February 5, 2005

After two weeks of Winter Intensive courses and teaching full days Monday to Friday we were invited to Emily and Waynes for a celebratory dinner to mark the beginning of our Spring Festival vacation. Nine days off!

Actually, the ‘intensive’ course was not so intensive for me. I had to teach one adult class from 1-3 pm each day along with my two kindergarten classes – one hour on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. My adult class of 16 is made up of mostly university students on break for Spring Festival and upgrading their English skills. We have 9 full-time teachers right now so once things got spread out amongst everyone most teachers only had to teach two classes per day. Our latest arrival is Marrie from Newcastle, England. She was here last year, went home for a few months and decided to return for another 6 months. She is sharing an apartment with Maureen and Gary who are from Manchester, England. Maureen is teaching for only 3 months then her and Gary plan to travel around China.

Emily needed help going to the traditional market as everyone at her house was working and she had to take 10 month old Wyatt with her. I volunteered to go with her Friday morning. She was buying meat and vegetables for the big dinner that night. In true Indonesian style she cooked up a wonderful pork and onion dish with just the right amount of spices! It went wonderfully well with the mashed potatoes that everyone over-indulged in. Along with the meat and potatoes we enjoyed rice and a crispy, fresh garden salad. It sure beats the hot, spicy and oily food we have at school every day. We enjoyed watching music videos and drinking wine and local beer. But it was Friday night after a long week of teaching and everyone was really tired. So it was not a late night.

Ashley’s father was in town visiting and we all made plans to go to the “Brazillian” restaurant the next night. Talk about protein overload……….but the roast beef, bacon and chicken wings are to die for. A little taste of home……………but without the traditional yorkshire pudding, gravy and horseradish………too bad.

After filling our stomachs with food and beer we decided to go bowling! On the fourth floor of the hotel (Gold Source) where the restaurant is located is an actual ten-pin bowling alley……..yes, fully automated just like in America. One difference though, which I thought was an excellent idea: they give you thin mesh stockings to put on over your socks before putting on the rented bowling shoes. I managed to find a pair of shoes to fit in spite of the small-footed Chinese people.

We played on two lanes. Men on one, women on the other. Of course it was all in fun and I don’t even know who won. There were less men, so they played two games to our one. ChiChi got to play for herself and her Grandma, Emily. She could barely manage to pick up the large ball let alone throw it. She opted for rolling it down the lane with the help of Kim. We were on an end alley and Kim followed the ball down to the pins, coaxing it along. It was funny to watch. Bella managed to get a strike the time she slid and fell down. She tried that tactic again without success.

Emily watched as she fed Wyatt. We had a great time and headed home around 11 pm. The women decided we would do a “spa” day the next afternoon…......see next entry for details.................