J a v a J i v e :: Paradise is not all that it seems

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J a v a J i v e :: Paradise is not all that it seems
a boy leaves everything he knows for the tropical island of java, Indonesia - soon to find that paradise is not all that it seems...

August 30, 2004

It's funny how much the site traffic has dropped since I left for the States. I guess that's what I get for posting so little recently.

This weekend was spent shopping for furniture in Kemang (yeah I know - bule prices huh?), meeting up for dinner, and having way too much wine at a staff party. Oh it's NOT a good idea to have wine after beer, and after vodka? Yeah. Um ouch.

I finally decided to start learning more Bahasa Indonesia - after a year of becoming lazy with my current vocabulary level. I purchased 3 new dictionaries - proof of my dedication. We'll see how that works out for me.

The company is paying for all of us to go to Bali in October! My brother and mother are even flying in from Cape Town - should be a good time. I think for my 10 day break during Idul Fitri I'll either venture to Lombok (I've seen enough of Bali for now) or to Kalimantan to the orangutang forests. Any suggestions?

posted by Brandon | 2:39 AM

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August 26, 2004

posted by Brandon | 8:14 PM

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August 24, 2004

I am finally beginning to start sorting through this summer's photographs. I have literally over a thousand photos - and maybe 2% are decent enough to use. I'm going to be fairly random about the subject matter because this isn't meant to be a documentary of my summer, but rather a display of some imagery from the trip.

The top picture was taken in a natural cave at Chimney Rock in North Carolina. This was the location for the filming of "The Last of the Mohicans" - a great film. The waterfall scene where the woman jumps to her death was within 100 meters of where we were.

The second photo was taken in Charleston, South Carolina. The cobblestone streets were ablaze with the heat of the day when all of a sudden the sky brought the relief of a downpour.

posted by Brandon | 2:59 AM

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August 17, 2004

I know I'm going to regret saying this later... but - it's actually good to be back in Indonesia. I'm seeing things in a different light lately and am starting to realize that some of my frustrations last year have been resolved.

Work begins again in the morning - hope this statement remains the same as of 7am tomorrow!

It's great to have a maid again - no more cooking, cleaning, laundry, or dishes - that frees us so much time.

It was great to buy 30 DVDs yesterday for $25, take a taxi for three bucks, fill my gas tank for $10, and kick back with sushi for the price of a Happy Meal. Sometimes I love this place.

posted by Brandon | 3:10 AM

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August 12, 2004

Return to paradise.

I arrived in Indonesia a few days ago and hopefully will be refreshed to the point of maintaining an optimistic point of view about that.

I received many emails wondering if I have abandoned the site, decided to stay in America, or fell off the face of the earth. Sorry about that but I decided to take a vacation from being online for a while (abandoning my handphone as well). It was great to forget about the Internet and all its addictive properties for a while, and to not be "reached". In the meantime I have left many people hanging - sorry about that. As soon as I have a chance to catch up I'll be answering your emails, etc.

As wonderful as being home was, I was growing tired of being everyone's "guest". It's great to be in my own house again. I've taken hundreds of new photos, and will be starting to go through them soon. More about my travels later - I've got to take care of some work considering I've been gone for two months.

I will resume java jive - so those of you contemplating removing my link from your site, I hope you reconsider.

posted by Brandon | 5:30 PM