This past Sunday, Joseph and Karla (my boss and his wife, who's my co-teacher in year 11) took me to church in the downtown part of Jakarta, which is south and east of where I live and work. It's taken me a long time to recover any of my sense of direction here, and I still get really mixed up because the streets run like a pile of spaghetti, complicated by one-way streets and streets that are blocked off.

Anyway, in Jakarta's downtown, we visited a department store which had two floors dedicated to traditional Indonesian wares. On one floor, there were paintings, wood carvings, jewelry, knick-knacks, incredible (huge!) Indonesian beetles in framed boxes, exquisite pieces of silver-smithing, and other handicrafts. The floor below it was nothing but batiks: traditional clothing for women and men and pieces of fabric with gorgeous colors, textures, and patterns. Though I've seen little flashes of beauty here, like blossoming bushes, kids playing soccer, lovely faces, and colorful pushcarts, I've mostly noticed Jakarta's dirt, poverty, and pollution. I've taken it on faith that this is a beautiful country. It was so refreshing to see the richness that Indonesia has to offer, and I'm looking forward to some more exploring.

To be fair, we also had lunch at Chili's, not exactly culturally enriching, but it tasted really good.