My S**t Week at work!

I do not like being a negative Nelly, but deary me it is so easy to be one. Last week, I had my worst week as a teacher! I know it sounds melodramatic but seriously it really was. Two factors that made this week so unbearable were: illness and a change in my routine.

Towards the end of my holiday I was suffering from a nasty head cold - that as the week went on manifested into something worse - and a horrible case of PMS. Thankfully, this all took place on the final stretch of the holiday so I was not complaining too much. But I was in for a nasty shock when I got back to Jakarta.

When we finally reached home from the airport, C and I sat down in our living room and regaled our house mates with our holiday tales. T my DOS, then said to me that you are going to find some changes to your schedule. WTH!  'How so?' I asked. You will be working at another school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was relieved to know that the school was only a 20 minute walk from my house, but I hid my dismay from T. This meant that I will be missing my two favourite classes and having to build rapport with  new centre staff (luckily I know some of the teachers including Little C and Scottish J). Not only that, but I have taken on new classes at my base school teaching 4 year olds and adult Business English on Mondays and Wednesdays. At the other school, I am also teaching Business English in the evenings which means I finish at 9 Monday through to Thursday. 

I did the decent thing and begrudgingly said OK. 

As the week wore on at the new school, I took on moody 13 year old know-it-alls , disgruntled adults not happy having a new teacher for the fifth time in 5 months (which I don't blame them!) and precocious 6 year olds. All of this was coupled with my worsening 'ailments' previously mentioned and Little C has been off work because she has pink-eye (conjunctivitis) so not much moral and girly support at school that week. 

This routine is going to be carried on for sometime 3 months to be exact.On the positive, it was only my first week and that is now out the way, so next week is a new week. Hedge your bets to see how long it will take for me to crack.

About Lombok

Following our time on Gili Trawangan, the next leg of our holiday was going to be spent in Kuta, Lombok. Why Kuta? It came highly recommended to me by Little C and Sister J after they went on holiday there in March and loved its beautiful beach and friendly people. So Manc C and I decided to give the place a chance and did some research and  booked accommodation in advance. In our research, we discovered that  it is a small gem of a seaside town that has become popular over the years for its surf. This got us pondering possibly doing a couple of surf lessons and to also explore its dramatic landscape of rugged cliffs and unspoilt beach. Another thing that pointed out to us by Little C was that the food was AMAZING!

 Looking to have a more relaxed and less boozy time than we did on Gili T, we were promptly picked up by our new friends Wire and Joe - remember them from the last post?! - from Bangsal Harbour. I figured the drive was going to be a long one (Bangsal is in north while Kuta is in the south) so I decided to have a snooze until we got to our hotel. After what seemed like an eternity sleeping, I woke up and realised that we were in Kuta pulling up to Kuta Indah Hotel. The sleep did me some good as C and I decided to drop our bags and head out to check out the town, nearby beach and get some food.

I began to see what Little C meant as we walked along the beach. The beach was long with pristine white sand and gorgeous rock formations providing a dramatic backdrop. We wondered around to the point it got really dusky and us getting hungrier. We stopped by a beach side restaurant where we had Nasi Goreng (C) and Ayam Rendang Daging (me) both of which we agreed was the best food we had outside of Jakarta.

The nest day we spent the day walking along the miles upon miles of Kuta Beach, declining kids who were selling bracelets and coconuts (big business), sunbathing and swimming in the sea. On the way back to our hotel, we decided to book surfing lessons. I was always game to do that when we booked our holiday so was totally excited giving surfing a go.

There is no photographic evidence of us surfing but I can assure you that we enjoyed it so much that we had do it again the next day. Our instructors were also pretty cool, they took us to Tanjung-An to look at the sunset; however, the day was really cloudy and we missed it,oh well. It was awesome to see these rolling hills and the cliffs provided a dramatic backdrop to this place. I felt like I was on the edge of paradise. We also enjoyed a beach party with our surf buddies.

C with our new friends

We semi-enjoyed our second day of surfing (I got stomach cramps and C had a collision with a surfboard to her face). We spent the rest of our day swimming in the pool (C) and having a Balinese message (me) and then later hanging with our new friends. We enjoyed an amazing dinner at Ilang-Ilang Restaurant which proved to be our last dinner in Lombok.

We spent our last day chilling by the pool and having another massage (I'm addicted) before heading for our flight. We were dropped off by Wire and Joe, it was great to meet really nice and friendly people here in Lombok. Little did we know, that our flight was going to be delayed for an hour but what the heck we had an amazing holiday. 

About Gili Trawangan

As promised in my previous post, I wanted to write about my time in Gili Trawangan. Manc C and I spent three nights on the biggest and most popular of the Gili Islands. Gili 'T' is a popular stop for travellers, revellers and weekenders from  Jakarta and Singapore. It is very much the party island teaming with bars playing reggae music, pubs, cafes and seafood restaurants catering to Western tastes but also have some Indonesian dishes thrown in. Our housemate Withnail spent a week with his family and plans to build a hostel  there in two years. We were intrigued to see what the hoopla is about this waterless paradise - seriously there is no fresh water on the island.

Gili T is also renowned for its scuba diving and snorkelling. You did not need walk less than ten feet without seeing guys renting snorkelling gear or a dive school here. Manc C is a qualified scuba instructor so she made sure she got a few dives in. As for me, neither snorkelling nor diving  are my thing so I figure I would just chill by the beach and top up on my tan (I look like a Chocolate Creme Oreo as we speak).

The journey began with an evening flight from Jakarta International Airport to Bandara International Airport in Praya, Lombok. The journey lasted for an hour and we disembarked to collect our bags then we had the tricky situation of getting to our hotel. I am always wary of getting rides from taxis at airports because they literally take you for a ride where the price is concerned. We bargained the dude down to 75,000 rph to take us to the hotel which was about 45 minutes from the airport. Wire (pronounce wee-rah) and his driver offered us a ride to Bangsal Harbour in the morning, so we could get a boat across the Gili Trawangan (WIN!) We got to our hotel, Aerotel Mandalika where we given complementary juice and a cake. 

In the morning, we had a breakfast meal of Nasi Goreng, toast and fruit. At 11, we were picked by Wire and a new driver named Joe. Wire actually works for Lombok Tourism so he gave us the history of Lombok and places to see and things to do in Lombok. The journey was going to be a long one as Bangsal is a couple of hours away from where we were staying. Since we did not reserve a place on a fast boat, we gave Wire the OK to take us to a Sasak clothing factory. We saw women making traditional Sasak clothing like sarongs and blankets.

We did our bit too!

We had a look around bought a small Sasak cloth that would go well in my room. Satisfied with our purchases, we were on our way again but we had to stop in Monkey Forest to see monkeys and take some photos.

These monkeys were tame.

With our very willing guide Wire

The terrain in Lombok is so beautiful.

 After that, we made our way to Bangsal Harbour where we had to wait a little while for the next public boat. The single trip cost 10,000 each and believe me when I say you get what you pay for. The boat was not crowded but it was not comfortable. The ride over to Gili T passed with no incident and we disembarked off Gili Harbour. I arranged for us to be met by someone who worked at our accommodation, The Welcome Inn . Rhon waited for us for over half an hour and kindly collected our bags and took us to our temporary abode.

 The Welcome Inn is literally five minutes from the beach so we eagerly we changed into our bikinis and headed out to see more of this tiny island. We stopped off at a cute cafe because C needed her caffeine fix and then headed along the miles of upon miles of beautiful sandy beach. We stopped for a moment to sunbathe and take in the view of Lombok and the beach. We carried along until we found this cocktail bar on the beach, we could not help ourselves in indulging our first cocktail on the beach and take in the sunset.

Our time in Gili T was marked by sunbathing, having a swim on the beach, getting pampered at spas (me), scuba diving, (C), drinking our weight in cocktails and smoothies and eating a ton of good food (both of us). This trip was exactly what the doctor ordered. It was a relief to be taking in fresh air and not hear a car or motorbike revving up and down the road. This was pure bliss in comparison to Jakarta with the smog , pollution and altogether negative vibe, this brought some peace to my mind.

Nasi Campur

As we concluded our stay in Gili T, C and I agreed that this place is doable for the most three nights because  apart from diving and snorkelling there is not much to do or see. On a side note, the Gili Islands have no police so a lot of the travellers we saw were openly smoking weed and no one batted eyelid, so if you are not comfortable seeing people openly taking recreational drugs then this place is not for you! I did enjoy my stay in Gili T and would like to return to probably do some snorkelling or heck maybe enrol at a diving school.

We left Gili T Monday afternoon to do the second half our holiday in South Lombok. To be concluded!

All good things must come to an end!

As the title suggests, it has now been over 24 hours since I left Lombok with Manc C. I had a hell of a time there and Gili T.  A blog post dedicated to each post will be post shortly but for now a sneak peek:

Update from Gili T

Sitting in an internet cafe is something that I normally would not do. But in this case, an exception is made. Today is my last day on Gili Trawangan. Manc C and I will be heading to Kuta in South Lombok for the duration of our holiday. So far, so good.

I've enjoyed every bit of my time on Gili T, lots of sipping cocktails and eating pork (something I have not done since I left England) were had. However, I am itching to check out Lombok and see what the crack is.It will definetely a bit more relaxed than Gili Trawangan.

Anyways better top up on my tan before our boat to Lombok.

COUNTDOWN!

In 24 hours time, I will be raving and getting my Dubstep skank on to Andy C, Skream and Benga. I am BEYOND EXCITED!!!!! It has been awhile since I've been to a Dubstep/Drum 'n' Bass gig but I would like to think I am not too rusty. This is going to be awesome as I am going with the queen of D'n'B Manc C, S, J-Leb and Withnail.

The fun does not stop because the following day, I will be jetting off for my 8- day vacay with Manc C to Gili Trawangan and Lombok. I am suffering from 'cabin' fever in Jakarta, so this holiday could not come soon enough! Lots of photo opportunities are to be had in this part of Indonesia and an opportunity to get my bikini on and top up on my tan and even better NO SCHOOL!

The biggest one!

Have you ever been to Lombok or Gili Trawanagan? Which one do you prefer?

Power Problems

Hi all, its been awhile since I last wrote something. So last Sunday, there was no power to the top floor of my house. I am delighted to report that the school's handyman came round the following day and fixed it. I still felt disgusting as I 'washed' myself with bottled water and went to school that morning feeling relatively rough.  Everything was good, the internet was back on, the water pump was working and all things were good until Tuesday night.

After having the usual friendly banter with my house mates, we decided to call it a night and went to our respective for some shut-eye. Being the night owl, I decided to stay up and do some internet trolling and maybe a write a blog post about my upcoming trip to Lombok but of course something had to happen.

Whilst getting comfy with my bed and laptop, I heard a noise so loud it shook the house. My immediate thought was 'Terrorist Attack!' and then the lights went out. The power to our room was on for about 30 seconds before going off. T and I ran out of our rooms wondering what the hell is going on. We looked outside and could believe our eyes. Our neighbourhood was in darkness, I am talking pitch black. We all ventured outside to see what was the crack. As we got to the end of our street, it became apparent what had just occurred. The power box for our area exploded and caused the blackout. I started to panic about the fridge, the lack of AC and of course no water AGAIN! I went to my room and drifted off into a troubled slumber. Did I mention I had to be up early for training?!

So after 'washing' myself, I arrived for training feeling disgusting and tired. That Wednesday was quite possibly the worst day I ever had but more on that later. So while I was having a crap time at school; the power came back and all was right in my world. Then yesterday, the same thing happened only this time they were quicker to respond to the problem and because it was Sunday, I went off to the mall to meet up with D (she's back in Jakarta until June). While I was out the power came back on. Thankfully.

I have to keep reminding myself that I am back living in a developing country and these things do happen. My Jamaican upbringing allowed me to tough it out the first time around but I find myself getting more irritating the more frequently it happens like a typical Westerner. Whatever will be will be though and I just have to roll with it.