Quick Stuff

Yeah I know it's been awhile. Bear with me.

The rainy season has begun. It has rained incredibly hard here and our house has flooded once. We have three leaks on our roof as a result of the rain. We also have water in the well now which means we now have water in the house as the well water gets pumped into our water tank giving us wonderful glorious water. I thought I was a water conservationist before well when I come back to the states I'm gonna be a psycho about it. Going without running water is something that I do not wish on anybody but unfortunately it is something virtually every person in this region deals with. Please conserve your water and remember some people have to carry bucketfuls of clean water from a communal well up a steep hill to their homes. The majority of these people are small children who do it as a part of their daily chores and by small children I mean children ages 4 and above and this is no exaggeration.

Okay now onto something fun. So part of the things I like about being here is that I am forced to try new things and I mean FORCED, out of need and not desire. This is one of the reasons I chose to go abroad. I knew I would do things I would not even attempt in the States.

Well one of those things I was forced to do was ride on the back of a motorcycle three times yesterday. The first time I was terrified convinced I would fall off, the second time I still had some fear and doubts and the third time I was perfectly relaxed holding a shopping bag in my lap as we rode. We means me and the driver for hire which they refer to as an ojek here. For the price of 3,000 Rupiah (the local currency), the equivalent of $0.30 in the States you get your own motorcycle driver and a ride from point A to point B in the city. I recommend it but with a helmet if possible. I went without, not because I was feeling reckless but simply because helmets are not usually provided for passengers by ojeks. This was one reason I kept silently praying "Please God don't let me fall or die."

Okay so that's it for today. Hopefully another post soon but don't hold your breath.