New Address

I haven’t forgotten to write. To update. I’ve simply been without internet connection.

Settling into my new home on Flores island. It’s vastly different than Bali. No escapes to westerner-ized life… it’s all Indonesian from here out. No little luxuries like lattes and sneaking into 5 star resorts to lounge by their pools. No surfing. The holiday is over. Thus, time for a new address.

Yayasan Mitra Tani Mandiri
Attn: Mikal Nolan, VSO Volunteer
Jl. DI Panjaitan RT III / RW Hobo II
Kelurahan Trikora, Bajawa 86414
Flores, NTT
Indonesia

One month on and I have yet to figure out how the mail works since the address system is seemingly absent. Luckily, I do, however, have a work address. So that’s best… unless you send post to the “Yang peremupan putih, tinggal di dekat rumah suster, Bajawa” (that white girl who lives near the nunnery, Bajawa). In which case it should also get to me.

329 new emails. I didn’t even really feel an drive to check my email, I felt more of an obligation to do so after a month. In America I barely go 20 minutes without making sure nothing new has popped in. Email, facebook, myspace, reading the latest cyber chatter. Perhaps it was the thought of dial-up… sloooooooooooooooow. In the Telkom phone booth I quickly sorted the junk from the good stuff and opened each in a new tab to read later in leisure. Time is money in a phone booth. Eight booths, but only one seems to have a line. Nevertheless, countless people are needed to sit behind the long desk spanning the room. This may be fine for the cyberspace patient, however, I think I may need to figure getting a phone line into my room. Sitting on my front patio, reading the emails and news from home has been a treat. New babies, warnings of elevated volcanic activity, pictures of bridesmaid dresses, ‘R’-rolling tips, blog updates from travelers, what’s growing in the garden, notes of encouragement, love confessionals, penis enlargements, and Viagra. There’s comfort in knowing that the world is still going round.

Life here is simplistic. It’s slow. News travels by word of mouth… and much more quickly than the dial-up internet connection provides.