Jakarta!

Wow!

That really has to sum up my first three days in this city. So far we have gotten most of the suitcases unpacked, walked back and forth to the embassy a few times, gone shopping, and seen the Oldest's school. That may not sound like much, but let me tell you, that is a lot for right now.

The first thing we all noticed was that the airport is not your typical glass and concrete bunker, but rather a series of tile-roofed buildings that Think 2 claimed to look like buildings in China. That she saw in a book at school about Mulan. I love 8-year olds. The second thing we noticed was that it was HAWT! Yes, I spelled it that way on purpose because "hot" just doesn't seem to cut it. And it was (still is) sticky. We were met at the ramp by our sponsor, Bu C. and headed off to immigration. I tell you, the Diplomatic line for immigration was a whole lot shorter than all the others. I can certainly get used to that. We sailed through immigration and headed off to baggage claim where, surprise, ALL our luggage showed up (21 bags). From there we went to customs where I was assured by Bu C. that we would not have to have anything inspected, except the young guard looked at our passports and said to start loading the bags on the belt. Luckily, a more experienced guard looked again, waived us through, and reprimanded his colleague that we were diplomats. After loading our stuff into the embassy van, the real adventure began.

If you have never been to Jakarta, and before this week I had not either, be prepared to think that you are going to be in a major traffic fatality in the first five minutes of getting in any car. Cars drive on the lines, around the lines, between the lines, on the shoulder, the wrong way, every way! And the scooters are 10X worse. Swarms of them, everywhere! I can't even describe it so will have to post pictures or video one of these days.

We made it to our place without incident (surprisingly) and began the process of unloading. Three flights of stairs, 21 full-sized bags plus carry-ons, three tired kiddos. It took a bit, but the place was spacious, tiled wall to wall, and just right as a temporary home for my family.

I will write more later, but figure this post is a week late so will finish here.

Be well my friends!