My latest adventures

So, I have been pretty lame.  I have mentioned that I am kinda in the middle of nowhere.  I knew the nearest village was kinda far away, but I didn't know how far.  On Thursday, I took the plunge and found out.

Imelda had surprised me at the door with my Kitas, passport, and multiple re-entry card.  I snagged a ride with her into Tataaran.  This is the name of the village near me.  I had a plan.  Go to eat an early dinner and then the ever important walk home.

I had the usual at the Chinese place.

Sean, you'd probably like it here.

Girls peeling the shells off eggs for their yummy food.

It's a rice dish with excellent brothy vegetables like carrots and cabbage that I can get with chicken or pork.  This depends on what they have available on any given day.  Imelda stayed with me and went over the menu, so that in the future, I can try some other things.  There's even a drink menu.  I had tried to order an orange Fanta.  I saw the word Fanta on the menu, and pointed to it.  It had a word after it that I assumed meant bottle, or something like that.  Nope.  It meant "milk"  Fanta with milk.  No ordinary milk though.  Condensed milk.  It was a strawberry Fanta (which is already absolutely pure red colored sugar water, and then they give you a glass with 2 inches of condensed milk to go with it.  Seriously, I have no idea how everyone isn't 300 pounds here.

Speaking of that, I came over here expecting there to be only skinny people, and that isn't really the case.  I think western food, and changing daily chores and expectations are modifying the population.  Not for the better, just like in America.

Anyway, it was time to see just how far I really do live from the village.  2 roads to go down.  Just one left turn...that's it.  Really easy.  I can't get lost.  It was an interesting walk.  Lots of people said hello to me.  It was pretty funny.  We're told to expect this, and having been to China and S. Korea, it's nothing new to me.  Lots of "Hello Ms." No "Hello Mr." like I was expecting.  I guess people in Minahasa know their salutations better.  :)

One of the lonely roads.

Hey, at least this isn't my house.

I stopped and watched some guys playing volleyball with their feet.  Yup, their feet.  Kicking it back and forth over the net like a huge hacky sack.  A couple of kids on bikes followed me for a long time.  Here's a picture of them.

My security detail.

It took me 48 minutes.  Yup.  That's how far away I am from everything.  With a bike it would take me less than 10 minutes.  Unless of course it's pouring.  :)

On to FRIDAY!  What a day of adventure.  Imelda picked me up, and we took the 5 different buses we needed to meet Nhita in Manado.  Yup.  A nice day in the "big" city.  We opened my Indonesian bank account.  I brought $1500 cash in newish 100 dollar bills here to save myself some international ATM fees.  They didn't like some of my bills though.  They scanned every single one with a machine.  If there's any fold mark or crease of any kind, they won't take it.  So, I opened my account with only 900.  Oh well.  It should still last a long time.

Then it was off to lunch.  All I wanted, was access to a salad.  My only option was Pizza Hut.  Now usually, I never ever eat at Western places when I am travelling, in fact, I hate it.  ...but, I really really wanted a salad.  OF COURSE, it ended up making me sick.  Karma strikes again.  Oh well.

Then it was off to purchase my ticket to Bali.  I will be going for the holidays to meet up with some other ELF's.  Since I hadn't been asked anywhere cool by anyone here (unlike a lot of the ELF's so far) it seemed like the thing to do.  Unfortunately, this does mean I miss out on a party on the 11th at John's house.  So, I guess I was invited somewhere, but that's only one day, and after this long week here, I really do already need a vacation.  I am a lame un-FAT ELF*, I know.  No need to rub it in.  I feel bad enough already.

So, back to the mall, and Imelda and I went to see a movie, The Expendables.  It was awesomely violent, and totally over the top.  And mmmmmm....Turkish.  What more can I say?

Then I went shopping.  I bought another fan for the front room.  Here's a picture of my new BFF.

It turns in every direction, and even has a timer.
I love it so.  We're totally getting married.  June wedding.
You're all invited.

I then spent over a half hour trying to find new bedding for my room.  I went back and forth with Imelda about if there are flat sheets here or not.  Turns out not.  I still got a nice green patterned blanket, and a white fitted sheet and pillow cases.  Care package anyone?  With the lack of laundry here, and the huge amount of sweating, a flat sheet is kinda important, I think.  But, of course, who am I anyway?

I also found this, and with my friend, Diet Coke, and a lime, combined 2 of my favorite things into my 3rd favorite thing.  After the taxi ride home, this is how I spent my first real Friday night in Tonsaru.

Michaela said it the best in a text message,

"I'm reading a magazine with a bottle of iced tea next to me. My Friday nights sure have changed."

Cheers to me!

I'm really happy to have contact with my fellow ELF's here.  whether it be to commiserate about the number of dead bugs I wipe off the table in the kitchen each morning, or to talk about how the rats have started to chew into the kitchen counter.

Smooshed dead bugs on the paper towel, and the pile
that didn't smoosh.  They may be tiny, but man, do they bite!

Really?  Is wood delicious?  At least they are staying out of my
bedroom, and that's all I really care about.

Or just a little hello....It's nice to know I'm not here alone.

Sat and Sun were nothing days.  Nothing but The Closer on DVD actually.   Plus, I spent almost 2 hours trying to make a spanish tortilla omelet.  I waited 20 minutes for the water to boil for the potatoes, then sautéed red pepper and onion with garlic....then whipped it all together, and watched it turn to charcoal within 30 seconds, totally ruining my only wok/frying pan and wasting all that time, and all those ingredients in the process.  How does my stupid hot plate stove take 20 minutes to boil water, and only 30 seconds to burn my eggs?

I made soup.

Oh, here's a picture of Miracle in my kitchen.  His favorite game is to throw rocks at me.  It's hysterical!

Seriously?  Rocks?

*Flexible Adaptable Tolerant English Language Fellow