I then went north for a great project-filled week with Mom and Claude in Maine, and a reunion with Mom #2 and family in Connecticut, but soon after the wedding, truth be told, I was itching to get back to this life and language I've just started learning with relish and near-abandon: Where the performance is not always a show stopper, but you can usually almost catch the pink rubber ball some baby God drops into Jakarta Bay every evening. This is the ball with the red ring around it.