I've read in several guide books that Cambodia is considered the land of smiles. A funny name for a country and a people who have endured A LOT. And yet, in my experience so far today (well, mostly anyway) it's an accurate assessment of the Khmer people. They are always smiling, always gracious. I think that this smiling sometimes relates to the fact that they have no idea what I'm saying or what I'm trying to accomplish, but a smile is a much more welcome response to frustration or confusion than screaming or hostility of any kind. So I'll take the Khmer smiles any day.
It was an early morning. My TV in Malaysia had this cool feature where it would wake you up at a prescribed time by playing the sound of an alarm that increased in volume until you turned it off. A new twist on the old wake up call in hotels, right? Anyway, mine was set for 4am because I had a 7am flight out of the LCCT at KLIA, and the terminal was about 30 minutes away from my hotel. I arranged a taxi pick-up at 5am with the front desk last night, and got up and packed my things before heading downstairs to check out and catch my taxi.
Check out was fine (except they tried to charge me an extra $200 for something that was very unclear...good thing I actually checked my bill before signing it). My taxi arrived 5 minutes later and I was on my way to the airport. The LCCT is the low cost carrier terminal, basically, the terminal out of which AirAsia flies. It's a really basic design, especially having arrived in KLIA which was very bright and modern. LCCT was...drab. And over-run with people trying to figure out where to go (there was only one lane per flight in which you could check in--and there must have been some system that indicated which lane was for which flight, but for the life of me I could not figure it out), myself included. Eventually I was able to get someone to tell me where I was supposed to check in, and once there, checked in without hassles.
Then there was the immigration portion of the morning. The system that was set up there was one of the worst I have seen. I'm not entirely sure why it failed so miserably--there were two long lines that led to several immigration officers, and the officers for one line versus the other were fairly obvious, and yet the line took FOREVER. Part of the problem seemed to be that people were constantly arriving late for their flights and therefore cutting in front of 25-40 people--and it was often whole families, not just single people. This must have happened at least 4 times in the time I waited to go through the immigration line. I think the officers also had some kind of power complex because they would make random people wait an extra 20 minutes to have their passports returned...they didn't DO anything with them, just set them on the table next to them and told the person to wait, which they did, and then eventually the officer handed back the passport. It was truly random, and had I been "selected" I would have been sincerely annoyed.
Security was basically non-existent. It was interesting because everyone kept setting off the metal detector (seriously, everyone), but then when I went through, nothing. So I don't know what everyone else was wearing that I was just missing out on...
I had purchased some kind of special ticket which meant that I got to board the plane first (wowsers), but there were two people ahead of me and this family of 5 who were handicapped and allowed to board first first. The guy was sitting on this...well, it was much like a skateboard, and using his hands to propel himself along the walkway. It was super impressive. When we got to the plane, there were stairs to climb and I though that someone would hve to carry him, but he simply lifted himself off his board and used his arms to crawl up the stairs. It was pretty amazing. It couldn't have been a comfortable or easy existence, but he made it work. It didn't seem like he was after any kind of pity. And the lady was missing one leg, but refused to use a wheelchair and walked the entirety using one crutch to help keep her stable. These people were rather inspiring--I'd never seen anything like it.
The flight was delayed by about 30 minutes (I think) because there were 9 people who were late for the flight and there was discussion about whether or not to let them board the plane. It was decided that they had arrived too late, and they would be refused, but that meant that their baggage needed to be removed from the cargo area and that would take some time. So in the end, the people were allowed to board the plane in an effort to leave sooner rather than later. I was basically asleep, so this didn't phase me much. I had an exit row seat with TONS of room, made even roomier by the fact that I had the entire row to myself--the plane was probably half full, if that. And did I mention that this plane may have been the nicest plane I've ever been on? All the seats were leather and larger than the average economy seat. And the plane was NEW. Like seriously new. I walked onboard and was impressed with the bright and airy feel of the cabin. I don't think I've ever walked on a plane and felt that it was "airy." But this one was.
The flight was about 2 hours long. As we prepared to land, I strained to see where the airport was, where the runway was. I saw nothing but rice paddies and swampy lands, which made me a wee bit nervous. And then suddenly, we landed. And there was grass and tarmac and it was amazing. And the airport was empty. There were two other planes on the tarmac and they were of the private jet variety (at least, they looked that way to me). The weather that greeted me as I exited the plane was hot and sticky. Really, much like the weather I've encountered throughout this trip.
But the airport...the airport was beautiful. I was totally shocked. Everything looked new and very, very clean. The buildings were designed to look a bit like pagodas, and it was really just so beautiful. Of course, the ridiculousness of bureaucracy appeared almost as soon as I entered the terminal (I paid $20 and gave a passport photo for a sticker that has my name handwritten on it in my passport--and I had to wait for it to be passed down the line of 10 suited gentlemen who carried on gay conversation while I and the other passengers waited for our passports to be returned). Cambodia also had a health certification form that had to be handed in...so that was fun. Once I received my visa, I waited in line for an immigration officer to check the visa and whatever else they do. Their equipment was high-tech--more so than what I've seen at JFK or LAX. He also took a photo of me, but unlike the other people who had gone before me, he had me look at the camera and smile and then he asked me my name (which was ridiculous because he had my passport in his hand). Then he typed some things, looked at me, and told me to enjoy Cambodia, with a big grin. Ok...
My bag had already made it to the collection area (I spotted it while waiting in the immigration line) and the last step was to purchase a SIM card. It was $10 and came with $10 of credit, a pretty fair deal. Apparently, international calls are $0.25/minute, which isn't too terrible. The lady who helped me was quite nice as well.
Once I had purchased my SIM card, there was an adorable man waiting for me, with my name all officially typed out on Tara Angkor letterhead. He greeted me with a big smile, took my bag, and called me "madame." Oh, Cambodia. As we drove to the hotel, he pointed out some of the sights: we passed Angkor Wat (the BIG temple), random shops and people, and the children's hospital. He was so cute as he explained the various things I was seeing. I took pictures as we drove, which may come out blurry...but whatever. The streets were beautiful and tree-lined, and it was hilarious to me how many WHITE PEOPLE there were. They're everywhere! I didn't see so many in Indonesia or in Malaysia, but here...there's tons of them. It made me laugh.
I arrived at the hotel and was greeted with a cold towel and a welcome drink (i have no idea what it was, but it was certainly refreshing). It was only 9am or so, so my room wasn't quite ready. They had me sit on a couch and they brought me all the things I needed to fill out...no waiting at the registration counter here! And my bag had already been collected and would be delivered to my room. I decided to eat at the breakfast buffet while I was waiting, and that was a quality decision. It was delicious! I ate some of the most tastefulicious croissants (to rival even the ones from France) ever in my life. And watermelon and bacon and cereal and omelettes, oh my! I was overjoyed. Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it was pretty sweet.
When I finished, my room was ready. The concierge showed me to my room and arranged to have a tuk-tuk (hilarious little carriages pulled by a motorcycle) driver pick me up at 4.45 to take me to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. I showered, and then basically climbed into bed until 3.30 (not sleeping the whole time, but certainly resting). I charged my phone and then my computer and slept for a couple of hours.
I went downstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading off to Angkor Wat. My tuk-tuk driver had been specially arranged because he spoke excellent English and he explained what we would do very clearly. We stopped so I could buy a pass to explore the temples that would last from this evening until tomorrow evening, then he took me to Angkor Wat. I had read about the children selling various items, and how it can be pretty intense, but wow. It is. They wanted to know my name and they all wanted to sell me something. There was one boy in particular who wanted to sell me some guidebook that I really didn't want so I told him maybe when I came back from looking at the temple. They all apparently took this to mean that I would be buying something from each of them when I came out.
I wandered around for about half an hour, and it was beautiful. It was HOT too. I'm going out for a full day tomorrow, and that is definitely going to be an adventure simply because of the heat. I'll need lots of water to survive...but after wandering and taking tons of pictures, I headed back to where my tuk-tuk driver had dropped me off and ALL those children were there waiting for me and calling my name (and they had brought more friends). I ended up buying some postcards from one boy, but then they all wanted me to buy something, especially the boy with the guidebook. When I refused and said I didn't need anything else (AGAIN) they were very upset. The boy with the guidebook said something about me being a really good liar and that he wished me much bad luck and hoped he never saw me again. WOW. It was actually really hurtful to have this 14 year old Khmer boy saying those things to me. I hadn't lied to any of them, I just didn't want to buy anything. It WAS intense. The tuk-tuk driver explained to me that you can't promise them that you'll buy something and then not do it (which I didn't do, but I think that the word "maybe" doesn't get heard or understood here, so you have to say firmly NO). My problem is that I smile easily and I don't want to be rude, which makes people think that I can be cajoled into their will (which is not so much the case), but I can't handle children being evil to me because I refuse to buy their guidebooks! So hopefully tomorrow will be more successful...my feelings were seriously hurt by that boy!
The tuk tuk driver took me back to the hotel and we worked out a plan for tomorrow (fortunately, he's going to be my driver for viewing the temples tomorrow as well!). Then I went upstairs, put on my swimsuit and went to the pool. The water was warmer than the air outside, LOL! Nonetheless, I hung out there for an hour and then came downstairs to write this entry. I think I'm still a bit damp, in fact.
Aside from the evil child, who really, I feel bad for, Cambodia has been a success thus far. The hotel is beautiful, with high ceilings and columns. The bed is hard, but clean and there's individually controlled A/C and a TV with more than 65 channels (most of which are in a language other than English, but stilll...). What strikes me most about this place (the hotel, the country) is the desire to be friendly and serve. People are very helpful, at least so far, and incredibly polite. I'd like to bring people back with me to hang out here.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Safe in Malaysia
So, as my solo portion of the South East Asian Adventures begins, we're off to a fairly good start--I made it to Malaysia!
I must admit that I was nervous about my gaining admission to the country when I received a handout at check-in with questions pertaining to the H1N1 scare (Have you had a fever of more than 100 degrees F in the past 7 days? A cough or difficulty breathing in the past 7 days? If yes to either question, report to health quarantine area) I didn't know what to do. I certainly did NOT want to be under health quarantine in Malaysia (because who even knows what that would mean...). I looked at the people around me filling in their cards, people who were coughing just like me and saw them checking no, so decided that it was ok for me to check no too. Then we arrived at the KUL airport...and there were signs about preparing to stop for a temperature check. I was freaking out. What if my fever had somehow returned? Or the stress of flying made me seem like I had a fever? Or they could just tell that I had been ill? What if they arrested me??? Well, all these fears were completely unfounded. The woman collected my little information card without even looking at it and said "welcome to malaysia."
Boy, did I let out a huge sigh of relief.
The KUL airport was NICE. Very modern, very sleek. The toilets were kind of bizzare... the seats were huge and rectangular, rather than oblong. But everything worked and it was definitely clean, which was the important part. I grabbed my bag from the conveyor belt, as it was one of the first bags off the plane and made my way through customs, which was basically non-existent. I looked for a sign directing me to taxis and eventually made it outside, and saw lines of them. I approached the area and told the driver where i wanted to go and he asked me if I had a ticket. I told him that I didn't and he sent me back inside to get one.
I found my way to a kiosk that said "Airport Taxi" on it and told them where I wanted to go so that I could get to the hotel. The plane out of Jakarta had departed an hour later than scheduled, so it was about 10.30pm at this point and I was ready to be at the hotel and in my bed. Got my ticket without any trouble and wandered outside to find a taxi that would take me. Some driver accosted me and I was on my way.
Little did I know what I was getting myself into with this driver...he asked me if I was married ("no") and if I had a boyfriend ("just broke up") after which he asked how long I'd be in Malaysia ("a little less than 3 days") followed by the statement that he'd like to spend the next three days in bed with me! I was so totally dumbfounded by this man's gall that I was speechless. He proceeded to ask me for an application to date me and things along a similar vein. It was all pretty ridiculous. He gave me his phone number and said I could call him with my room number and other such craziness. I was like, WOW. This is insane.
After 30 minutes of a crazily awkward drive (at least from my end), we arrived at my hotel and I practically lept from the car and into the hotel, with the assistance of a bellman who grabbed my luggage. I think there are few times in my life when I have been more grateful to reach a hotel.
Once I was checked in and someone helped me get to my room (this hotel is ridiculously large and confusing), I set my things down and checked out my new digs. I was then greeted by...a COCKROACH in my bathroom. Having just survived the crazy taxi man, i decided that a cockroach was a handleable issue. I debated about calling the front desk and demanding that I be moved to another room, but decided against it, walked out of the bathroom, sat down on the oversized bed, took a deep breath, and checked the bathroom again. The cockroach was gone. I decided that the two of us could live in peace for the three days that i'd be there and got all my things off the floor and checked the bed sheets before climbing into them. All clear.
At 3.30am, my phone rang. It was my mother. I had tried to call her from the hotel phone, but to no avail. Couldn't even get a dial tone. She just wanted to know I was safe and I groggily informed her that I was and then drifted back to sleep. And then I slept and slept and slept, until 11am the next morning. It was glorious. I got up to have lunch at the restaurant here and then went back to the room and watched HBO all afternoon (I watched this crazy movie called stardust...anyone ever seen it?) and then called for room service for dinner. I talked to my mom again right before going to sleep and told her of my crazy adventures thus far.
Today I slept in again and have just been wandering around the hotel. I'm not staying in Kuala Lumpur proper because it's about 75km from the airport, and I have a really early flight to Cambodia tomorrow morning, so trying to stay nearer to the airport. I'm planning on visiting the pool once I finish this blog post, but that's about all. The area that I'm staying in is very beautiful (the hotel is on a lake), but I know I'm not getting much of a Malaysian experience. That's ok though--this was really only supposed to be a jumping off point for my trip to Cambodia. I really cannot believe that I'll be in Cambodia tomorrow morning. I've been reading about Siem Reap in my guidebook, and I'm feeling overwhelmed already, but since I've been so out under the weather recently, I'm going to allow myself to go slowly and only see what I really want to see. I'm definitely getting better, but still not at 100% health. It makes me really sad because I long for my cat and my own bed...and I'm usually so up for adventures! I'm praying I get all my strength back so I can fully experience and enjoy the rest of what this trip has to offer!
I must admit that I was nervous about my gaining admission to the country when I received a handout at check-in with questions pertaining to the H1N1 scare (Have you had a fever of more than 100 degrees F in the past 7 days? A cough or difficulty breathing in the past 7 days? If yes to either question, report to health quarantine area) I didn't know what to do. I certainly did NOT want to be under health quarantine in Malaysia (because who even knows what that would mean...). I looked at the people around me filling in their cards, people who were coughing just like me and saw them checking no, so decided that it was ok for me to check no too. Then we arrived at the KUL airport...and there were signs about preparing to stop for a temperature check. I was freaking out. What if my fever had somehow returned? Or the stress of flying made me seem like I had a fever? Or they could just tell that I had been ill? What if they arrested me??? Well, all these fears were completely unfounded. The woman collected my little information card without even looking at it and said "welcome to malaysia."
Boy, did I let out a huge sigh of relief.
The KUL airport was NICE. Very modern, very sleek. The toilets were kind of bizzare... the seats were huge and rectangular, rather than oblong. But everything worked and it was definitely clean, which was the important part. I grabbed my bag from the conveyor belt, as it was one of the first bags off the plane and made my way through customs, which was basically non-existent. I looked for a sign directing me to taxis and eventually made it outside, and saw lines of them. I approached the area and told the driver where i wanted to go and he asked me if I had a ticket. I told him that I didn't and he sent me back inside to get one.
I found my way to a kiosk that said "Airport Taxi" on it and told them where I wanted to go so that I could get to the hotel. The plane out of Jakarta had departed an hour later than scheduled, so it was about 10.30pm at this point and I was ready to be at the hotel and in my bed. Got my ticket without any trouble and wandered outside to find a taxi that would take me. Some driver accosted me and I was on my way.
Little did I know what I was getting myself into with this driver...he asked me if I was married ("no") and if I had a boyfriend ("just broke up") after which he asked how long I'd be in Malaysia ("a little less than 3 days") followed by the statement that he'd like to spend the next three days in bed with me! I was so totally dumbfounded by this man's gall that I was speechless. He proceeded to ask me for an application to date me and things along a similar vein. It was all pretty ridiculous. He gave me his phone number and said I could call him with my room number and other such craziness. I was like, WOW. This is insane.
After 30 minutes of a crazily awkward drive (at least from my end), we arrived at my hotel and I practically lept from the car and into the hotel, with the assistance of a bellman who grabbed my luggage. I think there are few times in my life when I have been more grateful to reach a hotel.
Once I was checked in and someone helped me get to my room (this hotel is ridiculously large and confusing), I set my things down and checked out my new digs. I was then greeted by...a COCKROACH in my bathroom. Having just survived the crazy taxi man, i decided that a cockroach was a handleable issue. I debated about calling the front desk and demanding that I be moved to another room, but decided against it, walked out of the bathroom, sat down on the oversized bed, took a deep breath, and checked the bathroom again. The cockroach was gone. I decided that the two of us could live in peace for the three days that i'd be there and got all my things off the floor and checked the bed sheets before climbing into them. All clear.
At 3.30am, my phone rang. It was my mother. I had tried to call her from the hotel phone, but to no avail. Couldn't even get a dial tone. She just wanted to know I was safe and I groggily informed her that I was and then drifted back to sleep. And then I slept and slept and slept, until 11am the next morning. It was glorious. I got up to have lunch at the restaurant here and then went back to the room and watched HBO all afternoon (I watched this crazy movie called stardust...anyone ever seen it?) and then called for room service for dinner. I talked to my mom again right before going to sleep and told her of my crazy adventures thus far.
Today I slept in again and have just been wandering around the hotel. I'm not staying in Kuala Lumpur proper because it's about 75km from the airport, and I have a really early flight to Cambodia tomorrow morning, so trying to stay nearer to the airport. I'm planning on visiting the pool once I finish this blog post, but that's about all. The area that I'm staying in is very beautiful (the hotel is on a lake), but I know I'm not getting much of a Malaysian experience. That's ok though--this was really only supposed to be a jumping off point for my trip to Cambodia. I really cannot believe that I'll be in Cambodia tomorrow morning. I've been reading about Siem Reap in my guidebook, and I'm feeling overwhelmed already, but since I've been so out under the weather recently, I'm going to allow myself to go slowly and only see what I really want to see. I'm definitely getting better, but still not at 100% health. It makes me really sad because I long for my cat and my own bed...and I'm usually so up for adventures! I'm praying I get all my strength back so I can fully experience and enjoy the rest of what this trip has to offer!
Monday, August 10, 2009
And back in Jakarta...
We've made it back to Jakarta, safe and sound--and back in the lap of luxury at Connie and Kasmin's house. Somehow the 7 or 8 hour trip from Sentani to Jakarta was much more pleasant in the day time. The "day trip of Indonesian airports" was far more enjoyable than the night time version! The airport shops were open and we had the opportunity to wander around. Also, it wasn't the middle of the night and we didn't feel like we should be rightfully sleeping...
On the flight from Makassar to Jakarta (the final of the 3 legs) they were showing this hilarious (I mean, it wasn't meant to be hilarious) Indonesian film about this Muslim Indonesian man studying in Egypt for a Master's degree and his romantic journey. There were 4 separate women who were in love with him (one of whom was not a Muslim) and eventually he marries this girl that he met in an incident on a bus or train or something. Well, then the other girls are heartbroken and go through various trials and drama in response to his marriage. One of them accuses him of rape and he ends up in an Egyptian prison. Another one goes into a coma (the non-Muslim one), and she's the only one whose testimony can save him from the death penalty, so his newly-pregnant wife comes up with this plan that her husband should marry her also (while she's in a coma) so that she'll come out of the coma and testify on behalf of her new husband to get him set free. Which of course magically transpires (it turns out she has a heart anomaly). So now there's the three of them living together, two Muslims, one not, trying to make a polygamous situation work. We get to this point of the film and the plane lands. Grace and I were mortified because we had invested nearly two hours of our lives into this film and were left without the satisfaction of knowing how it ended!
So this morning at breakfast we found out that one of the maids, Nur (the cute one with the great smile), has already seen the movie and she told us how it ends. In case you think you're going to watch this life-changing film, don't read the next couple of lines, because i'm going to tell you how it ends: Maria (the one with the heart condition), dies. Of course, this was really the only way that the film could have been resolved because it is truly illogical to think that a polygamous marriage of differing religions could ever be successful. And this means that the first wife could remember the second one fondly, instead of with resentment.
All righty...there's the breakdown on THAT amazing film...HAHA!
Healthwise, I'm doing much better. I was much better yesterday than I'd been in nearly a week. My fever seems to be gone and no more chills or headaches. But I'm having trouble catching my breath properly, so every time I do anything that winds me in even a minor fashion is a struggle because I can't take proper breaths. It's a little bit scary and I'm hoping that as I continue my anti-biotic regimen it too will clear up (it seems to be associated with the cough that I still have).
Yesterday after we arrived at Connie and Kasmin's, Kasmin took us around to see what we might be interested in doing on our last days in Indonesia. He took us to an AMAZING country club that had a pool shaped like a lagoon with a huge slide that twisted down into it from a hill top treehouse. I think I fell a little in love in that moment :) There was also this great little display of batik that Kasmin told us was of very good quality, so I bought several souvenir items there (as did the other girls). We toured the facilities a bit more, seeing the massage area (where you can get an hour long massage for 16 dollars and a haircut for 5) and then headed off to the mall.
We decided that we wanted to get pedicures, and there was the option of watching a movie and getting delicious frozen yogurt as well. Unfortunately, the pedicures were not as nice an experience as one might have hoped. Janine was freaking out a little bit that the tools were not being properly cleaned and they did weird things like crack all of Grace's toes. I also had wait an extra half hour to even have my pedicure begin! So we now have painted toes that cost 4 dollars, and we would not have paid a penny more!
We then headed to a Batik store that's supposed to be pretty famous and pretty good. They had some nice things, but not exceptionally wonderful, so we opted not to buy much. After that little stop we headed out of the mall and across the way to have dinner at a Korean restuarant. The dinner was quite tasty, though the portions weren't fantastically large. By the end of the dinner, we were all exhausted and dragging ourselves back to the mall to catch a taxi back to Connie and Kasmin's. We found a taxi with ease, fortunately, and were too tired to either watch a movie or go get the yogurt. I think that's on the agenda for today at some point...
Now, we're off to pamper ourselves at the spa. I'm hoping they have some awesome packages that include a hot stone massage, because that's what my body is definitely craving...
Tomorrow, I'm off to Malaysia. And the girls are heading back to the US! The Indonesian adventure is rapidly coming to a close.
On the flight from Makassar to Jakarta (the final of the 3 legs) they were showing this hilarious (I mean, it wasn't meant to be hilarious) Indonesian film about this Muslim Indonesian man studying in Egypt for a Master's degree and his romantic journey. There were 4 separate women who were in love with him (one of whom was not a Muslim) and eventually he marries this girl that he met in an incident on a bus or train or something. Well, then the other girls are heartbroken and go through various trials and drama in response to his marriage. One of them accuses him of rape and he ends up in an Egyptian prison. Another one goes into a coma (the non-Muslim one), and she's the only one whose testimony can save him from the death penalty, so his newly-pregnant wife comes up with this plan that her husband should marry her also (while she's in a coma) so that she'll come out of the coma and testify on behalf of her new husband to get him set free. Which of course magically transpires (it turns out she has a heart anomaly). So now there's the three of them living together, two Muslims, one not, trying to make a polygamous situation work. We get to this point of the film and the plane lands. Grace and I were mortified because we had invested nearly two hours of our lives into this film and were left without the satisfaction of knowing how it ended!
So this morning at breakfast we found out that one of the maids, Nur (the cute one with the great smile), has already seen the movie and she told us how it ends. In case you think you're going to watch this life-changing film, don't read the next couple of lines, because i'm going to tell you how it ends: Maria (the one with the heart condition), dies. Of course, this was really the only way that the film could have been resolved because it is truly illogical to think that a polygamous marriage of differing religions could ever be successful. And this means that the first wife could remember the second one fondly, instead of with resentment.
All righty...there's the breakdown on THAT amazing film...HAHA!
Healthwise, I'm doing much better. I was much better yesterday than I'd been in nearly a week. My fever seems to be gone and no more chills or headaches. But I'm having trouble catching my breath properly, so every time I do anything that winds me in even a minor fashion is a struggle because I can't take proper breaths. It's a little bit scary and I'm hoping that as I continue my anti-biotic regimen it too will clear up (it seems to be associated with the cough that I still have).
Yesterday after we arrived at Connie and Kasmin's, Kasmin took us around to see what we might be interested in doing on our last days in Indonesia. He took us to an AMAZING country club that had a pool shaped like a lagoon with a huge slide that twisted down into it from a hill top treehouse. I think I fell a little in love in that moment :) There was also this great little display of batik that Kasmin told us was of very good quality, so I bought several souvenir items there (as did the other girls). We toured the facilities a bit more, seeing the massage area (where you can get an hour long massage for 16 dollars and a haircut for 5) and then headed off to the mall.
We decided that we wanted to get pedicures, and there was the option of watching a movie and getting delicious frozen yogurt as well. Unfortunately, the pedicures were not as nice an experience as one might have hoped. Janine was freaking out a little bit that the tools were not being properly cleaned and they did weird things like crack all of Grace's toes. I also had wait an extra half hour to even have my pedicure begin! So we now have painted toes that cost 4 dollars, and we would not have paid a penny more!
We then headed to a Batik store that's supposed to be pretty famous and pretty good. They had some nice things, but not exceptionally wonderful, so we opted not to buy much. After that little stop we headed out of the mall and across the way to have dinner at a Korean restuarant. The dinner was quite tasty, though the portions weren't fantastically large. By the end of the dinner, we were all exhausted and dragging ourselves back to the mall to catch a taxi back to Connie and Kasmin's. We found a taxi with ease, fortunately, and were too tired to either watch a movie or go get the yogurt. I think that's on the agenda for today at some point...
Now, we're off to pamper ourselves at the spa. I'm hoping they have some awesome packages that include a hot stone massage, because that's what my body is definitely craving...
Tomorrow, I'm off to Malaysia. And the girls are heading back to the US! The Indonesian adventure is rapidly coming to a close.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
A couple apologies...
I think I owe everyone a couple of apologies:
The first is for those of you who thought that maybe I had died since my last post alluded to blood tests...and then you didn't hear from me for several days. I am still alive, though sometimes it feels like barely so.
The second is because due to my illness (which is NOT malaria, by the way) I have been totally out of the random adventures that the other three girls have been embarking upon, so I will not be able to comment on them in my usual depth and detail.
I have some kind of infection or flu that has kept me down and out for the past 5 days or so. I've had a steady fever (that can be moderated by tylenol) and developed a hacking cough and just weakness and exhaustion. By some miracle, no one else on the team has gotten seriously ill (Janine has/had a cough, but is definitely on the road to recovery). I have seriously been spending my days cooped up in our little apartment, watching tv episodes i downloaded to my computer and trying to sleep as much as possible in the hope that my body will find the strength to recover.
Since I still haven't been getting better, I've started taking a course of antibiotics that will hopefully overcome whatever ridiculousness has been attacking my body. To those of you who have been praying for my speedy recovery, thank you. And can you please keep praying? And this point, I am so beyond tired of being sick and not being able to participate in anything. Especially since I am now preparing to begin the second half of my travels that will see me wandering through asian nations on my own, full health will be essential!
We leave for Jakarta tomorrow morning at 8am, and Wally will be on our flight. Somehow, that makes me feel safer about the whole trip. And the rest of the girls agree with me as well. We'll spend tonight packing up our things and trying to get as much rest as possible, since the plane atmosphere isn't incredibly conducive when it comes to fruitful rest.
We'll be in Jakarta for 2 days before we all leave on Wednesday. My flight into Kuala Lumpur leaves at 6.15pm and the girls' flight into Tokyo leaves at 10.15pm. It'll be weird to not be traveling with them anymore, to say goodbye and know that my trip is far from over.
Our final day of training on Friday went really well. We had some productive conversations and got some feedback from the participants. They were all so gracious and kind responding to our seminar. We took several group shots and then headed back to the house so Janine and Liz and Grace could get ready for the trip to the river. This would be the first of several activities that I would miss out on :(
Of course, from what I heard about the river, it was a little (or a lot) more intense than what had been promised, so I couldn't regret my decision to stay home and rest. Though it really would have been awesome to visit this truly blue river.
On Saturday, everyone headed to the beach in the morning (which reports indicate was once again very lovely), and once again I stayed behind. It's unfortunate because my rest hasn't been very quality--I wake up feeling more ill than when I went to sleep and drenched in perspiration (despite the A/C) or suffering from chills (despite the blanket). I'm getting quite tired of it all.
I must admit that I'm a little annoyed with God right now--He brings me all the way to Papua but doesn't allow me to participate in any of the exciting things available here? It just doesn't seem cool. My one solace is that the true reason I came here was to do the teacher training and despite my illness, I was there each morning and led the training in all the strategies that I had originally signed up to do. In that, I can see God's grace.
So, this has certainly been the least cheerful and exciting blog entry, and I promise to attempt better in the near future.
Lesson of the day:
(from Grace and Liz, who both suffered from coral attacks)
"Getting scratched by coral is not like a regular scratch. It stings!"
The first is for those of you who thought that maybe I had died since my last post alluded to blood tests...and then you didn't hear from me for several days. I am still alive, though sometimes it feels like barely so.
The second is because due to my illness (which is NOT malaria, by the way) I have been totally out of the random adventures that the other three girls have been embarking upon, so I will not be able to comment on them in my usual depth and detail.
I have some kind of infection or flu that has kept me down and out for the past 5 days or so. I've had a steady fever (that can be moderated by tylenol) and developed a hacking cough and just weakness and exhaustion. By some miracle, no one else on the team has gotten seriously ill (Janine has/had a cough, but is definitely on the road to recovery). I have seriously been spending my days cooped up in our little apartment, watching tv episodes i downloaded to my computer and trying to sleep as much as possible in the hope that my body will find the strength to recover.
Since I still haven't been getting better, I've started taking a course of antibiotics that will hopefully overcome whatever ridiculousness has been attacking my body. To those of you who have been praying for my speedy recovery, thank you. And can you please keep praying? And this point, I am so beyond tired of being sick and not being able to participate in anything. Especially since I am now preparing to begin the second half of my travels that will see me wandering through asian nations on my own, full health will be essential!
We leave for Jakarta tomorrow morning at 8am, and Wally will be on our flight. Somehow, that makes me feel safer about the whole trip. And the rest of the girls agree with me as well. We'll spend tonight packing up our things and trying to get as much rest as possible, since the plane atmosphere isn't incredibly conducive when it comes to fruitful rest.
We'll be in Jakarta for 2 days before we all leave on Wednesday. My flight into Kuala Lumpur leaves at 6.15pm and the girls' flight into Tokyo leaves at 10.15pm. It'll be weird to not be traveling with them anymore, to say goodbye and know that my trip is far from over.
Our final day of training on Friday went really well. We had some productive conversations and got some feedback from the participants. They were all so gracious and kind responding to our seminar. We took several group shots and then headed back to the house so Janine and Liz and Grace could get ready for the trip to the river. This would be the first of several activities that I would miss out on :(
Of course, from what I heard about the river, it was a little (or a lot) more intense than what had been promised, so I couldn't regret my decision to stay home and rest. Though it really would have been awesome to visit this truly blue river.
On Saturday, everyone headed to the beach in the morning (which reports indicate was once again very lovely), and once again I stayed behind. It's unfortunate because my rest hasn't been very quality--I wake up feeling more ill than when I went to sleep and drenched in perspiration (despite the A/C) or suffering from chills (despite the blanket). I'm getting quite tired of it all.
I must admit that I'm a little annoyed with God right now--He brings me all the way to Papua but doesn't allow me to participate in any of the exciting things available here? It just doesn't seem cool. My one solace is that the true reason I came here was to do the teacher training and despite my illness, I was there each morning and led the training in all the strategies that I had originally signed up to do. In that, I can see God's grace.
So, this has certainly been the least cheerful and exciting blog entry, and I promise to attempt better in the near future.
Lesson of the day:
(from Grace and Liz, who both suffered from coral attacks)
"Getting scratched by coral is not like a regular scratch. It stings!"
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A short one
This update is going to be on the shorter side because I'm still not feeling as well as I should. My fever hasn't gotten back up to 102 degrees again, but last night it was just over 100. Since it went back up, I went and checked with Joan to get her input and she said I should have a blood test done to make sure there's nothing crazy wrong with me. So my blood should be being read as I write, and I'll know this afternoon if I have some kind of super evil disease. So please be praying AGAINST evil diseases and FOR the rapid return of my health. RAPID return.
In addition, Janine and I share a nasty cough, but hers has cost her a portion of her voice, so be praying that that's defeated as well.
After training yesterday we went and ate leftovers at Joan's, followed by a quick trip to the hypermarket for breakfast supplies. I have this fondness for exploring international grocery stores that I think must be a little bit on the odd side. In Kenya, I was obsessed with Nakumatt. In Australia, there was this store called Coles that I loved. There's something just kind of intriguing about wandering the aisles of the store and noticing the items that are so similar to those found at home, and examining products that you've never seen before. Perhaps I am just totally insane, and this is a total possibility, or maybe I'm just a little unique (Grace says she likes wandering foreign grocery stores too!).
We relaxed for the afternoon and got ready to head to Jayapura. Jayapura is the administrative capital of the island (if I'm remembering the information that Wally gave us correctly). And when we were driving there, as you round a bend you can see the lights of the city and it truly looks like a city. I think we were all struck by that.
But before we got to Jayapura, we stopped at Invasion Beach. This beach has huge rusted out tanks from WWII set up on cement pedestals. Apparently they used to simply stick out of the beach, but in the past couple of years people have decided to dig them out and pay them proper dues (or something like that). What was kind of hilarious is that as we drove up to the beach, the tanks seemed to kind of just fit in! They didn't stand out at all--you looked and kind of just thought to yourself, "oh look, there's a rusted out tank on a cement pedestal in the middle of the beach" as though it was something one sees everyday. Which it obviously is not. So we took the requisite photos near the tanks, on the beach, and Annika teased us by suggesting that this was the "snorkeling" beach we'd be visiting in Saturday (this would not have boded well for that adventure since there were crashed boats on the beach and trash floating at the water's edge). A look of panic crossed Janine's face, but when Annika broke into a huge grin, she let out a sigh of relief and a little chuckle.
Some random dude approached Grace and wanted to know where she was from and how long she would be here. And when he got up to leave, he mentioned something about giving her his address...which she politely refused. It was ridiculous since she was obviously a very available female, what with the pregnant belly and all!! :)
We stopped at a little row of souvenir shops and wandered through them for a while. While there are lots of cool things (little bags made from bark that has been converted into string and then woven and paintings on bark, etc), I was really trying to get things that people would find uses for and not think were incredibly random or not so useful. Grace did buy a gourd for Atticus...What is a gourd, you may ask? And why did she purchase one for Atticus? Well, in many of the interior tribes, a "gourd" is what the men wear. And it's all that they wear, so it merely covers up a man's...private parts. Some of them are designed to be "roomy" so that things like money can be stored in there. How multi-functional, right? :)
So we continued on the winding, twisting road to get to Jayapura. We made it to the restaurant which was little more than a hole in the wall (I wouldn't have known there was a dining room except that Wally pointed us inside). We got to select our fish to be grilled and brought to the table, and it was all served with a helping of rice, a bowl of soup, and tons of various spices for the fish. This fish may have been the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. There were few bones, and the taste was just superb. When you poured the soup broth over chunks of fish and rice and ate it all together, it was a simply divine experience. I don't know what spices they used to cook the fish--the taste wasn't strong--but it was more than satisfactory. And the servings were huge; almost no one ate more than half what they were served.
They also had this cool lemon basil at the table that smelled amazing and was great for cutting through grease on the fingers. We each had little dipping bowls to cleanse our fingers (since some of us were eating with them) and we added this herb to the bowls to give a lovely fragrance, and help keep the fingers clean. I also got to have an unsweetened iced tea to drink and it was SOOOO good! I'd really missed iced tea, since I used to drink it so much in the US. It was a great treat.
After dinner, Joan and Wally went to get haircuts (how funny, right? Haircuts at 8pm?) and we went to check out this particular street known for selling pearls and gold of good quality and price. None of us was too interested in the gold (what can I say--we're cheap!) but when we came across some pearls and heard their prices, we were ready to buy, haha! Unfortunately, in one of the stores we were ready to make some purchases with the man at the counter who had given us fairly decent prices, when a woman from the back came out and doubled the prices. We left that store pretty quickly because that was just not acceptable behavior.
We walked on and came across another store with a decent collection of pearls and they had even better prices! I'm not going to tell you what the price was because some of you might be getting these as souvenirs, haha! But Liz, Grace and I each bought 5+ necklaces...and Janine bought one. It was pretty entertaining because she sat there debating between two necklaces and ended up getting only the one. But the little shopkeepers were so kind and so helpful, and tried to understand our meager hand motions, even though we had a translator with us (Annika).
By the end of the pearl adventure (and it was a long one, as we sat there inspecting stand after strand), we were sweaty, soggy, and exhausted. We climbed back into the car ready to head home, but Joan discovered that we had found an excellent price and went and did some shopping of her own. And from what I hear, she put the three of us to shame in her purchases!
Today was the second to last day of training, and it's exciting because we can definitely see the way in which the teachers have opened up to us, and to each other. Grace did a pictorial input about clouds, Janine did the narrative (which the teachers were really excited about--they saw a lot of potential for their classrooms and asked questions about how to make it usable in their context. Then I started the expert groups, calling people up by number. We did groups one and two today, and while some of the teachers were doing those with me, I had them working in groups on creating a "Here, There" poem (Tina and Juliet, you will remember the "soggy monsoons in the fields" line from one of these). By the end of the training, every group had created AT LEAST one poem and taught their expert group information to the rest of their table group. I feel good about how it went, and we'll finish them tomorrow, and then do a class-wide process grid. It should be good, as long as I'm well enough to actually be in the class at 8am tomorrow. I'll need lots of sleep tonight.
So it looks like my suggestion that this would be a short entry was a total lie, so I apologize. But if you know me, you know that I'm a talker...and this plays out in my blogging as well.
I really can't believe that tomorrow is our last day of training. It's gone by so quickly! I hope to have happy stories to share with you tomorrow as well...
In addition, Janine and I share a nasty cough, but hers has cost her a portion of her voice, so be praying that that's defeated as well.
After training yesterday we went and ate leftovers at Joan's, followed by a quick trip to the hypermarket for breakfast supplies. I have this fondness for exploring international grocery stores that I think must be a little bit on the odd side. In Kenya, I was obsessed with Nakumatt. In Australia, there was this store called Coles that I loved. There's something just kind of intriguing about wandering the aisles of the store and noticing the items that are so similar to those found at home, and examining products that you've never seen before. Perhaps I am just totally insane, and this is a total possibility, or maybe I'm just a little unique (Grace says she likes wandering foreign grocery stores too!).
We relaxed for the afternoon and got ready to head to Jayapura. Jayapura is the administrative capital of the island (if I'm remembering the information that Wally gave us correctly). And when we were driving there, as you round a bend you can see the lights of the city and it truly looks like a city. I think we were all struck by that.
But before we got to Jayapura, we stopped at Invasion Beach. This beach has huge rusted out tanks from WWII set up on cement pedestals. Apparently they used to simply stick out of the beach, but in the past couple of years people have decided to dig them out and pay them proper dues (or something like that). What was kind of hilarious is that as we drove up to the beach, the tanks seemed to kind of just fit in! They didn't stand out at all--you looked and kind of just thought to yourself, "oh look, there's a rusted out tank on a cement pedestal in the middle of the beach" as though it was something one sees everyday. Which it obviously is not. So we took the requisite photos near the tanks, on the beach, and Annika teased us by suggesting that this was the "snorkeling" beach we'd be visiting in Saturday (this would not have boded well for that adventure since there were crashed boats on the beach and trash floating at the water's edge). A look of panic crossed Janine's face, but when Annika broke into a huge grin, she let out a sigh of relief and a little chuckle.
Some random dude approached Grace and wanted to know where she was from and how long she would be here. And when he got up to leave, he mentioned something about giving her his address...which she politely refused. It was ridiculous since she was obviously a very available female, what with the pregnant belly and all!! :)
We stopped at a little row of souvenir shops and wandered through them for a while. While there are lots of cool things (little bags made from bark that has been converted into string and then woven and paintings on bark, etc), I was really trying to get things that people would find uses for and not think were incredibly random or not so useful. Grace did buy a gourd for Atticus...What is a gourd, you may ask? And why did she purchase one for Atticus? Well, in many of the interior tribes, a "gourd" is what the men wear. And it's all that they wear, so it merely covers up a man's...private parts. Some of them are designed to be "roomy" so that things like money can be stored in there. How multi-functional, right? :)
So we continued on the winding, twisting road to get to Jayapura. We made it to the restaurant which was little more than a hole in the wall (I wouldn't have known there was a dining room except that Wally pointed us inside). We got to select our fish to be grilled and brought to the table, and it was all served with a helping of rice, a bowl of soup, and tons of various spices for the fish. This fish may have been the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. There were few bones, and the taste was just superb. When you poured the soup broth over chunks of fish and rice and ate it all together, it was a simply divine experience. I don't know what spices they used to cook the fish--the taste wasn't strong--but it was more than satisfactory. And the servings were huge; almost no one ate more than half what they were served.
They also had this cool lemon basil at the table that smelled amazing and was great for cutting through grease on the fingers. We each had little dipping bowls to cleanse our fingers (since some of us were eating with them) and we added this herb to the bowls to give a lovely fragrance, and help keep the fingers clean. I also got to have an unsweetened iced tea to drink and it was SOOOO good! I'd really missed iced tea, since I used to drink it so much in the US. It was a great treat.
After dinner, Joan and Wally went to get haircuts (how funny, right? Haircuts at 8pm?) and we went to check out this particular street known for selling pearls and gold of good quality and price. None of us was too interested in the gold (what can I say--we're cheap!) but when we came across some pearls and heard their prices, we were ready to buy, haha! Unfortunately, in one of the stores we were ready to make some purchases with the man at the counter who had given us fairly decent prices, when a woman from the back came out and doubled the prices. We left that store pretty quickly because that was just not acceptable behavior.
We walked on and came across another store with a decent collection of pearls and they had even better prices! I'm not going to tell you what the price was because some of you might be getting these as souvenirs, haha! But Liz, Grace and I each bought 5+ necklaces...and Janine bought one. It was pretty entertaining because she sat there debating between two necklaces and ended up getting only the one. But the little shopkeepers were so kind and so helpful, and tried to understand our meager hand motions, even though we had a translator with us (Annika).
By the end of the pearl adventure (and it was a long one, as we sat there inspecting stand after strand), we were sweaty, soggy, and exhausted. We climbed back into the car ready to head home, but Joan discovered that we had found an excellent price and went and did some shopping of her own. And from what I hear, she put the three of us to shame in her purchases!
Today was the second to last day of training, and it's exciting because we can definitely see the way in which the teachers have opened up to us, and to each other. Grace did a pictorial input about clouds, Janine did the narrative (which the teachers were really excited about--they saw a lot of potential for their classrooms and asked questions about how to make it usable in their context. Then I started the expert groups, calling people up by number. We did groups one and two today, and while some of the teachers were doing those with me, I had them working in groups on creating a "Here, There" poem (Tina and Juliet, you will remember the "soggy monsoons in the fields" line from one of these). By the end of the training, every group had created AT LEAST one poem and taught their expert group information to the rest of their table group. I feel good about how it went, and we'll finish them tomorrow, and then do a class-wide process grid. It should be good, as long as I'm well enough to actually be in the class at 8am tomorrow. I'll need lots of sleep tonight.
So it looks like my suggestion that this would be a short entry was a total lie, so I apologize. But if you know me, you know that I'm a talker...and this plays out in my blogging as well.
I really can't believe that tomorrow is our last day of training. It's gone by so quickly! I hope to have happy stories to share with you tomorrow as well...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Scenic Outlook
Yesterday, after we finished checking our email (and I finished blogging, haha) Wally took us to the local supermal to have lunch and check things out. We ate at an Indonesian restaurant (though we did also have the option of eating at "Papa Ron's Pizza" or even "Texas Chicken") and Wally ordered several items for us to share. One of them was a hot plate that came to us sizzling and the other was black bean beef. We also each had a plate of nasi goreng to eat with the meal. Grace was really hungry and not only finished her plate of the rice and meat, but ate the leftovers of Janine's as well! It was pretty hilarious that she was even able to eat that much...but she did.
After lunch, Liz and I went to the ATM center (though Liz's card got rejected for some reason...we think it's because it has a MasterCard logo rather than a visa logo) and then met Grace and Janine downstairs at the hypermarket. Wally had a meeting to get to so we didn't have a lot of time to explore the mall, but I insisted on buying a donut from the Indonesia Dunkin Donuts store (for those curious, it tasted much the same as an American Dunkin Donut).
Wally dropped us off back home and we spent the afternoon reading before we were to leave for our scenic picnic dinner.
Throughout the day I had noticed that I was getting chills randomly (which is bizarre in this climate), and especially when we were sitting in the living room near the air conditioner. I had to put on my sweater because I was so cold, which was really unusual because I thrive in air-conditioned situations. I knew this was not good, but I didn't want to complain.
At 4.30 we got ready for our scenic dinner, and i covered myself as best I could. Some moment of insanity had made me decide not to bring any kind of pants with me, so I wore a long dress and my sweater for our little adventure. We stopped to pick up Annika who would be joining us for dinner.
The drive up the mountain was nice, and it turns out that this scenic spot for dinner was actually on a military base, so we had to check in with the post before we were allowed to enter. As luck would have it, the entrance gates to the specific spot Wally and Joan wanted to show us were locked with chains. But Joan was insistent that there was a way in, so we drove round a bit and Joan found an entrance on the other side of the hill. Of course, this entrance involved fighting off plants and climbing through a trash hill, but we made it to the view eventually. And it was quite beautiful. We could see out over Lake Sentani and the mountains--it was lovely. We walked down a little path to a perfect picture location and just admired the changing color of the sky and the haze that seemed to cover the mountains. We ate dinner in a little gazebo (quickly, because we were supposed to leave at 6pm, when it got dark) and then trekked back to the car in the quickly darkening evening. Joan and Wally wanted to show us a video of an interior tribe on Papua, so we headed to Annika's apartment to watch it.
The movie told the story of the Moi people, who had never been reached by foreigners, and their transition and eventual acceptance of Christianity (at least some of them). I'm still processing that movie, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I need to think on it more.
It was while were at Annika's that I started feeling really ill. My head felt like it was on fire and I felt light-headed and weak. We took my temperature and it was a whopping 102 degrees. The last time I had a fever I think I was in high school, so it was kinda crazy. We went home and I showered and then went fairly quickly to bed. I had taken some advil and the fever went down a tiny bit in the night, but I was still feeling pretty gross when I woke up. I decided to sleep some more and try to make it to the second half of the training. I took more advil hoping to bring down my temperature, and when I woke up about an hour later, my fever had broken and it was back down to normal. I'm being careful to monitor it today, but so far it's hanging around normalcy. I still feel pretty weak, so I'm definitely planning to take it easy the next couple of days, and I'm praying that it's really just a flu bug and nothing more serious than that. Please pray for that as well, and for my total healing.
Grace was again able to talk to Jeremy last night, which we were all glad for. But I think we all called it a pretty early night.
I arrived at the school right around the normal break time, and class was still going. Break was about 30 minutes later than usual, which was ok because it meant that I got to still do my part of the training today--poems and sentence patterning chart. It seemed to go over well--people commented on the way in which they could see the poems being applicable in their classrooms. We also had the opportunity to write a poem together, which I think was fun. Liz and Grace and Janine said they thought it was good. Again, God's provision, since I was probably only functioning at about 65% capacity!
This afternoon the plan is to go to Jayapura, and I hope I feel well enough to join in that. We'll stop at invasion beach for photos and then eat at Joan and Wally's favorite seafood restaurant. Yummy! Hope to fill you in again tomorrow...
Lesson of the day:
(this one's from Grace)
"Crocs suck."
After lunch, Liz and I went to the ATM center (though Liz's card got rejected for some reason...we think it's because it has a MasterCard logo rather than a visa logo) and then met Grace and Janine downstairs at the hypermarket. Wally had a meeting to get to so we didn't have a lot of time to explore the mall, but I insisted on buying a donut from the Indonesia Dunkin Donuts store (for those curious, it tasted much the same as an American Dunkin Donut).
Wally dropped us off back home and we spent the afternoon reading before we were to leave for our scenic picnic dinner.
Throughout the day I had noticed that I was getting chills randomly (which is bizarre in this climate), and especially when we were sitting in the living room near the air conditioner. I had to put on my sweater because I was so cold, which was really unusual because I thrive in air-conditioned situations. I knew this was not good, but I didn't want to complain.
At 4.30 we got ready for our scenic dinner, and i covered myself as best I could. Some moment of insanity had made me decide not to bring any kind of pants with me, so I wore a long dress and my sweater for our little adventure. We stopped to pick up Annika who would be joining us for dinner.
The drive up the mountain was nice, and it turns out that this scenic spot for dinner was actually on a military base, so we had to check in with the post before we were allowed to enter. As luck would have it, the entrance gates to the specific spot Wally and Joan wanted to show us were locked with chains. But Joan was insistent that there was a way in, so we drove round a bit and Joan found an entrance on the other side of the hill. Of course, this entrance involved fighting off plants and climbing through a trash hill, but we made it to the view eventually. And it was quite beautiful. We could see out over Lake Sentani and the mountains--it was lovely. We walked down a little path to a perfect picture location and just admired the changing color of the sky and the haze that seemed to cover the mountains. We ate dinner in a little gazebo (quickly, because we were supposed to leave at 6pm, when it got dark) and then trekked back to the car in the quickly darkening evening. Joan and Wally wanted to show us a video of an interior tribe on Papua, so we headed to Annika's apartment to watch it.
The movie told the story of the Moi people, who had never been reached by foreigners, and their transition and eventual acceptance of Christianity (at least some of them). I'm still processing that movie, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I need to think on it more.
It was while were at Annika's that I started feeling really ill. My head felt like it was on fire and I felt light-headed and weak. We took my temperature and it was a whopping 102 degrees. The last time I had a fever I think I was in high school, so it was kinda crazy. We went home and I showered and then went fairly quickly to bed. I had taken some advil and the fever went down a tiny bit in the night, but I was still feeling pretty gross when I woke up. I decided to sleep some more and try to make it to the second half of the training. I took more advil hoping to bring down my temperature, and when I woke up about an hour later, my fever had broken and it was back down to normal. I'm being careful to monitor it today, but so far it's hanging around normalcy. I still feel pretty weak, so I'm definitely planning to take it easy the next couple of days, and I'm praying that it's really just a flu bug and nothing more serious than that. Please pray for that as well, and for my total healing.
Grace was again able to talk to Jeremy last night, which we were all glad for. But I think we all called it a pretty early night.
I arrived at the school right around the normal break time, and class was still going. Break was about 30 minutes later than usual, which was ok because it meant that I got to still do my part of the training today--poems and sentence patterning chart. It seemed to go over well--people commented on the way in which they could see the poems being applicable in their classrooms. We also had the opportunity to write a poem together, which I think was fun. Liz and Grace and Janine said they thought it was good. Again, God's provision, since I was probably only functioning at about 65% capacity!
This afternoon the plan is to go to Jayapura, and I hope I feel well enough to join in that. We'll stop at invasion beach for photos and then eat at Joan and Wally's favorite seafood restaurant. Yummy! Hope to fill you in again tomorrow...
Lesson of the day:
(this one's from Grace)
"Crocs suck."
Monday, August 3, 2009
As promised, here's more...
So, yesterday was our first day of training. It was a lot of foundational material, going over the kinds of research that support the way we're training teachers to organize, run, and teach in the classroom. We spent a lot of time on introductions, which I think was good. We had originally hoped to have translation occurring at the individual table groups (because the there are fairly wide range of English proficiencies in this classroom), but at the break time it became pretty clear that that wasn't working so well, so Annika, the administrator at Sekolah Papua Harapan, took over. Though she wasn't crazy about the idea (she felt a lot of pressure because a lot of the stuff that was being discussed was pretty high level vocabulary, but I think she did a great job. Grace and Liz took turns going over important points, but it was kind of cool because a lot of the things that they were saying was familiar to the students due to their previous training.
The only real strategy that we went over was the pictorial input that I model while speaking Spanish. Because I was ill with a cough and sore throat (which are unfortunately still present), there was a lot of coughing as I moved through the drawing. But fortunately, the teachers had grace for me and seemed to once again enjoy the input. One of the teachers came up to me after the session was over and told me that it had given her a lot of inspiration for her own classroom. It's really awesome to have a veteran teacher tell me, miss youth and inexperience, that what I've presented is inspiring. Once again, God working through us and paving the way for us is just so totally obvious. I know that throughout the training I've felt that it's totally His strength that's making the way--because I've got nothing!!
The training ended just before noon, and then we headed out to visit Sekolah Papua Harapan, the school that Wally started here in Papua. First we saw the new complex that they're developing for the new year, which will provide them with a lot more space and several more classrooms. They're getting a great rate for the space and the property as well, which is awesome. We then went to the current location of the school, and entered to see the students playing bingo in English! It was pretty adorable. We were shown around the school, which was much nicer than any of us anticipated. The dorms that students (who are from remote areas of this island) live in is really nice, and the dorm parents have an adorable 1 year old baby named Galvin. The school has two stories and the upstairs portion contains the actual classroom while the downstairs portion has a large room for play and the office space for the employees. We ate lunch at the school, which was DELICIOUS, except that I was feeling so ill that I could hardly enjoy it. :( Poor Liz at some point tripped over a raised portion of concrete and has two unfortunate bruises on her thigh to prove it. We've decided that she really just wanted to commiserate with the rest of our battle wounds from the "light hike" (read: trekking adventure) the other day.
After lunch, we dropped off a couple of students from a local program and then headed back to our apartment. A little later we came and visited the computer lab (which is how I got an entry in yesterday) and then I went back to the apartment and tried to take a nap so I wouldn't be feeling so ill. The afternoon was really quiet--the girls talked about the plan for today and then spent some time journaling and reading, after which we headed upstairs for dinner with Joan and Wally, and Annika joined us as well. Dinner was sooo yummy, and I was finally beginning to feel a tad bit better.
When we went back downstairs to get ready for bed, we all sat around talking for awhile, and it was some really great quality time for us. We also spent some time praying, initially for Janine who has the same throat disease that I have, and then for our team as a whole. It was pretty quality. :) One of the things that has been truly awesome about this trip (at least for me) is the way that we have gotten to know each other as people, and shared a lot about ourselves. Our friendships have definitely become deeper and stronger, which I think is one of the most rewarding points of the trip so far. Grace and I sat up talking, first in the living room, and then into the bedroom that we share, until midnight. Which is really late here, especially since we've been getting up between 5 and 6 am each day!
This morning we made breakfast as usual, and then headed up to the classroom. Many of the teachers were there waiting for us, but we weren't late, I promise!
Janine spent a lot of time going over classroom management and setup ideas, which seemed to go over really well and be received with interest by the teachers. Then Grace went through the content dictionary, I reprocessed the water cycle in Spanish, and Liz led an activity about the water cycle. All went well again. One thing that's great about this team is that it's composed of a group of really engaging speakers, so even for the students who have a difficult time understanding English, they're paying attention to our inflections and our movements to get cues, and then listening to the translation for information to write down and process. We're glad for this because one of our concerns was that students would zone out during the English portion, which isn't helpful since we're really trying to model a language acquisition classroom. The hope would be that everyone would get some new language (and strategies, of course) out of this seminar.
Today we're going down to the town to have lunch (since the international school where we're staying and doing the teacher training is up on a hill, pretty removed from the town itself) and we'll probably visit the Supermal here...maybe not as exciting as climbing over river rocks, but a piece of the story nonetheless!
On a more personal note, I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better, though I do still have a rather evil cough. Please keep me, and the whole team in your prayers.
In addition, a couple of days ago there was a local flight out of Sentani (by the carrier Merpati, and Indonesian airline, but not the one we're flying) that has gone missing, and is assumed to have crashed. It happened on the day of the crazy storm on the trek to the waterfalls, so the best guess is that bad weather caused the crash. As we'll be flying back to Jakarta on a local airline in a few days, please keep our safe travel in your prayers as well.
Lesson of the day:
Mosquitoes are capable of biting through layers of clothing-- as I have two bug bites on my booty to prove it (and Gracie has generously dubbed me "sweet cheeks," haha!).
The only real strategy that we went over was the pictorial input that I model while speaking Spanish. Because I was ill with a cough and sore throat (which are unfortunately still present), there was a lot of coughing as I moved through the drawing. But fortunately, the teachers had grace for me and seemed to once again enjoy the input. One of the teachers came up to me after the session was over and told me that it had given her a lot of inspiration for her own classroom. It's really awesome to have a veteran teacher tell me, miss youth and inexperience, that what I've presented is inspiring. Once again, God working through us and paving the way for us is just so totally obvious. I know that throughout the training I've felt that it's totally His strength that's making the way--because I've got nothing!!
The training ended just before noon, and then we headed out to visit Sekolah Papua Harapan, the school that Wally started here in Papua. First we saw the new complex that they're developing for the new year, which will provide them with a lot more space and several more classrooms. They're getting a great rate for the space and the property as well, which is awesome. We then went to the current location of the school, and entered to see the students playing bingo in English! It was pretty adorable. We were shown around the school, which was much nicer than any of us anticipated. The dorms that students (who are from remote areas of this island) live in is really nice, and the dorm parents have an adorable 1 year old baby named Galvin. The school has two stories and the upstairs portion contains the actual classroom while the downstairs portion has a large room for play and the office space for the employees. We ate lunch at the school, which was DELICIOUS, except that I was feeling so ill that I could hardly enjoy it. :( Poor Liz at some point tripped over a raised portion of concrete and has two unfortunate bruises on her thigh to prove it. We've decided that she really just wanted to commiserate with the rest of our battle wounds from the "light hike" (read: trekking adventure) the other day.
After lunch, we dropped off a couple of students from a local program and then headed back to our apartment. A little later we came and visited the computer lab (which is how I got an entry in yesterday) and then I went back to the apartment and tried to take a nap so I wouldn't be feeling so ill. The afternoon was really quiet--the girls talked about the plan for today and then spent some time journaling and reading, after which we headed upstairs for dinner with Joan and Wally, and Annika joined us as well. Dinner was sooo yummy, and I was finally beginning to feel a tad bit better.
When we went back downstairs to get ready for bed, we all sat around talking for awhile, and it was some really great quality time for us. We also spent some time praying, initially for Janine who has the same throat disease that I have, and then for our team as a whole. It was pretty quality. :) One of the things that has been truly awesome about this trip (at least for me) is the way that we have gotten to know each other as people, and shared a lot about ourselves. Our friendships have definitely become deeper and stronger, which I think is one of the most rewarding points of the trip so far. Grace and I sat up talking, first in the living room, and then into the bedroom that we share, until midnight. Which is really late here, especially since we've been getting up between 5 and 6 am each day!
This morning we made breakfast as usual, and then headed up to the classroom. Many of the teachers were there waiting for us, but we weren't late, I promise!
Janine spent a lot of time going over classroom management and setup ideas, which seemed to go over really well and be received with interest by the teachers. Then Grace went through the content dictionary, I reprocessed the water cycle in Spanish, and Liz led an activity about the water cycle. All went well again. One thing that's great about this team is that it's composed of a group of really engaging speakers, so even for the students who have a difficult time understanding English, they're paying attention to our inflections and our movements to get cues, and then listening to the translation for information to write down and process. We're glad for this because one of our concerns was that students would zone out during the English portion, which isn't helpful since we're really trying to model a language acquisition classroom. The hope would be that everyone would get some new language (and strategies, of course) out of this seminar.
Today we're going down to the town to have lunch (since the international school where we're staying and doing the teacher training is up on a hill, pretty removed from the town itself) and we'll probably visit the Supermal here...maybe not as exciting as climbing over river rocks, but a piece of the story nonetheless!
On a more personal note, I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better, though I do still have a rather evil cough. Please keep me, and the whole team in your prayers.
In addition, a couple of days ago there was a local flight out of Sentani (by the carrier Merpati, and Indonesian airline, but not the one we're flying) that has gone missing, and is assumed to have crashed. It happened on the day of the crazy storm on the trek to the waterfalls, so the best guess is that bad weather caused the crash. As we'll be flying back to Jakarta on a local airline in a few days, please keep our safe travel in your prayers as well.
Lesson of the day:
Mosquitoes are capable of biting through layers of clothing-- as I have two bug bites on my booty to prove it (and Gracie has generously dubbed me "sweet cheeks," haha!).
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