Does anyone out there know Citibank’s International SWIFT Code?  It’s like the ABA routing number on your checks, but it’s specifically for international wire transfers.  Our realtor insists on doing wire transfers to give us back our security deposit, and Citibank Indonesia and Citibank USA are different financial institutions for this purpose.  Not to worry, this isn’t a real big problem, it’s just that Citibank’s helpful website will tell us everything but this.

Our day yesterday concluded with a nice taxi ride where the driver tried to bump up the fare an extra Rp 10,000.  We called him on it, though.  He was surprised that two Westerners noticed that the meter was ticking up at an astronomically fast rate, but even more surprised that the two Westerners yelled at him in Jakartanese slang.  Ayo, kok ongkosnya ‘gitu mahal, lho?  He very nicely asked us how much we thought it would cost, and then accepted our offer.

It was sad to leave the Freedom Institute yesterday.  The secretaries went out and got us a very nice present, the new CD Bintang di Surga by the popular Indonesian band Peterpan (yes, one word).  We think that when we get settled in Malaysia we are going to bequest to the Freedom Institute some money for books.  It’s the very least we can do…they’ve been so nice to us.