Hello again Sorry I have done such a poor job of updating my blog. I just returned from a whirlwind trip to the States - I visited nine states for ten medical school interviews in two and half weeks. It was quite a trip. As far as I know, the interviews went well. While I am a bit worse for the wear, I am excited to be back and re-immersing. I think the hardest part of the adjustment to life in Bontang is over, which means I have much to look forward to. When my interviewers asked about Bontang, I found [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, Pancakes are a hit in Bontang. A couple of weeks ago, some teachers came to my house and cooked for me. I wanted to contribute, so I offered to make them pancakes, the only simple “American” food I could think to make without an oven. The teachers loved them, and word spread about a delicious “traditional” American food. Last Friday, the teachers came over to my house again and I taught them how to make pancakes. We made six batches (probably about 50 pancakes) and then brought them to an event at the school. To a gorgeous spread of [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Borneo, My return to the jungle has reminded that I am, well, really in the jungle. When I opened my door upon returning from my trip, lizards scurried up the walls and a salamander-like creature half-slithered, half-crawled across the floor. The lizards don’t bother me, but I was less-than-pleased with my new salamander friend. As such, I took a plastic container and tried to trap it. In doing so, I accidentally cut off half of its tail. The tail piece took on a life of its own - it jumped and wriggled across the floor. I left the tail [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, The internet is up and running at my school, so I can post pictures - yeah! Let’s see, I just returned from a week-long trip to Java. All of the ETAs had to go to Jakarta to give fingerprints, signatures, ect. for our residency permits. Many of the ETAs, including myself, then extended our trips to spend a bit of time exploring Java. I spent one night is Jakarta, a sprawling, polluted city and then headed to Yogyakarta. Yogya for short, this city is considered a cultural stronghold of Central Java. Just after arriving in Yogya, a couple of [View Full Entry]

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Hello All, I am settling into life in Bontang. I know where to buy my groceries, how to work my washing machine, and where to find drinking water at school. As in orientation, my days start at 6am. School begins at 7, and many students are there until 5 or 6 in the evening. My days end anywhere from noon to 5pm. At school, I have been introducing myself to classes and observing lessons. Students have asked me about everything from my opinions on global warming and the upcoming presidential election to my favorite Indonesian food and impressions of Indonesia. The [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, I just walked to an internet café, in the rain, from my new home in Bontang. Thus far, everything is going well. My house is very nice - I have air conditioning, hot water, and a washing machine. Everyone at the school I am going to be working at has been very friendly. My counterpart in particular has been very helpful. He took me shopping, showed me around the school, and gave me a tour of Bontang. By counterpart, I mean the teacher that has been assigned to be my “go-to person” at the school. My counterpart, Eugeng, has [View Full Entry]

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Well, tomorrow I am off to my home for the next nine months. It is going to be a bittersweet moment - I am excited to get settled into Bontang, but sad to leave the friends I have made. It is amazing what trips like this can do for friendships; I feel like I have known many of the other Fulbrighters for more than two weeks. I realize I have been a bit slow on updating my blog. Orientation was informative, but intense. Our days started with a 6am wake-up call, breakfast, and then class from 8am-4pm. We spent half of [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, I hope everything is going well back in the States. I am a little bit more than a week into my orientation in Bandung, East Java. Bandung is a large city a couple of hours south of Jakarta. It is a bit polluted, but the weather is fantastic because we are up in the mountains. We drove through Jakarta to get to Bandung, and I as struck by the sharp contrast between Jakarta and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Driving through Jakarta, there seemed to be miles upon miles of sky scrapers. The highway had overpasses and underpasses, and a [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, I have arrived in Indonesia...and was welcomed by three medical school secondary applications. I am safe and sound; I will write more later. Kerry [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, I have made it safely to Singapore and am waiting to get on my plane to Jakarta. My trip here was smooth and uneventful. I spent last night in a luxury hotel in downtown Singapore - life is pretty good :) Singapore is an unbelievably nice country/city. The downtown was clean, organized, and very easy to navigate. We arrived last night at around midnight Singaporean time (11am in Minnesota). Full of adrenaline, I dropped of my bag, showered, and walked around the city with other ETAs (English Teaching Assistants). I walked around again this morning - Singaporeans speak English [View Full Entry]

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