an entry somewhere else

Well, not a lot has been happening as of late. The Manado Post reported on Friday that there would be a massive earthquake here before 1.30p on 9 April. The earthquake occurred at 4a that day but wasn’t at all massive. Again, I slept through it.

I pumped around 200,000 rupiah into my scooter for repairs this week. This replaced the bearing and spokes in the rear wheel as well as new front brakes. The horn and electric starter still need to be replaced. That will be another 100,000 rupiah. I’m getting off easy in this country.

Another Fellow visited this week and guest lectured to my Teaching Methods class. The class was 67 students the previous week. This week it reached 89. I received 20 homework assignments out of those attending. I also have to give a midterm this week to the same class. Try and figure that one out.

Earlier that same day, I taught a communications skills class for medical students. As usual, I played the role of the patient. When the doctor-to-be (female) asked for my occupation, I said, “Stay-at-home dad.� OK, she’d never heard of it so I explained that it was the same as housewife but when the man stays home. She was amazed. She began to chastise me for not going to work and just being lazy. I explained that it was my choice to stay home and take care of the kids, etc. She didn’t get it. She asked, “Why don’t you want a job?� I said, “I do have a job. I take care of the children, cook, clean, shop.� “That’s not a job for a man.� “Why not?� “It just isn’t.� The rest of the class was listening intently and I put aside the disagreement to continue. Of course, these words coming from a student studying to be a doctor and a woman to boot was a little disturbing to my American mind. The other thing that amazed me was the student had great speaking skills when it came to something other than her chosen profession.

My battle with tinia pedis is still being waged. As many of you may recall, I somehow breed fungus like a dead log. In the past three years, it has retreated twice. Once when I went to Goa, India and once when I returned to the US. As soon as I returned to a tropical climate the skin affliction returned. Damn.

A belated Easter picture of the road on which I live:

I went to change my return ticket date. I’ll be leaving from Jakarta to points with lesser concentrations of carbon elements in the air on 21 June. Overnight in Singapore, then to Tokyo/Narita, Chicago, Traverse City on the 22nd. A day late for the solstice.