Shopping

Yesterday we went shopping with the "team" for all the items we will need for the house, which is mostly unfurnished.  We were a bit dismayed to learn we had to buy a stove, but learned that a "stove" consisted of two burners fueled with gas, costing only about $38, which in rupiahs looks more like $380,000. We are still trying to get used to the conversion and thrown off before we realize it's far less in American dollars.
  We also met Eka, one of the team.  Her name means "One," because she is the first-born, and many Indonesians name their children by the birth order.  I think I learned this in "Eat, Pray, Love."  When Eka taught me the first three numbers, something like "Sat, Digo, Trigo," I wondered why the difference in the number one.  I was delighted to learn that "Sat" comes from Sanskrit, an early influence on this language of Bahasa Indonesian. That connects this language in some distant way to all our Indo-European languages.  I said, "we are one globe after all."

Also, in the car on the way back, I saw a water buffalo grazing in a rice paddy, which line the roads even within the city.  After saying "Look" to anyone in particular, I commented, "We are easily impressed."  They all laughed.  This is one example of a common experience of their laughing at my amazement over it all.  I hope that never stops, even in the ten months I have here.  Well, this is more than I meant to write, but since sleeping at night is still not quite possible, I write blogs in my head, and this is the result.