It's past 1am. A friend and I just watched the last 5 episodes of Prisonbreak. All done!!!...Until Season 2 makes its debut in Aceh!
What's next? I think Lost.
Ugg, better get to bed.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Bats, Pizza & Fireworks
I celebrated my birthday yesterday...numero 2 in Aceh.
We went down to the beach at Lampuuk around 5pm to relax and watch the sunset. We sat down at one of the beach bordered by some large caves. Right as the sun dipped under the horizon, thousands and thousands of bats flew out of their home for feeding. As the throng exited their cave, their formation in the sky looked like a long piece of black ribbon being tossed by the sea breeze. It was a pretty amazing sight!
After the bat viewing, we walked to Joel's Restaurant about 5 minutes away from the beach. Joel grew up in Lampuuk and had a restaurant on the beach before the tsunami. Because of his business and the large number of backpackers that passed through Lampuuk previous to the tsunami, he had made many friends from Europe and was living in Italy when the tsunami happened. A couple of months later, he returned to Lampuuk to help to rebuild his community. I met him over a year ago when he first returned. With funding from NGOs, Joel opened his restaurant a few months back with a help of an Italian woman. He built a traditional Acehnese house on stilts, a brick oven and started growing lovely basil plants in the front yard. The restaurant is now a favorite of ours. It serves up fantastic thin crust pizzas, great pastas, and fresh grilled fish.
Mmmm...pizza
Friends surprised me a lovely chocolate cake after we gorged ourselves on 9 pizzas, 2 plates of pasta, a lobster, a gigantic grilled fish, and countless beers. The cake was made by a woman in the village...maybe she had gone through our project's cake making vocational training! :)
Post-dinner activities included fireworks on the beach. During the past couple of weeks, vendors have been selling fireworks on the streets in celebration of Idul Fitri - the end of Ramadan. We stocked up quite a few roman candles, sparklers and a variety of other pyrotechnic paraphernalia.
Pretty cool huh???
Nima enjoying her sparkler
Someone lighting a roman candle in the big fire.
We went down to the beach at Lampuuk around 5pm to relax and watch the sunset. We sat down at one of the beach bordered by some large caves. Right as the sun dipped under the horizon, thousands and thousands of bats flew out of their home for feeding. As the throng exited their cave, their formation in the sky looked like a long piece of black ribbon being tossed by the sea breeze. It was a pretty amazing sight!
After the bat viewing, we walked to Joel's Restaurant about 5 minutes away from the beach. Joel grew up in Lampuuk and had a restaurant on the beach before the tsunami. Because of his business and the large number of backpackers that passed through Lampuuk previous to the tsunami, he had made many friends from Europe and was living in Italy when the tsunami happened. A couple of months later, he returned to Lampuuk to help to rebuild his community. I met him over a year ago when he first returned. With funding from NGOs, Joel opened his restaurant a few months back with a help of an Italian woman. He built a traditional Acehnese house on stilts, a brick oven and started growing lovely basil plants in the front yard. The restaurant is now a favorite of ours. It serves up fantastic thin crust pizzas, great pastas, and fresh grilled fish.
Mmmm...pizza
Friends surprised me a lovely chocolate cake after we gorged ourselves on 9 pizzas, 2 plates of pasta, a lobster, a gigantic grilled fish, and countless beers. The cake was made by a woman in the village...maybe she had gone through our project's cake making vocational training! :)
Pretty cool huh???
Nima enjoying her sparkler
Someone lighting a roman candle in the big fire.
Thanks to everyone for the birthday greetings! You've made this a most memorable birthday!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
$5 Addiction
First there was Alias (it got too confusing and and I gave up after Season 3). Then there was Grey's Anatomy (Seasons 1 & 2). Now there's Prisonbreak.
I'm a total sucker for television series.
For less than a McDonald's Value Meal, I can score myself an entire season here in Banda town. The variety has gotten to be mind boggling: Dawson's Creak, Buffy, CSI from every city there is, Sex and the City, Smallville, L Word, 6 Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Simple Life, ER, Seinfeld, Will and Grace, Friends, Lost, The Amazing Race, Entourage...you name it, Banda's got it! Plus the quality of series are typically pretty good. Except once in awhile, they jumble up the order of the episodes!
A friend and I have been cooped up in my room since last Saturday watching 2-5 episodes of Prisonbreak per session. I've got the big projector screen and surround-sound. It's a pretty sweet set up!
We finished Season 1 last night. Will start Season 2 tonight...
...will they break out of Fox River???
I'm a total sucker for television series.
For less than a McDonald's Value Meal, I can score myself an entire season here in Banda town. The variety has gotten to be mind boggling: Dawson's Creak, Buffy, CSI from every city there is, Sex and the City, Smallville, L Word, 6 Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Simple Life, ER, Seinfeld, Will and Grace, Friends, Lost, The Amazing Race, Entourage...you name it, Banda's got it! Plus the quality of series are typically pretty good. Except once in awhile, they jumble up the order of the episodes!
A friend and I have been cooped up in my room since last Saturday watching 2-5 episodes of Prisonbreak per session. I've got the big projector screen and surround-sound. It's a pretty sweet set up!
We finished Season 1 last night. Will start Season 2 tonight...
...will they break out of Fox River???
Monday, October 23, 2006
My Sweet Bike
I had been contemplating buying a motorbike for a few months now. Some friends thought it was a great idea and some thought it was just a horrible horrible idea! I came back to Aceh after vacay and was in a total funk and decided that buying a bike would make me really happy. So I went out to the dealership over lunch one day and bought one!
And oh am I happy with my decision!!!
I've gotten to be pretty good at maneuvering it around the Banda town traffic. The traffic circles were a bit daunting at first - as the traffic goes clockwise instead of counter clockwise and there are always 500 bajillion cars and motorbikes around it. But after a couple of whirls around the circles around town, I feel pretty confident now...the trick is to just keep going at the same speed as everyone else! Then the next test was driving through busy market streets and narrow back alleys. So on Saturday, the friend who taught me how to ride and I went around the busy streets and alleys surrounding the central market. The streets are currently even more crowded now than normal because it's the end of Ramadan. Proud to say, I made it out of there alive too!
Here are the specs for my bike...sorry it's in Indonesian.
And oh am I happy with my decision!!!
I've gotten to be pretty good at maneuvering it around the Banda town traffic. The traffic circles were a bit daunting at first - as the traffic goes clockwise instead of counter clockwise and there are always 500 bajillion cars and motorbikes around it. But after a couple of whirls around the circles around town, I feel pretty confident now...the trick is to just keep going at the same speed as everyone else! Then the next test was driving through busy market streets and narrow back alleys. So on Saturday, the friend who taught me how to ride and I went around the busy streets and alleys surrounding the central market. The streets are currently even more crowded now than normal because it's the end of Ramadan. Proud to say, I made it out of there alive too!
Here are the specs for my bike...sorry it's in Indonesian.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Yiiiiikes
Sorry to all those loyal readers out there. I've been a total delinquent blogger!
I spent 3 weeks away from Aceh. First was in Jakarta for a team building session, which turned out to be pretty fun. Saw some friends before hoping on a plane to Singapore, where I met up a relative that I haven't seen in years! Then, 7-hour plane ride to Tokyo and 9 more to San Francisco, where I was greeted by dim sim, trip to Napa, chocolate bouchons, and yummy duck (all within 12 hours of landing). Went to Alcatraz for the first time ever and drove up to Davis (where I lived from '89-'94) and had lunch with a friend who's a soon-to-be mommy. Heaps of thanks to ChoiboyX who let me crash at his place, searched for the perfect fish taco with me (although I ended up having an enchilada) and took me to the airport at 5am!
DC was fantastic as well...well aside from all the medical appointments to make sure that I'm not dying from some asymptomatic tropical disease. I was able to catch up with friends, family and coworkers. It was great timing that a friend from Chicago was in town for law interviews and another from SF was in town for training. Other highlights included a wonderful Sunday afternoon with Can Attack and company where wine consumption paired with experimental and competitive cooking started at 2pm. Went bowling with 3 high school buddies at this new posh bowling alley and almost beat Captain F. Had planned on doing a midnight monument biketrip with a friend, but that fell through...will have to save it for next time! All in all, had a great great time in DC.
From DC, I took the Chinatown bus up to New York for a 2-day jaunt. Stay with Mr. Ironwood (Thanks!!!) in his 6-story walkup (85 steps that nearly killed an IKEA furniture delivery boy). NY is one of those places where everyone seems to end up at some point. I saw friends from high school, college, DAI, and even hung out in Central Park with a coworker from Jakarta!
Now I'm back in Aceh and not totally thrilled to be here. It's been gloomy here with the onset of rain season. Ramadan is in full swing, meaning 3 restaurants are open for lunch and everyone in the office is in a dour mood. Also a bit depressing that friends are leaving the place, meaning if I don't make an effort to make new friends, I'll be stuck watching 'Lost' in my room every night. Blaaaaaaaah. But at least I can now download Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy and I just bought myself a motorbike!!!!...More on that later. So...things are on the upswing!
I spent 3 weeks away from Aceh. First was in Jakarta for a team building session, which turned out to be pretty fun. Saw some friends before hoping on a plane to Singapore, where I met up a relative that I haven't seen in years! Then, 7-hour plane ride to Tokyo and 9 more to San Francisco, where I was greeted by dim sim, trip to Napa, chocolate bouchons, and yummy duck (all within 12 hours of landing). Went to Alcatraz for the first time ever and drove up to Davis (where I lived from '89-'94) and had lunch with a friend who's a soon-to-be mommy. Heaps of thanks to ChoiboyX who let me crash at his place, searched for the perfect fish taco with me (although I ended up having an enchilada) and took me to the airport at 5am!
DC was fantastic as well...well aside from all the medical appointments to make sure that I'm not dying from some asymptomatic tropical disease. I was able to catch up with friends, family and coworkers. It was great timing that a friend from Chicago was in town for law interviews and another from SF was in town for training. Other highlights included a wonderful Sunday afternoon with Can Attack and company where wine consumption paired with experimental and competitive cooking started at 2pm. Went bowling with 3 high school buddies at this new posh bowling alley and almost beat Captain F. Had planned on doing a midnight monument biketrip with a friend, but that fell through...will have to save it for next time! All in all, had a great great time in DC.
From DC, I took the Chinatown bus up to New York for a 2-day jaunt. Stay with Mr. Ironwood (Thanks!!!) in his 6-story walkup (85 steps that nearly killed an IKEA furniture delivery boy). NY is one of those places where everyone seems to end up at some point. I saw friends from high school, college, DAI, and even hung out in Central Park with a coworker from Jakarta!
Now I'm back in Aceh and not totally thrilled to be here. It's been gloomy here with the onset of rain season. Ramadan is in full swing, meaning 3 restaurants are open for lunch and everyone in the office is in a dour mood. Also a bit depressing that friends are leaving the place, meaning if I don't make an effort to make new friends, I'll be stuck watching 'Lost' in my room every night. Blaaaaaaaah. But at least I can now download Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy and I just bought myself a motorbike!!!!...More on that later. So...things are on the upswing!
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