A week in Sorowako

As mentioned in my previous entry I am now residing in a house located at 52 Jalan Anggrek (Jalan being Indonesian for Street, or Road). It is quite large and spacious. All of the PT Inco houses are of similar design but with more living area the more significant ones position with the company: the "A" house is the largest and is occupied by the Chief Operating Officer (the highest ranking position on site); "B" houses are for General Managers (the next level down from the COO); "C" are for managers and "D" are for superintendents and lower ranking staff. The house I am in is a "B" house. Note that the design style involves being elevated on posts and essentially is a single floor layout but that there is a small concrete block room at ground level that is typically used as servants quarters (the latter only with A, B and C houses). No one on staff appears to own their own home here. Instead they rent from the company. As such the size of the house is dependant on ones standing and not on family needs. Very different from what am used to but I believe harkens back to an older time when even Thompson was dominated by company owned houses.

The black van is a "Kijang": a rear-wheel drive Toyota that is pretty basic. While it has air conditioning, it doesn't even have demisters! I guess they assume it is too hot for moisture to condense on the inside of the wind shield. That is my personal transport while I am here.

Being in this house is not so bad as I sure have a lot of space. Lots of furniture and a nice bed in the master bedroom, since I had first dibs. But there have been problems. As already mentioned it was about 4 days before I had network access. Then this past Monday I found myself without hot water. It was quite a shock to the system taking a cold shower to start the day. Plus I had cut myself when shaving that morning too! The next day I found myself with the beginnings of a cold sore which has now become two (the second on top of where I had cut my upper lip when shaving). It has been some time since I have had a cold sore and now I have two! So no, it is not all beds of roses here, but I do admit it could be a heck of a lot worse!

About the middle of the week I finally quit a little early, in the middle of the afternoon, well before sunset. I therefore finally had time to go for a walk while it was still light (I had been pretty reclusive up until then and definitely not getting enough exercise). Not far from the house there is a tennis court so I went there to see what was going on and to explore a bit. Low and behold and what did I find but some kids, and one adult (obviously Canadian) playing road hockey! That sure brought a grin to my face.





After watching them play for a while I noticed that the area they were playing in was beside a cultivated area with plants that at first I didn't recognise. So I went and had a closer look and discovered they were growing pepper! Not the vegetable but the spice. And that reminded me that Indonesia used to be called the "Spice Islands" and is famous for things such as pepper, cloves and other formerly exotic spices. Here is a picture of a pepper bush (actually it appears to be a vine as they have a central stake for it to cling to).

At work they operate in conditions totally foreign to what I am used to. The group I am working with consists of 6 people all crammed into an office no bigger than the one I occupy back in Thompson. And only just recently did they get some new computers to replace the ones that are at least 5 years old. Here are a couple of pictures showing most of the crew. We have Alan, Arham and Rosalyn (I usually occupy the spot behind Rosalyn). On the other side of the room is Anto. Sopi usually occupies the spot taken currently by Anto but is away in France on a training program for the next 9 months. Also missing is Mashury who provides technical support and is the only one native to Sorowako. So here I am living in this huge house but working in this small, cramped office. But the latter is pretty good in that they are a great bunch of people and they frequently take advantage of me being there by asking advice or instruction on numerous matters associated with the job. It sure is nice to feel useful!