Sunday, 27Aug06
Highlights: walking around the neighborhood with Brook & the Kemang festival
Lydia had to go to Singapore today to extend her Indonesia visa & meet with the Fulbright program office. She was getting up just as my “excited to be here” energy was wearing off and I was ready for bed (at 6am).
Later in the afternoon, when I came to life again, Brook arrived with his luggage from the hotel, and the two of us took off to walk around the neighborhood & get to know our surroundings. (memorize the name of the main road at least, and a few landmarks).
The area we live in is close to the center of ex-patriot activity, so there are a lot of cafes and stores that cater to a western crowd nearby… but we’re not in the middle of it, so our immediate surroundings still have an Indonesian feel to it.
Speaking of the authentic feel, one disadvantage of our beautiful new home was inescapably noticeable this morning: a smell only a farmer could ignore. It was powerful enough to send Lydia into lawyer mode & draft a new clause that we should consider inserting in our lease agreement, in case the house becomes “un-inhabitable” due to the smell.
Later in the day, Brook & I figured out where the odor was coming from. There’s no septic tank under the house,,, but an open-air sewer system that runs directly under our front driveway to the street, and ‘downhill’ towards the river.
I asked the guard at the front gate if, upon flushing the toilet, the contents of said flush, travel out of the house, into the open air system, and onward towards the river. He answered in the affirmative- and since this is the hot, dry season, there are some days when the smell is, um,, more noticeable than others. He assured us that the rainy season makes the smell go away. Mother Nature’s way of flushing out the gutters here. =/ (engineering genius?) ha ha perhaps for the 2nd century Romans.
So my little paradise here isn’t perfect- but I wasn’t gagging or anything. The foul wind only blows occasionally.
Brook & I continued up the street, and found a few landmarks.
Highlights: walking around the neighborhood with Brook & the Kemang festival
Lydia had to go to Singapore today to extend her Indonesia visa & meet with the Fulbright program office. She was getting up just as my “excited to be here” energy was wearing off and I was ready for bed (at 6am).
Later in the afternoon, when I came to life again, Brook arrived with his luggage from the hotel, and the two of us took off to walk around the neighborhood & get to know our surroundings. (memorize the name of the main road at least, and a few landmarks).
The area we live in is close to the center of ex-patriot activity, so there are a lot of cafes and stores that cater to a western crowd nearby… but we’re not in the middle of it, so our immediate surroundings still have an Indonesian feel to it.
Speaking of the authentic feel, one disadvantage of our beautiful new home was inescapably noticeable this morning: a smell only a farmer could ignore. It was powerful enough to send Lydia into lawyer mode & draft a new clause that we should consider inserting in our lease agreement, in case the house becomes “un-inhabitable” due to the smell.
Later in the day, Brook & I figured out where the odor was coming from. There’s no septic tank under the house,,, but an open-air sewer system that runs directly under our front driveway to the street, and ‘downhill’ towards the river.
I asked the guard at the front gate if, upon flushing the toilet, the contents of said flush, travel out of the house, into the open air system, and onward towards the river. He answered in the affirmative- and since this is the hot, dry season, there are some days when the smell is, um,, more noticeable than others. He assured us that the rainy season makes the smell go away. Mother Nature’s way of flushing out the gutters here. =/ (engineering genius?) ha ha perhaps for the 2nd century Romans.
So my little paradise here isn’t perfect- but I wasn’t gagging or anything. The foul wind only blows occasionally.
Brook & I continued up the street, and found a few landmarks.
posted by jonathan adventures at 4:02 PM
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