Chuckling again

It's Thursday and I'm throwing caution to the wind.  My overall reports are going well.  I'm about 85-90% finished.  I say "I" and not "We" because my teaching partner is completely and utterly useless. Last semester the reports was much more difficult and complicated than any reports I've ever done.  I have streamlined my personal process and seem to be moving along swimmingly.  As my biggest complaint right now  (aside from my useless partner) is the recent uptick in mosquitoes buzzing around, I won't be complaining. To that end, I can squeeze another blog in today. It feels quite strange to be blogging from home though.


Here's the second installment of the chuckling slowly series.

I've been taking the bus at least once a week as you regular readers will know.  As I've started riding it more and more I have run into a few, um, nuances.  I am still the only one on the bus who ever has bare knees. Just mine.  On Tuesday I was waiting for a bus home from the radio show.  This is easily my least favorite ride of the week.  It's with the major of traffic going home at peak time.  This means waiting at least two buses to get on the third or fourth or fifth.  Two days ago my eyes were rolling and I found myself chuckling when two packed buses stopped to take on even more riders.  A third that wasn't even half full went flying by without even a thought to stop.  I finally smashed on to the fourth bus when everyone was smashed together.

The buses are more or less like this, but more Indonesian, and maybe slightly fuller.

There is lots of construction happening in Jakarta. On my route home there is what will be either a big office building or an apartment complex going up.  They've been working on it for months already and it's just a story above street level now.  A month or so ago the builders too a break from working on the foundation to construct a temporary, corrugated tin wall.  The funny part? They also look time to paint it in three wide horizontal bands, taking care to add flowers and spirals for decoration.
Last one for today. Jakarta is a developing country.  Many of the structures here are still shacks and lean to's along the sides of the road.  The "sidewalks" and I use the term loosely are paving stones at best, an assortment of concrete, gravel and dirt  in general.  That in mind, the people here spend a disordinate about of time sweeping.  On my way to work every morning I see no less than five people sweeping.  They sweep in front of their shops, homes, the street, etc. For a country that is perpetually dirty and polluted there is a lot of cleaning happening!

That bundle of grass she's holding? That's the broom that all the Indonesians on street level use.