A Glimpse into Ramadan (for my American friends)

I stumbled onto this online and thought it gave some pretty good insight into what the month of Ramadan is actually about for many Muslims. I think a lot of Americans don’t really understand why Muslims fast for a whole month – it’s not necessarily about physical deprivation as a means to earn a place in Heaven (which I feel is the skewed perspective that most people get), it’s more about purification and refocus. I’m not Muslim, so maybe I’m stepping out of bounds by saying this, but from my experience here, I think there are quite a few Muslims who fast because they hope it will earn them points with Allah and they forget the true meaning of the month. But on the flip side, I have Muslim friends who truly LOVE this month and almost mourn when it ends because it is a time of forgiveness, a time of love, a time of peace.

Ramadan

I was thinking yesterday as I was riding my motorbike through town that me being in America feels like a dream, like I was never really there. It feels like I never left Indonesia.

Indonesia isn't a country that makes big changes in short amounts of time. I mean, the new toll road around town has been well under way since before I got here 3 years ago, and it's STILL not done.

Basically the only things that changed over the summer go as follows:

1. My apartment got a lot cleaner (thanks Ibu Sri).
2. A new cafe opened in town.
3. Aswan lost weight.
4. Fasting month approached.
5. The mosque down the street got a new - and incredibly loud - PA system.

Those last two - accompanied by jet lag - are absolutely slaying my sleep times. Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, actually started this morning. I was reminded of this when I got here last week (I forgot it was starting so early this year) and saw banners hanging all over town depicting a cartoon drawing of a baby Satan with an ever-so-inspirational slogan, "Don't let him grow up. Ramadan."

But the mosque... Oh, the mosque...

So during the fasting month, Muslims cannot eat or drink (the truly devout go so far as to not even swallow their own spit) from dawn until dusk. So they all wake up REALLY early to eat breakfast, then sunset brings with it a feast. In years past, in my kampung (neighborhood), the men take turns going down the street with a stick at 3:30 - 4 AM, banging gates and yelling "SAAAHHHHHUUUUUURRR!!! SAHUR!!!!" (Basically, "mealtime! mealtime!") to wake everyone up. After the first few days, I can sleep through that.

But the mosque... Oh, the mosque...

They got a guy with a totally made-for-radio voice to YELL and SCREAM through the brand spankin new PA system. And it wasn't just two seconds of "SAAHHUURRRRRR!!!" No, it was that, plus a welcome to Ramadan, the holy month, plus guidelines on what to eat at this time to maintain energy throughout the day, plus a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't understand on account of he was SCREAMING through an incredibly loud PA system with the volume jacked up as far as possible. That mosque isn't even the closest mosque to my house - there are 2 (maybe 3 - I've never measured) in the other direction that are closer than this one, but I COULDN'T EVEN HEAR THEM.

Really? Does nobody in this kampung own an alarm clock? Nobody??? Can we PLEASE go back to banging sticks on gates??

After that wonderful awakening, and once the neighbor's German Shepherd finally realized aliens weren't invading and shut up, I drifted back to sleep, only to be awaken about 5 minutes later to "ALLLLEEEHUUUUUU AKBAR....." Call to prayer.

So... yup, I've been up since 4:30. No hope for going back to sleep now. I did go to bed at 7 last night though, so there's a chance I'll be OK. But if I don't learn to sleep through this, it's gonna be a looong month.

Pensacola vs Bob Jones

Over the summer, we had some friends come visit us whose daughter just graduated and is planning on going to Pensacola Christian College down in Florida this fall. Now, like me, you might have just cringed. I mean, this school has a reputation as being a militaristic Christian cult. It is off the wall crazy with the rules. I asked said daughter about that, and she reassured me that the school is not at all like that and has loosened up in recent years. In fact, she claimed that Bob Jones wants nothing to do with Pensacola because they think Pensacola is TOO liberal! Whatttt?

So last night I did a little research. I couldn't find any current Pensacola rule books online, but based on pictures I saw on the website, it appears that they've loosened up on the dress code and the guy/girl interactions. When I got on Bob Jones' website, I did find their rule book. Nothing super surprising except for the following two rules that came together at the VERY end of the list of "Staying in the Residence Halls" expectations.

8. Residence hall students may not watch videos above a G rating when visiting homes in town and may not attend movie theaters.

9. All weapons brought to campus must be turned in for storage. Trigger locks are required for pistols.

Did anyone else laugh out loud when reading those two rules together? Or was it just me??

Back in Action

Well, 2 days and 5 airports later, I'm finally back at my house in Indo. I made it safely without any hangups at all along the way! Even my 50 minute layover in Tokyo was a breeze! Every flight took off on time (even the domestic Indonesian one - a MIRACLE) and arrived early, and my luggage made it intact. I even got to be with friends/coworkers on 2 flights!

Of course, I fell asleep at 6 o'clock last night, and now I'm wide awake at 3 AM, but we'll work on that. I've got 3 more days before I have to be anywhere.

Thanks to everyone for prayers!

How boyfriend fills his days.

Yesterday, boyfriend was searching for fish medicine. For a whole school of catfish with a skin (scale?) condition. He didn't find any, so he ended up renting them a whole pond in the hopes that the new location and clean water would expedite their recovery. Their owner will be relocating the school post haste.

Today, boyfriend is at a convent. When asked why he was going there, he simply replied, "The nuns make yogurt."

I don't know if I can handle all this spontaneity.

My New Friend

It's 9:30 AM and I've already:
- Brushed my teeth, washed my face and put my hair up.
- Done two loads of laundry and hung them out on the line to dry.
- Practiced my ninja skills on Zach's iphone.
- Jumped on the trampoline for exercise.
- Greeted every member of my family cheerfully as they headed out the door to work.
- Made/eaten breakfast (shortcake + strawberries, peaches and raspberries).
- Loaded the dishwasher.
- Washed all the dishes.
- Cleaned the counters.
- Cleaned out the fridge.
- Read 5 chapters of my book.
- Caught up on emails.
- Made biscuits for lunch later.
- Talked to my boyfriend in Indonesia.

Maybe jet lag isn't such a bad thing after all.

Update

Currenly in Singapore in the free lounge that comes with a bathroom, shower, all day buffet food (including mashed potatoes that come out of what appears to be a slurpie machine), free wireless internet, a jacuzzi, and a slumberette (a bed in a cubicle with collapsible walls).

I currently have no clue what time it is anywhere in the world.

But I spent the last 5 hours sleeping in the movie theater. I saw the first 30 minutes of Megamind and the last 20 minutes of Robin Hood. There might have been another movie in between there. I wouldn't know.

Singapore is posh. I'm enjoying it. Next flight to Tokyo is tomorrow morning at 5:50. Whenever that is....

What Just Happened?

I think the dentist just weedwhacked my teeth.

I didn't know it was possible to inflict so much pain in a 30 minute routine cleaning.

Thank goodness I didn't have any cavities. I can't even imagine how much worse that would have been, given that they don't use painkillers or anasthetic.

I was told this dentist went to dental school in LA, but I'm pretty sure I just left the village blacksmith's office.

This week

I haven't been on here for awhile. This past week has been... trying... to say the least. Here are some things that have happened.

1. A student that I have a good relationship with got kicked out of school last week. Not sure what's gonna happen to him in his future because now he'll have to go to school in Jakarta. Rough town.

2. Someone that I've known since day one of arriving in Indonesia was brutally attacked by two Indonesian men last week. We were all asked by the family to not talk about it, so I really can't. But it's a super hard situation and it has really shaken our whole community. None of us are allowed to go anywhere alone anymore. Our peace of mind and our freedom were taken away from us in one fell swoop. This town was always our safe haven. Bad things don't happen here.

3. Finals, teacher meetings, finals, teacher meetings, grading finals, more teacher meetings, turning in grades, graduation, goodbyes, more goodbyes, goodbye parties, goodbye ceremonies, goodbye luncheons, and even more teacher meetings.

4. Boyfriend and I bought Blackberries. So expensive. They better work or I'm gonna cry.

5. Tomorrow I'm going hiking at 4 am with some friends to watch the sunrise. And then to the dentist. For the first time in 3 years.

6. And then.... I'm going to AMERICA on Thursday.

I thought it would be really hard to leave. But it's not. I'm ready. I just want to go home. For the first time in three years, I want to get out of here, off this island. I've cried more in the past week than I have in the past year. The things that have happened here this week... they won't quickly be forgotten.

In one day, in one instant, with one sentence, everything can change.

But there is one thing that I feel coming true in my life right now: Though the sorrow may last for the night, joy comes with the morning.

Even so, forgive me, my American friends, if I'm an emotional wreck when I get home on Friday. All this topped off with just one hour shy of the biggest dose of jet lag you can get could make for one messed up girl. : )

Ready to Come Home

These past two days have been.... Trying. There was an "incident" yesterday involving someone in our community. Yeah, incident is the actual word used in the statement released yesterday.

"This afternoon there was an incident involving a foreigner here in Salatiga. So we're suggesting that you exercise extra caution and not allow your children to go out alone for the present. I'm sorry, but we can't give any further details at this point, but I'm sure the people involved would appreciate your prayers."

So reading that is kind of scary. But it's about 100 times worse when you know who the person is, when you know their whole family, when you know exactly what happened yesterday (even when you're not supposed to know). Because I'm close to the Indonesian staff and because they're usually the first to know when anything is happening, white people have been coming to me to ask what's going on. But the official school stance is that we're not talking about it. And so out of respect for them, I CAN'T TALK ABOUT IT. People don't seem to understand this. I want to talk about it. With someone. With anyone. To process what happened. But I'm not supposed to know what happened, so who can I talk to about it?

Tonight was the senior/parent banquet. Graduation is tomorrow morning. I had to MC the event tonight AND provide special music. It was an emotional night. Old memories and photographs were dug up and revisited, teachers shared about their fondest times with the seniors, and students gave tearful speeches, thanking their families, friends and teachers. I developed a headache pounding hard enough to affect my vision halfway through the 4 hour event. My motto as I smiled and public spoke in front of dozens of strangers the whole night was "Keep it together".

And if there was ever any one thing that I am good at, it's keeping it together.

But I'm ready to come home. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm finally ready for a break from Indonesia. There is no rest here right now. Our whole community is in a state of emotional turbulence. I felt like everywhere I looked today, I saw someone crying or on the verge of it. There is no freedom. I cannot leave my house by myself. Neither can any of our students. There is no peace of mind. It has been taken away from us.

Please be in prayer for our community. What has happened this week will have a long lasting impact on the people involved and also on our community as a whole. In a way, we're ALL involved. Because we are a body.

Birrrrrthday!

Yesterday was boyfriend’s birthday. I told him I wanted to cook for him (since neither of us is too big on gifts). So he requested beef, then pork, then surprise me, then eating out, then fish. So I went with the fish since I have 10 pounds of tilapia filets in my freezer. I’ve never cooked fish before and I couldn’t find a sufficiently delicious looking recipe, so I did what felt right. And it just felt right to lay them out on a cookie sheet and cover them with a dose of fresh squeezed lemon juice, melted butter, minced garlic, freshly ground pepper and a touch of steak seasoning. They came out a little lemony, but they were delish. One guest, who isn’t really fond of seafood, had seconds and thirds! This was accompanied by white rice, which I realized I was almost out of (and you have to buy a minimum of 5 kg if you wanna buy another bag, but that seems excessive since I’m leaving in 10 days), so I also made a four cheese pasta dish for a side to make up for the lack of rice. And corn on the cob. And brownies and ice cream. But I didn’t make the ice cream.
After dinner, boyfriend told me that he’s thankful for me. That is really nice to hear. He also took and edited a picture of us.



Another favorite part of the evening was when he noticed my new sweatshirt I bought in Semarang this weekend (all the single ladies spent the night Saturday – Sunday in a hotel there to have a small bachelorette party for a teacher who will be leaving us this year to go home and get married). He liked it and asked (in Indonesian) how he could express that he likes my style in English. So I suggested a few words such as style, fashion sense, etc. He interjected with “taste. Can I say I like your taste? Is that right?” I told him yes.
“Oh, OK. Then I like your taste. You are very.... tasty.”

Guess what?

TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY...
I will be standing on American soil.

Also, remember how I was a little complainy yesterday about no hotel in Singapore, 15 hour layover, and having to travel all the way home with that one student? Well.... His parents are paying for a room in the transit hotel for me since I'm helping them out. So I get to sleep. In a safe place. In a real bed.

Yeah, God's got my back...

One of those days...

I woke up feeling really joyful yesterday. Then I had a series of unfortunate events and came home feeling not so joyful.

1. I found out that my hotel in Singapore is full, so I have to spend 15 hours in the airport instead. I could pay $10/hour for the airport hotel, but that means that just to sleep for 6 hours, I'd have to pay $60! Ugh... I have better things to do with my money. Like buy American candy.

2. I'm thinking the Blackberry thing might be a stretch. Aswan is researching it more today, but based on what we were told by a variety of BB owners yesterday, if you buy one here, you can't use it in America unless you pay $200-300 extra to get it unlocked. I can't afford to buy one in America unless I buy it WITH an AT&T plan, in which case I could get a refurbished one for free. But I'd have to sign a 2 year contract, and it costs $325 to cancel the contract early. And there's no guarantee I'd be able to use the phone when I got back to Indonesia. Soooo... Yeah, researching more.

3. You know how there's always that one person in your life that you have to live with or work with and you KNOW your life would be so much easier if you just didn't have to deal with that ONE person every day? Yeah, I've got one of those. It's a student. He's in 9th grade. He's living here with a host family (his family lives in America). He is absolutely and totally ADD. Can't stop talking. Can't sit still. Has to argue everything I say. IN CLASS. He cannot read social cues, and he goes out of his way to annoy me because he knows it pushes my buttons. Other students rejoice when this student is absent, and though I'd never show it on the outside, so do I. Guess who I found out yesterday is on the exact same flight with me all the way from Solo, through the 15 hour Singapore layover, to Tokyo, and on to Detroit? Just guess.... And while you're at it, guess who told his mom that we're on the same flight? And guess whose mom emailed me yesterday to ask me to accompany him home? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! He already told me he hopes he can sit next to me so that he can talk to me "THE WHOLE WAY HOME!"

4. I lost a point on my TESOL score. Only one point. Out of 250. But still, it's not 100%. I was hoping for another 100. I was confused as to why until I realized that I had misread some directions and not posted something that I was supposed to post like 2 weeks ago, so it's totally my fault. Grrrr.

5. After those 4 main discouraging things, I trudged home last night to find muddy footprints everywhere, grass, leaves and silver paint on my bathroom floor, and half the electricity in my house not working. I was able to fix that once I realized that someone had come into my house and unplugged EVERYTHING except the fridge. Lights and chargers work better when you plug them in. But the icing on the cake was when I stepped on shards of plastic scattered across the floor. With bare feet. Apparently, somebody had ripped a wall outlet out of the wall instead of just unscrewing it, because there were pieces of it all over my living room floor. Pretty sure I found most of them with my feet. And whoever was there didn't even replace the outlet... I really have no clue what is going on in my house this week, but I REALLY hope they are done soon. Because I am really tired of coming home from work and having to sweep and mop my whole house before it is safe to occupy.

But God always mixes some good in with the bad. Such as...

1. Yesterday was our last chapel of the year, so we had a great time praying over those who are leaving - seniors, teachers who are moving on and students who are moving to other islands or back to their home countries. But then we had a time of rejoicing as we also prayed over all those who are STAYING.

2. The whole high school broke into Taylor Swift's "Love Story" during lunch because one kid had brought a guitar. It was amusing. Just like in High School Musical. Or not...

3. After lunch, one senior walked up to me and said, "You remind me of Taylor Swift! You're so skinny and tall and pretty! And you have big eyes and curly hair!" She's Korean, so that's why I seem so tall. And I'm assuming that all white people look the same to her, because I look nothing like Taylor Swift. But still, it's nice to hear those compliments. Especially on days like yesterday.

4. Yearbook is off to the printer and class had nothing to do yesterday. So we definitely did NOT have a class party. DEFINITELY NOT. Because the principal said we are not allowed because it is not a good use of school time. So we DID NOT do that. I don't even know where all those two liters, bags of chips, ice cream bars and rolls of kimbab (Korean food) came from!

5. Got my last final finished, so basically, I am done for the rest of the year, with the exception of grading. Today, every class has their final chapter test of the year. Tomorrow, I have some final review things planned with them. Then next week, it's finals time! I. AM. DONE.

6. TWO students brought American candy to school yesterday and shared with me. I got Skittles, Nerds and Laffy Taffy. Oh, so good!

7. I got to have noodles and dumplings for dinner with three of my best friends in one of my favorite holes in the wall. Seriously, there are cockroaches and rats and the guy who runs the whole operation looks like he's the head of the Indonesian mafia. But it's just so delicious.

7. Also, I have an awesome boyfriend who is meeting with the owner of the biggest cell phone store in town today to discuss the BB issue, who is going to pay my internet bill for me, who is going to buy gifts for my grandmother and sister (he already bought stuff for everyone else in my family because he is just that thoughtful), and who is running a few other errands for me. Last night, he asked me to make a list of what he has to do today on a sticky note for him because he knows I love making lists on sticky notes. He's catching on.

Now, with all those good things God gave me, why is it easier to focus on the frustration of the bad things? I don't want to be like that, but it seems like as the year gets more stressful and I get more tired, the bad things take priority in my mind. Sometimes it's hard not to dwell on them. So I'm praying that I won't be like that.

Two more weeks until I leave Indonesia. We got this.

Oh, no.

It was too good to be true. The travel agent just emailed me (finally, after 5 days of silence) to tell me that the 4 star hotel I was supposed to stay at in Singapore is full. Sadness. Guess I’m sleeping in the airport. It’s OK. I’m used to it.

The Craze

Blackberries. They’re everywhere these days in Indonesia. Boyfriend and I have talked about the possibility of getting them before because it seems like 90% of our friends have. But we both agree that they seem to be less of a cellular phone and more of a social impediment. I have a friend who, not even exaggerating, can go through an entire dinner without looking up even one from his TWO Blackberries (as if one isn’t enough). As soon as he finishes messaging someone on one of them, he’s got 4 messages awaiting reponses on the other. We eat dinner with him almost every Saturday night. We haven’t talked to him in months.

Our pastor too. He has a Blackberry. Boyfriend and I don’t enjoy talking to him anymore, because the thing is attached to his hand and it takes precedence. Now, he’ll still pretend to have a conversation with you, but 85% of his attention is on messaging someone rather than actually listening to and engaging with you. He can make appropriate grunts in appropriate places, but his ability to communicate outside of Blackberry Messenger (BBM) has been reduced to just that - grunts. Lately, he’s even taken to preaching from his Blackberry. He sets it on the podium and uses some Bible app in lieu of an actual Bible, which would obviously be too burdensome to carry all the way up there.

I don’t blame this on Blackberry. I know several people - teenagers even! - who have healthy relationships with their Blackberries. But even they will claim that they spend more time online and messaging people now than they did before they got them.

Boyfriend and I have always agreed that we just don’t need that. Give us our plain old handphones, we’re not fancy or nothin.

Until tonight.

We’ve been trying to figure out summertime communication. Skype seemed like the way to go. But boyfriend doesn’t have internet at home. So he’d have to come to my house every time he wanted to call me. Or buy a modem for his computer. And a webcam, since his laptop is just old enough to not have one built in. That’s already almost $100. And even then, the internet in Central Java was not made to support video streaming - this is an actual fact - I talked to a guy from the internet company who explained to me in great detail why our internet is awful.

So our summertime communication is looking sketchy at best. But last night at dinner, boyfriend suggested Blackberries. Prices have come down. We can get cheap ones for about $100 each. And if we both sold our current phones, we could put that money toward buying a pair. Boyfriend had saved some money up in the hopes of getting a visa. I’ve saved for months in case we had to buy 2 plane tickets. His cell phone has one foot out the door anyways. Maybe it's time for an upgrade.

We wouldn’t have to rely on an unstable internet connection to talk, and we can use Blackberry Messenger from anywhere in the world. Granted, we couldn’t call, and I still wouldn’t be able to see his face for 2 months. But knowing that I can talk to him - even via SMS - anytime I want/need to is a happy thought. We’re not sure yet if we’ll actually do it. Honestly, I’ll feel kind of lame if we do, because I always tease my friends who buy Blackberries with some line about how they’ve succumbed to the trend. But really, this isn’t about my lameness - it’s about OUR lameness. And as long as we’re in it together, it’ll be OK.

Lord Willing

So here's what I got.... 2 June, flying out of Indo to Singapore where I have a 15 hour layover from 1 PM until 6 AM the next day. Because the layover is so long, for only $15 extra, I get to stay in a 4 star hotel in the main shopping area of Singapore. I also get free shuttle service to/from the airport. So hurrah for that!

Bright and early the morning of the 3rd, I fly to Tokyo, where I only have a 50 minute layover. Hopefully I don't change planes. Then I should be in Detroit by 2 PM and so should my family!

I follow the same path on the way back to Indo. But that time, my layover in Sing will only be 6 hours, midnight until 6 AM. So I opted for no hotel. My airline provides a free lounge with a sleeping area in the airport, so I should be good to go. The next morning, I take 45 minute jump on the first flight back to Jakarta. Aswan is going to buy me a ticket from Jakarta back to Central Java later. Indonesian tickets are the opposite of American ones - prices fall the closer you get to the date. They're still around $60 right now, but you can get them for $20.

For my less.... um.... international friends, let me explain to you how amazing these tickets are.

1. I bought them THREE WEEKS before my departure date. Prices should be sky high by now because it's peak months and because of Libyan oil and all that. But what I was able to find - and on my first try - was still within the price range that the school will pay for (after I work here 3 years, I get a free ticket home, up to $1650).

2. In the whole trip, I only have one domestic flight. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is for two main reasons. One is that domestic flights in third world countries are basically awful. On all Indonesian flights, if I want to carry more than 40 pounds of luggage, I have to pay ridiculous overage fees. So I'll only have to do that once. The other is customs. The normal route home is to go from Jakarta to Hong Kong or Taiwan, then jump over to LAX, and from there head to the airport closest to your home (O'Hare for me, typically). But this means that since LA is your port of entry, when you land there, you are responsible for getting all your luggage, taking it through customs so your things can be rifled through, repacking, then carrying ALL your 100 pounds of luggage to your next gate to re-check it in so you can continue on your journey. However, my port of entry is also my final destination. So I DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT! This is a HUGE blessing when you're a white girl traveling alone.

3. Every airline I fly on (3 different ones) allows 100 pounds of luggage and two carryons. A lot don't these days without paying huge fees of $100 or more. Given that it's the first time in 3 years that I've come home, I kind of have a lot of luggage (expect presents!). So this is great news.

4. Did I mention that I get to stay at a FOUR STAR HOTEL in Singapore, which is like the nicest country in the world? For FIFTEEN DOLLARS?! I have been dreaming of going there, if only for the airport. It has a swimming pool, a movie theater, the tallest slide in Asia, indoor malls, etc. All for free. But I get the airport and so much more. I'm actually more excited about a 15 hour layover than anybody in their right mind should be.

So yeah... That's the plan. I arrive in America on 3 June and I leave for Indonesia on 27 July. I leave Indonesia on 2 June and return on 29 July. Three days of travel isn't bad. At all. I'm definitely thanking God for these tickets! Even though Aswan didn't get a visa, it doesn't mean that God isn't taking care of us, even in the little details!

Thanks, Anna

Remember that post awhile back with pictures I'd taken on a recent drive to Kopeng? One of them included a view of Elephant Hill, though I claimed I couldn't see the elephant.

Well, thank goodness for Anna, because her mad Photoshopping skills cleared that right up for me. : )

Yesterday

Yesterday was both brilliantly beautiful and heartbreakingly awful. Tuesday night, I started feeling a little under the weather with a sore throat and didn't sleep well. I woke up feeling kind of mentally hazy on Wednesday morning but made it to school wearing the correct color for my field day team (the 12 of us were the polka-dot team). We spent an hour in the air conditioned school auditorium where I sneezed nearly non-stop as we watched skits and sang together as an entire K - 12 school body to start the day. Then we spent from 8:30 til 12 playing a variety of games outdoors. I had an awesome team of kids who worked together and even EXCEEDED the maximum number of points possible for the day! The little kids were cracking me up and the older kids did an awesome job of looking out for them. And the weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was sunny and breezy and gorgeous. It was also the third day in a row we had with no rain!

During our 30 minute snack break around 10:00, I managed to sneak away and call Aswan, hoping that his interview would be finished. It was. His visa was denied. After I got over the initial 5 minutes of feeling crushed, I was fine. We knew chances were slim anyways. The reason they gave him for being denied was that he didn't provide convincing evidence of a desire to return to Indonesia (thus becoming an illegal immigrant) after his visit. There are pros and cons to him coming and also to him staying. So though we're a little disappointed, we're alright with the outcome.

Having the distraction of field day and lots of little kids to keep track of kept me from dwelling on it, so the timing was actually better than I expected - I had been dreading all these things hapepning on the same day.

Field day lasted until 2:30, but I got permission from the powers that be to excuse the yearbook team from the after-lunch portion of the day so that we could work. We were in the freezing cold computer lab from 12:30 until 9. It was awful. I just got sicker and sicker throughout the day, watery eyes, runny/burning nose, man voice, blurry vision, sore throat, mildly dehydrated from the morning, but water hurt my throat, etc. We had no dinner, so we were extremely hungry. Four students had to leave before 5, so that left four of us to finish everything.

I spent about the last 5 hours there fighting a bad, grumbling attitude. I mean, I wasn't supposed to be teaching that class in the first place. And each time I would check in with the students throughout the year on the progress of their pages, they'd tell me they were finished. They spent a good part of the year on Facebook and watching Lady Gaga on Youtube. So now we were all having to pay the price. I managed to keep my mind out of that gutter most of the time, but it got harder and harder as time wore on and my stomach got louder and technology kept failing us. Two pages that had already been completed somehow got deleted by the network server and had to be remade. Some pictures were missing. Some weren't in the right place. As I proofread pages (which had ALREADY been proofread and corrected by the principal), I was finding names mis-spelled, grammar errors, lots of small inconsistencies, etc. Then we realized that we didn't have anything with enough capacity to transport 135 pages of Photoshop files to the printer. After several moments of panic, we ended up using one student's 160G iPod. But the school computers wouldn't read it. So we had to use my laptop to hack onto the server, connect her iPod to my computer, and use that to transfer the files. But it too failed three times, and I ended up having to reformat her iPod (thus deleting all her files off it) before I could put anything on it. We finally got it to work and went home. Finally.

I came home, ate dinner, and went to bed before 10. Some days you just need to.

Today I have a fever and I am sweating bullets, but I only have to teach 3 classes, so it's all good.

This Week

End of the year. 2.5 weeks left of school. Here are the things that I HAVE to do this week, no negotiating.

1. Edit and finish the entire yearbook by Wednesday so we can get that sucker off to the printer. We have a LOT of details and editing to finish up. Planning on some late nights in the computer lab this week.

2. Aswan leaves tonight for Surabaya and his visa interview is on Wednesday morning (Tuesday night for my American readers), so we're trying to make sure all those last minute preparations are taken care of

3. Tutoring twice, as usual.

4. TESOL. I've got to write a formal lesson plan for a listening lesson before Wednesday plus all the regular tasks for this week, the 4th week of the class.

5. I'm supposed to do a brief (6 song) concert at a local restaurant this weekend with a girl I know. I'm playing guitar and singing harmony. It's fun, but she wrote all the songs herself and doesn't actually have music written down for any of them. So I'm trying to figure out all the chords plus memorize all the lyrics. Before Saturday. We started practicing yesterday.

6. I've got a seminar I have to go to at church tomorrow night at 6.

7. All school field day is on Wednesday, which is fun, but it means leading a team of 10 or so K-12th graders all day and making sure they are good and are having fun.

8. Teacher appreciation dinner is this Saturday.

9. Meeting with my co-host and the organizers of the Senior/Parent banquet (which will be held next week), because we are supposed to be MCing the entire event but so far have no clue what is going on.

10. Buy plane ticket(s)!!

11. Write the Pre-Calculus final so I can give it to my principal for approval.

12. Buy tickets for the senior parent dinner/banquet thingie.

13. Make a dentist appointment for sometime in the next 2 weeks.

14. Wash my motorbike. It is an eyesore right now.

15. Oh, and (because I know you really care to know), my period should start any day now.

Can I just say AAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHH!

But I know I'll make it. With as much sleep and as many liquids as possible. : )

GOOD NEWS!

NOBODY GOT KILLED! The day after the accident, I scoured online newspapers in Indonesian (and there’s not very many – certainly not one from my small town) until I eventually found the crash mentioned. Apparently it was big enough to be newsworthy an hour and a half away from here.

The article, translated into English, reads more or less like this:

Jaka Purwanta (37), the driver of a semi loaded with steel, can finally breathe free. After a little more than 1 hour wedged in his vehicle after it hit another semi, this citizen of Polanharjo, Klaten succeeded in freeing himself safely after the accident at the Kauman intersection, Wahid Hasyim Street, Sidorejo district, Salatiga, Thursday (5/5) at around 8:45 PM.

The victim only suffered minor injuries in his leg and was rushed to the Salatiga hospital. The accident happened because the semi, driven by the victim, experienced brake failure. While moving downhill, someone tried to block the wheels of the 35 ton truck. But because the rock used was not strong enough to withstand the speed of the truck, it continued to roll down the Solo-Semarang road.

From the opposite direction, another driver, Mulyadi (54) of Ungaran, Semarang was trying to pass a stalled vehicle. The two vehicles were coming toward each other until finally they crashed. At the same time, an Isuzu Panther, driven by Dedy (32) of Debong Wetan, Dukuhturu also became involved.

The front end of the Panther was smashed. The co-driver of the semi loaded with steel, Lestari (51) said that before the accident, the overloaded vehicle experienced brake failure.

"My truck was chocked, but it didn't stop it. I was safe because I was outside the truck," he said. The accident attracted the attention of the people nearby.

The Salatiga Police chief, Mr Kusdiantoro testified that the evacuation process took about 1.5 hours. According to Kusdiantoro, the accident happened because the semi was overloaded. The total load was 35 tons.

To untangle the traffic jam on the Semarang-Solo road, many traffic officers were called in to direct traffic. Vehicles from Solo were diverted to downtown Salatiga. Conversely, traffic from Semarang was rerouted to the Jetis gas station.

 

So... yeah. That’s the story. And in case it wasn’t clear, the co-driver of the runaway semi was the one who tried to chock the wheels. He had actually jumped out of the truck and thrown a cement block under one wheel, but the truck kept rolling. After I read the account, I remembered another detail that I had forgotten in the aftermath – I almost hit that cement block! I had been grumbling about what idiot would leave a cement block in the road when the sound of the crash almost knocked me over. The Panther was the car that I had seen... I’m still not clear on exactly how it was involved in the accident, but the driver was OK, as was the driver of the other semi.

On a slightly lighter note, the original article, in stating, “From the opposite direction, another driver, Mulyadi (54) of Ungaran, Semarang was trying to pass a stalled vehicle”, uses the verb “menyalib” which means “to crucify”. I was very confused while trying to translate this. Why was the other driver trying to crucify the stalled semi? I thought there must be another translation than the one I knew, so I looked it up. Nope. Only “to crucify”. I finally had to ask a friend (who laughed at me for a long time  before answering), and he told me that in context, it meant that he was trying to pass! THAT makes so much more sense...

Also in the good news department – BOYFRIEND GOT HOME TODAY! He made it safely at 6 am and I had lunch with him after he woke up. : )