Snippets

One of the guards told Ibu Sri, my helper, that he wants to marry me. My helper said to him, "And how exactly do you think you will pay for all the toilet paper she uses?!" I love that that was the first thing she thought of... (I really don't use that much. One roll lasts me 2-3 weeks.)

Some friends and I took a bus to Solo over the weekend. At one stop, some guys on the ground shouted through an open window to our driver, "Hey! You've got white people on that bus!" The driver shouted right back, "They're not white! They speak Javanese! They're Javanese!"

I have watched so much Duck Dynasty recently that I have started speaking with terrible grammar and a Southern accent.

I have an empty e-mail inbox for the first time in over a year. I feel so accomplished.

We got a new art teacher today. This is exciting for 2 reasons. The first is that we haven't had an art program for two years now, and that is really sad because we have so many students who are extremely gifted at art. I am so excited for them to finally have an instructor/mentor to help them practice their talent! The second is that this is the first single male staff member we have had in four years. This has created QUITE a buzz around here. I always feel bad for the single guy teachers because they must be so lonely without any other single guys around. And it must be awkward, you know, to think that 90% of the single girls around you are stalking you like a hungry lion.

OCD is sweeping the nation. But it's not Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD in Indonesia apparently stands for Obsessive Corbuzier's Diet. That's right, it's a diet plan. A diet plan where you give yourself a window of time in which you can eat. You can only eat during those hours, and you consume lots of water (and nothing else) outside of those hours. One girl I know can only eat from 1-6 PM. I know another guy who only eats from 2-5. SEVERAL of my friends are on this diet. I'm pretty sure it's not the healthiest way to lose weight. But I do kind of love it when one person asks another if they are OCD and the person answers "Yes".

I was late to church yesterday because of a defiant toad sitting INSIDE my front door (how did he get in?!) and an equally defiant poisonous frog claiming my rain poncho. He would NOT give it back, and when I tried to make him, he jumped onto my stomach, which made me scream and freeze. Thankfully, he did not pee on me or my rain poncho, because that is the part that is poisonous. And he eventually left. And I eventually made it to church.

Rainy season started. Bleh.

My neighbor is working on learning Indonesian. She asked me recently what the difference between hal and perkara is. I couldn't really give her a concrete example, because I'm not super sure myself. They are both used to talk about abstract things... So I asked an Indonesian friend. He said that perkara refers to negative things, bad things, or evil things. I countered him with a Bible verse. In Colossians 3, Paul says to think of things above, not the things of this earth. The Indonesian translation uses the word perkara. So I pointed out to  him that the "things above" are Heavenly things, and those wouldn't be negative or evil. He came back with, "Right, perkara means bad or evil things EXCEPT for when it means good things". Haha... Him not being able to give me a good answer made me feel better about not being able to give one either.

I will be home NEXT SUMMER. I keep having dreams about it. When I'm not busy having dreams about getting lice that are actually cockroaches crawling my hair.

On our bus trip to Solo, we decided to visit the sultan's palace there. I was the only one in the group who had been there before. But last time I went, we didn't have a tour guide; this time we did. Can I just say that I love Indonesians and I LOVE learning about Indonesian history. I think I could take tours all day long. Also, all of the sultans are named Pakubuwono, so try saying that five times fast.

I FOUND DOVE CHOCOLATE IN SOLO. I bought kind of a lot. Because you never know when you'll find it again.

Today at lunch, a student told me I remind him of his grandmother. He really has a way with the ladies.