Indonesia has provinces. These function like the states we have in the U.S. Kendari, the town I am based in, is the capital of the province of Southeast Sulawesi. There are ten major language groups in this province. You can hear three of them here in the streets of Kendari: bahasa Muna, bahasa Tolaki, bahasa Buton as well as Indonesian.
The rupiah is the currency of Indonesia. One U.S. dollar is worth 14 thousand rupiah! The smallest unit of currency on the streets is a 500 rupiah coin.
A bottle of water costs six thousand rupiah. That is equivalent to 42 cents.
Last night I ate grilled rabbitfish, steamed ferns and white rice.
I listened to Emmy award-winning Judith Hill singing "Queen of the Hill," a funk music video with a lot of gamelan (traditional Indonesian group of brass instruments) and traditional Balinese dancing.
