It's been a very good week

School is going more easily now, next week should be difficult, in terms of responsibilities as a number of my assignments come due at roughly the same time. This week has been sort of a breeze. I now have two assistants for basketball which, in theory, should make things easier but we have a ways to go. Of the three, I'm the only one whose ever played the game and I didn't play it in any organized fashion.

It is my rule to keep the names and details of my students, associates, and friends out of the blog. I may forget from time to time and let one slip in but I don't feel that it is my right to reveal anything about anyone I may meet just because I want to blog. Having said that, there are a number of schools in Medan, and many Western teachers about though not so many Americans.

Last Friday evening I did meet three Americans, none of whom knew each other, in the course of about an hour. The first I overheard at a table next to mine as I was eating dinner. He turned out to work for the UN and gave me his card. We spoke for a minute, literally, so I feel awkward about calling him, and haven't had time anyway. The other two were what I would call adventurers, and filled with a sort of obnoxious American confidence that made me look for an excuse to get out of the conversation.

They were loading me with advice (both had been here for a year; most of it pretty counter-intuitive, but not all) and it went on and on until finally I said, "Thank you. Can we talk about something else?" The louder one looked taken aback, so I said, "I hear what you're saying, it's just I am receiving a lot of advice and need time to process it." The quieter one said, "you're saturated"; the loud one continued to look at me with an expression that I think was surprise, or outrage so I continued, "Sorry. That was abrupt. I appreciate your advise, and I believe you, but..." The quieter one said, "he's saturated dude. Let's talk about something else." The louder one said, "HEY, I'M an (expletive) American, you don't have to let me save face. I don't care." I said, "I should have expressed myself differently." I then received a lecture on how Americans let things roll of their backs and how Asians always need to save face and that he was an AMERICAN and that I needn't be so diplomatic. I said, "haven't you ever met anyone whose conscientous before?" He said, "I'm an old army seargeant." Does that answer the question, really?

At any rate I'm not going to talk to people just because they're Americans anymore. You'd think I'd have learned that lesson long ago.