pic links

i was in jakarta this weekend and was finally able to upload a bunch of pics!

http://ohio.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151393&l=acd33&id=12311763>

http://ohio.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2158240&l=755b8&id=12311763

I took this pic from the airplane today

this is a pic of me and chozin (an OU friend) from today, he was stopping through Malang on the way to Jogya so we got lunch, this little outdoor restaurant behind us is quite close to my house, I have a feeling I am going to become a regular.

so since i was in Jakarta, we stayed at a hotel, and on saturday night me, jess, jamie, and jen stayed in the same room. apparently i was talking in my sleep....in indonesian haha,"tidak bisa, tidak di sini" or something like that jess said.

on friday in Jakarta we went to a lunch at the AMINEF office with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, so that was pretty cool. We also pulled a cliche tourist move and went to the Hard Rock Cafe friday night :)

one whole week

ok I am going to try and put some pics in here, but this internet conection is really slow so I do not know if it wil work. I have been in Singosari now for a week. Sometimes I get lost, like I take the microlet (public tranportation thingy) too far and have to get off and take one going back the other way; or one of the first few days I forgot exactly where my house was and my taxi driver and I drove up and down the street looking for my street quite a few times. Don't worry though, I've got it down now. My power at my house goes out sometimes, the first 2 times I got really freaked out because I was not prepared at all, but I am ready for it now. Lots of candles and a flashlight. I am at the internet cafe right now and have just noticed that where is the love by the blackeyed peas is playing in the background. It is also funny how often I hear Britney Spears songs when I am shopping and stuff.

this is my house! the only pic that would upload right now, I will try to get more one later.

Singosari/Malang

I promised pics of the volcano (tangkoban perahu) and the hot springs (Ciater):


a lot has happened in the past week or so. The rest of orientation was good, everyone became good friends, so when orientation was over we we head out to dinner, go shopping or go out (yes there are places to go out in inodnesia).

(me, catherine, and samson in the background)


I would love to put up pics but my brilliant self has misplaced (aka lost) the cord that connects my camera to the computer. hopefully I will find that soon.

SO I moved. I am now in Singosari, it is right next to Malang. We flew here on Wednesday (Jen, Tam, and I had the same flight--thank goodness). The airport was hell (sorry for the language but there is no better adjective for it). First of all, it is only supposed to take 2 hours to get from Bandung to Jakarta, where the airport is. It took us FOUR hours. Almost all of us were on the bus, most people got their flights pushed back, but we couldn't because there is only one flight from Jakarta to Malang everyday, and it leaves at 1pm. So we get dropped off a little after noon, each of us have 2 luggage and 2 carryons, all weighing a ridiculous amount. We are trying to check in, struggling profusely to speak Indonesian to the guy at the counter. We all have to pay extra because for domestic flights there is a 24kilo limit per bag, and mine weigh at least 25 each. We finally got it figured out with the help of a super nice Air Sriwijaya employee and end up making our flight (it actually was delayed 40 minutes, freaking out for nothing haha).

When we got to Malang, my counterpart Bu Youni, two other teachers, Bu Elfi and Pak Tiks, and my headmaster, Bu Sri, picked me up and took me out to dinner. They are sooo nice! Then they took me to my house, my very own house! It is so nice and it is also big (anyone want to visit?). It has two bedrooms and a living room in the front. Then there is a door that opens to the back which is a large open space without a roof over it (it is pretty cool). Off of that there is another living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen (those have doors and roofs, don't worry). There was no AC or western shower there, so I inquired about it (because it is a requirement in our contracts) and they were so nice about it! Within 24 hours I had a shower and an AC. I have yet to sleep at my house though (I have only been here two nights). My friend Jen lives like 15 minutes away so I have stayed there, we have both been a little nervous to sleep alone at night, plus it is easy to get homesick when you are by yourself. Last night we got super lost trying to take the public transport, Mikrolet, from my house to her house. We totally passed where we were supposed to get off by at least 20 minutes. We got home though :) Her counterpart freaked though and had her headmaster pick us up at her school haha, we were like 2 minutes away from Jen's house.

Yesterday I went to my school for the first time. It is called SMK Muhammadiyah 3. They introduced in front of all the students (I think there are about 500) after the morning announcements. They gave me flowers and then made me talk in front of EVERYONE (those of you who know me well know that I do not fair well with that, things like twitching normally occur--luckily none of that popped up this time).

Today was Indonesian Independence Day (Hari Kemerdekaan). 62 years. Bu Youni picked me up from Jen's on her motorbike, I think I need to get one--I love those things--and we went to school. They had a elaborate flag ceremony and then I helped give out prizes for games that they played the day before. I just hung around with the other teachers, ate rice for breakfast haha, and got to know some of the students. I keep meeting so many people I will never remember all of their names. I think my Indonesian is improving though, I am able to hold conversations with people and get my point accross and understand their points.

My friend Layne from OU taught in Malang last year and has left some helpful contacts for Jen and I. I think her friend Win is going to help us get set up with the internet tonight, so then I will be able to Skype, AIM, and keep up with this thing.
my address here is:

Jalan Perumahan Bumi
Mondoroko Sederhana
blok F3
Singosari
Indonesia

That is enough for now I think, hopefully I will be able to get some pics up soon!

Getting Here and First Week in Indonesia

It took a long time to get here, and it was not very fun. It was definately worth it though. Saying good bye at the airport was hard, and the long flights ahead did not make it much easier. The flight from Charlotte to Chicago was a few hours, Chicago to Hong Kong was 15 HOURS! ahhhh. I'm not going to lie, I cried more than once on the plane. The Hong Kong airport was pretty cool, we had a four hour layover. Most of the other ETA's arrived in Hong Kong, then we met the rest in Singapore. We spent the night in Sinagpore and then we arrived in Jakarta last Sunday. I am now at the Hotel Jayakarta in Bandung. It is very nice. Bandung is the 4th biggest city in Indonesia, it is HUGE.

Orientation goes pretty much everyday from 8 until somewhere between 4 and 5. We break for about an hour for lunch between 12 and 1. We have been doing things like learning about all the really bad things that can happen to us, what sicknesses we can get, where in the country we aren't allowed to go, how to teach, different teaching methods, and the we have a little bit of Bahasa Indonesia lessons everyday. We only have a half of a day of orientation on Saturdays and we are off on Sundays.

I have gotten to do some pretty fun things so far. One day last week, my Indonesian friends from Ohio University came to Bandung (well Lewina lives here) and we went out to dinner at this awesome place called the View, it overlooked Bandung.

Also, a friend of a friend from OU who lives here in Bandung and has a radio show, Anggie, asked if I would come to her station and talk on the radio, I said only if I could bring 2 friends. So me, Jen , and Erica went to an Indonesian radio station and talked on air! They asked us if we knew any Indonesian songs, and I said I knew KKEB. They asked if I would sing the refrain, and I said only if the one DJ, Una, would sing it with me, so we did. After we finished the show Anggie and her friends took us out to dinner at another cool restaurant, Cafe Conggo, that over looks Bandung.

Yesterday, Lewina took us shopping and I bought a bunch of tunics that I can wear while I teach, and then we went to an Indonesian mall to meet up with Adila (another OUer who is home for the summer).

We did school visits last week. They split us up into different groups and took us to schools in Bandung that will be similar to the schools that we will be teaching at in our cities. We sat in on classes and got to see the Indonesian teachers teach English. They were very excited we were there. Jane and I went to one class together and one boy asked us if we were married yet haha. The next class I went to was with Nenny Babo (one of the Aminef staff) and a boy came up to me and gave me a piece of candy that said "I love you". It is very funny the attention that we get when we walk around here because there are not very many Americans here so we are kind of a spectacle.

Today a bunch of us booked a tour and we took a bus out to a volcano, and then we went to some hot springs and had lunch. I will post pictures of it, but I am having trouble uploading, and I think I have written way too much for this posting!