Wanted

"Young, enthusiastic architect with at least five years experience of building earthquake resistant houses in the tropics. Must speak Indonesian, hopefully some of the local Java language and be ready to fly out in four weeks."




Me
Old, cynical, retired local government officer in the United Kingdom. never built any houses or anything else in the tropics. Appalling at languages and certainly with no Indonesian - but ready to fly? YES, must be mad!




So now

Vaccinations, technical research from books and on the internet, initial language learning again from the web. Tidy house and garden and organise leaving party, find the sun cream and waterproofs (Java has nearly three times the rainfall of Great Britain)