Getting older, I decided, is a gift
For all of you that have been with me over the past few years, will know that I have endured a lot of challenges and heartbreaks, struggles and tough times. And you will also know that at this point in my life, I have come through on top, and I am at my happiest ever.
This email was sent to me, and brought tears to my eyes as it both described my life and me now
I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. I sometimes despair over my body, the wrinkles, the grey hair and the baggy eyes (suitcase). And often I am taken aback by that older person that lives in my mirror, who looks like my mother (not by all means a bad image, grateful), but I don't agonise over those things for long.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family or my experiences for less grey hair or a flatter belly?. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
I don't hide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?
I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love .. I will.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength, understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived enough to have my hair turning grey, and to have my youthful laughs and sorrows be forever etched into grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.
So, to answer your question , I like getting old. It has set me free. I like and love the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time anytime on what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)
I once read,
Courage is all that stands between the person we are, and the person we are actually meant to be.
NEVER BE AFRAID PEOPLE, EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON THAT WILL LATER BE REVEALED
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
UPDATES
going to the beach this weekend coming
BEACH, BIKINI, BOTTLE OF MALIBU AND FINGERS CROSSED NAKED MEN (MMMMM) REALXING DRINKING AND SUNBAKING my style ohhhh cant wait. thats another story
Went to jakarta on sunday on the express upper class train. Armpits in my face from the people standing up. I tell you, there is no polite way to stand in front of an australian chick who is sitting down. im either looking at your arse or i have my face in your crutch which is great and not, all at the same time. off the train and cattle herded down the ramps to catch the bus. Bought a ticket and stood in que yeah right like we que over here haha. the doors to the bus exit were closed as the bus had not arrived yet but the fuckers behind were pushing us forward regardless. i turned to Pauline and asked he politely to pick me up off the floor afer I faint. then on the bus we got seats as started at the beginning of the route. An old lady at the next stop hit me in the head, i guess she was asking me to get up and give her my seat. get real i probably paid more since im a bulee (foreigner) A few stops later someone had the most vial b.o ive even smelt in my life. i almost dry reached. at this point i have once again got arses and groins in my face, I have to laugh or cry. We have no idea where we are going im hungry and will pee myself if we hit any more HUGE potholes. something funny happens and sets us both off laughing in histerics. Oh the old lady got her arm caught in the folding door, i tried to help but she would not give me the shopping and she needed to let go in order to get her arm out, she was going off at the door and yet, she would not let me help. Eventually i pushed to door open off her arm and she escaped. (thank you she said to me NOT)so we got to the shopping place and headed underground. mmmmm i was in heaven as it was like china,stalls everywhere over crowded and chaos. we found the closest toilet and as Pauline said it was the worst smell she has ever smelt and coming from china that says a lot ,HEY MUM AND ALISON hahahha I was not going in there to find out. We headed across to the handicrafts market and this was huge. We could have shopped there the whole day and not seen it all properly. I bought a few gifts from here.up a back street a guy talked us in to eating at his place and after eating her charged us like triple what we pay back in bogor. At this point I am not happy being a bulee and yet being paid their wages and still being charge heaps. Then rang a mate to meet him and he told us to get on bus 609, we walked around in squares to find the bus depot and got a little help on the way, helps having confused faces on and being 2 female bulees, haha the security guard put us on bus 69 to go to cinere mall which is where we asked about, they kicked us of that bus 2 minutes into the ride, we found bus 609 and jumped onto it to get about 5 minutes along and told wrong bus ladies. get off and he wouldnt give our money back either.
Luckily a local that spoke english seen us with the map out and helped us onto the correct bus and off we went. I swear this bus had a square wheel and the arse was about to fall out of the bus. shit was falling on us from the roof and so many rattles. I only have little boobs but man they nearly were hitting me in the face bouncing so hard. the noise and clanging and banging was scary I was horrified for the first 10 minutes and then it was hilarious to be in this situation and actually sitting there waiting for it to fall apart. man can i get myslef into some scary situations of what. an hour later we reached our destination to meet the guy and his sis to take us back to his house on another form of transport..... motor bikes. this is the guy that we met at the waterfalls a few weeks ago and have kept in contact with him a bit. with offerings of pot and booze, we were off. yipee
i could make the sequel to planes trains buses and bikes.
we stayed there for a few hours meeting the family and eating and drinking.
HENCE AND EXPECTED. WE MISSED THE LAST BUS AND TRAIN back to bogor, haha
We then jumped on the back of the bikes and they took us back 1 hour and half ride. I was laughing at the whole day and saying to myself about having this guy in between my legs and ive not a clue his name.
He spoke no english except three sentences
1 What is your name. cool an introduction after my legs have been wrapped around him for half an hour
2 How old are you and i knew what the third was before he even asked
3 Are you marrried. I answered before he finished his sentence.
getting used to these local men wanting to marry me.
must say i woke this morning with an unusual feeling of either too much on top sex or a few hours in the saddle. much to my disappointment neither was the reason :-(
So I should update a few funnies in the last few weeks.
My house mate is on holidays in aussie and while sitting around dinner one night we were talking about my horendous phobia to spiders and how lucky ive been and bec would save me. Holy shit was all I could say when I got home that night and a huge fucking spider was on the lounge wall. I grabbed the little broom we have and fought him tooth and nail. I won and was shaking and sweating so much afterwards. not funny at all. that night pauline went home and had to fight a scorpion now thats funny haha.
umm Lukes 30th was a hit, after a few jugs of beer and vodkas, I asked him if he was interested in coming and seeing the 1000 islands just off jakarta with us. now luke is not serious at the best of times, so when he put on a straight face and replied "oh i only want to see one or two" i almost peed my pants right there and then. they are called the 1000 island there is only a few there. oh my god it was funny
Our favourite hang out after work has awesome milkshakes, so I order a strawberry one religously? see i have a religion in this country, anyways
some nights I can have a strawberry milkshake, but i cant have a smoothie. And others I can have a smoothie and not a milkshake. Same ingredients but i dont get it.
we went to a new place where you have a hut in the treetops and eat up there and pauline ordered a cup (single) of tea. sorry mam you can only order two at a time. they would only serve a caraffe not a cup. what the????
you can buy vodka here in the dodgy shops where it is hidden behind all the stock. WELL pauline and I had a bottle one night that i swear and would bet you that it was nail polish removal and paint thinners and metho all mixed together. I felt like the enamel was being stripped off my teeth right before my eyes. hence we get our vodka from the guy that has links with the american embassy now mmmmmmmm lesson learnt
haha I invited the new teacher around to check out my place and for dinner and stuff wink wink. Well after talking for a few hours, actually less but anyways, I decided that there was no chance and we will be just friends haha I hinted on several occasions that the angkots would finish soon he should go he was like no no its ok ill go by ojek (motorbike) well after a few hours and hinting the whole time i had to go to bed he insisted he would stay and go in the morning. I was so over it all i said yeah whatever. well he woke me at 2 something when security knocked on the gate. they do that so we know that they are actually working and we are getting our moneys worth so after explaining that i went back to sleep to get woken at 430 when the mosque called prayer, with trace trace what the hell is that. i was soo shitty by now, that when he woke me at 530 when the hawkers started walking the lane with trace trace what is that, i could have smashed him. i got up at 7.30 to get out of the room with him. shitty as, he expected me to make him breakfast and he had been slagging off at farouc expecting things from me. I showed him the kitchen, where he cooked HIS breakfast and left me the dishes. all morning i was telling him it was time to go and he kept saying i will wait and we can go together. WELL i offered him the shower first which he took and after getting out of the shower, proceeded to tell me that he had broke the tap and couldnt turn off the water. fuck fuck fuck. so i had to trun the water off to the whole house have no shower and go to work for my 1oclock class. needless to say i was shitty with him all day.
I had to ring bec and tell her what happened and that we had no water to the house.
As girls we fixed the tap later that night and had water back on. GIRL POWER
I have learnt that lesson too, he often invites himself around and I state "no thanks"
the boys dont often invite me to play pool anymore with them as i kick there arses each time. oh well, I play pool with Farouc most weeks and he whips me. Im not a sore loser so its all good. He finds it strange, and funny that i dance around the table singing and am totally not serious and yet i play so well.
umm ill try be a good girl and update more often, oh speaking of not being good
my bad points living in Indonesia,
I am 31 and not married strike 1
I dont have a religion so this is illegal here strike 2
I drink strike 3
i have tattoos strike 4
i wear a tank top showing that i have boobs god forbid strike 5
i wear a skirt above my knees strike 6
i have piercing in lots of places strike 7
i wear nail polish which is dirty strike 8
and my latest
oh noo I practise yoga. this is the devils excersie as it improves sex strike 9
I LOVE LIVING HERE
LOVE YOU ALL CHEERS AND "GOD BLESS"
BEACH, BIKINI, BOTTLE OF MALIBU AND FINGERS CROSSED NAKED MEN (MMMMM) REALXING DRINKING AND SUNBAKING my style ohhhh cant wait. thats another story
Went to jakarta on sunday on the express upper class train. Armpits in my face from the people standing up. I tell you, there is no polite way to stand in front of an australian chick who is sitting down. im either looking at your arse or i have my face in your crutch which is great and not, all at the same time. off the train and cattle herded down the ramps to catch the bus. Bought a ticket and stood in que yeah right like we que over here haha. the doors to the bus exit were closed as the bus had not arrived yet but the fuckers behind were pushing us forward regardless. i turned to Pauline and asked he politely to pick me up off the floor afer I faint. then on the bus we got seats as started at the beginning of the route. An old lady at the next stop hit me in the head, i guess she was asking me to get up and give her my seat. get real i probably paid more since im a bulee (foreigner) A few stops later someone had the most vial b.o ive even smelt in my life. i almost dry reached. at this point i have once again got arses and groins in my face, I have to laugh or cry. We have no idea where we are going im hungry and will pee myself if we hit any more HUGE potholes. something funny happens and sets us both off laughing in histerics. Oh the old lady got her arm caught in the folding door, i tried to help but she would not give me the shopping and she needed to let go in order to get her arm out, she was going off at the door and yet, she would not let me help. Eventually i pushed to door open off her arm and she escaped. (thank you she said to me NOT)so we got to the shopping place and headed underground. mmmmm i was in heaven as it was like china,stalls everywhere over crowded and chaos. we found the closest toilet and as Pauline said it was the worst smell she has ever smelt and coming from china that says a lot ,HEY MUM AND ALISON hahahha I was not going in there to find out. We headed across to the handicrafts market and this was huge. We could have shopped there the whole day and not seen it all properly. I bought a few gifts from here.up a back street a guy talked us in to eating at his place and after eating her charged us like triple what we pay back in bogor. At this point I am not happy being a bulee and yet being paid their wages and still being charge heaps. Then rang a mate to meet him and he told us to get on bus 609, we walked around in squares to find the bus depot and got a little help on the way, helps having confused faces on and being 2 female bulees, haha the security guard put us on bus 69 to go to cinere mall which is where we asked about, they kicked us of that bus 2 minutes into the ride, we found bus 609 and jumped onto it to get about 5 minutes along and told wrong bus ladies. get off and he wouldnt give our money back either.
Luckily a local that spoke english seen us with the map out and helped us onto the correct bus and off we went. I swear this bus had a square wheel and the arse was about to fall out of the bus. shit was falling on us from the roof and so many rattles. I only have little boobs but man they nearly were hitting me in the face bouncing so hard. the noise and clanging and banging was scary I was horrified for the first 10 minutes and then it was hilarious to be in this situation and actually sitting there waiting for it to fall apart. man can i get myslef into some scary situations of what. an hour later we reached our destination to meet the guy and his sis to take us back to his house on another form of transport..... motor bikes. this is the guy that we met at the waterfalls a few weeks ago and have kept in contact with him a bit. with offerings of pot and booze, we were off. yipee
i could make the sequel to planes trains buses and bikes.
we stayed there for a few hours meeting the family and eating and drinking.
HENCE AND EXPECTED. WE MISSED THE LAST BUS AND TRAIN back to bogor, haha
We then jumped on the back of the bikes and they took us back 1 hour and half ride. I was laughing at the whole day and saying to myself about having this guy in between my legs and ive not a clue his name.
He spoke no english except three sentences
1 What is your name. cool an introduction after my legs have been wrapped around him for half an hour
2 How old are you and i knew what the third was before he even asked
3 Are you marrried. I answered before he finished his sentence.
getting used to these local men wanting to marry me.
must say i woke this morning with an unusual feeling of either too much on top sex or a few hours in the saddle. much to my disappointment neither was the reason :-(
So I should update a few funnies in the last few weeks.
My house mate is on holidays in aussie and while sitting around dinner one night we were talking about my horendous phobia to spiders and how lucky ive been and bec would save me. Holy shit was all I could say when I got home that night and a huge fucking spider was on the lounge wall. I grabbed the little broom we have and fought him tooth and nail. I won and was shaking and sweating so much afterwards. not funny at all. that night pauline went home and had to fight a scorpion now thats funny haha.
umm Lukes 30th was a hit, after a few jugs of beer and vodkas, I asked him if he was interested in coming and seeing the 1000 islands just off jakarta with us. now luke is not serious at the best of times, so when he put on a straight face and replied "oh i only want to see one or two" i almost peed my pants right there and then. they are called the 1000 island there is only a few there. oh my god it was funny
Our favourite hang out after work has awesome milkshakes, so I order a strawberry one religously? see i have a religion in this country, anyways
some nights I can have a strawberry milkshake, but i cant have a smoothie. And others I can have a smoothie and not a milkshake. Same ingredients but i dont get it.
we went to a new place where you have a hut in the treetops and eat up there and pauline ordered a cup (single) of tea. sorry mam you can only order two at a time. they would only serve a caraffe not a cup. what the????
you can buy vodka here in the dodgy shops where it is hidden behind all the stock. WELL pauline and I had a bottle one night that i swear and would bet you that it was nail polish removal and paint thinners and metho all mixed together. I felt like the enamel was being stripped off my teeth right before my eyes. hence we get our vodka from the guy that has links with the american embassy now mmmmmmmm lesson learnt
haha I invited the new teacher around to check out my place and for dinner and stuff wink wink. Well after talking for a few hours, actually less but anyways, I decided that there was no chance and we will be just friends haha I hinted on several occasions that the angkots would finish soon he should go he was like no no its ok ill go by ojek (motorbike) well after a few hours and hinting the whole time i had to go to bed he insisted he would stay and go in the morning. I was so over it all i said yeah whatever. well he woke me at 2 something when security knocked on the gate. they do that so we know that they are actually working and we are getting our moneys worth so after explaining that i went back to sleep to get woken at 430 when the mosque called prayer, with trace trace what the hell is that. i was soo shitty by now, that when he woke me at 530 when the hawkers started walking the lane with trace trace what is that, i could have smashed him. i got up at 7.30 to get out of the room with him. shitty as, he expected me to make him breakfast and he had been slagging off at farouc expecting things from me. I showed him the kitchen, where he cooked HIS breakfast and left me the dishes. all morning i was telling him it was time to go and he kept saying i will wait and we can go together. WELL i offered him the shower first which he took and after getting out of the shower, proceeded to tell me that he had broke the tap and couldnt turn off the water. fuck fuck fuck. so i had to trun the water off to the whole house have no shower and go to work for my 1oclock class. needless to say i was shitty with him all day.
I had to ring bec and tell her what happened and that we had no water to the house.
As girls we fixed the tap later that night and had water back on. GIRL POWER
I have learnt that lesson too, he often invites himself around and I state "no thanks"
the boys dont often invite me to play pool anymore with them as i kick there arses each time. oh well, I play pool with Farouc most weeks and he whips me. Im not a sore loser so its all good. He finds it strange, and funny that i dance around the table singing and am totally not serious and yet i play so well.
umm ill try be a good girl and update more often, oh speaking of not being good
my bad points living in Indonesia,
I am 31 and not married strike 1
I dont have a religion so this is illegal here strike 2
I drink strike 3
i have tattoos strike 4
i wear a tank top showing that i have boobs god forbid strike 5
i wear a skirt above my knees strike 6
i have piercing in lots of places strike 7
i wear nail polish which is dirty strike 8
and my latest
oh noo I practise yoga. this is the devils excersie as it improves sex strike 9
I LOVE LIVING HERE
LOVE YOU ALL CHEERS AND "GOD BLESS"
Saturday, May 9, 2009
going ons
so once again where to stat when i leave it so long.
My finger nails are WAY to long to be typing so i most probably willhave a few errors. youll understand.
So yesterday pauline and i headed off to the hairdressers. As you all know that i had a lot of BAD hair styles from china so this was being verybrave on my half. Four hours later, as is the normal drill in the aisan countries, i have the redest hair ive ever had a few blonde and copper highlghts. A little surprised but hey, i have had a hell of a lot worse. its ok and i will get used to it.
So Bec came and met us at the hairdressers and we took of for lunch. I am liking this restaurant near work that you take shoes off and sit on the floor at the coffee table. waterfalls around nice lush green grass and tranquility to the max, awesome food too. After a few hours of relaxation after relaxing at the hair salon, bec was heading to the gardens while pauline and i were, yep you guessed it, haha going shopping. this is my country. We got to the shopping mall when my phone rang, didnt know the number buy answered. it was Faruk. He mixed up his schedule and instead ofsunday had saturday off. i had planned this day with the girls so that sunday i could spend with him. Then the dreaded question was asked. WIll you come to karaoke tonight. silly me again says yes, except since i have met the uncles i think that i should be able to bring pauline and bec. all good they can come this time.
I then have to beg nd grovel to pauline to come, and being the great friend that she is , she gave in. haha. We then had to hoof it back home as he was coming to pick us up at 6 from my house and we had a little time spare that we could have a few drinks before he came. So on the angkok and my phone rings, where are you, im on my way, oh, we are there.
SHIT no time for a shower or more importantly a drink. Karaoke sober again. Threw on a shirt, as a tank top is not really suitable and a pair of jeans, shower from the can and in the car we jumped.
i already had a sore throat and loosing my voice, but we had an awesome time and left with no voice. pauline also really enjoyed herself and Faruk took photos so ill post them once i get them.
YOU CAN ALL SEE HIM
i found ot last night that his mum is from arabia, so that is why he does not look like a typical indonesian. he is HANDSOME
on a bae note, fridays class for my last one was an exam and my last class with these students so they had to do a questionnaire. They are notorious for speaking indonesian in class so i walked in and said "Andrea (the main offender) no Bahasa in class english only" Well didnt she crack it, spoit brat. And then i handed out the questionnaire.
WELL i am a dissapointment to the school as a teacher and she has wasted her money and i have taught her nothing and over all she is very unhappy with the teacher.
I was hurt i must say that she could be soo shallow that up till this class she was teling me i was a good teacher and she liked comiing to class. i stewed for a while, while they were doing there exams. and i thought fuck her, just cos she cracked it because i cant teacher her if she speaks indonesian.
ill see what happens when i go to work on monday. see if they take notice to the students thoughts.
My classes all change this week to. i teach from 4 30 till 9 every night and on saturday i start at 9 till 1 with a 4 HOUR BUSINESS ENGLISH CLASS.
i cant be too bad a teacher if im teaching business english and i know jack shit about business. lol
The other bad thing is that over the last four weeks with the same students i have sussed out my 8 year old monsters and we have a ball. playing monkeys in the barrell and basketball. I bribe them with giving me answers, and taking shots at the hoop. works wonderfully. Well now i have to give them to another teacher and replacd with 3 new classes. so i start all over with someone elses 8 year old monsters. And I also have 2 adult classes.which i kind aenjoy more. Learning all new names and personalities and researching what dianamics the class has. going to be a full on week whis week as i have the 3 new classes monday wednesdays and fridays. tuesdays and thurdays are 2 new classes also but they are new to the school so i start totally from scratch with them. mind boggeling for me and i work there so dont know if you understand it.
my week, well monday i was waiting for my lounge to arrive but received a text to say tha tsince it is now being made out of velvet it would take till thursday. ok thanks for telling me before i had to wait. not instead i then had water delivered and becs curtan installeed. tuesday i headed into work early as i was marking exams and getting certificates ready for the finishng classes. no prep for these as the were sitting exams. and there last class they had asked to watch dvds. Have i mentioned sometimes my job is SOOO EASY. my wednesday class took me out to dinner for a realia class. (lessons that are real life situations)
my nights this week. ali the new teacher from england is cool. we have clicked. we play pool and are about the same level. he wins i win and we dance around and sing and carry on. like you do. he is a little touchy maybe this is howhe is, going to wait and see. On our boot camp last week we sat together for dinner and laughted an dmucked around the whole time. He then thanked me for our DATE and asked for a second. he even kissed me good night. scary. dont really want to get involved with a teacher in that way. havent been out since wednesday night with him ashe had the singapore run and this weekend is in bali. Had a feeling he was wanting to ask me to go to but,ah avoided the topic after that. Faurk and all.
he is cool though.
Today is sunday, and meeting up with pauline. we are going to have that coffee and cake that we didnt get yesterday and do the shopping that was interupter
Had a small thought that i am too spontaneous. Should I have said no and continued with my plan. Then again when you plan they always change. Am i too leanient, BUt if we had not have gone we would not have had the ball that we did.?????
If these are my only problems, what am i complaining about hahahaha
by for now kiddies
take care and keep in touch
xxooxxooxxoo
My finger nails are WAY to long to be typing so i most probably willhave a few errors. youll understand.
So yesterday pauline and i headed off to the hairdressers. As you all know that i had a lot of BAD hair styles from china so this was being verybrave on my half. Four hours later, as is the normal drill in the aisan countries, i have the redest hair ive ever had a few blonde and copper highlghts. A little surprised but hey, i have had a hell of a lot worse. its ok and i will get used to it.
So Bec came and met us at the hairdressers and we took of for lunch. I am liking this restaurant near work that you take shoes off and sit on the floor at the coffee table. waterfalls around nice lush green grass and tranquility to the max, awesome food too. After a few hours of relaxation after relaxing at the hair salon, bec was heading to the gardens while pauline and i were, yep you guessed it, haha going shopping. this is my country. We got to the shopping mall when my phone rang, didnt know the number buy answered. it was Faruk. He mixed up his schedule and instead ofsunday had saturday off. i had planned this day with the girls so that sunday i could spend with him. Then the dreaded question was asked. WIll you come to karaoke tonight. silly me again says yes, except since i have met the uncles i think that i should be able to bring pauline and bec. all good they can come this time.
I then have to beg nd grovel to pauline to come, and being the great friend that she is , she gave in. haha. We then had to hoof it back home as he was coming to pick us up at 6 from my house and we had a little time spare that we could have a few drinks before he came. So on the angkok and my phone rings, where are you, im on my way, oh, we are there.
SHIT no time for a shower or more importantly a drink. Karaoke sober again. Threw on a shirt, as a tank top is not really suitable and a pair of jeans, shower from the can and in the car we jumped.
i already had a sore throat and loosing my voice, but we had an awesome time and left with no voice. pauline also really enjoyed herself and Faruk took photos so ill post them once i get them.
YOU CAN ALL SEE HIM
i found ot last night that his mum is from arabia, so that is why he does not look like a typical indonesian. he is HANDSOME
on a bae note, fridays class for my last one was an exam and my last class with these students so they had to do a questionnaire. They are notorious for speaking indonesian in class so i walked in and said "Andrea (the main offender) no Bahasa in class english only" Well didnt she crack it, spoit brat. And then i handed out the questionnaire.
WELL i am a dissapointment to the school as a teacher and she has wasted her money and i have taught her nothing and over all she is very unhappy with the teacher.
I was hurt i must say that she could be soo shallow that up till this class she was teling me i was a good teacher and she liked comiing to class. i stewed for a while, while they were doing there exams. and i thought fuck her, just cos she cracked it because i cant teacher her if she speaks indonesian.
ill see what happens when i go to work on monday. see if they take notice to the students thoughts.
My classes all change this week to. i teach from 4 30 till 9 every night and on saturday i start at 9 till 1 with a 4 HOUR BUSINESS ENGLISH CLASS.
i cant be too bad a teacher if im teaching business english and i know jack shit about business. lol
The other bad thing is that over the last four weeks with the same students i have sussed out my 8 year old monsters and we have a ball. playing monkeys in the barrell and basketball. I bribe them with giving me answers, and taking shots at the hoop. works wonderfully. Well now i have to give them to another teacher and replacd with 3 new classes. so i start all over with someone elses 8 year old monsters. And I also have 2 adult classes.which i kind aenjoy more. Learning all new names and personalities and researching what dianamics the class has. going to be a full on week whis week as i have the 3 new classes monday wednesdays and fridays. tuesdays and thurdays are 2 new classes also but they are new to the school so i start totally from scratch with them. mind boggeling for me and i work there so dont know if you understand it.
my week, well monday i was waiting for my lounge to arrive but received a text to say tha tsince it is now being made out of velvet it would take till thursday. ok thanks for telling me before i had to wait. not instead i then had water delivered and becs curtan installeed. tuesday i headed into work early as i was marking exams and getting certificates ready for the finishng classes. no prep for these as the were sitting exams. and there last class they had asked to watch dvds. Have i mentioned sometimes my job is SOOO EASY. my wednesday class took me out to dinner for a realia class. (lessons that are real life situations)
my nights this week. ali the new teacher from england is cool. we have clicked. we play pool and are about the same level. he wins i win and we dance around and sing and carry on. like you do. he is a little touchy maybe this is howhe is, going to wait and see. On our boot camp last week we sat together for dinner and laughted an dmucked around the whole time. He then thanked me for our DATE and asked for a second. he even kissed me good night. scary. dont really want to get involved with a teacher in that way. havent been out since wednesday night with him ashe had the singapore run and this weekend is in bali. Had a feeling he was wanting to ask me to go to but,ah avoided the topic after that. Faurk and all.
he is cool though.
Today is sunday, and meeting up with pauline. we are going to have that coffee and cake that we didnt get yesterday and do the shopping that was interupter
Had a small thought that i am too spontaneous. Should I have said no and continued with my plan. Then again when you plan they always change. Am i too leanient, BUt if we had not have gone we would not have had the ball that we did.?????
If these are my only problems, what am i complaining about hahahaha
by for now kiddies
take care and keep in touch
xxooxxooxxoo
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
the mugging
Long time no blog I know in getting a little slack, or settled
firstly, I need to say that last tuesday I was mugged by a guy on a motorbike so all those that are texting my aussie phone STOP I am not getting any of your messages Ill let you know when I receive another sim and give you the number.
I am fine. I have gravel rash up my leg and a hole out of my knee and my elbow and then gravel rash up my arm. The silly thing is that I would not have this if I have just let go and given the asshole my bag, but instead I guess instinct kicked in and I held tighter, threfore I was pulled over to theground and dragged a small distance. So I then had torun back to work and see if anyone was still there. As I didnt even have the 20 cents to catch the angkok home. Two teachers were luckily still there and took me inside to wash out the gravel and torture me with betadine. The gave me some cash to get home, but then the security guy said he would take me on his bike. As I didnt even have keys to get inside and with no phone and no numbers, I didnt even know if bec would be home. She was but since she was watching a dvd and didnt hear me, I climbed in the wndow that we had broken the latch to earlier that day. So basically anyone could rob us, but the other bad thing is the the asshole now had the keys to my house and saved on my phone was my address. SHIT so after climbing in the window I put the ironong board across and put the chain on the fron door.
AMAZINGLY I slept like a log. I wrote a note for bec explaining wht had happened for her to read in the morning.
I was up early the next morning to do the dreaded phone call to mother duck. It was quick and no details at all. “mum, my bag was stolen last night can you ring telstra and all the banks to inform them. Thanks cheers chat later. It wasnt till the afternoon that I emailed mum and told her I was mugged and dragged, but fine otherwise
I took off early to hopefully get my salary early since I had no money and no access to any either, and to go and get a new phone. Pat my supervisor expected me to walk in and resign and be on the next plane back to oz. I was like Pat it happens there too, ill just have to be more careful. So after getting some money the office boy took me to the depatment mall to get a phone. I am being so soilt by everyone not wanting me to be alone. And at night the guys are all walking me to my angkok stop.
Thursday was pay day for me so I had to then walk home with 5 million on me and the next day I got my flight reimbursement money so again had 6 million. I was escorted tomy stop and came home and hid the money all over the house.
I HATE HAVING TO BE AFRAID.
Saturday we were told we were off to a team building adventure. All teaching staff security office boys and the recetion were told they had to attend. So after being up early to go shpping for a new paddlock for the front gate and a new barrel for the lock I went to wok with a towel and a change of clothes (we were told me might get wet) We were then told once on the bus, BOOT CAMP was where we were heading. We were placed into teams. Give drills excersies to get us ready and then taken to the adventure park. Yeah right. Our first drill was getting across the horizontal ropes about 4metres up and then getting down but with getting on a team members shoulders, no jumping.
Next crawling on our stomachs about 4 metres with the ropes just above ours heads. No touchng the ropes or all back to the start. This was also muddy. They had poured buckets of water tohelp us slid through. This was great for my elbow and knee, but I couldnt let that stop me. A rope swing to get from one side of the pond to the other, not a problem, throwing and catching balloons filled with water over the volley ball net, catchng a fish from the pond with just a net. Blindfolded and walking up steps down steps and over a plank bridge 5 metres above the water. No safety standards over here haha.filling a pipe about a metre tall filled with holes using only a bucket filled with holes too. We had to cover the holes so the ping pong balls would flow over the top, then walking across a bamboo pole with ropes above us and half on one side then passing each other in the middle. My problem here was some of the ropes I was on tippy toes to reach and then hang out the side to let the others pass me.
ANYWAYS at the end of the day my team WON the champions. Excellent.
So after a cold shower and dousing my cuts and sores in dethol, we headed off to dinner. Man after 5 hours of that I was starving. We went to a fancy restaurant an dwork shouted us a feed. Back on the bus by 10 30 to head home. We were suppose to go to the afari park but it was too late by that time. Since I was heading home at night one of the office boys was instructed to take me home on his bike and make sure I was safe inside.
I think that I was mugged to put theothergirls back on alert that shit does happen. have all be extra careful and dont carry all their money at once and not all their cards together. I might have been made the point as I can handle it. Im amazed that I am emotionally not effected at all. I was angly at first but only for the fact that it was a pain to cancel things and not have access to mymoney.
Today I have fixed the tap from the bathroom that was not working, I have unscrewed latched from windows to put on other windows to hold the window open. Fixed the leaking tap out the front garden, changed the barrel in the front door lock and brought gas for the hot plate. Man im super woman fix it. I also attempted the toilet that does not flush, but I think we need a plumber.
Thats enough fixing for today.
Bec has just come home fromjakarta and im just waiting to meet up with Faruk.
So ill call that a day of excitement and since ill have the net tomorrow night at home ill be able to keep up to date more frequently
cheers
trace
firstly, I need to say that last tuesday I was mugged by a guy on a motorbike so all those that are texting my aussie phone STOP I am not getting any of your messages Ill let you know when I receive another sim and give you the number.
I am fine. I have gravel rash up my leg and a hole out of my knee and my elbow and then gravel rash up my arm. The silly thing is that I would not have this if I have just let go and given the asshole my bag, but instead I guess instinct kicked in and I held tighter, threfore I was pulled over to theground and dragged a small distance. So I then had torun back to work and see if anyone was still there. As I didnt even have the 20 cents to catch the angkok home. Two teachers were luckily still there and took me inside to wash out the gravel and torture me with betadine. The gave me some cash to get home, but then the security guy said he would take me on his bike. As I didnt even have keys to get inside and with no phone and no numbers, I didnt even know if bec would be home. She was but since she was watching a dvd and didnt hear me, I climbed in the wndow that we had broken the latch to earlier that day. So basically anyone could rob us, but the other bad thing is the the asshole now had the keys to my house and saved on my phone was my address. SHIT so after climbing in the window I put the ironong board across and put the chain on the fron door.
AMAZINGLY I slept like a log. I wrote a note for bec explaining wht had happened for her to read in the morning.
I was up early the next morning to do the dreaded phone call to mother duck. It was quick and no details at all. “mum, my bag was stolen last night can you ring telstra and all the banks to inform them. Thanks cheers chat later. It wasnt till the afternoon that I emailed mum and told her I was mugged and dragged, but fine otherwise
I took off early to hopefully get my salary early since I had no money and no access to any either, and to go and get a new phone. Pat my supervisor expected me to walk in and resign and be on the next plane back to oz. I was like Pat it happens there too, ill just have to be more careful. So after getting some money the office boy took me to the depatment mall to get a phone. I am being so soilt by everyone not wanting me to be alone. And at night the guys are all walking me to my angkok stop.
Thursday was pay day for me so I had to then walk home with 5 million on me and the next day I got my flight reimbursement money so again had 6 million. I was escorted tomy stop and came home and hid the money all over the house.
I HATE HAVING TO BE AFRAID.
Saturday we were told we were off to a team building adventure. All teaching staff security office boys and the recetion were told they had to attend. So after being up early to go shpping for a new paddlock for the front gate and a new barrel for the lock I went to wok with a towel and a change of clothes (we were told me might get wet) We were then told once on the bus, BOOT CAMP was where we were heading. We were placed into teams. Give drills excersies to get us ready and then taken to the adventure park. Yeah right. Our first drill was getting across the horizontal ropes about 4metres up and then getting down but with getting on a team members shoulders, no jumping.
Next crawling on our stomachs about 4 metres with the ropes just above ours heads. No touchng the ropes or all back to the start. This was also muddy. They had poured buckets of water tohelp us slid through. This was great for my elbow and knee, but I couldnt let that stop me. A rope swing to get from one side of the pond to the other, not a problem, throwing and catching balloons filled with water over the volley ball net, catchng a fish from the pond with just a net. Blindfolded and walking up steps down steps and over a plank bridge 5 metres above the water. No safety standards over here haha.filling a pipe about a metre tall filled with holes using only a bucket filled with holes too. We had to cover the holes so the ping pong balls would flow over the top, then walking across a bamboo pole with ropes above us and half on one side then passing each other in the middle. My problem here was some of the ropes I was on tippy toes to reach and then hang out the side to let the others pass me.
ANYWAYS at the end of the day my team WON the champions. Excellent.
So after a cold shower and dousing my cuts and sores in dethol, we headed off to dinner. Man after 5 hours of that I was starving. We went to a fancy restaurant an dwork shouted us a feed. Back on the bus by 10 30 to head home. We were suppose to go to the afari park but it was too late by that time. Since I was heading home at night one of the office boys was instructed to take me home on his bike and make sure I was safe inside.
I think that I was mugged to put theothergirls back on alert that shit does happen. have all be extra careful and dont carry all their money at once and not all their cards together. I might have been made the point as I can handle it. Im amazed that I am emotionally not effected at all. I was angly at first but only for the fact that it was a pain to cancel things and not have access to mymoney.
Today I have fixed the tap from the bathroom that was not working, I have unscrewed latched from windows to put on other windows to hold the window open. Fixed the leaking tap out the front garden, changed the barrel in the front door lock and brought gas for the hot plate. Man im super woman fix it. I also attempted the toilet that does not flush, but I think we need a plumber.
Thats enough fixing for today.
Bec has just come home fromjakarta and im just waiting to meet up with Faruk.
So ill call that a day of excitement and since ill have the net tomorrow night at home ill be able to keep up to date more frequently
cheers
trace
Thursday, April 16, 2009
SINGAPORE
Tuesday was my visa run to Singapore. You cant apply to a consulate in Indonesia you have to leave the country and re entre on a 12 month working permit.
So at 3 am Tuesday morning both alarms went off and i opened my not so keen to be open eyes. I cant beleive I have to get up. I definitely was NOT having a cold shower at this time of the morning. ( i am turning into "that" feral cos I shower less and less the more I stay here) Anyways, I got dressed and double checked I had all the paper work passport phots etc. Onece Twoece haha.
I strolled down to the school where the driver was picking me up Its about a 30 second walk and quite scary and eerie at that time of the morning. I waited, and waited. This driver was a new one and I had not met him before. I ended up calling Joanne, from work and asking her to call the driver as he has not shown up yet and its 10 to 4. shit that sound horrible to even type. he arrived about 5 minutes later very apologetic, hope they dont fire him for being late. So I thought that I would sleep on the way but no not even for a 30 second long shut eye. I stumbled my way to the check out and immigration and towards the waiting room. The plane left about half an hour late, so not really a good start to my day.
I think that I had a 30 minute kip after breakfast. I woke as we were landing and felt a little better for it.
So back through customs and immigration and off to the blue free call phone.
This is where i feel like im in a James Bond movie. I call the mobile number I have for the agent. He says"whos this"
Tracy Shevlin i replied. Do you have the papers. Yes I have the papers. Do you know the meeting point. Yes i have the address. Ok see you there
That was our conversation over the phone. I then jump in a cab and pass him the address. We cruise off to maccas, next to the hilton Hotel.
Singapore is the brisbane of Asia. in my opinion. The streets are 100 % cleaner and the place is soooo modern. Parks and trees everywhere and traffic all in order. haha
So he drops me off at the hilton and I walk towards maccas. I am to met the agent and give him my passport. This is itself is TOTALLY against what I want to do. I slowly walk down the steps looking for a guy with a lot of papers, he is the agent im loking for. He waves me towards him and says "are you tracy" Yes tracy shevlin I replied. He invites me to sit while HE fills out my application form I sign the piece of paper, he sticks the photo on and ask "do you have the money" I handed over 260 singapore dollars. he takes my passport from me and says "be here at 4pm" then waves me away.
nooooooo
I cant beleive it went down like that.
So its like 10 in the morning and I have 6 hours to kill without getting lost and not wandering too far to be late. I walked across the road to the chemist. Pat from work asked me to get her nicorete patches. The 3rd chemist had them but since the pharmicists was not there she could not give them to me. I had to wait till a pharmacist came on line so she could ask me all about them, then take photos of the lady giving me the packets, and me signing that I agreeed to accept them from the lady via the internet. WEIRD
I then had to go o the atm and take out singapore dollars.
Man, my bank must wonder what the hell im doing travelling all over the place.
Then, what does anybody do when they are in singapore.
Tracy, of course gets her nails done, hahaha, and a reflexology foot massage, and a neck and shsoulders massage. I then went on the look out for a hair dresser. I second thought this idea, because in china sometimes it would take 3 or 4 hours and by now I was on a time schedule. So I went to maccas and ate lunch and off to an internet cafe to update my blog surf facebook and chat to peoples.
I was back to collect my passport at about 3.30, could not be late everyone kept telling me. HE WAS LATE Nervously I sat around till about 4.30 and once he arrived I pounced. withe my passport in my hand and the correct visa inside, i tailed it to the hilton and grabbed the next cab tothe airport.
I AM TOTALLY RAT SHIT BY NOW
all I want to do is lye down and close my little eye lids
Oh a bonus about singapore is they sell TWISTIES, so i brought a pack(ive eaten them already)
i checked in to garuda and skipped onto the gate for my departure. oh I should say that here is where a litre of malibu jumped into my posession and about 2 kilos of chocolates. mars bars bountys snickers mmmmmmm
I sprawled out at my gate. I was the only one there and I had a 2 hour wait. On goes the mp3 player and i layed out flat. ahhhh. realxing
onto the plane andhad some dinner. its about an hour and a half back to jakarta.
It felt GREAT to walk passed the 100 or so waiting for their visa on arrival and skip straight through to immigration. It also felt great to walk past all the guys calling "taxi taxi"
I was like no thank you I have a driver, haha. I met beau out the front of arrivals and happily plopped myslef into the fron seat. Jakarta is about 45 to an hour depending ontraffic jams. I arrived home about 10.45 that night, immediately took of my stinky sweaty clothes, and yep, slid into the sheets and I reckon my eyes closed before i even settled my head onto the pillow.
confirming to all you people. yes, I do do some crazy shit in my life and even I am starting towonder at what point will I actually say nah, thats going too far.
oh well. I am now legally allowed to work inIndonesia and im here for the 12 month stint. and I must say, I am extremely happy to be here.
xxoo
So at 3 am Tuesday morning both alarms went off and i opened my not so keen to be open eyes. I cant beleive I have to get up. I definitely was NOT having a cold shower at this time of the morning. ( i am turning into "that" feral cos I shower less and less the more I stay here) Anyways, I got dressed and double checked I had all the paper work passport phots etc. Onece Twoece haha.
I strolled down to the school where the driver was picking me up Its about a 30 second walk and quite scary and eerie at that time of the morning. I waited, and waited. This driver was a new one and I had not met him before. I ended up calling Joanne, from work and asking her to call the driver as he has not shown up yet and its 10 to 4. shit that sound horrible to even type. he arrived about 5 minutes later very apologetic, hope they dont fire him for being late. So I thought that I would sleep on the way but no not even for a 30 second long shut eye. I stumbled my way to the check out and immigration and towards the waiting room. The plane left about half an hour late, so not really a good start to my day.
I think that I had a 30 minute kip after breakfast. I woke as we were landing and felt a little better for it.
So back through customs and immigration and off to the blue free call phone.
This is where i feel like im in a James Bond movie. I call the mobile number I have for the agent. He says"whos this"
Tracy Shevlin i replied. Do you have the papers. Yes I have the papers. Do you know the meeting point. Yes i have the address. Ok see you there
That was our conversation over the phone. I then jump in a cab and pass him the address. We cruise off to maccas, next to the hilton Hotel.
Singapore is the brisbane of Asia. in my opinion. The streets are 100 % cleaner and the place is soooo modern. Parks and trees everywhere and traffic all in order. haha
So he drops me off at the hilton and I walk towards maccas. I am to met the agent and give him my passport. This is itself is TOTALLY against what I want to do. I slowly walk down the steps looking for a guy with a lot of papers, he is the agent im loking for. He waves me towards him and says "are you tracy" Yes tracy shevlin I replied. He invites me to sit while HE fills out my application form I sign the piece of paper, he sticks the photo on and ask "do you have the money" I handed over 260 singapore dollars. he takes my passport from me and says "be here at 4pm" then waves me away.
nooooooo
I cant beleive it went down like that.
So its like 10 in the morning and I have 6 hours to kill without getting lost and not wandering too far to be late. I walked across the road to the chemist. Pat from work asked me to get her nicorete patches. The 3rd chemist had them but since the pharmicists was not there she could not give them to me. I had to wait till a pharmacist came on line so she could ask me all about them, then take photos of the lady giving me the packets, and me signing that I agreeed to accept them from the lady via the internet. WEIRD
I then had to go o the atm and take out singapore dollars.
Man, my bank must wonder what the hell im doing travelling all over the place.
Then, what does anybody do when they are in singapore.
Tracy, of course gets her nails done, hahaha, and a reflexology foot massage, and a neck and shsoulders massage. I then went on the look out for a hair dresser. I second thought this idea, because in china sometimes it would take 3 or 4 hours and by now I was on a time schedule. So I went to maccas and ate lunch and off to an internet cafe to update my blog surf facebook and chat to peoples.
I was back to collect my passport at about 3.30, could not be late everyone kept telling me. HE WAS LATE Nervously I sat around till about 4.30 and once he arrived I pounced. withe my passport in my hand and the correct visa inside, i tailed it to the hilton and grabbed the next cab tothe airport.
I AM TOTALLY RAT SHIT BY NOW
all I want to do is lye down and close my little eye lids
Oh a bonus about singapore is they sell TWISTIES, so i brought a pack(ive eaten them already)
i checked in to garuda and skipped onto the gate for my departure. oh I should say that here is where a litre of malibu jumped into my posession and about 2 kilos of chocolates. mars bars bountys snickers mmmmmmm
I sprawled out at my gate. I was the only one there and I had a 2 hour wait. On goes the mp3 player and i layed out flat. ahhhh. realxing
onto the plane andhad some dinner. its about an hour and a half back to jakarta.
It felt GREAT to walk passed the 100 or so waiting for their visa on arrival and skip straight through to immigration. It also felt great to walk past all the guys calling "taxi taxi"
I was like no thank you I have a driver, haha. I met beau out the front of arrivals and happily plopped myslef into the fron seat. Jakarta is about 45 to an hour depending ontraffic jams. I arrived home about 10.45 that night, immediately took of my stinky sweaty clothes, and yep, slid into the sheets and I reckon my eyes closed before i even settled my head onto the pillow.
confirming to all you people. yes, I do do some crazy shit in my life and even I am starting towonder at what point will I actually say nah, thats going too far.
oh well. I am now legally allowed to work inIndonesia and im here for the 12 month stint. and I must say, I am extremely happy to be here.
xxoo
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
week in bogor
SHIT ihave missed a week already.
last thursday was a public holiday for election day. I slept in till my eyes woke up which was about 11 30 i think. Had been pretty exhausted from all the social things I had been doing in the mornings and working late then going out to dinner after work.
Oh yeah wednesday nights in the go to "pockets" the pool hall and play with all the teachers from the other schools too. Pauline and I went there after dinner with the public holiday and all, why not. oh and i also knew that Faruk was back in town because of the holiday and I could bet a million rupiah he would be there.
he was
After discussing with pauline the alcohol situation she took of to the warong out the front. ( thats what they call those stores on the side of the roads) most warongs will sell vodka illegally that is hidden behind all the things on the shelves. Pauline bargained from the 12000 bottle which this warong was selling for 24000 he was not happy but hey, we were dry so she paid the money and came back in.
OH, MY GOD
this is the first time that i think i have actaully dranken paint stripper and metho and nail polish remover. Man, no amount of lemonade could change the taste and afterwards it felt like i had a layer or two off my tongue. I think I will pass next time on the vodka from the warong. haha
they boys played their games of pool and I was last to play. I hesitated and got up to play. I said only for one game and then to go and see Faruk, well, after beating them all and about 7 games later they all refused to play me, so I resigned and headed to see Faruk. He is kinda a professional at pool and I get whipped by him so he is always happy to play me.
Pauline had left early to catch the liverpool soccer match and the boys all left around 1 ish but not without passing by our table and to warn Faruk to look after me and take care of me etc etc. So too all you people worrying, all the teachers are looking out for me all the time. I told them not too worry that I actually have been out with him before.
We finished up about 2 30 and Faruk then dropped me off at home on his mobile, which is indonesian for motor bike lol
Hence the sleep in till my eyes opened.
Thursday I met Pauline and a few others for lunch as Pauline was heading on holidays to Lombok near bali. After catching up with them I headed home to some air con as it was very hot and energy draining. I was also going to the movies with Faruk later and didnt want to wear myself out.
Im eating dinner tonight at the balinese restaurant across the road from my kost. (bed and breakfast) I ordered shredded coconut with chicken and rice.. hence I have shredded chicken and shredded coconut served in a palm leave bowl and rice on the side. ALSO the not spicy at all is killing my lips and my tongue is hurting from the fire in my mouth.
anyways, Faruk picked me up about 4 to head to the movies. we watched fast and the furious which i loved and then he took me home again. Thats all folks.
Friday, oh luke and i spent the day at the Botanical gardens, yep e wandered around for like 4 or 5 hours. it was peaceful and green and trees. very nice to have done once and now I have seen the world famous gardens. yeah.
Luke then walked me to his kost so I knew where he was living.
I have never met a male that has SUCH BAD SENCE OF DIRECTION
He had no idea that the same road that maccas was on was the same one the school was on, because it kinked in the road and curved around. He was always saying and pointing to maccas and saying "no that road" and I would say its the same road, after a few days it clicked. he understood it kinked and came around the corner. He says I live on the corner of mp restaurant but actually he gets the restaurant name mixed up and confuses me until I get where he is talking and say no it ...... and he says oh yeah thats what i mean. I cant get my head around him most days
oh well, so after we went to his place we had dinner at "death by chocolate"
the worst carbonarra ive ever had in my life. I think the sauce was made with off cream or something, even luke turned his nose up and he will literally eat anything. These guys actually sell chocolate. They also turned off all the lights after dinner and had gouls walk around scaring people i guess. Headed home after a big day and watch some more tv series.
SAturday I had to be up early and meet the owners of the house. They had finished painting it I wanted to inspect before giving them the money. All good well asian good anyways, i gave the nod and headed back to meet luke for coffee. See how patient I am, i can stil meet him for coffee although I think he understands that I am not exactly happy before coffee and he can irritate me so much easier.
This is where i stepped out of the angkok with the style of a 3 drunk 3 year old. tripped, hit the concrete gutter and scun my knee while smashing it aagainst the egde. NOW i am really not happy
Luke came down and met me at maccas where we headed to the chemist to get something to kill anything that might take up residence in my knee. I get a coffee and all is well again. We trek off to the traditional markets for the day. They are dirt floor, clothes that look second hand and around the corner is thelive animal markets, at this point I tell luke im done and cant be here with this. We twadle back home but mind you we have probably been there for around 3 or 4 hours.
Get my next sentencce. On a Saturday night I tell luke im going to stay in and "wash my hair" haha which i actually did do. Not sure if your aware but i dont have hot water in my kost. So some mornings i go without a shower, this is possibly why when you see me on the web cam I look like shit first thing in the morning, jilly bean. When I have time I boil the water in the kettle which takes about half an hour, fill the bucket and use this to have a shower. My hair is totally neglected and getting washed about once a week. So hence the stay in and wash my hair statment. My hair thanked me for it.
Sunday I was up again early to go and pay the owners the rent money for the year. 16 million plus the million deposit since saying I would take the place. WOW, did I hate walking around that morning with all that cash in my bag. I was soooo supper sensitive towards the people around me. I signed the piece of paper called the contract and organised to get some curtains made, which today they tell me they are ready. Normally takes a week but for me 3 days. I LOVE LIVING HERE
have no idea what I did that after noon.
monday i strolled into work and prepared for my classes. The schedule has finished for the last month so I get all new classes with me as their first teacher. Heaps easier to establish rules and relationships when its from the start. Lucky e I
ended up with the 6 8 year old monsters. NEW RULES KIDS. I have had 2 classes with them and they are great. my little monsters i call them with a smile on my face. I had complete control today for the whole 1 20 minutes and we palyed games and they actually listened and learnt new things. I had 3 awesome classes today thats probably why I am typping tonight.
Tuesday was my day insingapore for the visa run.
It totally felt like I was a Spy but ill tell you about it in the next post
good night all my lovelys and talk soon
last thursday was a public holiday for election day. I slept in till my eyes woke up which was about 11 30 i think. Had been pretty exhausted from all the social things I had been doing in the mornings and working late then going out to dinner after work.
Oh yeah wednesday nights in the go to "pockets" the pool hall and play with all the teachers from the other schools too. Pauline and I went there after dinner with the public holiday and all, why not. oh and i also knew that Faruk was back in town because of the holiday and I could bet a million rupiah he would be there.
he was
After discussing with pauline the alcohol situation she took of to the warong out the front. ( thats what they call those stores on the side of the roads) most warongs will sell vodka illegally that is hidden behind all the things on the shelves. Pauline bargained from the 12000 bottle which this warong was selling for 24000 he was not happy but hey, we were dry so she paid the money and came back in.
OH, MY GOD
this is the first time that i think i have actaully dranken paint stripper and metho and nail polish remover. Man, no amount of lemonade could change the taste and afterwards it felt like i had a layer or two off my tongue. I think I will pass next time on the vodka from the warong. haha
they boys played their games of pool and I was last to play. I hesitated and got up to play. I said only for one game and then to go and see Faruk, well, after beating them all and about 7 games later they all refused to play me, so I resigned and headed to see Faruk. He is kinda a professional at pool and I get whipped by him so he is always happy to play me.
Pauline had left early to catch the liverpool soccer match and the boys all left around 1 ish but not without passing by our table and to warn Faruk to look after me and take care of me etc etc. So too all you people worrying, all the teachers are looking out for me all the time. I told them not too worry that I actually have been out with him before.
We finished up about 2 30 and Faruk then dropped me off at home on his mobile, which is indonesian for motor bike lol
Hence the sleep in till my eyes opened.
Thursday I met Pauline and a few others for lunch as Pauline was heading on holidays to Lombok near bali. After catching up with them I headed home to some air con as it was very hot and energy draining. I was also going to the movies with Faruk later and didnt want to wear myself out.
Im eating dinner tonight at the balinese restaurant across the road from my kost. (bed and breakfast) I ordered shredded coconut with chicken and rice.. hence I have shredded chicken and shredded coconut served in a palm leave bowl and rice on the side. ALSO the not spicy at all is killing my lips and my tongue is hurting from the fire in my mouth.
anyways, Faruk picked me up about 4 to head to the movies. we watched fast and the furious which i loved and then he took me home again. Thats all folks.
Friday, oh luke and i spent the day at the Botanical gardens, yep e wandered around for like 4 or 5 hours. it was peaceful and green and trees. very nice to have done once and now I have seen the world famous gardens. yeah.
Luke then walked me to his kost so I knew where he was living.
I have never met a male that has SUCH BAD SENCE OF DIRECTION
He had no idea that the same road that maccas was on was the same one the school was on, because it kinked in the road and curved around. He was always saying and pointing to maccas and saying "no that road" and I would say its the same road, after a few days it clicked. he understood it kinked and came around the corner. He says I live on the corner of mp restaurant but actually he gets the restaurant name mixed up and confuses me until I get where he is talking and say no it ...... and he says oh yeah thats what i mean. I cant get my head around him most days
oh well, so after we went to his place we had dinner at "death by chocolate"
the worst carbonarra ive ever had in my life. I think the sauce was made with off cream or something, even luke turned his nose up and he will literally eat anything. These guys actually sell chocolate. They also turned off all the lights after dinner and had gouls walk around scaring people i guess. Headed home after a big day and watch some more tv series.
SAturday I had to be up early and meet the owners of the house. They had finished painting it I wanted to inspect before giving them the money. All good well asian good anyways, i gave the nod and headed back to meet luke for coffee. See how patient I am, i can stil meet him for coffee although I think he understands that I am not exactly happy before coffee and he can irritate me so much easier.
This is where i stepped out of the angkok with the style of a 3 drunk 3 year old. tripped, hit the concrete gutter and scun my knee while smashing it aagainst the egde. NOW i am really not happy
Luke came down and met me at maccas where we headed to the chemist to get something to kill anything that might take up residence in my knee. I get a coffee and all is well again. We trek off to the traditional markets for the day. They are dirt floor, clothes that look second hand and around the corner is thelive animal markets, at this point I tell luke im done and cant be here with this. We twadle back home but mind you we have probably been there for around 3 or 4 hours.
Get my next sentencce. On a Saturday night I tell luke im going to stay in and "wash my hair" haha which i actually did do. Not sure if your aware but i dont have hot water in my kost. So some mornings i go without a shower, this is possibly why when you see me on the web cam I look like shit first thing in the morning, jilly bean. When I have time I boil the water in the kettle which takes about half an hour, fill the bucket and use this to have a shower. My hair is totally neglected and getting washed about once a week. So hence the stay in and wash my hair statment. My hair thanked me for it.
Sunday I was up again early to go and pay the owners the rent money for the year. 16 million plus the million deposit since saying I would take the place. WOW, did I hate walking around that morning with all that cash in my bag. I was soooo supper sensitive towards the people around me. I signed the piece of paper called the contract and organised to get some curtains made, which today they tell me they are ready. Normally takes a week but for me 3 days. I LOVE LIVING HERE
have no idea what I did that after noon.
monday i strolled into work and prepared for my classes. The schedule has finished for the last month so I get all new classes with me as their first teacher. Heaps easier to establish rules and relationships when its from the start. Lucky e I
ended up with the 6 8 year old monsters. NEW RULES KIDS. I have had 2 classes with them and they are great. my little monsters i call them with a smile on my face. I had complete control today for the whole 1 20 minutes and we palyed games and they actually listened and learnt new things. I had 3 awesome classes today thats probably why I am typping tonight.
Tuesday was my day insingapore for the visa run.
It totally felt like I was a Spy but ill tell you about it in the next post
good night all my lovelys and talk soon
Monday, April 6, 2009
smooth sailing
Where do I start once again haveleft it for a few days and chaos has been let loose.
Backwards will work to start with. Today was my first actual day of teaching my own classes, well the ones taken over from the teacher whojust left. I went in about 2 30 ish since I was starting at 4.30 and wanted to make sure I kinda knew what I was up. All off theclasses that I had today were on final testing so I knew it would be kinda easy. WOW was I wrong. First up I had 6 boys aged 8 and all they wanted was to playing shooting each other and run around chasing and fighting. They sat still for the test and we self correted, which took all of half an hour. THEN THEY RAN RAMPID monsters to the max. I gave up after about 15 minutes and let them run aroundplaying games. The shit is that I have them for 1h 20 on wednesday and they have requested for their last class to play guns and chasy. Im looking forward to that day. The next two classes improved wit age. 11 and 12 years where the second class and 16 years olds for the forth. All tests so nice and simple.
Sunday: I got up early, well for me, and met luke for coffee at the kedai kita cafe. The best coffee in Bogor. Oh luke got asked to leave the place im staying at as we are not married and this is against the owners religion so he is staying in a hotel around the corner. So met him for coffee and caught an angkok to this place that I had organised to inspect. The owner was going to be there from 11 till 2. Easy nice ride and found the place like id been here my whole life. We looked around and checked there was no water leakages and stuff, Luke agreed that this place was heaps better than the other place that we had looked at with bec the aussie chick had lined up.
I called the indonesian lady that is helping with translating, she met us there straight away and we started the negotiating. It was originally 18 million as is, I wanted 16 million and I would organise toget it painted, which would cost about 1 million. We agreed on 17 million and she wil ge tit painted. Fair trade all around I reckon. After setteling all the crap I left a million deposit and she will get it sorted and ill take over in a week. This place has a bath tub, as you all know this is my santuary place.. mmmm...... im in heaven.
I then had to meet Pauline for a massage and manicure. I didnt know which angkok to get on so I just walked, bit longer than expected but about half an hour. Stripped off to have my massage which was awesome. They are wither getting better or I am getting used to the roughness. The strangest things then happened, she smothered me in a body scrub and started scrubing my tan off. Shit it hurt and was nasty. It wont be happening again. I then popped off to have my body steamed and then into a nice hot shower. I haven thad one of theses for about a week, so I wan lapping that up for sure. My manicure was nothing out of the normal. My nails are thriving here in indonesia and are long and strong. Pauline and I then heading into botany square which is the biggest shopping centre here for dinner. I had organise earlier that I was going to meet Faruk, the indonesian guy that I had meet on the first night here. So I text him and told him my plan and oranged to meet him at 8. So dinner with pauline and a coffee and donut from the donut heaven shop. Im getting addicted to their donuts. Pauline came along to meet me with Faruk, we walked into the pool hall, and I had explained to pauline I might not actually be able to recognise him, but there was only a few people there and once we walked throught that door we had all eyes on us. Of course all his friends were there and waiting for me. I was half an hour late so they were all anxious to see if I would stand him up again. We played pool and I had a few drinks, get this in a muslim country where alcohol is kinda forbidden, ive been out drinking 3 or 4 times in a week. Craziness. Anyways, as I discovered, Faruk does not drink or smoke andprays 4 or 5 times a day. This is going to be interesting and a learning curve for me. I really like him and hes soooo cute that hey, im up to give it a go. We have second date already in the making. Oh he works in Jakarta during the week so not until Saturday.so after a full on day AGAIN he dropped me home on his motorbike and we said our goodbyes.
SATURDAY up nice and early again to meet sue and richard for coffee and DONUTS haha and they then took me to see there house. They loive a little more out of town for about the same price but a mansion of a house and in excellent condition. The drive from work came to pick me up from there place to take me around to a few more places and that is when I seen the place that I went back to on sunday and will move into. This is a very time consuming activity and exhausting too. Around 4 pauline text to invite me to a party, as did christa and sue and richard. It ended up being the same party so off I went. It was adams birthday party and he is from new zealand. We had a bbq and beer and a true aussie style shin dig. I MEET EVERY EXPAT living in Bogor im pretty sure of it. Nothing too dramatic happened just mixing with every one and hearing all there stories. Was great. On my walk to get an angkok home the guy walking with us flouent in indonesian, pulled up the maccas delivery guy and I got a ride with him to my place. The maccas here deliver toyou home, and also deliver you to your home. So once again I am on the back of a motorcycle hooning around the streets, and I know its bad, but no helmets here either. So after getting home around 12 30 and after abit of tv, I was asleep by around 3. So my life has not changed much in the fact of burning the candle at both ends. Once I get into my house, since I wont be house hunting every day things chould settle down a bit.
FRIDAY I met an aussie chick who has been here for about 3 weeks and still no luck in finding a decent home, so we met and decided we would move in together. I told luke that even if he stayed in Bogor I would not be living with him, and from here I have a new house mate. She seems pretty cool and I think that we will be fine together. We looked at a house together which took around 3 hours after taxis angkok and getting lost etc etc. it was a really exhasting experience and was happy that my company is taking me and actaully helping me. She is away for 2 weeks so I told her I would keep an eye out an dhave us a place before she gets back. So my end of the bargain is good as gold.
THURSDAY luke and I met Pauline and went swimming in the morning at a hotel that allows you to use its facilities for payment. Swam for a few hours and had lunch at kedai kita, then I headed to work. Cant remember much else.
So this weekend is easter and we have thursday and friday as holidays and saturday and sunday off for me. James the guy from guangzhou but brisbane has been in contact and is coming to indonesia for a holiday. He is landing on another island but could be cruising down my way. I have told him that I have long weekend up my sleeve so yeah I can come and meet him where ever he is. My other option is furniture shopping all weekend. I need everything and I would love to have all this organised and delivered before I eve move in there. The option that I would REALLY LOVE is to go to bali for 4 days. But at this stage im paying out 17 million as bec is not here to pay her half. I have to leave a deposit with work of a million when I go to singapore in case I am not coming back they need reassurance. And I would love to stop talking millions out of my aussie bank. Looks like im heading to singapore on the 14th, not the 16th but hey they will probably change that a few more times before its set in concrete.
So thats about all I can think of for tonight, just finished sucking out the strawberry filling of a chocky frog. Once I get an address guys you are all free to post me chockies and chips when ever you get the chance.
Love yous all and will keep you in the loop
Ohhhh the roller coaster at the moment is steady no sudden ups or more importantly no downs in way shape or form. Smooth sailing bout time ay
xxooxxoo
Backwards will work to start with. Today was my first actual day of teaching my own classes, well the ones taken over from the teacher whojust left. I went in about 2 30 ish since I was starting at 4.30 and wanted to make sure I kinda knew what I was up. All off theclasses that I had today were on final testing so I knew it would be kinda easy. WOW was I wrong. First up I had 6 boys aged 8 and all they wanted was to playing shooting each other and run around chasing and fighting. They sat still for the test and we self correted, which took all of half an hour. THEN THEY RAN RAMPID monsters to the max. I gave up after about 15 minutes and let them run aroundplaying games. The shit is that I have them for 1h 20 on wednesday and they have requested for their last class to play guns and chasy. Im looking forward to that day. The next two classes improved wit age. 11 and 12 years where the second class and 16 years olds for the forth. All tests so nice and simple.
Sunday: I got up early, well for me, and met luke for coffee at the kedai kita cafe. The best coffee in Bogor. Oh luke got asked to leave the place im staying at as we are not married and this is against the owners religion so he is staying in a hotel around the corner. So met him for coffee and caught an angkok to this place that I had organised to inspect. The owner was going to be there from 11 till 2. Easy nice ride and found the place like id been here my whole life. We looked around and checked there was no water leakages and stuff, Luke agreed that this place was heaps better than the other place that we had looked at with bec the aussie chick had lined up.
I called the indonesian lady that is helping with translating, she met us there straight away and we started the negotiating. It was originally 18 million as is, I wanted 16 million and I would organise toget it painted, which would cost about 1 million. We agreed on 17 million and she wil ge tit painted. Fair trade all around I reckon. After setteling all the crap I left a million deposit and she will get it sorted and ill take over in a week. This place has a bath tub, as you all know this is my santuary place.. mmmm...... im in heaven.
I then had to meet Pauline for a massage and manicure. I didnt know which angkok to get on so I just walked, bit longer than expected but about half an hour. Stripped off to have my massage which was awesome. They are wither getting better or I am getting used to the roughness. The strangest things then happened, she smothered me in a body scrub and started scrubing my tan off. Shit it hurt and was nasty. It wont be happening again. I then popped off to have my body steamed and then into a nice hot shower. I haven thad one of theses for about a week, so I wan lapping that up for sure. My manicure was nothing out of the normal. My nails are thriving here in indonesia and are long and strong. Pauline and I then heading into botany square which is the biggest shopping centre here for dinner. I had organise earlier that I was going to meet Faruk, the indonesian guy that I had meet on the first night here. So I text him and told him my plan and oranged to meet him at 8. So dinner with pauline and a coffee and donut from the donut heaven shop. Im getting addicted to their donuts. Pauline came along to meet me with Faruk, we walked into the pool hall, and I had explained to pauline I might not actually be able to recognise him, but there was only a few people there and once we walked throught that door we had all eyes on us. Of course all his friends were there and waiting for me. I was half an hour late so they were all anxious to see if I would stand him up again. We played pool and I had a few drinks, get this in a muslim country where alcohol is kinda forbidden, ive been out drinking 3 or 4 times in a week. Craziness. Anyways, as I discovered, Faruk does not drink or smoke andprays 4 or 5 times a day. This is going to be interesting and a learning curve for me. I really like him and hes soooo cute that hey, im up to give it a go. We have second date already in the making. Oh he works in Jakarta during the week so not until Saturday.so after a full on day AGAIN he dropped me home on his motorbike and we said our goodbyes.
SATURDAY up nice and early again to meet sue and richard for coffee and DONUTS haha and they then took me to see there house. They loive a little more out of town for about the same price but a mansion of a house and in excellent condition. The drive from work came to pick me up from there place to take me around to a few more places and that is when I seen the place that I went back to on sunday and will move into. This is a very time consuming activity and exhausting too. Around 4 pauline text to invite me to a party, as did christa and sue and richard. It ended up being the same party so off I went. It was adams birthday party and he is from new zealand. We had a bbq and beer and a true aussie style shin dig. I MEET EVERY EXPAT living in Bogor im pretty sure of it. Nothing too dramatic happened just mixing with every one and hearing all there stories. Was great. On my walk to get an angkok home the guy walking with us flouent in indonesian, pulled up the maccas delivery guy and I got a ride with him to my place. The maccas here deliver toyou home, and also deliver you to your home. So once again I am on the back of a motorcycle hooning around the streets, and I know its bad, but no helmets here either. So after getting home around 12 30 and after abit of tv, I was asleep by around 3. So my life has not changed much in the fact of burning the candle at both ends. Once I get into my house, since I wont be house hunting every day things chould settle down a bit.
FRIDAY I met an aussie chick who has been here for about 3 weeks and still no luck in finding a decent home, so we met and decided we would move in together. I told luke that even if he stayed in Bogor I would not be living with him, and from here I have a new house mate. She seems pretty cool and I think that we will be fine together. We looked at a house together which took around 3 hours after taxis angkok and getting lost etc etc. it was a really exhasting experience and was happy that my company is taking me and actaully helping me. She is away for 2 weeks so I told her I would keep an eye out an dhave us a place before she gets back. So my end of the bargain is good as gold.
THURSDAY luke and I met Pauline and went swimming in the morning at a hotel that allows you to use its facilities for payment. Swam for a few hours and had lunch at kedai kita, then I headed to work. Cant remember much else.
So this weekend is easter and we have thursday and friday as holidays and saturday and sunday off for me. James the guy from guangzhou but brisbane has been in contact and is coming to indonesia for a holiday. He is landing on another island but could be cruising down my way. I have told him that I have long weekend up my sleeve so yeah I can come and meet him where ever he is. My other option is furniture shopping all weekend. I need everything and I would love to have all this organised and delivered before I eve move in there. The option that I would REALLY LOVE is to go to bali for 4 days. But at this stage im paying out 17 million as bec is not here to pay her half. I have to leave a deposit with work of a million when I go to singapore in case I am not coming back they need reassurance. And I would love to stop talking millions out of my aussie bank. Looks like im heading to singapore on the 14th, not the 16th but hey they will probably change that a few more times before its set in concrete.
So thats about all I can think of for tonight, just finished sucking out the strawberry filling of a chocky frog. Once I get an address guys you are all free to post me chockies and chips when ever you get the chance.
Love yous all and will keep you in the loop
Ohhhh the roller coaster at the moment is steady no sudden ups or more importantly no downs in way shape or form. Smooth sailing bout time ay
xxooxxoo
Saturday, April 4, 2009
holy shit long time since my last post.
um work on mnday was full about filling my head with the paper work lesson plans procedures and crap crap crap. I was only there for a few hours, this week is just training for me so no actual teaching.
By the time I had walked the 30 seconds tomy home I had a call tocome out for dinner. The other teachers here are great in the fact they invited me abso9lutely every where and never leave me out of the plans. out to dinner and then the boys and luke went out. He got home at some ungodly hour. I didnt go out as I was meeting some teachers in the morning at 9 30 so went home to bed. Met sue and Richard at j co. the best donuts Ive ever had inmy life are here and a descent coffee too. They took me to christa and tims so I could see what 16 million would buy me for the year, Yes a years rent UP FRONT, they have a really nice home open plan with 5 bedrooms. Way too big for little old me. Then off to work and I observed 5 classes of 1 hour 20 each. By the 3rd I needed toothpicks to stay awake. This was the night I was suppose to meet up with Faruk, my future husband, but I had to text him and say sorry that I would not be up to meetinghim. I was shattered. from work at 9 luke and I went out to dinner and back home. Wednesday.. umm oh I think I went out house hunting. There are some really dumps here for 18 and 20 million, a few that i would live in if I have too. i only had 1 class this night. same same night with dinner and home watched some tv series. Thursday I met a friend of one of the teachers Pauline. She has been here for 6 months by herself and was excited another female to hangaround with. We had lunch and got along really well. Initially the meeting was becasue she wants to share her house. I went to see her house andit would be great to have been sharing with her but have since found a younger aussie who will share and Paulines house will be WAY to small. Thursday morning I met Pauline around the corner from my place and we went swiming in a hotels pool. you can pay 20,000 and use the facilities there. I had pancakes for breakfast and the worst coffee in my life. after swimming for a few hours we heading to kedai kita, where they have the best coffee in my life. pity the pancakes donuts and coffee are not all together ay
Friday, I got the number of this aussie chick that moved here 3 weeks agoand also wants to share, so we met up with her after an hour of angkot(taxi bus) and ankors(taxi motorcycle) she fianally arrived at maccas to take us to a house that she had heard of. Into an angkot to go around in a circle and back to maccas. haha. We got on the wrong side of the road so wrong direction. an hour an a half later we arrive at the house and the lady is still waiting for us, not back but id seen better.
Rebecca, the aussie, is away for the next two weeks so I have taken on the duty of findingus a home. She will sign for anything that I think I can live in. Back to work for lunch meeting and more talking with pat my supervisor and getting instructions for handing over classes.
IM TEACHING ON MONDAY
friday night was sue and richards loast day so all the teachers had a farewell dinner.
From here Pauline and I hit the pool hall for drinks and dancing. I WHIPPED ALL THE GUYS ARSES. not sure they will invite me back again and if they do it will be to make money off me. haha
Luke was staying with me at the bed and breakfast in the same room until the owner found out we were not married, He then had to move to the other room, he got asked to pay for him staying there and to find somewhere else tostay the next night. He has also not heard back fromthe original job he was chasing. He has been in bogor chiling out with me and its cheaper than jakarta. He looked into another job and then my school offered him a job here. He told them he was waiting to hear from the other job and then they called to say no go and now my school has taken back the offer and WHO KNOW WHAT HE WILL DO KNOW. I think that he is going to go to jakarta on monday and suss out the origianl job.
Saturday I was up at 8 30 early again to meet sue and richard for coffee and DONUTS from heaven. I was going to see there house and some others with an indonesian. Still not looking any better than before. I am off to negotiate for one that is ok. needs paiting inside. It has, get this A BATHTUB a western toilet the shower is already installed just need to buy the hot water heater. its two bedrrom with a really nice patio area out the front. they want 18 million but ill take it for 16 million. apart from that I will kick it and keep looking. I still have 3 weeks rent free so thats cool with me.
Ok tonight I have been invited to a party, first by pauline and then christa invited me to a party and sie and richard just text to invite me too. LOL turns out its the same party haha. Richard says that im soo cooleveryone wants to be around me.
So ive had a few drinks sitting here writing this and a feed of pasta carbonara,im ready to go home and get ready for the party.
I am exhausted tired and sweaty but hey ill go and make an appearance and probably a fool of myself too.
tillnext time
cheers
um work on mnday was full about filling my head with the paper work lesson plans procedures and crap crap crap. I was only there for a few hours, this week is just training for me so no actual teaching.
By the time I had walked the 30 seconds tomy home I had a call tocome out for dinner. The other teachers here are great in the fact they invited me abso9lutely every where and never leave me out of the plans. out to dinner and then the boys and luke went out. He got home at some ungodly hour. I didnt go out as I was meeting some teachers in the morning at 9 30 so went home to bed. Met sue and Richard at j co. the best donuts Ive ever had inmy life are here and a descent coffee too. They took me to christa and tims so I could see what 16 million would buy me for the year, Yes a years rent UP FRONT, they have a really nice home open plan with 5 bedrooms. Way too big for little old me. Then off to work and I observed 5 classes of 1 hour 20 each. By the 3rd I needed toothpicks to stay awake. This was the night I was suppose to meet up with Faruk, my future husband, but I had to text him and say sorry that I would not be up to meetinghim. I was shattered. from work at 9 luke and I went out to dinner and back home. Wednesday.. umm oh I think I went out house hunting. There are some really dumps here for 18 and 20 million, a few that i would live in if I have too. i only had 1 class this night. same same night with dinner and home watched some tv series. Thursday I met a friend of one of the teachers Pauline. She has been here for 6 months by herself and was excited another female to hangaround with. We had lunch and got along really well. Initially the meeting was becasue she wants to share her house. I went to see her house andit would be great to have been sharing with her but have since found a younger aussie who will share and Paulines house will be WAY to small. Thursday morning I met Pauline around the corner from my place and we went swiming in a hotels pool. you can pay 20,000 and use the facilities there. I had pancakes for breakfast and the worst coffee in my life. after swimming for a few hours we heading to kedai kita, where they have the best coffee in my life. pity the pancakes donuts and coffee are not all together ay
Friday, I got the number of this aussie chick that moved here 3 weeks agoand also wants to share, so we met up with her after an hour of angkot(taxi bus) and ankors(taxi motorcycle) she fianally arrived at maccas to take us to a house that she had heard of. Into an angkot to go around in a circle and back to maccas. haha. We got on the wrong side of the road so wrong direction. an hour an a half later we arrive at the house and the lady is still waiting for us, not back but id seen better.
Rebecca, the aussie, is away for the next two weeks so I have taken on the duty of findingus a home. She will sign for anything that I think I can live in. Back to work for lunch meeting and more talking with pat my supervisor and getting instructions for handing over classes.
IM TEACHING ON MONDAY
friday night was sue and richards loast day so all the teachers had a farewell dinner.
From here Pauline and I hit the pool hall for drinks and dancing. I WHIPPED ALL THE GUYS ARSES. not sure they will invite me back again and if they do it will be to make money off me. haha
Luke was staying with me at the bed and breakfast in the same room until the owner found out we were not married, He then had to move to the other room, he got asked to pay for him staying there and to find somewhere else tostay the next night. He has also not heard back fromthe original job he was chasing. He has been in bogor chiling out with me and its cheaper than jakarta. He looked into another job and then my school offered him a job here. He told them he was waiting to hear from the other job and then they called to say no go and now my school has taken back the offer and WHO KNOW WHAT HE WILL DO KNOW. I think that he is going to go to jakarta on monday and suss out the origianl job.
Saturday I was up at 8 30 early again to meet sue and richard for coffee and DONUTS from heaven. I was going to see there house and some others with an indonesian. Still not looking any better than before. I am off to negotiate for one that is ok. needs paiting inside. It has, get this A BATHTUB a western toilet the shower is already installed just need to buy the hot water heater. its two bedrrom with a really nice patio area out the front. they want 18 million but ill take it for 16 million. apart from that I will kick it and keep looking. I still have 3 weeks rent free so thats cool with me.
Ok tonight I have been invited to a party, first by pauline and then christa invited me to a party and sie and richard just text to invite me too. LOL turns out its the same party haha. Richard says that im soo cooleveryone wants to be around me.
So ive had a few drinks sitting here writing this and a feed of pasta carbonara,im ready to go home and get ready for the party.
I am exhausted tired and sweaty but hey ill go and make an appearance and probably a fool of myself too.
tillnext time
cheers
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
bogor and jakarta
FRIDAY
So today we woke up and had meetings with fellow employers.
The taki, even though the directions where in Indonesian and the address was plain and simple, was obviously dificult as it took us 10 minutes to explain and ask and get going. We got to the main turn off and he had to ring my school for further directions. We both meet Mr. Gusti armi. My meeting we for about an hour and disscusions of my contract etc, they are going to pay me 500,000 bonus per month as I have experience. Thats the good thing. We then hoped into a taxi with the same bloody rigmarol to get to Lukes school, but we got there in time for his interview, and bonus, they had a position for him. The bad news now is that I will be in Bogor and he in Jakarta. This is the ending of our travels together. It is however only in the next town and on a good day the express train is only half and hour away. We travelled to his accommodation which is on par with china, tv large furnished and get this, NO HOT WATER EITHER. So Luke will go back next week and sign his contract and hope fully move in. Staying in hotels is costing us even though its little amounts is adding up. And with flights all over the countries.
My starting date however is on monday, holy shit ay. They will give me 30 days rent free while I look for my own apartment. This can either be furnished or not, I will have to get hot water installed and I have to organise satelite tv and the internet. SKYPE ME BABE. I have a flight out on the 21st april which they are going to try and have my papers ready for the consulate to fly out on this ticket. Lukes are going to try and do the same. After this ordeal which took from 10 30 till just after 2, we headed back to our part of town for lunch and relaxation. Kfc. Haha We strolled down our market type of street and luke purchased some clod hoppers in a size 10. My feet on the other hand here are a size 4. I LOVE SHOES. We kept our way to the hotel and into the internet cafe where it was not working and in between logging on and sending it would fail. I gave up after 4 computers and just waited. Got the bill for the hotel, 2,560,500 millions mate. We are now having the last of our hot water showers and packing to once again be kicked out at 12 and on our way to yet another stop over for us both before getting to our final resting homes for the next 12 months.
Good night guys, keep reading and ill keep writing,
Hope to have some good news once I arrivein Bogor and settle into .....somewhere
xxooxxoo
SATRUDAY
Today they sent a car to pick me up and take me to Bogor. Sinc Luke still has not signed is contract he decided to come to Bogor and stay with me at my house. Yep, I am set up in a pretty big house, I have my own fairly large room and there is no one else here at the moment.
James a fellow teacher also came with the driver so I asked heaps of questions and was feeling heaps better about moving out to the counrtyside.
It was an hour drive and we went straight to the school. Its a little in need of some tlc but a lot better that workng in a public school. So once again I have fumbled into what sounds like a great place to work and they pay and live up to their words. James showed us around the school and then to where I was going to be staying. He then took us for a walk and showed a few local places to eat. We walked past the apple pie place I had read about and decided to call in for some hot apple pie with REAL vanilla ice cream. Yep I am liking this place even more.
James then left us to our own accord, he headed home and we wandered the streets. Along the main road is basically all the markets and department stores, so the area is sussed out already. I brought a few more work shirts and another pair of shoes and get this, the levis factory has an out let here. I picked up a ridgy didge pair for $24 aussie bucks. My mission will be to try on all of the styles and stock up on jeans. Believe it or not, I will actually need to wear longs pants and jumpers. Here, in Bogor it has on average 322 thunderstorms a year and it really cools the place down.
We travelled along to the internet cafe where I sent a few more emails and chatted to my cuz jase
We met back up with James at 8pm and he took us to a local restaurant for our first taste of Bogorian, if thats even a word. Haha
I had chicken soup which was quite spicy. I have also had a sore throat that is getting worse each day, so this really tested out the spicy factor.
James organised to meet up with martin another teacher.
We strolled about 5 minutes to the local pool hall. Here they play english music load and they have around 10 to 12 pool tables. We ordered around of drinks, since no malibu, im on the vodkas already. First night in town why not forget it all. Haha
Nah we played about 3 hours of cheap pool and jugs of beer all around for the boys.
While looking around on the next tableto ours were some pro pool players and MY FUTURE HUSBAND
He is stunning to look at, wears nice clothes and has a great body underneath that shirt and those jeans.
Luke came back from the toilet laughing and was talking about this guy he was talking to and his name was faruk. Yeap kinda pronounced like the swear word.
ANYWAYS, he looks around and pointed to the guy who is MY FUTURE HUSBAND
We all laugh and I tell luke to tell him I want to go for a drink later.
Faruk then walks over and askes for my phone number, im not sure about the rules here so I instead ask him for his. Then I at least have the upper hand. We talk for a while and yes he lives In Bogor and commutes each day to Jakarta. He is (I think) a security guard at some bank but I coundlnt quite hear. So he has a job too. Im impressed.
We talked for a while and then back to playig pool and just after nidnight we head home. I go and say goodbye to Faruk and give him my number, sucked in, I know. Sucker for a cute smile I am
Martin has his scooter there so I jumped on the back and let the others walk home. That was kinda scary but since the streets were empty and we didnt go fast, I figured it was safer than in the day time sober.
So today we woke up and had meetings with fellow employers.
The taki, even though the directions where in Indonesian and the address was plain and simple, was obviously dificult as it took us 10 minutes to explain and ask and get going. We got to the main turn off and he had to ring my school for further directions. We both meet Mr. Gusti armi. My meeting we for about an hour and disscusions of my contract etc, they are going to pay me 500,000 bonus per month as I have experience. Thats the good thing. We then hoped into a taxi with the same bloody rigmarol to get to Lukes school, but we got there in time for his interview, and bonus, they had a position for him. The bad news now is that I will be in Bogor and he in Jakarta. This is the ending of our travels together. It is however only in the next town and on a good day the express train is only half and hour away. We travelled to his accommodation which is on par with china, tv large furnished and get this, NO HOT WATER EITHER. So Luke will go back next week and sign his contract and hope fully move in. Staying in hotels is costing us even though its little amounts is adding up. And with flights all over the countries.
My starting date however is on monday, holy shit ay. They will give me 30 days rent free while I look for my own apartment. This can either be furnished or not, I will have to get hot water installed and I have to organise satelite tv and the internet. SKYPE ME BABE. I have a flight out on the 21st april which they are going to try and have my papers ready for the consulate to fly out on this ticket. Lukes are going to try and do the same. After this ordeal which took from 10 30 till just after 2, we headed back to our part of town for lunch and relaxation. Kfc. Haha We strolled down our market type of street and luke purchased some clod hoppers in a size 10. My feet on the other hand here are a size 4. I LOVE SHOES. We kept our way to the hotel and into the internet cafe where it was not working and in between logging on and sending it would fail. I gave up after 4 computers and just waited. Got the bill for the hotel, 2,560,500 millions mate. We are now having the last of our hot water showers and packing to once again be kicked out at 12 and on our way to yet another stop over for us both before getting to our final resting homes for the next 12 months.
Good night guys, keep reading and ill keep writing,
Hope to have some good news once I arrivein Bogor and settle into .....somewhere
xxooxxoo
SATRUDAY
Today they sent a car to pick me up and take me to Bogor. Sinc Luke still has not signed is contract he decided to come to Bogor and stay with me at my house. Yep, I am set up in a pretty big house, I have my own fairly large room and there is no one else here at the moment.
James a fellow teacher also came with the driver so I asked heaps of questions and was feeling heaps better about moving out to the counrtyside.
It was an hour drive and we went straight to the school. Its a little in need of some tlc but a lot better that workng in a public school. So once again I have fumbled into what sounds like a great place to work and they pay and live up to their words. James showed us around the school and then to where I was going to be staying. He then took us for a walk and showed a few local places to eat. We walked past the apple pie place I had read about and decided to call in for some hot apple pie with REAL vanilla ice cream. Yep I am liking this place even more.
James then left us to our own accord, he headed home and we wandered the streets. Along the main road is basically all the markets and department stores, so the area is sussed out already. I brought a few more work shirts and another pair of shoes and get this, the levis factory has an out let here. I picked up a ridgy didge pair for $24 aussie bucks. My mission will be to try on all of the styles and stock up on jeans. Believe it or not, I will actually need to wear longs pants and jumpers. Here, in Bogor it has on average 322 thunderstorms a year and it really cools the place down.
We travelled along to the internet cafe where I sent a few more emails and chatted to my cuz jase
We met back up with James at 8pm and he took us to a local restaurant for our first taste of Bogorian, if thats even a word. Haha
I had chicken soup which was quite spicy. I have also had a sore throat that is getting worse each day, so this really tested out the spicy factor.
James organised to meet up with martin another teacher.
We strolled about 5 minutes to the local pool hall. Here they play english music load and they have around 10 to 12 pool tables. We ordered around of drinks, since no malibu, im on the vodkas already. First night in town why not forget it all. Haha
Nah we played about 3 hours of cheap pool and jugs of beer all around for the boys.
While looking around on the next tableto ours were some pro pool players and MY FUTURE HUSBAND
He is stunning to look at, wears nice clothes and has a great body underneath that shirt and those jeans.
Luke came back from the toilet laughing and was talking about this guy he was talking to and his name was faruk. Yeap kinda pronounced like the swear word.
ANYWAYS, he looks around and pointed to the guy who is MY FUTURE HUSBAND
We all laugh and I tell luke to tell him I want to go for a drink later.
Faruk then walks over and askes for my phone number, im not sure about the rules here so I instead ask him for his. Then I at least have the upper hand. We talk for a while and yes he lives In Bogor and commutes each day to Jakarta. He is (I think) a security guard at some bank but I coundlnt quite hear. So he has a job too. Im impressed.
We talked for a while and then back to playig pool and just after nidnight we head home. I go and say goodbye to Faruk and give him my number, sucked in, I know. Sucker for a cute smile I am
Martin has his scooter there so I jumped on the back and let the others walk home. That was kinda scary but since the streets were empty and we didnt go fast, I figured it was safer than in the day time sober.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Theme park now Indonesia
wow, where do I start.
We are now in Indonesia, having come up with the fact that not having a degree would make it very hard for us to stay in the Thailand.
We hoofed it to a travel agent since the internet would not allow us to book a flight to jakarta.
I had my phone interview with Mr. Gusti Armi which took 45 minutes, lots of sorrys pardons and whats. he sent me an email the next day to offer me a job and with the contract conditions that i would abide by.
While researching and wondering around till our plane left at 1.30 am Tuesday, we found out that we could not actually fly to indonesia without an outbound flight. We could get the visa at the airport, but without that ticket they would not even let us leave Bangkok. Shit shit and more shit. So back to the travel agent to ask about another flight and spend some more money that we didnt really anticipate. We got a flight to Singapore on the 21st of April as this allowed for our 30 day visa in Indonesia. And if we got jobs then we would have to fly to Singapore anyways to get our working permits, so hopefully this was not a waste of money.
Upon arriving in Jakarta at 5.00am I was in no way ready to function to the point that I had too. We forwarded to the Visa on arrival counter to be told, 310,000 rupiahs only. Shit we had aussie and baht. Need to go to the atm, he points in the direction of the atm and off we go. Shit immigration is first, we line up and he says" Where is your visa?" I explained what was going on, he said you have to wait over there.
After waiting for 5 or 10 minutes he was still not doing anything and I ask, can we leave you our passports and go to the atm and come back, yeah yeah he says. Shit he could have told us that before making us wait. Power tripped
So we walk to the atm all alone and the airport is absolutely empty. the commonwealth atm rejects my card, and while figuring out the money crap, i took out 500,000 while talking to luke who had NO idea of the money, he took out 150,000 and while walking back to immigration, i said luke the visa is 310,000, how will you pay for it. Back to the atm we go and once getting there we find lukes papers for the immigration. shit mate 1iss 2isss ay.
Back to get our passports and then to the visa office and then back to immigration and to our bags. Which someone had collected and taken to lost baggage. He guides us through customs and to a taxi. This service cost us 50,000. The taxi then bargained us up to 300,000.
HOLY SHIT
Jakarta is absolutely digusting. They live in tin shanies with inches of mud as the footpaths, the water is brown if not black with oil or somthing.
Many people sleeping on the streets at 6 am.
I am absolutely flabbergasted with what I am witnessing.
We get to the hotel room, check in and pay extra to go there NOW instead of waiting till 12.
Shit, we have a double instead of singles, down to reception, back to room get bags and down to the floor below us. I pull back the covers and slip in clothes and all.
At this point I am heart broken and tired and cant actually cope with anything but closing my eyes.
I wake up at around 1.30pm and head down to reception to organise the net. Yep 120,000 for 24 hours. Back to the room and hook on. Respond to the emails i have and let every one know that I am here and ok as I can be.
I am scared to go outside. Its horrible. I want to cry
Luke wakes and we head out, asking at recetion, where is the modern and main part of town, she replies, you are in it. Shit shit shit
off we head down the road to the starbucks and burger king that we passed earlier. So far its not too bad, perhaps being tired made things look out of prospective. Coffee and food, then a little stroll down the road. Its hot and smells bad but its 100 % better than my first impression was. Back to the hotel for a rest. Amazing that even sleeping half the day i had an early night, i guess about 12 is normal now.
We decide that today, wednesday we will head to Bogor. This is where I have been offered the job. Its an hour express train ride from Jakarta. We woke up about 10 and after breakfast, catch a cab to the train station, work out how to buy a ticket and waddle up to the train. Nothing flash ill give you that. We passed some pretty bad places and sheds and shops and people and rubbish and wow, just too much for me to take in. Thank god I have been to china, I think that Luke is starting to struggle at this point. We arrive in Bogor and am bombarded with markets and people yelling to take us somewhere. We didnt have a map so we are already up shit creek really. We walked along a few street and stumble on like a 7 11. After writing few notes they undertood tourist info centre. We hopped in a tuk tuk kinda looking thing and off to the tourist plce. He was very helpfull and gave us a map and off to the botanical gardens and shopping centres we strolled. Cars and traffic here is 10 times worse than in china and its quite dangerous on the roads. We looked around the shops and headed out to go to the sports centre. Another guy helps us to talk to the little bus that would take us there. It was about half an hour and 3000 rupiah Oh i forgot to mention that at the atm I took out 5 million.
Wandered around the sports centre, yep not much there. We caught another little bus back to where we asked was the tourist info centre, but not really. We got out when he told us and landed in the middle of dodgy markets and peolpe everywhere. This is the first time I felt uncomfortable with men looking at me. Its crowded and narrow and hectic. We asked another bus about taking us to the train station, nope cross the road and get one going that way. ok. we are getting closer and the storm cloud are here and its spitting rain. Excellent, we ask about the train and have a 30 minute wait, but, since it was such a drama to get there, we are not leaving. The train ride was uneventful getting back only they dont announce what station we are stopping at. we guessed after an hour we would ask someone. Down the stairs and outside to bargain for a taxi and back to the hotel. Im shattered.
Bogor is .......wow
Guangzhou is a 5 star town and china a 5 star country compared to here.
We get back and Luke rings about the jobs here. No positions in Jakarta and he has to wait till June with this company before a position will be open.
He has another place to go to on Friday
I have to go to the school on Friday too and discuss my contract conditions and any questions I have. I have looked on the esl job board and there is very little here in Indonesia. Im a little up in the air about what to do. If i sign and Luke does not get a job, will I be able to stay here all alone. Can i live in Bogor is he gets a job in Jakara
???????????????
Another day tomorrow and many more decisions to make.
this is really going to stretch me, with luke and immensly without luke.
Ummmm yeah i am really struggeling here with the poverty level
My monthly salary with be 7 million 5 hundred thousand.
A house will cost me around 9 million for the year.
And get this, if I want hot water I will have to organised to get this installed.
Hope that tomorrow is a little better for us emotionally and in getting somewhere or something closer to something
good night for now and wish me/us good luck.
xxoo
We are now in Indonesia, having come up with the fact that not having a degree would make it very hard for us to stay in the Thailand.
We hoofed it to a travel agent since the internet would not allow us to book a flight to jakarta.
I had my phone interview with Mr. Gusti Armi which took 45 minutes, lots of sorrys pardons and whats. he sent me an email the next day to offer me a job and with the contract conditions that i would abide by.
While researching and wondering around till our plane left at 1.30 am Tuesday, we found out that we could not actually fly to indonesia without an outbound flight. We could get the visa at the airport, but without that ticket they would not even let us leave Bangkok. Shit shit and more shit. So back to the travel agent to ask about another flight and spend some more money that we didnt really anticipate. We got a flight to Singapore on the 21st of April as this allowed for our 30 day visa in Indonesia. And if we got jobs then we would have to fly to Singapore anyways to get our working permits, so hopefully this was not a waste of money.
Upon arriving in Jakarta at 5.00am I was in no way ready to function to the point that I had too. We forwarded to the Visa on arrival counter to be told, 310,000 rupiahs only. Shit we had aussie and baht. Need to go to the atm, he points in the direction of the atm and off we go. Shit immigration is first, we line up and he says" Where is your visa?" I explained what was going on, he said you have to wait over there.
After waiting for 5 or 10 minutes he was still not doing anything and I ask, can we leave you our passports and go to the atm and come back, yeah yeah he says. Shit he could have told us that before making us wait. Power tripped
So we walk to the atm all alone and the airport is absolutely empty. the commonwealth atm rejects my card, and while figuring out the money crap, i took out 500,000 while talking to luke who had NO idea of the money, he took out 150,000 and while walking back to immigration, i said luke the visa is 310,000, how will you pay for it. Back to the atm we go and once getting there we find lukes papers for the immigration. shit mate 1iss 2isss ay.
Back to get our passports and then to the visa office and then back to immigration and to our bags. Which someone had collected and taken to lost baggage. He guides us through customs and to a taxi. This service cost us 50,000. The taxi then bargained us up to 300,000.
HOLY SHIT
Jakarta is absolutely digusting. They live in tin shanies with inches of mud as the footpaths, the water is brown if not black with oil or somthing.
Many people sleeping on the streets at 6 am.
I am absolutely flabbergasted with what I am witnessing.
We get to the hotel room, check in and pay extra to go there NOW instead of waiting till 12.
Shit, we have a double instead of singles, down to reception, back to room get bags and down to the floor below us. I pull back the covers and slip in clothes and all.
At this point I am heart broken and tired and cant actually cope with anything but closing my eyes.
I wake up at around 1.30pm and head down to reception to organise the net. Yep 120,000 for 24 hours. Back to the room and hook on. Respond to the emails i have and let every one know that I am here and ok as I can be.
I am scared to go outside. Its horrible. I want to cry
Luke wakes and we head out, asking at recetion, where is the modern and main part of town, she replies, you are in it. Shit shit shit
off we head down the road to the starbucks and burger king that we passed earlier. So far its not too bad, perhaps being tired made things look out of prospective. Coffee and food, then a little stroll down the road. Its hot and smells bad but its 100 % better than my first impression was. Back to the hotel for a rest. Amazing that even sleeping half the day i had an early night, i guess about 12 is normal now.
We decide that today, wednesday we will head to Bogor. This is where I have been offered the job. Its an hour express train ride from Jakarta. We woke up about 10 and after breakfast, catch a cab to the train station, work out how to buy a ticket and waddle up to the train. Nothing flash ill give you that. We passed some pretty bad places and sheds and shops and people and rubbish and wow, just too much for me to take in. Thank god I have been to china, I think that Luke is starting to struggle at this point. We arrive in Bogor and am bombarded with markets and people yelling to take us somewhere. We didnt have a map so we are already up shit creek really. We walked along a few street and stumble on like a 7 11. After writing few notes they undertood tourist info centre. We hopped in a tuk tuk kinda looking thing and off to the tourist plce. He was very helpfull and gave us a map and off to the botanical gardens and shopping centres we strolled. Cars and traffic here is 10 times worse than in china and its quite dangerous on the roads. We looked around the shops and headed out to go to the sports centre. Another guy helps us to talk to the little bus that would take us there. It was about half an hour and 3000 rupiah Oh i forgot to mention that at the atm I took out 5 million.
Wandered around the sports centre, yep not much there. We caught another little bus back to where we asked was the tourist info centre, but not really. We got out when he told us and landed in the middle of dodgy markets and peolpe everywhere. This is the first time I felt uncomfortable with men looking at me. Its crowded and narrow and hectic. We asked another bus about taking us to the train station, nope cross the road and get one going that way. ok. we are getting closer and the storm cloud are here and its spitting rain. Excellent, we ask about the train and have a 30 minute wait, but, since it was such a drama to get there, we are not leaving. The train ride was uneventful getting back only they dont announce what station we are stopping at. we guessed after an hour we would ask someone. Down the stairs and outside to bargain for a taxi and back to the hotel. Im shattered.
Bogor is .......wow
Guangzhou is a 5 star town and china a 5 star country compared to here.
We get back and Luke rings about the jobs here. No positions in Jakarta and he has to wait till June with this company before a position will be open.
He has another place to go to on Friday
I have to go to the school on Friday too and discuss my contract conditions and any questions I have. I have looked on the esl job board and there is very little here in Indonesia. Im a little up in the air about what to do. If i sign and Luke does not get a job, will I be able to stay here all alone. Can i live in Bogor is he gets a job in Jakara
???????????????
Another day tomorrow and many more decisions to make.
this is really going to stretch me, with luke and immensly without luke.
Ummmm yeah i am really struggeling here with the poverty level
My monthly salary with be 7 million 5 hundred thousand.
A house will cost me around 9 million for the year.
And get this, if I want hot water I will have to organised to get this installed.
Hope that tomorrow is a little better for us emotionally and in getting somewhere or something closer to something
good night for now and wish me/us good luck.
xxoo
Sunday, March 22, 2009
tiger temple and elephant rides
We booked a tour to the tiger temple and elephant riding for the Friday 20th (i think) Most of the tours included a whole heap of palces that we had no interest in so this one having only those events was EXACTLY what we wanted. done sold we will take it.
Alas we were to find out later that this tour, like all the others, would also included all the places we didnt want to go to.
We got up at 5 45 to catch a taxi to the pick up place, grabbing maccas on the way and racing to be there by 6 30.
Sitting, waiting, waiting and sitting.
We did this for 45 minutes and then my phone rang. Where are you? we at times square, where are you, me at times square too, oh cool later but better than never.
Our bus rides is 2 hours to our first stop.
Wow, it was the war cemetery, we passed on this and walked the streets looing at stuff.
Second stop was the war museum. Cool, we skipped this too and went shopping at the markets instead.
An hour to the next stop which willbe lunch. Bout time we both agree.
We have a traditional thai buffet which was really nice. We sat next to a chick from canberra whom was sharing the swame experience as us. She was lost about where she was and what event was happening next.
Water rafting just hapeened to be next, which we really knew nothing about. anyways,in we jump and head up stream on little bamboo rafts tied together with rope and half sinking.
We all survived. The water fall was next which we were not told about and thus, did not have swimmers, thats was cool the water was brown and full of thai children so I was happy to go and stroll the markets again.
Elephants next, Lukes only ,ustdo in thailand was no here.
It was pretty relaxing and riding elephants is not exactly comfortable. They take such big steps that you really move with each step.
The tour guide rider people were all kids I would guess about 11 or 12 and this is there jobs, 364 days of the year. No school and no time off. They all spoke very good english thought and were out for a good time. making jokes and kidding around the whole time.
We then had a small drive to the tiger temple.
We were basically left to wander the grounds by ourselves with a map.
We headedstraight to the canyon where the tigers were. We had to line up for about 10 miutes and then with 2 guides, one to hold our hand and the other to take photos, we walked aroung the 10 tigers or so and patted or just touched them.
It was kinda scary when they moved and one snarled at me. the guide was quick to pull me up and move to the next tiger.
All of this happened way to quick and we were back on the bus. We now had a 3 hour ride home. Shit shit shit.
I was soooo tired at this stage and with no cat naps on the bus was ready for sleep.
After 14 hours of travelling I went straight to the hotel had room service and off to bed
Luke on the other had being Luke, took of to visit the thai girls.
Im not sure what he got up to that night, but he came home around 6 30 am with the statement, I lost a contact lens and now im fucked.
Another huge story is that on the saturday we had to catch taxis and subways and skytrains to several optometrists to be told the same story. They could not help.
I tell you, I was so impressed that I had to take him, since he was blind.
He had payed out on my body giving up the night before and me not going out.
Now karma was back. His eyes had given up on him, except I had to help.
So we are off to Jakarta and ill be keeping up to date there too
Alas we were to find out later that this tour, like all the others, would also included all the places we didnt want to go to.
We got up at 5 45 to catch a taxi to the pick up place, grabbing maccas on the way and racing to be there by 6 30.
Sitting, waiting, waiting and sitting.
We did this for 45 minutes and then my phone rang. Where are you? we at times square, where are you, me at times square too, oh cool later but better than never.
Our bus rides is 2 hours to our first stop.
Wow, it was the war cemetery, we passed on this and walked the streets looing at stuff.
Second stop was the war museum. Cool, we skipped this too and went shopping at the markets instead.
An hour to the next stop which willbe lunch. Bout time we both agree.
We have a traditional thai buffet which was really nice. We sat next to a chick from canberra whom was sharing the swame experience as us. She was lost about where she was and what event was happening next.
Water rafting just hapeened to be next, which we really knew nothing about. anyways,in we jump and head up stream on little bamboo rafts tied together with rope and half sinking.
We all survived. The water fall was next which we were not told about and thus, did not have swimmers, thats was cool the water was brown and full of thai children so I was happy to go and stroll the markets again.
Elephants next, Lukes only ,ustdo in thailand was no here.
It was pretty relaxing and riding elephants is not exactly comfortable. They take such big steps that you really move with each step.
The tour guide rider people were all kids I would guess about 11 or 12 and this is there jobs, 364 days of the year. No school and no time off. They all spoke very good english thought and were out for a good time. making jokes and kidding around the whole time.
We then had a small drive to the tiger temple.
We were basically left to wander the grounds by ourselves with a map.
We headedstraight to the canyon where the tigers were. We had to line up for about 10 miutes and then with 2 guides, one to hold our hand and the other to take photos, we walked aroung the 10 tigers or so and patted or just touched them.
It was kinda scary when they moved and one snarled at me. the guide was quick to pull me up and move to the next tiger.
All of this happened way to quick and we were back on the bus. We now had a 3 hour ride home. Shit shit shit.
I was soooo tired at this stage and with no cat naps on the bus was ready for sleep.
After 14 hours of travelling I went straight to the hotel had room service and off to bed
Luke on the other had being Luke, took of to visit the thai girls.
Im not sure what he got up to that night, but he came home around 6 30 am with the statement, I lost a contact lens and now im fucked.
Another huge story is that on the saturday we had to catch taxis and subways and skytrains to several optometrists to be told the same story. They could not help.
I tell you, I was so impressed that I had to take him, since he was blind.
He had payed out on my body giving up the night before and me not going out.
Now karma was back. His eyes had given up on him, except I had to help.
So we are off to Jakarta and ill be keeping up to date there too
the tattoo palour
Today is our last day in Thailand, we have decided that without a degree getting a job here could be a little too risky. We can pay someone to get us a year visa to tour but if we get caught it could result in jail time. I for sure am not willing to take this risk, and Indonesia will hire us without degrees. I have an interview today via phone with an english language centre, much the same as what I was working at in China. Fingers crossed, would be great to have a job to walk into again.
So we are on a flight out with Garuda airways at 1.30 am in the morning, yep in the morning. That could be the end of me, having to be functional at that time, but ill give it a go.
Anyways, yesterday we check out of out 5 start luxury and booked into a 2 star jigger on the main road of Bangkok. We successfully checkout caught a cab to the new hotel without any dramas. We then headed out to book some tickets to Indonesia, another tick, and then to a cafe to print out some documents in hope that it will be enought to get us a visa on arrival. One requirement is an outward bound ticket, which we dont have, but we do have an outward ticket from bangkok so im hoping this will be good enough.
We picked up our laundry and happily strolled around the markets.
Luke who has been sussing out tattoo palours, stumbled across a place in a department store and headed in. Upon going in I was handed a pamphlet for massages and was won immediately.
So we sat down at the tattoo joint while he looked at pictures, i shopped in the surrounding shops, very naughty but i have some nice dresses, he picked out a tattoo bargained on theprice and was set. Being told it would take 1.5 hours, I took off to the massage palour and bookd in for an HOUR OF FULL BODY OIL MASSAGE. (Cost me $11)
She was AMAZING didnt hurt me and was very gentle, and yet pushed the stress out of every inch of my body.
I returned to the tattoo place to find that the dude had only finished the outline.
Luke said he was mucking around heap. He seemed more interested in playing air guitar and changing needles 10 times before doing anything. I asked how much longer, half and hour. Cool ill wait and watch. On first glance I could not tell where he was up to in the picture and when I asked, yep, he had done the first colouring wrong. haha
He was able to fix this mistake with black and kept going.
After 1.5 hours, I had had enough and heeaded out shopping.Luke wantee me to stay and watch for any mistakes, but hey, not really my responsibility and after having a massage standing there supervising was not really my plan.I was only gone for half an hour and upon returning the idiot had gone over the blue and put yellow there, im like what the, and luke relpied, I told you not to leave.
Still playing air guitar and mucking around with changing music, the death metal shit, I was laughing at the situation.
I corrected him many times within the next HOUR from making mistakes. I cant beleive that he was sooooo wrong. At this point I mentioned to Luke reminding him that before he started I had said, this guy is on something, after watching his eyes and body language, he was not a typical thai guy. He took a toilet break and came back n a lather of sweat and I asked Luke if he thought he should continue. Yep, Luke thought it was all funny(at thetime)
I stopped the guy 2 more times from colouring in the wrong spot, and after a heated debate about him saying its ok, its ok i can fix, luke thrrew 4000 baht at him and stormed out.
HE WAS SOOOO ANGRY (not funny anymore,except for me)
So we walked back along the markets to find the other tattoo palour to see if he could fix it. The guy laughed. So did I
All good this clean, quite place that looked quite professional fixed up the masterpiece.
I left him at this place as id had enough and he seemed to have his head screwed on.
He came back abot an hour later, well and truely over getting the tattoo.
So, a once really good cheap idea turned into a scarred for life situation with a really good story.
Luke however will probably not learn anything from this. He will in doubt do something just as stupid in another day or two.
So we are on a flight out with Garuda airways at 1.30 am in the morning, yep in the morning. That could be the end of me, having to be functional at that time, but ill give it a go.
Anyways, yesterday we check out of out 5 start luxury and booked into a 2 star jigger on the main road of Bangkok. We successfully checkout caught a cab to the new hotel without any dramas. We then headed out to book some tickets to Indonesia, another tick, and then to a cafe to print out some documents in hope that it will be enought to get us a visa on arrival. One requirement is an outward bound ticket, which we dont have, but we do have an outward ticket from bangkok so im hoping this will be good enough.
We picked up our laundry and happily strolled around the markets.
Luke who has been sussing out tattoo palours, stumbled across a place in a department store and headed in. Upon going in I was handed a pamphlet for massages and was won immediately.
So we sat down at the tattoo joint while he looked at pictures, i shopped in the surrounding shops, very naughty but i have some nice dresses, he picked out a tattoo bargained on theprice and was set. Being told it would take 1.5 hours, I took off to the massage palour and bookd in for an HOUR OF FULL BODY OIL MASSAGE. (Cost me $11)
She was AMAZING didnt hurt me and was very gentle, and yet pushed the stress out of every inch of my body.
I returned to the tattoo place to find that the dude had only finished the outline.
Luke said he was mucking around heap. He seemed more interested in playing air guitar and changing needles 10 times before doing anything. I asked how much longer, half and hour. Cool ill wait and watch. On first glance I could not tell where he was up to in the picture and when I asked, yep, he had done the first colouring wrong. haha
He was able to fix this mistake with black and kept going.
After 1.5 hours, I had had enough and heeaded out shopping.Luke wantee me to stay and watch for any mistakes, but hey, not really my responsibility and after having a massage standing there supervising was not really my plan.I was only gone for half an hour and upon returning the idiot had gone over the blue and put yellow there, im like what the, and luke relpied, I told you not to leave.
Still playing air guitar and mucking around with changing music, the death metal shit, I was laughing at the situation.
I corrected him many times within the next HOUR from making mistakes. I cant beleive that he was sooooo wrong. At this point I mentioned to Luke reminding him that before he started I had said, this guy is on something, after watching his eyes and body language, he was not a typical thai guy. He took a toilet break and came back n a lather of sweat and I asked Luke if he thought he should continue. Yep, Luke thought it was all funny(at thetime)
I stopped the guy 2 more times from colouring in the wrong spot, and after a heated debate about him saying its ok, its ok i can fix, luke thrrew 4000 baht at him and stormed out.
HE WAS SOOOO ANGRY (not funny anymore,except for me)
So we walked back along the markets to find the other tattoo palour to see if he could fix it. The guy laughed. So did I
All good this clean, quite place that looked quite professional fixed up the masterpiece.
I left him at this place as id had enough and he seemed to have his head screwed on.
He came back abot an hour later, well and truely over getting the tattoo.
So, a once really good cheap idea turned into a scarred for life situation with a really good story.
Luke however will probably not learn anything from this. He will in doubt do something just as stupid in another day or two.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
first day in thailand
So we got into Thailand Sunday morning about 3 am aussie time. Getting our bags was breeze and with 1 question to the information we had our shuttle bus escort there and we were in a private car for our 40 minute drive to the hotel. We check in and up to the 17th floor. We have a pretty flash room with an EXCELLENT bath. Satellite tv with the australian chanel and air con.
Its pretty bloody hot and sweaty here just like china. After a small sleep, I got about 4 hours I think, we heading down for our buffet breakfast, normal same same but with oriental food included. Some instruction from the conceirge and a map IN ENGLISH and we were on our way. A small walk to the metro about 5 minutes and a quick assessment of the metro and we were on our way to the main drag sukhumvit road. We walk from the subway along this drag for a few hours. A very successful day with the first stop the internet cafe. We had to check for any responses toour resumes and put all our data onto usb pens so we can cart all our info around. Our second stop scored us sim cards to include our thailand numbers on our resumes. A few blocks ahead we found a department store were I purchased a new phone for about $60. sweet purchase.And some adapters for the power points. From china experience this is a very successful first day. From here we passed a british pub and we twaddled inside. After a refreshing drink and some food, we stepped out side to what I think was even hotter conditions. We are starting to feel the effects of a few hours sleep and start to track it home. Upon heading home we passed a few dvd stores and some more shopping was done. Successfully caught the metro home and walked the small 5 minutes home. Here we hit a small hurdle, neither of us could remember the lane we popped out of, so after walking a few blocks too many, I made the call, a taxi was in need to get us home. Yep we had over walked the lane. Oh well. Once getting back to the hotel we dicovered that we could have the internet in our room for free. how great can a first day get. So we spend the rest of the day chilling in the air con and surfing the net. Here is where Luke has the penny drop that in Thailand we will not get a job without a degree. So after spitting the dummy and a few swear words,he heads out for some space. He went to the front desk for some info on schools that we could visit. We sent out a few more resumes and Luke had a response from an earlier one to the second stage. For a job in Jakarta, Indonesia. Thats cool we can just relocate. Welcome to my Theme park. The night was pretty relaxed with watching some dvds we had brought earlier a bubble bath and crashing around 9 pm.
TUESDAY 17TH.
We both woke up kinda early and headed for breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon fresh juice fresh fruit and mmmm coffee. We chilled out a little for the morning so that we could stay out later that night. Our first call was one of the language school, EF english first. I had heard of this school from china and was a safe bet that it would be a good place to work. We had to catch the metro for a few extra stops but after china this is a piece of cake. A small walk around the corner and we found the street, up to the 7th floor and, .......NOTHING. The place was stripped and under renovation. Luke was in dismay as I stood there with oh well, this is normal. He just could not beleive there was nothing there.. lol We hit the first pub on the way back which was an Irish jigger. A beer and we were on our way, plan B. I wanted to get my hair coloured, nails painted and feet massaged and that would be my successful day. We stumbled across a salon called GAY CUT. I went in and bargained for my hair do and walked out. Way too expensive i thought. We walked an extra block to the metro to suss out that area, hot, nothing, and still hot. WE caught the metro back to sukhumvit road and here we hit jackpot. While Luke visited the tattoo palour, I spent an hour at the hair salon and got a new colour, brown with red highlights, and get this, they straightened my hair. FUCKERS. cant win with my curls, but thank god it was just till I wet it. We then headed into the spagetteria, yes that was it and had dinner. By night the main drag turns into market haven. We walked along for several blocks looking at all to buy and laugh at. Our next stop was a combie van selling alcohol and opposite that was a nail place. So i have flowers on my nails again.. yipee. Life is getting back to normal. We stumbled across a baby elephant to feed in one of the lanes of "GIRLS" and "PUBS" I had my first proposition, yes thats right amongst all these thai working girls an arabian looking guy turns to me and asks "how much money for you" Luke, found this VERY amusing and came up with the marvellous plan to PIMP ME OUT. I am sure getting the look from all the girls standing on the sides of the streeet. We strolled down another "LANE" and while Luke went to check out the drinks and girls I stepped into foot heaven. 1 hour, 250 baht and i was in bliss. You girls know what im talking about. FOOT MASSAGE country is where i belong. I rang Luke once id finished and since he was having fun with the girls I hailed a cab and got my little babies back to the hotel to rest them. I had another successful day with pampering myself. I cant beleive how well I am handling this. I am wandering the strees at night alone, catching cabs with no hesitation and we are actually achieving things each day. Having done it before makes it a whole lot easier. And actually easier than I could have thought. I have kicked into China mode and it feels like normal. This morning I awoke to an email from EF in jakarka and I too have moved to the second stage. So we are now planning things that we want to do in case we are moving to Indonesia. Luke is sleeping after a huge night with the girls while I am updating my blog.
Its pretty bloody hot and sweaty here just like china. After a small sleep, I got about 4 hours I think, we heading down for our buffet breakfast, normal same same but with oriental food included. Some instruction from the conceirge and a map IN ENGLISH and we were on our way. A small walk to the metro about 5 minutes and a quick assessment of the metro and we were on our way to the main drag sukhumvit road. We walk from the subway along this drag for a few hours. A very successful day with the first stop the internet cafe. We had to check for any responses toour resumes and put all our data onto usb pens so we can cart all our info around. Our second stop scored us sim cards to include our thailand numbers on our resumes. A few blocks ahead we found a department store were I purchased a new phone for about $60. sweet purchase.And some adapters for the power points. From china experience this is a very successful first day. From here we passed a british pub and we twaddled inside. After a refreshing drink and some food, we stepped out side to what I think was even hotter conditions. We are starting to feel the effects of a few hours sleep and start to track it home. Upon heading home we passed a few dvd stores and some more shopping was done. Successfully caught the metro home and walked the small 5 minutes home. Here we hit a small hurdle, neither of us could remember the lane we popped out of, so after walking a few blocks too many, I made the call, a taxi was in need to get us home. Yep we had over walked the lane. Oh well. Once getting back to the hotel we dicovered that we could have the internet in our room for free. how great can a first day get. So we spend the rest of the day chilling in the air con and surfing the net. Here is where Luke has the penny drop that in Thailand we will not get a job without a degree. So after spitting the dummy and a few swear words,he heads out for some space. He went to the front desk for some info on schools that we could visit. We sent out a few more resumes and Luke had a response from an earlier one to the second stage. For a job in Jakarta, Indonesia. Thats cool we can just relocate. Welcome to my Theme park. The night was pretty relaxed with watching some dvds we had brought earlier a bubble bath and crashing around 9 pm.
TUESDAY 17TH.
We both woke up kinda early and headed for breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon fresh juice fresh fruit and mmmm coffee. We chilled out a little for the morning so that we could stay out later that night. Our first call was one of the language school, EF english first. I had heard of this school from china and was a safe bet that it would be a good place to work. We had to catch the metro for a few extra stops but after china this is a piece of cake. A small walk around the corner and we found the street, up to the 7th floor and, .......NOTHING. The place was stripped and under renovation. Luke was in dismay as I stood there with oh well, this is normal. He just could not beleive there was nothing there.. lol We hit the first pub on the way back which was an Irish jigger. A beer and we were on our way, plan B. I wanted to get my hair coloured, nails painted and feet massaged and that would be my successful day. We stumbled across a salon called GAY CUT. I went in and bargained for my hair do and walked out. Way too expensive i thought. We walked an extra block to the metro to suss out that area, hot, nothing, and still hot. WE caught the metro back to sukhumvit road and here we hit jackpot. While Luke visited the tattoo palour, I spent an hour at the hair salon and got a new colour, brown with red highlights, and get this, they straightened my hair. FUCKERS. cant win with my curls, but thank god it was just till I wet it. We then headed into the spagetteria, yes that was it and had dinner. By night the main drag turns into market haven. We walked along for several blocks looking at all to buy and laugh at. Our next stop was a combie van selling alcohol and opposite that was a nail place. So i have flowers on my nails again.. yipee. Life is getting back to normal. We stumbled across a baby elephant to feed in one of the lanes of "GIRLS" and "PUBS" I had my first proposition, yes thats right amongst all these thai working girls an arabian looking guy turns to me and asks "how much money for you" Luke, found this VERY amusing and came up with the marvellous plan to PIMP ME OUT. I am sure getting the look from all the girls standing on the sides of the streeet. We strolled down another "LANE" and while Luke went to check out the drinks and girls I stepped into foot heaven. 1 hour, 250 baht and i was in bliss. You girls know what im talking about. FOOT MASSAGE country is where i belong. I rang Luke once id finished and since he was having fun with the girls I hailed a cab and got my little babies back to the hotel to rest them. I had another successful day with pampering myself. I cant beleive how well I am handling this. I am wandering the strees at night alone, catching cabs with no hesitation and we are actually achieving things each day. Having done it before makes it a whole lot easier. And actually easier than I could have thought. I have kicked into China mode and it feels like normal. This morning I awoke to an email from EF in jakarka and I too have moved to the second stage. So we are now planning things that we want to do in case we are moving to Indonesia. Luke is sleeping after a huge night with the girls while I am updating my blog.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
flights and visa
Wow, where to begin when i have left it for sooo long for updates.
Since i havent yet left the country i thought it would not need updating but yep, it does.
Tuesday, i recieved a phone call from Luke that he was on his way and would be at my place in half an hour. After getting off the phone to him i had a sudden attack of nerves, anxiety an holy shit. So I took off to have a shower, as some of you know when I was living in China, whenever i had this feeling i would hop in the shower and wash it away. I didnt think that in Australia I would ever have this problem but hey, atleast i know how to fix it.
Luke then arrived and we chatted till the wee hours of the morning and after I felt a little more at ease.
Wednesday we twaddled off to the travel agent with some sort of plan happening but with heaps of questions needing some answers. Jo from travelscene was most helpful and remembere helping me with my china visa. She came up with a new visa that we could pay for an extra 30 days which bought us up to 60 days. I immediately jumped on this and was happy to pay any amount of money for more time. She printed out the visa forms and we left her to research flights packages and hotels in bangkok.
Luke didnt really like Jo and took off to another travel agent, his new best friend since he came up with flights that were cheaper than any where else. Pretty happy with himself at this finding he took off to the bay to catch up with some mates.
My homework for that night was to research what Luke had found out and still I am pretty sure that I will be flying Qantas anyways.
Yep his flight does not include a few features and the real down side was no alcohol drinks included.
Thursday we took off to get some visa photos taken and to hand in our forms and passports andhopefully get something organised. To no avail. Luke still wants to find some better deals on the flights and we are still wanting to find a hotel that is close to everywhere. We havent coe upon a map in english so this is a very difficult task.
Friday the day Luke would like to head south IF we get some things sorted.
First off he treks to his travel agent to get a betterprice for qantas. he comes back and admits he has spend 2 days running around and come up with no better option that i had 2 days earlier.
WE ARE FLYING QANTAS haha
So I had worked out earlier that i could purchase a few points to get me up to the amount needed to use my points and the flight would only cost me taxes. Like $300
So luke hops on the net and after discussing who would purchase tickets first he booked and paid for his. I then hopped on and SHIT there are no available seats on the same day to fly and use my points. I have to either fly 4 days before or 3 days after or actually buy a ticket.. shit shit shit.
So I struggled with the options, and in the end i brought a ticket for the same day. After all we are doing this together and we should fly together there.
We then had to go to the internet cafe to print out or itineries to send with the visa applications and when i get to the cafe there are no new emails in my account. We walk back to the shop all confused and cant understand.
When i look at the laptop, i actually hadnt confimed my flight so i click the button and wallaa, I have the email in my inbox. Still confused about where Lukes has gone I ask him, "so did you confirm your flight". "What I didnt know that i had to confirm the flight"
He didnt even write down any details. shit shit and more shit.
So we get the qantas number and after being on hold for about half and hour. yippee we have 2 emails and the flight details.
So luke then heads backt o the travel agent with our passports, visa forms flight details and money.
He walks back to the shop at about 4 30 with a smile and thumbs up.
We have flights booked our passports are on their way to the consulate and we have accommodation for 7 nights once we hit bangkok
AND WE HAVENT EVEN LEFT THE COUNTRY YET
so stay tuned for more adventure when we do actually leave.
haha
Since i havent yet left the country i thought it would not need updating but yep, it does.
Tuesday, i recieved a phone call from Luke that he was on his way and would be at my place in half an hour. After getting off the phone to him i had a sudden attack of nerves, anxiety an holy shit. So I took off to have a shower, as some of you know when I was living in China, whenever i had this feeling i would hop in the shower and wash it away. I didnt think that in Australia I would ever have this problem but hey, atleast i know how to fix it.
Luke then arrived and we chatted till the wee hours of the morning and after I felt a little more at ease.
Wednesday we twaddled off to the travel agent with some sort of plan happening but with heaps of questions needing some answers. Jo from travelscene was most helpful and remembere helping me with my china visa. She came up with a new visa that we could pay for an extra 30 days which bought us up to 60 days. I immediately jumped on this and was happy to pay any amount of money for more time. She printed out the visa forms and we left her to research flights packages and hotels in bangkok.
Luke didnt really like Jo and took off to another travel agent, his new best friend since he came up with flights that were cheaper than any where else. Pretty happy with himself at this finding he took off to the bay to catch up with some mates.
My homework for that night was to research what Luke had found out and still I am pretty sure that I will be flying Qantas anyways.
Yep his flight does not include a few features and the real down side was no alcohol drinks included.
Thursday we took off to get some visa photos taken and to hand in our forms and passports andhopefully get something organised. To no avail. Luke still wants to find some better deals on the flights and we are still wanting to find a hotel that is close to everywhere. We havent coe upon a map in english so this is a very difficult task.
Friday the day Luke would like to head south IF we get some things sorted.
First off he treks to his travel agent to get a betterprice for qantas. he comes back and admits he has spend 2 days running around and come up with no better option that i had 2 days earlier.
WE ARE FLYING QANTAS haha
So I had worked out earlier that i could purchase a few points to get me up to the amount needed to use my points and the flight would only cost me taxes. Like $300
So luke hops on the net and after discussing who would purchase tickets first he booked and paid for his. I then hopped on and SHIT there are no available seats on the same day to fly and use my points. I have to either fly 4 days before or 3 days after or actually buy a ticket.. shit shit shit.
So I struggled with the options, and in the end i brought a ticket for the same day. After all we are doing this together and we should fly together there.
We then had to go to the internet cafe to print out or itineries to send with the visa applications and when i get to the cafe there are no new emails in my account. We walk back to the shop all confused and cant understand.
When i look at the laptop, i actually hadnt confimed my flight so i click the button and wallaa, I have the email in my inbox. Still confused about where Lukes has gone I ask him, "so did you confirm your flight". "What I didnt know that i had to confirm the flight"
He didnt even write down any details. shit shit and more shit.
So we get the qantas number and after being on hold for about half and hour. yippee we have 2 emails and the flight details.
So luke then heads backt o the travel agent with our passports, visa forms flight details and money.
He walks back to the shop at about 4 30 with a smile and thumbs up.
We have flights booked our passports are on their way to the consulate and we have accommodation for 7 nights once we hit bangkok
AND WE HAVENT EVEN LEFT THE COUNTRY YET
so stay tuned for more adventure when we do actually leave.
haha
Friday, January 23, 2009
the beginnings
hello there to all those followers of my life on "the roller coaster"
So im preparing to change the theme park that im playing in from australia to thailand, yeah yeah as if china was not enough of a challenge, im off again to see if i can conquer another country instead. having kinda not achieved what i thought i would have over there, ill try again.
so ive packed all my shit again and moved into clints. We are muddeling our way through moving in and him having just brought the place, but as i keep telling him, "mate ive lived in china and this is great, stop worrying"
clint is just to nice and considerate.
so besides working my own job i am finding myself on some nights also doing lukes assignments. as he says, who would have thought you would have to do this twice. haha
its much easier the second time around, believe you me. But we seem to be passing with flying colours and should both be ready with the anticipated plan of early march.
I have culled my shit down to a few plastic containers and still my faithful bedroom suite.
I will never part with that beauty. I LOVE MY BED. (and miss her already)
I have i think passed my car onto my beloved brother to take care of, dont stress about her, she is after all only my baby, nah im kidding, she is only a car and in the end can always be replaced.
I have sorted through and have all the things that i will need to take with me to thailand, charges, mp3, cords, information, leads and i even have some money to get me started.
cant be any more ready than that ay.
i have culled some clothes you will be happy to hear this, as some of you know i have more clothes than i could wear in a year, and still i stand there on a friday night and whinge "but i have nothing to wear"
I figure that hey im bound to buy more once i get there and if all else fails, hong kong is a 2 hour flight and i can go for the weekend and shop till i drop. haha as i have done once (or twice) before.
So i think apart from getting my head around the whole, what the fuck am i about to do, I am ready and keen as.
so ill leave it at that for now and keep you further up to date as the time draws closer to departure date.
ohhh youll all get to meet luke as im sure he will be here for the bonanza camping trip.
dont be too harsh on him, he has NOOOOO idea what he is in for. lol
cheers
So im preparing to change the theme park that im playing in from australia to thailand, yeah yeah as if china was not enough of a challenge, im off again to see if i can conquer another country instead. having kinda not achieved what i thought i would have over there, ill try again.
so ive packed all my shit again and moved into clints. We are muddeling our way through moving in and him having just brought the place, but as i keep telling him, "mate ive lived in china and this is great, stop worrying"
clint is just to nice and considerate.
so besides working my own job i am finding myself on some nights also doing lukes assignments. as he says, who would have thought you would have to do this twice. haha
its much easier the second time around, believe you me. But we seem to be passing with flying colours and should both be ready with the anticipated plan of early march.
I have culled my shit down to a few plastic containers and still my faithful bedroom suite.
I will never part with that beauty. I LOVE MY BED. (and miss her already)
I have i think passed my car onto my beloved brother to take care of, dont stress about her, she is after all only my baby, nah im kidding, she is only a car and in the end can always be replaced.
I have sorted through and have all the things that i will need to take with me to thailand, charges, mp3, cords, information, leads and i even have some money to get me started.
cant be any more ready than that ay.
i have culled some clothes you will be happy to hear this, as some of you know i have more clothes than i could wear in a year, and still i stand there on a friday night and whinge "but i have nothing to wear"
I figure that hey im bound to buy more once i get there and if all else fails, hong kong is a 2 hour flight and i can go for the weekend and shop till i drop. haha as i have done once (or twice) before.
So i think apart from getting my head around the whole, what the fuck am i about to do, I am ready and keen as.
so ill leave it at that for now and keep you further up to date as the time draws closer to departure date.
ohhh youll all get to meet luke as im sure he will be here for the bonanza camping trip.
dont be too harsh on him, he has NOOOOO idea what he is in for. lol
cheers
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