I must say that I shed a few tears when they put gave me a parting gift. I’ve gotten to know these kids over the last two semesters pretty well and it’s going to be hard to leave Aceh.

For now, I’ll be busy grading and packing up. Then a few days in Jakarta before traveling to Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, starting 1 July. After that, back to Jakarta to pick up my bountiful luggage and hitch a ride back to the US. It’s going to be the icing on some really good cake.

The first semester always seems to start in the beginning of September and goes for 16 weeks. This is really a ‘recommended’ number of weeks as most universities only requires lecturers to meet 12 times for a once-a-week class, or 75% of scheduled class meetings. On top of the that, the nationwide attendance regulations require 75% attendance of those class meetings in order to take the final. So, in order to complete the class, a teacher only has to come to class 12 times (two of which would be midterm and final) and students only need to attend eight of the 12 meetings.

This week I had three students come to me pleading to remain in class. One had dengue fever for the first three weeks and the other two just didn’t come to class. They had upwards of 10 absences over the first 16 meetings. I gave the one with dengue a chewing out and told him not to miss anymore classes. Unfortunately, I had to scratch the other two off the class roster. The Indonesian instructors who listened to my conversations were mildly sympathetic in that they have the same students and the students have the same attendance record. Of course, content classes and language classes are two different things in my book. Yes, you can just show up for the exams in content classes if you know your stuff. Language classes require one to show up to practice the language. It’s never a good feeling to boot someone from class, but they also have to set priorities if they want to study.

Yogyakarta was great. I saw the sights I missed the first time around, ate some good food, drank some beer (but not too much). I also went to a Christian wedding. I wish I would have taken some pictures or The Last Supper mural painted in the church; it had a very Indonesian flavor to it with the apostles sitting on the floor in a traditional Javanese fashion. Below is a picture of the bride and groom in their traditional wedding garb.

The second half of the semester is starting and I’m grading up midterms. It’s disconcerting to see so many papers piled on my desk. And then I’m off to Jakarta and Medan next week for workshops. I’m in the process of tentative planning for a vacation to Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam and Thailand after my fellowship. So many things going on…

I’m off to Bandung, West Java tomorrow for a conference: Teacher’s Competencies & Qualifications for ELT in Indonesia. The coordinating university is well-regarded here in Indonesia and I’m looking forward to see how various institutions around the archipelago are dealing with the certification of teachers now required by the central government.

Luckily, the travel was all work-related and for a two-day workshop in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, famous for being settled on the equator. The workshops went well and our hosts were magnificent, taking us out for a hot pot dinner at lesehan (a sit-on-the-floor-style restaurant), a visit to the equator monument, and dinner on a riverboat. We also found out that it is said that if you drink from the river, you will certainly return to Pontianak. None of us sipped from the river—not because we didn’t want to return, but because the river was, well, muddy and used as the local bathing hole and latrine (a not atypical situation in a developing country).

The equator monument was understated and we arrived after they closed the museum portion at 4p. Nevertheless, we got to take picture of the gyroscopic sculpture atop a pillar. There was also the perfunctory circumambulation in order to get the feel of straddling two hemispheres in an instant.

Then we went home.

However, I just want to point out a website that I searched and found while doing some research into EFL Literature Circles (there are others, but I used the role handouts presented in this one). I had only heard the name of this and hadn’t done any reading into it. Of course, I did this after the boredom set in on my Literature classes and eyes were glazing over. After spending the whole class session last week distributing and explaining the roles and procedures of Literature Circles, the students jumped right in. And what a change it was. Everyone was talking. The students were connecting the short stories to their own lives and keeping the exchanges going. My first literature class this week was superb, the second one has a marginally lower level of English so they needed a little help with extra questions. All in all, the students were very excited with literature circles, and I get to listen more than I talk.

I’ve been in Indonesia for the better part of four years, and I feel it’s time to move on. Move on from this organization and move on from Indonesia. Luckily, I don’t have to jump at the first offer that comes my way. Of course, interviewing from little ol’ Aceh might involve some technological acrobatics, if it were to come to that. You can bet I’m not flying to the U.S. just for an interview, no matter how decent the job seems right now. I do have a luxury of a nest egg and the offer of several couches to surf for the time being.

Perhaps, as things have done unusually much in my life, some offer that I just can’t turn down will fall at my feet, bidding me to take it up and run with it. For now, I’ll look at jobs with the multitudes who have the not-so-much-a-beginner-but-not-a-well-seasoned-educator qualifications.

About a month ago my heart rate monitor (people who do a lot of exercise sometimes use them—I’m not ill) went bust. I’m not sure what happened. I tried to replace the battery, but I couldn’t put the darn thing back together. This reminded me that I have a digital camera and I should have taken pictures as I disassembled it. I’m going to see what the local fix-it man can do. For now, I covet Garmin products. Specifically, the Garmin Forerunner 305. The 405 is a little much for me. They don’t support MacOS yet, but by the time I am able to pony up some dough for one, they should.

What’s next? I just sent off a FedEx cache for a job in Illinois. It almost cost 50USD. This has me wondering why organizations are still requiring hard copies of materials. Furthermore, there are job postings that require multiple letters of recommendations, sealed and signed, submitted with an application. This effectively gives me nil chance to apply since getting a letter from China and two from Jakarta within the two week period is impossible. Ha!

I need to get back to preparing for tomorrow and finally get some sleep tonight!

Now, there’s talk of me being one of the inquisitors…