Another interesting week

I am pleased to announce that on Wednesday morning, at 9 AM, a long awaited arrival joined us here in Jakarta.

No, not our son - our personal effects from Arizona!!! Sixty boxes filled with stuff we needed, stuff we wanted, stuff we have no idea why we shipped and stuff we have no idea why we still own arrived. We were very nervous about our digital camera - the $1,000 digital camera - but we did eventually find it...in the last box we opened. Only two items arrived worse for wear. One was a hard cover book who's slip cover was damaged. The other was a large book shelf that was completely destroyed.

We've been unpacking now for two days and still are not yet complete. We don't quite have room for everything we own. Looking at all the toys my daughter now has here, and seeing the look on the face of my domestic staff, I really felt like a over-privileged glutton. I'm really just fascinated with the perspective I'm gaining here.

The best thing for me, personally, is I now have enough books to, hopefully, last me the whole time I am here. I've purchased and finished 14 books now, and am half way through another one (that I don't like). This past weekend, still not knowing when our stuff would arrive, I bought 14 books at a local bookstore. They are quick, light reads, and I bought them mostly for my daughter's collection, as they are the classics - Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood, Treasure Island, The Secret Garden, A Christmas Carol, etc. I even bought Mother Goose - Old Nursery Rymes, Poems for Children, and a book titled "Just So" Stories, by Rudyard Kipling, about how things came to be (like how a camel got its hump).

The Mother Goose book had an interesting surprise. The first page had the classic Jack Sprat, and another, 6 line poem. Then the start of a poem about Margery Daw. This is the one that surprised me. Here is how it reads:

See, saw, Margery Daw,

Johnny shall have a new master;

He shall have but a penny a day,

Because he can't work any faster

Okay. Never heard that one before, but typical Mother Goose. I turn the page to find the shocking second verse:

See, saw, Margery Daw

Sold her bed and lay upon straw.

Was she not a dirty slut,

To sell her bed and lie in the dirt?

WHAT!?!?! When did Mother Goose become Andrew Dice Clay? And since when did "slut" rhyme with "dirt"? At that point, I stopped reading them aloud until I had read them to myself, first. My wife had a hard time containing her laughter for several minutes.

Work had some interesting events of its own. Annual physicals are a compulsory event for anyone working for my company. It isn't enough to advise people it needs to occur and request proof of a physical from their doctor. No, they bring an entire medical team to the office and schedule employees, throughout the workday, for blood work, urinalysis, and other pokes and prods. I had a physical in February, before heading out, which is the only reason, I believe, no one has contacted me regarding having my own exam. You think something like this could happen in the US? I think the ACLU would have all kinds of fun.

Tomorrow I am anticipating great amusement and excitement to close out the week. I'm sitting in a meeting this afternoon watching a demo of a new software product we're preparing to release when my phone rings. It's a colleague calling to inform me that he has received confirmation that the Papuans living in Jakarta will be staging a demonstration outside our office starting at 9 AM tomorrow. Apparently this is an annual event where a large group of mostly college students assemble around our building and demand more money from our mine operations in Papua. I've been advised that it is typically peaceful, but to plan on not leaving for lunch, and to leave through the back entrance after work. I'm going to bring my camera and take pictures of what I can.

I've never been protested before! Should be fun!