Friday, 7July06

Highlights: fun threads of conversation, an embarrassing misadventure, superman, and a fairly weak night club

I have to say, our conversation class is rarely dull. Ibu Daru brings in a different topic every day that we kick around & express our opinions about in Indonesian. Sounds harmless enough… right?

Wednesday’s subject was Aids & Smoking, Thursdays subject was Trash disposal, and today we took on “family planning”. Never a dull moment.
Now I know, as a high school teacher, Yancey supports abortion through the age of 17. (= ha ha.

After class, two of the visiting Americans (Lydia & Diana) joined Eric, Marty, Stacey & I for lunch at the kantin. Little did they know they were entering a lively debate zone, which Eric & Marty are now famous for making last for hours,,, tirelessly. Today Eric unveiled his latest philosophy on the state of mankind & the unavoidable tendency towards hypocrisy. That seemed to flow seamlessly into the topic of politics,,, at which point there were a few moments there I thought a fight might break out across the table between Eric & Diana. (=

It became difficult, after a while, to sift through all their points & counter-points, and distinguish where they were actually saying the same thing- from heated & opposing perspectives.
We were there for almost 2 hours- so,,, I’m thinking, at no other point have we, as a group, fit the description of loud, obnoxious Americans abroad (= but it was entertaining. And conversations like this always stir creative thinking- which is great.

Not long after,, I got a call from my “younger brother” Adi… I had a guest at the house?? Who the heck..?

Transition into my first embarrassing & somewhat uncomfortable moment…

Last night after dinner, on my way home, I stopped & talked to a Balinese girl for all of 10 minutes. She was with a New Zealand guy, and when she asked where I lived- I thought nothing of it. Up north on Jalan Kaliurang, kilometer 7.

Today she invited herself over. I had to come home from school just to see who this drive-by guest was. I smiled & said “nice to see you again…” and generally found the next few moments rather awkward. You couldn’t tell from her expression.

Not wanting to be rude, I said I was in the middle of checking e-mails at school,, and eh,, she was welcome to come along if she wanted. She was happy to.

The computer room closes early on Fridays! Shoot! So what now… Frisbee? We tried that for 5 minutes- it hurt her hands. =/
She’s digging her way to the bottom of my well of patience,, and I’m looking for ways to politely dump her off somewhere. She seemed oblivious.

My last attempt… I had a few hours to kill before going to the movies with my friends (she was under no circumstances coming…) so- I figured I’d just do whatever I would have done by myself, which was go get a head-neck & shoulders massage for $2.50.
She didn’t want one,, which was fine by me.

She broke my last straw of patience when she started cracking nervous jokes about me and the massage girl dating. I pretended she wasn’t there for the rest of my hour- then dropped her off in the vicinity of her home with a “don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

Whew! That girl was pushy! I hope that was an anomaly. At least it wasn’t a guy propositioning me (= I’m grateful for the little things.

Yes- I admit, I was excited to go see Superman a 2nd time! When the movies cost $2,,, is there any reason not to? It was just as good the 2nd time around. I actually read a few of the subtitles & learned a few words. Subtitles is no way to capture what’s said on the screen though.

About 8 of us met up at a nightclub afterwards, called “Liquid”. Eh,,, we held “1st 15 in the club” status for almost an hour & a half. Our fault for going out at 10pm. Yeah,,, the night felt long, and “home” was sounding good.