Returning to US

In the few areas I've injected myself, I'm already seeing positive results. My message has been clear, understood, and, it appears, accepted. The true test is what happens when I am gone for a month - do we revert back, or do we continue improving and maintain the same focus. My experience these last few weeks is encouraging to me for my assignment. When I first discussed this role with my management, I believed I had to come here and rebuild an engine. Thankfully, that is not the situation. Instead, I feel more like the expert mechanic called in to make minor adjustments to extract those last few horsepower from the engine. We do not need to make significant changes here, just minor tweaks.

The last few days have been sunny with partly-cloudy skies. This afternoon was a torrential down pour. When I looked out my office window this afternoon, I felt something was missing. I realized the brown cloud I typicall associate with Jakarta was not there. I don't know if I am now acclimated to the pollution, or if the rainy season minimizes the pollution, or if it's actually less than normal. I realize, however, that I never really felt like I could taste pollution when I breathed, or see it in the air this whole trip.

As a result of the rain, the drive to the hotel from my office was absolutely brutal. The half mile trip took more than 90 minutes. I can travel a half mile faster than that crawling, with a broken leg, while pulling a piano. Coincidentally, I had lunch with an expat today who shared some driving horror stories with me. He lives in the same area - Kemang - though not the same neighborhood, that I will. He said most evenings the 4 mile drive from the office to Keman takes an hour. That's a good night. Nights after a heavy rain - like we had today - will take two or three hours. On his worst night, that 4 mile drive took 6 hours. That's less than one mile per hour!

The end of the day was a bit of a scramble around the office. Typically, when I leave, I have to pay the $15 departure tax. Now that I have a work visa, I have to pay the $15 departure tax and a $250 fiscal tax. I was floored! Everytime a national, permanent resident, or foreign national with a work visa leave the country, they are required to pay this fee. That is, unless you can prove you have a tax ID, which means you are paying taxes every year. I learned that, unlike most Western nations, people here don't typically have a national ID card. This enables them to not pay tax on any earnings they might have. A decade or so ago, foreign nationals left in droves after Suhanto became president. They took all of their money and left. So, Suhanto decided to implement a $100 departure tax. This recently elevated to a $250 departure tax from which you are exempt if you have a tax ID card. I don't have such a card, though I will soon. I also do not have enough cash to cover this expense. Office Services, the group helping me with my relocation - and booking my Bali vacation - provided me with a government issued temporary ID and a piece of paper that should be all I require to avoid having to pay the fee.

When I return to Indonesia the next time, I will have my family with me, and our first stop will be the tourist destination of Bali. Still don't know exactly which hotel I'll be staying in, though I have recommended accomodations at a hotel recommended by a colleague who visits Bali a lot - 3 BR villa with a private swimming pool for $100/night. I'm very much looking forward to this experience.