Ohmygoddidyouseethat?
Omygoddidyouseethat?
September 25, 2004
I just realized recently that we have been in Southeast Asia for a long time. The “OOH, AH” factor died out long ago. This I know from the new arrival of Rob, a nice American, fresh in from Boston. He is one of the new teachers at the school this year and every time I go out with him and his seasoned traveler wife, Laurel, we are both amazed by his view of the world. He sees EVERYTHING!
Just yesterday, during a ride back from the drivers license bureau (a story in itself), Rob noticed the following phenomena: we were inching along in highway traffic and suddenly a man crossed multiple lanes of the highway, with a tray full of eggs. Rob could not believe his eyes. I, hardened woman that I am, did not even notice…of course people around here roam the highways in traffic. They are hard at work, earning money selling water, peanuts….eggs..
Then further on down the road, we were inching along under the highway, and we saw a man on a motorcycle with two car size tires around his waist. I am really glad Rob pointed that one out, because it was the first time I’d seen that. The guy must have stepped into the two tires, pulled them up around his waist, climbed onto his cycle and motored off.
Then, moments later, Rob exclaimed, “No way, did you see that!? That guy just jumped off the bus in moving traffic?” Yeesh! Tell me something I haven’t seen thousands of times. Busses never actually stop here, and there have not been doors on the public busses since they were built, say 15-20 years ago. The only way to get on or off is to jump when the bus goes slowly enough not to get you injured.
The third phenomenon was something I was told about. Another amazing motorcycle sighting: this one had two guys on the motorcycle: as extra passengers they had tied three live, bleating, angry sheep onto the vehicle. Two were fighting to get out from between the men and the third one sat in front of the driver, while the guy tried to maneuver through nasty village traffic.
Finally, I offer a snapshot of the drivers license bureau: about 8 of us went down to get our licenses. We paid BIG bucks (about $10 each) to have a guy go with us and help facilitate the chore. So we sat around, and moved from window to window while he delivered papers, and yelled at the men doing their jobs. It took an unprecedented 60 minutes only from start to finish. Amazing. But even more amazing was that no one asked any of us if we had existing licenses from our home countries. It appears that if you have the money, and perhaps a white face around here, you can just get whatever you demand.
The nastiest thing about the drivers license bureau were the rows of pictures depicting injured victims of car accidents. From far away they looked like food offerings from a Chinese restaurant – you know how they show you the pictures of the food, so you know what to order? But as you got close, you realize they are pictures of smashed heads, bloodied limbs and other assorted broken body parts. I guess this is meant as a last ditch effort to make one rethink getting on the roads around here. By the way, did I mention that none of the motorcycle drivers here wear helmets? Life in Asia is far less precious a commodity that it is in the West. Sad, but true.
One of these days I will write about the beautiful sights of Indonesia, but I have not yet encountered one, living here in Jakarta… this morning we woke up and discovered a pile of mosquito netting and some of the rubber edging around the screen door on the floor near the kitchen door. In our house, we actually have a screen door and a wooden door, separating the living area from the kitchen. It became clear that a rodent of some size had eaten through the rubber edging and the mosquito netting, and attempted, unsuccessfully to scratch his way through the wooden door into the kitchen. The most disturbing part was that this creature was chewing FROM our living area. How the heck did he get in? We searched all possible entries and sure enough – next to the front door, he must have pried open a section of door which was a bit loose, chewed through the screen and entered the house. After cruising around, and unsuccessfully exiting, he found another screen to chew through and escaped through a cantilevered window. So now the mosquito infestation becomes secondary to rat proofing our happy home. Luckily, due to aircon and mosquitoes, we always sleep with our doors shut, so wandering rodents will not be able to visit my sleeping beauties.
And finally, to end on an upbeat note: a tale or two about those beauties. Sam and Sophia have been watching inordinately large amounts of TV as of late, in part, I think, because their toys are still locked in storage in Manila. Yesterday, however, after a marathon bout of vapid cartoons, I implored Sam to turn off the nasty machine and play a game with me, and he said: But mom, I don’t want to have to think.” Ah! Four years old and he already knows that TV is mind-dumbing machine.
At a bit over four, these are some of the cool things Sam can do: he can whip my butt in UNO, he can do an array of jig saw puzzles, he does flips (and has for months now) into the swimming pool, plus he can now dog paddle the entire length of the school pool. Just the other day he managed to climb the entire height of the climbing wall at school, and he is a great “goalier” when we play floor hockey in the gym.
He can write an m and M and r and R and explain how it is done. And finally, he is learning some Indonesian, and shouts out “Selamat Pagi” to all he sees each morning as we walk to school. Good stuff.
Sophia, on the other hand, in the depths of toddlerdom, has a wicked pout when she does not get her way. She and I go head to head on who can come up with a bigger pout, complete with crossed arms and loud “harrumphs!”. Physically, she is doing great – she tries to keep up with Sam and is becoming a fast runner, is working on her flips – she stands on the headboard of our bed and tries to hurl herself over onto the bed. At the moment it looks like a fast summersault, but given a few more weeks of practice, I think she’ll start getting some air!
She, too, is learning Indonesian. I dread the day she begins to speak better than I do! Some of her favorite foods are a “wamwish” which means, licking butter off of a piece of toast, “chicken on the bone”, which shows her cannibalistic side, and hard boiled eggs! Sam is just starting to eat vegetables – he seems willing to do many things if I tell him it will make me proud of him – is that considered child abuse?
As for me and Jared, he is discovering golf again. A game of nine holes can take up to 6 or 7 hours, as the travel time to and from the course can be a bit unruly. I am making do with running and have recently started heading up Wednesday night community nights, during which time we play badminton. I brazenly challenged ANYONE in the upper school to beat me, so I am hoping for a decent game one of these nights. So far, I am undefeated.
It is election day here in Jakarta, and we have no school. I have saved a mountain of work for this day, so I better get to it!
Until next time, CHEERS!
Mimi
September 25, 2004
I just realized recently that we have been in Southeast Asia for a long time. The “OOH, AH” factor died out long ago. This I know from the new arrival of Rob, a nice American, fresh in from Boston. He is one of the new teachers at the school this year and every time I go out with him and his seasoned traveler wife, Laurel, we are both amazed by his view of the world. He sees EVERYTHING!
Just yesterday, during a ride back from the drivers license bureau (a story in itself), Rob noticed the following phenomena: we were inching along in highway traffic and suddenly a man crossed multiple lanes of the highway, with a tray full of eggs. Rob could not believe his eyes. I, hardened woman that I am, did not even notice…of course people around here roam the highways in traffic. They are hard at work, earning money selling water, peanuts….eggs..
Then further on down the road, we were inching along under the highway, and we saw a man on a motorcycle with two car size tires around his waist. I am really glad Rob pointed that one out, because it was the first time I’d seen that. The guy must have stepped into the two tires, pulled them up around his waist, climbed onto his cycle and motored off.
Then, moments later, Rob exclaimed, “No way, did you see that!? That guy just jumped off the bus in moving traffic?” Yeesh! Tell me something I haven’t seen thousands of times. Busses never actually stop here, and there have not been doors on the public busses since they were built, say 15-20 years ago. The only way to get on or off is to jump when the bus goes slowly enough not to get you injured.
The third phenomenon was something I was told about. Another amazing motorcycle sighting: this one had two guys on the motorcycle: as extra passengers they had tied three live, bleating, angry sheep onto the vehicle. Two were fighting to get out from between the men and the third one sat in front of the driver, while the guy tried to maneuver through nasty village traffic.
Finally, I offer a snapshot of the drivers license bureau: about 8 of us went down to get our licenses. We paid BIG bucks (about $10 each) to have a guy go with us and help facilitate the chore. So we sat around, and moved from window to window while he delivered papers, and yelled at the men doing their jobs. It took an unprecedented 60 minutes only from start to finish. Amazing. But even more amazing was that no one asked any of us if we had existing licenses from our home countries. It appears that if you have the money, and perhaps a white face around here, you can just get whatever you demand.
The nastiest thing about the drivers license bureau were the rows of pictures depicting injured victims of car accidents. From far away they looked like food offerings from a Chinese restaurant – you know how they show you the pictures of the food, so you know what to order? But as you got close, you realize they are pictures of smashed heads, bloodied limbs and other assorted broken body parts. I guess this is meant as a last ditch effort to make one rethink getting on the roads around here. By the way, did I mention that none of the motorcycle drivers here wear helmets? Life in Asia is far less precious a commodity that it is in the West. Sad, but true.
One of these days I will write about the beautiful sights of Indonesia, but I have not yet encountered one, living here in Jakarta… this morning we woke up and discovered a pile of mosquito netting and some of the rubber edging around the screen door on the floor near the kitchen door. In our house, we actually have a screen door and a wooden door, separating the living area from the kitchen. It became clear that a rodent of some size had eaten through the rubber edging and the mosquito netting, and attempted, unsuccessfully to scratch his way through the wooden door into the kitchen. The most disturbing part was that this creature was chewing FROM our living area. How the heck did he get in? We searched all possible entries and sure enough – next to the front door, he must have pried open a section of door which was a bit loose, chewed through the screen and entered the house. After cruising around, and unsuccessfully exiting, he found another screen to chew through and escaped through a cantilevered window. So now the mosquito infestation becomes secondary to rat proofing our happy home. Luckily, due to aircon and mosquitoes, we always sleep with our doors shut, so wandering rodents will not be able to visit my sleeping beauties.
And finally, to end on an upbeat note: a tale or two about those beauties. Sam and Sophia have been watching inordinately large amounts of TV as of late, in part, I think, because their toys are still locked in storage in Manila. Yesterday, however, after a marathon bout of vapid cartoons, I implored Sam to turn off the nasty machine and play a game with me, and he said: But mom, I don’t want to have to think.” Ah! Four years old and he already knows that TV is mind-dumbing machine.
At a bit over four, these are some of the cool things Sam can do: he can whip my butt in UNO, he can do an array of jig saw puzzles, he does flips (and has for months now) into the swimming pool, plus he can now dog paddle the entire length of the school pool. Just the other day he managed to climb the entire height of the climbing wall at school, and he is a great “goalier” when we play floor hockey in the gym.
He can write an m and M and r and R and explain how it is done. And finally, he is learning some Indonesian, and shouts out “Selamat Pagi” to all he sees each morning as we walk to school. Good stuff.
Sophia, on the other hand, in the depths of toddlerdom, has a wicked pout when she does not get her way. She and I go head to head on who can come up with a bigger pout, complete with crossed arms and loud “harrumphs!”. Physically, she is doing great – she tries to keep up with Sam and is becoming a fast runner, is working on her flips – she stands on the headboard of our bed and tries to hurl herself over onto the bed. At the moment it looks like a fast summersault, but given a few more weeks of practice, I think she’ll start getting some air!
She, too, is learning Indonesian. I dread the day she begins to speak better than I do! Some of her favorite foods are a “wamwish” which means, licking butter off of a piece of toast, “chicken on the bone”, which shows her cannibalistic side, and hard boiled eggs! Sam is just starting to eat vegetables – he seems willing to do many things if I tell him it will make me proud of him – is that considered child abuse?
As for me and Jared, he is discovering golf again. A game of nine holes can take up to 6 or 7 hours, as the travel time to and from the course can be a bit unruly. I am making do with running and have recently started heading up Wednesday night community nights, during which time we play badminton. I brazenly challenged ANYONE in the upper school to beat me, so I am hoping for a decent game one of these nights. So far, I am undefeated.
It is election day here in Jakarta, and we have no school. I have saved a mountain of work for this day, so I better get to it!
Until next time, CHEERS!
Mimi
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