I have been back in Palembang for just a week but Banda Aceh already seems like a fading memory, since I quickly got caught up in school etc. here.I did get to 'play tourist' just a bit while senior ELF Michael Kelley was visiting - went to a couple good restaurants, revisited the Cheng Ho mosque and was at the big mosque downtown for Fri. noon prayer - very crowded, quite welcoming though of course I had to stand outside.Since I'm teaching all new courses this term I've been busy getting activities/handouts ready to use and thinking about how to make the courses interesting for students and maximize their English improvement without being so hard-nosed as I was last term ( in retrospect ).I've met with two classes so far and both went well, with some laughter and a light atmosphere while still getting some work done. I have both Tuesdays and Fridays free, which will allow me to do more outside of my IAIN responsibilities.Yesterday, in fact, I visited a senior high school and had a good, wide-ranging with one class as well as a bunch of teachers who crowded into the back row.Next Monday I'm going to help judge student presentations at a private high school, and next Tuesday I've been invited across town to visit a university class on EFL testing and do a 'guest lecture'.I know I'll be doing a presentation on the 'Globalization of Education' and participating in a follow-up panel discussion at an April conference for local alumni of US universities.Maybe - hopefully - I can take advantage of no Friday classes to get out of town once in a while for a long weekend - though where I'd go and how I'd get there I'm not sure.There is zero tourist infrastructure here so - unlike everywhere I went in Jan-Feb - traveling around on my own would be a bit of a challenge.

Apart from work, I'm back in the same familiar, unexciting routine.After not being able to cook for about two months I'm enjoying making my own meals again, nothing fancy though - spaghetti, curried chicken etc.I keep meaning to buy more fish and shrimp but for some reason have not done it yet.And I'm trying to make myself study Indonesian but not actually learning much; the truth is, I would rarely use it. Most of the non-English that I hear is rapid-fire, slangy Palembangian that would always be way beyond me no matter what.But I will keep trying.After picking up a dozen novels and other books on my big trip, I brought back another dozen from Banda Aceh - but at the rate I can go through books when I have time to spare, I still want to 'ration myself'.I talk with my kids and my mom regularly via Skype, and surf the net nightly unless there's something of interest on NatGeo or History channels.I listen to NPR Morning Edition every day on KLCC, just as at home except here it's on at night ( 5 am there = 8 pm here ). What I should be doing, of course, is a daily aerobic exercise routine.Maybe if I tell myself that enough times, I'll finally start doing it.I'm sure I'd walk daily, as I do in the US, if I had to or if there were pleasant places to do it. Neither is true. I do walk a few miles to/from my favorite supermarkets once a week or so.

There's been lots of hard rain since my return; in fact, another storm is going to start any second now, so I should head for home even though I have a light jacket with me.Fortunately, it has not been terribly hot; I have not needed my AC, and mainly use my fan at home just to keep the skeeters ( not numerous but always a few looking to 'score' ) from being able to zero in on me. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.