8/28

Hey all, it's Monday evening, and i'm at home, watching movies. I went to Poins Square last night and got a boatload of pirated movies. I saw Superbad, by the same guys that did The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and I gotta tell you, it was the funniest thing I've seen in a while. I Also saw Delta Farce, with Larry the Cable Guy, which was utter crap. It's a good thing they only cost about $0.75 a movie, or otherwise I'd be really upset that I paid so much for it, along with another crapfest, Hot Rod, Andy Samberg's attempt at a movie.

So last week we had the Independence Day Games, and I was co-emcee. We had a cracker eating competition, spoon and marble race, and a game where a pencil is tied to your waist, and you have to try and get it into a bottle on the ground. It was good fun, and all the kids enjoyed it. On Thursday, I started feeling sick, and by Sunday I was coughing up hunks of something scary. I also lost my sense of smell for the day, which was kind of strange. I could taste salty and sweet and stuff, but no flavors, very weird. I started opening up bottles of mustard and stuff, but nothing, everything smelled like Styrofoam.

So today I went to the hospital, had a checkup, and got a prescription for some pills. I never really get sick, but since I've been here, I dunno. It could be the pollution, or the appalling lack of hygiene everywhere, or both, I dunno. I know I tend to ramble a lot, but I think this is the only creative outlet I get to express myself through.

My classes are going pretty smoothly, but once in a while, you give your students a test and then wonder where you failed as a teacher when you grade them. So Meta is leaving at the end of the week, and Felix won't be back until the middle of next month, which means there will be no Director of Studies for that period. Guess who was picked to fill in until then?! She's been really impressed with me so far, and I am also going to be the project manager for EF's annual Spelling Bee, so I have to plan for that.

So the pills seem to be working, I'm less congested and don't feel like death anymore. I will catch ya later!

Weekend of 8/17

Friday- Indonesia's Independence Day. Chrys and I went to the stables so she could ride her horses. I took some pictures of the animals they had there, a monkey, horses, and some peacocks. I was a little bored, but i got to walk around the complex a bit, and they had ice cream, which was cool. Coming back, we had to walk through the Depok train station, and there were little shops selling t-shirts and shoes and different junk. That night we just stayed in and watched movies.

Saturday, the day of the luncheon. All the teachers went to the American Grille (Sizzler's) in Pondok Indah Mall. I got a steak, but it wasn't that great. The luncheon was for Meta and Sheley, who are leaving in the next 2 weeks. Later that night, Meg, David, Chrys an I went out to Kemang. We had dinner at some little cafe, that went to the club Nu China. I had a very strong White Russian. We made them turn down the air conditioners because they were very cold and blowing right on us. After a night on the town, we came back and played Risk for a few hours before going to bed.

Sunday, I went to the pool. Indonesian women wear extremely modest swimsuits, covering their arms and legs. They look almost like very thin wet suits. Uhm, that's about all i can recall for Sunday, I don't really remember doing anything really exciting that night. I think I watched some Simpsons, Meg got season 5 on DVD at Poins Square.

Monday, long day. I started out at G-Labs, the Global Islamic School. I teach there every 2 weeks for 45 minutes. I don't see how this can possibly have an impact on 6 disinterested 3^rd graders, but oh well. We got there a little late because of macet. “Indonesia banyak macet,” said my ojek driver. Yes, there are a LOT of traffic jams, probably because the roads are poorly designed, there are no traffic signs, and absolutely no one follows any sort of traffic laws. Margonda Raya is a road with 2 lanes going in each direction. I've seen up to 4 lanes of traffic on it at one point, and still, motorcycles drive up o the sidewalk to get around. The worst is when your angkot (small city bus) goes on the sidewalk or the curb to get around. Another strange thing about Margonda is that there is no double yellow line, there's just jersey barriers. So it's very hard to get where you're going. And god help you if you pass by your destination. You have to keep going about a kilometer up the road to find a break, then turn around, go back up, find another break, and come back again. In fact, coming from the south, if you want to turn into EF, you have to actually drive over the border of Jakarta, turn around, and come back into Depok.

Well, that's about it for now. Keep reading, and I'l keep you updated. Bye!

8/13

So, the weekend was pretty uneventful. "The Wrecking Crew" as we are called, Meg Chrys and I, went out Friday night to Amigo's. Damn expensive, but worth it. You can NOT find Mexican food anywhere. We had a pitcher of margarita's ($26) and it wasn't bad, but sorely lacking Triple-sec. After dinner, we went to a wine and liquor store, I got a bottle of Jamaican rum, Chrys got gin, and Meg had already gotten some Bacardi last weekend.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day, Meg and I just hung out around the house, and Chrys went to the stable to do her jumping practice. That night we ordered Italian from Barra Di Caffe, a little Italian place, had some gin tonics and rum 'n cokes. By the way, finding tonic water is almost as hard as finding liquor, I had to go to 3 different hypermakets to find it.

Sunday the 3 of us went to Citos, had dinner at some Portuguese chicken place (a had a steak with some fire-hot hot sauce), and saw the movie "Surf's Up". I have seen signs for the Simpsons Movie everywhere but nobody's playing it yet. Anyways, it was a funny, cute movie about penguins surfing.

So, I'll end with some pictures of the house, since no-one has seen it yet.


kitchen


My bathroom. Jeremy and Megan share the house bathroom.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Meta is quitting, and when Felix returns from Colorado, he's gonna be our new DOS (Director of Studies). Well, that's al for now. Take care!

8/10

8/10

Hey all, I know it's been a while, I've been a bad blogger. Not much has happened over the past few weeks, but I did meet an Iranian and a Tehrani guy on the way back from dinner last night. I had Padang food at the place next door. They bring you about a dozen plates of food and charge you for what you eat. It's pretty cool, and you get to sample a bunch of different stuff. I had rendang, eggs Balado, chicken curry, and some other unidentifiable stuff. It's not cheap tho.