Men In Grey Suits!

 Forget any typos that may or may not be made as I had to do this on my iTouch. I'd be incredibly annoyed if I wasn't in front of a sea view bungalow that faces a volcano. Flores, Indonesia has been a great experience thus far and we only have one day left.  Plan on going to a market, check out the local goods, drink some Bintangs and pack up our stuff. 

Flores is part of the Indonesian archipelago that's north of Australia. Though it's in no way westernized, it's more beautiful because of it. For diehard cinephiles, it's like traveling to the island they used on Jurassic Park. Amazeballs. We stayed outside a town called Moni our first two nights in (what seemed like) one of the two available locations for travelers. Usually no electricity, no running water and mosquito nets. Cold bucket baths and some good ol' Indonesian home cookin' (aka rice). But, the conditions were necessary if we wanted to scale Mt. Kelimutu. I wanted to use the word 'scale' to make it seem like we did something more than walk, but we didn't. Mt. Kelimutu is know for having three craters that hold different colored lakes. I don't know who I have to talk to get it labeled as a world wonder, but I will find them. Not only are they different colors (black, brown and teal when we were there), but they change depending on the different minerals in the water at that time. Did I mention there was a waterfall at the bottom of the trail down the mountain? Uhh, cha! 

The rest of the trip was traveling to a different location (Maumere), going to a cave and snorkeling. We didn't explore the cave as much as we would have liked, but we were warned of pythons in the deeper, wetter part of the cave. No thanks. However, I did see (again, for all the nerdy cinephiles like me) the same spider they used in the 4th Harry Potter film. And yea, I understand how lame I sound writing this. 

Snorkeling was awesome. Not only was the water crystal clear, but we saw a rift that was caused by an earthquake at some point. Different types of coral reef then a sharp and distinct drop off. Looked insane and a little scary. Men in grey suits could have popped up at any point and we'd have little warning. Craziness.

Coming back to Jakarta will start the final push for the academic year. Preliminary tests (yes, you heard me right: preliminary tests) will start almost immediately upon return. After those two weeks are up, I have the next two weeks with the students to review the Prelims. At the beginning of May, they'll begin their ACTUAL tests that will last a total of five weeks. Franklin Delano! 

I plan on coming home mid-June for Ashley and Willard's wedding. Shout out to all three couples getting married. Apologies to Josh-Emily and Joey-Jessie for not being able to make yours. If this ends up being my last blog post of the year (my mom is now crying after reading that), I hope I get to see you all when I'm back. Two weeks is a small window, but I'll keep in touch and try to see as many as I can. Enjoy the everlasting winter in Iowa, I'll stay here and soak up some cosmic rays in the 85 degree weather. The only upside of the former:  plenty of time for drinkin' diesels. Have one for me and hope for warmer weather.