Today is the first day of Indul Fitri. It is, basically, Muslim Xmas. So, we get ourselves 5 days off. Yay us! A well needed break after about two weeks of hardcore teaching. Okay, so it hasn't been too bad but the computers were down which caused me some discomfort. It could have been some bad chicken, too.
Marni, the kids, and I are heading to Putri island. It is one of the thousand islands (and home of the salad dressing, too) just north of Java (where we are). Hopefully, Caden can see a shark. The island has glass bottom boats, an aquarium and snorkeling. Unfortunately, we are learning that traveling is not as cheap as we were lead to believe. In fact, nothing is as cheap as we were lead to believe, except food and service type costs (massages, cabs, nannies).
A bus ticket may cost you $15 return from another city, but the buses may not run on any sort of schedule. Plus, the machet (traffic) is so bad it could take you days to get somewhere. Obviously, machet is the root of 'machete' which is what you want to kill everybody with when you are caught in it.
Anyway, we looked into getting a hotel in the city just to get away from the school. However, over the Indul Fitri weekend all the places are packed. But, you would think that they are filled with tourists. Oh, no- they are filled with locals.
During Indul fitri, like Xmas, it is important to go home and celebrate with family. That said, all the nannies, maids, drivers, etc. are gone. So, all the local rich people are moving into the hotels because they truly have no idea how to take care of themselves. They would have no clean clothes, food or people to drive them around. One of my students send his driver to McDonalds because he didn't have any breakfast. The cooks went home and no one made him food. I am sure food exists in his house but nobody has any idea what to do with it. Sadly, a whole new form of helplessness.
My solution would be to hire half Muslims and half Christians. That way, all your bases would be covered.
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