Don't tell me there's no "m.o."
Last night, as the Basketball session was ending my assistant was called in to talk with the principal and director. He, having long fingernails (not extremely long but in need of a trim) had inadvertantly scratched a small student while breaking up a fight. The parents of that student were very angry and this teacher was told, that for his own protection, he would be sent home--that very night. A wave of uneasiness spread. We said, 'goodbye' and J. and I went to an Indian restaurant both finding the entire episode beyond explanation. An hour later he phoned to say that the matter was cleared up and that he was staying, and unpacking. How the matter was resolved I still don't know, but the whole "for his protection" bit suggests something about some of the parents that send kids to this school.
The Medanese Chinese do very well here, but never feel safe enough from the locals. There are 'syndicates' and I needn't say much more about this.
The Indian food, by the way, was spectacular although J. says it pales in comparison to what is available in Singapore or Jakarta--not to mention India, I'm sure. The Indian population here is quite small and while this was the best Indian restaurant in Medan, it was also the only.
J.'s hospital bills, which I paid for, due to her having gone to the hospital before she could get to her bank, and which I will be reimbursed for eventually, will prevent us from travelling off Sumatra over the break but we will go back to Toba. We had only 24 hours there the first time and this time, with more time, we should be able to do and see more. The break is only a week anyway, and the thought of extensive travel or time in an airport seems less relaxing than a 4 hour drive and days on end of what was once fashionably, though annoyingly, called "downtime." After this term, "downtime" seems like "uptime" to me.
The english language newspaper "The Jakarta Post" had many stories regarding the five year anniversary of 9/11 which seemed to come directly from American news services. I wonder about the mid-term elections back home and how the anniversary was cynically spun in the campaigns. I am not curious to know, I can guess. I do wonder how I can vote being so far away. I read an essay about Singapore last night which discussed the lack of political engagement in the country. While being an extremely successful capitalist nation, it is also a one party controlled nation and has always been. While censorship has been relaxed in recent years, few take advantage to push for more plurality in the policies of the nation. This is anathema to notion that liberal market practices bring with them few social constrictions. So there's that to consider.
The Medanese Chinese do very well here, but never feel safe enough from the locals. There are 'syndicates' and I needn't say much more about this.
The Indian food, by the way, was spectacular although J. says it pales in comparison to what is available in Singapore or Jakarta--not to mention India, I'm sure. The Indian population here is quite small and while this was the best Indian restaurant in Medan, it was also the only.
J.'s hospital bills, which I paid for, due to her having gone to the hospital before she could get to her bank, and which I will be reimbursed for eventually, will prevent us from travelling off Sumatra over the break but we will go back to Toba. We had only 24 hours there the first time and this time, with more time, we should be able to do and see more. The break is only a week anyway, and the thought of extensive travel or time in an airport seems less relaxing than a 4 hour drive and days on end of what was once fashionably, though annoyingly, called "downtime." After this term, "downtime" seems like "uptime" to me.
The english language newspaper "The Jakarta Post" had many stories regarding the five year anniversary of 9/11 which seemed to come directly from American news services. I wonder about the mid-term elections back home and how the anniversary was cynically spun in the campaigns. I am not curious to know, I can guess. I do wonder how I can vote being so far away. I read an essay about Singapore last night which discussed the lack of political engagement in the country. While being an extremely successful capitalist nation, it is also a one party controlled nation and has always been. While censorship has been relaxed in recent years, few take advantage to push for more plurality in the policies of the nation. This is anathema to notion that liberal market practices bring with them few social constrictions. So there's that to consider.
posted by athensinternational at 6:20 PM
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