some random notes...

• Somewhere, in some language, I am willing to bet that "Jakarta" translates to "city of slow walkers." Seriously, I didn't know people could, bio-mechanically, walk so slow. I didn't know that SO MANY people could walk so slow...

• There is also the tendency for people to stand in front of escalators and have meetings...

• Wendy's tastes the same as it does in Chicago. Take it for what it's worth.

• There are bugs everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

• If you are going to the bathroom in a public place, you have to bring your own toilet paper...or Kleenex, as people prefer to use. If you are lucky enough to find a restroom that stocks its own, the dispenser is located outside the stall.

• On the same note, a majority of people don't wash their hands when finished...although, I am only speaking for the female population, as my presence has not graced the inside of the boys' bathroom.

• There is no health inspection office that regulates health and safety code in restaurants.
  

• The sky is not blue here. You can't see the sky, actually, so more accurately, the sky is hidden by smog. It is hard to get a tan here, that's for sure. Well, unless you go to the volcanoes, where there isn't as much pollution and you forget sunscreen and stand at the highest point for two hours starting at noon...
  

• There are assigned seats in the movie theaters.

• No one here cares about the Cubs, the Sox or the Packers, except me. Terrible, terrible. Then again, this IS the country that did not broadcast the Olympics.
  

• I went to Zara today, for the first time. I believe this is a store that originated in Spain and is now probably global, or close to it. I found it odd that in Jakarta, where there are 2 seasons (rainy and dry), with both having approximately the same temperature (hot-as-f...), Zara was selling wool coats. Long, wool coats in many, many styles and colors.

• If you are leaving the country of Indonesia, you have to pay $100. Yes, I am serious. Who do you pay? I don't know...

• Indonesia ranks #143 on the Corruption Perception Index...at least it's not last, like Somalia and Myanmar, sharing the #174 spot. Phew! (United States, by the way, is #20).

I think that's all I have for you now...more to follow as I become more adventurous.