Tues. Feb. 15 - Banda Aceh This is not where I'd expected to be but I'm glad to find myself here, especially since it turned out that the class I was supposed to help teach at IAIN never materialized, so I would've just been sitting around doing nothing for the next two weeks.Instead, when I met with US Consul from Medan on Thursday afternoon and he found out I was free, he immediately asked me to come here to help a group of about 20 students getting ready ...

Tues. Feb. 8 - Sanur, Swastika Guest House ( a traditional symbol here - predates the Nazis by 1000s of years ) Last full day of this trip.No plan at all; it's been raining off and on so far.I'll just read and then use free wifi at a café nearby - lots of good choices available.Anyway, yesterday I walked around to see the few things there are to see here: a quick walk-through of the Le Mayeur home/art museum and then a meander up to the N. end of the beachf...

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Lombok is a change from Bali; that was clear as soon as I stepped off the ferry. There were bleating goats wandering around the dusty, ramshacle little terminal, and my shuttle van to Senggigi had barely started driving before we encountered compact donkey carts clip-clopping along with the light traffic. Lots of mosques, too, with tall round domes painted in a variety of bright colors. Mixed in with rice terraces were corn and bean fields. Unbelievable numbe...

I've been busy. first working as an 'ELF' for 10 days in Surabaya and Banjarmasin and then enjoying Bali for the past 5. Nothing I want to say about the work part except that the English Camp in Banjar was the most fun I've had teaching in a long time - 12 hours with 30+ high-energy teens who really 'got into' everything I dragged out of my varied bag of tricks. On Bali I spent a day walking around central Denpasar, visiting a museum and some markets, including...