Article Archive for December 2015
Markets and Lord of the Flies
Sunday, December 6, 2015
A powerful thunderstorm was raging when I woke up this morning and got out of bed. It will probably clear up in a while, but for now I’m inside and drinking coffee. I love the rain, so it’s no problem. And it means that there is a lot less traffic. My room is much quieter right now. I know that my nieghbors …
Tech Talk and More English Students
Saturday, December 5, 2015
I just hung up the phone after a 51-minute Skype chat with my brother back in Canada. Those calls are always interesting because I’m intensely aware of the vast difference between Canada and here. I wish I could convey what it was like standing on the balcony here in Sumatra while on the phone and describe everything that was going on around …
A Shipbuilding Yard
Friday, December 4, 2015
It appears I may have opened the floodgates. I got a message from someone else on Facebook asking me if I would help them out with a school English project. They needed to interview a foreigner. I noticed that this person was friends with Rama, so they probably attend the same school. Rama told them about meeting me, and this person asked …
Motorcycle English Club
Thursday, December 3, 2015
I’ve written a lot and thought a lot in recent days about cross-cultural communication problems, and yesterday was another perfect example of that. It involves the woman, Rismah, who had come to the hotel before to ask me to speak to her English class. I had heard nothing from Rismah since except a vague message on my phone about how she hoped …
Bales of Used Clothing
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
I have to concentrate really hard to think back to what happened yesterday. I’m not sure why. It could be because I’m very tired again. I’ve come down with some kind of cold or throat infection, and I had trouble sleeping. I’m pretty sure that I caught the cold from the woman that cut my hair. When I went into that salon …
Irritability and Mango Juice
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
I was a bit tired and irritable yesterday. I keep saying that the noise here doesn’t bother me, but I don’t think I get much sleep. Last night, I switched out my earplugs for brand new ones, and that made a big difference. I slept much better. So perhaps my earplugs were not up to the task, and it might be better …