Watch out for those waves...

This past Sunday Alo and I went to Sepa Island, part of the Thousand Islands of Indonesia.  We took a cab from our apartment to the marina which takes about 20 minutes and then hopped on a boat which takes about an hour and a half to get there. It was a windy day, and I was just getting over some Indonesian sickness... so to say the least - it was quite the ride.  We rode in the very front of the boat so by the time we arrived we looked like we had already snuck in a quick dip with our clothes and all! 

The Thousand Islands were beautiful.  They are made up of 105 islands stretching 45 kilometers north into the Java Sea.  Development is allowed on 37 of the islands, some are uninhabited, and some are owned by wealthy Jakartans (need to make friends with one of them to get on their island!).

We hung out on the beach all day with a couple of Alo's friends who came along with us.  We didn't see too many fish right off the beach but it was still great to swim and relax in the water.  The area is so small it only takes about 20 minutes to walk around the entire island.  Alo and John saw the Komodo dragons that live on the island but unfortunately they scurried away when I was near and I only heard one rustling in the bushes.  Komodo dragons are the largest living species of lizards and can grow to be as long as 9.8 feet - yikes!  Other than the sun, sand, blue water, and Komodos, there isn't too much on the island.  There is a resort with cute little huts but unless you are looking for the bare minimum in accommodations, you may just want to do a day trip like we did.  There is one restaurant which we ate at for lunch and they served basic Indonesian food such as Mie Goreng (very similar to Lo Mein) and rice of course. Everyone here LOVES rice.  Rice for breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert. ha!

Our boat departed around 3pm and the winds were picking up and things didn't look so pleasant for the ride back.  We took a different route home meaning a longer trip.  To help give you a mental picture of our trip home... if you have ever watched that show on Discovery called Deadliest Catch and seen how enormous the waves are and how it almost looks like they are going to take over the boat...that's what it felt like. I love the water and rarely get scared but I was slightly nervous. Even at one point the crew made Alo and some of the other guys in our group sit on the left side of the boat to help even things out. They were soaked! It made for a good laugh though! And I surely won't forget my first visit to the Thousand Islands!

As you can see in the picture below, Alo and Steve are drenched - luckily I scored a middle seat :) There was a nice lady from Jakarta sitting beside me with her little 3 year old girl on her lap (she is trying to shield her from the water with a towel and life jacket). I think the little girl was the least scared!

I told Alo he really has to stop running around in his speedo :)

Finally made it!

After months of planning, stressing, worrying, and craziness - I made it to Indonesia! Very excited to finally be here. There were a couple hiccups on the way, such as my flights being canceled due to a big storm,  but other than that I made it fine.  My flights were great and I celebrated the start of my new adventure with lots of champagne - Thank you Korean Air!  Alo picked me up from the airport and I was greeted with a slew of balloons! Did you expect any less from Alo? ha.  I was so happy to see him. It's still pretty unreal to me that I'm living over here and finally with him again :)

Our apartment exceeded my expectations as well as many other places in Jakarta so that's always a good start.  I also think Alo kept me in the dark about a lot so I'd be impressed when I arrived rather than let down - smart boy! Everyone is so so nice and just has a big smile on their face all the time.  I honestly haven't encountered one rude person yet. Indonesians just love life and are so happy, which makes this experience much easier and enjoyable.

The language barrier isn't too bad although I'm very anxious to start a class. Alo is already taking one with his co-worker and has taught me how to say numbers 1-10, good, and thank you.  I got a cell phone the other day which is helpful so I can also show the cab driver addresses of places if they are confused by me.  I usually just point, nod, and smile a lot and it seems to be working just fine.

The first morning I was here Alo plugged my blow dryer in the outlet with a converter and blew it up! Ops! Of course it was my FAVORITE blow dryer of all time - but no biggy we just went on a hunt to find a new one. Note to self, a good blow dryer here costs around $80-90 bucks whereas my great one I loved was only like $25. On a good note, since I had no blow dryer for a couple days I went to the salon to get my hair blown out. Ladies - it's only about $5-$10 bucks depending on where you go and it's great. Turns out Alo blowing up my blow dryer wasn't so bad after all! I've been to the salon twice already.  Yesterday I went and they washed, dried and straightened my hair and also gave me a mani and pedi - brace yourself.....$21 American dollars - with TIP. Pretty awesome.

I took a trip to the Indonesian Immigration office yesterday for finger prints and paperwork for my Visa. That was pretty interesting. It was a crowded, sweaty, loud mess in a tiny little building.  I might have stood out slightly ha.  Luckily, JLL has an agent (a person who basically pays off the officials so you skip to the front of the line) and I was there for about 5 minutes!

Alo and I went to the grocery store called Ranch Market the other day. It's really nice - kinda like a Trader Joes look to it.  Lots of great fresh produce and meats. The prices however are not cheap, especially anything American. If you know me, you know I LOVE candy, and a bag of candy such as p-patties or snickers was about $9 dollars so I had to hold off and save it for an excuse like a bad day or feeling homesick.

This is a picture of one of the samples they were giving out at the grocery store - Grass Jelly - yummm! ha

Don't worry...I've already made my first friend!