so I just got back from another Bali adventure. I was on October break (end of first semester) last week and spent 9 days in Bali. This time i went all over the island. I went with two of my girlfriends Jessie and Christina. We arrived on Saturday and drove three hours up the coast to the north western part and went to Tulamben and did some snorkeling/diving. I am not dive certified yet but plan to start the adventure process before Christmas. I went snorkeling every time then went diving. I got to see a WW II ship wreck and then an awesome coral reef. I was surprised how much sea life i could see from the surface. I saw fish that were so tiny and then some that were huge. When i mean huge i mean between 3-4ft long. It wasn't to scary, it was just neat swimming amongst it all.

After spending 2 nights there we got in the car and unfortunately this lady was a crazy driver. We rode for about 2 hrs going up and down the mountains and through the country a lot of the times on the wrong side of the road trying to pass people. I was car sick sitting up front. But we did make to Ubud safely. We stayed there for 2 nights as well. Our hotel there was so nice. We had our own private balcony and looked over the rice paddies. My favorite part of the whole 9 days was in Ubud. We did a 25km bike rode mostly down hill through the villages and country side outside of town. We had an amazing tour guide name Jaring. He spoke great English and was so funny. He was so knowledgeable and made the trip a lot of fun.

During this tour we got to eat breakfast overlook mt bantur and the amazing crater lakes, went through a village compound, shucked and cut rice in the rice paddy, some village children sang to us,and got to see a little bit of a Hindu celebration all while biking. It was an all day experience and completely worth it. At the end we had an amazing lunch with roast duck and other Balinese traditional food.

The other day we spent in Ubud we went to the market and around the town. I worked on speaking Bahasa to the locals and bartering for goods. We had so much fun and the people were great. I got a lot of good things including some wooden carved masks and some presents for my family members.

The last part of our trip was going an hr away back toward the airport and going to the Seminyak Kuta area. This is more of the beachy party scene area. I came here for Idul fitri but learned so much about the area. One day we went to the beach, one day we went to Uluwati temple, one day we just laid by the pool, and we finished the trip with some more shopping.

We had some nice dinners here. We met up with one of my colleagues and Echo beach for seafood and that was nice and we even tried out the party night life.

My favorite event in Kuta was going down to Nusa Dua and going to the Uluwati temple. This is one of the oldest temples in Bali. It is up on the cliffs and surrounded by monkeys. Please see my pictures. We had a good time watching the monkeys. The monkeys are funny. They tell you before going in no sunglasses, flashy jewelery or anything. Be care and hold on to your stuff.

In the first 10-15mins of being inside the temple we heard a girl scream and it was because the monkey stole her soda. He then drank her soda and look at my pics you will see it . Then later as we were walking around i had a monkey climb up my leg and try to steal a camera case that i had on top of my purse. He tried 2 different times and of course i scream and flipped out a little bit and kind of threw the monkey off me. We even saw a monkey with a mans glasses. The funniest part was watching them play around. As we were leaving we were talking to a Belgium scientist and my friend Christina had a monkey jump from one car land on her head then go to the next. It was pretty funny. She was more shocked than anything.

Kuta was good but crazy fun. I have never seen so many young Aussies in one place. This place is college party town central. There isn't really a drinking age here so there were lots of people from 18-22 partying for the semester break in college and Europeans on holiday.

We had fun and i stayed out late a few times but definition of late is different compared to others. I think late is anytime after 12:30-2. While my friends normally didn't get home until 330-530 in the morning. One day they even said on the cab ride back they watched the sun come up. The Kuta area does have lots of great live bands but i swear they all played the same songs in almost the same order. We would hop from place to place and hear the same songs.

I have learned my lesson with Bali go to the quiet beaches for most of the time and leave Kuta for the 20 yr olds. I cant wait to go back to Ubud and see more of the island. There is so much to do. On my next trip i am going climb a volcano and go see the elephants and maybe try some surfing.

Well that's it for now. I just have to find out where to plan my next adventure to!

Another Bali Adventure

bali trip

I know it’s been awhile since I have posted anything. I finally got out of Jakarta for a short holiday. On Wednesday I left and went to Bali. It was a great time. We stayed in Semanyak, which was nice and quiet the area we stayed not to touristy. We had a five-minute walk and we were on the beach.

I really liked where we stayed it was nice and better than what I expected considering we didn’t book it until Monday and we left Wednesday. We were going to just stay in hostels but decided to get a hotel. We had our own two bedroom apt with a bathroom, living room, kitchen and balcony. We had breakfast there every morning and one night I had dinner there. There were two pools and it was pretty relaxing! I loved having a private balcony to sit on and read and relax.

One of the cool things about Bali compared to Jakarta is that most of the people are Hindu and not Muslim. Therefore, we saw lots of carved gods, Buddha’s, and offerings. It was so neat to see people put out offerings daily. Some of the would be just flowers, slices of oranges and many other things. A lot of the businesses would have new offerings daily. Also where we entered the beach was outside of this temple and it was a private part of the beach where the locals would make offerings and pray. We saw people praying there always and it was kind of cool.

While at the beach I saw the highest waves I have ever seen. I have seen some big ones too. I remember going to Wilmington one time after a hurricane had just passed and these don’t even compare. Even though it was a red flag day we swam anyways. The waves were a little rough and you didn’t go out very far because of the undertow. I don’t think I went out past my waste but when the waves came you got pushed around and it was a blast. Yesterday, we went to beach again and walked the whole beach. It took us about an hr and half. It was cool to see the differences in the beaches in the area we were in. Near Semanyak the waves were much bigger but the closer you got to Kuda they were smaller and you had a lot more surfers. I couldn’t believe how talented these surfers were. I got a little sunburnt but its okay I will be tan tomorrow. The sun is much stronger there than in Jakarta because they don’t have pollution like we do.

Other things we did while in Bali were some shopping in the rain on our first full day there, a two and half hr spa treatment with massages and body scrub, and dinners out every night.

I can’t wait to go back in October and do some more shopping and see other parts of Bali. I am going to go to Ubud and climb a volcano and hope to do some snorkeling.

North Jakarta

Hey everyone!

I cant believe that i have been in Jakarta a whole month. Time sure does fly when your having fun. School is in full swing now. We have been in class for 2 weeks now. My kids are pretty good. We are having some difficulties being still and quiet on the carpet but who doesnt have problems with that. My class loves to sing and hum a lot. I am really enjoying the international spectrum of the children. They are all still kids even though many of the are bi or tri-lingual. My few that dont speak much English are really picking things up fast. My little girl Rain (chinese girl) i think understands a whole lot more than she is admitting to and just has selective listening. Sounds like some people we know huh. She is so sweet! All of my kids are pretty sweet. As i had mentioned before. Its a diverse class with many backgrounds and cultures.

I have been doing some more exploring in the last couple weeks. This past weekend I went to North Jakarta and took a photo walk. Please see my facebook to see the photos. It took us about 40mins to get there. We got to see the shipping docks where the load a bunch of materials to the old ships. Then we went up and down the water in these little canoes. Then we walked through this poor little village called Kampung. Most of the house were shacks that were not nice and probably the size of most peoples bathrooms and a family of four would live there. it was quite sad to see how people lived but there were so nice and happy. At the edge of Kampung there were many different markets. You could buy anything from clothes, fruits, tools, and stuff right off the docks. I bought a little drum for my nephew.

Then we went under the bridge to the other side and we were in the old dutch settlement. it was like two different worlds. We went to this nice cafe and had a great brunch.

Also this weekend i went to the movie theatres. It is only $5 to go to a nice theatre on a weekend. There is a special theatre called the premier and you get your own recliner and blanket. It cost $10 and they server you food during the movie. The only play one movie and i dont want to see the one that is currently showing. i hope to go soon and will post pics of the premier theatre.

This week we have a full week with no holidays and have open house. I am sure its going to be a long week. I have also started my Bahasa Indonesia lessons with Pac Paul. We have had 2 lessons so far and are learning so much. I am taking them with two other girls Jessie and Christina.

I have finally booked my flight for Bali and will be going there for my october break. I will be posting more pics.

Lastly my vonage line is working so i can talk on the phone and its my old cell number if you want to give me a ring. Please remember its 11hrs time zone change from east coast. The best time during the week is when you are going or coming home from work and the weekends i am around off and on.

Talk to you soon!

exploring the city

So I finally met my students. I had 14/18 show on Friday. They are so darn adorable. I am teaching Kindergarten so that is a change from my first graders. But it went really well. They are so darn cute!!! We had a great first day! We played some games and made a book. We had two specials and chased the gingerbread man around the school. We also had a birthday on the first day. She turned 5 the day before. Her mom brought in a cake that was like 5layers for 5yr olds. Then goody bags for each kid monagrammed with the little girls name on them. It was amazing they were even different colors for the boys and girls. I even got one. I forgot to bring it home so i didnt see what was all it but it was packed full of stuff. I even got invited to the party. It was today but i decided not to go. You know if you go to one you have to go to them all. So i decided against it just for my sanity.

The day went great over all. I definitely learned a lot like how long it takes kinders compared to first graders. I think it took us over 5 mins just to line up to go to lunch lol. Its a complicated process. lol. Then i didnt know we had to take our hats to lunch with us because after lunch is recess and they can play outside but must wear a hat or be in the shade. lol.

After school we (the teachers) went to an irish pub. It was great. Who would have thought you could find an irish pub here in Jakarta? It was so nice. They even have live music there but not during Ramaden. They had to black out the curtains to hide the fact that people are drinking. We had to drink out of coffee mugs. The served a bottle of wine in tea pot to hide the fact it was alcohol. I guess a lot of things change during the holiday season here. Its hard to find alcohol which isnt a problem for me. (not a big drinker) but some are frustrated by that. The holiday last until Sept 10th. It last a month. We had a great time there. People from all 4 campuses ended up coming. I think at one point in time there was over 40 people there from JIS.

I cant wait to go back to the pub and try it out when we can drink a pint from a real glass and listen to the band straight from ireland.

Today we went out exploring a new area. We went to pasaraya. It is like a mall but has many stores with a lot of handcrafted indonesian stuff. I already started some of christmas shopping. They have great clothes there. The traditional stuff is called Batik. You should look it up. It comes in many patterns and colors. Some is hand made designed and others arent. I got a cute dress for like $25 and its red batik. We didnt get to the other area but i hope to go explore more tomorrow and throughout my time here. I have loads to see. I think in the next couple weeks we might go to the outlets. they are a couple hrs away and have a lot of great stuff there too including western stores and traditional indonesian stuff.

This week will be a busy week. Tomorrow i am going to meet up with some girls that i met from my new church. Monday i have a birthday party for a coworker. Tuesday we are having an Indonesian Independence day picnic, Wednesday i start Bahasa lessons with my tutor. Then on Sunday we are taking a photo walk in North Jakarta. Be sure to check out my facebook next week to so lots of new pics.

I still love it here and i finally have my vonage line hooked up so if you have my cell number the 919 nc one you can call me here and it doesnt cost you anything but a long distance us call. Please just remember i am 11hrs ahead of east coast time. I am up by 445 am every school day but leave by 6am and home around 4 or so at nite. I hope to hear from you if i am not here just leave a msg. Thats all for now.

Hey

All is well in Jakarta!! I have been busy we are back to school now. We has professional development on Thursday and Friday. Then monday and tuesday we had some meetings and class time. Today 1st and up started, but I am kinder so we got to meet parents and students 1 on 1. It was nice to have 20 min block to just say hi and meet everyone. Tomorrow i will meet the other half of my students. So far they are all so cute!!! Friday is are first official day with students.

I have internet for now hopefully it continues to work. The guy is coming today!

update from the last week

Hey everyone sorry its been a week since i have wrote anything but i have been super busy and then i havent had internet connection at home until yesterday. I only had it for about 2 days then lost it again. My wireless is all set up but vonage isnt working. I may need to cancel it. I am probably going to get a skype phone number or something and I will let everyone know when i figure things out. I am still loving the city! It has been a busy week and a half. We are done with orientation and have started Professional development and working in our rooms.

Today and tomorrow we have a speaker named Carl Anderson. If you a teacher you may know of him. He is great and i am learning lots about how to do writing workshop with little ones. Remember i have moved down to kindergarten. They are going to be like little babies. I have 18 students in my class. I have a very multicultural class. I have 3 chinese kids, 2 aussies, 2 indians, 6 americans, and a mix of many other cultures. Its crazy that many of these kids know more than one language at 5yrs old. I have one little girl that speaks spanish, bahasa (indonesian) and english. I have never had to deal with so many children in one year with many different languages. I know its going be a challenging year but i cant wait for the adventure to begin.

Over the last week I have been finishing my apt and buying stuff to settle in. We do have stores like Ace Hardware and a store kind of like Walmart or Target called Carrefour. We have been doing a lot of great eating. My school feeds us well. I thought i might lose weight because of fear of not liking the food but i havent found to many things i dislike. They have everything here. I have had indian food a few times, indonesian, thai 2x's, italian, mongohlian bbq. We pretty much have whatever you want. I even saw stuff to make tacos at the higher end supermarket.

I also have a maid/cook. I cant believe how amazing it is to come home and you dont need to do anything . The dishes are done,bathrooms cleaned, beds made, laundry is washed, folded, ironed and put away. My house is always spotless. I love it Tumi even cooks. I leave a recipe and she makes it. She even buys the ingredients if i dont have them.

One of the weird things about living here is how early the sunsets. Its getting awhile to get used to that. It rises before 6am and sets and is dark by 630. With it getting dark early you naturally get tired earlier and thats a good thing. Days here start early. Many people get up shortly after the call to prayer around 4am. When school starts with kids our van that takes us to school will be leaving at 6am or maybe before if we decide because of traffic. Traffic here is crazy. Things may not be far but they take awhile to get to. For instance if we leave by 6:10 am it will take about 30-40 mins to get to school. Then they say for every 5 minutes later you wait traffic an extra 10. Most people leave before 6 to get to school so it only takes like 20-25 minutes. On friday night we went out downtown by my school and it took us and 1hr and 20mins to get there, because of traffic. Not everyone has a long commute. We have a campus that is out my back window and i wish i was there sometimes. But campus is better!!

Well i am off for now. I know this is getting really long. I will write more this weekend! Hope all is well with you. Continue to pray for me and that i find a church. I will write about experience tomorrow.