I heard about Jakarta’s Jalan Jaksa as being referred to as ‘kampung bule’ before. If you know this street, it is obvious why: it is pre-eminently a western backpacker’s hangout.
On a Belgian gathering in the Eastern Promise last Saturday, the term was used for another place: an area where (nearly) all inhabitants are western. So when I asked a guy where he lived, his girlfriend replied: in kampung bule, south Kemang… I had to think twice before I knew what she meant.

I am a member of the FitnessFirst that is located in Taman Anggrek. I went there today for a swim. As I was waiting for my partner to come out of the ladies locker room after swimming, I became once again a witness of Indonesian inventiveness.
I always get ready long before my partner does, so I have to find a place to sit and wait for her. Normally, I choose a wooden bench right in front of the Mind and Body Studio. This studio is used for the less active classes like Yoga or Pilates. I already noticed on my previous visits that all classes are always packed with people and if you come late, you are bound to be squeezed in at a less desirable spot. So… most of the attendees tend to come early, very early.
An Essential Yoga class was scheduled, but it was still half an hour before it started. The first two girls already arrived, both carrying a water bottle. These girls, however, did not wait in front of the studio, but they put their water bottles in front of the door, and disappeared. I did not make much out of this; they probably just went to the bathroom or something, soon to return. Two minutes later, another girl arrived to put her bottle in line with the first two. This went on for a couple of minutes and by the time my partner appeared, the row of drink bottles had already grown to ten or so.
While my partner was returning her used towels, another girl came. She looked at the row of bottles and realized she was going to have a bad spot to practice the Essential Yoga. She boldly opened the door, went inside with bottle, to return within a few seconds without a bottle. She probably decided that marking her spot in the studio was better than to have her bottle wait outside in line.

Since the integration of WordPress into Joomla is not really working for me (especially the ping services), I will keep on using this Blog for a while.
I hope the OpenWP soon will be working perfect… until then I will post here as well.