing they had just taken what was in their hand and walked away....

All that excitement warrented a rootbeer float from A&W and we continued on to Carrefour to stock up for the apartment. We are still missing a few key items, but we are slowly making it home. We will post pictures soon.

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent ours at the American Club, a very nice social club in the compound where most US embassy staff live. They had a full spread complete with a big turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. Not quite homemade, but it did the trick. I don't think we've been gone long enough to really crave western food, but it was nice regardless. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and joined Haviva's family's Thanksgiving via webcam.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In a sudden wave of sentimentality, we decided we really wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving in Jakarta. Originally, we had hoped to have been moved into our apartment and we planned to cook on our own, but as that is not the case, we started our search for an American evening. Stumbling upon the "American Club" we asked about a Thanksgiving dinner, but we were sadly too late. It was all booked and there was no pity for the new people with no place to go. I left my cell phone in hopes for a cancellation. Feeling let down, we considered seeing a movie or going bowling as an alternative - doesn't get any more American than that, does it? - but in a wave of good luck, the American Club had an opening last minute and we are headed there this evening for a real American feast. Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and maybe we will even meet some other American's hanging out in this crazy city (probably pretending they are Canadian.) It will not be the same as home, but at least it should be an adventure.

We hope you all have a great holiday. Thinking of you!

Apartment update... We're still at the hotel for now, but have started the process of signing a lease. We found an amazing apartment in a very fancy, brand new building. It's only 2 miles from Haviva's office, which should mean that her commute will only be 30 or 40 minutes. We're hoping to move in on Thanksgiving Day, although the lease has a few interesting clauses that we're working on revising, so it could be delayed.

Rent in Indonesia is paid upfront for the year. Insane, right? Haviva's office is going to pay our rent for the year and then we'll pay them back monthly.

The biggest issue we have with the lease is the clause that says that if the apartment is damaged and we need to move out while repairs are being made then the lease is automatically extended rent-free for the period of time we are unable to live there. So, if we move in and there's an earthquake the next day and they have to rebuild the place then they'll keep our money and let us live there for a year after it is rebuilt. No thanks.

You may have heard that our esteemed president was in town the other day. He wasn't actually in Jakarta, but in Bogor, which is a few hours south of here. There were quite a few protests here in Jakarta, but they were very peaceful - mostly a few hundred students holding signs with pictures of Bush & a monkey and grammatically incorrect English slogans. I saw video on CNN that was taken about 10 minutes up the street from our hotel. We were tempted to go join them, but don't worry, we thought better of it.

One thing that we've found interesting is that Indonesians have no problem protesting against Bush, but are surprised that we don't like him either. They may have voted against their president in the last election here, but they won't tell you that and think it is strange that we're willing to say we didn't vote for Bush and don't support him.

Look kids... Big Ben...Parliament...

One of the things we heard most about Jakarta before coming was that it had the world's worst traffic. Hard to argue with that statement, really, but the craziest part might be the traffic pattern. They don't believe in the American-style "cloverleaf", where you can get off one divided road and onto the next in either direction. Here you can only get off in one direction, so you are constantly making u-turns and going in giant circles to get to the other side of the road. It's a bit disheartening when you get in a taxi and 20 minutes and a couple of miles later you are across the street from where you started.

Still can't say hello....

...but we can say "thank you" - Tri (pronounced tree with a rolled R) Makasi. For some reason Indonesian has been going in one ear and out the other, but we are hoping this one will stick.

We are still living in the hotel, but an apartment should be around the corner. We have almost settled on a very nice place, but when the contract came thru, Arleta, my Indonesian boss, told us we were getting ripped off. She has called a friend of hers who is a realtor, who thinks he can get us something cheaper...we are wondering where he was the past couple days as we dragged around in the heat looking at a billion apartments. But ,we are happy he has at least surfaced now. It seems to be par for the course here. Unlike in China where you had to beg not to helped going to the bathroom, here help needs to be asked for. Everyone has a friend who has a discount on this or that, but good luck finding that out unless you mention what you happen to need at that moment. Indonesians are a little less infatuated with the westerner and do not feel any need to coddle. We are a bit undecided about which lifestyle was better, but we are sure that we could use a little help. They think it is a riot thar we have not been able to buy cell phones yet, but god help us if we ever understand the sim card...do you know what a sim card is?

You cannot imagine the heat here. Secret claims to be ph balanced for a woman, but there should be a little note with that mentioning that woman does not live in a tropical climate with 12 million people.

For all you foodies out there, tonight was our first local meal. (that is the picture above) To give you some background, until now we have stuck to the local faves - mei goereng and nasi goereng, which is basically lo mein and fried rice. This is NOT because we are too chicken to eat something new, but these really are the local dishes. All Indonesian places seem to only have about 8 things on the menu and they are all slight variations on this same theme. Indonesians love their malls and, as we mentioned, it is HOT here so eating at the food court is where most people go. You still get local food, you just do not sweat as mch when you eat it. So, tonight was a grand seafood dinner. Everything is spicy and everything is delish. If you like sambal, this is the place for you and Howie ordered a young coconut with his meal that was not only refershing, but supposedly good for the stomach. Indonesians eat fast. Eating is for eating, not for socializing (socializing is for the hour cab ride it takes to get anywhere.) All in all, a great first experience and we are hoping someone will take us out again so we can eat more things outside a mall.

Goodnight for now.
Haviva and Howie

We have finally arrived!

We would say hello in Bahasa, but we do not know how to do that yet. The good news is that we are here safe and sound and sorry that we have not been in touch as we would have liked so far. Internet is spotty here in Indonesia and if it exists it seems to be slow. The plan was to "pop" into the office and get some emails out before we go apartment hunting today, but here everything takes longer than you expect so we will have to keep this short.

The trip was long....We somehow got delayed from Newark and that just set the long hours into motion. Missed our connection in Taipei (after what ended up being a 13 hour flight from Seattle) and had to connect to Bali and then Jakarta. An extra stop and a cruel joke to make the girl headed to work sit on a plane with honeymooners and vacationers, but our luggage made it somehow and our ride was even there to pick us up. I was quickly wisked back to the airport the next morning and left Howie to explore.

Work is actually good and I think I will enjoy this job, although it will not be an easy one. Howie found his way around Jakarta - a lot of shopping malls and traffic - and today we apartment hunt together. This place is crazy with really everything Western you can imagine. Hot and humid, but very exciting.

We promise more soon!!!
Haviva and Howie

The last goodbye....we promise!

Yup, this is it. The visa is almost complete, we actually have a flight, and althought the bags are not packed, we really are going this time. Leaving from Newark on the 13th at 11:15 PM and arriving on the 15th at 1:15 PM. Short flight. I emailed my office with the information about our arrival and they sent me my agena for the next couple weeks. Looks like I will get to rest the day we arrive, but the 16th I am flying to Medan (on the island of Sumatra) for an "emergency visit" to the Medan school. Your guess is as good as mine, although I have yet to see an emergency visit that is good news. I just hope they do not expect me to talk too much. Clearly these people have not met sleep deprived Haviva. Howie will be tasked with the job of finding us a place to live, although they were gracious enough to give me next Saturday off to check out some places....and catch up on some sleep.

For all of those who recommended we see Borat we go, it is on the agenda for Wednesday night. Sharon is firing up the grill and there are just a couple more goodbye for nows to go.

Freaking out a little. (okay, maybe a lot.) Excited, nervous, wondering what the heck we have gotten ourselves into and hoping I will be dressed right for my first business trip.

Next entry from somewhere that is not Hamden!