Well it’s been quite a productive day today. First we visited the Freedom Institute, the think tank which is sponsoring one of us. It’s a nice place, although it defies description. They have a library of great economic and political periodicals and books (which is great for one of us) and classics such as Sherlock Holmes and The Hobbit in Indonesian (for the other one). The one of us who will actually be working there will get his own desk and computer hookup which is excellent, as is the ample a/c. We both got lots of practice listening to Indonesian- boy they talk fast here.

We then followed up a lead from the paper about an apartment for rent. This complex is gigantic, about 15 25-story buildings, and it seems that half the people we’ve met live there. We met a guy (who used the Indonesian jam karet– or rubber time- quite liberally) who showed us a large 2 bedroom apartment. It’s fairly cheap, about $420 a month, and is totally furnished which is great. He said to come back on Saturday, then called 5 minutes later and said we had to pay the security deposit in cash right now. We were a little hesitant, so we enlisted the help of this ball-buster Fulbright program director. We don’t know what she told the guy, but we no longer had to pay a cash security deposit immediately. So we think we’ll take this place, but we’ve got one other place to follow up on. Another nice thing is that the area is nice, it’s about a 15 minute cab ride south of downtown and it’s safe and well guarded. There’s also an incredible gym we might join right next door and a mall with this great internet cafe. Expect lots more blogs in the future!

Furthermore, if we take the 2 bedroom place, we automatically have a free place for any visitors to stay. (hint hint hint)