The last two weeks in Jakarta have been amazing! First of all, words do not express how grateful I am and how wonderful it has been to stay at the Pesona Homestay again. Nana and company go out of their way to make me comfortable, and I recommend the Pesona to anyone that is planning on passing through Jakarta…and tell them I sent you. They are truly my Indonesian/Canadian family, and I look forward to coming here again and sharing this experience with my family. 
Over the last couple of weeks I have been monitoring a project being carried out by the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) with the Indonesian military to improve the budgeting and procurement process. To put it bluntly, Indonesia is a country composed of 13,000+ islands, but their procurement strategy is very Army-centric. The problem is that the Services weigh in on what they need first, and then the Defense Dept(based on strength of argument) allocates funds for those weapons systems. Sadly, this is how we do business (a lot more complicated and detailed) in the US military. Now, where DIRI (the initiative that I was helping with) comes into play is it takes a more of a capabilities-driven procurement strategy and helps develop the military budget around that. So, instead of The Air Force coming up with their own procurement requests and the Navy doing something separate, it brings all the services to the table and looks at mission/core areas and the capabilities required to complete the mission. This reduces the amount of redundancy and overlap which quite often plagues military budgets. So, I got to spend a couple of weeks sitting in on this process, and I was able to help do some translation when it came to showing the Indonesian officers how to run through the program. It is amazing how many of them do not know how to run simple functions in Excel…I guess they still need to attend Excel and Powerpoint Ranger school.
That weekend I met up with my DLI buddy, Travis Walter and his wife Maren and their little boy William, down in Bandung. My previous trip out of Jakarta was quite adventurous, but I decided to take it easier this time and I was able to use the Cipagante shuttle service. This was a great idea, because the minivan had a lot of leg room, and there were hardly any stops, oh, and it cost about $10. I got to Bandung in theafternoon, and after relaxing for a little bit, we went out to eat dinner at this Sushi restaurant at the mall known as Paris Van Java. Those of you who know me know that I am not a huge sushi fan, but I just became one…I had this “alligator roll,” and it was delicious!!
The following day I headed out on my own to check out some of the sites that were in last year’s The Amazing Race, where the contestants went to Bandung. I started off by going up to Tangkuban Perahu Volcano that has a crater with natural boiling water. When I got up to the top, I had Travis’ driver (how cool is he! He let me use his driver for the day) go down below and I would meet him down there. Well, in order to get down, you have to use a guide, which costs about $25. I was quite upset that this was not advertised before having my driver drop me off. I swallowed my pride and just paid for the guide. After about a 30-45 min hike down the volcano, we came to the natural boiling springs. The water descends down in small ponds and each one is a different temperature. People actually take off their shoes and soak them in the sulfuric warm water…supposedly it is very healthy. At the end of the tour, I tipped the guide, and he asked me for more money…which I did not give in, because he was already taking a cut from the original “guide” price. No one likes a begger!
In the afternoon, I headed over to Saung Angklung Udjo (the place where they had to build the angklung on The Amazing Race, and the self-righteous doctor lady tried to cheat….but I digress). This place is incredible. I met with some theological students who were there and they asked me where I was from. I said, “Texas,” and they said, “us too.” They were from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, which is about 90 mi north of San Angelo…small world! As for this cultural excursion, if anyone is looking at getting an overview of Indonesian culture and you want to watch a very entertaining show, this is the place. At one point they have the audience members take one note of the angklung and proceed to have the audience play a song like “All my Lovin” by the Beatles or “Do, Re, Mi” from Sound Of Music. The highlight was the angklungorchestra that rocked out “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
On Saturday, I took part in a 12K Trail Run that was sponsored by the Garuda Runners and hosted by the President’s son, Army Maj Agus Yuduhono. Travis and I got a couple of pictures with him, and the whole venue was very impressive. There was actually a little remote UAV that had a Go Pro attached to it filming the event. There was music, food, different booths, and of course 12K of trail running. Sad to say, I was not able to finish this run in a good time, in fact I was so tired, I had to walk some of it…but so was everyone else. It started off downhill on asphalt streets, and then after 3-5K, we entered the tea plantation and started uphill on muddy, uneven terrain. At one point we had to cross a river, and we finished back where we started in the Dusun Bambu Family Park. It was cool to see the camaraderie among the Indonesian Army guys and specifically between the Indonesians and (what few there were) Westerners.
My last week in Indonesia was pretty relaxing. There was Memorial Day, a muslim holiday, and Ascension Day (the latter 2 considered national holidays), so I only had to go to the Embassy on Wed and Fri. I was able to get my visa to Vietnam (huge relief), and it looks like my trip this weekend should go smoothly. On Wednesday, I attended another venue at the @America club, which focused on the role of American peacekeepers around the world. They showed the film “Whistleblower,” which is a very raw and dark film about atrocities that were in direct support of US/UK private security firm companies. This film was very hard to watch, but it really brought to the forefront of my mind Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “wickedness triumphs when righteous men do nothing.” On Friday we had a going away for the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) Chief and LCDR Giocomoro (the guy who showed me around last year). It was very nice to hang out with some other US military officers and of course the Foreign Service Nationals in ODC.
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