This week seemed much slower than others. Thursday was a national holiday (Ascension of Christ), and the rest of the week was very uneventful. The rain season ended last month, but we've had more rain this week than any other week since we've lived here. On Friday, the rain was so bad that my drive home required two detours to avoid flooding. For those of you who have been to our house, the grocery store was flooded, as was the security gates. They were not letting residents go to the apartments because the elevators were under water.
With the holiday on Thursday, my wife and I took the opportunity to go club hopping in Kemang. While we had fun, either Wednesday night, even a Wednesday before a holiday, is just not the time to go, or nothing happens until really late. The first club we went to was Cafe Amor. We were the only guests at 10 PM and finally left about 10:45. We then went to the "Green Room", and found it, too, empty. So, we walked up the street to NuChina who was hosting an FHM Models night. We stayed there until midnight and it never really became crowded, nor did the models materialize. Our last stop was at the Elbow Room. We ate there on our wedding anniversary. It was crowded and had a nice live band upstairs. We stayed there for an hour and finally called it a night.
Saturday we had plans to go to the Botanical Garden in Bogor, but both our kids came down with head colds, and our daughter woke with a fever, so we stayed home. They are both feeling better now, however, on Sunday night.
I've been trying to get to join a rugby team for the last few weeks with no luck. This Thursday, however, I think I'll finally make it out for my first ever rugby game. My goal is to come away uninjured, able to walk at work the next day, and not embarrass myself on the field. Getting a serious injury three weeks before our European vacation would not be a good thing.
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rain. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Rainy season means mosquitos
The rainy season is upon us. If you can't see the sky, it means it's raining. If you can see the sky, it means it is going to rain in an hour or so.
Local say Jakarta has two seasons - wet and wetter. I agree that it has two seasons, though we would differ on the classification. For me, the seasons are mosquitoes, and no mosquitoes.
I went ten months without a mosquito bite. I now get one or two a night. We've installed mosquito netting over all of the beds. This has limited the feasts to our living room. We're also trying to use the purple mosquito zapping lights, which makes for some interesting shadows and not much reduction in mosquito activity. I think the mosquitoes of Jakarta have evolved with "light avoidance" genes.
Local say Jakarta has two seasons - wet and wetter. I agree that it has two seasons, though we would differ on the classification. For me, the seasons are mosquitoes, and no mosquitoes.
I went ten months without a mosquito bite. I now get one or two a night. We've installed mosquito netting over all of the beds. This has limited the feasts to our living room. We're also trying to use the purple mosquito zapping lights, which makes for some interesting shadows and not much reduction in mosquito activity. I think the mosquitoes of Jakarta have evolved with "light avoidance" genes.
I've heard the rainy season can also bring flooding. My first day on the job ended in enough rain for my car to leave a wake. I've heard stories of the grocery store by my house having the first floor completely submerged with security transporting customers to dry land by having them stand in the shopping carts as they wade through chest-deep water in the parking lot. This year, we seem to be getting less rain than normal. Must be that global warming I keep hearing about.
Two more rounds of visitors on their way. My father-in-law arrives on Monday and stays with us for two weeks. My wife's aunt will arrive five days after he leaves and stay for a week. Can't miss home when home keeps coming here...
Friday, March 6, 2009
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.
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.
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