ARRIVING IN JAKARTA

(Note: I wrote this on two different days, so the passage of time might sound weird.)

Well, I’m safe and sound and settled into my new apartment after about 42 hours of travel. My body and mind are completely messed up as to time. I don’t know if it’s been one day or three since I left home.

I left home at 8AM on Saturday, had a one hour flight to Chicago (which was delayed so I arrived at O’Hare at noon.) My original flight was supposed to leave around 3:15 from O’Hare, but a last minute flight change meant that we (Lynsey, my travel partner, and I) took a flight at 10:20PM instead on Turkish Airlines. It was a big flight, one with a row of two seats on each side and four seats in the middle. Lynsey and I were square in the middle of our row. That was a long flight, but since I was exhausted and it was around midnight before we were gliding through the air, I slept for a few hours. We also got a good meal and a big choice of things to entertain us on our personal “TV” screens.

We had about a 7 hour layover in Istanbul. I really enjoyed seeing what the currency looked like, picking up some new words, and hearing spoken Turkish while we were there. Then we got onto another Turkish Airlines flight. I mistakenly thought it would be a three hour flight, because I thought I had read that we would arrive at 6 AM. Nope. It was actually 6 PM and we had a 10 hour flight instead. I watched a movie and slept.

In the middle of all this, we flew over some Middle Eastern desert. The waves of pale sand and the thin ridges of sand dunes were endless and kind of beautiful. I thought at first it might be the Saudi desert, but looking at the map, I saw we didn’t go over Saudi Arabia at all. Instead we flew over Afghanistan and Pakistan. I think we went right over the mountainous Waziristan area. You know, where al-Qaida members live and train in caves and do nasty things to other human beings. Fortunately, we were okay so high up the sky, but it still made me nervous.

Next we arrived in Singapore. Lynsey and I were actually fairly worried for a while because nowhere was it written that we stopped in Singapore and we thought we might have gotten on the wrong plane. As it turns out, most of the people got off in Singapore and the rest were given plastic re-entry tickets.

We only had about 15 minutes before we reloaded. We stopped in the bathroom, which was appreciated after such a long flight. As I sat there, relieving myself in the women’s, I had a flashback to jr. high when I learned that you could be fined for not flushing a public toilet in Singapore. I apprehensively scanned the ceiling for a video camera, just in case there was some hidden authority somewhere watching to see who didn’t flush and slap them with a fine. I didn’t see anything except a little red light on the ceiling which I don’t believe was a camera. There was also a small anti-bacterial spray dispenser which instructed you to take some toilet paper, spray it with disinfectant, and wipe down the seat. I didn’t know if it was required, but I took time and really made sure to wipe the seat down well so that the imagined Singaporean authorities would know that not only did I flush the toilet, I left it better than I found it.

Finally we arrived in Jakarta around 6 or 7 PM. A man was waiting for us when we disembarked with a sign that read “Ms. Danna Rose, Ms. Lynsey Sue.” Our middles names always seem attached to our first names here, like lonely, little kids that just want to be included. He had obviously talked to customs beforehand, because he checked our visas, and seeing that I needed a Visa On Arrival, took me over to the VOA payment counter, told the man there we needed “satu” visas (which means the number 1 – one of the words I actually learned before arriving.) I handed over the required sum of 25 USD and was immediately handed back a VOA sticker for my passport. Easy as pie. We didn’t even go through immigration or customs.

After we got our luggage, we were left to wait for the Bina Bangsa people to come get us. We had just enough time to exchange some money, and then three women staff members picked us up, including Ms. Jane, who has been arranging all of the travel for us. The poor woman is the only person doing the arrangements for the 80 new expat teachers they hired this year!

The school has its own vans, and we got into a minivan and were taken to our apartment, the Royal Mediterania Apartments. Traffic was not so bad just then, we were told, although it still looked fairly bad to Lynsey and me. I found out then that Indonesian cars drive on the left side of the road, with steering wheels on the right! I never knew!

Our apartment is very nice and rather posh with a big swimming pool, workout room, and other amenities. We live on the 20th floor and our apartment is new, full of fresh white paint with the plastic still on the TV and stove burner. There were sheets, pillows, and blankets on the beds, but no towels, toilet paper, or kitchen things except for the burner and a set of tea cups, saucers, and plates with an ever-so-attractive Formula One logo on them. There is also a maid’s quarters, which consists of a tiny bedroom (literally just a space of room) and a bathroom with a pit toilet and bucket. Unfortunately, the bedrooms are not equal. One is larger, the other, more cozy. I ended up with the larger bedroom while Lynsey took the smaller one, and we decided we could switch after year one to make things fair.

After setting our stuff inside, Ms. Jane took us to meet another new teacher who had just arrived earlier in the day. Nicole is from Indiana, and just finished student teaching. The three of us went with Ms. Jane and Ms. Ira to the gigantic mall just across from Mediterania. It’s called Central Park and has seven stories chock-full of brand-name clothing, electronics, food, and everything else. It’s the Mall of America of Indonesia. Or one of them at least.

On the bottom floor, they took us to a casual Indonesian restaurant. I was very tired of course, but hungry too and had soto betawi: a soup of beef, coconut milk, and eggs. It was delicious! We also found there is a big Carrefour on that level. Carrefour is like a Super-Wal-Mart or Super-Target, but it’s a French company. We can find almost anything we need there. On the first night we bought toilet paper and towels.

After that we just went home and after a little unpacking, went to sleep.

GOT MY NEW TICKET, ENJOYING MY LAST WEEK AT HOME

Ah, yes, the craziness of last minute preparations. Turns out the flight the school originally booked on Cathay Pacific was full. (Maybe this wouldn't have happened if they had booked two months in advance instead of two weeks in advance. Maybe, just maybe?) So, Lynsey and I will be travelling the 16th, as planned, but now we will go via Turkish Airlines. No longer are we going Chicago to Hong Kong to Jakarta; now it's Chicago to Istanbul to Jakarta. Going the other way around the world now, but it's still going to be a very, very, very, very long flight either way. I am excited to stop in Istanbul, however.

In the meantime, I'm packing and repacking my bag, trying to get the distribution of weight and items just right. My suitcase is 45lbs (35lb of stuff, 10lbs of suitcase,) which doesn't sound too bad, but it's a little unwieldy all the same. I justify it as being necessary for a two year move. I wouldn't have so many things with me if this was only a short stay. Still, in the remaining days I might just dump everything out on the floor and resort it all again.

I'm also enjoying my last days at home with my family. (There I go, sounding morbid again!) We have some nice family dinners planned and tomorrow, Katie and Sarah, my two dear friends, are coming over for dinner and a bonfire and to wish me bon voyage.

Despite having no visa and a last minute flight change, I'm feeling surprisingly calm. I am confident that I will get there one way or another. It will be a weekend of travel and checkpoints, but once I'm in my new home in Jakarta, I can settle in and start exploring the city!

GOT MY TICKET, GETTING READY TO GO...

I've finally got my ticket!!! I leave on June 16th (just over a week from now!) and I won't be back until June of next year. I've known that I would be leaving in mid-June since I was hired in February of course, but now it seems all the more real. I have a departure date and time. And a nice long 15 hour plane ride from Chicago to Hong Kong to look forward to. At least I'll be travelling with three other new teachers from MN/WI, whom I've already met.


Preparing to pack up and move away for two years takes a bit of planning and thinking out. Here are a few of those things I've done to get ready to go:

• Got a Lonely Planet guidebook: 908 pages, 198 maps, with information on all the major island groups. I am prepared to conquer all the villages of Indonesia now. It's not actually a huge book, just very dense. I also bought a book about travelling throughout Asia and another called "Tales of a Female Nomad," which I thought would make interesting reading. (The second book is by the same author of "More Spaghetti I Say!"; turns out she's had some pretty awesome adventures travelling the world.)
• Got vaccine shots for tetanus, Japanese encephalitis, and finished my hep. A series. Also took typhoid vaccine pills. There was a shot option for typhoid, but the pills last two years longer.
• Have my prescription stock of anti-malarial and anti-diarrhea medication. I fully plan on using both. The former as a preventative measure, the latter as damage control. 
• Bought a good pair of sports sandals. Sturdier than flip-flops, not as bulky as hiking boots.
• Decided to invest in a Kindle e-reader. It wasn't too terribly expensive (although I found it cost a bit more buy the version that doesn't show you ads - bah humbug to that!) and there are dozens of free downloads available, especially for classics and folk tales. A friend of a friend who is now living in Indonesia has said it's been invaluable to him. I love to read, but I can't have a library of paper books. It's no substitute for real books, but this might be a close second. 
• Not buying any clothes or extra things that I could just as easily buy in Jakarta. I have to remember that I'm going to be in a city of 10 million. I'm sure I can find most of what I need there. The only thing is, I won't really know what I can't find there until I am there. Oh well!
• Have an external hard-drive for the little computer I'm taking. Not like the days when my parents packed up their things for Kuwait and relied on school's computers to write letters home! I have the luxury of taking my documents and music and pictures with me.
• Met with a few other new hires who're also going to Bina Bangsa. There are four of us going from the Twin Cities and Wisconsin. We're all from the Midwest originally. (Seems likes it's true: the Midwest produces good teachers.) We went out for dinner in St. Paul and we've been keeping in touch.

What I still need to do:

• As soon as I find out my exact address in Indonesia, fill out the form to request my overseas ballot for the November election. Don't want to miss my chance to vote!
• Pack away things, pack up things. I'm taking one large suitcase to check, and one smaller suitcase to take as carry-on. That's it. I don't want to take anymore than that. At least I don't have to pack bulky sweaters or coats. I might buy a raincoat and umbrella when I get there.

It's getting very close to the 16th. I can't even really comprehend or imagine what turns my life is going to take. I'm not very nervous because I don't know what I ought to be nervous about. I'm just excited to be starting this new adventure.