A blog award!

The pressure is really on. I now have to try to live up to this nomination, and all the nice things said about my little blog. Emily at Gabriel's Heart has nominated Indoprism for a Thinking Blog Award! I don't think it is deserved, as I feel like mostly what I do on the blog is regurgitate a description of our activities rather than provide much thought or insight into Indonesia. I still hope that I will do more of that in the future, once I stop doing so many "activities" (ie errands) and start really SEEING this new culture and this new country rather than just the stores and my back yard. In any case, I do feel oh so happy with the nomination and will try to live up to the generous words written by Emily - thank you!

I feel the need to let you in on a little secret though. Emily has been my friend since I was 8 years old. 8 years old! I can hardly believe it. I have only one other friend who I have known so long, my friend L with whom I went to kindergarten and with whom I have kept in touch throughout our school years and beyond. I love having friends in my life who I have known for so long. Anyway, you should check out both Gabriel's Heart and it's sister blog, Emily's original blog, Lovely and Amazing. Her writing is amazing and her ability to put her thoughts and emotions into such honest and beautiful words is supreme. I hardly think I'm energetic in the least compared to what she accomplishes in her life.

So, as the rules require, I am to nominate 5 other blogs for a Thinking Blog Award. Again, I have to tell you a secret, I don't read that many blogs. I enjoy them, but they are so time consuming and I just don't love spending a lot of time in front of a computer. I mostly just read my friends' blogs, plus a couple others I have discovered along the way. I am on the lookout for any other blogs written by parents living abroad though, so if you know of any good ones, please share them with me.

On to the nominations:

1) I don't remember how I came across this one, but I love hearing the words of another mom experiencing life abroad. Emilie of The Flame Tree lives in Kenya, and is truly a gifted writer. She is so adept at providing both insights into Kenya and telling stories about her family, all in beautiful words and ideas that naturally flow from one to another. She also includes poems or other writings to give the blog even more melody and color. I love reading about her experiences abroad, especially in Africa which I miss so much sometimes. All of her posts are worthy, but both Weeks Pass and Intersections are fine examples of what I described.

2) Another very well written blog is Iowadrift, although with a recent move to Massachusetts I wonder if she will change the name... I don't know her, but I do enjoy her writing style and have enjoyed what she says since discovering it. She has also worked abroad and I'm sure that's part of the connection. Her 2 posts about her recent trip to Mali, Mali and Encore Mali got me hooked for the long haul.

3) This nomination is probably not original in the least, as it is a very well-known blog and has probably been nominated and shared many times. But, it is one of my favorites and if you haven't been fortunate enough to discover it yet, then please realize you have just found a four leaf clover. Heather at dooce is one of the funniest and wittiest women I have heard. She is so witty and so gifted at story telling that she is able to earn her living through her blog alone. I laugh at loud at almost every post. The post A Labor Story is the one that hooked me and is still probably my favorite. It is long, but it will make you laugh and may even make you cry. I think it should be required reading for every pregnant woman, and forbidden reading for every woman who has never been pregnant but may be someday. There are reasons why women don't describe labor in such detail - we want to trap you all first! I can relate to A LOT of what she wrote, based on C's birth.

4) My next nomination is for a friend's blog, Mistersugar. This is a somewhat personal nomination, as I mostly like to check in on what my friend and his family are doing. I also like reading about places and events in the triangle area of NC, where I did my graduate program. But he is also a good writer and is full of interesting links and information about things or people I know nothing about. And talk about energy! I don't know where he finds the time to work full-time, be such an engaged husband and father, and do all the extracurricular activities he describes in his blog.

5) My final nomination is again for a friend's blog, Gabriel's Kazoo. I'm just so happy she's writing again after a 4 month hiatus, I had to nominate her! I mostly enjoy finding out what she and her family are doing, but she is also a talented writer and she continuously impresses me with managing both medical school and new parenthood at the same time! Welcome back C! Howdeedo is her post where she resurfaces from what I'm sure was a grueling last few months of medical school.


And so there ya go, consider yourselves nominated!

A little clarification

Last night J and I spent 2 hours in front of the tv watching American Idol - the Idol Gives Back special. It was not a bad show, and oozed all the typical American pop culture and melodramatic cheese you would expect from a charitable event created by American Idol. Of course, being the total sucker that I am and infused with raging pregnancy hormones, I cried nearly the whole way through. The event seems to have been successful, and raised over $60 million (so far) for charities in the US and Africa. I especially enjoyed the footage of Randy and Paula in the US, because my focus has always been so international that I often forget there is extreme poverty and illiteracy in our own back yard. Hmm, forget is not the right word, I don't forget. But America has become so good at hiding (and ignoring) these realities that it is easy to overlook, whereas the conditions in Africa are so readily apparent and abundant that it is impossible to miss. I was also interested to learn about all the domestic work Save the Children does. I didn't know that, as I only know them due to their international work. In Mali they have set up several village elementary schools (J helped get one set up in his own village) and do basic health education.

With only minutes before the end, they finally showed Bono talking to the contestants. Can I just go on a little hero worship rant...I Love Bono. It is true, very very true. And I know that J doesn't even mind because he worships him even more than I do. I know deep down in my heart that he would leave me for Bono, if they both swung that way. And I accept that. And I don't blame him. I mean, the guy is a musical genius AND has done amazing work to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS. He is my Idol. Anyway, so he was featured in the end, talking about his amazing One campaign. Evidently, after the show over 70,000 people joined the One campaign, which is impressive. I was really hoping he would perform though, so I was a bit disappointed.

The whole reason for this post though is that I feel the need to provide a bit of clarification. Some of the footage they showed of Africa was very bothersome to me. I think that many Americans may have come away from the telecasts thinking that Africans live in filth and do not care about keeping their space clean. And this is not true. Granted, you do see a lot of trash along the streets, especially blue plastic bags which seem to have overtaken the whole continent. Think about it, if African governments don't have enough money to educate all their children and stop the HIV epidemic, they certainly don't have enough money to pay for garbage trucks and collectors. What I want to point out is that you will not see garbage laying around a family's compound. They do not live in "filth", and try to keep their space as clean and organized as resources would allow. If a woman let her home become dirty, the whole neighborhood or village would talk about it and she would be disgraced. So, after getting up at 5 a.m. to start breakfast cooking, washing dishes, with a child on her back or at her breast, in between preparing all the meals and doing laundry and taking care of the children and the elderly family members and going to the fields, she will sweep her compound. You don't know the meaning of work until you've seen a woman in rural Africa in action. For whatever reason, I needed that to be clear, because the scenes of heaping trash that Idol showed gave the wrong impression. Why did they feel the need to show the local dump in Kenya but not the one in Kentucky?

Spread of America

A friend asked me some questions that I imagine others of you may wonder as well, so I thought I'd answer her here on the blog. She basically asked me what sort of American things we can find here in Jakarta, and her questions relate to some things I had been thinking of mentioning on my blog anyway. So here goes...

1) Do you get any American tv shows there? The answer is yes, yes, yes. Most importantly, I get American Idol, in all it's wonderful current season glory. We are 1 day behind and of course can't vote, but I can't tell you how thrilled I was when we arrived here and I saw that it would be shown here as well. Seeing the trailers for American Idol and 24 before we left the US was killing me. So yes, I am fully up-to-date on Sanjaya finally and mercifully being kicked off, Simon's latest cracks, and Melinda's amazing talent. 24 is also shown here, but it is not the current season. We have been really getting into Heroes, which is the current season but a few months behind. All the CSIs are on, as well as Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and others like Scrubs, Friends, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, but none of these are the current season. But no, we are not forced to watch Alf or Green Acres in order to get our American tv fix. We also get CNN, BBC, MSNBC, Discovery channel, Disney Playhouse, National Geographic channel, ESPN, HBO, Cinemax, and Star Movies which shows good movies in English with Indonesian subtitles. Definitely not a bad selection.

2) How about the radio? The radio pretty much sucks here. Given that it is horrible in the US as well though, I'm not surprised. There are a couple "good" channels that seem to play a better assortment and have some commentary in English, but it's still pretty hit or miss. They just play the most random selection of songs. One minute we could be enjoying Coldplay or U2, and the next we're stuck with Olivia Newton John or Tiffany. Our car also only has a tape deck, so we have started buying some cassette tapes. The availability of good cassettes is pretty small though, so it looks like we're going to be stuck with only a few good tapes. Remember all the fun of making mix tapes back in junior high school? Well, if you've still got a tape deck in your stereo, why not relive the glory days and send us a few mix tapes!

3) What American movies do you get? We get American movies in the theaters here, although a bit late and a pretty random assortment. We have gone to 2 movies here, Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and last Friday was Shooter with Mark Whalberg. I expect that most of the big summer movies will make their way here. Let me tell you about the movie theater we went to though. It's the nicest movie theater we've ever been to, and this is for the regular theater. They also have a VIP theater where I guess you are served food and drinks. The theater we went to is in one of the nice malls, Plaza Indonesia (stores include Cartier, Tiffany's, Valentino, Nine West, Benetton), and the price of a ticket is a whopping $3. You get to choose your seats when you buy your ticket, and they have a full concession stand as well as a cafe or something in the lobby. The theater itself has fantastic surround sound (was great for Shooter) and the seats are heavenly - big, plush recliner like seats with plenty of leg room. We will have to check out some of the other theaters around town because it can take us 1 hour to get there, but at least it's a nice experience once we're there. We can also get just about everything on DVD. We can buy officially released movies, but we can also buy pirated ones for about $.70. The quality is usually fairly good, and you can get most of the major movies as soon as they hit theaters in the US. We can also get a lot of tv shows on DVD. We have been really enjoying Entourage this way, and have bought past seasons of Scrubs, West Wing, and X Files (oh yeah!). I just recently bought part of the current season of Grey's Anatomy and 24, but only some of them work in our dvd player. But we can't really complain at $.70/dvd.

4) What's the availability of American food? Believe it or not, but just about all the major restaurant chains have reached Jakarta. There is at least one TGIF, Tony Roma's, Chile's, California Pizza Kitchen, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, KFC, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks. Krispy Kreme has also just arrived, and has become my favorite treat. I don't remember liking it quite this much back home... One nice thing is that these places are here, but another nice thing is that you don't find them everywhere. America has definitely not taken over. As far as the grocery stores, you can find just about anything, at a price. We can buy Cheerios here, but no thank you at $11/box. We can get Ben & Jerry's, and it's not too much more than back home. We have certainly been able to find everything we "need", and sometimes we treat ourselves to something we don't need. And there are a couple things we have either not found or have a difficult time finding, like arugula, pine nuts, Goldfish crackers, some liquor like Bailey's, etc. The other challenge is that in order to get everything I know is available that we might want/need, I'd have to go to about 5 different grocery stores. In a big city with bad traffic, this is not fun. So usually we just live without.

So as you can see we aren't doing without very much. It's quite a comfortable place to live. Many of the people I am coming to know here work outside of the international development industry, and have either never been overseas before or their expat jobs have been in the middle east or Asia. I take their complaints with a grain of salt. I find it quite amusing when they get worked up over not being able to get x, or having to pay so much for it if they can find it. Considering that we expected our overseas assignment to be in Africa where you can't get at least 3/4 of what I described above, we think we're living in a pretty posh environment.

Hope this has been at least mildly interesting. Feel free to ask me any other burning questions.

Crafts, furniture, and storms - obviously

We went to a fabulous craft fair on Saturday, one that probably lives up to its reputation of being the best craft exhibition in Jakarta. The Inacraft fair took place in the Jakarta Convention Center and had 100s of vendors, including housewares, furniture, jewelry, batik, clothing, accessories, gifts, toys, and more. It was wonderful. I had a great time, although I dragged J to it and his lack of enthusiasm was a downer for both of us. I have to admit though he warned me ahead of time. Next time I will just leave him home and take his wallet, and call it a fair trade :) This exhibition evidently takes place twice/year, so hopefully the next one will be 6 months from now in October when J's parents will be here. I know J's mom would love it too, and J's sister would go crazy for all the purse vendors.

It looks like most of our furniture will be ready this week. God willing our dining room table and chairs will be included in this motherload of furniture, so we can stop eating on a 3 person table with lime green plastic chairs. It's the thing we've needed the most, the thing I spent the most time looking for (the space for it is odd so I had to order a round extending table - an unusual request here in Jakarta), and the thing that has taken the longest. Figures. Hopefully it will be well worth the wait. A couple of Indonesian style recliner chairs arrived today, and C's bed, dresser and bedside table are due in tomorrow I believe. Once those are in, I can set up our study/guest bedroom and the baby's room. I want to have this house organized before I leave for Singapore to have the baby; I learned my lesson last time when it took us at least 6 months after C's birth before we resumed any of our house projects. It will feel so good to get this house really feeling like a home, and will finally free up our time to do non-house related activities.

On a totally different note, there is an insane, mad, crazy storm raging outside right now. It rains in the afternoon almost every day. What I love about the rain here is that I would say 90% of the time it is accompanied by lightning and thunder. I don't really see the lightning because it's during the day, but the thunder is absolutely amazing. Sometimes it is the sort of thunder that sounds like it is rolling across the sky, like two giants were flapping sheets of metal through the clouds. And other times it is directly overhead, a shattering bolt that rocks the house. We didn't get good thunderstorms in DC, and certainly not this often. In Mali, however, we would get some awesome storms as well. What I loved about these storms was that the sky in my village was so uninterrupted, you could see the storm coming for miles. Huge, billowing black clouds would come rolling into a clear blue sky, and when they finally reached you with gusts of wind, there would be an instantaneous downpour of rain that could actually hurt if you found yourself stuck in it. And the sound of these downpours was deafening, because my house had a tin roof and the sound was like what I imagine a war sounds like...constant riotous noise with bursts of shocking sound.

The problem with these storms, and their timing, is that they occur during C's nap. Today, given the intensity of the storm, he only got half his nap in before the thunder woke him up. Loud noises seem to be the only thing that really disturbs C, and this kind of loud thunder is the worst. So despite my best efforts, there was no calming him down enough to go back to sleep. Makes me think of a girl in C's class; I swear this poor girl is afraid of her own shadow. I've never actually seen a small child tremble in fear, until her, and it was over a very small thing. How does that happen? Has she always been like that, just something biological, or was there some trauma in her short life? Ah, the whole nature vs. nurture - one of my favorite subjects to ponder.

Bali bliss

What do you picture when you imagine Bali? Tranquil warm sea waters lapping at long sandy beaches, perhaps? Cocktails that come in coconut shells and palm trees hugging the coast, hot and humid tropics, exotic languages, spicy food, beautiful resorts, bustling market places? From our few short days there, I would say you are right on. It was truly blissful and I can't wait to go back (6 long months from now).

Our trip began with some mild challenges. The airline called the day before to tell us our flight was delayed until the afternoon, which meant that we would lose a half-day of a precious 3 day weekend. This also meant that we would be going during C's nap, thus losing his nap for the day. We covet his naps dearly because we spent so many months trying to get him to be a good sleeper, so we go to great pains to ensure he takes a nap every day. Anyway, so this was disappointing but not serious. Our flight there, on budget Air Asia, was not bad. It's definitely a budget airline, but at half the cost of even the most respected Indonesian carrier, Garuda, and for a short 90 minute flight, it was well worth it. We arranged for the hotel to pick us up at the airport, and 20 minutes after collecting our luggage we arrived at the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel.

The hotel had an open air lobby with Balinese design and furnishings throughout. It was quite beautiful, and really made us feel like we had landed in paradise. Our room was lovely and had a nice patio overlooking the incredibly serene hotel gardens. The hotel was very quiet, and the only sounds we heard from our room during our stay were thunder and birds. There were about 10 hotel inhabitants of the duck variety, and C wasted no time in chasing him. Before I knew it, not 5 minutes after coming into our room, C was several feet away heading towards the pond, chasing the poor ducks who were squawking and waddling as fast as they could. I could hardly keep up, and poor J had no idea where we had disappeared to.

There were 2 little areas with shops and restaurants within walking distance of the hotel, so that is what we did for dinner for 2 nights. Aside from the slap-you-in-the-face humidity, the walks were pretty and quiet, unlike noisy polluted Jakarta. The best shopping in Bali evidently is in and on the way to Ubud, which is a town towards central Bali. We would have needed about 5 hours for that excursion, which we didn't really have this time, so this will be a priority the next time we go. We also didn't have any exceptional food during our stay. The one thing we forgot on this trip was our Lonely Planet Indonesia book, so we were somewhat at a loss as to what to do. We knew about Ubud, but didn't know we needed so much time to go there. We knew there were things to see in Kuta, and we went there the morning it rained, but we didn't know where to go so I'm pretty sure we missed seeing anything interesting. Anyway, next time we will not make the same mistake and hopefully we will eat better and see more. As it was we spent most of our time at the hotel, enjoying the beach and the pools, and it was glorious. The ocean and pool water temperatures were perfect and C had a great time playing in the sand and "swimming" (as did we!). J and I managed to get out by ourselves for dinner one night by hiring a babysitter from the hotel. All in all it was a wonderful mini-vacation and we are already greatly looking forward to going back when we will spend a longer amount of time.

During our stay C slept in a big boy bed for the first time ever. It was well barricaded with 2 walls and the back of a couch, so he must have felt pretty secure. The only time we woke up during the 3 nights we were there was the first night when he bumped his head on the wall. His new big boy bed is due to arrive next week so I'm optimistic that the transition will go smoothly.

We got back from Bali on Sunday and C started his new school on Monday morning. He will spend M-W mornings there and so far so good. The center requests that parents stay with their child much of the time in the beginning, so I was able to get a good feel for the center, the teachers, and how C will like it. Given all the time he spent in a daycare center back home, we are not worried about him adapting to the environment. He is happy to go in the morning and is enjoying all the activity and the other children. My only complaint with the center is that it seems a bit manic. They try to cram too much into the morning and as a result the kids are constantly moved from one activity to another and from one place to another within the center. It felt to me that as soon as C was getting into an activity or into playing, it would be time to do something else. Other than that though, it seems to be a good mix of free play, directed play, and learning. His teachers are nice and seem to manage the children well. I think it will be a positive experience for him. I think I will miss him a bit while he's there in the mornings, as I've become so accustomed to him being around. But, I am also happy that I will have this alone time with his little brother, and I think that will be good for everyone.

One to remember

We were at the dinner table the other night and asked C to open his mouth so we could look at his teeth because they seemed a bit yellow to us. He complied, and we discussed why this might be happening for a little while. After a few minutes he turned to J and said, "hey big boy, show me your teeth!". Classic.

Demonville, incorporated 2007

Was it just a few days ago that I was raving about how "delightful" and totally wonderful my son is? I feel like I'm emotionally unstable with this kid around. One minute he IS the most delightful, fantastic boy, and I can't believe I totally lucked out to have the most perfect child in the world. And the next? I think I gave birth to a demon child that was put on this earth to make me crazy and push every single button I have. Last night was especially horrendous. Meal time is always a bit of a struggle. While he usually ends up eating most of everything on his plate, it often takes some coaxing, bribing, games, or sitting for eons waiting him out until he decides that eating his broccoli is indeed a fair trade-off to play with his cars. I have grown accustomed to this struggle for the most part, since I do it 3-5 times/day with him. But J usually only witnesses it at dinner, after a long day at work. So this is the way we started last evening - the usual mealtime struggle, before which we had to fight with him to get him to wash his hands. And one of the reasons I was looking forward to coming to Indonesia was that we'd be able to eat together as a family every night, instead of rushing home from work and feeding C something quick and J and I not eating until 8 after he was in bed. What was I thinking?! Now we eat as a family, but it is not a very relaxing, enjoyable experience. Evidently C is supposed to be getting something positive out of eating with his family, so "the" pediatricians say. I wonder. Maybe it's just an evil ruse to make the parents even more frazzled than they already were.

After dinner we moved on to trying to get C to help us clean up. Then came brushing his teeth. What he does these days when we ask him to do something is head in that direction, and then veer off in another direction like it's a big game. And even when he knows it isn't a game to us, he still refuses and there are more bribes, games, coaxing, etc. to get him where we need him to be. So brushing his teeth ended up in tears, raised voices and threats of time-outs. And when we finally got that done, we had to go through all of this again to get his pj's on. Well, this ended with me getting kicked and that was our last straw. He got his first time-out since we've moved into our house. I suppose that's pretty good considering we've been here for 6 weeks, but usually the threat of a time-out is enough.

Finally the monster went to bed, but instead of relaxing J and I had language lessons. It was a very tiring evening, and the thought that we're adding another Demon Child to this already taxing situation was hardly comforting.

And my poor little monster has a lot ahead of him, little does he know. He starts school next Monday. That following weekend we're hitting the potty training hard core. Soon after that he'll be getting a big boy bed. And then we'll be going to Singapore and he'll become a big brother. And then we'll come home. It's a heck of a lot for a little guy, I know, but unfortunately we just don't have any ways around it. With all these changes we'll probably be living in Demonville for the foreseeable future.

Previous post

I just posted a new entry but it is located before the Two Little Tykes post, since I started it before that one. Just fyi.

Two little tykes

I don't know all that much yet about our next child, except that it's a boy and that he seems much more active than C was. I probably feel him kick more because I'm not as constantly busy like I was when I was pregnant with C; however, I also don't remember C kicking me all night long. This one does. Every time I roll over or get up during the night this little guy seems to wake up and start punching or kicking me, or at the least rolls around in there looking for a more comfortable spot. There have been times when I get a little scared that he's going to actually punch through the uterine wall, where it actually hurts, and other times when he seems to be stretching in both directions and I don't see how my body can be pulled like that. I'm guessing that all this means this new boy is going to give us a run for our money.

Don't get me wrong, C was not an easy baby. He didn't sleep well, day or night, for months and months until we took matters into our own hands. He cried a lot and for no apparent reason. He spit up a lot. My dreams of taking him to coffee shops, shopping, hanging out a park, etc. during my maternity leave were overthrown by my desperately needing naps whenever I could and by him falling apart at a moment's notice. And then he turned 6 months old and he became a different baby. Then he started to become the absolute delightful little boy that he is now. His most recent phase, and one that I hope never ends, is that he is incredibly polite. He says his thank yous, excuse me, please, bless you, all without prompting. He says these things to us and to anyone who helps him. It is incredibly sweet and wonderful. He is really pretty much a good kid. He listens most of the time, eats well, is easy going, sleeps great, laughs easily, is smart and funny. Makes me wonder what his brother is going to be like...

The other thing I know about the newest little tyke is that he might just resemble my father. I come from a family of big noses on my dad's side, and my dad is a fine specimen of this family trait. Our newest son seems to have a huge honker. But we will see, maybe it's just the camera angle? Either way, I think these 3-d photos are so totally cool and I can't believe we can already "see" our unborn baby! Take a look at our newest son!

At 22 weeks:


At 27 weeks:


Isn't he already perfect?!

Food, glorious food

There is some good food to be had here in Indonesia, and I'm sure we've only skimmed the surface. Indonesian food can be quite spicy, so I have to be a little careful since I'm such a wimp when it comes to spicy food. C on the other hand seems to have inherited J's tolerance for spicy food, and it is amazing to me what this 2 year old can eat.

The latest taste bud delight was a meal with rice, crunchy tempeh (made from soybean) and prawn crackers. The rice was Nasi Kuning (yellow rice), which is made with coconut milk and turmeric. It is often prepared for special occasions, like anniversaries and birthdays. It is nothing special, but a nice vehicle for the Kering Tempeh (I think that's the name...)! Kering tempeh is a burst of flavor, mixing sweet, salty and spicy into this delicious medley of crunchy little bits of tempeh that you can eat alone or mix into the nasi kuning. C LOVED it, and we had to use it as a bribe for him to eat the rest of his dinner. J and I also loved it, and it is one of the best things we've eaten here yet. Kering tempeh is tempeh fried with chili, garlic, and brown sugar. If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend you try it.

Another meal J and I really like is Beef Rendang, which is also an Indonesian dish although it's also common in Malaysia and Singapore. Beef is slowly cooked in coconut milk, soy sauce, turmeric, chilies, galangal (blue ginger), lemon grass and probably some other spices. It is also usually served with rice, although we've had it before as a "burger" which was also quite divine.

When we first arrived in Indo. I realized it was a good thing I wasn't here during the whole of my first trimester. For whatever reason the smell and sight of Asian food totally disagreed with me, and the breakfast buffet at the hotel was an exercise in avoidance, holding my breath, and calming a queasy stomach. Indonesians eat the same thing for breakfast as they do for lunch and dinner, so the breakfast buffet was piled high with rice and noodles, fish, stews, etc. It didn't help that J had no problem getting right into this cultural oddity (ok, it really isn't that odd at all as I believe people in many parts of the world eat the same things all day, but my stomach just can't handle anything out of the ordinary first thing in the morning) and would enjoy filling his plate with all these things I found revolting. Fortunately the queasy stomach didn't last too much longer and I stopped gagging at the site of this food.

Fried rice (nasi goreng) is, surprise surprise, very common here, as are some basic noodle dishes. The nasi goreng I've had is good, and far better than fried rice you get from a Chinese restaurant. The spices are different, although I'm not sure in what way. What I love are the carts that people push around to sell the nasi goreng, mie goreng, etc. You can hear them coming, because they hit this cow bell on the side of the cart to announce there is RICE! NOODLES! passing by. We have one rice vendor who permanently stations himself outside of our gate every night. We have yet to try his food, but we will soon. We haven't really talked to him yet either - I'm not sure he speaks English and our Indonesian is still pitiful (although I wowed my mom on the phone the other night with the phrase: my mom wants to come to Indonesia. Not bad for 3 lessons). I think the reason I'm going on just a little too long about this guy is because he's exceptionally cute, in a very cute, cute way, with a cute smile and everything (shsh, don't tell J I have a crush on the nasi goreng guy). :)

Something I love about developing countries (and many parts of Europe) is that there is a little shop on every street corner selling food staples. The "corner market" if you will, which have for the most part long disappeared from America due to urban sprawl and mega grocery stores. I know you can still find them in large cities, but even there I think they are disappearing. It is a shame, because they are so convenient and such a community draw. Anyway, in Mali we called these little shops "butiki" and here they call them "worang". There are probably like 5 within a one block radius of our house, and we live in a very residential neighborhood. I like that. I like being able to walk to the end of the block and get a bag of pasta, of course. But what I really like is walking past and seeing the same friendly faces, knowing that they recognize me, knowing that they know my son's name. It is a comfort, from my Mali days I suppose, a comfort in a strange place.