Apparently, many of you have been missing your dose of me. I am sure that there is a hole in your heart that cannot be filled by anything other then the words I scribe.
After returning from the paparazzi-filled, pig-ass eating trip to China we returned to the squalor of Jakarta. After realizing that 4:15 every morning is the time for the locals to pray we are reconsidering our move to the south side of Jakarta. Let me just say that the local religious folk are not belting out tunes by Frank Sinatra. More like Janis Joplin sober....and the name Mohammed mentioned several times. But, for a small donation I can get the local mosque to move the direction of the loudspeaker.
We are in the midst of Ramadan. The locals are fasting from sunup to sundown. This is wonderful because now there is a legitimate excuse for them not doing a good job of anything. Sadly, many of our students are fasting as well. They are dragging their sorry, skinny bodies around the school. There are some as young as grade 1 fasting for the full day. Although, I guess the rule is that a child should hit puberty before starting the fasting process. I do have a great deal of respect for the people that are able to fast and still have a productive day.
We did hear a story of some local American kids (have to be Americans) that replaced the mosque prayer recording with a Beastie Boys cassette. Needless to say at 4:15 the locals awoke to a great surprise. By 4:30 am the young boys and their families were being deported with the threat of death. Who knew you couldn't make fun of someone else's deity? He did invent the platypus.
We started work at our new school in south Jakarta and things are quite a bit different. Zoe and Caden are not the only blonde children. That is a bonus. They are also not the tallest children in the whole elementary school.
Marni and I are the only two teachers without an accent. Well, there is a girl from Vancouver but I am not sure we can count her. We have to use terms like 'fortnightly' and 'rubbish'. I have introduced terms such as 'hoser' and 'toque' but have yet to educate the others in Canadianisms such as 'Jesus H Christ' and 'For Fuck's Sake!'. I may wait until after Christmas to bring out those bombshells.
I have been assigned a Year 6 (Grade 5) classroom. Cute little kids but they do not understand sarcasm. Losers! I have never had the chance to do everything in a classroom but now I am doing spelling, english and checking journals. I am totally out of my element. But, I think it will be a blessing in disguise. Not really in disguise, just dressed as 4 foot Koreans. Like Ewoks!
This past weekend we had to travel to Singapore for our work visas. We celebrated our 12th anniversary and Zoe's seventh birthday there. We did a very Canadian thing in that we went to 'Snow City' which is a large warehouse filled with a tobogganing hill and slushy snow. The temperature was a balmy -5 which was our first experience with below freezing temperatures since we left. Actually, it is our first experience with temperatures below 25 degrees.
We also hit Universal Studios over our trip. Betty Boop was undeniably Asian and Marilyn Munroe was apparently a transvestite but Kung Foo Panda was exactly as you would have expected. Marni was all cocky when she noticed the local Doo Wop group giving her the eye. When I explained that they did the same to me she was a little more humble. Zoe and I went onto a huge roller coaster and when we finished she had the greatest smile on her face. She wanted to go again! Seven more times later, she had to finally pack it in. Marni only went once....wuss!
So, we are now legal in Jakarta again eagerly awaiting Kathleen's arrival and the end of Ramadan. We will celebrate the Muslin 'Xmas by going to the predominately Hindu island of Bali. I know many of you would envision Bali as paradise. But, if you think that white sand beaches, fabulous food, rainforests and wonderful surf is paradise then........you should come and visit.
