Here in Indonesia people eat a tremendous amount of rice. They eat it for each meal. So when the price of rice goes up, there’s a bit problem. This has happened a few times recently. There have already been demonstrations in Jakarta about it. The reasons for the rise in price are various. The rain came very late this year so the crops were affected. Also there are probably some unscrupulous government workers who sell rice to other countries for a profit instead of selling it to their own people. There are also those with lots of money who buy up tremendous amounts of rice and then sell it little by little for a lot thereby controlling the market. But the fact remains, the price of rice for the average person here has risen. Those who are very poor are beginning to resort to eating sweet potatoes or roots. Unfortunately, while roots might be a lot cheaper, they are also a lot lower in nutritional value. They are only a source of carbohydrates. Apparently the government is supposed to be controlling the price of rice but I’m not sure about all the details yet. Anyways, this is big news here right now and many of the “little” people blame the current government. They feel that life was better under the dictator Soeharto because at least then people could easily buy rice and milk. I think that time makes people forget the bad things….
On the family front, Hugo and I are feeling a lot better, but now Marc is sick with the same flu bug we had. That leaves only Brynne and Aidan who haven’t had it yet….
Tomorrow is our last day of school! Yippee!! Then on Thursday morning we have our evaluation, and we know that it is just a formality, they never fail you if you’ve made it past unit 1… phew….