Indo, Day 12: Stuck

Today started like so many others on this trip: at the airport. This flight was later in the morning, so I at least got to sleep in a little. Even though this is a domestic flight, the airline operates out of the domestic terminal (the distinction isn’t as major as it sounds). And, once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the comical airport security routine. They’re more concerned with making sure you pay all the fees and taxes than you take anything dangerous on the plane. The metal detector beeped for every person walking through, but there was no one on the other side to do anything about it. And this is the international terminal!

For an exciting twist, my flight was delayed indefinitely. Another plane had mechanic problems on the runway (shocker) and is stuck, preventing any flights from landing or departing. Nothing like being trapped in a smoky airport at lunchtime with no food and no idea when you’ll leave. I can’t even understand the overhead announcements!

It ended up being just over six hours later that the runway was clear and my plane arrived. Theo came back to the airport and got me, so at least I didn’t have to wait it out there. I think the airline handled the situation about as well as they could. Right around the time we should have landed, they provided airline boxed meals to everyone. I don’t know if we would have gotten these in the plane or not, being as it’s only an hour-long flight, but the fact that they actually provided food for us was refreshing. You don’t hear about that sort of thing in the US!

The flight is to Banda Aceh (BA), a very significant city both in Indonesia and in Asia. To say it’s a Muslim city would be as redundant as saying Vatican City is Catholic. Locals proudly call it the “port to Mecca.” It’s where Islam first entered Asia. Sharia Law is in effect. This is the real thing. It is also significant because of the tsunami. BA was the closest city to the epicenter, and of all locations hit by the resulting tsunami, BA was the worst. Over 150,000 people died and parts of the city are still submerged. BA is still flooded with NGOs, however, and our project is (another) three hour drive out of the city to Pidie.

Consistent with every stop thus far, my arrival was marked by a blackout in the city. So I didn’t really see much of it on the way to the staff house. We’ll spend the night there, then drive to Sigli, where the project is, in the morning.

Thankfully the power came on after only two hours or so.

Indo, Day 11: Family

Despite wishing I could stay in GS a little longer, I had to leave for the airport bright and early. Much earlier than my flight, in fact because that’s when the van was running. Arriving at the, uh, airport, I waited in line for about 30 minutes before being told I was on the NEXT flight and to come back in 20 minutes. So apparently there IS more than one flight a day! I met an Aussie bloke in the line who was on a four week surfing vacation with a couple mates. They’ve been pretty much everywhere in Indonesia. I need to learn how to surf and come back here. We chatted for a while – I think being the only white people in the place drew us together. That and the English.

Checking in is a process of exchanging your handwritten ticket for a handwritten boarding pass. On the way down, I had to pay a weight surcharge for my bag. I guess domestic flights have a lower weight limit, or maybe it had something to do with our tiny plane. I was wondering if I would slip by since there’s really no electricity in the airport and they might have a scale. But there it was. No power, lights, fan, computer or anything else you would expect to see at a check-in desk, but they had their scale! Anything to make a buck I guess. Funny thing was, I looked at the only screen on the thing, and it was shot. No numbers. But the guy working it was still dutifully writing weights on the luggage tags and sure enough I had to pay extra. Maybe it’s based on size or maybe he’s really good at guessing weights. Either way, when I didn’t have exact change, the guy called what I had “close enough.” That’s not shady.

After paying the airport tax, I moved over to the waiting room. I walked through a metal detector and past a x-ray machine, but neither was operational due to the lack of power. This is part of the joke of airport security. I could walk through a place like that with explosives, get on a plane to Medan. From Medan, I could cross over to the international terminal. If the guys happened to be watching the screen as my stuff went by and saw anything, so long as it looked high-tech enough and you talked fast, they wouldn’t stop you. From there, I could get on a plane to anywhere. Not to make any of you nervous fliers more nervous…just something to think about the next time you’re practically strip searched in the US.

The flight back to Medan was an uneventful as such flights are. The skies were clearer than they were on the way out, and I got a much better look at the country. It’s beautiful, mostly uninhabited. At one point we could see a large mountain jutting out of the surface of the island (Sumatra, not Nias). I’m not used to seeing mountains that aren’t in mountain ranges. This was literally a sheer face of rock, nothing else to it. As such, there was nothing growing on it. Just the rock.

Arriving at the domestic “terminal” of the Medan airport, I got to see another side of it. It appears that there may have been a much larger airport behind the current airport at some point, but most of this building was destroyed. A couple guys were working on it, so I don’t think it’s a high priority. Near the end of the runway there were a couple planes up on blocks. Yeah, just like old cars. They had to have been there for some time, as the grass was starting to overtake them. I wish I could have taken a picture, but we were being herded along. Maybe on my next flight.

Back in the hotel in Medan, I got to take a real shower! This bathroom is a lot like the one in GS, except instead of a bucket, there’s running water. But the shower area is still just in the room (different from my last room in Medan) and you use a handheld showerhead. I did a little laundry in the sink, but just enough to get me to my next stop. The rest will take too long to dry, and I’m just here overnight.

The afternoon was spent with Theo’s family. We had lunch and talked about a great deal of things, many of which I would classify as “internal” and probably not appropriate to print here. He’s a man with an incredible breadth of experience in many places and it’s been good to talk with him. This ended up going through dinner, which we had in “downtown” Medan, at their equivalent of a boardwalk (sans water). The kid waiting on us was wearing a shirt emblazoned with “Germany” and the Nazi logo. He had no idea what it said/meant, but it was a little awkward. We were walking past the shops on the way back to the car when we came across one of those infamous Asian DVD stores. We stopped in to see if they had the latest Indiana Jones which came out the day I started this trip, much to my extreme displeasure. Sure enough, they did, and only a dollar! I grabbed a couple movies for the trip home, since I’m almost done with the reading material I brought.

But now it’s time for bed. In the (late) morning, I leave for Banda Aceh – a fascinating city I’ll post more on later – and a drive to our project in Pidie. I hear it’s quite a bit more civilized than Nias, but am still not quite sure what to expect.

Indo, Day 10: Rest

The power stayed on all night! It's funny the things you start to get excited about when you have nothing to start with. What's more, it rained quite a bit throughout the night, cooling the air even more. But it was no less humid. It's a bizarre feeling when there's cool air, but it's still incredibly humid. It is neither refreshing nor annoying, but it is also both.

Walking to the office in the morning, I pass groups of kids walking to school. They always stop and greet me with "good morning, sir." I think they're proud of their English. The older kids, and some adults, on motorcycles just stare. But I smile and keep on my way. The early morning fog is beautiful in the valleys. Makes for a nice walk.

The plan was to eat breakfast then head into the main town, Gunung Sitoli (GS), for the night. It's an early morning flight, and with our village being a couple hours away, this made more sense. But, of course, as I'm getting ready to leave, people start coming forward with problems for me to look at. So we got a late start.

Esther and ended up leaving late in the morning for GS. Along the way she pointed out some of the projects they have going in the community. Distributing vats for collecting rain water and health education for mothers and babies are the two big ones. They're going to be starting up a child survival project that will include some actual clinics for children under 5. That's Esther's specialty.

GS feels like a huge city compared to where we were in the interior of Nias, but it's still that same tiny town made up of shacks I flew into four days ago. The particular hotel they arranged for me is really quite nice. I think it was a popular stop for the surfing crowd (Nias had world-renown surfing before the tsunami) as it has a lot of that feel. The grounds have little grass huts scattered around for eating or whatever. There's a dock that goes out into the ocean - oh yeah, GS is on the coast. It was so refreshing to walk out there and smell the salty ocean air.

The room itself is the nicest thing I've seen in Nias. The tile floor has a large crack, a reminder of the earthquake that devastated the island. The bed has one of those roll pillows down the middle which I've seen a lot of here. I don't think they like bed-mates touching. There's actual windows...well, plastic wrap over the holes...keeping the room (mostly) insect free. My only disappointment was not seeing a ceiling fan. But, given where I'd been, this was still going to be amazing. Then I saw it. High on the 12' wall was my very own AIR CONDITIONER! It doesn't get very cold, but it does just enough to get some of the humidity out.

The bathroom is in standard form for Nias (and elsewhere in Indonesia, I think), but much cleaner than what we had in the village. It's a tiled room with a drain that is literally a bath room. Although there is a showerhead on the wall, it doesn't work (no running water, remember?). There's a sink and a western style toilet (no more squatting!). The corner contains the all important giant plastic garbage can filled with rain water and a small pot. The principle is simple: wherever you need water, use the pot to get it there. Flushing the toilet? Dump lots of water in the bowl. Taking a shower? Use the pot to throw water on yourself. Yep, just standing right there in the room. The drain and temperature take care of the excess water. And since UNICEF decided the rain water here is potable, it's also used for drinking. But I'm avoiding that step.

The shower/bath thing was amazing. Bathing before was somewhat fruitless because the humidity almost immediately undid whatever you accomplished. But here, with the lower humidity and AC in the room, it felt wonderful. It's rather remarkable how a clean head can make you feel a million times better. New clothes that aren't bathed in permethrin and DEET both smell and feel great! Simple things, I know, but they make a difference.

I decided to take full advantage of the situation and do something I haven't done yet in Indonesia: don a t-shirt and shorts and lounge. Time to be a tourist. I went out to one of the little grass huts over the water (see pictures) to spend some time reading and talking to God. It was incredible. The weather is perfect. The humidity is low, but it's still warm. There are far fewer insects, so I don't need repellent. The sound of the waves crashing into the support posts, the smell of the ocean, the serenity of the whole place was incredible. It brought me such inexpressible joy to be sitting there, enjoying this beautiful retreat. It's funny how at any other time I would have thought of this setting as rustic, but now it feels like the lap of luxury. I would totally vacation here and spend the whole time sitting out on that little platform over the water. So peaceful. I stayed there until dark.

Is the water warm? For being on the equator...yeah...it doesn't get any warmer than this!

I've been a little wary of ordering food on my own again, after my last attempt got me nowhere close what I was trying to order. But I was hungry (turns out I accidently skipped lunch), so I gave it a shot. The people here are great. The waiter was a college kid and talked with me a little about why I was here. A couple Frenchies from another NGO sat down a table away and greeted me. The menu was very easy to understand, and I wound up with the most wonderful Indonesian fried rice I have run into yet. Maybe I was starving, but it was exceptional. And the fruit juice the kid recommended, I don't remember what it was, but it was right. And it's all so cheap! The room is 200,000 rupiah and dinner was like 27,000. If it wasn't so hard/expensive to get here, I would be all over this place. Forget Bali. It's cheaper than a hostel.

Except, you know, all the death and destruction everywhere outside this little pocket....

But this pocket has refreshed me and brough termendous joy. And for that, I am immensley thankful. My ride to the airport just got bumped up another hour, so I best be getting to bed.

Indo, Day 9: Wilderness

This morning I was woken up by a loud CLICK as the power flicked off. Staring up through my mosquito net, I could see the precious ceiling fan starting to wind down. Excellent. Not that it made a huge difference anyway. Every inch of my body was sticky with a mixture of sweat and DEET. By the time I leave this island, it will have been three days without running water or electricity that's on more than off. Or a shower; that's going to feel good. I have a good start to a beard going, something utterly new to me. The only thought running through my head as I assessed my current situation was the namesake of this blog: how DID I end up here?




Nias is like an extreme breed of camping. There are buildings, but they provide little more than shelter from the rain (for you and whatever else may want to hide). They're really just a roof and walls. Windows are holes open to the outside and doors don't really close. Consistent with my description from yesterday, the house where I spent the night looked like something out of Hurricane Katrina. And you sleep in a mosquito net, even though you're inside. There are still plenty of insets and other critters (lizards, mice, larger bugs) that you don't want joining you. In the bathroom, besides the squatting toilet, is a large vat of collected rain water for both flushing said toilet and splashing on your face, etc. Food is scarce. Last night we had some chicken (which I'm pretty sure was raised in the back - isn't living with poultry where Bird Flu came from?). Each breast, wing, leg, etc. was only about 2" - not the giant genetically engineered pieces we have in the US. Two small pieces of chicken and some rice. But I'm adapting well and haven't even been all that hungry in the first place.


A little geography: Nias is the island with the big green arrow, and you can see Medan, where the main country office is, on the opposite side of Sumatra. My next stop will be in the Piede province at the tip of Sumatra. The capital city, Jakarta, is down on Java.

Being so close to the equator accounts for most of the climate. Being an island is the rest. It's hot and humid here, you've already heard me say that. This morning we were blessed (in my mind, maybe not that of the locals) with a torrential downpour that lasted a couple hours. It has a wonderful cleansing effect on the air. Now it's about perfect out.

I've been working up on the roof, which has become just about my favorite spot in Indonesia. It's covered, so it's safe in the rain. The tin roof makes it almost deafening. But the view is spectacular. I'm looking out over a lush, well, rainforest. I really wish the pictures did a better job showing it, but the perspective is hard to capture. My excuse has been the satellite I'm working with requires a clear shot of the sky, something you can't get indoors.

Thank you to everyone who's been praying for me. I can feel it in a very tangible way. This is a miserable place, but I've been far from miserable being here. And the staff, which aren't from here either, seem to be doing quite well given the harsh environment. There's very little I can do for them on the technological side - I mean, fixing the power is the biggest need they have, and I can only recommend a bigger generator. In some ways, it's been very relaxing. There's so little here to get distracted with. I love just sitting up on the roof working, thinking, or talking to God. I've been wrestling with a lot of things lately, and it's been nice to have this space. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to hesitate to leave! And that shower is going to be incredible! But, for now, this is a very peaceful place to be.

Talking with the staff has been fun. They're a little unclear as to what I do and why I'm here. I share a certain amount of that confusion! It was important for me to come and see the site and conditions so we (back in the US) can better provide solutions to them. But a day would have been enough. Flights are on Wednesday and Saturday though, so we have some time to spend together. And they don't get many visitors this far out. Most of the staff visiting Indonesia make it as far as Medan, maybe Piede. So it's been fun. They've been amazingly hospitable.

Esther, the project manager, is a fiery little Pilipino doctor who retired into this job. She was going for a position in Medan or Nias, she didn't really know which, and accepted Nias without ever visiting here. Ha! She gets the joke now. Her job covers more than managing the projects...I think she's also the office mom. She's the best cook out here and tries to keep everyone else in line. Not an easy job. She reminds me of my grandma, complaining about the incompetent help. They don't know how to slice a watermelon? What use are they?!?

We had a good talk at lunch today about the disaster response world in general, and specifically Myanmar and China. It was interesting to hear the frustrations from someone on the field. She's not the kind of woman to take no for an answer, and has sure tried her hardest to get in to Myanmar, without much luck. A number of the staff here (Indonesia, not Nias) were hoping to get in as they're not American and some are even Asian. But the embassy hasn't budged, despite saying every day on CNN how they're now letting "everyone" in.

Later that evening, there was a going away dinner for the man who has been managing the water sanitation (watsan) project. All the staff were here. We hung out for a couple hours and stayed up "late" (10:30) talking and answering quesitons about the US.

Tomorrow I leave for the main "city" on Nias, then early Saturday catch a flight back to Medan.

Indo, Day 8: Nias

Morning came too soon. I was getting picked up at 6:30 (although the driver showed up at 6!) to head to the airport. Rushing through checkout, I accidently left my friend C.S. Lewis behind in the room. Explaining that I needed to go back for a book was much harder than I anticipated!

Seeing the airport in the light…well, no, it’s the same. The domestic terminal seems like it’s been remodeled recently, and is surprisingly clean. Getting there still involves destroyed sidewalks with boards over the holes to help with luggage carts. I really wish I could take more pictures, but it’s hard with your hands full of bags. Getting through security was hilarious; the guy watching the x-ray machine was talking to a friend when my stuff went through. I wonder if the international terminal is any better. At the gates they have a “smoking room,” which is pretty typical. Except theirs is a room without a ceiling, opening into the terminal. Nice going, guys.

I was nervous taking the malaria meds just before the flight (same time every day) given yesterday’s experience, but had little choice. Said a quick prayer and swallowed the pill dry. About the time I should have started getting sick, God provided food in the form of a small roll handed out on the plane. It was just enough to keep my stomach at bay.

Speaking of the plane…it was a small prop plane that sat no more than 20. To say it was old and busted would be something of an understatement. But it worked! It smelled like a urinal cake. For all the ladies out there, think of the cleaning stuff in a port-a-potty. The seats were all sorts of broken: mine was stuck in recline and there was nothing I could do about it. Felt bad for the person behind me. Turning the vent on did nothing, and I can’t say I was really surprised. The AC blowing into the plane’s central systems created such a fog that I could barely make out the flight attendant doing her safety presentation at the front. Not that I could understand her anyway.

As we began our final approach, you could see the runway whacked out of the vegetation, making a very visible clearing. For a moment, it looked as if the runway was simply dirt and I could check off another Life Goal, but, alas, it was “paved.” If the airport in Medan was a parking lot with a large building attached (more like a train station than anything), the “airport” in Nias is like a Greyhound bus stop. There is just the one runway (totally unmarked), and there we no other planes or even places to keep other planes.

Nias is a very special place. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a jungle. They could have filmed Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones here. Maybe they did. It’s lush and green and…tall. Huge leafed…things…and palm trees. In places you can see the coast with the bright blue water. Many of the buildings have thatched grass roofs…except these aren’t the fancy kind you find at a resort. These are on people’s homes. Nias could be a spectacular, world-class resort destination with the proper investment and management.

But it’s not. The three hour drive through the center of the island that took us from the airport to the main project office showed a tragic situation. For at least an hour of the drive, the road wasn’t paved. And that doesn’t mean it was just dirt or gravel. It was like the surface of the moon. I was continually jostled around in my seat, testing the limits of the seatbelt. The driver often had to stop completely to get over an obstacle. Every couple of minutes we would drive through another little village. It reminded me of the ruins of Katrina. Except people live in these ruins. I tried to snap some pictures as we drove by, and hope to get more on the way out. Like most things here, it’s hard to explain.

In the middle of it all, we have an office. It’s a small building with a lot of staff bustling around. Light bulbs hang from the ceiling. The floor is about the only thing that looks nice. The main floor has all the offices, downstairs is living quarters for a couple of the staff and upstairs is a roof-deck sort of thing. I like that part. Supplies are scarce and hard to come by, so there are giant vats setup to collect rain water to boil for drinking. Food has to last. The power goes out constantly and presents a very real problem for the equipment.

I had only been here for a couple hours when a mighty thunderstorm rolled in. I love storms, and this was one for the record books. The lighting and thunder were right with each other; we were close. The thunder shook the building and hurt your ears. It was almost high pitched cracking. Surprisingly enough, the power held. Rain flooded the streets in a way unheard of in Oregon.

It’s hard deciding what to actually do here. The computers all run, and all that could be done to make them run better is change the work habits of the staff. But with so many staff all popping in and out of the office, it’s not really possible to make sweeping changes. And they don’t have anyone here to help them. So it’s best to leave things as they’re used to.

I brought a satellite transceiver with me to see how they work from the field. This was my first opportunity to give it a shot (both in terms of time and being outside). I’m very impressed. It runs circles around their giant satellite dish (see pictures) and really isn’t bad for a single user. I have a Steelhead appliance (more on those later) configured to test with it hopefully tomorrow when its counterpart in Portland is ready. Not that this particular stop is in any way lacking adventure, but using a satellite modem you brought in your luggage is a pretty awesome feeling.

The sunset was breathtaking, but, of course, the pictures didn’t really come out. It was dark by 7. Wonder when it gets light.

Indo, Day 7: Routine

Today was the closest thing I’ll have to a routine on this trip. Woke up and got to the office feeling pretty familiar with everything. The absurd driving seems normal now. I even managed to snap a few pictures on the way. In the office I checked my email and prepared for the morning discussion time. But that’s about as far as I got with the routine. Despite having been on the anti-malarial for five days now, it was THIS morning that my body decided to get upset about it. People had warned me that I MAY get an upset stomach. You’re supposed to take them with lots of water (not present) and some food (ditto), and I’ve been ok so far. Yesterday morning I was a little sore and borderline nauseous, but it was only for like half an hour. But today, oh man. It took every ounce of strength in my body to hold my throat closed. My body put up a strong fight to get the meds out, but didn’t quite succeed in the end. Hopefully I can find a cracker or something in the morning.

A number of things happened around the morning meeting, none of which are really appropriate to share here. I think people underestimate the stress and hardship associated with being field staff in a downright miserable place. It takes an incredible toll on the expats especially.

I spent the rest of the day primarily doing troubleshooting and helping set up a new way for them to store files. I have a few more staff interviews to do in order to finish my reports, but I’ll take care of those when I return from the projects.

Oh, I had to exchange some money for the next part of my trip. The $200USD ended up being $1.8 million rupiah. Ha! The stack was like an inch thick! They really need to drop two zeros off their currency, especially considering 100 is the lowest denomination anyway.

For lunch, Theo took me to a restaurant specializing in food from a different region of Indonesia. The restaurant was cool – the outside-facing windows all had water flowing down them. Seems fancy, but I guess if you can’t drink the water, you might as well use it for decoration. At this particular establishment they bring out 15-20 small (tapas-sized) plates of food and literally stack them in front of you. You go through and take what you want, but if you take something out of the bowl, you get charged for the whole bowl. An interesting way of doing it, but it lets you try many different things. My juice (since that’s what you drink) was something they call “Dutch Eggplant,” which I think the rest of the world calls a tomalito. Absurdly delicious.

For dinner, Ramesh, the program manager, had Theo’s family and me over. His wife cooked an Indian spread that was also delicious. I’m eating better here than I do at home! It was cool to see the community where most of the NGO expats live. It helps that they have this one development where they all seem to flock. Their kids know each other, and I think it helps being surrounded by people in the same life situation. And the houses are a little different than the traditional Indonesian style. Yes, there’s that many NGOs based here. We had a really good time sitting around the table talking. Felt just like something back home with old friends. Eating with my hands is starting to feel normal.

I got back to the hotel tired, and quickly tried to pack all my stuff for my (very) early morning flight to Nias. Ended up falling asleep on the bed writing this.

Indo, Day 6: Medan

I arrived in Indonesia last night around 8. The flight was a rather uneventful up-down on Singapore Air’s commuter subsidy Silk Air. Despite the language barrier, the old man sitting on the aisle from my window were able to successfully communicate our anticipation, then joy at the lack of a person sitting between us. Seems that travel is another universal language. The biggest difference I noticed in this flight was that the snack they served was a HOT roll-up type thing. None of these cheap cracker bags or whatever. Very limited drink options, and I was really hoping for some caffeine.

Landing in Medan was interesting, to say the least. We didn’t so much land at an airport as a large parking lot. It reminded me a little of Frankfurt Hann, except they actually had an airport building. This really was just a building on the side of a parking lot. No airport-style equipment to be found. It makes me laugh every time I disembark from a plane using stairs. In the US, only presidents and famous people do that, so we equate it with some sort of status. But in the developing world, there are no jetways. It’s normally on stairs. So what we equate with “fancy” is actually much less evolved than our “boring” jetways.

Anyway, my first impression of Indonesia was “smoky.” A lot of this was from the jet engines running right near the “terminal,” but although no one was smoking at the time, it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone working in there had lit up not that long ago. So my first breath on the ground was followed by my fist coughing fit. Excellent.

Inside the airport, you go pay for your visa then go to the immigration stand to get grilled. I managed to drop “tsunami relief” in there somewhere, and I think that helped expedite the process.

Oh, that reminds me of something from Singapore. The lady I was buying lunch from saw my MTI shirt and asked if I was doing work in China or Myanmar. Seems our name is explanatory enough for people everywhere to figure out what we do. I also found it interesting in Singapore that almost every shop had a little donate box for China. Didn’t see any for Myanmar, but they sure love China! I’m sure there’s a lot of history there, but I didn’t take the time to look it up.

Anyway, back in Medan. After getting through immigration, they run your carryon bag through a x-ray machine with a big sign reading “customs” over it. I didn’t see anyone watching the screen. It always cracks me up when a inherently less secure country feels the need to re-check your bag after you came from a much more technologically advanced and secure place. After clearing “customs,” the madness began.

A man was waiting for me next to the customs machine. He had a uniform on and asked for my papers, specifically bag claim check. Assuming him to be some sort of official, I handed it over and he disappeared to find my bag. “Oh, ok,” I thought. “Since they don’t have a carousel, this is how they do it.” I ended up finding my bags in the heap before he did, but when I tried to wheel them out, he grabbed them, threw them on a cart, and took off. He asked if I needed a taxi. No. Stepping outside, I saw Theo, the country director who was there to pick me up (thanks, bright red MTI shirt!). We motion to the guy with my bags, and he takes off toward the parking lot. It looks like he’s still trying to get my stuff into a taxi (profit sharing?), but we finally get to the car. Then he stands there with his hand out waiting for a tip. I didn’t ask him for help, and I only let him help because I assumed him to be some sort of airport official. Talk about misleading! Theo’s wife has some change and pays the guy off. So a word of warning: if you ever fly to Indonesia, refuse help with your bags. And I mean really refuse. They’re all sorts of pushy, literally grabbing your bags out of your hands.

We get to the hotel and head upstairs. This time I was careful to keep control of my luggage. The room we enter is immediately cool (temperature), which is a relief. Second, it is dark. No amount of flipping the (numerous) switches remedied that. After some back-and-forth and a phone call (none of which I understood), I was moved to a different room.

The room is…functional. It has a working AC, which is about all I require. The water isn’t drinkable, and there’s two small bottles for brushing teeth, etc. Washing hands has become a fun ordeal of washing with water to get the dirt off, rubbing with Purell to get the water off, then splashing with bottled water to get the Purell off. Ha! You’ll have to look at the pictures of the room, which, of course, don’t do it justice. It’s a large room that reminds me of something out of Russia or an eastern bloc country. The bed is comfortable and insanely springy. Rolling over results in several aftershock bounces. Kind of fun. There’s cigarette burn holes in the sheets, but they seem kind of clean. The bathroom isn’t really, but it has a western style toilet, which is nice. There’s a notice on the mirror that tells you what hours to expect hot water, and a bottle opener built into the door frame. The power outlets are a mix of US and European style (though not the recessed kind) that are rusted and frayed. Actually, any metal in the room is rusted. When I plug something in, there’s a big spark. I’m probably going to burn the place down charging my laptop. It probably goes without saying, but there’s no Internet. There’s a hint of lingering smoke in the air, either from a previous resident or through the walls. I’m thinking the latter, since it was much worse in the morning. Really, it’s a nice room, and I got a good night’s sleep there. Just trying to paint an accurate picture of the place.

I didn’t think I was tired, but after unpacking a few things, I fell asleep sprawled out amongst my stuff on the bed. Waking up a couple hours later, I finished putting things away and returned to bed. In the morning, I was picked up by one of the office’s drivers and brought in. I’m still thinking of how to best describe Medan. I will need more time to process all I’ve seen, but at the least, I can say it feels like a movie. If we were in a military humvee with a machine gun mounted on the roof, it would probably feel MORE reasonable than the small vehicle we were in. It has the look of one of those war-torn middle eastern countries, sans the desert. I want to take pictures to help me explain it, but want to also be discreet about it. So we’ll see what happens.

I can say that driving is an adventure. You pretty much go wherever you want and lay on the horn to avoid accidents. People weave in and out, drive in between lanes and generally disregard any sort of order. There are motorcycles everywhere, which add to the chaos. But these bikes have sidecars. I was told the black ones are private and yellow are for hire. I guess yellow sidecars are the taxi system.

Arriving at the country office, I got a quick tour and met the staff. There’s six staff, two drivers, and an “office boy.” Yet to learn what exactly he does, but I think it’s errands and the like. They have plans for more staff, but that’s all that’s here now. The office itself is in a three level building. The first floor has a “reception” area and a conference room, and the two upper floors have two offices each: one smaller one used by a single person, and the larger shared with three or so. It’s not in bad shape and everyone here seems pretty happy.

They start each morning with a team time they rotate through leading. The discussion topic is anything not work related. This morning, Ramesh, the program guy, shared about a book he has been reading on the link between religion (specifically Protestant Calvinism) and the rise of capitalism. I thought of quite a bit to say (especially clarifying the Calvinism side), but didn’t as this was my first introduction to the staff and the language barrier was already taxing enough without trying to communicate complex theology or economic theory. We had to pause for translation every couple minutes.

I spent the day talking with Theo and Untung, the finance/IT guy about their situations and what MTI does in the country. There’s a lot more to do in terms of documentation, and they have a good list of things they would like help with as well. So we’ll try to fit all that in before I leave for the project sites on Wednesday.

Lunch was with Untung at a nearby restaurant. We had a fried rice dish and some hot chicken stays. He was happy to learn I like spicy food. It was pretty good stuff. The drink was an avocado drink of some sort, which I had been instructed to try. It’s hard to explain what it tasted like, but it wasn’t bad either. Yeah, that’s right, I drank an avocado.

Back at the office, I worked mainly on paperwork. There’s a number of reports I have to write by the end of this trip that should keep me busy. I was treated to the (at least) daily power outage and a couple sporadic Internet outages. But the generator did a fantastic job, and we were only without power for a few minutes. It was out for a couple hours, I think.

Driving home, I saw more of the city. I really hope I can take some pictures that accurately show what this place is like. I’m going to try getting some from the car tomorrow. I think it might be offensive to just walk down the street snapping pictures. Not that I would even know where to find the street. There’s a reason the office employs drivers.

I had every intent of finishing a bunch of paperwork tonight in the hotel. It didn’t happen. I passed out almost immediately. Didn’t realize I was that tired. I think it’s a combination of the heat and dehydration. But I can’t do much about either, so sleep it is! Waking up, I wandered down to the hotel restaurant to see about some food. There wasn’t much English on the menu, and though I tried my hardest to order the rice dish I had for lunch, I ended up with a piece of…meat…that more closely resembled schnitzel. The waiter must have assumed I didn’t really want Indonesian food.

Sitting outside for dinner, I got my first taste of the insect life. It wasn’t bad, but it will be much worse out in the field. So I decided to bite the bullet and treat my clothes with the permethrin I brought. I hadn’t done this before I left because permethrin is a highly (no, really) toxic spray that you’re only supposed to use outdoors. The funny thing is my highly non-toxic Exofficio shirt/pants/socks/hat have a permethrin material woven into the fabric itself. It must only be toxic in aerosol form. Anyway, no way to do it outside, so I hung some shirts up in the shower and went to town. My thinking is that if I have to be breathing toxic fumes (neighbors smoking) at night, they might as well be DOING something for me.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Medan for a week as I head out to the project sites. That should be the real adventure!

Indo, Day 5: Airport

It’s hard to believe the rate at which time has passed over the last couple of weeks. It feels like I was in Tokyo a week ago, not yesterday. I guess it’s the sheer number of places I’ve been compared to my normal routine back home. I was thinking about this as I tried to fall asleep last night: how amazing it is that we can get on a plane and go anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. And not just technologically, but that it’s part of the human spirit. In the hostel, I was surrounded by people from all over the globe, most of whom I gathered to be college students. College students have no money. But because of places like hostels and cheap transportation via train and commuter air, you really can get around for a small amount of money.

I’m half with these people and half on a different level. I took a major airline for the primary leg of my trip, something many of these people wouldn’t do. But upon arrival, we’re doing the same thing. Trying to make sense of cheap public transportation and staying at cheap hostels. If I had been more creative with my flight over here (couldn’t because of work restrictions and scheduling), I could have done this whole trip on a college student’s budget. If you don’t mind a little work, you really can go anywhere. I need to keep reminding myself of this and plan for more trips. Maybe even convince some people to come along. There’s plenty more of the world to see.

Coming off that thought, it will probably surprise you to hear that I spent today at the airport. Now, before you jump all over me, let’s focus on what’s really important here: Singapore designed an airport in which it’s possible to spend an entire day. It’s hard to explain just how amazing this airport is. It is, by far, the trendiest place I’ve been. There’s dozens of little coffee shops you’d expect to find on 23rd in Portland, restaurants with every cuisine imaginable, lounges….so much!

I did some reading online last night and planned out an adventure completely inside the airport. First, I set off to locate and visit the FIVE unique gardens scattered around the three terminals. You’ll have to look at the pictures, but these are amazing. Fully contained gardens with water features, fish, and bridges. That gives you an idea of just how big this airport is. There are hundreds of shops – people come to the airport like we go to the mall.

There are comfortable chairs. In an airport! Imagine that! Lounges where you can relax in soft chairs, and others with high backs perfect for sleeping. Why haven’t more places done this! There are computer terminals for Internet access scattered throughout, including at the gates themselves. I visited one of THREE movie theaters and watched a FREE movie. Then visited the game room where they had Xboxes, PS3s, and computers set up for killing time playing games. There are TVs everywhere showing sports and news from around the world. Restaurants have live music in the evening. There’s really no end to entertainment.

It’s utterly remarkable how much they fit into this airport. And, like the rest of Singapore, the architecture is breathtaking. The new Terminal 3 is beyond anything I’ve even heard of. Seriously, I love you PDX, but I don’t know how you won best airport the last two years with something like this out there. I would come back here just to hang out in the airport. It’s relaxing. And that’s why I decided to spend the day here. I needed a little actual vacation time before the intense work starts. Tokyo was great, but it’s work running around sightseeing. So was the first day in Singapore. But today I was able to just kick it, pop in and out of shops, sample different foods, and generally just relax. In an airport!

My ONLY complaint is the wireless. For as brilliant as these people are, they screwed up BIG TIME here. There is free wireless through? You go through the signup form, at the conclusion of which you find out that your password will be delivered to you via SMS. Uh…what now? My cell phone doesn’t work outside the US, and the international phone I have from work has an Indonesian SIM card in it. I’m not going to buy a Singapore SIM card – it would be cheaper to buy Internet. BAD SINGAPORE! And they advertise this system for transit travelers! Ha! It’s impossible to use! Fail!

I would come back here. I would like to see more of the city. I know there’s tons to do and lots to see, I simply wasn’t up for all of it on this trip. With any luck, I’ll be coming back through here in the future, and now that I know, can save up a little more money to take in more of the sights.

But now it’s time to get back in a winged box and make my way down to Indonesia. It’s not a US-based airline, so I’m sure a unique experience awaits me. I have pictures which I’ll upload from Medan. Broken Internet, remember?

The work starts tomorrow.

Oh, there was a story I wanted to share! While waiting for the subway this morning, they had a video playing actually showing someone carrying out a mock terrorist attack on the city by leaving his bag (bomb) on the train. People saw him, but no one did anything. And they show a train blowing up. Then the guy comes out to tell them that security is everyone’s business. If you don’t want someone blowing up your subway, DON’T LET THEM. I thought this was wonderful, and they should show it everywhere around the world. Especially on planes. It would be a lot harder to hijack after the passengers got a pep talk in laying the beatdown. Just a thought.

*** Update: Singapore pictures are now online. Like Tokyo, they need some work.

Indo, Day 4: Warm!

I arrived in Singapore just before 2am. Who schedules these flights?! But Singapore has an answer for that: airport hotel. This wonderful invention is in with the terminals in the sterile zone, so you can check in straight from your flight. They rent rooms in 6 hour blocks, which is just enough to make a huge difference. The room was nice; there’s just something about staying in an actual hotel. Fancy LCD TV, not that I had any time for that. Sent a couple emails and crashed. The night went too quickly.

In the morning, I got a better look at the Singapore airport. Amazing. It really sets the tone for the rest of the city. It’s spotless and uber trendy. Everything is big and open, made of glass and stainless steel. I have a bunch of pictures of it, but it’s probably the nicest airport I’ve been to. But people weren’t kidding when they said the government keeps an eye on everything. There’s probably three cameras on you at all times. Security actually watches you as you walk by. The room leading up to immigration is lined with soldiers, armed with automatic rifles. Contrast that to Japan where there was one old guy with a large stick (that he was leaning on) and a riot shield. Or the US where we have, uh, guys in white shirts with radios. Like I said, it sets the tone.

The public transportation is remarkable. The subway is cheap, clean, and COLD, and it goes just about everywhere. Over 20 cars in each train. Getting around is so easy. Even the buses are nice! But they do have strict rules: I was yelled at for drinking from a water bottle in the train station. Apparently eating or drinking in a station or train is a $500 fine. These people do NOT mess around.

So I get to my hostel around 9, but can’t check in until after noon. Stashing my stuff, I head out to see what can be seen. Orchard Street is supposed to be a big deal, so I head out there. To say it’s hot here doesn’t do it justice. Not only is it around 100 degrees, it’s over 80% humidity. My shirt was soaked as soon as I stepped out, and I’ve been literally dripping sweat all day. It’s disgusting. Good thing my anti-malarials have a warning to avoid sunlight. I wasn’t quite ready for it that early this morning, so I ducked into a Starbucks. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I needed to get out of the sun and needed a cold drink. After doing some reading on Wikitravel, I decided there was no more walking around sightseeing to be done for me. My feet were a little too sore and I was tired. The Indo country director warned me to come healthy, since they have a lot of work lined up. So I decided I needed to rest a little. The Internet told me about a nice beach, so I decided to get there and chill.

Three hours later, I found the beach. In the process, I saw almost the entire city/country. But I’ll start with the beach. It was basically like Portland’s waterfront park, just ocean adjacent. A small strip of nice between the road and the water. Except the horizon of this water was exclusively freighters. Not quite what I had in mind. They had bike rentals, so I nabbed one for a two hour block. So nice to get off my feet and moving around with some breeze. I intended to find a seafood joint to eat at, since I have heard wonderful things about Singapore’s food. But I didn’t want to spend $30 on a chili lobster (their specialty) and I didn’t want to eat deep fried baby squid, so I struck out there.

The city itself is truly remarkable. It has the look of the trendiest parts of Portland/Seattle/Vancouver BC, the foliage and landscaping of the nice areas of Florida or southern California, all infused with an Asian twist and a hint of Arab-ness. The architecture is spectacular and the city spotless. It’s incredible to see a city like that. If I had to open a branch of a business somewhere in Asia, it would be here. Things are very “high touch” in that area, too. Hotels are extremely nice. Everything is professional and shiny. But it’s everywhere, not just in the “good” parts of town. I would totally spend more time here, and probably spend way too much money.

You get out of the city a little ways (I know it’s technically the same city, but different districts than the business center) and you start running into more ethnic flavor. There’s a very large Indian population (my hostel is in Little India), then there’s Chinatown and Arab Street. There’s a certain level of Western culture that overshadows all of this. Everything is in English. Signs, media, announcements, etc. That’s probably the biggest difference from the rest of Asia. In the subway, signs are also in Mandarin, Maylay, and Tamil, which makes them look very cool. The look of things is more like rural Asia: packed in row homes and shops, vendors shouting at you as you walk down the street, and pretty much everything for sale. It’s a noticeable difference from the financial district. A funny thing is that the infrastructure is consistent across the entire island. In the worst spots, the buses are the same and all the streets still have crosswalks with all the lights, just like downtown. Kind of a funny blend.

Arriving back at the hostel, I got my bed and got a shower. Not sure why I thought it would help. This place is supposed to be air conditioned. But as far as I can tell, that means there are non-functional air conditioners in the walls. It’s just as hot in here as it is outside. It sucks. I actually thought about leaving and paying for another place to stay. But I won’t. Need to prepare for Indonesia.

So now I’m back in the warm and sticky hostel, where I will most likely stay for the rest of the evening. I picked up a large thing of water because I was feeling very not good from my previous waterless sun-drenched wanderings earlier. Amazing the difference it makes. And, no mom, I didn’t wear sunscreen. Everyone looks at you funny if you wear sunglasses, but that didn’t stop me! I don’t know how they do it.

I have big plans for tomorrow, but you’ll laugh if I share them in advance, so I won’t.

Indo, Day 3: Stairs

I’ve decided the dominant feature in Tokyo is stairs. Seriously, I’ve gone up and down more flights of stairs today than I did all of last year. And that included cathedral climbing in Germany. And Justin can tell you how many stairs THAT involves.

I woke up very early (read: 6am) because I went to bed very early (read: 10pm). Those times are meaningless because I’m in my own special time zone right now. My flight out of Tokyo wasn’t until 7, so I wanted to have as much daylight as possible. Breakfast and email at the hostel, then I spent about an hour in Asakusa, mainly around the temple.

It was interesting to see it during the day. Last night when I went by, there were still some people around, but this morning it was quite busy. In front of the temple stairs was a cauldron of burning incense. People would approach it and wave the smoke over onto them. Some people would also wash their hands and/or drink out of a water fountain with ladles. At the top of the stairs to the temple was a large box where people would throw in donations. They would stand with their hands together, I’m assuming in prayer, then bow, and clap a couple times. Those last two steps could happen a couple times. One of the smaller temples I saw had a stick with bells on it you could shake.

This reminded me of Elijah at Mount Carmel battling the prophets of Baal. The priests of Baal were shouting, singing, and cutting themselves trying to get his attention. I’m assuming this ritual was similarly trying to get god to notice. How thankful I am to serve a God Who never sleeps or takes His eye off me! I was also surprised to feel nothing in the temple. In the past, when I’ve been in places of spiritual depravity, it’s like you can feel a palpable evil. Here was nothing. I suppose that’s strangely appropriate and the very problem with the whole setup. There’s nothing (no one) there.

After that, I jumped a train to Akihabara the “Electric City.” If Fry’s had a metric ton of crack, covered in radioactive waste that exploded in a room filled with neon gas, you might get close to describing this place. There are blocks and blocks of these tiny little gadget shops. Well, there’s some big ones too, but most are packed into alleys. I mean, there’s a whole shop that just sells the ends that go on cables. Just the ends! The one that sells the actual cables is about a block away. It’s really hard to describe this place, and even harder to photograph. But I tried both. Unfortunately, like most geeks, the shop owners must have still been asleep. Some of them opened at 10, and the rest at 11. But I was gone between those two.

Something that surprised me, in an incredibly nerdy way, is now little Sony stuff there is around. I was expecting to find it everywhere. None of the cell phones I see around are, most of the laptops are Dells, and most of the cameras are Canon. Just like home!

Back in Asakusa, I checked out and hopped another train to Ueno. Here I was subject to even more stairs, something exasperated by the 50 pounds of luggage with me. It took me a good 20 minutes to find a storage locker big enough for my bags. I was up AND down about 10 flights of stairs. Japan apparently doesn’t have an equivalent of the ADA laws here in the US. No ramps or elevators anywhere. I finally found one, right before I was going to give up and just leave town.

I didn’t get too far out into Ueno, but there was plenty right around the train station. I spent most of the time in a large park that led to a zoo and about four museums. I opted for the Tokyo National Museum, mainly because I desperately needed to get out of the sun. It’s not really hot here, but the humidity makes it feel much worse. It’s good warm-up for Indonesia, especially since I was staying somewhere without AC.

The other complication is that I’ve been trying to drink LESS water. Yes, you read that right. Less. Back home, I drink about a gallon of water a day in the summer, half or three quarters that in the winter. It’s been freakishly hot lately, so I’ve been drinking a lot. I love water. Anyone at work can tell you I’m never seen without my Nalgene. But the water in Indonesia isn’t drinkable, which means I’ll be dependent on bottles, and I don’t know how plentiful they will be. So I’m trying to scale back. I’ve had 3 normal little bottle things today, and I feel incredibly dehydrated. So getting indoors was helpful.

You can’t take any pictures in a museum, so much of my time in Ueno goes without photo record. The museum was interesting, but it would have been much more engaging with someone there to explain the importance of this stuff to me. The English translations weren’t all that helpful. Also nerdy, but the thing that fascinated me the most (given my limited understanding of the artifacts) was the lighting. The museum was dark, but each item was perfectly lit. Yet none of them had that look of a light shining on them. In fact, if you were to look up, you wouldn’t see any beams of light. Using highly focused lights above, lights below and an array of mirrors, each item was perfectly lit, allowing you to see it without it even occurring to you that there is light coming from anywhere.

By this point, I was pretty tired, and decided to call it a wrap and head to the airport early (2 hours before I really needed to be there). Got on the fast train (nice!) and relaxed for a while. Pointed both the air vents at me. I’ve decided I don’t like sightseeing alone. I have no problem doing utilitarian travel alone, in fact, I think I prefer it. If I’m just hopping through airports or doing work stuff, that’s fine. But when I start doing the “fun” stuff, it’s not quite the same with no one else around to share it with.

Narita airport is nice, but weird. Very big, open, clean and attractive. Ha, that reminds me. There are some weird jobs here. Like the little old man who stands at the bottom of the escalator with a rag he presses onto the railing to clean it as it passes. Anyway… So the airport. It would be incredibly annoying if it weren’t so nice feeling. Besides all the escalators (seriously – is PDX the only airport on one level?), bathrooms are few and far between, food is scarce, and there’s NO FREE WIRELESS. And even though we’re indoors, it’s still humid. For some reason the check in counters are in a secure area. You have to go through a layer of security before you get to the counter. Then the normal one before you get to the terminals. Odd.

There are some cool things, though. Like the observation deck anyone can go out on (not in the sterile area) that’s above the terminals. You can watch the planes! There’s more power outlets than there are at PDX, which is my only complaint back home. There was something else I liked, but I’m not remembering it now.

So I’m sitting in the airport again. I’ll be onboard in about an hour. It’s fun to people watch, though. There’s actually Americans/Westerners over here. It’s kinda funny when you see one. Your eyes lock and it’s like you’re both thinking, “that person sure looks different!” But then you realize you do too. That probably sounds strange, but I’m guessing other people who have been here can explain something similar.

Japanese people cough extremely loud. You don’t try to disguise it, in fact, I bet they TRY to make it as loud as possible. It’s strange, and kind of disgusting.

My next leg takes me to Singapore, where I’m supposed to arrive around 2am. Awesome. Big thanks to Elina for sharing all her inside knowledge and helping me plan/survive this leg of the trip!

I uploaded the pictures I have so far to my Picasa space. I want to clean them up and add captions, but that will have to wait until I have more time. But I wanted to get them out there.

Indo, Day 2: Wandering

I guess it's Thursday now. I arrived in Tokyo around 5pm and found my way out of the airport. I was surprised at how empty it was. Saw hardly any other people around. They do the same thing as Frankfurt, though, where there's a million ups and downs for no apparent reason. Security was tight, requiring two fingerprints and a photo to get your visa. They're wise to not show it to you.

From there it was the trains. Getting a ticket was easy enough, and the lady circled my train change on the map. So I just sat there and watched for a name I recognized. She neglected to mention the dots on the map are not actual stops, but GROUPS of stops. So the one I wanted wasn't four down, it was some large number down. It was so hard to stay awake and watch for the stop. A nice old lady saw me studying the map and "helped" me by confirming what the ticket lady had circled. But it was still a nice gesture.

Took me a while to figure out the train change. There really are three levels of trains, so even though you're on the right side of the tracks, you may not be on the right level. Then I missed my stop because the directions to the hostel said there would be 5 of this name, but there wasn't. I though it would be easy to hop on one going the opposite direction and go the one stop. I was wrong. Had to let 5 trains go by until there was room to get on.

The trains remind me of Germany's. They look similar (wouldn't be surprised if they came from the same place) and seem to run under a similar level of efficiency. Two things Japan has over Germany, though: multi-level tracks and nice people.

So I'm at a hostel now, and it's a pretty nice one. It's clean, comfortable, and cheap, your three basic requirements. It's nicer than staying at a hotel because you're surrounded by people from around the world. And that makes it fun. I'm exhausted, but trying to stay up a little while longer to get on this timezone. I think I'm going to go get some pictures so I have something to supplement my post with tomorrow. I have the day to spend around the city before my flight in the evening. I'm going to try to get a lot in, so I should probably go to bed early.

But I'm alive and successfully knocked out "phase 1."

Indo, Day 1: Boxen

Today was the first day of what I think will be around 18. I’m not too sure because of all the time changes and other nonsense. But it’s Wednesday. At least I think it is. The day started out like any other, go to work, scramble to get things done. Except I had been up until 2am packing and only got 4 hours of sleep. After two weeks of working 75-ish hours each. So I’m pretty tired to start out. Then I get on a plane for 10 hours. I was asleep before takeoff.

I opted to use some of my frequent flier benefits and skip the lines. I was funneled through the "priority" security line and they really didn't check my stuff at all. Because my little travel toiletries were NOT properly bagged. They didn't look twice. Maybe not even once. At the gate, I usually wait until the last minute to get on the plane because who wants to be on there any longer than you have to? But for some reason their "elite" passengers go first. I never got that. But today, after looking at the HUGE line to get on the plane, I decided to try it out. It was a little more relaxing getting on without a couple hundred other people pushing around you.

It’s been a good flight (still on it). My first international with Northwest. They’ve done a lot of things I like. Hot towels were distributed right after takeoff (does anyone REALLY know what those are for?). There’s been a lot of food (snack, dinner, snack, breakfast) which hasn’t been bad, and it’s about as comfortable as it can be. I don’t particularly like Airbus’ seats compared to Boeing, but sitting in one position for that long on ANYTHING makes me hurt. They have the cool entertainment system with like three dozen on-demand movies and music and stuff. I haven’t watched any of them, but they’re there! And if you’re in the forward cabin, there’s a power outlet at every seat! I didn't use a single drop of battery power the whole trip.

The crew has been pretty good. There’s one lady who feels the need to walk up and down the aisles yelling “seatbelts on!” whenever the captain turns on the light. There’s a baby wailing in another cabin, but, thankfully, I can’t really hear it. There are some interesting passengers. It’s always fun to see who you end up trapped with. The guy next to me is a Filipino doctor, and he’s been doing paperwork almost the whole time. He doesn’t seem to recognize the armrest is an imaginary wall between my world and his, but at least he’s not falling asleep on me!

I do think the invention of the reclining seat is the worst move in aviation history. I never use it myself because I know how irritating it is to be on the receiving end. It’s not bad under normal circumstances, but if you have a laptop you want on the tray table, the reclining seat ruins the angle so you can’t. And if it’s on your lap, you can type, but the screen angle is at the lower limits of readable. I find it terribly inconsiderate not only to recline, but then put as much pressure on the seat as possible so it reclines FURTHER than it’s supposed to. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but I think I’m getting crushed.

Yeah, not much to write about when you spend your day on a plane. We’re at the northern tip of Japan now, some 40,000 feet up. I think we have around an hour and a half left. Ha! Guess I probably should have mentioned my first stop is Tokyo. I have day layover there, so I’ll get out of the airport and see a little of the city. I opted to stay in a hostel, so we’ll see how that goes. Could be really fun.

That’s about all I can muster at this point. Tomorrow should be more interesting. I’m going to try to keep the post-a-day thing going, even though they may not show up for a couple days, depending on my Internet availability.

Leave Me Alone

I got pulled over today on the way to church.

Long story short, people were driving very slowly (40-ish) on Murray (speed limit 45), so I passed them (maxed out at 50 - and my speedometer is 2-3 mph fast). If you were a casual observer, it would appear that I was going "fast" relative to the other cars on the road, but that would also be (incorrectly) assuming they themselves were going the speed limit.

So I found myself on the side of the road. The cop's reason for pulling me over was "it looked like I was going fast." That's it. She didn't catch me on radar (in fact, I had just passed a photo radar van no problem), she didn't pace me. Her argument was "you blew by me and I was going 40." Yeah, I can see how that would happen. You were driving slower than the posted limit.

But she still decided to pull me over and make me late for church. Sort of reminds me of those old Celica commercials where the old man is yelling at the parked car to slow down. Or the one with the dog.

I knew from the time she walked up to my window she couldn't give me a ticket because she didn't have anything - and I wasn't doing anything. I've been careful about the latter and have a spotless record so show for it. Of course, she didn't know I knew this, so I played along.

The last time this happened in Corvallis (where cops are mean), I was kind of a jerk to the officer because she was kind of a jerk to me (accused me of trying to elude her even though I pulled off at the next street). This lady was nice enough, so I didn't call her on the absurdity of the stop. I even through in some meek, nervous-sounding apology to make her feel better about the job she was doing. I can only assume the reason she pulled me over was that she needed some sort of validation. She knew she couldn't give me a ticket for anything, so why bother with the stop? It was a pretty good performance, and maybe I should feel bad about that, but if she went on her way feeling good, well, who's to complain? I had a good laugh myself.

I don't disrespect police officers. I have friends who are cops and I know they are vital in our evil society. But I have a real hard time with getting pulled over because "it looked liked you were going fast." That's a waste of my time, the cop's time, and taxpayer resources. Go catch a real criminal - we have enough of them. Or if you want to pull someone over, get the soccer moms in their minivans swerving all over the road on their cell phones. They're the real threat. But please leave me alone.

I'm Back

Hello again. I've given up (or at least postponed) my ambitious plans for copying all my old posts, comments, and layout here before I wrote again. Got about halfway through my posts and ran out of time. Plan still is to do all that, but I don't want to put off writing in the meantime.

So what's going on? A lot. The last two weeks have been 12+ hour days at work, including Saturday. The big project going right now is building an inventory management system for our warehouse. This is a really fascinating project that I could write a lot about, something I plan to do later. The short of it is I've been designing a custom user interface for our volunteers to use while packing boxes. It's powered by touchscreen computers, barcode printers, and other nifty things. And it has to wrap up this week. Why? Hold that thought.

The other project getting underway is a complete overhaul of our website. We want to move it from the crappy/expensive current host to a more flexible in-house setup. But that requires re-creating every single page in the new system. Assuming I can even get the blasted thing running again....

Besides that, there's some cool stuff going on with phone systems, networks, and field offices. But, like I said, more on that later.

The reason I've been spending so much time on all this is because they want to run a pilot of the new inventory system in another week. But I'm leaving Wednesday for my trip to Indonesia. And if you've heard any news recently, SE Asia is a fairly happening place. So that should be exciting.

That's probably all I'm going to get off before I leave. I'm going to try writing every day of the trip, though I may not be able to post for a couple days at a time. But, again, more on all that later.

But, now, I'm going home. It's before midnight, and that feels good.