The Most Bromantic of Honeymoons

After a slew of Singaporeans spent the majority of the night with them questioning our heterosexuality, I figured I'd just own it and make it the title. Of course, it's bound to happen after my former roommate and I ventured to the Maldives for our term break. 

While our friends would make jokes about couples' massages and honeymoon suites, we were able to reflect on what our trip really entailed: beautiful islands, sharks, stingrays and all-inclusive drinks (a policy in which they're reconsidering after we were through there).  

After a questionable landing coming in Male, we touched down and were immediately surrounded by beautiful, teal-colored water around the airport's island. After spotting our speedboat, we made our way to Bandos Island Resort. This resort had it's own island, house reef and nearby shark-breeding point. It cost a pretty penny to stay there, but we were incredibly well fed, had a variety of activities to choose from and never lacked an adult beverage. 

Just renting gear and snorkeling around the house reef was a treat in itself. While the reef lacked the color we had envisioned, we were able to see reef sharks, sea turtles and weird species of fish (that followed us all around the island, strangely enough). 

After stretching out with a couple drinks at the over water bar, we were able to just relax and stargaze until bed time (9:00 PM sharp!). Some of my friends might scoff at the latter, but spend years in a city like Jakarta and the simple things like fresh air and stars are not taken for granted.

I'm enjoying my job here, but in the time it's taken to write this blog I've received two emails from parents, feedback's been given on my graduate project and two of my hairs have turned grey. 

While my time in the Maldives was great, I'm truly looking forward to being home with family and friends in December. Surely I can adjust quickly to an Iowa winter after two years in a subtropical climate, right?

....bring my sweatpants to O'Hare, Mommy. 

Another One Bites The Dust...

'I should have stuck with baseball,' I thought to myself as I was sliding across the pavement. That was my only thought as I crashed my motorbike on the way back from Tomohon. As is tradition with Indonesian drivers: No turn signal.  No checking of the mirrors. No look over the shoulder. With any motorbike spill, the whole town stopped to check the situation. After picking up my bike and bleeding from the majority of my right side, one local knows enough English to say "drive slowly." Because there's no way to convince them that it was NOT the bule's fault, I start my bike and take off.

Alright, enough complaining from me. Let me not mask the fact that the spill was after visiting Tomohon Market. This famous market (signs entering translate to "Extreme Market")  is known for having some...unique goodies. What you see pictured on the right are vampire bats. Yes, bats. Wingless, died-screaming-while-being-cooked vampire bats. You couldn't pay me to eat bat, so I moved on....when I really should have left. Walking past the severed pig's head, anaconda and skewered jungle rats, I find the dogs. If only they had been cats...I'd be okay with that. But a charred, wild dog on a spit for sale almost did me in. Surely that's the worst of it, yes? False. The cooked dog was facing the still living dogs in a cage, just waiting. For all those PETA peeps and avid dog lovers, probably not the place for you.

After a couple days in Manado, I hopped a long-awaited boat to Bunaken Island.  This is still a relatively remote island, even though Bunaken is starting to gain a reputation as a world-class diving destination. Our day trip was led by our fantastic guide who was decked out in an orange polo, pink/green board shorts and a blue fishing hat (which looked more like a bonnet). I'd feel bad for the guy if he wasn't wearing the biggest of smiles. Classic Indonesia. I'm not a huge diver, but snorkeling was as you'd expect in Indonesia: fantastic.  High levels of visibility, great walls of reef and...turtles! Suck it, Andrew.

This trip came on the heels of my trip back to the states. As busy as I was, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and was thrilled to see so many people.  Wedding season was in full swing and I was proud to welcome Anne to my family. My brother did something right, finally. My congrats also to Kellen and Caitlin, Jamie and Allison, Jimmy and Megan, Alex and Naomi, Kenny and Whitney (name your son Josh and I'll bring you more poop coffee!). What a mouthful. That's all I can muster right now as the large Bintang on my right calls my name. It's no diesel, but it will do as I lay on the beach looking at this...



'Til next time, folks!

Let us rejoice! Marking is complete!

I’ve had an extended leave of absence from this blog in recent months.  While many are happy about that fact, some will be joyed to see it resume. By some, I mean my mom.  Who says still says I’m special on the inside. Thanks, mom.

Kidding aside, there is a lot of catch up on.  While I’ve been blazing through these last five months, things are about to slow down substantially as I prepare to end my tenure at my current school and visit ‘Merica after a year of imported Diesel.  My football (Yes, football. Not soccer) team decided to go undefeated in divisional play and make it to the semi-finals of our Cup. One of the top four teams in all of Jakarta, I’m okay with that. Proud of them all and that will be one of the toughest things to swallow when I leave.

For the travel junkies that may read this to hear about my grand adventures, my school breaks have been pretty tame.  My spring break was a three-day excursion to Singapore (to fill up on booze, mixers and peanut butter M&Ms) only to return here and give extra classes to my graduating class. Great use of my limited time here in Asia, I know.  But alas, we have to do what’s best for the kids. My teacher friends understand what I mean, unfortunately.

However, my roommate and I were able to visit Yogyakarta a couple weeks ago.  This historical city in Indonesia is home to some of its most famous temples and absolutely ridiculous amounts of batik (If you don’t know what batik is, look it up.  It’s amazing).  We had a jam-packed two days which included shopping, temples, shopping, Dunkin Donuts and more shopping. 

I can’t wait to be back stateside, folks. Really. Busting at the seams waiting for my brother’s wedding, visiting my family and friends, drinking good beer and breathing quality air.  Just a couple weeks away now, so mark your calendars and have that diesel on ice for me.  See y’all soon!

Yeah, I'll take a ping pong show and cliff jumping. Hold the food poisoning

There are a variety of ways that I could describe our most recent holiday in Thailand, but most are highly inappropriate. We'll gloss over some of the more risqué details and keep it PG13 (for my mother's sake).

Our adventures started in Krabi at a place called Railay Beach. A beautiful beach and surrounding area that is only accessible via longtail boat due to the limestone cliffs cutting off any road access. It would have been more beautiful had it not been rainy/cloudy the majority of our stay (a common theme throughout our travels). Anyone staying there should find Bang Bang Bar. Best cocktails I've had in Southeast Asia.

After three nights there, we took a ferry to Koh Lanta. Being much larger than the Railay area, we were able to rent motorbikes and explore the island. Unfortunately, my roommate/travel companion/life partner/sayang got sick and cut into our exploration time. However, we were still able to find some cool bars with even cooler owners who knew their shit about everything on the hidden menu.

Next stop was Koh Phi Phi: where douchie frat boys go when they just can't let go of the 'golden' years. Joe and I are all for drinking (sometimes one more than we should), but the beach club with buckets of alcohol just isn't our scene. We resigned to pubs, fire shows, and Muay Thai boxing. Still a pretty awesome experience. Though after snorkeling and cliff jumping, it was my turn to get sick. A case of food poisoning cost me a day of exploring and about 10 pounds, but we were both able to push through by the time we reached Patong.

Ah, Patong. Such bittersweet memories. Eh, Dingle? Phuket had some work to do to change my perception of the place, but it didn't disappoint. Bangla Road is an adult playground full of hawkers, ping pong shows and far too many ladyboys. We celebrated New Year's there and were doused with silly string as we watched fireworks, sky lanterns and celebrated with locals and expats alike.

Tired of reading? Because I'm tired of writing. This trip was jam packed with destinations and experiences that I could not fit into one blog post even if I tried, so I'm going to wrap it up.

The last stop on our trip was Bangkok, as we prepared for two job fairs. Both Joe and I had given our current school our intent to discontinue, so we were on the prowl for new jobs. While I won't spoil the surprise of Joe's employment situation, I have signed on to become the Athletic Director at another school here in Jakarta. It was an amazing opportunity that I had to take hold of. This is what I've wanted to do since I've entered teaching and to get the opportunity at 26 years old, couldn't pass that up. Thanks to all the support from my family and friends that I wasn't able to see over the holidays. June is coming quickly. No worries.

Here's the biggest question now: after signing for another two years in Indonesia, who's going to come visit? Food for thought as you drink a diesel for me. Stay warm, suckers! 'Til next time.