Next week is the last week of school. It
all seems to have come together. In recent times we’ve had a number of events
that show how far our teachers and kids have come. Thursday night was the Year 7
Fashion Show. This was a combination of work in English, Maths, Art, IT and
Technology. The 90, or so, kids were great, with inventive designs, clear
announcements and quick entries and exits. The level of English still needs to
improve, and this is the goal for next year.

Wednesday evening, the Year 9 kids presented their proposals for their
Personal Projects to their parents. It wasn't rocket science, but the
kids were great at articulating their goals for the coming year,

It’s our last weekend before
the end of the
school year. Yesterday, we went to the bank to try out our new ATM
cards, that we finally organised after weeks without. We then went to
the mall, where I had a very short haircut, for Rp6500 (~$1). We then
went to the international school fair. It was quite good, and, for the
first time (that we've seen), there were many teachers at one of their
functions.

This morning, we played golf,
at 6am. There was a tournament on, so we played on the Bukit (hills)
course, holes 19 to 27. I was terrible. It was extremely frustrating.
We're about to head over to the pool, and, this afternoon, we have a
farewell function for departing colleagues.

I don’t know how people (including me, in a former life) get
time to surf the net, and keep up with emails. A couple of my colleagues manage
to find helpful websites during the course of the day – I take more than an
hour each day to deal with my school emails and intramails, and get to read
personal emails, but not do too much about them. Anyway, days seem far too
short to fit everything in that I want to do. It must be a function of getting
old.

Last Wednesday morning, I had brekky at the Hyatt with the
Indonesia-Australia Business Council. It was nice to catch up with a couple of
familiar faces and meet some new ones. Helen and I have to do more of it – the
“soft” PR stuff. 

A family from India came on Thursday, and
returned to enroll their boy in Year 8 next year. I hope it is the beginning of
an influx of students from other Asian countries. It would really change the
nature of the school. On my way to watch the (extremely successful) athletics
carnival for the primary school, I encountered the final of the Student Council
“soccer league”. Year 12 and Year 8 fought out a thrilling 0-0 draw, and Year 12 got the
only ball in the net from 10 penalty shots. That’s why I dislike soccer – you
can play well for the whole game, and lose it from one incident. The game
showed the way our kids have progressed, particularly with more than 100 kids
cheering two teams of boys who never gave up. 

Helen’s friend, Margaret, returned on the weekend, which was
really good for Helen – she misses having close friends here. On Saturday,
Helen had a netball game against a Jakarta
team, so we had to do a bit of running around in the morning. Surabaya won the game easily. We had a nice
dinner with the participants and partners at the Majapahit Hotel.

On Sunday morning, Helen, Margaret and I walked out the back
of the golf course, and then returned through some villages. It was (as always)
really interesting, looking at things and talking to people. At one stage, the “girls”
had about 20 village kids tagging along behind.

In the afternoon, they went shopping, and had lunch at the
Shangri La hotel while I played golf. I regained my former mediocrity, and
should be able to improve on it.

We were up at 4.30am this morning, so that Margaret
could get away to the airport. I did my usual 10km ride around the estate. The
full moon was still bright in the sky.

We had a relaxing 3 days in Kuta. Helen managed
to get us into Alam Kul Kul, behind her usual sunbathing spot on Kuta beach.

The first night, we arrived quite late, and,
after a drink at Papa's restaurant, in front of the hotel, we hit the sack. 

On Good Friday morning, we were up early, me
for a walk, Helen for a run. We went to the beach after an extensive hotel
breakfast. In the afternoon, Helen drove the hired Jimney to Sanur while I
wandered around, eventually having a quite good massage in an inexpensive
establishment. We drank a bottle of champagne on the beach and "people
watched" as the sun set.

We met up with Jean and Rio
for dinner at Kori. Agus and Bayu had to do the "gig" as a duo, and
played and sang well. I mentioned to Jean that we still had an English job
going, and she seemed interested.

It was raining the next morning, so we went
straight to breakfast. I drove to the 6's cricket. It was nice catching up with
people, without the responsibility of playing.

Apparently, there was a petrol tanker strike,
and fuel was unprocurable. I drove back through Jimbaran village and bought 4
litre bottles of petrol from a warung, with a relative "in the know".
 

At about 3pm, we walked down the back gang to
Poppies 2 to do a bit of shopping. We ended up at Papa's for our sunset drink.

We had dinner at a new Italian restaurant in
Jl. Melasti, which was very nice.

 On Sunday morning we walked a couple of
kilometres up the beach, then back. We jumped in the car to go and buy a temple
umbrella, before handing back the car. After breakfast I wandered around the
markets, for little result, then joined Helen on the beach. The water wasn’t up
to my standard of cleanliness, so I had a swim in the hotel pool. 

The
two of us had a wander around Legian market, and I bought two new pairs of
shorts. We had coffee at Papa’s, then caught a taxi to the airport. For a
public holiday, it was surprisingly quiet, although we had seats across an
aisle. After a smooth flight, we were back home by 6pm.

I don’t know where the time goes. My school “to do” list
grows, instead of shrinks. Every time I think I can get something done, a new
issue crops up. However, we still seem to be moving forward, with the school
culture improving daily. I have to get used to checking off my list before I
get side tracked.

The last month has been pretty good. We spent a lovely week
in Bali for our mid-semester holidays (check
out my web site). Before that, school was, as usual, full on, with Music Day
and our first, very successful, cross country in the last two weeks.

The next two weeks are flat out, with next weekend in Singapore, for the rugby 7’s and West Side
Story, and the one after in Bali, for Easter. 

We started to watch “Brokeback Mountain
the other night. A couple of blokes pashing can not save a dead boring film.
“Gladiator” it isn’t.

At last, proper football is on TV – C’arn the Bombers! The
problem is that the good games are on at 10pm. Thank goodness for the DVD
recorder.

I’m feeling healthy at the moment. Just went for a 10km ride
before breakfast. I even went for a run on Saturday morning (1km run, 2km walk,
1km run.) Yesterday we went for a ride out to villages about 8km away. We
encountered all the blokes from one doing the monthly clean up. Up pops one of
our Pre-school teachers, so I stopped. Helen, meanwhile, had been examining the
vista north, across the fields to the city. She looked up, tried to stop, and
fell off, doing herself a nasty groin injury. We took it very quietly coming
back. She should come good very soon, and it may not stop her running.

Life seems to be cruising along nicely at the moment
(hopefully, not “famous last words”). After all, anywhere, but, it seems that,
particularly in Indonesia,
your life can turn from chocolates to boiled lollies in an instant. – I had
that experience a few years back, and would rather that it is never repeated.

Anyway, I ran a pretty good professional development day on
Friday, about “ways of Knowing”, for the IB Diploma. The crew seemed to get
into it, and we’ll keep the interest up. 

Last night we had an excellent game of netball. It was
probably the first time that we had 14 players. I think I’ve done a hamstring,
which is very annoying. Two of our Indonesian PE teachers play, and enjoy it.
Another Indonesian young man and young woman came along, and slotted in well.
It’s pretty quick, and a great workout. 

I tried to walk out the soreness this morning. It is always
interesting walking through the neighbouring village of Lakarsantri and
watching people begin the day. There is an elderly Chinese couple who live in a
new mansion near the golf course who hobble around the “circuit” each morning,
often stopping to buy a few veggies at a road-side stall. 

We had a couple from Bogor
having a look at the school over the weekend. We’ll offer them the last two expat
positions. We took them to the Dutch Carnival on Saturday night, and they said
that they had more fun in the one night than in 6 months in Bogor. 

I hope that I can get a bit of work done this week. There
always seems to be something “extra” that crops up. We have a celebration for
all the school staff on Thursday night, for being authorized for all three IB
programs.

Apart from that, it’s still raining. It is annoying
for us, but there are many local people who must spend their time in a swamp
until the rain stops.

I heard the alarm this morning, but momentarily went back to sleep. Our
sleep was interrupted, twice, by Cappucino. He yowled outside the door,
and even bashed up against it. We didn't let him in.

I went for a walk, through the golf course and back home via the Water
Park. The torrential rain of the past three days resulted in the best
view of the volcanoes I've seem here - around to Bromo and through to
Semeru.

The weekend was pretty good. On Friday night we went to the new Hachi
Hachi restaurant. The Senior girls' basketball team was leaving as we
arrived. They said they had beaten one of the local schools 69-0.

On Saturday We went to a nearby primary school to see the Year 7's
teach English for Community and Service. It was brilliant - the primary
school kids were participating enthusiastically because our kids had
organised excellant activities.

Later in the morning Helen went to run some errands while I went to
another school, with different Year 7's running classes. It was not as
good, mainly because the primary school was chaotic. Helen had
observed, earlier, that, every time we visited an Indonesian primary
school, it seemed to be break time.

I went to the mall and had a haircut, and Helen met me there. We had a
cup of coffee at the new doughnut place - it is "bad", because you get
extra doughnuts with coffe, which means lunch is not necessary.

In the evening, after the usual deluge, we drove to an Indian
restaurant about 10km in towards town. We went the back route, which
was like driving through an urbanised village. The restaurant was
excellent. One of our colleagues had organised it, and more than 20
people came. The others were heading off to a bar afterwards, but we
went home. It was already 11.30pm.

On Sunday morning, Helen did a heap of gardening, and I pottered about,
helping her, and doing other neccessary chores - Martini was in Blitar
for the weekend, with her family.

We played golf after lunch. I treid the "Zen" approach, but the club
went flying once or twice after some very, very frustrating shots. It
was a poor round, but some aspects of my game worked. Helen was happy,
because she beat me for the second time in a row.

In the evening, Helen heated a packet curry, with nan, and we watched
TV. We had a go at watching a movie, but nonoe of the the ones we agreed on worked properly. We were in bed fairly early.

Life is pretty good at the moment. We seem to have put an end to the
"political" problems at school with a great presentation at a Board
meeting on Friday. However, the price of peace is eternal vigilance.

I've been making the effort to do appraisal observations in class, and
the positives far outweigh the negatives. It really is a great school,
and some of the Indonesian teachers are surpassing some of their
expatriate colleagues, and have a far better holistic understanding of
education than many teachers in a number of the so-called
"international" schools throughout the region. The trick is getting all
of them to believe in their potential.

We had a great game of touch on Friday afternoon. It was a bit like
playing on ice, with the water and a bit of mud on the field. I thought
I'd completely stuffed my knee in one tumble, but it is pretty
resiliant. We've roped in one of our Indonesian PE teachers, who is a
natural, so I hope we can get a few more.

Friday and Saturday night were pretty gruelling, with the result that
we didn't get out of bed  in time to do any exercise, with the
further result of a slight increase on the scales. I'll make a return
to the golf course this arvo, but the practice 50 balls at the driving
range this morning didn't fill me with optimism.

Sunday was Chinese New Year, and today is Islamic New Year. We were at
school yesterday, with a surprisingly large number of students.

Last night ten of us went to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good,
but the waiter was vying for the "worst waiter in Indonesia" title eg:
He brought a tray of drinks, served the bottle of wine on it, then
walked away, leaving the other drinks sitting on the tray, 5m away. He
even came back twice past it, before I politely pointed at it. The
bloke who organised the evening said that we couldn't complain to the
manager, because the waiter was the manager!

We slept in past 9am this morning - a personal best in Indonesia. At
noon, we headed out to play 18 holes. My score wasn't too bad, until
the 9th. I lost it in frustration, and wasn't going to continue, but,
several bad shots later, hit the #$%^-ing ball into the #$%^-ing cup.
It was actually quite warm as we began the next 9 holes. Half-way down
the 10th, it started to rain. It eased off long enough to play the
next, and then bucketed as we lined up for the third. Four players and
four caddies sprinted for a nearby bale. Two poor blokes ahead of us
were caught in the open. The rain was being blown horizontal by a cold
wind. It eventually eased enough for us to walk back.

In an hour or two I'm off to play in the weekly pool competition. We've
lost the first two rounds, 4 games to 2. Last week a drunken golf pro
was very aggressive and took the edge off the night. It's fun, but most
of the other players are 35+ (and 50+) blokes with young local
girlfriends and nicotine and alcohol addictions.

Sunday was Chinese New Year, and today is Islamic New Year. We were at
school yesterday, with a surprisingly large number of students.

Last night ten of us went to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good,
but the waiter was vying for the "worst waiter in Indonesia" title eg:
He brought a tray of drinks, served the bottle of wine on it, then
walked away, leaving the other drinks sitting on the tray, 5m away. He
even came back twice past it, before I politely pointed at it. The
bloke who organised the evening said that we couldn't complain to the
manager, because the waiter was the manager!

We slept in past 9am this morning - a personal best in Indonesia. At
noon, we headed out to play 18 holes. My score wasn't too bad, until
the 9th. I lost it in frustration, and wasn't going to continue, but,
several bad shots later, hit the #$%^-ing ball into the #$%^-ing cup.
It was actually quite warm as we began the next 9 holes. Half-way down
the 10th, it started to rain. It eased off long enough to play the
next, and then bucketed as we lined up for the third. Four players and
four caddies sprinted for a nearby bale. Two poor blokes ahead of us
were caught in the open. The rain was being blown horizontal by a cold
wind. It eventually eased enough for us to walk back.

In an hour or two I'm off to play in the weekly pool competition. We've
lost the first two rounds, 4 games to 2. Last week a drunken golf pro
was very aggressive and took the edge off the night. It's fun, but most
of the other players are 35+ (and 50+) blokes with young local
girlfriends and nicotine and alcohol addictions.

Feeling good, despite having only 5 hours sleep. I forced myself to go
for a walk. This morning, it was out through the village of
Lakarsantri, and back through the back of the golf course. Everything
was (relatively) fresh and green. There are a lot of kids around at
5.30am, because the local schools have a semester break. They are out
on their bikes (those fortunate enough to have them) or playing soccer
(therfore, mainly boys).

We had a very enjoyable evening at The Rocks restaurant to celebrate
Australia Day. About 24 of us sang the National Anthem, as well as a
few other traditional songs, such as "Khe Sanh". As usual, the food was
great, and ridiculously cheap, and the owners had followed our advice
about having plenty of cold beer.

Helen and I were a bit late, because we had also scheduled a meeting at
school, for prospective parents. Hardly anyone showed, but we,
apparently, enrolled a couple of kids out of it. We certainly have to
look at different ways to get the punters through the door.

Today is the last day of Open House, the week for trying to attract new
families. We had "Literacy Day" yesterday, which was okay. Most of the
kids made the effort to dress up as a book character, but, in future,
the language teachers need to do some lead-up stuff in class. The
Science Fair earlier in the week was pretty good, and the Year 8's did
their short play, based on "A Christmas Carol", a couple of times.

Walking around classes this morning was an affirming experience, with
virtually all classes operating really well. I think I'm making a
difference.