Saturday, 23Sep06
Highlights: lessons learned meeting, Ambassador mall, a cultural bridge is crossed, retirement/good-bye party
I met up with the instructors to assemble our thoughts for an after-action report, and note what went well, and what we should do different in the future.
For most of the guys, this was their first time in Indonesia, so we did a little shopping before they went back to the states. The Ambassador mall is across from the JW Marriott hotel, which was bombed in August 2003. You would never know today.
The mall is teeming with people. 5 floors of shopping paradise I guess. Ha ha. If you pay more than $1 for a new release DVD, you paid too much.
Just as an aside,,, my stomach hasn’t been feeling right since dinner Thursday night. Without getting into details- Mother Nature calls doesn’t give much advance notice when she calls these days.
I had to run to the bathroom at the mall,,, and sure enough… no western style toilets! Ahh! There was no going back. I was standing at the edge of a precipice, and the only way was forward. I crossed that cultural bridge this afternoon for the first time in 3 ½ months,,, and half of what makes this worth mentioning is the laughter I always got from my Yogya host family when I would take pictures of “traditional” bathrooms.
Ok,,, I was unaware of the details of bathroom technique before I got here,, and still am, pretty much. It’s not one of those things you can get a demo on. To outline the fundamental differences- Americans are used to dry toilets. Indonesians use wet toilets,,, which is to say- instead of dry toilet paper, they use water to clean up after doing business. I wasn’t quite sure how to get down there & get my job done with pants dangerously close by,, so those had to come off. Mother Nature wasn’t particularly kind to me today, so it took a minute. I’m sure she was laughing at me. There was a hose I could use, (thank goodness!) as opposed to a bucket of water,,, but sure enough- nothing to dry yourself with. Water all over the floor,, I got my pants & shoes back on & prayed there wouldn’t be too many wet spots.
Whew! There was nothing left but to walk out of there dignified, like nothing just happened. But I’m telling you- a cultural bridge was just crossed. I went straight home.
Later in the evening, the Army Attaché was having a retirement/going-away party at the American Club. All our TNI friends were invited, and I never turn down a free dinner.
Nice place! The whole party had the feel of walking into a James Bond movie: great food; 4 professional singers; many exceedingly attractive ladies, including the runner-up to Miss Indonesia; but the best part was the Betawi traditional dancers.
Traditional Balinese & Jawa dances are great, but this is probably my favorite so far. Unfortunately they were followed by a stumbling-drunk Argentinian guy on a personal mission to drag every lady onto the dance floor & show her his “moves”. Reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve seen a drunk guy. Almost 4 months!
Highlights: lessons learned meeting, Ambassador mall, a cultural bridge is crossed, retirement/good-bye party
I met up with the instructors to assemble our thoughts for an after-action report, and note what went well, and what we should do different in the future.
For most of the guys, this was their first time in Indonesia, so we did a little shopping before they went back to the states. The Ambassador mall is across from the JW Marriott hotel, which was bombed in August 2003. You would never know today.
The mall is teeming with people. 5 floors of shopping paradise I guess. Ha ha. If you pay more than $1 for a new release DVD, you paid too much.
Just as an aside,,, my stomach hasn’t been feeling right since dinner Thursday night. Without getting into details- Mother Nature calls doesn’t give much advance notice when she calls these days.
I had to run to the bathroom at the mall,,, and sure enough… no western style toilets! Ahh! There was no going back. I was standing at the edge of a precipice, and the only way was forward. I crossed that cultural bridge this afternoon for the first time in 3 ½ months,,, and half of what makes this worth mentioning is the laughter I always got from my Yogya host family when I would take pictures of “traditional” bathrooms.
Ok,,, I was unaware of the details of bathroom technique before I got here,, and still am, pretty much. It’s not one of those things you can get a demo on. To outline the fundamental differences- Americans are used to dry toilets. Indonesians use wet toilets,,, which is to say- instead of dry toilet paper, they use water to clean up after doing business. I wasn’t quite sure how to get down there & get my job done with pants dangerously close by,, so those had to come off. Mother Nature wasn’t particularly kind to me today, so it took a minute. I’m sure she was laughing at me. There was a hose I could use, (thank goodness!) as opposed to a bucket of water,,, but sure enough- nothing to dry yourself with. Water all over the floor,, I got my pants & shoes back on & prayed there wouldn’t be too many wet spots.
Whew! There was nothing left but to walk out of there dignified, like nothing just happened. But I’m telling you- a cultural bridge was just crossed. I went straight home.
Later in the evening, the Army Attaché was having a retirement/going-away party at the American Club. All our TNI friends were invited, and I never turn down a free dinner.
Nice place! The whole party had the feel of walking into a James Bond movie: great food; 4 professional singers; many exceedingly attractive ladies, including the runner-up to Miss Indonesia; but the best part was the Betawi traditional dancers.
Traditional Balinese & Jawa dances are great, but this is probably my favorite so far. Unfortunately they were followed by a stumbling-drunk Argentinian guy on a personal mission to drag every lady onto the dance floor & show her his “moves”. Reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve seen a drunk guy. Almost 4 months!
posted by jonathan adventures at 3:18 AM
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