Outward Bound April 25-29

I took a group of 12 eight grade boys(Team Delta) to Lake Jatilahur. It involved hiking, rafting, climbing, and camping. The boys also had to cook for themselves. Needless to say I ate very little but had a blast.

Team Delta 

Use a helmet and ride naked 

Speed Kills....or knocks some sense into you

It is said accidents generally occur close to home - It's true. Once again I was racing the rain but this time I lost...big time. As I rode home the rain started to pour down harder. Being close to home I opened up Old Blue (my Vespa) and figured I could beat the rain. Unfortunately I was wrong. As I raced down the wet hill toward home I noticed a car stalled out on the opposite side of the road. Then a car suddenly pulled out from behind the stalled car in my direct line of fire. I braked hard and started to fish tail on the wet road. I told myself I must take my foot off the brake to regain control. It was too late. I had a birth canal of about three feet between the car and a large black gate on my left. I wasn't slowing down so I pressed hard on my back brake (the front brakes don't work too well on Vespas). "This isn't going to be pretty," I said to myself as I skidded out of control - Lights out. I plowed the gate hard and bounced off head first. Thank goodness I had invested in a decent helmet. The front of my Vespa was ripped off and much of it was dented. I lay stunned for a few minutes waiting for the blood to flow out of my body. Fortunately for me it didn't. I walked home in daze.

Another Day At School

The students had just run for eight minutes in the hot sun before we ran to the field to play softball. I am pitching and the team catches a fly ball - the third out. As I tell the other team to take the field I notice a Korean girl sprawled out on the bench. Her eyes are closed and she is not moving. “Hey, what is wrong with her?” I shout. “Ummm, I think she is sick,” another Korean girl shouts. I drop my glove and run over to the girl and raise her up. She is unconscious. I pinch her cheek and call her name. Shit! Nothing happens. I quickly check for a pulse and get a strong heartbeat. I run to get some water and poor some over her head…. still nothing. Another student offers me his bottle of water and I douse it on her head…her eyes start to flutter. I quickly call the nurse on my hand phone…no answer. I now have 25 students hovering around me. I select a brother of a student I have had before and tell him that he is in charge while I take the girl to the nurse…poor bastard. I pick the girl up and carry her from the field to the gym. She is now starting to gain consciousness and I feel as if I may faint from carrying her. I finally get her into an air conditioned office, get her to lie down, raise her feet, and call the nurse. Where is the water...

Pre-Race Day

It's already Saturday! Whoooa. Where did last week go? The highlights of the week were that Vanessa was finally able to sleep all night for two nights in a row and I didn't kill myself on my Vespa.

Today V and I woke up early to run at the zoo and help setup for our big 5km run tomorrow. There should be over 500 participants. We have to go back to the zoo this afternoon to setup more signs to make sure no one gets off the race route and mysteriously disapppears in the zoo or worse...finds a major shortcut to the finish. The race will start at 7:00 AM. I just hope none of the animals get out while the race is on!! It sure would improve the overall race times though.

Racing Against the Rain

The sky begins to pout on my face and hairy arms as I maneuver through cars, buses, taxis, motorcycles, people, carts, ducks, chickens,...on my Vespa (Old Blue). I quickly glance over my shoulder and glimpse the ominous black clouds behind me. I accelerate. It is an E-ticket ride as I weave in and out of the ubiquitous Jakarta traffic. My side mirrors narrowly miss the mirrors situated on the cars to my left and to my right. It is exactly like a video game. The only difference is I rack up life points. A winning game is when I reach my final destination in one piece...which today is home.
The raindrops grow as I evade the car racing towards me on this supposed oneway street. I weave Old blue left to pass a bus only to find a man pushing a cart. I brake hard and swerve back to the right only to overlook an open manhole. I quickly jerk Old Blue hard right as my mind ponders the cost of a box of Depends.
I down shift and pick up speed on the wet roads trying to avoid the noxious fumes billowing out the back of three-wheeled Bajai and leaded fuelled buses. Traffic is serious business in this third most polluted city in the world…but hey, what better way to catch up with your pals than while stranded in traffic for hours at a time right? Or read that novel you can never finish? While now you can…in traffic. I continue to look for small openings between cars and fill them as they come.
I slam on the foot brake. My back tire locks up. I slide sideways on the wet road and wonder how much its going to hurt when I either slam into the truck in front of me or plow into this crazy woman who has chosen this most inappropriate time to dart across this hectic street. “That was close,” I whisper through my pollution mask as I reclaim control of Old Blue and watch my life points rack up on the video screen in my head. I turn off this street and play chicken with the oncoming motorcycles and cars as the rain continues to fall…still gently.
I decide to take another road, a shortcut, which means a steep decline. As I descend, the car in front of me decides to stop halfway down the hill forcing Old Blue and I into a full power slide…hang on Old Blue!!!!
Old Blue and I finally make it home from work. I have over a million life points and soiled shorts. The thunder pounds and the cats and dogs drop from the sky…

After vacation blues

It's the first Monday after Spring break and I get the distinct impression the students aren't interested in learning Spanish today. Go figure. "Señor, Señor, man I saw some really hot chicks in Switzerland and I am tired. There was this really hot Mexican girl too who went along." I ask him to say it "en Español".

I have my first class introduce their friend and tell us what they did over the holiday using the preterit (past) tense in Spanish. "He went to a small island near Nias (the island the most recent earthquake hit-one I have never heard of or even know where the hell it is) and was then evacuated and went to Malaysia." Another student says, "He went to the Great wall in China and ate Chinese food." And another, "She went to Singapore and Thailand. She went trekking in Thailand." "He went to Hawaii and got bit by a snapping turtle on the beach after scuba diving"..."to Bali,to Australia, to Vietnam....." I have to pinch myself and remind myself this is an international school. Where haven't these kids traveled? Most of the 8th grade kids in my second class have just flown in from Switzerland last night after going skiing for a week - their faces are flaking from being burned by the sun. Most of them are falling asleep from the jet lag. I have to wake one student up. "Señor, go easy on him," a student says, "we really hazed him bad on the plane and wouldn't let him sleep." I look at the clock to see how much time has elapsed as the French (who is Swiss) teacher next door peeps in to tell me there is some delicious Swiss chocolate waiting for me on the table.

My last class has to draw a story for a three year old using five different sheets of paper without using any words. They will have to describe a random story drawn by one of their classmates in Spanish by describing the pictures in Spanish using specific verbs for their oral assessment the next class. "Can I draw a naked man?" a student asks. "How do you say burning? Or falling down stairs?" asks another....as I point to the dictionary and imagine a three year old reading a story about a naked burning man falling down stairs...

Time for new shorts

So I meet my running partner early in the AM and as she walks up to talk to me I notice she takes a quick two steps back....I assess the situation and realize it is the second day I am wearing my sweaty running shorts and I forgot to shower in them yesterday. Oooops. Aren't women supposed to have a better sense of smell than men in general? I guess I have become immune to the smell. Anyway, I used to have three pairs of running shorts but somehow two sweaty pairs have gone missing....hmmmm.

We were nearly attacked by a very angry monkey this AM, but we realized it was chained as we ran through the Kampung. I'd be angry too if I were chained up. As we ran home a small boy fell off his bike and slammed his head against the pavement. We all stopped to help him but his father quickly picked him up and gave him a nice swat on his backside...I guess a swat on the bottom will take the pain away from a bashed in head.... go figure...we ran on before my partner kicked the father's ass which would have meant we got our asses kicked by the whole village.

We met a friend running this AM and he had just returned from running a 5km loop around the zoo. "Hey, you want to hear something really scary?" he asks. "This morning I was running around the zoo. As I went around the corner where the alligators are usually in the secure canal area there is this huge alligator sitting on the corner that apparently got out. It was too late; I was running too quickly to slow down and as I nearly stepped on its head it suddenly got scared and ran in the bushes (Yeah, scared of the smell - I think he was wearing the same pair of running shorts three days in a row). I nearly shit myself," he sighed. I think he already had.

V and I watched the movie "Touching the Void" (named after the same book written by Joe Simpson) the other night. A great account of a climb in Peru that went horribly wrong...don't worry it does have a happy ending. It made me stop whining about the blister on my hand from the Vespa clutch.

This is yummy for my tummy 

Baby Betting

So people at Vs office are starting to bet on whether we are having a boy or girl. One woman told Vanessa that since her nose hasn’t grown a lot she is definitely having a girl. Apparently her nose got really huge and she had a boy. I wondered if she lied a lot and her nickname was Pinocchio. Another woman said that since Vanessa hadn’t gotten really ugly yet, she is definitely having a girl. I could just imagine the conversation if she thought Vanessa was going to have a boy. “Allah Vanessa, you have sure gotten U.G.L.Y., that’s UGLY girlfriend. You must be having a boy.” Yes, weird science indeed...

We can all call each other for free

Hey, I just spoke with my Uncle and niece for about an hour for free! The sound quality was wonderful. If you haven't heard of Skype yet...well, you can thank me later. If you are interested in contacting your friends and family for free click here:

http://www.skype.com/products/skype/windows/?autoload=true

You will need a microphone for this as well. Our call name is Dickeybirds. Give us a ring, or we can ring you sometime... a ring-a-ling-ding-dong!

Big Head

So Vanessa's party went off without a hitch. Good convo and a bounty of food. Oh yeah, I found a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins as well....yummy! Now whose gonna clean this mess up right....

Did I mention that when V and I received the tests back on the baby that the head and tummy were above the 95th percentile?? Yeah, it's definitely going to be a prodigy/genious baby no doubt (just look at the parents right?) with such a large head but we are going to have to attend some pushing classes for sure......push it real good!

I'm off today and just got back from the zoo where I was busily planning our 5Km race which will be held on April 10th. More later.....off to lunch with V.