Merry Christmas/Happy Chaunukah/Happy Kwanza/Selamat Al Adha

Lately the time has just been flying. The last time I posted anything was Thanksgiving. Now it's Christmas...well it's Christmas Eve...in Indonesia, that is.

The past month has been a full one. After celebrating Thanksgiving with multiple delicious Thanksgiving dinners and about 10 Thanksgiving lessons at school I took a lovely "break" from Surabaya to attend the annual TEFLIN (Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia) Conference. The conference was held in a town called Salatiga in Central Java. Salatiga is a hilly university town. By Indonesian standards it is cool and since Indonesian standards are what I'm living by these days, it felt pretty cool and refreshing.

The highlights of the conference were many...well maybe not necessarily of the conference per se, but of the week in general. All 19 of us ETAs stayed together at a really sweet hotel with green gardens, coi ponds, and a lovely pool that really made my feng shui. While large portions of the conference were less than exhilirating, we all had a really good time together. Plus we did make time to share funny stories, frustrations, and class ideas and I think we all left feeling ready to reconquer our classrooms. Still, a personal favorite of the conference was a surprise guest appearance with the hotel bar band. I think the picture says it all...

So that was at the beginning of December. Now, Christmas Eve, I'm back in Surabaya, this time with Susan! She arrived on December 16. Unfortunately she flew into Denpasar, Bali which meant we had to spend a couple of nights at the beach in Bali. Bummer! Her flight took 3 days of travelling due to a 24 hour layover in Tokyo, plus the 12 hour time difference can really throw a person off, so I wanted to really ease her into life in Indonesia. On our first night we were excited to find that there was a 24 hour open-air bar just down the block from our hotel. Since Susan had no sense of time and I was running on adrenaline we took advantage of the bar's generous hours of operation and then returned to the hotel only to sleep well into the next afternoon. After a leisurely "morning" we made our way to Kuta beach for a swim in the Indian Ocean. It was a first for both of us! Then we promptly met some surfers who were happy to lend us a board and give us some free lessons. Despite the fact that it was their first time surfing too, they were actually quite helpful and both Susan and I got in some good rides...well at least one each, anyways.

On our last night in Bali we met up with my friend Hillary who teaches in Bali. She took us to a great "Mediterranean" restaurant on the beach. The food was delicious, especially because we could hear the waves crashing in the dark ocean while we ate.

On Monday we flew back to Surabaya. Susan was pretty much speechless on the drive from the airport to my house. I don't know if it was the people, the buildings, or just the traffic, but it was a lot of fun for me to watch her absorb it all. There's definitely a lot to take in. Fortunately my students have been on break since Susan got here so we've been able to just hang out and most importantly, sleep when necessary. Since she's been here, we've been to my school, the mall (a couple of times and a couple of different malls), the zoo, a Chinese acrobat show, and a whole bunch of good restaurants (that may be the best part of having guests). We'll be in Surabaya through Christmas and maybe the next day. Then we're heading to Yogyakarta, considered the cultural capital of Java. After that we'll take off for Lombok (a.k.a. Paradise) on December 30 to get ready for the New Year.

In the meantime, we are doing some last minute Christmas shopping and hopefully finding a midnight mass or some sort of church service for Christmas Eve. If we don't find one we'll probably eat another really good meal, watch "Frosty's Christmas" which Susan so thoughtfully brought along, and stare at our festive Christmas tree that we finished decorating last night. A big terimah kasih (thanks) goes out to Susan's mom for sending that. Hopefully Santa will be able to find it!



I hope you all have a really wonderful Christmas with friends and family. Build a snowman and eat some christmas cookies for me!