Thoughts on first few days

Right now if I could describe our time here in one word, it would be "restriction". Due to the type of visas we have, we are not allowed to leave our hotel without a driver and escort, and it has to be scheduled a day in advance. So getting around has been difficult. Basically our life here has been limited to eating, sleeping, and watching TV. Fortunately the hotel is nice, has good food, and good service, so all in all we're doing well. We should be getting another visa soon that will allow us to explore the city with a little more freedom. But even that will be difficult because from what I've seen Jakarta isn't very "pedestrian friendly". Quite a lot of cars and motorcycles in the streets, and not many sidewalks. Maybe if we get out of the downtown area it will be different...we'll see.

We did get to got out on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours to a nearby shopping mall/grocery store. We didn't buy anything, but I was impressed with the food selection in the grocery store...they had pretty much everything we have in the States. And all very clean. I think this was the "western" grocery store. The shopping mall was also impressive, very high-end and modern...and big. Lots of stores you will see in the US, with a nice import tax thrown in.

The flight over here wasn't too bad. We got to sit in business class with full lay-back seats. So we'd lay Kate down in the seat and she would sleep pretty well, although not for as long as we would like. The last leg from Hong Kong to Jakarta was quite difficult however as she was extremely tired, but wouldn't quite go down. I think we may have been "that couple" on that leg. You know the one with the fussy kid that the parents can't seem to appease. Yep, that was us for the last two hours!

Now jet-lag has hit us right in the face. It's midnight here and I just woke up from a six hour nap. Maybe I'll watch some soccer or BBC. Should be a fun night!

Hopefully next week we can start doing some home searching and get out and see the city a little more. Fortunately I have a lot of really nice and helpful coworkers who have given me some good tips/advice on where to live. So that has been helpful. Actually, my coworkers have given me some good advice in more areas than just housing. For example, we have a nice lady in the office who's full time job is to serve the employees coffee and tea. Yep, she walks around the office all day giving people coffee and tea at their leisure. I could not turn down such a convenient cup of coffee, especially considering the aforementioned jet lag issues. I had a sip and...mmm quite good coffee. Much better than the cup I had to make for myself in our Houston office. Quite a nice treat I thought...I could get used to this. Then my buddy in the next cubical (yes we have cubicals!) cautioned me that the coffee may not be as great a treat as I thought. He went on to tell me about the time he saw the lady "double dip" the stirring spoon. Then he mentioned that he has observed how everybody in the office tends to get sick at the same time. Funny how a little bit of truth can ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee. I had a few more sips and called it good.

Anyway, just wanted to give ya'll a few of my thoughts after the first couple days. Will hopefully write more later, but hopefully it won't be at midnight.

(Picture is view from our hotel room)