More of the Interior

Take a good last look at the short-sleeved shirts in the foreground, because I selected them to dump them here. The Laramie River Ranch one will make the trip home, too. As far as the seven pairs of pants are concerned, I hope the three Columbia pants survive, but other than that, I’m good. I also brought four pairs of shoes, with just the Chacos intended for the last leg.

I didn’t bring many clothes, and this is pretty much the rest of my shirts. Again, the point was (besides, well, not owning much in the first place) was to just wear the stuff out and leave it here.
But I’m not coming back empty-handed. As it turns out, I *love* the Indonesian print shirts. – batik – and hope to get a closetful soon. I just hope I can find some in my size.
My little desk, with Levis in the forefront. (No, I am not a slob. I hung them there before I bought the hangers and plan on wearing them tomorrow.) My view is a little Bartelby-like, but it’s not really that bad. For air circulatory purpose, my laptop sits atop my Indonesia travel book. I thought I did a good thing by getting one that encompasses the entire country, since I hope to travel some, but as it turns out, the entire Jakarta section is something like six pages long, starting off with something like “you won’t want to spend much time here.” Great.


With the addition of my MP3 player, this is my entire entertainment and reading paraphernalia. I should have gotten a Kindle.
Inchallah my Internet will be hooked up soon and I’ll have something that way, but if not I am likely to cave and pay for cable. My 32-inch LG TV only delivers Indonesian channels right now.

Everyone who visits peeks into the medicine cabinet, so I thought I’d make it easy. Here’s one side of the cabinet. The other’s too feminine for male readers. There’s also a bottom shelf, crammed with toothpaste, dental floss and hair things.
I was concerned about the availability of toiletries and brought a six-month supply with me. As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry (or lug the crap) because this city has absolutely everything I could ever want. Including Benadryl and Band-Aids.
No Walmart generics here, but there’s one in the photo. Can you find it? (Click to enlarge and therefore snoop further.)
Also, bonus points for finding all of the stuff I took from the hotel. I look like I’m having a sale.
Water’s the stuff out of the tap. Expats don’t drink that. We drink Agua or this stuff, Oxam. It’s “water with extra oxygen.” I didn’t know oxygen was such a draw, but I guess if it had extra hydrogen, it would be hydrogen peroxide.
My dishes, chosen by a man. The little kitchen, which lines the “hallway” as you enter the studio dwelling, is tiled in earth tones. So of course country blue is fitting.
This handy rack appears above the sink, hidden behind – for some reason – a pop-up door, like a hatchback.
Ah, the many uses of mika! In Morocco, PCVs used the handy bags for all sorts of things, not the least was for stuffing trash or sealing Buta gas containers. Here, I’ve demonstrated a new use: PCV-quality shelf paper. Unlike mine Morocco, my Jakarta kitchen has shelves and I can hide my utensils. Right now, my collection consists of the big wooden spoon, three forks, knives and spoons (I have no idea why they come in threes, maybe the bad-luck-four thing again) and a little paring knife.
Like any good Moroccan, the first thing I made with my newly purchased sauce pan (bishaa!) was tea. The saucepan was the highest quality I could afford and it only came in red. I didn’t bring enough money with me to get the frying pan and Dutch oven, but they’re coming soon.

Later, I’ll get some outside shots. Either my Energizer rechargeables are crap or my year-old Canon sucks battery power faster than any other camera I’ve ever had. I charge the batteries and after about three shots the battery light blinks. I take them out and rub their tips together and get maybe 10 more but then they die.

So baby steps.