back to class... not necessarily back to normal.

Well, after all that was afoot, Martin and I decided that we needed a break from the stress of Jogja. Well... going to Bali wasn't exactly the best solution. Who wants to be sick in Bali!? Anyway, that's the way it was... oh, and our new cellphone was stolen there also (we had it under a week). But Bali wasn't all bad... Despite the overwhelming number of tourists (even in the off-season with most countries having placed travel bans on Indonesia!), there is still something magical about the place. Whether it be the Hindu influence, or the stunning scenery, I can't say.

In any event, we are glad to be back to class, and back to a more stable existence (physically and almost, mentally).

Cecilia Fernandez (another CUSO cooperant going to Sulawesi) has arrived, and we're happy to have her smiling company here as well.

We hosted a party here at the language school last weekend... We got fed up with Indonesian food and it's lack of variety, so we made an Ecuadorian specialty (Ceviche and patacones) for 40!!! Mostly teachers and their families... they LOVED it... Good food, good music, good friends... it was a great time... and it is happened in the wake of an Ecuadorian football victory the evening before.

We are happy to be going to Manado to start that segment there... not only to have our own kitchen (and hence more control over what we're eating), but also just to see where it is we will be calling home for the next while! We will be leaving Jogja on Friday, and fly to Manado on Saturday!... although there was an earthquake there on sunday (sounds like it was far from Manado and there was no damage, but STILL!) -- Darn 'ring of fire'... it seems that there's an earthquake somewhere in Indonesia weekly!?

My dad wrote me to say that Merapi has grown by 1000'... I think it's possible that the volcano may have grown that much... the type it is, the lava just sort of boils up to the top and oozes over, so it doesn't really travel very far. We had a really cool view of it from the plane on our return to jogja... and we returned to Borobodur last week for our school field trip, and all of the forests around that area, and the temple itself, are white from the ashfall! But that's far from here, and there hasn't been any ash for a while...

As for the earthquake relief, we've just been concentrating on the language training since returning from Bali... there are sooo many foreigners in the disaster zone now that the Indo govt has requested them all to leave! So we're just butting out. We did visit the beach with some people from Realia this weekend, so we passed through the area we were working in, and we could see that people had cleaned up a lot of the rubble, and had begun the reconstruction phase... It's still a sad sight. The beach was deserted, black sand, a km of dunes before you reach the surf (which is wickedly mean, and we weren't allowed to swim... in case the queen of the south seas (the one who they're blaming hte earthquake on) was in a mood and decided to take us with her!?). It was fun to hang out with a couple of the teachers outside of class though... We also made a pancake breakfast this morning for a few of them (with the maple syrup I brought from home, which I must say has been a huge hit!)

I guess I've adjusted to the heat... The rain has stopped, so now I think we can safely say we have entered the 'dry season', which means temperatures seem more moderate also (less humidity). But in Manado it will be very hot... another few degrees hotter on average than here. I think I'll be longing for the cool summer evenings in Madoc before long, there! Well, maybe the fact that it's going to be MANGO season not long after we arrive will keep me going!?