Arrival in Jakarta

After eight hours of transit from Chiang Mai, due to our flight being delayed in Kuala Lumpur, my group arrived in Jakarta last night exhausted but excited to finally be beginning our adventure here. We are staying at Rumah VIA, the organization's office in Jakarta for a couple nights and then taking a ten hour train ride to Yogyakarta where we will be staying in home stays and studying Bahasa Indonesia. After three weeks of language studies I will be heading to my post just in time for some orientation before the end of Ramadan celebrations begin.

As for Jakarta, it is an immense and crazy jungle of a city. While we have only seen a tiny segment so far, it is dirty, hot, and the people love to stare at us. Still, it is fun to walk around, explore, and try to read the signs as we pick up bits of the language. The housekeeper where we are staying is an amazing cook and every meal has been a buffet of new and delicious foods accompanied by fresh fruit. This morning I even had my first taste of Sumatran coffee! I will have to get used to the style they drink it: beans ground finely but just mixed with hot water so the texture is a little like dirt. Nevertheless, it is delicious and much better than the Nescafe that was so popular in Thailand! We are about to start an impromptu language lesson so I am going to go join!