Jakarta

I'm still feeling a few of the effects of jet lag on the trip over to Jakata. Indonesia is pretty much exaclty around the world from the US, so there is just no easy way to deal with the time change and the travel.

Yesterday we had a pretty slow day. I got to meet up with Erick Peterson, a roommate from college. We visited and went shopping for Bahtik's, the traditional Indonesian formal dress shirt. You have love a culuture where one shirt can replace a suit and tie.

Today we had meetings at a Women's organiztion, the US embassy, the Ministry of Defense, and with the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia. They were all quite informative. Some of the highlights:

One of Barak Obama's classmates at school in Indonesia now runs the National Airline of Jakarta, Guarada.

Barak used to spend quite a bit of time in the library at the embassy, while his mom was taking classes next door. It was a way for him to keep in touch with American culutre while living her. He would read the magazines and newspapers from America to keep in touch with what was going on there.

The slogan of Indondeisa is Unity and Diversity. Not so different from out slogan of From Many One.

On a different note, the weather was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It wouldn't be my favorite weather of all time, but better than I expected.

There are a lot of cars in Jakarta and ever more motobikes and mopeds. A lot. More than you would think is possible.