In which I ignore my summer sabbatical from blogging to talk about the weather

Rainy season never ended in Jakarta this year. Normally by September, I'm breaking a sweat two minutes after I walk outside into muggy, thick heat. But this year, month after month has brought thunderstorms or plain rain up to several times a week. Someone told me it's El Nino or La Nina, but I'm not complaining. I've always loved a good thunderstorm, and rain in Jakarta beats down the pollution, cools the heat, and leaves us with blue skies and fresh air.

Of course, enjoying rain is a something of a luxury, one that I usually enjoy from indoors or inside a taxi. For many people, rain is a inconvenience and a hassle that does more than just snarl traffic beyond ordinary wretchedness, but I love the ingenuity and preparedness that I see in Jakartans. If you're out driving when the first drops start to fall, you'll see lines of motorbikes pulled over on the side of the road while riders retrieve rain jackets, ponchos, waterproof pants, or even large garbage bags from their storage compartments. Street vendors stretch tarps over their carts, and people find any kind of roof under which to wait out the rain.

I was not so prepared last week. When I decided to make a quick trip to the grocery store last weekend for some last-minute ingredients to round out a salad for a potluck, I knew that I was flirting dangerously with the growly-looking weather. I would have stuck an umbrella in my purse, but somehow I've lost both my umbrellas. I made it to the mini-bus before the heavens opened, but by the time I needed to get off, I knew that I couldn't avoid getting very wet. I dashed into the grocery store, getting some laughs from the security guards, who laughed again when they saw me walk out.

My grocery list?
2 yellow peppers
1 candy bar
1 umbrella

Australia (alternatively titled: "What has taken me so long?")

Australia was not the trip that I would planned for myself (that is amply demonstrated by the numerous times we went shopping, the lack of museum visits, and the vast numbers of photos of students that I took, photos that I will not be showing you because I think it would be weird if pictures of me popped up in my teacher's blog), but it was still a great trip, not least because I got to see some of my students outside of the school context.

And it was Australia, where I felt surprisingly at home and started playing the "where would I live in Australia?" game (answer: Melbourne).

Brief chronology:
Sydney--We arrived Tuesday morning after an overnight flight and left Saturday morning. We spent some time visiting our "sister" and "brother" secondary schools and touring the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.

Brisbane/Gold Coast--We arrived late Saturday morning and stayed in a tourist town called Surfer's Paradise. We were here for pure theme park pleasure: DreamWorld and MovieWorld. We left early Monday morning.

Melbourne: We visited two more universities (Monash University and the University of Melbourne) on Monday and Tuesday before flying back (via Sydney) on Wednesday.

Ok, so you knew these pictures were coming, so I'll just get the Opera House out of the way right from the beginning. It's an incredible structure, and we saw it on a beautiful day, so I had way too much fun experimenting I've spared you from many of the "playing around with these cool functions on my camera," but forgive me if I still have too many favorites.


Here's what I mean when I said that it looks kind of funny from close up. Please ignore the tilt.


And my postcard perfect picture?

Thank you "vivid blue" function.

I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but Sydney Harbour (should I include the "u" in harbor or not?) is really big, much bigger than it looks in Finding Nemo.

This is the Harbour Bridge (to get into your best Australian accent, trying dropping your "arrrs" when you say "harbour). It's not on quite as many postcards as the Opera House, but it's definitely a city landmark. If I'm ever in Sydney again, I want to do the Bridge Climb to the top.

Isn't it cool? When deciding on a print to buy as a souvenir, I wanted to say "I was in Sydney" not "I WAS IN SYDNEY!" so I went for the Bridge and not the Opera House.
I would like to explore Sydney more. It has modern skyscrapers and office buildings.


But also beautiful older buildings.


And it has Bondi Beach, where I was able to spend a whole afternoon. When the kids wanted to go shopping for the umpteenth time, our tour guide let me stay at the beach for a couple of extra hours. Reading, walking on the beach, people watching, sunbathing, swimming in the ocean, and playing in the waves made for a beautiful afternoon.

Again with the tilt. I'm sorry. My head must have been on crooked.

I don't have many pictures from the theme parks on the Gold Coast because roller coasters are pretty much the same the world over, but I had encounters with Australian wildlife in DreamWorld. Here's the baby koala I held. It had some cheesy name like "Pepper," but it was very cute and soft.

I'm pretty sure that I petted a kangaroo, but I actually don't remember. They were really placid, trying to stay cool at midday, so I saw no bouncing, only this slow, strange way that kangaroos move when they're not bouncing, which kinds of looks like a swing set or the wheels of a locomotive.

I have no good pictures of the Melbourne sights. For example, this one has runner blur and bus glare, but I really did like Melbourne. It seems like an interesting town with a strong arts and culture scene. It has a good public transportation system, and it actually has coolish weather, so I got to wear a jacket. If Sydney is a cool place to visit, then Melbourne is where I would actually want to live.


Here's the place where I had the yummy Vietnamese soup pho and where I laughed at the sign on the window.

And then, just like that, we were back.

Overall? A beautiful trip.

Dah-ling Hah-bah
(Darling Harbour)

It's not you...

Dear blog,

I have neglected you sorely lately. Ever since I got back from Australia, I've had grand plans to put up beautiful pictures of the sights I saw to show the fun I had. But you know what coming back from a trip is like. There's dirty laundry to wash and souvenirs to distribute to friends and then there's work to catch up on.


Ah yes, the work. It seems like a mountain of work was waiting for me when I got back, and I'm still not out from under it. It seems like no matter what I do (waking up early, staying late at school, clearing my weekend schedule), the work doesn't go away or get any better. And frankly, this month has been a long stretch of feeling like I'm not cutting it. I'm behind on grading, and when I get stressed, my apartment goes to pieces, and I forget to buy groceries and decide that popcorn for dinner isn't such a bad idea--again, and then the procrastination starts and then I'm swamped again, feeling like I'm failing my students, feeling disappointed with myself, feeling like I'm just not good at life right now.


I'm hoping that I've turned a corner. I'm hoping that April showers bring May flowers. I'm hoping that the women's retreat I'm going to this weekend will be a time of refreshing, a time of feeling the Savior's love and encouragement, a time of renewal.


I'm hoping.


Warmly,
Laura

Australian Ode

Oh what a joy,

To drink water from the tap.

Australian Lament

The trouble with coming to Australia
in autumn
is that they are all summer brown,
while I
(an indoor creature in Jakarta,
who moves from air-conditioned space
to air-conditioned space)
am white white white,

until I got sunburn
on the backs of my legs.

Surprises

When I asked one of my students what was surprising about Australia, she said PDA (a newly aquiredand quickly adopted acronym for her) and prices.

Yes, Australian boyfriends and girlfriends are more demonstrative than their Indonesian counterparts, and yes, stuff is much more expensive, but for me, Australia feels comfortable. I understand people (how exciting to eavesdrop again!), and I can make myself understood. I don't have the constant nagging feeling that I'm doing something wrong to offend someone.

So beside the theme park and getting to hold a koala, besides visiting Bondi Beach, besides meeting with Australian teachers, besides the good food and lovely hotel, it's been nice to feel a little bit closer to my cultural home.

Of course, I broadcast my "not-from-hereness" as soon as I take out ridiculously large bill, fumble with change, or open my mouth and let forth my Midwestern accent. But when I apologize or say thank you, I hear that wonderful Australian expression in reply:

"No worries."

Sydney, briefly

It's impossible to describe any trip without resorting to cliches like amazing and incredible, but so far, this one has been pretty good, particularly because it's a treat to interact with my students outside of school. We've done a little too much shopping and not enough museum-going for my taste, but I only have my parents to blame for my taste. I'm taking pictures of all the things you would expect me to photograph (Opera House, students, city at night, waterfront), and some of them have even turned out well. We still have a few days left in Sydney and a bit more free time, so I'm hoping to see more and find some souvenirs that are better than a koala keychain. I have seen some items for sale made from unmentionable parts of a kangaroo, but I don't think those will make it into my suitcase.

Just a snippet that made me laugh today: Outside the Queen Victoria Building (shopping center), there's a majestic statue of the lovely queen, and a few yards away, there's a much less majestic but much more entertaining fountain that features Ivan, the queen's beloved Scottish terrier. The money tossed in goes to charities for deaf and blind kids. If you stand nearby, every couple of minutes you'll hear a recording say:

"Hello, my name is Ivan. I was once the companion and friend of the great Queen Victoria. Because of the many good deeds I have done for the deaf and blind children, I have been given the power of speech. If you cast a coin into the wishing well now, I will say thank you. (Pause.) Thank you. (Woof! Woof!)

And if you're like me, you'll laugh a lot and then whip out a notepad to take notes.

I'm going to...

Australia! We leave tonight, and tomorrow morning, I add my sixth continent to my travels. Wish me luck! With 33 kids, 4 chaperones, and 3 cities to visit, it's sure to be eventful. I wish I could insert an Australian joke here, but I have too many friends from down under who would seriously roll their eyes. I'll just say that I'm taking orders for koala-themed souvenirs.

Pictures and stories to come soon.

Finally some Singapore Pictures...

"What's with the no blogging recently?" asks my sister. Good question. Question to which I have no good answer. So I'll just put up some of my Singapore pictures as an apology.

We started at the airport.

We ate these yummy noodle pancake things
with sugar (the orange stuff) and shredded coconut for breakfast.

We rode this bus.

Don't worry; we wore sunscreen.

The bus took us through Little India.

We ate lunch near here.

We enjoyed art.

What is this, you ask?

A merlion, obviously. You heard it right.
Not a mermaid or a merman but a merlion.

We played with mirrors in a jewelry store before
one of us got a nose piercing. (Hint: it wasn't me.)

I liked taking pictures in Little India of people,

vegetables,

and shoes.

We went to Chinatown on Chinese New Year's Eve.

I got fancy with my camera.

It was crowded.

And colorful.

We went to the night safari.
I have no more good pictures of it because it was dark.

We bought bangles from this store in Little India.
Did I mention that we liked Little India?

We had fun.

For my amusement...

Because Indonesia has no reason to care about the Olympics, I haven't watched any of the Olympics this year, though I've been casually following the events through Internet news. You have not idea how it hurts me as a self-professed Olympics junkie to be only casually following. So until this morning, I had only seen about three minutes of biathlon at the Singapore airport on the way back to Jakarta a couple of weeks ago. By the way, what a strange sport that one is. And this morning, when I was talking to my parents, they pointed the webcam at the TV so that I could see the Olympic-themed commercials, the end of a cross-country event, and one Georgian figure skater's routine. And that was fun...until my computer froze and crashed. Yes, the computer problems linger. No, I don't want to talk about it.

I've been running at the gym recently, but I'm trying not to make too big a deal out of it because I'm hoping that it's a habit and not just a brief craze. Of course, by running, I mean jogging extremely slowly. And I'm clearly a novice because yesterday when I went to the gym, I entered all my information (type of workout, weight, incline, and speed) and was standing there gearing myself up when the machine timed out and turned off, but then something must have gone wrong because the screen was flashing and asking for a password, and I was pressing buttons right and left, and I thought about changing machines, but this is my favorite (yes, I have a favorite treadmill already), and so I just kept hitting buttons and when it finally restarted, the treadmill was speaking German. But, coward that I am, I did my "run" and then left. I'll keep you posted if this is a permanent translation problem.

Oh, and Australia is definite! Wahoo!

Oh, they make me laugh

Question: Can you name any people from Russian history?
Answer: Napoleon Dynamite!

Wins and Woes

So according to my track record, it seems like January is just not my month to blog. I could blame it on the weather, but this is my favorite time of year in Jakarta. In rainy season, it's much cooler and clearer. The mountains off to the south are visible most mornings, and I saw stars the other night. Even though the rain has inconvenient effects on traffic, I can't complain about all the awesome thunderstorms.

More accurately, I could blame it on my computer woes, which include a bad motherboard, a ridiculously high and how-can-it-possibly-take-6-to-8-weeks estimate, eBay comparison shopping, a trip to North Jakarta's computer repair center, a much more reasonable quote, a phone call several days later informing that an LED and more money is involved, and general demoralization.

So this leaves my computer access limited to school's impossibly slow internet or my old computer whose hard drive issues leave it vulnerable to sudden freezing only remedied by rebooting.

My computer difficulties are all the more disappointing because it means that I can't share the pictures from my sweet new camera that I bought over the holiday. Pictures of the luggage locks that I broke with a pair of barely adequate to the job pliers when I lost my keys between Indianapolis and Jakarta. Pictures of street scenes taken during long taxi rides. Pictures of my Christmas decorations (which are still up...here's to family tradition). Pictures of the Jakarta skyline taken from my school.

Enough with the griping. Here are snippets of recent excitement.

I bought a guitar. A pretty little acoustic. I put it in my lap while I surf guitar lesson websites and try to learn my way around a fretboard. I have sore fingertips to prove it.

I'm on a mission to spruce up my apartment. New pillows transformed my couch. A new rug is next on the list.

I have started the new year of teaching 11th grade with some moderate successes. I have a new teaching partner, so we're still figuring out how to operate together, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be my best year yet.

I just started teaching kindergarten Sunday school, which takes me out of the high school world of novels, analysis, essays, discussions, and puts me into the world of coloring, learning to read, and total enthusiasm. Last week, I met a kid who tapped me on the arm every two minutes to tell me, "I went to the dentist this week, and I thought it was going to be scary, but it wasn't" and "I like pizza and KFC." When I asked them to draw pictures of the best and the worst thing that happened to them week, one kid's best was getting new underwear. I am utterly charmed by them.

I'm going to Singapore next weekend for Chinese New Year with Carol and Disha. We have Monday off for Chinese New Year, so we hoping to fully enjoy ourselves on good food and as many tourist attractions as we can cram into three days. I've always thought it would be cool to spend New Year's Eve in all the major cities of the world, but Indianapolis is my biggest city so far. So I feel spending Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year as I should probably call it) in Singapore is a step in the right direction. Right?

In other travel plans,

[Just as a side note, it might seem like all I do over here is travel to interesting places, but in actual fact my life is mostly trying to educate young people, sometimes against their wills, which not always that thrilling to write about or to read. Plus, you don't have to travel far to find interesting places, so I try to hit as many as I can while I'm here.]

I'm probably going to Australia in March! I'm on the list of teachers to chaperone the 11th graders study tour to Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, and as long as five more kids sign up, I'm there. I'm a little apprehensive (other teachers have said it can be an exhausting or stressful trip), but mostly ecstatic. I'm going to add another stamp to my passport and another continent to my travel log.

Oh, and Colts in the Superbowl? Me = thrilled.

Selamat Tahun Baru

In keeping with tradition, I stopped blogging to enjoy my vacation, which was everything a good vacation should be--good friends, good family, good food, and good times.

A few highlights:
My flight from Chicago to Indianapolis was delayed long enough that I could driven the distance home twice during my layover, but I was proud of myself for being very patient after 36 hours of traveling. I only felt like crying once.

I actually grinned when I walked out of my house on my way to the dentist and saw that I would have to wipe fresh snow off the car. I got over that pretty quickly.

I visited family in Grand Rapids to celebrate the New Year and got interested in family history documents, which prompted me to take a different way home and take pictures of an old barn that might have been built by my ancestors.

Those pictures were taken with my new camera with lots of snazzy features whose battery charger I proceeded to leave in Indianapolis.

I did NOT put a dent in my father's car when I failed to get up our icy, inclined driveway and drifted dangerously close to a big rock. Instead, I asked for help from Dad. Good things come to those who surrender.

I went sledding with two little boys down the slope in our front yard that is really not so big. Going down is much easier and much more fun.

I caught the bouquet at a friend's wedding. Go ahead and laugh.

I got to play handbells at our church's Christmas Eve service.

I ran into one of my high school English teachers and networked. A little weird.

I watched the Colts lose. Twice. I left the country so they would start winning again.

And so I'm back, thankful for a good holiday and excited (if overwhelmed) to start school again.

And what does "Selamat Tahun Baru" mean?
Happy New Year!