Last weekend I went along with a carload of language center staff to the home villages of two of the guys. I was told the drive would be 5-6 hours but it turned out to be 11-12 hours, including rest stops, over narrow, twisty, horrifically potholed roads for much of the way - the final hours in pitch darkness both going and coming - and often in driving rain ( I taught the guys the idiom 'raining cats and dogs', which they had fun making up variations on ).Much ...

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 thi...

Sat morning Feb. 26 - Pulau Weh, "Freddies's" - sharing my balcony with a gray/white cat at the moment. This place is every bit as great as I'd heard.I'm even able to use wifi even from my bungalow balcony, where I am right now, while I look down about 50 feet to the beach and listen to the sound of small waves rolling in.Tall coconut palms are all around me; on one side the jungle begins right next to my balcony.As darkness fell last night I walke...

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...