Jakata, I'm not feeling you

There are days (weeks, months) when living in a third world country really takes its toll.  When the perks just do not outweigh the problems.  This month, this day, is one of those times.

Let's start with the biggest pain point:  Customs.  I understand the customs laws of most countries.  Countries ban importation of things that can damage the ecosystem (like animals, plants, seeds, and carriers of such) and goods from countries under trade embargoes (ie, Cuban cigars).  Indonesia?  Lotion.  Yes, lotion.  It happens that my daughter's main Christmas gift from us, along with several other gifts for our kids, were shipped from the US in the same box as some lotion.  Customs has been holding this box now for 16 days and counting.  They need the shipping company (in this case, DHL) to confirm that the lotion from Victoria's Secret is not narcotics, or explosives, or some other ridiculousness that is easily tested for.  Something tells me there is a customs agent that is eyeing a New Year's gift for his wife or girlfriend.  I told them today to just remove the lotion from the box so we can have all of our kids' Christmas gifts.

Today we had to go to immigration....again.  We were just there in October for the exact same process.  It wouldn't be so bad if the experience didn't involve standing in a building more full than a Cancun bar during Spring Break filled with people of questionable bathing habits and worse manners.  Between the body odor, people sitting on already narrow stairs, the crowding around doors and surging in like cows released from a corral the minute they open, the lack of organization ("take a number" seems worlds away here) and the overall inconvenience factor, I'm glad my company handles all of this for me.  If I had to do it myself, it wouldn't be worth it.  Showing up for a picture, fingerprinting and signature is painful enough.

To top off my day, I had yet another explosive experience with the power supply.  Since we've been here I've:

• Blown the power supply for our keyboard
• Had water leak from our AC units into the walls causing a power surge that popped my modem, our baby monitor, a surge protector, and anything else plugged into the same wall on any floor
• Threw out a Christmas tree because the wires became frayed, created direct contact with the metal of the tree and gave me an electrical burn on my fingers when I reached into the tree to determine why one bank of lights weren't working
• Dealt with sockets that are so loose that keeping my laptop charged requires finagling with my plug in much the same way I used to adjust the rabbit ears on my television thirty years ago. 

Now, today, I finally decide to plug in my Wii again using a newly acquired power converter that is SUPPOSED to reduce the power from 220 volts to the 110 volts the Wii power supply accepts.  Of course, when I plug it in, the power supply pops, rendering it useless.  So, now I have a $200 paperweight.  Hopefully, I can just replace the power supply, like I did with the keyboard.  It will likely cost another $50, though.

Did I really sign up for this?