T A B L E_T A L K Which are your favorite travel books? Discuss them in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y Are we the world? By Andrew O'Hehir Despite our uneasy place on Planet Soccer, the United States will be one of 32 nations vying for glory as the globe's most passionately watched sporting event begins (06/10/98) The Internet comes to the Outback By Simon Winchester A 7-year-old boy's life changes forever (06/09/98) Mondo Weirdo Slow boat to Thailand Temptations and tribulations on the Mekong River (06/08/98) Ramadan By Mona Simpson Taking a lover: An erotic journey from Cairo to Alexandria (06/05/98) Hot tix! By Don George Cathay offers super-low fares to Hong Kong, Bali, Bangkok (06/05/98) Browse the Wanderlust Postmark archives		L E T T E R   F R O M   J A K A R T A :   P A R T   T H R E E__ After the sky falls_________ After the political turmoil, politicians reinvent history, foreigners become attractive to local women -- and other bits of hard-earned wisdom. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JEFF PULICE JAKARTA, Indonesia -- June 10: In my last two letters I wrote about the chaos and terror that took over Jakarta -- and especially the expatriate community in Jakarta -- for a few weeks last month. There are more stories, much worse stories, to tell -- but I'm not ready to write that letter yet. In the meantime, even as these stories circulate, a kind of giddy euphoria has also overtaken life here, when what seemed impossible, inconceivable, just a few months ago is suddenly reality. The two twist, coexist, in weird ways -- as they do in the thoughts that follow. What happens when 80 percent of your fellow expatriates leave screaming, when the majority of shopping centers are irrevocably gone, when everything you trust and distrust is thrown into the air to flutter down like feathers? 1.) Skilled professionals become harder to find Before the problems, it was easy finding teachers for the language school where I work. We could reject the sarong-wearing, Birkenstock-shod, "oooh-isn't-it-all-so-mystical" neo-hippies, and we could hire people with the required knowledge of English. They didn't try to seduce every student with offers of "free private classes," they didn't come in loaded, they didn't call 15 minutes before class and give me a knock-down, drag-out account of why they're just too sexually/pharmaceutically/diarrhetically exhausted to come in and ask if I could reach into the magical hat I must have under my desk and pull out a replacement for them that evening. Now, I'm forced to hire whatever walks in. I have to go into the hostel area of Jalan Jaksa and elbow my way through crowds of sunburned Japanese surfers and drunken Aussie rugby addicts, looking for someone who might not embarrass me and my organization in front of a class of paying students. I even miss Mark, the male model from New Zealand. Yes, he spent half the class talking about how blond and good-looking he was -- but the students often learned something from his tangled diction. 2.) Every foreign guy becomes 10 times more attractive As the exodus of professional "consultants" (pardon the inside joke) and other foreigners reached its height, many young professional women lost their boyfriends. These women were not prostitutes. They simply appreciated the romance and fun that resides in American manhood (insert your own joke here). Some of these guys were very handsome and tall (multinationals seem to have a minimum height requirement for work in Jakarta). The marines from the various embassies were particularly attractive to the local jet-set girls. Now, all of these guys have been ordered out of the country by the home office. I don't blame them -- given a choice between proving how macho they are by staying or losing their jobs, it's no choice at all. However, that leaves the dregs of guy-hood here. Dewi is a junior trader at a finance house. She wears Versace suits and carries a quilted Gucci bag (for the record, she paid for it all). Her hair shines like bubbling hot chocolate, her skin tone is reminiscent of cafe au lait. Last night, I saw her approached by a guy whose face looked like a boiled fist and who had no ass whatsoever. She actually laughed at his jokes and they exchanged cards -- three months ago, she would have laughed in his face and poured her drink over his thinning hair. And let us not even discuss the handsome Indonesian guys who yearn for the days when tall, strapping Aussie backpacker girls would appear like emissaries from Models Inc. They have my sympathy. N E X T+P A G E | The shifting value of men and goods PHOTO AP/WIDE WORLD