I just came across a new plan by the Bali police to get motorcycle drivers to use their headlights both during the day and the night. They are doing this in hopes of raising the safety consciousness of the driving population. In addition to the use of lights, the police are also planning on stressing the use of helmets, rear-view mirrors, and driving in the left lane.
I hope that this plan succeeds, but I have this feeling that it's going to be a long haul for the police when you consider that many drivers in Bali do not use lights even at night (for fear of depleating their battery).
Driving on the left lane? People in Bali driving on whatever side of the road is most convienent for them. So you often have cars or motorcycles coming at you from both the left and the right at the same time.
Mirrors. People rarely have mirrors on the bikes, but they do know what's going on behind them because they often drive forward while looking backwards at friends that they have just passed.
Helmets. If the police are around, people will throw a helmet on, or if they don't have one, they will pull off the road and wait for the police to go away, or just turn around and look for a road without a police presence.
What about driving licenses? How many drivers don't have licenses? How many kids (and I mean small kids)drive around regularly with the permission of their parents.
Well, good luck on the driving reform. If it succeeds, I may actually start driving again in Bali.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Back to Work, No Water Once Again
Well, back once again in Sumbawa for work. Most of my students arrived back on time which is somewhat unusual, and they are all smiling and ready to go.
We were welcomed back to Sumbawa by yet another water shortage. You really can tell that the climate is changing just by looking at the weather patterns here over the past four years. Each year we get less and less water. But, I'm sure that doesn't affect those countries and industries who continue to contribute to global warming. As I've said before, we (that is my family and I), at least, have an economic safety bubble around us. What happens to those folks who have none? How are they going to survive as the water gets harder and harder to come by?
We were welcomed back to Sumbawa by yet another water shortage. You really can tell that the climate is changing just by looking at the weather patterns here over the past four years. Each year we get less and less water. But, I'm sure that doesn't affect those countries and industries who continue to contribute to global warming. As I've said before, we (that is my family and I), at least, have an economic safety bubble around us. What happens to those folks who have none? How are they going to survive as the water gets harder and harder to come by?
Sunday, January 07, 2007
New links to the blog
One of the great things about being on vacation is that I have time to surf the internet and find out what's going on in the blogging world. Living in the jungle with no phone means that I have to rush to put something on the blog while I am at school. Usually there just isn't enough time. But, I've come up with some interesting blogs that you'll see in the sidebar. Two of the new blogs are by teachers, Adventures in Educational Blogging, and Dreaming of Hanoi. The third blog is written by an Indonesian woman and is about Islam and other issues affecting Indonesia. It's called 100%INDONESIA. Lots of good stuff out there, but how do you keep up with everything?
Tech and Magic in Indonesia
An Adam Air flight went down on Monday somewhere around Sulawesi. The Indonesian authorities apparently lost the plane on their radar. Singapore and the US are assisting in the search, but so far nothing has been found. But, just to cover all the bases, this is what the Jakarta Post had to report today about the search.
Searchers slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional ceremony and consulted psychics Friday, the fourth day after an Adam Air jetliner went missing over Sulawesi.
It's nice to know that somebody is on the ball.
In additional Indonesian disaster news, the search for the missing passengers of a ferry that went down off Java has now been expanded to cover the waters around Bali. It seemss that we are in for another year of tragedy.
Searchers slaughtered a buffalo in a traditional ceremony and consulted psychics Friday, the fourth day after an Adam Air jetliner went missing over Sulawesi.
It's nice to know that somebody is on the ball.
In additional Indonesian disaster news, the search for the missing passengers of a ferry that went down off Java has now been expanded to cover the waters around Bali. It seemss that we are in for another year of tragedy.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
In Bali once again
We’ve been in Bali for almost a week now with just a week left to go before we have to head back to Sumbawa for work and regular living. We’re working on getting the kids Indonesian citizenship. That’s one of the major things for this trip. We went down to the American consulate yesterday, and the officer, Josh, was really helpful and quite friendly. I had to have certified photocopies of the kids’s passports and mine made for the Indonesian government. It was rather costly – over $300, but in the long run it will be worth it.
Then we went over to an Indonesian office to find out what all we needed. The lady, Ibu Desa, was helpful, but not very friendly. So we found out what we needed, stopped at McDonalds because that’s where all the kids wanted to go for lunch, and finally we headed home.
The chance for the kids to have dual citizenship is something that we’ve been waiting for for years. It means, among other things, that we won’t have to pay for a KITAS (a document that lets them stay in the country) for each of them every year. We’ve probably paid over $15,000 over the past 8 years for all of their documents. So that’s the first issue. Second, the kids will be able to inherit their mother’s property which is where a large part of our money is. Third, they won’t be in danger of being deported because of some foul-up on our part or our agent’s part, or just a change in the government. Fourth, the kids will be eligible to pay local fees when they enter college which will save us a lot of money when I’m on a limited budget due to retirement.
Today, Su went out getting documents photocopied, and arranging things with local authorities. I stayed home and ftp’d some stuff for the school website, and then tore apart the second floor bathroom. That was good. It will save us a little money with the guys who will put in the new floor and fix the shower. Plus, there’s nothing like some manual labor. I spend too much time on the computer, and I need to know what it is that I’m asking someone else to do for me. In this case, ripping up all the ceramic tile on the floor and the rotted-out vanity, the work was considerable; it took me and one of my brothers-in-law four hours to complete it.
Tomorrow, I’m going to take out all the fixtures on the windows on the third floor. They’ve all rusted and need to be replaced. People think that living on the ocean is really cool, but keeping up a house on the ocean requires a lot of work because everything gets corroded eventually from the salt air.
The other big event, as of today, is that I bought a new computer; my first Mac since 1998. This is a killer machine: an IMac5.1 with a 20 inch screen and 1 gb ram and 250GB hard drive. When my son first saw it, he kept looking for the cpu. I said that it’s all in the monitor, but he couldn’t believe it.
Only problem- getting Mac software over here.
Then we went over to an Indonesian office to find out what all we needed. The lady, Ibu Desa, was helpful, but not very friendly. So we found out what we needed, stopped at McDonalds because that’s where all the kids wanted to go for lunch, and finally we headed home.
The chance for the kids to have dual citizenship is something that we’ve been waiting for for years. It means, among other things, that we won’t have to pay for a KITAS (a document that lets them stay in the country) for each of them every year. We’ve probably paid over $15,000 over the past 8 years for all of their documents. So that’s the first issue. Second, the kids will be able to inherit their mother’s property which is where a large part of our money is. Third, they won’t be in danger of being deported because of some foul-up on our part or our agent’s part, or just a change in the government. Fourth, the kids will be eligible to pay local fees when they enter college which will save us a lot of money when I’m on a limited budget due to retirement.
Today, Su went out getting documents photocopied, and arranging things with local authorities. I stayed home and ftp’d some stuff for the school website, and then tore apart the second floor bathroom. That was good. It will save us a little money with the guys who will put in the new floor and fix the shower. Plus, there’s nothing like some manual labor. I spend too much time on the computer, and I need to know what it is that I’m asking someone else to do for me. In this case, ripping up all the ceramic tile on the floor and the rotted-out vanity, the work was considerable; it took me and one of my brothers-in-law four hours to complete it.
Tomorrow, I’m going to take out all the fixtures on the windows on the third floor. They’ve all rusted and need to be replaced. People think that living on the ocean is really cool, but keeping up a house on the ocean requires a lot of work because everything gets corroded eventually from the salt air.
The other big event, as of today, is that I bought a new computer; my first Mac since 1998. This is a killer machine: an IMac5.1 with a 20 inch screen and 1 gb ram and 250GB hard drive. When my son first saw it, he kept looking for the cpu. I said that it’s all in the monitor, but he couldn’t believe it.
Only problem- getting Mac software over here.
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