Bali and Happy Halloween

Sunset view from the hotel bar "sunset bar" at about 6pm


View of the beach from the hotel (10am)

View from my balcony

We went to the airport on Friday for our flight to Bali leaving at 6:15pm. The flight was delayed by about two hours which totally stunk because Bali is also 1 hour ahead of Jakarta time and 12 hours ahead of DC time. So, I didn't end up getting to the hotel until after 11pm. We had some issues with the taxi but in the end didn't fight the $7 extra cab far. It was too late to bargain or fight. Friday was an exhausting day. We spent all day at two centers that work with children (street children and children at high risk of working in exploitive labor). We meet the center staff, parents and students. It was inspiring, fun, interesting, totally hot and utterly exhausting. You can imagine how annoyed, tired, and dirty I was when I arrived.

Children in a center for street children singing and playing guitar

However, once the taxi (finally) dropped me off I was in completely beautiful surroundings. My hotel is fabulous. When I got to the front desk they offered me a refreshing lime drink, the offered me a lower price than I had expected, and they upgrade me to a better room. Now I have the room one down from the presidential suite. Not bad! Plus they gave me free laundry service for 5 pieces which I was totally excited about (sad but true).

Breakfast area

My room is great. I have two bathrooms, a nice king bed, a living room and a dining area. I have an enormous balcony and wish my family were here so we could stay in Bali forever. I showered and slept well and got up on Saturday morning at about 8am. I went to breakfast and had an amazing breakfast with the best Mango, loads of other fruit and guava juice. Some of the fruit I had never scene before and it was quiet fun! After breakfast, I went to the beach and sat on the beach for a few hours and swam in the Indian Ocean. I never thought I would swim in the Indian Ocean. After hanging out on the beach I went to the hotel pool and stayed for a couple more hours, had some lunch and a dip in the pool. The sun is so hot here. I got burned. I have to stay out of the sun tomorrow. After the pool I went to the spa and had coconut scub, flower bath, and balinese massage. It was so fantastic. I went to my room and just vegged out on my bed so relaxed and calm.

Swimming pool

Another sunset view

Not wanting to miss the sunset I forced myself out of bed (at 5pm) and went to the sunset bar. I had a Bintang Beer and watched the sunset. It was quiet romantic, missing Jason and the boys but absolutely beautiful. When I asked for a table the waiter said, "Are you alone?" like what's wrong with you. I proudly said "yes" and we talked for a bit. I finished my beer and now I am sitting in the hotel's cafe that has free wireless and watching soccer on ESPN. I am debating going shopping this evening but to be perfectly honest I think I am just going to go back to my room, lay in bed, and read. I am reading the last book in the twilight series. hoo-hah!

Tomorrow, I have another appointment for the spa (you really can't beat it), then I think I will hang at the pool a bit and then shower, check out of my room at 2pm and then maybe do a little shopping. The spas are great here. They are not cheap at the nice hotels like mine but quite a bit cheaper than at home. You can go to some smaller places and get a massage for like 5 bucks but that's not very convenient and I don't know how much I trust the cleanliness with those places. I'm sure it's great but whatever.

Sadly, our flight leaves at 8pm to go back to Jakarta. After that we head three days to Aceh in the northern part of the island. I may not have internet connect there but let's see.

Happy Halloween Aidan and Leo. I hope you have a good time trick or treating. Save some candy for me and the good candy! Not just the kind you don't like. I can't wait to see snake eyes and buzz lightyear holma!

Miss you and love you lots. On Monday, Grandma Joan and Grandpa Russ come to visit you. They will be so excited to see you! I hope you have lots fun. See if Grandpa Russ can help you learn how to ride your bike, Aidan without the training wheels! Leo be sure to show Grandma Joan your collection of bats.

Love,

Momma

Thursday: Meetings Inspiring

Can you guess where I am? Keep reading...

Today we had more meetings. This email will be quick because I have to pack for Bali. We are leaving straight from our site visits tomorrow. There is a slight change in plans for Bali. I was planning on travelling with someone but as it turns out we have different expectations for our trip. She is looking for cheap $12/night villa and I am looking for Spa and Luxury (D and Becs keep it to yourself). We are flying together but then splitting up. C'est la Vie.

Today we had meetings to disucss our project. These are three girls who were rescued by our projects from trafficking. They have amazing stories and happily they are going to middle school now. They are all beautiful. The picture below is of a young man who was working as a child in the footware industry in the early 2000's. He was working in dark, dusy and hazardous conditions and he is now at the University. He is also an artist and a writer. He was doodling a beautiful drawing on a piece of paper and I asked him if I could keep it and he said "yes". It was significant to me because he was doodling the name of my office. They are all really special kids.

Our meetings were being held at another government office and they had the same kind of toilet I wrote about earlier. This time I took a picture. I had to use the bathroom so I tried it out. I am just no good at this. It was disgusting and a mess and I won't say anymore about that! You squat down and pee in that hole and then use the water in the bucket to flush it down. The whole floor is wet and messy. Uck!

After our meetings ended at about 5pm today we went back to the office with the driver. We decided to go out to dinner with a colleague and on our way he stopped off at Obama's elementary school. It was great. There is a plaque right outside the building, you can see it on the left. The school is beautiful and really well kept for the visitors/tourists I'm sure. In one of the classrooms I peaked in they had a huge movie sized poster of Obama right in the middle of the class. It was really fun.

Bec's this is for Jake. He will be happy to know that Chili's is in Jakarta. Isn't that crazy. They are also really BIG on dunkin donuts. The shops are EVERY WHERE. I think they have more dunkin donuts than Boston. They also have oddly KFC and Tony Roma's. Wierd right?

Surprise: Aidan and Leo

Hi Aidan and Leo. I have hidden a surprise for you in the house. You have to follow these directions to find your surprise: Good Luck, and Have Fun.

Start: Stand in the middle of the kitchen with your pinky finger on the freezer door handle.
1) Walk to the living room and look under the couch. Not there?
2) Walk down stairs to the basement
3) Go into the bedroom in the basement
4) Stand in front of the mirrors
5) Turn around 3 times
6) Run upstairs to mommy and daddy's room
7) Look in Daddy's dresser to find your surprise

I hope you love it.

I love and miss you so much!

Wednesday: Down Pour

This morning I got up at 6am and went to the gym. They have an awesome gym with individual TVs for every machine. I did the eliptical machine for 30 minutes and then went to the whirpool which is only luke warm and then into the steam room which was hot, hot, hot!

We had a breakfast meeting this morning at 9am and then we left for a meeting in Bandung at noon. We thought it would take no more than two hours but the traffick here sucks so we got there an hour later which was fine. We had no role in the meeting and just went to hear what other were doing on trafficking. Bandung is a bit up in the mountains and we had a down pour. We were drive in the back roads trying to find the hotel that was hosting the meeting and water was gushing down the road like an active river. Imagine a DC rain storm with 3 more feet of water. I thought our car was totally going to get stuck. We were in a small SUV so the water came up to my car door. A little car had water half way up the door and some people were riding on motorcycles soaked and stuck! It was crazy. I was a little nervous we would get stuck and I would have to get out in the gushing river but we didn't and once we got to the hotel the rain stopped. On our way from Jakarta to Bandung we saw a lot of tea plantations and rubber trees. It was interesting.

The meeting was fine. We had dinner at the hotel of the meeting with some colleagues and drove home at 8pm. We arrived back at the hotel at 10:30pm. It was a long day so I am off to take my nyquil read some breaking down and catch some zzzz's..... We bought our tickets to Bali today and now we just have to figure out where we want to stay.

Love you all.

Tuesday: More Meetings

This morning I went down to breakfast at 7:00am. After taking some Nyquil I slept great and woke about at about 6:00am. I promised I would take a picture of these beautiful juices. They thought I was crazy but it is such a beautiful rainbow of colors. I had my usual american breakfast of coffee, juice, eggs, toast but today I tried a few indonesia dishes. One was noodles with eggs, carrots and cabbage. The other was fried rice. It is so weird (to me) to eat these foods at breakfast. I'm hoping at some time I become a little more adventurous and have the Udon noodle soup for breakfast!

Orange, watermelon, honey dew, pineapple and cucumber juices.

View from the ILO offices on the 22nd floor.

We left at 8:00am for our meeting at 9am. We didn't want to be late and figured it would take 30 minutes to get there at the most. We were going to the same place as yesterday but we didn't really pay attention yesterday to where we went because we travelled with a person we work with who lives in Indonesia. We had an address from an invitation we received and we did not realize it had changed. So we went to the wrong building. When we got inside they didn't speak English so they found someone in the Ministry that did. She told us they have another building and we needed to take a taxi there (our taxi driver left already). So she took us to the street hailed a taxi and she gave hime directions. She was so NICE and KIND! Finally we arrived to the right building 45 minutes later and 25 minutes late! But as it turned out everyone was slow today and the meeting had not even started. I was to present first so it was a bit of a stress but the presentation went fine. My presentation had to be translated into Bahasa Indonesia (which is the local language) and that was interesting. The meeting went fairly well and after my presentation I didn't feel like I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

We had about 8 minutes to eat lunch before we raced off to another meeting. This time we (directionally challenged) got to take the ILO car to the ILO offices so we didn't get lost. Again, the presentation went fairly well (no hiding) and the meeting was really worth while and interesting. I was sure if yesterday's meeting was worth us attending but today I thought was interesting and great.

View of housing area out of ILO 22nd floor offices.

After we left the ILO we walked down the street lined with trees (vertical line of trees) to our hotel. It was an interesting walk through a neighborhood. There was lots of little food stands. I'm extremely skeptical about the food in these stands so I have never had anything. There was also lots of garbage every where, dirt and dust. Some of the homes on these streets were actually pretty beautiful thought with stained glass windows. While we were walking there was a call to prayer and people were walking, bicycling, and motorbiking to the mosque.

When we got back to the hotel, I went for a dip in the pool sorry for the night time picture. There were bats flying low to the water which kind of creeped me out so I didn't stay in the water too long. After that I went to the hot pool and then the sauna. I showered in the gym and came back up to my room and decided to stay in. I feel exhausted. So I order room service and am going to read, relax and watch Thomas Crowne Affair in bed. Tomorrow we have a breakfast meeting and then we have rented a car to travel to Bandung for a meeting.

You may not get a post from me tomorrow but let's see.

Love you!

A night time view of the pool.

Monday Meetings

This is a view at 7am from the hotel lounge.

Well today is Monday. I have to work.

We spent the day at a Minstry. They kindly agreed to host the meeting. The night before I went to bed at 12:30am and woke up at 2:30am wide awake(because remember according to my body it is about 2:30 in the afternoon). My alarm went off at 5:30 right before I started to dose off. I literally think that I got 2 hours and 10 minutes of sleep last night. I was exhausted at the meetings today. They asked me at the last minute if I would like to speak. Would I like to speak? Of course not! but I did. I think my voice quivered. I hate that. It looks so amateurish but I'm trying not to dwell on it. I have to give two presentations tomorrow. I hate it but I suppose if I were trying to see bright side, it does give me more experience which certainly can't hurt.

Just one quick comment about toilets. I promise to sneak a picture tomorrow. In the government office they have 3 stalls: one stall with a toilet and a bucket of water with a ladle, one stall where you stand up and crouch to pee with a bucket of water and a ladle, and one shower area. I can't imagine anyone showering. All of these with NO toilet paper. I guess its bring your own (byotp). I couldn't do the stand up one I just don't have good aim to not pee all over my clothes. I ended up going to the first stall with toilet and ladling water down until the toilet "flushed". Also there was a toilet in the meeting room with a toilet seat and toilet paper which I used a couple times during the day but it just seemed so weird peeing in the meeting room which is why I looked for other toilets. In the afternoon I tried this toilet but I'm not sure people know exactly how to use a toilet with a toilet seat because they had taken this shower hose thing and sprayed the whole toilet and the toilet paper. It was so gross. Apparently, the stand up toilets are just "what they do". Even with all the money they would choose a stand up toilet. Whatever!

So after work, I went down to the Spa for a pedicure. It was great. Here is a picture. Afterwards, I went to the pool - OMG! The pool is awesome. I am so going there tomorrow. Aidan and Leo, you would LOVE it. It is ginormica with a fountain, fake rocks, trees, etc. I didn't have my camera but I will take a picture tomorrow. The pool is amazing.

Cool color right? I never get anything but pink. I'm all crazy!

I have to study my presentation so I am off to bed.

Love and miss you guys!

Insanely long flight: Arrive Jakarta

Depart: Washington DC 6:00am Friday

Arrive: JFK 7:05am

Depart: JFK 10:05am

Arrive: Honk Kong 2:05 pm Saturday

Depart: Hong Kong 4:00pm

Arrive: Jakarta 7:40pm

I left our house on Friday morning at 3:50am: an obscenely early time. I am travelling with a colleague and meet her at the gate at about 4:50am after checking in and going through security. We left for JFK airport on a small, small, small plane that only had 3 seats across. I hate those planes. We got a little breakfast and coffee and got on another airplane headed to Honk Kong. The plane was terribly crowded with lots and lots of screaming babies. The pilot announced that the flight time would be 15 hours and 40 minutes. Are you freaking kidding me???? How could anyone possibly survive on an airplane for that long?

The plane I was on (Cathay Pacific) had over 100 movies! I watched 5 movies: angels and demons (ok), the proposal (really good), the hangover (good but a little dark), and some other movie but can't remember it was from the "recent hits" list of movies. I also watched a few episodes of friends. I ate 3 meals worth of airline food-ugh!! I slept maybe 2 hours and that is generous.

Once we arrived in Hong Kong, I had a cappuccino at starbucks in the airport and then I got on another 4 hour flight to jakarta. I know you are thinking to yourself "how did she get on another plane?" Believe me, I was thinking the same thing myself.

When we arrived in Jakarta someone was waiting for us and took us to the hotel. We are staying in a great hotel. Here are a couple of pictures.

The main entrance to to the hotel

The view out of my room. I am on the 14th floor.

My bathroom. I have a separate bathtub, shower and toilet.

My bedroom. Sorry about the mess. I didn't feel like picking up to take a picture.

When we arrived at the hotel, I took a fantastic hot shower, called home, unpacked my suitcase and went to bed. I requested a wake up call at 9:30am. I slept fabulously and didn't wake up until the phone rang. I went downstairs to the delicious breakfast. They had beautiful juices, cucumber, pineapple, watermelon, honeydew melon, and orange. It is a beautiful rainbow of colors...I'll take a picture tomorrow. For breakfast they had american, european and traditional breakfast with udon noodles, fried rice, dumplings and other food we would typically eat for dinner. I had an omelet, croissant and cheese and watermelon and pineapple juice and cappuccino.

After breakfast, we took a taxi to find a shopping center. We arrived at an indoor mall but that didn't look any different from our malls. They had nine west shoes, perfumes and soaps like you would find in american malls. On the third floor though we found this fantastic market with lots of handicrafts. They have this coffee (kopi luwak) that is supposed to be a delicacy. It is made from feeding coffee beans to a cat like animal and they poop it out and they use that to grind the beans. No kidding. It is poop coffee and it is $150 for a small little container (like a quarter of a pound, maybe less). I found a few really fun things, we had coffee (normal coffee) and then we decided to take a bus to another part of town. The bus was an adventure but we did great.

The other part of town was really poor, dirty and there was not much to do so we decided to get a snack (dumplings and lumpia), a beer (bintang) and water. After walking around that area a little I felt like I had spent three years sucking down exhaust, smoke and pollution. It was terrible. We took a taxi back to the hotel. To be honest there is not a lot to see in Jakarta. Indonesia is supposed to be (and I am sure it is) a beautiful country with amazing snorkling, volcano areas, white sandy beachers, birds of paradise, komodo drangons and beautiful hiking areas. It's just that Jakarta has really nothing to see.

At the hotel I had a hot stone massage, went shopping the amazing mall connected to our hotel and then came back around 9pm, ordered room service and here I am.

Tomorrow we have a meeting at 7am? Who planned that?!?! not me, believe me!