Diving In

First off, everyone should be thanking my mother for essentially making me do this.  If it wasn't for her nagging, I'd be sitting here watching one of the two American channels we get in our apartment.  Secondly, I think I have to apologize in advance for anyone who may find my brand of humor a bit....over the top.  I'm catering to a wide range of ages, so bear with me old folks (By old folks, I mean my dad.  Happy birthday, Papi). 

I suppose I have to start with the flight to Hong Kong.  I met with two other teachers in Chicago before the flight.  Had a beer and a chat.  Both seemed cool (they're at different campuses).   After nearly a 16 hour flight, we touched down in Hong Kong and ended up exploring Hong Kong a bit before settling down for the night.  When we finally touched down in Jakarta, the only thing going through my mind:  Is this really an airport?  For a city of twelve million, I figured they'd have a airport to handle the traffic.  Not the case.  It's an openly ventilated building with no A/C, so I was sweating bullets while waiting an hour for our bags.  By the time we stepped outside, we had met with two school representatives and a board director.  They were getting our driver and this is when I was first introduced to Jakarta's traffic.

Scooters.  That's the one thing I was woefully unprepared for.  I was told Jakarta's traffic was bad.  I was prepared for that, but the number of scooters is unbelievable.  Weaving in and out of traffic, cutting across intersections through oncoming traffic and fitting up to four people on one scooter.  Madness, I say.  Some people would get wedge their toddlers in between the front and back person to keep them safe.  Traffic lights, road marks and rules of the ride that everyone abides by in America (or else they have crazy road rage, Mom) are laughable here.  Cutting people off and turning into oncoming traffic is normal here and, if you don't do those things, you're a bad driver.  When there finally is room to roam, it's like being an a crappy Fast and Furious sequel.  Not with cool cars, but vans and rusted piles of shit.

The first impression of the school was good.  I'm at the biggest campus out of the five that the school has.  They have me teaching business, life skills, homeroom teacher, coaching the soccer team, assistant house master and part of the disciplinary committee.  A lot to keep me busy and keep my mind off the perks of America:  family, friends, food and, of course, diesel (old folk translation: diesel = budweiser). 

It's unfortunate that this country comes with so much poverty, because it really could be a beautiful country.  When my roommate brought this up, I think I wrapped it up in one simple phrase:  It's like a pretty girl with gonorrhea.  Pods of trash in the river, the city smells like shit and shacks set up everywhere.  But, when it's all said and done, I'm having a good time and I'm glad I came.  A lot to adjust to, but it's not too difficult with good roommates and a quality teaching staff.  I'm picking up some parts of the language and should be able to hold my own by the end of my tenure here.  Hopefully my other posts won't be as long, but I've been too busy to create anything before this.  I'll save our school retreat and the first week of school for later.  Hope everything's well where you're at.  Enjoy drinking water from the faucet and tossing your toilet paper in the toilet.  'Til next time everyone.

Josh