It's been a while...

Hello everyone!

First of all, let me apologize for not writing more often. I think it's more realistic for me to update every 1.5 or 2 weeks instead of a few times a week. Time just absolutely flies here and it is not easy to get out to an Internet cafe. I realize this might be disappointing for those of you trying to live vicariously through my awesome life in Indonesia (*cough* *cough*), but what can I say? I just have so many demands on my time... ;-) I hope you realize I'm just kidding!!

So let's see what has been going on in my life. All the volunteers are now gone, and I thought I would feel more lonely than I do, but I have more than enough to keep me busy!! We said goodbye to the last two - Ainsely (my sister!) on Tuesday, and then Brandon last night. I miss Ainsley A LOT. It was weird - you wouldn't think that a 21-year-old world traveller would be afraid of going to sleep alone, but the first night I had to sleep in our bedroom by myself was kind of rough. It took me a while to go to sleep, I'm not going to lie! Oh, well. I've gotten used to it now, but it's still kind of sad. Our room is much cleaner now that only one person is living there, though!!

We've been having some issues with Brandon. His last day teaching he went on a date with one of his students. I'm guessing he did that because technically he wasn't her teacher anymore and technically LE couldn't do anything about it. If he had done that during the session, I could have kicked him out of Indonesia. I mean, I'm nice, so I probably wouldn't have done that, but you know...So anyway he has this new love interest, and he got really serious about her really fast and it kind of alarmed all of us. Especially his host family. You would not believe how he has changed - it's almost like a complete 180. He went from being really polite and attentive to everyone to completely distracted and kind of insensitive and impolite. It's very strange. His host family voiced their concerns to me and I didn't really know what to do. They call him "Mr. Thumb" nowadays because of how he texts her all the time, and he even had the cojones (however you spell that) to ask his host father to drive him and his new girlfriend on their date. If anyone is at all familiar with Asian culture, you know what an insult that was to his host father, a Chinese Indonesian who is a manager for one of the biggest cigarette companies in this country, and who is certainly NOT a common driver. Amy, I'm sure you'll appreciate how he stepped way over the line there.

Anyway, he's gone now. He might be coming back in January to study at Ma Chung University, an International Uni here in Malang where all the classes are taught in English (same uni as Prido). Prido actually took us all on a tour of his school, and he introduced Brandon to some important people and now Brandon is almost all set to study there for a semester! Craziness...Oh, the area near the school is beautiful - there's a spectacular view of the city from there, and it's a well-known spot for teenagers to go parking there at night. Do people even say "parking" anymore? I don't even know...anyway, the other night apparently Brandon and his new gf went there and got in trouble by the security guards. Brandon's host sisters were appalled that they would go there, because in their words, "Good Indonesian girls don't go there!" Yea...good times.

Speaking of my Indonesian lover (just kidding!!!), to answer your question, Amy - no, he has not made a move yet. I got the low-down on proper Indonesian dating rituals from some friends, and let me just say that things are supposed to move really slowly here. Like whoa. I guess only time will tell. His mother and father keep inviting me to their house, so I'm going there tomorrow morning to hang out in their village. Should be lots of fun!!

I finished teaching at Kosayu last week, and it was really sad. My students had a big farewell party for me. It was really cute, though, because they planned all of these really cute activities. So I walked into my class and it was empty, which is rare. The clock struck 12:00 noon and I had no students, which never happens! I waited for about 5 minutes when finally one of my students walked in and said, "We have a game for you. You must find all of your students using my clues. Then when you find them, you must complete the task they have for you." The scavenger hunt for my students was lots of fun, and I completely humiliated myself in the process. Some highlights - I had to sing a song (but not in English, and not in Indonesian...I resorted to Italian), I had to imitate 10 animals (10 animals is a lot to think of! I was reduced to imitating a snake for my 10th animal for lack of a better idea, which of course resulted in my front side getting completely dirty and dusty...it was worth it, though!), I had to play a game of chess (which I lost in promptly 5 minutes. That tends to happen when you don't actually know the rules), and I had to speak 5 full sentences in Indonesian (which of course resulted in my asking my students how to say many words). Overall it was great fun, then when we all went back to the classroom, my remaining students threw balloons and yelled "Surprise!" as I walked through the door. It was adorable. During the party the kids gave me lots of gifts (totally unnecessary, but totally cute!) and we had lots of fun eating Dunkin Donuts and nasi goreng (fried rice - really healthy meal we had, eh?!)

So after a 3-day break (barely enough to catch up on my sleep!), I started teaching at SMA 5 (Public High School Number 5). I teach on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6:30 - 8:00, Fridays from 7:15 - 10:00, then 13:00 - 14:30. I have 4 classes plus I am the English Conversation Club Advisor. I've got two 10th grade classes (SBI - International Relations class), and two 11th grade classes (one mixed class for students with any major, and one Linguistics class). High School students here esentially choose a major - at SMA 5 they have to choose from: Science, Social Studies, Linguistics, or International Relations. My students are absolutely brilliant! And it is going to be such a pleasure teaching them this year. I'm really excited to actually spend a significant amount of time with some students and really help them improve their English speaking skills. It's going to be a good time - a few of my students have already taken a liking to me and keep texting me, which is fine with me. The more practice they get and the more contact they have with me, the better! It's only going to help them.

Okay well I think that's about it. I just had the strangest feeling. I'm sitting here on the Internet, completely immersed in what I'm doing - checking my blog and Facebook and writing a recommendation for someone. All of my business is in English and this cafe is extremely quiet. All of a sudden I just heard someone yell outside in Indonesian and I realized that I had just forgotten that I was in Indonesia for a few moments. Weirdest feeling ever...

Thanks for all the comments, guys! Keep them coming! Kathy, I was so excited to hear from you!!! Don't you miss Matos?! Haha...yea. Oh, and yes. I totally remember that guy from Inggil with the lazy eye. Believe me, Bu Dewi keeps trying to have me call him. Uh huh...

Alrighty I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to dinner with one of my former students and her family tonight. Yay!!!

Oh! By the way...I finally got my hands on a copy of Harry Potter. If anyone tells me anything about it before I finish it, I will kill you in May when I come home!!

Miss you all and love you more than words can express!! Later gators.