Author: tompepinsky

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)

The past two days have given us our first taste of real bureaucracy. Not that genial American kind where people just aren’t very helpful, we’re talking full-bore third world post-authoritarian bureaucracy. As in, you need this form to take here, but you can’t get this form until you go there. Etc.

Fortunately we had a guide for the entire process from the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation. Apparently there is a whole bureaucracy whose job is to help us negotiate the bureaucracy. Our guide, Rizma, has taken us to the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, the Police Headquarters, then back to the Police Headquarters again, back to the Indonesian Academy of Sciences, on to the Department of the Interior, and will next take us to the Immigration Office when the Department of the Interior is done. This is to say nothing of our future job of extending our visas. When you ride around in taxis all day, Jakarta is a pretty nice place.

The results from the elections are trickling in, and it looks as if Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has beaten Megawati Sukarnoputri, the incument. This is a big deal, as it looks like Mega will actually step down when it comes time to turn over power–a rare and important step towards actual democracy. Now SBY actually has to accomplish his campaign promises of cleaning up the political system, improving the economic system, and so on. As some background, SBY is a former general (funny how they like politics) who used to be Mega’s Defense Minister. He decided to run on his own a couple of months ago and surprised everyone by winning both the first round and these runoffs. His campaign slogan seems to have been “I’m Not Megawati,” while her campaign slogan was (really) “Elect The Prettiest Candidate.” Kinda like Bush and Kerry.

We have leads on apartments and so on, and will be checking that out tomorrow. Julie may also have a lead on doing some work helping out Indonesian students at the Fulbright office. We’ve also discovered that our hotel has beautiful views from the roof, and we will attempt to post pictures after we take them.

Two final notes on Indonesian television: Animal Planet Asia features a tiger who adopted a baby antelope, and elephants and other exotic creatures. We also found a show called Bule Gila. This translates, pretty directly, to “Crazy Cracker.” (Or, “Crazy White People”.) The show basically consists of taking two expats and seeing how they fare as true Indonesians, working as vegetable vendors and the like. Then, the Indonesians laugh at them because they can’t do it right. Can you imagine the American equivalent? Take a new immigrant from some Third World country and say “please drive this SUV to Costco.”