Indonesia: The first ten days (August 1-10, 2013)

-->I arrived at the beautiful CIFOR campus and guesthouse late on Wednesday night, July 31.  After a nice deep sleep, I walked over to the campus awake enough to handle the many logistical tasks that awaited me and meeting my new colleagues.  Among my logistic tasks was a trip to the US Embassy in Jakarta the next day to apply for a new passport.  As the crow flies, Jakarta and Bogor are close.  But the infamous traffic in this part of Java means that a round trip could take anywhere between 2 hours and 6 or more.  It took me five and half to get to Jakarta and back! 

The next week was Lebaran, or Idul Fitri, the holiday/holy day marking the end of Ramadan, and the biggest holiday in Indonesia.  Many Muslims go to their home villages (pulang), non-Muslims go to (pergi) Bali or elsewhere, and Jakarta empties out. So does the CIFOR campus.  Consequently, things were slow for me during my first ten days.  It gave me a chance to get some work done, travel to Jakarta (called the Big Durian) when it was not so crazy, and to have some local adventures (like try all kinds of tropical fruits!).  I also got to hang out with my old friends Amy, Or and their children; meet and make new friends, and find a house!  Piggy backing on the experiences of others, I liked and decided to rent the first house I walked into.  It is a huge house (for me though not necessarily by expat standards).  I meant to look for a place in Jakarta (so much going on there compared to the more provincial pace of Bogor).  However, considering the high costs (in terms of money and time) I decided to take the path of least resistance and settled on living in the very green neighborhood of Taman Kencana.  A lot of CIFOR folks live there and that meant instant community.   It also meant racking up unpayable debt to that community! During the Lebaran holiday I also got to hang out with CIFOR colleagues who were new like me and staying at CIFOR, and many students and scholars who stay at the guesthouse.  Mealtime conversations means crash courses or personal seminars on all kinds of fascinating research!  Happy Me!