Sunday night was one for the books. I seriously felt like I
was dying. Yes, after walking for 20 minutes outside I was having an asthma
attack and no, I am not sure how I made it until Monday morning. I seriously
think my roommate Daniel saved my life. I thought I was going to faint and if
it weren’t for his stoic nature and encouraging words I don’t know what would
have happened. The pollution here really IS that bad. Hell, the sky is a
constant grey! I am glad that if I was going to be here it was with the
government. As soon as it was Monday morning I made my way to the health unit
and was given an emergency inhaler and a steroids treatment along with some
allergy meds. Today, I am still recovering and wearing a face mask whenever I
go outside but definitely doing A LOT better.
To those reading this, if you have EVER suffered from asthma, think
twice before you come to Jakarta, especially if you aren’t here with the
government. You may not have access to adequate health facilities if you get
sick. While in Jakarta the only walking I’ll be doing from now on is in the
malls. Next time I bid on a post, I will consider the air quality as my top
priority. I can deal with not having clean or running water or a possible
political uprising but having trouble breathing is not one of them.
On a brighter note, the Embassy is fantastic. I am actually
taking over someone’s JOB. Can’t go into the details of why, but while we wait
on the replacement, who isn’t coming until the end of the summer, I am taking
over. I work with a team of three Indonesians and they see me as their boss.
This is really weird for me but kind of cool. They are also super sweet. They
ordered me an air filter for our office and it’s coming tomorrow, yay! I also
start language classes at the embassy next week so that I can be a better ninja
(aka Indonesian look alike) since people talking to me in Indonesian and me not
being able to respond is starting to get to me. The work that I am doing may
seem boring to some people but I am enjoying it. It’s a lot of internal and
logistical work – that’s all I can say. I am glad that I am hitting the ground
running – in my case, jogging, because otherwise I’d be focusing on my
sensitive but stable health condition and it would definitely not help my
morale while here. I’m actually looking forward to going to Viet Nam at the end
of my stay here - being able to get fresh air in Can Tho and to ride a bicycle
sounds nice right now. Actually, there is a long weekend coming up and I am
thinking of taking a train to anywhere outside Jakarta. I am desperate to be as
far away from the smog as possible!
Lastly, I was supposed to have people install internet in
our apt today and I was notified that they “overbooked us” and couldn’t come
today. I don’t know when they are coming, so I will do my best to go to the
internet café to update when I can. I also don’t have a working cell phone
yet. Hopefully, things will be settled
by Friday and I’ll be more accessible then.
Well, “Welcome to Jakarta!”
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