This week has not really been that noteworthy. I’ve just been getting back into the swing of things, giving and grading a test, being disappointed by my students’ ability to do homework over the holiday, but very happy to see them back at school. I know I’ve said this, but it’s been fun to see Indonesia anew through the eyes of our new expatriate teachers. I’m reminded how much that used to be strange to me is now normal. Things like:
Food served in palm leaves
Toilets with sprayers attached
4:30 AM prayers projected from the mosque
Riding with 14 other people in a van to the mall
Giving taxi directions in Bahasa Indonesia
Prices in the tens and hundreds of thousands
I did have a new experience of my own this week when I took an “ojek” to school. Ojeks are motorbikes for hire, but they’re not metered, so the drivers are happy to rip you off, especially if your skin is light. I’m sure that I made a lovely spectacle for the people we passed, trying to balance purse and school bag with laptop inside while holding on and riding sidesaddle in my school uniform. I guess that’s the price I pay for missing the shuttle to school.
[Even though I still got to school with plenty of time, I was a little upset with myself, mostly because I had prided myself on always getting to the shuttle on time. But bumping along on the back of the motorbike, I realized that that kind of pride is only for the graceless. And I’m blessed to be one of the grace-full. I love and need James 4:6--“But he gives us more grace.”]
Tonight Carol and I walked to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner and then to the nearby Italian restaurant to get gelato. The gelato was exciting enough (have I mentioned how hard it is to find good ice cream in Indonesias?), but they also packed it with dry ice. One piece went into the water as we were enjoying dessert at the poolside. A second piece is in my freezer awaiting further experiments, and the third is bubble, bubble, toil, and troubling in a Halloween-worthy fashion in a bowl next to me. I know: mild thrills.
1 comment:
How one ever gets use to w/c sprayers, I will never understand. I personally like my stall floors clean, clear and water puddle free. The same goes for the seat, thank you very much. :) But we all know I'm a little weird when it comes to those kinds of things... ;)
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