Internet cafe

It is interesting what passes for a "cafe" here. We have computers but that's it. It's more of an internet room.

I arrived at the field where the independence day celebration was held at about 1 in the afternoon on Thursday. It was apparently a break in the action. People were seated under tents and eating. The field was lined with vendors of food and merchants of knickknacks (is that how one spells that word?). It was interesting but I didn't see the tree climbing competition I had been told to look for, or any of the other performances. Nobody wanted to attend with me, so I hung around for about an hour. Eventually the stares and quizzical looks convinced me to move on home. It was very hot.

I keep thinking that eventually people will get accustomed to seeing me and stop greeting me like an alien. Men on motorbikes shout out to me and, of course, the women seem to see me as a potential meal ticket. How wrong they are!

We were taken out to a Chinese restaurant by the mother of one of my roommate's students. This woman owned the restaurant and so we were given red carpet treatment. We were served endless courses of fish, curry, pumpkin soup, all manner of appetizers and fruit and eventually very fancy cakes and custard filled pastries made to look like mice. It took roughly three hours and I was proud when our hostess complimented my skill with chopsticks. I am getting better at it.

Indonesians don't seem to use chopsticks too often. It's a fork and spoon place.

I am going for a haircut today and it just occured to me that my last was the day I left America. It should be interesting because outside of being able to say that I would like a haircut, I have no words to direct. I am told that I will also receive a shave. I wonder if they'll use a straight edge razor and hot towels. Medan is like that for Westerners. At times you find yourself doing things that would have been impossibly expensive and disgustingly decadent in America. This is why I am eager to see this orphanage. The contrast between rich and poor here is drastic. We had been using our rich neighbor's maid, but we will now change to my girlfriend's as her maid has small children and is desperate to find more work. Her income is roughly 70 US dollars a month. When schools starts up again I will begin asking my students for donations of toys and clothing for the orphans. I was asked earlier if these kids had any hope of being adopted. I am not sure, but I do know that they can be purchased by families, not for slave labour or anything, don't worry. There is a difference between buying a child and adopting one, but I don't know much about this. I will try to find out.

Thanks for all the comments, and the anonymous comments that go to my email but do not appear here. I will make a point to blog again soon, but won't be in the school again for another week.