Lebaran ( Eid al Fitr )- Fri Sept. 10 evening My first thought about today is: I really need to get sandals.And cooler clothes. And some sort of 'expander tank' for my stomach.I spent the day with Pak Herizal's family, eating a full meal plus birthday cake there and then going on to visit several relatives' homes and finally Pak Yani's ( The other IAIN teacher/administrator who has been helping me all week ) - all offering tables-full of delicious-looking sp...

Tuesday Sept.7 evening-still not very hot; a storm is building Fasted again, almost: I had breakfast after sunrise, but nothing to eat or drink after that.Not difficult at all, actually. Again Herizal ( ( the language center director ) picked me up at 8 and we stayed at school till 3.He took me around to meet another group of deans and department heads, including the woman Education dean who visited Philadelphia and was curious about Quakers, Amish, and o...

8 am Sunday Sept. 5 - slept 10-6 no problem; as before, AC on all night and still sleeping with no shirt on Well, I was not asked to speak after all at last night's dinner - kind of a letdown since I was ready to start in Arabic briefly, continue in Indonesian briefly, and then talk a bit in English.The first speaker pointed me out when I walked into the auditorium and was asked to sit up front, and the 'official' photographer took way too many shots of me fro...

Finally in Indonesia: first impressions and experiences, September 4 2010 On August 31 I arrived in Medan for a 2-night stay at the Marriott so that I could get my in-country orientation at the US consulate.After 36+ hours of no sleep I was tired but not exhausted, and was happy to go along with the new Medan English Language Fellow, Jonthon, to his university to meet teachers/students and join in a 'buka puasa', the evening meal to break the Ramadan daily fas...