Friday June 28, 2013 4:30am (Thursday June 27, 2013 5:30pm EST)

I am definitely feeling the effects of jetlag. I’ve woken up at 2:30am, and now 4:30 and don’t think I will be able to fall back asleep. It would work out well if I had Internet access right now because everyone back home has just begun their evening and I am eager to Skype people back home. I am temporarily living in a hotel in Jakarta, with about 10 other new teachers, and more are still flying in. Teachers have been arriving from Canada, the US, India, Singapore and yesterday my current temporary roommate from the Philippines. Bina Bangsa School has 5 different campuses, over 400 staff members and over 3500 students. The induction or welcome conference for new teachers begins in about 4 hours and runs through to July 3^rd. On the final day all 400+ staff members will be present.

My teaching assignment will be at the Bandung campus, about 2.5 hours from the nation’s capital, Jakarta. I met my principal, Mr. Jon Jason, at the airport when I arrived and I liked him right from the start. Basically he told me I will be the coach of the basketball team, and he laughed at all my jokes (which we all know is very important to me).  When I travel to Bandung after the induction conference I will be able to settle into my more permanent living arrangement, set up internet and begin to get to know the city and my fellow staff much better. So far I have met many nice people, but all but one of which will be stationed at a different campus than me. The only other person I’ve met from Bandung campus is my current roommate, Lanwell (I believe, I met him late last night and may have misheard his name), is a returning teacher from the Philippines who has taught primary school math for 5 years. He had many positive things to say about the school and my campus in particular.

So far I’ve enjoyed Indonesia, although I haven’t had much of an opportunity to explore yet. The people have been incredibly friendly! Everyone greats you with a smile, goes out of their way to hold the door, and is overly apologetic if they think they have inconvenienced you in any way. The people are also generally fascinated with white people. I’ve been asked if people could take my picture, have had the gentleman who picked us up at the airport point out to everyone how tall I am, but all done with a smile on their face and in a very friendly manor. I’m excited to learn more about the beauty this country has to offer, and to get out there and explore.

I promise that my next post will be spiced up with some photos or a video for all the visual learners