Sunday, 22Oct06

Highlights: road to Cepu

Holiday season is in full pitch and the streets are half empty, including the majority of small shops… It’s funny how parts of the 2nd largest city have transformed overnight into ghost towns.

This afternoon Nina & her parents came to pick me up in Surabaya. The city streets had us turned around and lost in short order. We stopped at a local mall on our way out of town to open fasting. “Mom,, Dad,, Nina,, great to see you! Let’s eat!” (=

The ladies fell asleep in the back seat within minutes, leaving ‘dad’ & I to keep ourselves entertained over the 4 hour road trip. We had a fun conversation touching on religion, perceptions of Islam in America, the abuse of religion as a political tool (particularly by terrorists claiming to act in the name of Islam), the history of oil, dad’s work as a chief of security for Exxon Mobil…

Marathon conversations were a trend that would continue through the week. I got my money’s worth out of my Masters degree program here (= ha ha.

We arrived in Cepu around 10pm, and after a shower- it was just about time for bed.
Dad and I kept going on a philosophical track between what makes us good people, finding happiness in life, and what the Koran says. Ahh,, the momentum of conversation-