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!

I should be packing...don't tell

In about three weeks, a very tired traveler will walk through the door of my apartment. Now, I want to make things as pleasant as possible for her, so there will be...

-clean sheets on the bed for when she crashes
-tidy right angles and parallel lines to soothe her travel-worn sensibilities (except for the couch which has a new diagonally-oriented location that I love)
-clean floors so she can enjoy being barefoot again
-no dust bunnies or dirty dishes for her to clean
-a neatly folded blanket on the couch for an afternoon nap
-Christmas decorations still up for her to enjoy (I can't help it; I like them too much)
-lentil stew in the freezer waiting to be reheated when she's hungry
-ice cubes and a full jug of water for when's she's thirsty
-clean clothes, especially pajamas, in the closet

Have I forgotten anything?

Just to mention that I can't wait to be leaving tomorrow to go home. My flight leaves at 7:10pm, and the taxi will be here at 3:30pm since I don't take chances with Jakartan traffic. That much is certain, but everything else is in a state of partly to mostly.

The laundry is mostly done (some is still drying).
The suitcase is partly packed (I threw in the Christmas presents but nothing else yet).
Those presents are mostly wrapped (I love bringing home wrapped presents).
The apartment is mostly clean (I still need to sweep and mop tomorrow).
The errands are mostly done (today I obtained chocolate, earrings, adaptors, minutes for my phone, a printed itinerary, newly adjusted glasses, and pencils).
The carry-on is partly packed (in my head, at least).
The dishes are mostly clean and put away (but I keep dirtying new ones, goshdarnit).
The electronics are partly charged (and I still need to sync my iPod).

And I am 100% ready to be home.

What did Laura do yesterday?

How did I spend my first real day of vacation, you ask? (Weekends don't count by the way.)

I woke up early. I called my family. We had a family conference on how/where/when to spend Christmas/the days before/the days after.

I tidied my apartment. Tidied is perhaps to mild a word because there was definitely scrubbing involved. Desperately needed scrubbing.

I did laundry. Is it strange that it still gives me a great deal of pleasure to put my dirty clothes into a laundry machine and not into a bucket?

I watched a lot of Gilmore Girls. I know that I am late getting on this bandwagon, but I am definitely enjoying the ride.

I didn't get dressed all day. Corollary: I didn't leave my apartment all day except to dump the trash down the chute right outside my door.

I made mashed potatoes for lunch. The great thing about living alone is that no one gives a second thought to how much you're eating. They were pretty delicious.

I regretted the amount of mashed potatoes later when I fell into a starch-induced coma and conked out of the couch for most of the evening.

I rallied after the coma for a shower and a couple more episodes of Gilmore Girls and...I stayed up until midnight!

Today will be more interesting, I promise.