Stray cats, shopping malls, still jet lagged

Oy. Trying to sleep through the night this time sans sleeping pills, so I'm writing to keep myself awake just a little longer. Today was the best day yet. Cultural awareness orientation. Actually quite well done. We took the bus to another swanky hotel across town. The colors here are bright. Perhaps it's to make up for the lack of color in the sky (no such thing as "blue" up above). I've noticed this layer of haze that never seems to lift (like the clouds and the sky got stirred up until a sort of gravy hangs above us instead), thus, the buildings abound with smatterings of purple, orange, yellow, blue, etc. Sort of like someone colored in Jakarta with a box of crayola and then stood back and went, "Yup, that looks about right! Should distract people from looking up." (sorry guys, said I was exhausted, can't claim to make any logical sense in such a state) The hotel we went to was mostly orange. I dug it. A fabulously educated and funny woman lead us through some very insightful discussions about preconceptions, miscommunication, open minds, mental conditioning both cultural and otherwise, etc. Good food for thought. And speaking of food, I'm being fed like a stuffed pig these days. Can't say I know what I'm eating. Looking forward to arriving in my city where I have to fend for myself and actually learn how to cook. Translation: get skinny.

After our morning of deep thinking, we took a 180 degree turn and experienced a shopping mall for the purpose of buying cell phones. There was 3 hours allotted on the schedule to accomplish this activity. At first I was puzzled by such a huge chunk of time for one simple task. Afterwards, I understood. Indonesians are not, ever, in a hurry. Ever. They walk slowly, talk slowly, and handle their transactions not so fast. Thus, a group of ten needing 7 cell phones total did indeed take close to 3 hours. By the time we were done, I collapsed in the back of the bus, after buying (and yes, I did feel remorse for doing this, but, when in Rome...) DVDs for the equivalent of 70 cents each. Pirated indeed. It was either that, or sit in a Dunkin Donuts filled with cigarette smoke (you can still smoke anywhere you want here, and people do) while I got starred at, pushed around, and ingested far too much caffeine. Hence, the bus.

While spending so much time en route to various locations, I've seen a lot of stray cats running around the streets. And it makes me sad. They're so skinny, so dirty, and because I couldn't afford my rabies shots before arriving here, I can't touch them. I want to take them all home. When I get home. Which will be on Wednesday. Until then, I'm restricted to watching them fight in the alleys and hide under cars. I just hope they don't drink the water. (Cooper my darling, Mommy will be home...in about 10 months...break my heart)

After the mall it was over to the home of the brilliant speaker from this morning. I'm so glad I got to visit an Indonesia house filled with the authentic stuff of a South East Asian Muslim family. The place was four stories high. White walls. And a spiral staircase that lead up to a rooftop garden. Very angular, tall, and cramped actually. In Jakarta there is no such thing as personal space, so you must build up, and keep it narrow. The part that was hard to swallow was the Australian Muslim in attendance who gave us Americans a little "talk" on what it means to be part of his religion. Now, I know I'm just a stupid Yank, but I've taught Muslims for two years now, and I do know a think or two about where my students come from. I don't care who you worship or how you do it. "God" is great, "God" is good, thank you for my food, Amen, rah rah rah. What I do have a problem with is arrogance, blindness, and hypocrisy. And this man was not in short supply of any of these. Needless to say, us ELFs couldn't wait for the food to begin, and for this darling religious "advisor" (not being snarky, that's what his business card calls him) to eat as much of it as possible so that we could enjoy it in silence.

The bus ride back to our little temporary abode was lovely. I really like the people I'm marooned here with. We're from all over: some east coasters, some southerners, some pacific northwesterners, and some in between. All of us cool cats. All of us seasoned and some of us sassy. Although none of the other ELFs are from my little world in Chicago, I do feel like I have a little bit of home with me. Thanks for that. And goodnight ya'll.