whoa, nelly

i had an indonesian friend ask me what it means "when australia person say to me 'get away from me you dirty f&^^%$# pirate whore'. is that bad?"

how do you even answer that?

aish.

also, i totally forgot to mention costs when i was regaling you all with tales of backpacking adventures.... one of the best parts of the trip was that we spent 9 days backpacking here for around $75. and what makes that even better is that the train to and from jakarta cost a little more than half that (about $42). and our first meal (we splurged, knowing we wouldn't get good food for awhile) was $5. let me do the math for you. we ate, slept, traveled, and lived off of just about $28 in 9 days. that's an average of $3 and some odd per day for ALL our expenses.

i tell you what... anybody up for some adventuring, get yourself to indonesia, and i'll gladly foot the bill for the rest. :)

oh! also, tomorrow is tujuh belas (lit: seventeen) - indonesian independence day! and indonesians LOVE to party. last night, i went to bed at around 1, and the karaoke was still thumpin in da hood. loud enough that the walls were shaking. the CEMENT walls. the music is still going today, and will be tomorrow as well. accompanied by a variety of fireworks and what sounds like cannon fire.

and yet... on 4th of july when we set off 2 roman candles at 8 pm, the neighbors threw rocks at us and cursed us in javanese. sighhhh... the injustice of it.

as a side note: please do pray for indonesia tomorrow. during the police shootout 2 weeks ago when they uncovered the 600 kilos of bomb materials, they found out that those bombs were set to go off on independence day. and though the police obviously confiscated all the materials they found, top, the man behind it all, is still on the loose. and we do know that they have other safehouses in the area with access to other supplies.

this week (sometime midweek) also marks the beginning of this year's ramadan - month of fasting. from sunrise to sundown (5 am to 6 pm), muslims will not partake of any food or drink for an entire month. this is a really hard time for me as i see the lengths to which my neighbors and many of my friends are willing to go in order to earn their way into heaven.

and now i've been sitting in the dark typing for so long that my eyes hurt. time to go home. until next time. . .