In Pati... for real this time.

Ah... ok. Well, so last time I was at an internet cafe, the browser that the establishment was using happened to be Opera, which unfortunately is not compatible with this website. Hence, I could not post anything other that a title for a blog entry... a little disappointing.

I am pretty much completely settled now. I have a nice place to stay, which is connected to the library and very close to where the head master lives. I have a nice-sized living room, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and a laundry area. It's very comfortable... besides of course the leak two days ago, which literally almost sent my TV stand floating out the door. I heard a sound from the kitchen, and when I made my way into the living room, I could see the the reflection of the TV in a lake of water on my floor... which was being filled by the light fixture on the ceiling. At that point, I concluded that it would be a good idea to turn the light off. But never fear, the carpenter was on the job immediately and fixed the problem!

I want to go ahead and comment on something that I've found very amusing and interesting here. Indonesians in Pati really don't have any western sense of privacy, which is really the only thing I've had to consciously adjust to. I don't really have anything to hide, so it's not a big deal, but people in Pati are not very individualistic, they are extremely community oriented, so for example, any time I write an e-mail, my driver sits right next to me and tries to read every word that I type. It's not an issue for him that I am writing my closest friends and family; for him, this is just an opportunity to read and improve his english, while learning the names of my friends and family. Also, when I'm in my home, if someone enters or exits, they have yet to shut the door. Honestly, I may have never even noticed if I didn't have air conditioning in my house, which I desperately want to preserve :-), but people here really don't see any reason why they would need to shut the door. And don't get me wrong, they are extremely polite and would never enter or exit without making sure that it is okay with me, but once they are in, it's everybody's news!

I'm running a little short on time, so I must get going, but next time I update this, I think I'll bring my journal, so I can remember all the interesting and entertaining anecdotes that have become a very common occurrence in my life!