Kabar

Hello, Hello,

So I am currently nursing an infection on my toe that I have had for about three and a half weeks. It started as a mosquito bite and has now become a black and blue blister/puss factory. It doesn't hurt but it itches like crazy. Don't worry Mom I have been to the doctor and have an antibiotic for it.


Today we got out of school at noon because of a demonstration in south Jakarta. For those of you who don't know, Indonesia is a political mess. Supposedly it is getting better but I would hate to see what it was like when it was bad. Anyway, it was nothing that we had to worry about in the north but many of our students live in the south and in order to get them home safely and beat all of the traffic that the demos were bound to create they let all of us go early. Again don't worry Mom, we are safe and sound. the strange thing about political protests is that it is actually considered somewhat of a profession here. Protestors/Supporters are basically hired in order to make each of the political parties seem like they have the most support. However, these so called "supporters" will "support" any and all causes, no matter what they are, as long as they get a buck or two. Plus if they are lucky they may be able to break some windows, burn something down, or beat someone up.

Congrats to those who took part in the May Day festivities. Today was the international day to walk out on school or your job in support of international workers. I am pretending that my school did not let me out early and that I actually walked out on the job (because I was going to do it...I swear!!).

I have been listening to a ton of music lately of very ecclectic tastes and right now I am listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They are totally awesome. At first I thought there name was rather annoying but now I wish I had come up with it. Tomorrow is a pretty exciting day, the new Velvet Teen ep comes out. I am going to download it during school even though it is not allowed. Please don't tell. In other media, Leah and I are watching the Sopranos. We just started season 3. It is pretty good. So far I think I liked Six Feet Under way better. I am also reading Ghandi's Autobiography and The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. If you don't know who he is, he is an interesting Irish writer. The first thing I read by him blew me away. It was in the collection of short stories put together by Nick Hornby called Speaking With Angels. check it out sometime. I recently finished 50 Facts that Should Change the World by Jessica Williams. Pretty interesting quick read. Next up on my list is Guns, Germs and Steel by I can't think of the author now.

One last bit of an interesting update. About 7 and a half weeks ago Leah and I had an unexpected surprise. We found out that Leah is pregnant! Its an alien ninja that is apparently hopping around inside Leah like a Mexican Jumping Bean. We are still kind of in shock but it seems to be becoming more and more real each day. We are pretty excited and can't wait until Leah is fat! We had been talking a lot lately about when we might want to have kids but we could never decide. All we could ever decide was that it would be easier if it just happened. And I guess that is when it happened. It seems like you can always find something to keep you from doing what you want. It is nice when the decision is made for you and all you have to do is figure it out from there. And if you know us, you probably also know how happy we are that we didn't have to make any decision about it. I have know idea how we are going to decide on a name. Currently we are considering Ninjababy! but I don't know what we will do when it grows up. Oh well, I guess that is something that he/she will have to deal with, not us!

Ok, I hope all is well with everyone. Just six more weeks of school and then we will be back in the states soon. Can't wait to see all of you.

Love,
Grant and Leah