I'm like the shiny new toy everybody wants to play with!

I'm sorry to say, however nice the people might be here, some of them want to use me for money, and some of them want to be seen with me only for status:(

On tues I made a trip to lake Maninjau with Paulina and her friend. It was a very complicated trip and in a way very disappointing (I'll tell you the details personally:P), but when we finally made it to the lake... it was just so damn beautiful! A vulcanic lake surrounded by mountains and rainforest<3 I went for a swim with a local guide, Jemi. He's a really nice guy who has build a bunch of bungalows right on the beach:) Might go to stay there later!

Then I've been going around the town. I love the view, I can see mountains everywhere and there are little alleys, and the streets go up and down the hills. I met my first ladyboys too, they thought I was pretty:D High praise! One thing is that I wake up every night at 4am because of the singing coming from the mosques, calling for the muslims to pray. It's very beautiful but I still hope I could sleep through it:P In Pangandaran it was roosters who woke me up at 4, I guess there's always something!

Ever since I've been here, I've visited 6 different classes talking to the students and trying to motivate them to study English. This has been very interesting for me, to learn more about the culture here and seeing local schools. So far I've talked in two English classes, one marketing class, one midwife school, one nurse school and one religion class. I was asked to do this by a lecturer at Paulina's school, Mrs. Hayat. She was also kind enough to invite me to stay at her home:) I moved there last night. She lives with her parents, two brothers, husband and three little children. So it's a big, lively house! They are very traditional muslims, so another great way for me to learn about the culture! Also two schools I went to today were muslim shools so I wore a vail there as well. That was very interesting for me:)

The best thing about talking to the students so far is that with some of them I can actually have real conversations with, instead of the endless "hello missss, how are youuu, where you're froooom, what's your nameee..." I can't tell you how good that feels at this point! And if I manage to motivate them that's really cool. Also, I love mrs. Hayat and her children (and the whole family)! The sad thing is, the other one of her daughters was killed in an earthquake before... I can't even imagine what it must feel like.

A lot of people have told I'm brave to be traveling here alone like this. I really like hearing that, I like to think of myself as a brave girl:)