We were met in Jakarta, albeit about a day early. I wanted to secure our airplane tickets before we left Jakarta so we could spend as much time in Indramayu as possible. Esih told her family where we were and they took it upon themselves to foil my plans, come early, and imposed themselves upon us. It was nice to see them but since I was footing the bill for everyone, I didn’t want to add days to the journey. Many Indonesians I...

We arrived in Jakarta International Airport in the afternoon. Aliya was one month shy of 2 years old and handled the flight very well. She was very cranky waiting in the line at customs and cried a lot there. Even though her mother is Indonesian, the Indonesian government will not allow Aliya to have an Indonesian passport because I am an American. It’s a shame that she will always be considered an outsider in her mothers home...