Salamat Pagi!

My first day in Jakarta was about "administration" and all the "must do" tasks.

First, meeting my boss, David, and my co-workers in HKI; well, I really knew all of them already from my last year visit, so there was not a culture shock. It felt good to see them again, actually. I passed some "oleh-oleh" which means little gifts collected in my previous destinations (mostly in US and of course, some famous Czech wafers); this is a must do in Indonesian culture, little oleh-oleh. Then, with David we went through the work agenda and all info that I need to know - my address, phone number, HKI address, my doc's number, nearest liquer story number, McDonnalds number (you know that McD delivers in Indonesia 24/7, right?)....David draw me a map and at the end he tested me from the local geography. Well, no, he did not...(I would not remember it anyway), David seems to be a very nice guy, making a good boss (hmm...did i informed him about this blog, yet?). By noon time we were done, he went to a business lunch and I was heading toward the Czech embassy - across the city in the noon-day traffic (wiht help of HKI driver). Traffic. Yack.

Interestingly, I was a bit nervous how the embassy in Indonesia will look like, what kind of impression will it make on me. After all (you know, ALL....meaning my past), I always get some "deja vu" feelings and itchings when approaching the Czech embassy building in DC and it does not matter that the building itself is located in for centuries officially recognized democratic country - the building and all probably did not change much since before 1989 (you would not believe that, I hate to visit a restroom there and use a toilette paper - too strong memories of my childhood with a green toilette seat and...hmmm... a rough toilette paper, well and beyond that). But, to my pleasant surprise the embassy building was modern and bright, looking very positively (if building can possibly look like that), even though it did not change probably much since before 1989. It was just all locked up behind a tall fence and no one inside of the speaker-phone spoke Czech. It took (whoever) a while to make a decision about opening the gate for me, but I was invited in after all. Yay. Once I got in, I found that the receptionist who was Indonesian herself was making a long-moment judgement about letting me in and therefore, disrupting everyones - the entire embassy - lunch. But, hey foreigner lady on my-home soil, I am a Czech citizen in far away Indonesia and knocking on the Czech embassy's (MY embassy's) doors - and you don't even speak Czech! Plus, there is no information about holding lunch hours - not on the embassy's gate, not on the embassy's website. Sure, I understand that people who work at the Czech embassy need to have lunch, but...just damn say so, somewhere. Lucky for me, and them!, I came in about 10 mins 'til lunch-time over. Geeee...something is still same ol' same; as I said - I tend to get this deja vu feelings. The guy I met with after the not-official lunch break, who btw did not even tell me his name and title while there was an official introduction moment (and I meantioned who I am and why), was coming accross as a friendly one, yeah, he did (geeee..., but I was a dutiful citizen coming to give a report about her existence in estranged country!); he liked to be in Indonesia even though he knew about mosquitos and thefts in hotels; and I just hope that he was at least a bureaucrat of a higher rank and not ...a Czech cook working for the embassy. Back to HKI, across Jakarta - in afternoon traffic-jam. Hossana, hossana - I am not driving and this car has AC, the driver does not speak English and I Indonesian, good time to take a nap.

OK, the most important point of my upcoming agenda that David shared with me this morning was that I will be leaving Jakarta the very next day (March 18) @ 4am morning! I am going to Central Java, to a city named Jogja, for a little CLC - cultural and language colloquium. Meaning, I need to go back to my place and unpack and then pack again for my two weeks trip. Which I did. Because of my jet-lag symptoms, I knew I will be up all night....waiting for the drive to pick me up at dawn.

Meanwhile, I can tell you that I went also shopping already. After my arrival actually, HKI folks took me to local grocery store, called HERO (wonder why). One day, I will probably walk there by myself as it doesn't seem to be located far from my apt, at least, I hope I will be able to. So, it was Sunday afternoon and families went shopping. All white families. White dudes in shorts and sleevless shirts. Dad pushing a stroller. Little girl riding her first bike. I was thinking that I am actually somewhere in....hmmm...Georgetown, kind of? Well, I could be in Prague, too, I guess...only all the people spoke English. The store was nice and, as I was told, price-wise not really accessible to domestic shoppers. Hey, who could (and would!) afford to pay $6 for 1 kg (sorry, we are using metric system here) of rice labeled as "organic"! Folks from GT?! Glad that the organic products made it that far. Hmmm....wondering, what kind of rice is consumed by local people here - you know, the rice that they grew on their little rice fields?! Other than the rice, the store offeres all essential groceries that we are use to in the West. Most of them are actually imported from West (not sure, if I noticed Indonesian butter), even though, lots of the products come from neighborhood, Australia, too.
Oh, I wanted to mention that the area where I am staying in Jakarta (and where the HKI office is) has name Kemang; it is also where HERO is located. This area is the better one in Jakarta, place where the international community gathers - folks from NGOs or embassies - which also justify the crowd doing the Sunday shopping. Here is lots of galleries, modern and foreign cuisine restaurants and a famous liquer store with a great wine selection (run by a white dude who also, after tsunami disaster in 2004, opened smartly a branch in Sumatra - Aceh area, expecting lots of thirsty volunteers from the West).

The nearest topic to shopping is...hmmm... no, not the cart, but money. Time to talk money, Indonesian money. Indonesia is actually one of the few countries that left on the world, recently, where is still worth of having the US currency in your pocket. Yes, Indonesia is experiencing the weakening of the dollar, but not exactly in the exchange rate. 1 USD equals about 9,000 Rph (last year in October it was almost 10, 000 Rph). As you can notice, Indonesia is still dealing with inflation, aftermath of Asian financial crisis from a decado ago. Therefore, there is not a problem to spend 500 000 at HERO (but, you have a fully loaded shopping cart - if you are not buying the organic rice only). And, therefore, you are meeting a millionair - right now. Don't get dizzy. Yet, out of the practical reasons, could not they just cross some of the zerous at the end?

It is time to go, yet? I am ready, packed...and waiting for the driver. My ticket is for 6am, it is 4: 30am now and about one hour to the airport. Was the driver suppose to call me? Hmm....I figured out that he is already waiting outside since 4am. Dah. And I was waiting inside. Glad he did not leave.

Salamat pagi! Good morning!