I failed to find Obama’s school the other day.  Not for lack of trying, but rather because I was given the wrong directions.  His school used to be called the Sekolah Basuki, but my contacts told me that today that school is on Jalan Sam Ratulangi, near the Mexican Embassy.  Unfortunately, the Mexican Embassy isn’t there, as far as I can tell, and Sekolah Basuki certainly isn’t either.  I found the school on my map, though.  It has a different name, and is located on Jalan Basuki (of course).  Curses.  I don’t think that I will have time to find it before I have to head off tomorrow.

I forgot to communicate my standard holiday greeting yesterday.  So, a Selamat Tahun Baru Islam 1429 H for yesterday.  That means that it’s the Islamic New Year, year 1429 after Muhammad decamped on the hijra from Mecca to Medina.  Today is a new public holiday which is known as cuti bersama.  This signifies that there is one weekday between a holiday and a weekend, which Indonesians would rather not work on, so they make a long weekend for everyone out of it.  It’s normally translated as "joint holiday."  Sort of like the day after Thanksgiving, but they can insert it after (or before) any holiday that takes place on a Tuesday or Thursday, from Islamic New Year to Easter.  The goal of this policy is to increase the number of days that public servants can take off tourism.

I’ll have at least one more post before I sign off on my way back west to Colorado.