It's been a while, gang. My apologies, but term 3 is a grind. We'll get to that later. So much to discuss! After a grand, but far too short trip back to the states in December/January, I hopped on board a flight to Bangkok for an international teacher's fair. Of course, this was the beginning of the snow storm that ravaged the Midwest and dropped temperatures down to -40 degrees. I miss it....is that weird? Anyways, it caused us to have a three hour delay at the gate and forced us to then make an emergency stop in Seoul to pick up another cabin crew. 20 hours on the plane. 20....hours....I was so happy they give free booze for international flights.
I met three other friends at the fair and our confidence was sky high. Enjoying each others company, Bangkok and the fact that we're all going to get top-flight jobs. Oh, how the mighty fall. After the first day, we were shell shocked. These were all international teachers with 5+ years of teaching experience and training specific to the schools that were in attendance. We all came back to the hotel and started talking about where we were going to live next year, since we'd all have to re-sign with our current school. Luckily enough for two of my friends, they ended up getting jobs in South Korea and Romania. Awesome gigs. Myself and my other friend decided to re-sign with our current school for another year. Disappointing at first, but another year of white sand beaches and great food won't be all that bad.
The two of us, avoiding our other celebratory roommates, decided to make the jaunt to Khao Shan road in Bangkok. It's a famous area for tourists to buy cheap goods, have some great food and party the night away (By the way, the food cart on the right included fried grasshoppers, cockroaches and scorpions). After taking the subway to the nearest station, we had to find another form of transport to take us the rest of the way. Enter the inspiration of this blog post: the tuk-tuk. How to describe a tuk-tuk for those who haven't experienced its awesomeness....it's a motorcycle that pulls a covered, open-air bench around for the change in your pocket. However, they are notorious for having a finger in everything. They'll offer you and/or know where to get anything under the sun: food, booze, drugs, women, midget wrestling, etc. You name it, they know. So my friend and I weren't surprised when the tuk-tuk driver turned around and asked "You want boom-boom?!" I look at my friend, thinking the same thing you are right now, and say "Oh no, no boom-boom for us tonight. Thanks." He turns around clearly disappointed. About five minutes later, another tuk-tuk drives by with some very attractive young women and our driver feels the need to flip on the huge speaker right behind us. Blaring music is echoing from our tuk-tuk while the driver turns around with a thumbs up, a huge grin on his face and says, "Boom-boom!" while pointing to the speaker. Only in Asia, my friends.
A mere four weeks after I returned to Jakarta and signed the one-year pact with my current school, it was Chinese New Year. Our four day weekend was spent in the non-commercial paradise of Belitung. In the process of trying to become Indonesia's next tourist hotspot, a four-star hotel had just been built in anticipation of future tourism. Rooms for the weekend during their soft opening were dirt cheap and the accommodations were fantastic. Clear blue water and beautiful rock formations were the selling point at nearly every beach.
In the midst of our 10-week revision, this was the only time I could find to write this blog. Belitung was the one bit of solace during the grind that takes up at least 50 hours of your week, every week, for the ten weeks the students get to prepare for their graduating exams. Have to love the Singapore curriculum.
Heart goes out to my great uncle Augie. He passed away this past weekend at 91. Guy was a dude. Still on Facebook and reading my blog at age 91. So this one is for you, Uncle Augie. Sorry I couldn't finish it before you passed. Next blog post will be early April, folks. Planning on a trip to Jogjakarta (old capital) and the Derawan Archipelago. Until then, enjoy the cold and have a reasonably priced diesel for me!
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