The Mundane: Money

I’ve been thinking a lot about how difficult it is to truly convey what my life here is like. Even the most gifted writer in the history of mankind will not be able to make you experience, feel, what goes on here because, ultimately, life here isn’t about the big events. No, it’s about the mundane, all the little things that occur on a daily basis. In the beginning, all these tiny components of Indonesian life were completely alien to me. Now that they’re more familiar, I wonder less about them. But they remain a mystery to you, back home. It’s kind of saddening. I want to share but I can’t. Not really, anyway. I will keep trying however!

So, here is a taste of something I deal with on a daily basis: money. I focused solely on the bills because the coins here feel and look like they are made of plastic and are, as such, of no aesthetic value to me. [In fact, good ol’ Wiki tells me that the coins are made of light-weight aluminum as of 1999 which might explain why they look and feel as cheap as a free baby.]

Some quick facts:

Indonesia’s currency is called the Indonesian Rupiah or IDR, not to be confused with the rupee.

$1 is about IDR 10000, € 1 is about 12000 IDR.

The guy on the IDR 10000 bill, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II, was the last Sultan of Palembang. Nowadays he’s more famous for the airport they named after him – at least according to Google.

Wiki says: “the central bank is studying revaluing its currency by removing two or three zeros from the rupiah”. In conclusion: if I’d come here a couple of years from now, I would not have been a millionaire like I am now. Score!

IDR 1000

Mahmud!

 

 

 

IDR 20000

And my favorite: IDR 100000

Thinking of Home.

When you live as far away from home as I do, it´s great to be reminded of the fact that the people back home still think of you. Whether it´s through a text message, a call, an email or old-school mail, it always makes me smile. No man is an island, even when you live on an island.

So, guess how happy this amazing care package from my family made me when it finally arrived yesterday? VERY HAPPY! Not only did it contain enough sugar for the entire country of Ethiopia, it also came with books (with heart-warming inscriptions), a lovely card from my equally lovely sister, Sabon products (oh, how well you know me!), an inflatable Hema rookworst (essential, obviously, but it resembles something else entirely to those who aren’t familiar with this Hema goodness) and much, much more. Nearly 8kg of goodness!

 

Dearest Mom, Dad, Jonathan and Elza – Thank you so much, I love you all!

Departing Diane

Di, I will miss you more than I can say. Let's see each other again. 

XOXO

Almost forgot to tell you...

...I bought a guitar a couple of weeks ago with my friend Eddie (not the driver)! Simply put, it has increased my quality of life twofold. The loyal audience in the house (Megan) doesn't hurt either. Oh, and best of all, this beauty cost me a total of $20. Consequently, it comes with what I shall euphemistically call 'character' (i.e. it requires mid-song tuning at times) and required some Do-It-Yourself improvements (yet another use for my nail file, people!) before providing me with optimal playing pleasure.

BEHOLD!!

Consequently, I might just quit teaching and enroll here:

The Circus!

Before the opening

A week before my Thailand trip, I went to the circus here in Palembang. And OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING. But let's first review the check-list of what a good circus needs and see how this circus fared. 

ANIMALS

            ITEM                                                                        X OR √

1.      Lions                                                                         √

2.      Elephants                                                                  √

3.      Chimpanzees                                                             √

4.      Tigers                                                                        √

5.      Dogs                                                                          √

HUMAN ACTS

            ITEM                                                                        X OR √

1.      MCs                                                                          √

2.      11 People on a bicycle                                              √

3.      Limber people doing weird poses                             √

4.      Acrobats                                                                    √

ENTERTAINMENT

            ITEM                                                                        X OR √

1.      Clowns                                                                      √

2.      Little-person clown                                                   √

3.      Audience participation                                              √

So, yeah, guys, let’s be clear – this circus had it ALL!! But it gets better. Not only were there four tigers, one of them was white! Not only was there a chimpanzee, but it circled the ring on a motorbike! Not only were there four elephants, they gave back massages to audience participants! Not only were there acrobats, there was a cross-dressing acrobat as well!

AMAZING!

Opening act.

This is what 11 people on one bicycle looks like.

Action shot!

Johnny Cash would be proud.

After the massage came the Elephant-walking-over-the-volunteers.

Thailand Day 6: Patong for One

Thai Travels, S01E06 (Season Finale).
Based on a true story

 [Sorry this update took so long. I hope it was worth the wait.]

Patong

When I woke up for the second time (the first time was to say goodbye to the girls) I woke up with the familiar feeling of ‘Where am I?’. I quickly realized where I was and, moreover, I realized the girls had left so gone were the ball and chain! (Not true in the slightest, but for amusement’s sake I’ll say it anyway).

I started off with a wonderful breakfast of eggs, French toast, coffee and fresh juice. That’s how you do it, people! I figured Patong could keep me busy for a day without having to plan anything and I was right. To quote myself (with proper annotation):

“The girls have left, so one final day on my own in Thailand before I go back to Indonesia. Maybe a massage, a pedi, some shopping... You know, the things boys do when there aren't any girls around.” (Facebook, August 22^nd , via mobile)

The above states exactly what I did. Both Ida, our housekeeper, and Edi, our driver, requested specific items so I set out to find those items for them. A quick note: they didn’t ask anyone else to bring them something back, so I’m not sure whether that says something about my kindness or gullibility. In either case, I was happy to oblige.

My Thai massage was wonderful although something weird happened. You might know that during a Thai massage, the masseuse stands and/or sits on you to reach the deep knots in your muscles. Good stuff as I don’t care for that soft approach where you wonder whether you are being petted like a dog or whether it is actually the massage. However, this particular girl, every time she stood or sat on me, kept telling me her body weight. Like I care, woman!

I like to think he died because of a Thai mouse-ssage

At the same place I got a pedi so not only was my body in a state of relaxation, my feet were looking goo-ood! No nail-polish obviously, but between you and me, I have thought about how a color would look on my toes on more than one occasion. Also, free WiFi (scarce as it is in Palembang, especially if it’s working) while your feet are being pampered is simply a good thing.

After that it was already time for lunch, so that’s what I did next. After that, I just walked around and (window-) shopped. The internet told me where to find a good tailor, so that’s where I went. I picked out an amazing color (you can see the result below) and would pick it up after dinner that night. Boom!

For dinner, TripAdvisor told me to find a specific Italian restaurant and eat there. I did and it was amazing – I had an amazing glass of red wine (nearly impossible to find here), a wonderful pizza (with actual pork salami) and coasted along in my book. This was my set-up:

After dinner I strolled along the busy streets of Patong, crowding with soon-to-be-drunk tourists, had a chat with some but after that went back to the hotel; the day after was going to be early.

And early it was, as I woke up at 5:30. Damnit! The trip back to Palembang was uneventful aside from two things: at Kuala Lumpur I nearly missed the boarding (whoops!) and at Palembang I was once again confronted with racism on an institutional level (and subsequently, spontaneous kindness of strangers). I don’t think writing about Indonesian immigration procedures on a for-all-to-see blog is the most sensible thing to do, so I’ll owe you my story. I will tell you however not everyone is as charmed by my lovely Caucasian complexion and equally lovely blue eyes as I am myself (barf!).

Upon exiting Palembang’s airport I found out my bargaining-with-taxi-drivers-skills had improved – 

I am now able get home cheaper with a fixed price (and not quite legal) taxi than with the metered taxis we usually take on the way over to the airport. Yay for me!

Home alone and I was ready to get out again. Anggie made me experience KFC coffee (actually good coffee!), we had dinner and I got some groceries. I wasn’t happy leaving amazing Thailand, but it felt good to see several of my friends again over the next couple of days.

Once again, dear audience, thank you for your patience!

My new, tailor-made shirt!