Six Degrees South

You can tell that I am under lockdown and have absolutely nothing of interest to report, when you start to see me posting about food.  Last night I was fortunate enough to have the option of having a delicious Japanese bento box delivered to my door. Chicken Teriyaki, crusted sweet potato, and garlic-infused soba, were among the highlights. A perfectly satisfying way to end the work week.  

Because I spend almost all of my time in my apartment, I sometimes forget I am living in the tropics. But this torrential downpour serves as a reminder of where I am situated. And pictures from a phone really don't capture the full force of the deluge. More rain in an afternoon than Naryn gets in half a year.

Decided to splurge and ordered birthday dinner from the Kempinski Hotel, which is an upscale EurAsian chain. Had perfectly tender, medium-rare Austalian Beef Tenderloin, roasted asparagus and garlic, Mashed Potatoes with Peppercorn gravy, Chicken Caesar Salad, and Banana Fritters with chocolate sauce and berry compote. Delicious! Then the following night I cooked up Angel Hair Arrabbiata and amazing broiled scallops. If one must spend a birthday under lockdown, then eating magnificently is the best present you can give yourself.

Watched the inauguration and just finished enjoying the Celebrating America Show.  It was a festival of joy celebrating all America. Artists of all genres and traditions performed and celebrated the great Americans, average Americans who have been working to feed, heal, and serve our nation. We have two choices.  We can embrace the good.  We can embrace our diversity.  We can embrace the work and service we need to conduct to bring our nation back. We can embrace the peoples and other nations of the world as we share the planet with the fellowship of humanity and our will is not supreme. Or we can be the mob, embracing grievance, embracing violence, brandishing symbols of hatred past and present. I am choosing the America I watched tonight, where the various hues of our cultural mosaic were on display and celebrated.  I am choosing the America where Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Obama, political opponents, stood together pledging to work together to rebuild America.  I am choosing an A

Honored to be selected this week to serve on the Board of the Bibi Thanjur Foundation.  The Thanjur Foundation is an extraordinary new initiative which will help bring education to deserving students in Northern Pakistan. Please check out the website at thanjurfoundation.org to learn more. Looking forward to being a part of this great cause.

Though there are still difficult times ahead, at least now there is some hope now that we have a decent and honorable person in office.

Just received my new watch from the PalaNusantara company of Bandung, Indonesia. They make products with local, sustainable materials, providing reliable work to community craft people. And I have a rosewood watch with an innovative design, that's fun to wear.  Let's always look to support local businesses.

One nice thing about my new job is I never have to give a moment's thought to what I have to wear to work each day. Many large Indonesian employers design a batik, a blouse or shirt with a design unique to that organization. Here I am wearing the Sampoerna University batik just as I am about to attend a formal online meeting that requires me to wear my batik. I find it especially cool that the University's starburst logo is incorporated into the batik design. In Indonesia, batik more universally refers to the special method of dyeing fabric that is prevalent here and often specific patterns make reference to various regions or groups within the nation. Also looking forward to going shopping in the future to purchase hand-dyed batik I can wear in my spare time.

Enjoying my new 1.5 meter line lamp, which I ordered directly from China. It has six colors, over 300 modes, and you can program it and create light shows via remote control.  It is perhaps the most frivolous purchase I have ever made. Yet, in the era of fascist insurrection and COVID, it somehow provides some small joy and adds a panoply of color to my barren apartment as I await the shipment of my furnishings to arrive. (Click "more" to see the video.)

This is an extremely frightening time in the U.S.  Here is a link to an article from The Atlantic everyone should read. It's a response to the sentiment expressed on January 6 in the U.S. after the insurrection at the Capitol when some were saying "this is not who we are."  This article is an extraordinary response to American denial of the dark thread that runs through our history.   It is entitled "Denial is the Heartbeat of America" and the author is Professor Ibram X. Kendi. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/202

There are three high-rise buildings inside my compound.  One contains my workplace, Sampoerna University, and a few other organizations.  The other two are residential buildings, one of which is where my residence is located.   The compound itself contains almost everything one would require.  Pictured here is the supermarket, Korean restaurant, Indonesian coffee shop, and even a Krispy Kreme donut shop.  It's quite the opposite of my five years in Kyrgyzstan.  When I first arrived in the remote Kyrgyz mountain town where I lived, I discovered that I had embarked upon a journey into the distant past still deeply tied to its nomadic traditions.  Now I find myself in a global, multicultural megalopolis of 30 million, the largest Muslim city in the world. I wonder how many in the mob of domestic terrorists that stormed our Capitol would have acted in such a way if they had been exposed, for even a couple of months, to some culture other than their own? Stepping outside one's narro

Luckily the supermarket in my complex sells a cornucopia of products both Indonesian and Western. One of the fun aspects of living in a new country is sampling its new tastes. Today I purchased dragonfruit and kenari nuts.  I've had dragonfruit before, but I am looking forward to eating it in its raw form.  Kenari nuts, I am completely clueless about, but am looking forward to trying this new taste.

 The L'Avenue window washing crew, 17 stories above the ground.

 A few years ago a dear friend of mine gave me my "He's not my President" sticker which I have displayed as a tangible token of resistance to the autocrat in the White House. Though I respected his right to hold the office, the sticker was my statement that Trump, in no way, upheld the rules and ideals of the Presidency and that he actually represented a threat to the institutions of our nation.  I brought the sticker with me to Indonesia in plans of setting it on fire on the 20th when a competent President takes office. Today a mob of domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol, egged on by Trump, in an attempt to launch a coup and subvert our Constitution and the peaceful transfer of power. I am now required to pull my sticker out of its envelope again to register my belief that Trump is totally unfit for the office and is an existential threat to our democracy.  Let us hope that the events of the nation are such that Trump and his evil minions will not succeed and that the

 Our complex consists of three towers and this one houses Sampoerna University, my new workplace.

Out of quarantine and wandering around the complex. View of 29th Floor rooftop lap pool and the ground floor pool complex.  Certainly is swimming weather at 92 degrees celsius.