Last Monday

Everybody loves Mondays so much, me included. Today is my last one here at my job before I go. I've handed over everything to my replacement now so I'm doing a lot of sitting around and waiting. It is weird leaving yet again a place I have spent a long time in. Almost my whole life has consisted of moving and leaving. Let me tell you, it doesn't get any easer.

I went for a walk Sunday around some of the paths I jogged before I got tendinitis and saw many familiar things. There was the first house I lived in when I came to Banda Aceh, the restaurants I always used to eat at and the same people sitting out on their porch where they always are. I'm going to miss Banda Aceh even though I'm excited to be leaving. I've had a great run here and am very glad for the way things have turned out.

My plans moving forward are to finish out this week then Monday morning I'm going to Sabang which is a beautiful island 45 minutes from Banda Aceh with some of the best diving in the world. I haven't been in over a year when I've lived so close to it. I'll be there for a week, after which I'm heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'll be there two weeks to get visas for Stephen and me. I decided to get a ticket to go to Bandung since they were on sale for $25 (plus $25 in taxes and fees) but still not a bad deal from Kuala Lumpur all the way to Bandung. So I'll be heading there for about a week before I meet up with Stephen and begin the trip.

I've still got lots of packing to do but everything is coming together.

Newsletters now available

For all of you not on my mailing list, I've posted the latest newsletter which is # 22 as well as the previous two which I had never posted online. Click on the newsletter link on the left to read them.

Pretty little star means trouble

I've been a Mac user now for nearly a year and have hardly used a Windows computer since. I was just downloading some software from Microsoft's website to play Windows Media Player files in Quicktime when I started noticing all these pretty stars all over the place next to software updates. They are the same little silver stars that have started popping up on all my friend's Windows computers. Apparently they have designed a very nice logo for their Windows Genuine Advantage program or whatever they are now calling it. Basically if Microsoft thinks you are running a pirated copy of the program it will start notifying you and not let you upgrade parts of the system. Problem is that EVERYONE I know is seeing this on their computer and asking about it. I know that the machines purchased here in Indonesia probably have a pirated copy but even the ones that were purchased from HP, Dell, IBM and others in the US are doing the same things. I'm so glad I'm using a machine from a company that doesn't treat its customers as criminals.

Not only that but Macs are much safer to use. Did you know that? Read this article by Walt Mossberg with the Wall Street Journal for an insight into the difference. Why battle viruses, adware, spyware, trojan programs and spam when you can just get a Mac?

Are you stuck holding on to some programs that only run on Windows? Good news! Macs run Windows too. That is if you want all the Windows Genuine Advantage, viruses, adware, blah blah blah that comes with it. Not to mention that OS X is lightyears ahead of Windows in usability and creativity.

I'll leave you with this. There is a reason Mac users are fanatics. Wouldn't you rather enjoy using your computer?

Last Week

The name of this post is a double entendre but since I have to explain it, it probably isn't very good. First off, its been a week since I last posted so I'll fill you in on that. My main activities have been continued support of the new Base Manager while he learns the ropes. Also I had a rather emotionally charged and contentious several meetings with the village leadership about the project. We came very near closing down the project but in the last meeting after I informed them that the Country Director was coming tomorrow to speak with the district leader about shutting it down, they caved pretty quickly. Amazing how that happens. Anyways, at this point I've turned everything over to my replacement who is doing a great job so I'm just around to answer questions.

Secondly, its almost my last week on the job. I'm very happy to be leaving the project in the state that I am. It is now running well (after the last meeting). My plan is to head to Sabang for a week after I'm done for a little vacation then head to Kuala Lumpur to pick up some visas for the trip and them come back to pick up Stephen and start the trip. Still lots of packing and planning to do but the good news is that Ryanna and Katie are going to be joining us for two weeks! We just bought the tickets for them to come and they'll be joining us for Laos and Kunming China. Stephen and I will both be very glad to see them again since we've both been away for a long time.

Orang Kampung

Orang Kampung literally means "village person" (not to be confused with The Village People) but could be translated as "redneck" as well. So in honor of Jeff Foxworthy...

You know you're an Orang Kampung if:

1. You can fit more than 5 people on a 100cc motorcycle
2. You think toilet paper only belongs on a dinner table
3. You've had your picture taken with a westerner you don't know
4. You think a Britney Spears song makes a great ring tone
5. You sleep with a band-aid over your belly button to "keep the wind out"
6. You have wondered about the purpose of a trash can
7. You have tried to use a western toilet but your feet kept slipping off the seat
8. Your television and satellite dish cost more than your house
9. You own cows, chickens and goats but aren't sure where any of them are
10. You think there are two food groups: chicken with rice and fish with rice

Another Tsunami

This afternoon (middle of the night in the US), there was another earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. First of all, rest assured that I'm okay and didn't even know it happened till I read the news. It actually occurred near where I used to live in Bandung. The villages that were hit are Pangandaran and Cipatujah. I used to go to Pangandaran for vacation at the beach. Both of these villages are much smaller than similar areas hit by the tsunami in Aceh, not to mention that the tsunami is much smaller.

So far it sounds like the earthquake was a 7.2 and the tsunami was around two meters high (six feet). It was enough to shake the area a bit and damage some coastal houses. Early reports were that about 30 people were missing and now they say that at least 6 are dead. Rumor has it that the tsunami flooded the village up to 1 kilometer inland. I'll post more if anything important happens.

Oh, by the way, it is on the same fault a few hundred miles east of the Jogja earthquake.

3 Weeks to go

My contract will be done in three weeks time. It seems like I just got started. It's amazing how fast one year goes by. I just got back to Banda Aceh yesterday after seeing the Canadian team off in Medan. My replacement is already here and I've been working to get him up to speed on everything before I go. This morning I turned over my responsibilities to him so now I'm just an adviser to him until I leave. Its strange to have someone else running the project I've been running for so long.

Lots of things have happened since my last newsletter so I'm going to try and get another one out really soon. Hopefully now that I have less responsibilities and the Canada team is gone I'll have more time.

I'm also finishing preparations for the upcoming trip. I'm getting really excited about that!

Red Carpet Treatment

Our Canadian work team finished up and we headed to Medan yesterday. When we landed, we picked up our bags and headed to the hotel. Along the way were a million police and tons of government officials. They got more and more dense on the way to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, there was a red carpet and everything! I mean, I knew we were doing good work but I didn't know we would get that kind of attention for it! When checking in, they were really anxious to get us out of the lounge. Turns out the President of Indonesia was coming to spend the night a the same hotel as us.

At one point I was in the lobby when he went out. Turns out he looks like anyone else but just has a lot of other people running around him doing things. He even has a car with a license plate that says "Indonesia 1."

So this morning I was going to go down for breakfast and the elevator stopped but was going up. I decided to head up first since I was near the top floor anyways. The elevator went to the top where the President was staying and they asked me to get out but there was no where to go. So I was just waiting around for him to arrive and take the elevators. Well, he was taking a while so I went and found the service elevator and took that one. Didn't have to see him again thankfully.

We got the Canadian team sent off without any problems this morning. They did a great job and there were no major problems or complaints the whole time. I'm going to have a nice rest now though.

Strike

Apparently a bill ratifying the peace agreement in Aceh is supposed to go into affect today. The Acehnese aren't very happy that some parts of the peace agreement were left out of the bill so now there is a general strike at least for this morning. At our work site there is nobody except our staff there working. The Canadians are all ready to go but now have nothing to do. Hopefully things will pick up in the morning after the strike is over.

Work Team Progress

The team up here has been doing a great job. They are really hard workers and have gotten a lot of work done. We divided them into five teams. A truss making team, a foundation and brick laying team and three paining teams. The foundation team started from scratch and already has the house with walls half way up. They may be able to put the trusses on before they leave. The truss team builds enough trusses for about 2 houses per day. The painting teams are painting about one house in two days for each team.

Today is Sunday and so we are taking a break, going to the beach, barbequeing and going to church. Monday we will start work again but they want to start doing more heavy labor so there will be for teams, truss, paint, foundation and brick. I'm glad so many are wanting to do hard work.

We leave thursday and hopefully life can start getting back to a little more normal. Of course then a few weeks later I'm done so I don't know how normal that will be.

New Boat Technology

File this one under, DUH! A company in Germany has figured out a new technology to help reduce the cost of fuel use in ships. Add a sail! No kidding. You can cut fuel costs by adding a sail and using the wind power. Wonders never cease. Why didn't we think of this before? I bet soon we will have fully wind powered vessels cruising around...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13325827/site/newsweek/

Strange Phone Calls

Having a cell phone means you get calls all the time. That is if anyone is calling you. I've had some pretty strange ones in Indonesia. I think things are a little different here. I had a call the other day that went like this:

(ringing)
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Who is this?
Other: Abdul, who is this?
Me: Randall, what do you want?
Other: What do you want?
Me: You called me
Other: No you called me
Me: I didn't call you
Other: Yes, you called me
Me: Who is this?
Other: Abdul, what do you want
Me: Who do you want to talk to
Other: You called me
Me: No I didn't
Other: Yes you did
Me: Whatever
(click)

I get other ones along the lines of this:

(ringing)
Me: Hello?
Other: Is Rita there?
Me: Who?
Other: Rita
Me: You have the wrong number
Other: No I don't, is Rita there?
Me: I'm pretty sure you don't. This is my phone and I don't know any Ritas
Other: ...
Me: Hello?
Other: Is Rita there?
Me: No, I don't know any Ritas
Other: Well this is her number
Me: No it isn't. This is my phone
Other: Okay
(click)
(immediately ringing again)
Me: Hello?
Other: Is Rita there?
Me: This is still the wrong number
Other: I'm sure this is her number
Me: Well, I'm sure it isn't
Other: Is she there?
Me: Not where I am
Other: Do you know where she is?
Me: I don't know her. Goodbye
(click)
(immediately ringing again)
Me: This is still not Rita's number. Please stop calling.
Other: Randall? Who is Rita?
Me: Oh, sorry Stephen.

Then the most common call I get is this. I think it has to do with the way phone calls are answered.

(ringing)
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Who is this?
Other: Who is this?
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Who is this?
Me: Randall, who is this?
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Who is this?
Me: Randall, Who is this?
(This repeats itself for quite a while)
Other: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Other: Hello?
Me: What do you want?
Other: Is Dewi there?
Me: Sorry, wrong number.
Other: Oh, bye
(click)

I must admit. I now give people three hellos. If they haven't identified who they are or what they want, I hang up. I figure, if it is important, they will call back with a few less "hellos."

Canadians and Durian

We've been doing our best to keep the 27 Canadians (really 25 Canadians and 2 Americans) all fed. They've really been enjoying the food although some have said it is a little spicey. Today I was going to bring them some durian to try. But as I was about to leave, Adrian from Panga showed up with a ton of durian to bring out to them. So we went out there and tried to get them to eat it. That involved me eating a ton of durian and trying every trick in the book to convince them that something that smells that bad and tastes like rancid gym socks can actually be enjoyed. So with a taste of heaven and a smell from hell, I convinced a few of them to nibble at it. I managed to down about 3 whole durians. One of the best parts about durian is that it sticks with you for a while because every time you burp, you taste it again. Oh, and it makes urine smell really funny.

Blog Comments

Sorry to all of you who have been trying to post comments. I turned on moderation of comments a few months ago which means that I have to approve comments before they will appear on the site. Well, I thought it was going to notify me when someone commented so I could approve it but it never did. I had a backlog of comments that I just approved. Special thanks to all of you who have commented, especially Sarah Jo for the birthday greeting!

I'll try and stay on top of it in the future but if it becomes a problem, I just put it back to automatic

Canada Team

I'm back and working a million miles an hour for 12-14 hours a day. I arrived back at the exact same time as a work group of 27 people from Canada. They are here to help with construction on the project site to taking care of all of them is a full time job for 4 of us in addition to all the other things I'm supposed to be catching up on after 6 weeks of being gone from the base. I'm writing this now in a brief period I have in the morning since I'm still a little jetlagged. Its the only free time I have all day.

My replacement has arrived as well and we're working together to get him up to speed and ready to take over for when I leave in almost exactly a month. It feels strange to be turning over responsibility for the project since I have been in control for so long but it is also a good thing.

I'll post more when I have a chance.

Almost back

I'm in Medan now and I'll be traveling back to Banda Aceh this afternoon with a team of 27 people from Canada. They are here for two week work trip to our project. When I agreed to have them come I didn't realize how big the logistics for 27 people is. I'm looking forward to picking them up in a few minutes and helping them make an impact in the villages we have been working in. They will be doing construction and some community health training. Of course I have hardly been in Banda Aceh for over 6 weeks but I have a good staff that hopefully has prepared for everything. We'll see!

Back to Indonesia

I've had a really awesome time in the US for the last couple of weeks. I've been really busy so I'm sorry I haven't been posting to my blog. I'm now on my way back and should be arriving back in Indonesia tomorrow morning. I spent my whole time in Dallas with family and friends. I'd like to appologize to all the friends that I wanted to see but didn't have time and to all the friends who I only briefly saw and wanted to spend more time with. I'll try and catch up with all of you better next time.

I've always joked that I wanted a water buffalo for my birthday. Well this year I got one. Because everbody's got a water buffalo, right? At least a small wooden one, but it counts! I could buy a real one in Indonesia but it would be about $500 and I don't know what I would do with it. That is a little expensive just to be able to say that I have one. So where is your water buffalo?