Arrival!

I'm here in a hotel in Jakarta just a few minutes away from the guesthouse that I will be living at for the summer. The hotel is very nice, and I kind of wish that I could live here!

My flights were ridiculously long (12.5 hours followed by 8.5 hours), with not much sleep, but Emirates is definitely my new long-distance airline of choice-the food was actually pretty delicious, the entertainment system was pretty spectacular, and the flight attendants' outfits (those hats!)make you feel like you are on a movie set. The only problem was, instead of starting the writing competition, I watched both No Strings Attached and The Dilemma...oh well.

My arrivals into Jakarta was pretty painless, though when I saw that HSBC and Citi practically own all the billboards at the airport I wished that I had opened an account with one or the other before I left. The luggage took forever, and the Indonesians on my plane didn't hesitate to bowl people over as they grabbed for suitcases, but I did get out of there after just half an hour.

Finding a taxi was a trip. I knew from numerous conversations to get a Bluebird, but when you walk out the airport door and ten men accost you trying to get you in THEIR taxi it can be hard to shout BLUEBIRD over the din. I finally did find one guy who said he was with Bluebird, though as he took me past the rows of taxis with "taxi" signs on top and into a dark parking lot I got really skeptical. I asked for his ID and sure enough, it said bluebird, though his taxi was just a minivan with no signs at all. I was sure he had faked his ID and was about to kidnap me when another man got in the car--but it turns out he was a driver in training, and this was a training car--hence it being parked out of the hustle and bustle.

It took almost an hour to get to the hotel, during which time we zoomed down a highway full of bright signs advertising different electronics companies--Sanyo, Canon, etc. From what I could see (which wasn't much) the city reminded me of some sort of hybrid between Orlando and LA, except the cars drive on the wrong side of the road. The city looked very ominous, though--it is not well-lit at night and I was glad I didn't have to do that drive on my own.

We finally reached the hotel, which had some sort of party going on in the banquet hall which I thought was a nightclub at first. I checked in (I used agoda.com to book) and watched an interview with a indigenous Taiwanese pop star on one of the three English channels. Unfortunately, the only power adapter they have is for plugs without the third grounding plug, so I could charge my cell (which works here??? But I get charged 25 cents a text so please don't try it!) but not my computer.

I slept pretty fitfully as I was nervous about getting to the guesthouse later today, but my organization has been absolutely fantastic, and I woke up to an e-mail saying they reminded the place I am arriving today and I should be all set. SO I am going to try to relax a little before moving over, e-mailing all the ex-pats I've connected with, and diving into that damn writing packet.