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
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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.
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