el jefe in Russia

my brother sent some pics from Russia:
Red Square /Moscow at dusk & sunset /fish for sale /

Hong Kong

sara, may and i met in hong kong for the weekend.......
may's friend kaitlin had her bday bash on saturday night and the theme was "aristocrats vs. peasants"


we had fun shopping for costumes in the various markets....

kaitlin, the birthday girl, and her fiance, will


may, sara, and me heading out to the party

we took the tram up to the "peak" overlooking the city

a street in soho

sara in front of mahy's dorm, which is super nice! complete with private bathroom and a balcony with a view of the harbour.... eyeeaaaa

England and America: two countries divided by a common language

An email I recieved from my brother on his first trip to London (hilarious):

hey mik,

i'm in london for the week, hoping that jefe will join me this weekend. i know i joke about it, but communicating with people has been quite a struggle. what i do understand is hilarious, though. i bought a sub today at a little cafe--nothing special--and after i ask to heat my falafel, the crazy brit says to me, "the construction of the sandwich is not particularly conducive to warming." then he asked if it was "to take away." this place is more foreign than anywhere i've been in latin america or the caribbean in the last five years. only ukraina was stranger. i hope all is well. "cheers."

love,
b

"I thought about the other members of my team and about all the traveling Americans who intentionally avoid seeing the countries they visit the way the majority of the people living there see them. I was suddenly struck by the realization that my experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer--the bonds I had forged with some of those people; the way they had opened their lives to me; shared their meager provisions so selflessly; welcomed, warmed, nurtured, and even loved me--had profoundly impacted me. "
-John Perkins, The Secret History of the American Empire

June/July

i haven't updated my blog in a while and now its 11pm and we're getting up at 4am to go to Singapore to pick up our work visas at the Indonesian embassy. should be an eventful morning... can't wait. Then i'm going to Hong Kong to see Mahy and Sara for the weekend and meeting Sara's friend Maria del Mar from Colombia and Mahy's friend Kaitlin. Kaitlin's bday is on Saturday the 14th so we'll celebrate it Hong Kong style in conjuction with France's national day..

here are a few pictures from the last month and a half before i head to bed



June 6th
greeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the launch conference of our publication

June 13th
i received the most beautiful flowers on my birthday.......

June 15th

mahynoor came to vist for two weeks. we met sara in KL for the weekend and celebrated my birthday there in a joint bday party with my friend chucky at velvet, a favourite KL dancing spot. in the pic below, chucky and i are getting ready to drink our " Flaming Lamborghini" birthday shots... (it was the first and last time i'll drink one of those... gross!)

Vic, Sara, Mahy, Rose and me at Velvet enjoying the bday party

July
mahy and me in my livingroom in Jakarta before going out with Alex, our newly arrived editorial manager

July

Alex, what a champ, he brought us cheese from France

July
the view from outside our apartment building