first day of school

I returned from Singapore on Saturday morning. Saturday evening I went to a local place with my Brit friend. The Brit is a bit more adventurous than most and had no qualms about walking around Medan without knowing where he was going. By doing this, however, he had discovered the local expat hangout. Most of these were English, but some Austrailians and one Scot. I told them about that I'd been in Singapore for nearly 4 days to get my visa straightened out and one of them said that 4 days was not too bad for Indonesia. I countered saying that the process had been begun in mid-may, to which he said, "this year?" These men are all either jounalists or working in some capacity for one NGO or another. In short, they're idealists but some have been in Indonesia for over 15 years. They're also quite sardonic and carry about an expression that says "I've seen it all."

Classes have begun today and everything is going very smoothly. The kids are funny and well behaved and curious about me and why I am here. I am not teaching high school, I am teaching middle school. When they told me that I would be teaching secondary 1,2, and 3 I did not understand the structure of the school. Kids have Primary 1-6, and then they begin Secondary. In fact, SPA only teaches Primary 1-6 and Secondary 1-3. I don't know if other schools then go to secondary 4-6 or tertiary 1-3 or what.

Yesterday, I went to this local swimming pool. It cost 15,000 rupiah to get in which is roughly $1.50 (US). This place also has a driving range and tennis courts and it may be that I will have to pick up these habits if I want to get much exercise. I'm told that there is a health club that I could join but like everything else here, it will take some time before I can get into it. Internet is a more pressing concern. Today I am using the school's service and another teachder's password. I have not been given one of my own and everyone is so busy that I feel it would be unwise to go and ask for one. I'm also told that I can use my Mac here, but again, I need the password--the teacher whose password I'm using just typed it in, I don't actually know what it is.

Saturday evening I think I saw a monkey, but it was dark and it ran up the tree so quickly that I can't be sure it wasn't merely a very athletic cat. There are many animals in Indonesia that one doesn't want to see and so far I've been fortunate enough not to see them with the exception of a couple of very large cockroaches, but bugspray seems to take care of that problem.

Generally speaking, things are quite good and I am pleased with the arrangements. As a small point of interest, the school, for whatever reason, blocks access to email. Thus, I cannot check my email untill I have home internet service. I have asked about it a couple of times and have been assured that I will get it, but I don't know when. Spending so much time in Singapore didn't help matters. Again, I know I keep saying this, but I am going to hold off on posting photos until I can access the internet with the Mac.