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 still recovering from last week’s conference and did manage to see some of Bandung in the process, particularly a very quaint coffee store on a side street. They keep the beans for eight years and roast them using an old rubber-wood fired contraption. I didn’t bring my camera, so I’m waiting for my friend to send them this way. I did snag a business card though.

A half kilo of Arabica coffee was 25,000IDR, or about 2.75USD. I bought around 300,000IDR worth while my friend picked up over double that! This week’s haiku is a result of that visit to Toko Aroma in Bandung. Highly recommended.

I also had an interview with last Friday. It was a phone interview with about five people from their end and recorded for the others who couldn’t make it. I haven’t interviewed in four years, so it was a bit crazy. I felt like I hit 75% of what they were looking for. The verdict will be in two weeks.

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.

The Thousand Islands are a popular weekend getaway for Jakartans, as it’s only a couple hours by ferry from the city. The ferry trip was fine as it was a clear day on Thursday. The only wrinkles were the instances when the boats motor started chugging, causing cries of “Plastic!” from a boatworker. We then stopped the boat and waited for the workers to clear the plastic from the boats propeller.

We booked into an all-inclusive island that, on the whole, wasn’t all that bad. The food could have been better for the price that we were paying, but that’s about it. I did some snorkeling along the various islands throughout the two-night stay. The water around the 1000 Islands is a bit murky and visibility isn’t the greatest. There’s also the ubiquitous bits of trash that invariably get blown around the area. It was relaxing to get away from all the hubbub that I’m accustomed to in the cities.

We befriended a French couple who met us for dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Yoshi’s, in Dharmawangi Plaza. It was all-you-can-eat with unlimited beer for about 10USD (they also charged for anything you ordered but didn’t eat). Oh, the sacrifices I make! Since we were commemorating a birthday, we went to a karaoke house nearby and sang some of the night away before pushing on to BB’s in Plaza Menteng (everything is pretty much a plaza here!). It was a classic dive bar with a pretty decent live band. I got into the act when the singer put the mic in front of me for the chorus of “Shake Your Moneymaker.” I’d probably be a regular at that spot if I lived in Jakarta. From there, we migrated to X2, a club at Plaza Senayan area. Eventually, the host of my crashpad and I decided to leave and I fell into bed for an hour’s sleep before having to wake up and go to the airport.

My presentation at the TEFLIN conference went ok. The room I presented in had a broken air conditioning unit and no CD-player. I was presenting on how to use music and songs for English teaching. I had to roll with it. The room was full and there were no questions to me afterward. I’ll take that as a good workshop.

Next week, I’ll be off to Borneo to visit some orang utan! Should be a good time for all.

Wednesday is my presentation at the TEFL conference here. It should be a hoot.

Virginity test idea withdrawn

A controversial proposal to conduct virginity tests on female high school students in Indramayu regency, West Java, has been dropped following strong objections from students, parents and activists.

The rest of the article goes on to say that everyone except the one who proposed the idea objects to it. Or nearly everyone.

I also received an email from another in my organization giving me some tidbits on going to Banda Aceh. I’ll include some choice quotations:

IAIN Ar-Raniry lost a big number of it’s lecturers when the tsunami struck, and among the few that survive, a bigger number is more attracted to join the mushrooming NGOs than teaching. So they keep on recruiting the fresh graduates to be teachers with the hope that they will be staying, but in vain. The calls from NGOs are louder.

What this means is that people are going where the money is for the time being. Eventually, the teachers will start teaching again, but we don’t know when that will be as the speed of rebuilding cannot be predicted.

More information: Since many of the donor countries provide scholarships, there are now more scholarships available than suitable candidates.

This could put a curse on any down time I might have envisioned. There is no telling how many people will be calling on me to increase their TOEFL score–fast. That doesn’t really happen and won’t happen with me. It’s great that many people are getting the opportunity to study abroad, but the donors also don’t want to send someone that is going to fail. They want to see people succeed.

I did take picture of the Lecturers’ Apartment where you will stay later. Most of the remaining lecturers stay there. It’s very close to campus, but it does take effort to go out. I am still in communication with your counterpart about local transportation especially when you need to do your personal things. But to find a decent house for you will be a real struggle.

Hmm, living in a dormitory-style housing isn’t my first choice. I’m flexible, but I’m also an avid fan of privacy and separation of work and leisure. It’ll work out somehow.

Aceh is less developed than Makassar. So, be ready to live less decent than when your were in Makassar. I did not have time to locate a gym for you, since I was there only a very short time. I arrived at 13:30 PM, went around the city (and remember that a woman is not supposed to still be out after 5:30 PM, and, since Aceh’s situation was warmed around the celebration of Indonesian Independence, it was suggested to go straight to the airport to catch an earlier flight after the short meeting with the Rector. The hotel they helped arranged for me happened to be a small pavilion with no facilities at all, and yet the rate is similar to a five star hotel in Makassar. Things are more expensive in Aceh.

Yes, it will be different. The price inflation is something that I had read about and am ready to see. I may be applying for a little extra living allowance if it’s as bad as it seems. Only time will tell on that one. That’s all for now. I think I’ll be off to Indonesia by next week, if not before.

A few things are in the national news as of late: a) the charred yet floating wreckage of a ferry finally capsized with police and media on it. Why media were let on a less-than-seaworthy craft has yet to be known. b) the mudflow on Java that was or was not caused in part by oil drilling is now being stuffed with concrete balls in a hope to stem the flow of toxic mud. c) I finally picked up a nifty new blue jacket and pants, tailored to me down to the embroidery on the inside breast pocket that tells the owner’s name (mine) and the date ordered. Ah, yes, all for posterity. I’ll get a few photos up later. It only set me back a cool million too. Just in case you wondering, that last item was not national news. But you’re probably not reading this for Indonesian news anyhow.

Off to bed and the early wake up…

There is also a link to a German born expat who details her meeting of the Peace Corps advance assessment team trying to determine if they want to resume the program here. As a former PCV, I think that having English teachers here would be great, provided there is some development of collaborative teaching between an Indonesian teacher and the PCV. An Indonesian teacher will definitely have a better chance at maintaining discipline to a class of 30-50 raging children. With that said, I feel less on edge here in Makassar, Indonesia than I did in Boriya, Nepal. Insurrectionists are not coming to my school to extort money and the only loud sounds I hear are the fireworks for Chinese New Year. Heck, I may even want to volunteer again by the time (and if) Peace Corps returns. I could even vie for a pre-service trainer position given my time here.

Things to do in the next four months: travel to Surabaya twice for collaboration of some sort with Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, buy a suit (should be done this week), attend and present at Asia TEFL conference in Kuala Lumpur in June, sell off/give possession acquired in the past three years that are too big to put in luggage, spend about 15,000USD in grant money on trainings for in-service teachers, and enjoy the rest of my contract.

Dive info: My colleague Denis flew up to Gorontalo after the Grand Opening in order to go visit the Togian Islands for diving. He only had a few days and didn’t know the boat schedule from Gorontalo to the islands and ended up staying in Gorontalo to look for diving. Anyway, he tried to find diving around Gorontalo and the dive outfit that was in the Lonely Planet “didn’t know squat.” He finally found an outfit, Miguel’s Divers, that knew what they were doing. Denis has been diving for 10-15 years, so he should know when a company is a good one. I guess if you’re stuck in Gorontalo waiting for the boat, check them out for a good time.