I heart NIKE

Ok so by the end of July things started to get a LITTLE better :) The embassy put on a tour to NIKE. I was excited to get out of Jakarta and head to Tangerang for the day.

I jumped on a bus with a lot of randoms from the Embassy and we traveled the 2 hours to Tangerang.  It was nice to see open land, fields, and the SKY!


The NIKE manufacturer hired a professional photographer to take pics of the event which was nice and a little AWKWARD.....................you will see.

Yep that's me eating.

Yep, that's me eating more

We began the visit with some traditional Indonesian food. It was pretty good and I didn't even get sick! Then they had a presentation about the factory and the manufacturer.

Then the TOUR began! Yep that's me

Yep that's me listening to the vice president telling me how shoes are made.

Yep that's me. Holding the completed product

Yep that's me. Talking to the Pres and Vice Pres about my future with NIKE

That's the crowd. US embassy and NIKE representatives.

All in all it was a GREAT visit. I will NEVER look at shoes the same way. I would like to give a shout out to NIKE for stepping it up. That was by far the BEST factory I have been to. The only weird thing was the photographer......

I'll show YOU a Giblet

DO NOT BE ALARMED

 You are looking at the Innards, Giblets, and/or other visceral organs of a chicken.

If you are interested in consuming gizzard, heart and liver this is the stick for you. However, I was delt the short - nasty end of the stick on this one if you know what I mean. 

After the 4th fiasco I told myself I just needed to try harder to adapt and learn more about my surroundings. Soooooooooo, I took the initiative to learn some Bahasa phrases so I could order some local goods. They have a plethora of local street vendors near our apartments just past this mosque.

which look like this

Well if you can add, you can figure out this equation. Yep. I ordered correctly but overall FAILED. I showed Richard my poor excuse purchase of Satay Ayam :(




Aside from the local Indonesians taking advantage of me, the "Bule" (white person), I did take notice of the activity in the local cemetery from our balcony.

For many of the world's hundreds of millions of Muslims, Eid al-Fitr(Holiday) begins with a cemetery visit to pay respects to ancestors. 

 Cars backed up for MILES and MILES to get to the cemetery.

GoodBYE honeymoon phase!

As July crept up on me I felt this overwhelming feeling of panic.  It was the realization that my family and I were going to be staying IN Jakarta for a long time.  24 months.....(longer than 2 pregnancies.... how long it took me to complete graduate school.......730 days........ or even a two year prison sentence like this crazy guy)....yes this really happened.

Man accused of renting out foreclosed homes gets 2 years! SEATTLE -- The man accused of stealing from banks, homeowners and a loan processing center by illegally taking over foreclosed homes is heading to prison.

Although I don't really see living in JKT as a prison sentence, the honeymoon phase of living here is over.  It was fun while it lasted!    

VIEWER Discretion Advised: 3 or more posts may seem pessimistic, glum,Debbie downer like, and even discouraging.

July 4th 2013

What were you doing on July 4th?  Were you Going to parades, bbq's, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, games, family reunions? or were you attending Public or private functions celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the GREAT U.S.of A? 

It might have looked something like this:

 Wanting to make plans and execute a function just does not seem possible here in Jakarta. Why? Because 1) The amount of human beings that live here 2) the decreased Sanitation 3) Sometimes you can find a good taxi sometimes you can not 4) Weather is unpredictable 5) If you want something Exported items are ridiculously expensive 6) traffic congestion.  

TO make a really long story short I will explain how a friend of ours was hosting a 4th of July party. She asked me to take care of the decorations, making it look nice etc.

However, 3 days and 13.5 hours later :
I was only able to gather a couple items.  balloons: FAILED colored paper: FAILED
ribbon: FAILED, candles: FAILED, red-white-and blue sweet nothings: FAILED  You think you dislike Walmart? So did I until I literally went to 9 different places for the few things I found. With some magic and luck I obtained SOME decorative things....homemade banner, centerpieces, bags, oh and even fireworks. 

Indonesia though, was doing everything in its power to not allow us a nice simple dinner party for OUR day. That night it became windy, so we moved everything indoors. Then setting up my banner took 2 hours all because of tape. A simple roll of decent tape! That is all I was asking. Then.... the balloons did not make it to the party because traffic was way too bad and they wouldn't be able to make it. Then it rained, and rained, and rained which meant no fireworks. I tried America. I really did. 

Even though we were not able to have the traditional Independence day with a parade, bbq, and fireworks, we were in good company. We also made a very memorable FIRST 4th of July in Indonesia.

Although the little details of dinner did not pan out I was with the most important people in my life. All happy and smiling none the less :)