Day 16 continued----Road to Indonesia

Day 16 conitnued---Road to Indonesia

 

The call to prayer just ended. It had been going on for 2 hours over the noon hour. I suppose because it is New Years.  We had not gone to bed last night when the first call to prayer started at 4 a.m. It has been 10 years since living in Senegal that we have heard it.  Although for very different reasons, it is a reminder to all of us to pray.  Real estate in Senegal was looked at carefully as to how close to the mosque property was. We could use it to wake us in the morning.  Being back in  Muslim country means different kinds of things and memories.

After some sleep we have continued down our mental list of things we need to find out. Most importantly maybe is “Can we drink the water?” We did not think to look this up earlier, which is a grave error. At first when Rick asked last night he thought they said, “Yes.” But I think they were saying yes to the bottled water. When I asked this morning, the receptionist said, “No, It is bad for your brain.” But we are on quarantine and have to wait for someone to bring us bottled water. This would be fine if our phone worked, but it was quite a while before someone came and fixed the problem, even after we found the “on/off” button. We had ventured out this morning to get our breakfast, but the man at the buffet, nervously and apologetically said, “No, you must stay in your room until the doctor comes and gives you your covid test. “ This might be today….or tomorrow. Last night the receptionist did not know or did not share the fact that we needed to stay in our rooms, although it does make sense, or why are we quarantining?  It is fine, and really what we had expected. I will plead the case that we do not need to quarantine when the doctor finally comes.

So how are we suppose to get food? The man at the buffet said that the government had decided the menu, and this morning we would get fried rice. OK. But I told him we really need protein, like eggs, or something. He said the government decides. When it came to our room, it was fine, but we have discovered over the years what cultures consider breakfast is possibly different from an “All American Breakfast”.  This was fried rice with a teeny tiny bag of vegetables to be added. It had a fried egg on top.  It also had a chicken drum stick. And red stuff….don’t mess with the red stuff. We do not have enough water to quench the results. For lunch, it was about the same, but with a drumstick and a deep fried piece of what was probably pressed chicken instead of the fried egg.

Any way we are good, and waiting for the doctor.  Rick is listening to his online presentations from China of which he has over 100. His grading was put on hold while we traveled. It is just long laborious work.