I went to Starbucks this morning to use a gift card I still had from before moving to Singapore. The Starbucks here seem to take themselves a little more seriously they in Singapore. A manager was training a new employee (the manager looked to be in her mid 40’s and the new employee looked to be in her mid 50’s). She was quizzing the employee on how to enter drinks into the register: “what if they want a grande nonfat latte?”, “what about a skinny vanilla?” “stop pressing the ‘grande’ button- it defaults to grande size, you’re wasting time”. Where could I start. I would die if I had to be trained to enter coffee orders like that when I’m 50 years old, it’s kind of sad. Plus, the size defaults to grande. Grand means medium size actually, and it’s like the large size in Singapore. The sizes of everything are so much larger here.
Starbuck's has really done a great job in creating this entire market for expensive coffee drinks that no one would have been ordering 10 years ago. They've created a culture that makes people feel special for they short time they're in the store and placing their order which is why the must come back and pay so much. People seem to take pride in the custom drinks they order, but I tend to cringe whenever I order and refuse to specify the size as 'tall', 'grande', or 'vente'. I just say medium or small... and they still know what I mean. I think they must think it's kind of a joke too...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
freezing
California is freezing. And dry. It’s only around 30% humidity which is really dry since it’s normally more 100% humidity back in Singapore. I can literally feel my self drying out even though it seems like I’m drinking tons of water. I’m super itchy and dry and it doesn’t feel good. Hopefully I get used to this weather before I have to go up north in Oregon the week after next. I arrived here last Saturday and am staying until Friday morning, then flying to Phoenix to meet my parents, brother, sister in law and niece in Sedona.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Java Wedding
I’ve been back from the West Java wedding for a few weeks now and I’m still trying to digest the experience. It was blur of transport on crowded roads, disappointingly mild tasting durian, ant infested rambutan, lost passports, fried foods, dimly lit markets, kreteck cigarettes, alternating bouts of boredom and the excitement of trying to find something not boring to pass the time, bintang beer, returned passports, Cuban rum, American Whisky, wedding singers, hello misterrrrr, batik shirts, head scarves, Javanese dancers, broken English, confusion and broken bahasa Indonesia.
The transport from Jakarta to Cianjur was unexpectedly easy. It seemed that hiring a car and driver for 550,000rp would be unimaginable for locals but split between the 3 of us it seemed quite reasonably-especially since the alterative was a 5-6 hour bus ride. The road from Jakarta to Cianjur passes though some pretty sharp hills and very quickly we were in some of the thickest fog/mist I’ve seen in a while and I was actually cold for the first time since being in Asia (outside of aircon). The hills were covered in tea plantations.
Cianjur is boring…I think more so if you’re white and non-Muslim. Maybe it’s a blast if you’re an Islamic fundamentalist but somehow I still doubt that. We definitely didn’t blend in and I don’t think we saw any other buleh from the time of leaving Jakarta until returning but the locals really didn’t seem to notice or care we were there. Back in Jakarta I felt like we got more looks and stares. One of the ways we passed the time was walking around the town and through some of the markets… typical wet markets with fruits, vegetables and meats all out in the heat together but these markets had a few firsts for me as well. 1) fresh fish- held in a small tray with about 3 inches of recirculating water so the could stay alive but not really swim anywhere 2) small arms- hand guns and rifles right there next to the chili padi and butchered chicken, most guns looked pretty old 3)some guy peeing into a plastic bottle- I have no idea why and don’t want to even venture a guess as to why.
Cianjur has a Hypermart and believe me this is a big deal - a modern supermarket and assorted goods store where we found beer which became the other way to we passed the evenings. Since no bars were to be found in the town we sat on our room porches with several beers and the duty free liquor we brought though from Singapore.
The wedding was Sunday morning, early. 9am early. But actually since Indonesian rubber time was in effect it got started more like 9:30am. It was in a smaller village about half hours ride out of Cianjur at the bride’s family compound. It began when the officials from the mosque arrived, sat down in the living room and started the ceremony. I didn’t know what to expect since this was my first Muslim wedding but it seemed like a simple ceremony. Most in bahasa Indonesia but some key points read by the groom in English: “promise to provide for you… blah blah… if I sometimes leave you for 3 years or more or if I beat you or if I don’t talk to you or ignore you for more than 2 months you can go complain to the council and I will pay you 10,000rp (1USD) per day blah blah”… just the standard wedding stuff. And that was it. Everyone stands up, greets the new couple and has some food. The entertainment was out I the courtyard- traditional musical troupe, singers and dancers. As the only buleh there we very interesting to the entertainment who were looking to maybe get some fresh talent up on stage. Through the broken English we heard mosty consisting of things like “Misterrrr, dancing” and “buleh, hahahaha” I knew they wanted us to come up on stage to dance and I could feel a consensus growing to force up onto the stage. Finally, someone that spoke English went up on stage and started working the crowd up in bahasa Indonesia, getting them to cheer us on stage. Then he would switch to English for our 'benifit' not wanting to exclude us. … It was only done in English to eliminate our excuses of not understanding the request since we found one like 2 other people there that spoke English. So we went on stage. And they cheered and they laughed. And we danced with the Javanese dancers who were pretty hot. And we danced and they danced better. Then we danced more Javanese dance and we did it as poorly as the crowd expected (or hoped) and we did not disappoint there expectations at all … and man that band played the longest song and it seemed like we were up there for like 7 minutes. A simple 2 minute song would be fine to give everyone a good laugh. At least the kids laughed. I think the older ones hated us. But we gave them what the wanted and it ended up being kind of fun. Things didn’t seem like they could get much better for us after that so we took off shortly afterwards. The rest of the day consisted of walking around Cianjur, eating diner at a food stall, and tying to find something to do. It ended with us just sitting on the porches again.
The last day we went back to Jakarta to meet up with one of our friend’s friend who had moved there a while ago. Jakarta is huge. 15+ million people and the whole city is basically sprawl with limited infrastructure so traffic gets horrible. There are some very moderns area, buildings and malls but literally block away it drops off into slums. I bought a nice new batik shirt.
I'll add in the pictures later...
The transport from Jakarta to Cianjur was unexpectedly easy. It seemed that hiring a car and driver for 550,000rp would be unimaginable for locals but split between the 3 of us it seemed quite reasonably-especially since the alterative was a 5-6 hour bus ride. The road from Jakarta to Cianjur passes though some pretty sharp hills and very quickly we were in some of the thickest fog/mist I’ve seen in a while and I was actually cold for the first time since being in Asia (outside of aircon). The hills were covered in tea plantations.
Cianjur is boring…I think more so if you’re white and non-Muslim. Maybe it’s a blast if you’re an Islamic fundamentalist but somehow I still doubt that. We definitely didn’t blend in and I don’t think we saw any other buleh from the time of leaving Jakarta until returning but the locals really didn’t seem to notice or care we were there. Back in Jakarta I felt like we got more looks and stares. One of the ways we passed the time was walking around the town and through some of the markets… typical wet markets with fruits, vegetables and meats all out in the heat together but these markets had a few firsts for me as well. 1) fresh fish- held in a small tray with about 3 inches of recirculating water so the could stay alive but not really swim anywhere 2) small arms- hand guns and rifles right there next to the chili padi and butchered chicken, most guns looked pretty old 3)some guy peeing into a plastic bottle- I have no idea why and don’t want to even venture a guess as to why.
Cianjur has a Hypermart and believe me this is a big deal - a modern supermarket and assorted goods store where we found beer which became the other way to we passed the evenings. Since no bars were to be found in the town we sat on our room porches with several beers and the duty free liquor we brought though from Singapore.
The wedding was Sunday morning, early. 9am early. But actually since Indonesian rubber time was in effect it got started more like 9:30am. It was in a smaller village about half hours ride out of Cianjur at the bride’s family compound. It began when the officials from the mosque arrived, sat down in the living room and started the ceremony. I didn’t know what to expect since this was my first Muslim wedding but it seemed like a simple ceremony. Most in bahasa Indonesia but some key points read by the groom in English: “promise to provide for you… blah blah… if I sometimes leave you for 3 years or more or if I beat you or if I don’t talk to you or ignore you for more than 2 months you can go complain to the council and I will pay you 10,000rp (1USD) per day blah blah”… just the standard wedding stuff. And that was it. Everyone stands up, greets the new couple and has some food. The entertainment was out I the courtyard- traditional musical troupe, singers and dancers. As the only buleh there we very interesting to the entertainment who were looking to maybe get some fresh talent up on stage. Through the broken English we heard mosty consisting of things like “Misterrrr, dancing” and “buleh, hahahaha” I knew they wanted us to come up on stage to dance and I could feel a consensus growing to force up onto the stage. Finally, someone that spoke English went up on stage and started working the crowd up in bahasa Indonesia, getting them to cheer us on stage. Then he would switch to English for our 'benifit' not wanting to exclude us. … It was only done in English to eliminate our excuses of not understanding the request since we found one like 2 other people there that spoke English. So we went on stage. And they cheered and they laughed. And we danced with the Javanese dancers who were pretty hot. And we danced and they danced better. Then we danced more Javanese dance and we did it as poorly as the crowd expected (or hoped) and we did not disappoint there expectations at all … and man that band played the longest song and it seemed like we were up there for like 7 minutes. A simple 2 minute song would be fine to give everyone a good laugh. At least the kids laughed. I think the older ones hated us. But we gave them what the wanted and it ended up being kind of fun. Things didn’t seem like they could get much better for us after that so we took off shortly afterwards. The rest of the day consisted of walking around Cianjur, eating diner at a food stall, and tying to find something to do. It ended with us just sitting on the porches again.
The last day we went back to Jakarta to meet up with one of our friend’s friend who had moved there a while ago. Jakarta is huge. 15+ million people and the whole city is basically sprawl with limited infrastructure so traffic gets horrible. There are some very moderns area, buildings and malls but literally block away it drops off into slums. I bought a nice new batik shirt.
I'll add in the pictures later...
Friday, February 15, 2008
wedding bells are ringing
...no not mine of course...
I'm heading to cianjur, Java tomorrow for 4 days with some friends, or somewhere near there since I don't now the exact destination. It's going to be a several hour ride out of Jakarta* to the destination but should be worth it so see an 'authentic' Javanese wedding; at least I hope it’s going to authentic. It’s going to be a Muslim wedding at the very least- that much I’m assured since our friend has recently converted to Islam so the marriage could take place. And once you go Islam ... you can’t go back (converting to it what - that's to say).
*assuming we can make it out from the airport since not over a week ago it seemed the only way into and out of the Jakarta airport was on raft due to the recent flooding in Jakarta. I’m sure it’s all fine by now though!
I'm heading to cianjur, Java tomorrow for 4 days with some friends, or somewhere near there since I don't now the exact destination. It's going to be a several hour ride out of Jakarta* to the destination but should be worth it so see an 'authentic' Javanese wedding; at least I hope it’s going to authentic. It’s going to be a Muslim wedding at the very least- that much I’m assured since our friend has recently converted to Islam so the marriage could take place. And once you go Islam ... you can’t go back (converting to it what - that's to say).
*assuming we can make it out from the airport since not over a week ago it seemed the only way into and out of the Jakarta airport was on raft due to the recent flooding in Jakarta. I’m sure it’s all fine by now though!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The garden
Since i live in a condo, I don't have a yard for any plants. I do have a balcony which is really too small to even walk out onto so I decided to make use of it and started growing a some plants a few months ago. Basil, sunflowers, avocado tree, chinese celery, lavender, and hot chili peppers. I started the basil from 
seeds and wasn't sure if it would grow very well in the heat here but so far there's a ton of it- it's all still to small though so I'll have to keep it alive a while longer so it can get big enough to eat. I don't know what to do with the chinese celery...at first I thought maybe it was similar to cilantro/coriander- it looks almost the same but it's so different. I can't find mint anywhere but I want some as a renewable source for mojitos- I'm sure it would grow really well here (meaning faster than I could consume it in mojitos). I need to find it somewhere! You know, at first I thought growing plants on that balcony would be so easy because they should get plenty of sun and water with all the rain every day.* The last week has been extraordinarily sunny and dry though and it seems like there's no humidity at all... almost perfect weather for people... but much more dry than I thought for the plants. So imagine my surprise when I returned from work today and all the plants were bone dry and wilted. I couldn't believe! I will need to make a point to water the plants every day since it seems the natural Singapore weather will not sustain them as I planned. The avocado tree is growing fast though which is nice- Avocado grows well in SE Asia though so I'm not that surprised, Indonedia is one of the top avocado producing nations. I just hope this dry spell doesn't go on too long... I don't know if I care bare it without the rain much longer ~grin~
*I'd heard stories about people growing such huge fruits and vegetables in Alaska when they get like 20 hours of sun every day and how in Thailand when they grow grapes for their wine they get two crops a year which presents them with a problem about how to label their vintages... should they throw one of the harvests out or should they try to combine the grapes from both harvests or should they keep the second crop from producing grapes at all? who knows! because they have no idea how to make wine in Thailand yet!
seeds and wasn't sure if it would grow very well in the heat here but so far there's a ton of it- it's all still to small though so I'll have to keep it alive a while longer so it can get big enough to eat. I don't know what to do with the chinese celery...at first I thought maybe it was similar to cilantro/coriander- it looks almost the same but it's so different. I can't find mint anywhere but I want some as a renewable source for mojitos- I'm sure it would grow really well here (meaning faster than I could consume it in mojitos). I need to find it somewhere! You know, at first I thought growing plants on that balcony would be so easy because they should get plenty of sun and water with all the rain every day.* The last week has been extraordinarily sunny and dry though and it seems like there's no humidity at all... almost perfect weather for people... but much more dry than I thought for the plants. So imagine my surprise when I returned from work today and all the plants were bone dry and wilted. I couldn't believe! I will need to make a point to water the plants every day since it seems the natural Singapore weather will not sustain them as I planned. The avocado tree is growing fast though which is nice- Avocado grows well in SE Asia though so I'm not that surprised, Indonedia is one of the top avocado producing nations. I just hope this dry spell doesn't go on too long... I don't know if I care bare it without the rain much longer ~grin~*I'd heard stories about people growing such huge fruits and vegetables in Alaska when they get like 20 hours of sun every day and how in Thailand when they grow grapes for their wine they get two crops a year which presents them with a problem about how to label their vintages... should they throw one of the harvests out or should they try to combine the grapes from both harvests or should they keep the second crop from producing grapes at all? who knows! because they have no idea how to make wine in Thailand yet!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
so far so good
Wow, I'm surprised how many people were concerned about my bad horoscope for the year of the rat. I don't really take it that seriously and am sure this year will turn out fine especially since I'm still not Chinese yet after living here for just over a year.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
the year of the rat
Xin Nian Kuai Le!
or as I hear more commonly in Singapore: Gong Xi Fa Chai!
or as I hear more commonly in Singapore: Gong Xi Fa Chai!
Yes, that's right it's Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year to be sensitive to all those non-Chinese who also celebrate the lunar calender)! Happy new year.
(some nice music to listen to for the year of the rat)
So, it's now the year of the Rat and what is in stall for me this coming year? Well, imagine my shock while reading the Chinese horoscopes, finding out it's going to be a duzy for me (born in the year of the Horse) this coming year!
This does not look like a very good year for the Horse in the year of the Rat.The list of things to look forward to over the next 12 months:
-Obstacles in my career path
-Replacement by a junior member of the staff if I'm not careful
-A complicated love life
-Experience turbulence and lack of self control
And the advice for the coming year (amazingly succinct and vague at the same time):
-Beware of villains
-Don't drink and drive
-Take precaution with spending
-Don't enter investments
-Don't gamble because I'll suffer great loss
-Avoid both auspicious and inauspicious events
I was born in the year of the horse
The giant fortune god. He's so cavalier about passing the news of my bad fortune. He's also about 3 stories high so I won't argue with him.
Chinatown gets very crowded and is covered in lights and decorations for the celebration.
Mickey Mouse!? I was told that mouse and rat are the same thing in China. So there are a lot of decorations that look like mickey mouse (or mini mouse?)
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