The rain hasn’t gotten nasty again yet, the medicines are officially finished today and I’m on the better part of the mend. I even ran into work with Safir for a bit of a while to organize things at the teacher center. Oh, and I found out Friday that my last-minute request to procurment in September was never procured. No one told me this so I was expecting to have another A/C unit so we would all be comfortable when there was a big workshop going on. No such luck. On to Plan B. There are a couple other things that I was expecting, but we can make do a lot better without those. There are ways around a twenty dollar table; there are fewer ways around a $400 A/C unit. Three weeks until the actual kickoff.
I’m now taking a class in using Power Point for language classes. It’s interesting and my first foray into a full course (15 weeks) online. I can always use a few more tricks in my bag and can pass along the details to my colleagues here. Next week is off to Jakarta for a conference at Universitas Indonesia and another couple days in Puncak with most of the other Fellows for work purposes. I hope to also meet up with a friend from my days in Nepal for a coffee at the very least. At the very least.
As I’ve been sick lately and have had plenty of time to rest my eyes, I’ve been coming back to a few moments in the last few months here. My mind keeps pitching a moment in Medan to the front. I’m not sure why this is sticking in my mind, but it is. I was checking out of the glorious two-star hotel in Medan and happened to be the first of our group to be ready. The lobby was cold from A/C and akin to the smoky bar feel in the air. One could feel the smoke oozing into the clothes on you. The lobby also had a small room with large, plate glass window for the wall. It’s own A/C cranked into it and there were two chairs. I sat down and closed the door to keep some of the smoke from my lungs. My supervisor joined me in a few minutes and we chatted, but I couldn’t help but feeling odd sitting apart from the other guests, somewhat like a caged animal. As I said, I don’t know why this keeps coming back to me.
For another expat view on things, check out Jakartass. He tossed up a link to me on his page, I’d thought I’d return the favor.