By Popular Demand

I have had a few people ask for an update from me. Here are some short tidbits:

GameSpot
I made my first trip to Pondok Indah mall. The highlight was going to the "GameSpot" store. They publish a magazine in the US so I thought they would be ok to buy from (real games). I found one I wanted for my Game Boy and asked what it cost. 115000. Ok, I will take it. It comes in a box! And it has an instruction manual! This would have cost me $20 in the US and I got it for $11.50. I tried it out in the store and it worked. It must be used like at GameStop in the US to sell for that price, I thought.

I told someone at work about my find and they said I bought a copy (a fake). No, it works, the box looks like a real box (even though some of the text is blurry), the instruction manual was... more of a blurb from a magazine than the real instruction manual, and.... Surely it was not a knock off. It was used, right. That night in the last dungeon of the game - POOF. I have never seen a Game Boy game lock up before. Hey, why won't this thing start up again! Argh, I did not even get to finish it. Don't call the cops on me.

In the Car
I have learned to read in the heavy and wind-y traffic of Jakarta. I have finished a book, read a number of technical papers, and even practiced for presentations (silently) in the car. Of course, sometimes I need the stress relief of a good video game. That is where my Gameboy comes in. Sorry, Mom and Dad for not growing out of that phase yet.

Little Pictures
Today I went to Basic Firefighting Training and basically learned to fight fires. I was supposed to bring 4 copies of my 2 cm X 3 cm picture. I gave them all to HR a few months ago. At class I learned of a Foto shop on my way back to Jakarta that could take the pictures and print them out in less than 30 minutes. I found the studio/film developer and told them what I needed. I sat down for a picture of me (after 5 hours in a hardhat) and my maroon shirt. Of course that coordinated well with my mandatory red background. After the pictures were taken, the camera guy showed me the digital prints and offered to crop them down to a headshot.

I was very satisfied and went downstairs to wait on the development. In about 15 minutes the lady brought me my pictures. Six copies of the tiny pictures they love in Indonesia so much. Plus one of those small CDs with the digital copies of the three shots they snapped of me. All for 25,000, or $2.50.

Respect for those Fasting
As Erin has mentioned we are in the middle of the (lunar) month of Ramadan. Muslims are to refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sex between the hours of 4 am and 6 pm. ConocoPhillips Indonesia sent out an e-mail to all the staff on how to be respectful of those fasting. These were things like: don't eat in the public places in the office, don't drink in the public places in the office, don't go down the hallway that has the office prayer room in it during Friday mid-day prayers, etc.

Of course, my office has to be the hottest one in the building. With the huge, hot computers we have running in my 20' X 20' area of cubicles (9 by my best count), the fact that the air vent above my cube does not blow air, and that I wear long sleeve shirts on occasion, I feel like it is always about 90 degrees. To be respectful I wait as long as possible to go get a drink. I drink it as fast as I can in the break room. I refill the cup, hide it in my hands, and walk as quick as I can back to my cube. I don't want to offend anyone or make them stumble from their fast.

And I am lucky I did not get in trouble that one Friday. I needed to work over lunch so I ran downstairs to get a pizza from a restaurant in the basement. I brought it back up to my desk and started eating. I heard a large number of folks walking past my area though I could not see them. Minutes later I heard from just down the hallway a large group of men going through their Friday prayers. I sure am glad I don't have to go through that to get to heaven.

Indonesian - Lesson 3
I have been through 3 lessons of Bahasa Indonesian.

Saya mau pergi ke Bali. I want to go to Bali.
Apa kabar. What's up. Literaly, what is the news.
Kabar biak. I'm good. Literaly, good news. That is the typical question here.
Selamat Pagi, Selamat Siang, Selamat Sore, and Selamat Malat. Good morning, Good 10 am to 3 pm, Good 3:30 pm to 6 pm, Good 6 pm up to and including midnight

PS
I sure am glad I don't live on the West Coast. You are now in range of North Korean nuclear missiles. Of course, the last time they tested the missile, it could not even go over Japan. But the bomb works! And don't feel too bad, Russia has had nuclear missiles pointed at you for close to 50 years now. I wonder if anyone bothers to point a nuclear missile at Indonesia?