First couple of days..........

I flew Seattle to Tokyo which took eleven hours followed by a two hour layover. From Tokyo I flew seven hours to Singapore followed by an unfortunate 6 hour layover. Although it seems impossible to imagine somehow I didn’t receive a stamp on my passport when going through customs.  On top of that I accidentally didn’t see the proper security line on my way to my gate, instead going directly to the terminal. Unfortunately for me security noticed that I skipped the security line. They checked my ticket to see that I had just arrived from Tokyo yet never received a stamp for entering, skipped the security line just now, had a standby ticket which they clearly weren’t entirely too familiar with AND on top of that what do you know I look absolutely NOTHING like I do in my passport photo. Thankfully English is the official language of Singapore so I didn’t have to declare my innocence through sign language or drawings (I definitely wouldn’t have managed to do that.) Finally I was on my way directly to Jakarta. The flight was just an hour and a half and the fly over was stunning. Hundreds of islands seemed to lead the path to Java Island.

A nice young man named Wayhu picked me up from the airport and took me to the school. There I met some of the other teachers and got some information before being taken to my house. The house is in a gated community and right next to an outdoor park that has a TV and ping pong under a roof where ESPN is always on. It looks a bit old fashioned and isn’t unbelievable but it’s nice and cozy and my room is massive. I fell asleep instantly around 4 pm and awoke at around 5 am the next day eager to see the city. As I left the house EVERYONE smiled, waived, or said “Hey Mista!” as I walked down the street. I was shaking hands left and right. I was certainly fascinating to them and even more so to the people I would stumble into the next few days.

I went to this restaurant and ordered some shrimp, seafood, and noodle plate that was unreal. Unfortunately I couldn’t pay with card or with USD (effing Americans) even though I swear the gentleman told me I could. When I was trying to pay he simply told me “No worry pay us later or tomorrow.” The people here are overwhelmingly friendly especially in a city with over 10 million people.

A wonderful mall is just a ten minute walk from my house and I was blown away. It was massive and due to my failure to be able to communicate with just about anyone I was the funniest, dumbest, and most entertaining person there. I found out an hour later that that mall was the third biggest in Kelapa Gading which is just a suburb of Jakarta. If this isn’t the mall capital of the world then I am scared.

The following day I accidentally trailed a bunch of mud into the McDonalds and just as I sat down a group of children started trying to talk to me. I was horrified, either they were scared of me or just thought I was a weirdo. Thankfully (I think) one of the Mom’s came over to me and said they wanted a photo with me to which I obliged though (Prior to my hair cut I suppose I slightly resemble Ronald McDonald) I wondered how weird it would look if a strange foreign man asked them for a photo? To cap off my experience at McDonalds, and I was only there for the free wi-fi and air conditioning, I used the toilet and saw a weird hose like faucet on the side so I turned it and water shot all over my pants, apparently it’s meant for your bum. I walked out of that McDonalds trailing mud and covered in water...

I taught my first class last night and though only half of the students showed it was fantastic. Rezza, who comes straight from high school, Ridyah, who goes to University in Jakarta and studies law and is 22 (his favorite song is someone like you by Adele LOL), and Benediktus (What a name…) who  is my age and studied photography at university and now free-lances around the country taking photographs. All were delightful and had a number of odd yet interesting questions for me most of which aren’t appropriate. We spent the first 40 minutes getting to know each other and finished with some grammar and a listening activity. I loved the three students and love the job. The other great news is I only work Monday through Thursday 5-7 hours each day. I’ll get three more classes next week and have a total of four. I am excited for the weekend but I also can’t wait to meet my other classes...