I should be feeling wonderful this weekend, but I'm tired and not
really motivated. I think it was triggered by the realisation that we'd
planned an Australia Day dinner at the same time as an evening parent
meeting at school.

On Friday we had what is probably the best Board meeting in nearly 4
years, and yesterday was pretty relaxed. I bought a new electric shaver
at a big electronics store, that has, possibly, the laziest staff in
Indonesia. I stopped at the mall to get some money and bakery stuff.

We palyed golf, very badly, in the afternoon - not being positive
didn't help, and the standard of play reinforced the mood. However, we
had a nice meal at a not-too-far-away restaurant in the evening, and
stopped in at the Jatim Club for a drink afterwards and chatted with a
couple of patrons.

Today we are out most of the day setting the Australia Day Hash. Helen
says to consider it as "Community and Service". I quite liked Hash in
Bali, but it seems to me that if you set out to discourage runners from
attending, you'd end up pretty much with the current Surabaya Hash
arrangements - wrong day, too early and the talk afterwards too long.
However, it seems to provide something for a number of people.

Hopefully I will be a bit more "up" when hordes of positive,
prospective parents rush through the gates this week for our "Open
House". (Fingers crossed)

It’s not everyone’s “cup of tea”, but,
having made the effort, going for a walk, ride or run at 5.30am is really nice.

Yesterday, the volcanoes in the distance
stood out impressively, and they were visible still today. Everything is lush
and green, although the smell of things about to rot is present.

Early morning is when a lot of activity
happens, with people going to work, kids off to school, villagers opening shops
and stalls and women off to the markets.

It’s usually the perfect temperature for
exercising, and half an hour gets the blood flowing and the brain cells
operating, ready to face a day at the “coal face”.

Three days back at work, and it's as though we've never been away. It's
good so far, with the teachers being pretty positive, and the kids
being excellent. I'll have to get out of the office and into the
classrooms a lot more.

I went to an OSIS (student council) meeting yesterday, and the two
teachers in charge have done a great job. The 26 student
representatives, from Years 7 to 11, are a positive, responsible group
of young people. They even volunteered to come in for another meeting
today!

We went for a ride this morning, to the local pasar (market). Cappucino
(the cat) had eaten all his fish during the relatively "cool" weather,
and we forgot to buy it yesterday. With the long rainy season,
everything is green and lush, if a tad mushy. Some of the rice farmers
will find it tough, because their rice is ready to harvest, but not dry
enough.

Last night, we went to the French restaurant at the Marriott Hotel. The
food was good, and, even though, for Surabaya, it is outrageously
expensive, we still had a main course each, a bottle of wine, and a
shared dessert for less than AU$80. Not bad for a five-star hotel.

We'd actually gone to the Marriott to hear a presentation, advertised
by  "rival" school, about education in the 21st century. It seemed
to be just a parent meeting and enrolment. Plenty of money spent, and
little substance. One or two of our parents were there.

Today we'll take it easy. There are a million little things to do - I
just need to get motivated. Keeping the fitness up and the weight down
is a problem, because I'm getting tired, often. It's easier when there is
sport to play, but it was too wet for touch on Friday, and there is no
netball this week, because the gym is out of action, so, I have to force
myself to walk, run, ride and go to the gym. Resting usually takes
precedence.

It's been a relaxing holiday so far, and I find myself "being present" a lot more than usual. (I don't worry about school and other stuff.)

We had a nice day in Sydney yesterday. We met up with Barbara at the Sheraton, and interviewed a young man about a pre-elementary job. We then had lunch at the food court at Myers. I've told Helen to veto any future such proposals, because the food is always disappointing.

We shopped separately for a while. I bought a few CD's (budget ones - the "full price" is outrageous). We caught the bus back to Pennant Hills in the afternoon, which is very convenient.

I've been sticking to my relsolution to keep fit. I walk every morning. I'd run a bit if my feet allowed it, and I'll back into cycling in Surabaya. I might even force myself back into the gym.

I can not believe how quickly this year has gone, and how much has been packed into it.

It started, professionally, with me going back to a school where a gangster's family had forced the Board into accepting back a teacher who we'd sacked, and who'd slandered us in the press and got some of the kids to demonstrate. It resulted in a fairly subdued end to the school year in June. However, the first half of this school year has ended wonderfully, with authorisation for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, and an "A" from the Indonesian Ministry of Education for both Senior and Junior High School.

Personally, Helen and I have had a great year. We've travelled all over the place, and had some wonderful experiences. We bought a house, in Queensland. - We need to sought out our taxes with it, and I need to do something about superannuation. This Christmas has been good, seeing Mum and Mark reasonably well, and Lyndsey and Sean happy.

For New Year's resolutions, I need to continue to lose some weight (another 3 - 5 kg would be adequate), continue to improve my tolerance of the failings of others (and myself) and, generally, take the time to be nicer to people.

It's been amazingly busy since the last entry. Aceh was a very moving experience. We ended up finding a primary and a secondary school to support. (Access the report from my website.)

The Christmas Ball was a great night, and our Year 7 kids were brilliant, particularly with the second song. The Drama and Music teachers put on a Christmas play with the Year 8 kids, and it was excellent, for a first time. I've asked them to repeat it for our "Open House" week.

This week we have had visitors to authorise us for the IB Diploma, making us one of about 75 schools in the world with all three programs. There are a couple of things to deal with, but we do not anticipate any problems.

On Tuesday evening, we had a "Kris Kringle" at the Club. It was a lovely atmosphere, although I did have to go to the front desk to get them to force the restaurant to send a drink waiter upstairs to us. There was plenty of food, and the present exchange was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, we had an assembly to finish the semester. My speech consisted of singing "Happy Christmas War is Over" with a couple of colleagues, and, later, we did "Mary's Boy Child". There were a number of very good acts from the kids, particularly a Year 9 band which performed "Holiday", by Green Day. All the kids were very appreciative.

Helen and I are getting ready to jump on the plane to Bali, tomorrow, to do some Christmas shopping. We get to Sydney on Sunday morning, and then I fly to Melbourne on Monday, early afternoon. It will be good to see the family, particularly Mum.

I went for my usual 2.5km walk this morning
– it’s not a good idea to cycle, because, after the deluges we’ve been having,
there is mud all over the place, and the bike and rider end up covered in brown
muck that doesn’t wash out. For me, running is not an option, because I haven’t
felt well enough for a week or so. 

The air is a lot heavier than usual at 5.30am, hopefully because of the wet
season, and not an increase in traffic. At this time of the year it is not
possible to see the volcanoes in the south.

 Last night we had a parent meeting for
those who haven’t been to school before. Four students took part in the
presentation (along with the Principals and Vice Principals), and the parents
were blown away to see and hear them talk confidently about how they learn
values, how they are expected to study hard and how the discipline system
works. 

Today all the Indonesian teachers are at a
seminar, at the behest of the owner’s daughter, called “Character First”. The
Board decided that they need some moral development. The expatriates will be
doing some stuff with us at school.

 On Sunday, Helen and I fly to Aceh. It is a
very, very long trip, and very expensive. The school will pay for one ticket,
and we will pay for the other. We will meet people from the IBO, and will look
at setting up a sister school relationship – our kids have raised a lot of
money, but we do not know what to do with it.

 Helen is off to a Lions’ Club dinner
tonight, because her kids are performing. I wandered into their practice
yesterday. I’ve never seen anything like it from primary kids. Apparently,
Grade 3 wrote a song, and Grade 5 (~80 kids) are performing it. They have their
own band (with a brilliant pianist) and the rest do a short drama followed by
the song, in two-part harmony. It is amazing.

 My music teacher is getting together two
songs for the expatriate Christmas Ball. I assumed that he was using older
kids, so I was very surprised to see seven Year 7 kids. They are very good, and
will be excellent by the time I “polish” them a bit.

I had a good birthday yesterday, despite
not being 100%. We slept in, and had the mandatory croissants out on the deck.
The young lady, who deals with all our complaints, stopped by with a beautiful
chocolate cake. I rang Mum and Lyndsey to wish me “Happy Birthday”.

We headed off to “plant street” to buy
something that would pass as a Christmas tree, and then could be planted in the
back garden. Helen found something she liked, but couldn’t find anyone to sell
it to her. We settled on a weeping fig. (I was going to buy a grevillia, for
Rp25,000, but had mis-heard the woman, who wanted Rp75,000. They are too
temperamental in this climate to spend much on.)

We drove on the back streets back to “The
Rocks” restaurant to meet some friends for lunch (who didn’t know it was my
birthday). The restaurant has good food, cheap, and, in the past, a nice size.
Two blokes had the main mixed grill, and it was enough for at least two people.
My smaller mixed grill was really nice, but I thought it was unwise to eat all of
it.

 At 1.30pm
we returned home, and readied ourselves for golf. We played with Peter and
Stuart, on the first (easiest) 9 holes. I didn’t play quite as well as I’d
wanted, but still got a reasonable 52, including a lovely, long put on the 8^th.
Peter returned to his good form for 49, and Helen and Stuart carded 56, the
former being very pleased with her game.

The boys came back for a couple of beers,
and left in the dark. We showered, and got ready for dinner. I rang Sean, who
was still up, in Melbourne.
Martini had made a lovely birthday cake, so we had a slice each after some
nibbles and a glass of Riesling.

The
day had taken its toll on us, and,
after watching the news, decided that there was nothing we fancied that
we
would last the distance, and went to bed. Unfortunately, during the
night, the cat decided he wanted to come in, then go out, then come
back, then go out again...

We had a great weekend. We “slept in” until
6.30am, and then fiddled
about the house. Just after 10 am,
we left for the centre of Surabaya.
We stopped at Atlantic Tours, at the Hyatt, to drop off some plane tickets to
be adjusted.

 From there we drove the circuitous route to
the Hotel Majapahit and checked in. Once the bags were in the room, we walked
out across the two main roads to Tunjungan
Plaza for the mandatory
Starbuck’s visit. Helen was getting her hair cut, so I went for a wander
around. I went to a good computer shop there, and lashed out Rp5,9m for a HP
6515 PDA, to replace my lost phone. After that, I didn’t feel like shopping, so
I went back to  the hotel and put my
purchase in the room safe. 

One of the teachers at school had told me
about a nearby market, where I could look for lights for school productions.
Pasar Genting has a ground floor of local fruit and veg, and then two floors of
more mixers, amplifiers, speakers and microphones that you would have thought
existed. There were also plenty of electronics components for local terrorists
to complete their explosive devices. 

I walked around the block, and bought a few
CD’s with mp3’s near Tunjungan Centre. I returned to the hotel, and Helen
eventually turned up. 

Wine Society was upstairs in the evening.
It was pretty good, with about 80 people. The food was okay, but Chinese just
doesn’t go with wine. I spilt a glass of red on myself, but, luckily, I was
wearing red and black.

 In the morning we decided to walk the 2km
to Jembatan Merah (red bridge) plaza. Near the war memorial, there is a local
Sunday market, which was bustling along. The shopping centre is about three
floors of fabric shops, and is really nice to wander around. We bought a few
things, and then caught a becak back to the hotel. 

We headed home straight away, with a plan
to play golf. However, Helen wasn’t feeling 100%, and it looked loke rain. We
stayed home, with Helen resting and me setting up my new toy. It bucketed in
the afternoon. Consequently, we had a quiet evening, with home-delivery pizza.

We were up and out of
the New Izu hotel by 7.30am, and off to the airport train station.
After check in, it was very difficult to find anywhere to get a cup of
coffee.

The Garuda flight to Denpasar was very good, and we got a bit of sleep
after four white wines each. Barbara had arrived from Melbourne to
catch the plane back to Surabaya. Then, the announcement - our 7pm
plane was delayed until 9.20pm. We had a complimentary Indonesian meal,
and read and listened to our iPods until it arrived. Pak Dula picked us
all up, and drove us home. It was 11pm by the time we hit the sack.