Yikes! My internet at home has been down more than it's been up for about a month. Unfortunately it was a very eventful month so I've missed out posting pictures and updates and I've got quite a backlog! With this post, I'll try to catch up some of the smaller happenings. Look for longer posts to come on my travel to Sri Lanka, rafting, etc.
I continue to walk regularly in the mornings and this first photo is a view I enjoyed through a little bridge out in the countryside near Sidoarjo. A couple of my colleagues have now gotten bicycles and are ranging further afield but I'm generally happy plodding along on foot and not messing with the crazy traffic here.
A daytrip to Malang
One Saturday morning in late August, several of us went to the train station and got economy seats for Malang. This cost 4,000 Rupiah which is roughly equivalent to 40 cents American. We hopped onto the 8:15 train then chatted and dozed for 2 hours or so, landing in Malang around 10:30 am.
After a refreshing cup of coffee near the train station, we wandered around the streets. Eventually we found a lovely little spot for lunch (although some of the guys thought the portions were a bit small).
After lunch we continued strolling the streets. Malang is hillier than Sidoarjo and we enjoyed the scenic views of hillsides and river. We also stopped in their alun alun, or city center park. Because it's partway up the slopes of Mount Bromo, it's a bit cooler there also and the air seems fresher.
Birthday For my birthday in early September, I got to celebrate in several ways - always nice!
On that weekend, the teachers from the other house hosted a birthday barbecue for Jane and I whose birthdays are 2 days apart. We had all kinds of great food - cheese and crackers (brought from New York and quite delicious!), grilled kabobs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, homemade potato salad, baguette with butter, and chocolate cake. And of course, various beverages. I was too busy enjoying it to take photos. :-)
At school the following week, we had a combined celebration for Jane, Edien, and I. We had pizza for all teachers and staff accompanied by various horseplay and laughter. It was lovely and it's nice that the school allots some funds to celebrate each employee's birthday and help us share and celebrate together.
Although it's not an Indonesian tradition to give birthday cards or gifts, some of my friends were so thoughtful and generous to adopt our traditions and give me some cards and gifts. That was unexpected and heart-warming.
And, of course, Facebook is one of the main ways I'm staying in touch with family and friends so many people sent their wishes there. It was wonderful to get online across the several days around my birthday and keep finding more and more good wishes.
Indonesian mail being what it is, I have just received a birthday card in the mail almost 3 weeks late. So the fun continues.
Thanks to everyone for making this a great birthday and a truly wonderful way to celebrate this exciting year!
Lebaron Lebaron is one name for the holiday period following Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting which is one of the pillars of their faith. It's a time for special prayers, honoring family & ancestors, feasting, apologizing for all wrongs you've done over the past year, thanking servants and public servants for their work, etc.
We got one week of holiday time - Thursday Sept. 8 through Wednesday Sept. 15. On the last evening after our final classes, some of the foreign teachers spontaneously gathered in our kitchen to chat. It was a nice group and we had a good time.
On the following day, I made the rounds of most of the nearby security stations to distribute cans of cookies (aka biscuits) and bags of candy. Other traditional gifts are cigarettes and cash. We had collected in the office to give cash gifts for our office boys, parking attendants, and local security. And we collected from most teachers in the two houses toward a joint gift for our maid.
That evening, I left on a trip to Sri Lanka which will get a blog entry of its own! I'll just say that it was beautiful, and that I've now fully recovered.
Miscellaneous
I've agreed to begin teaching a couple of extra classes again. I'll be teaching one business class on Saturday mornings here in Sidoarjo, from 10am to 12pm on alternate Saturdays. The other weeks will be taught by my co-worker and friend Hamid who sits right next to me so we should have an easy time coordinating our lessons.
And this week I begin in a team of 3 teaching a daily one-on-one class on a rotating basis. We'll be meeting in the mornings for 2 hours. This is a very different format, more like tutoring, and I'm interested to see how it works out. The student is a woman who was laid off from an international company and is using some of her re-education payment to improve her English. We should have a lot in common and I look forward to lots of interesting conversations with her.
0 comments:
Post a Comment