This and that

Thank goodness for fruit. Just a note of what I currently have in house.  Apple, papaya, watermelon, mangosteen ( not to be confused with mango), star fruit, pear, mandarin orange, grapes, snake fruit, banana, not to mention lemons and limes.

An update on the rainy season.  It hasn't been too bad.  It never rains all day and almost never in the morning.  When it rains, it's usually between 3 and 6 pm and it can pour.  It rained so hard on Dec. 24 that we thought we might have to cancel our Christmas Eve plans.  Since we are up high we can see the flooding down below us (there are two areas that always flood) and we can watch the cars md motorcycles trying to drive through those areas.  Shortly after the rains stop the water all drains away. The biggest impact it has on us is that we sometimes hesitate to walk to the mall for dinner as we don't want to get stuck.  It's such a short way that a taxi would balk at driving us.  But overall, not much of a problem.

An acquaintance of mine (American)had a very unfortunate experience.  She works for the consulate as public affairs officer.  On dec. 26, there was a news article about her on the front page of the (national)Jawa Pos newspaper.  It seems she had reported her boyfriend(indonesian)to the police for taking money from her bank account by ATM.  All the messy details were there and he was detained for questioning.  It seems so un- newsworthy except for her position.  How would you like to lose your money (3500), your boyfriend, and your privacy, all in one fell swoop.  Ouch!

At the consulate Christmas party, Tom met rectors of many universities.  Presidents of universities are called rectors here.  He exchanged business cards with many of them and he has already visited one of them called Narotama.  They wanted  him to give a talk on global warming and mentioned something about a conversational Enlish class.  Well, THE VERY NEXT day there was a picture of him meeting with the rector, and a news article about him being a Fulbright Scholar, etc., on their website front page.  Although it was in Indonesian, I could figure out that they sort of implied he was at that university and mentioned his upcoming talk and also said tht he was "helping" them set up a conversational English program.  Pretty audacious.  They are not a top tier school, but are pioneering a lot of unusual things like an evening degree program and are becoming known for having a "paperless" campus.

It's now dec. 30 and New Years Eve approaches.  It is a very big deal here.  There are two events here at the hotel.  The rooftop restaurant has a special meal for $55 each- no booze included.  And there will be a party around the pool called Wet 'n Wild.   It's a barbecue meal and entertainment including a "sexy dancer".  We have decided to have a quiet meal at home and are splurging on a bottle of wine( a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for $38).  Then we will go out on our balcony and watch the pool party directly below us.  Also people have said it is wise to stay home as There is a tradition of teenagers riding their motorbikes around wildly and creating traffic havoc.  I've heard they even sometimes take their clothes off.  And all this without alcohol!

I shall report back.