Hello! I have a blog!

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Hey everyone! I have decided to start a blog so I can save a lot of time attaching photos and writing emails! Selfish eh? Much better for all you Aussies to log on and check out what I've been doing and I will try and update as regularly as I can. Arli and I just went to Bali but the bad news is I forgot my digital camera so no photos 😞 I do have photos of previous exploits so I will attach some here to get this thing started. Hope you are all well!!

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Photos

Inside my mansion
Just a photo to give you an idea of what my house is like. Quite nice with servant quarters upstairs - shame that I don't really have a servant but I'm trying to convince Arli that if I pay her $3 a day it's a good wage in this country.

My street
Here is a lovely one of me walking outside the house in the first week I was here.

They call me Jane
This is me at the Surabaya Zoo wrestling with The King of the Jungle. Grrrr.

The Running of the Bulls
My first trip outside Sura was to Madura - an island above Java. They race bulls. Here is a photo. This dude was a midget with one eye but always seemed to win. His strategy was to pull the bull's tails!

Uji and the coconut
50 cents Aussie for a huge coconut!! Uji split it apart and we drank the milk. YUM!!!!!

Malang
Another weekend trip. Malang. 2 hours driving up a mountain and the temperature is low. We swam in the hotel pool but turned blue.

Situbondo - at Muslim school
A trip to Situbondo ended up in me teaching an impromptu English class at the local Muslim school. It was very funny and they were all very nice boys.

Singapore
Quick trip to Singapore to renew my visa. Just shopping in Chinatown and stuff. Indonesian Rupiah doesn't really amount to much when converted to SG$.

Fauzi - my driver
This is the guy I spend most of my day with as we drive from one end of Surabaya to the other so I can teach. He is very funny. He only knows about 10 English words but we manage as I learn more Indonesian.

Teachers' workshop
I have been running a workshop to improve the local teachers' English. So now you can check out all my colleagues! My boss is the one on the far left in this photo.

Dinner by the river
This is the most recent photo of me as it was taken last night at a restaurant on the Surabaya River.

Failed Safari attempt
So. We tried to go to a Safari park about an hour from here. Negotiated a deal with a taxi driver to drive us there and through the park and then home again. Got halfway and the radiator went spaz, he put water in and we continued. Then going up a steep hill about 200m from the entrance the radiator just sorta exploded. We sat on the side of the road for about 2 hours getting stared at by all the locals and while the driver went and bought a radiator hose and then we drove home. Very funny!!!!!

200m from the safari entrance
BTW, I should mention that by the time the driver came back with the radiator hose it was too late to go through the park.

Call me Gwyneth...
Sorry to those who are offended by my nudity but I have to show you that I'm so cool because I now get 'cupping' done. My back is killing me so I've started acupuncture and cupping. It's so good and costs about $4 AUD for an hour of pain relief work. Yea!!

Tretes
We spent a weekend in Tretes. About an hour from here and very cool and in the mountains. Here is Arli in our 'villa' and some of the view. We could walk out onto our verandah and see a huge waterfall. Very nice.

View of villa from waterfall
So we walked down to the waterfall. Many steep hills, nearly died. Got down there and this is a photo of our villa from the waterfall (on the left - kinda brown colour). We then walked back which took about an hour and a half in the pouring rain. I think I haven't done that much exercise in the last 5 years.

Me and the view
Not much to say. Here I am and behind me is a view of Surabaya from Tretes.

The Waterfall
Not a very good photo but it was dark by the time we got there...

Arli and Iput dying
This is a ridiculously steep hill that Arli and Iput lay down on because they couldn't walk up anymore. Then Iput decided crawling up was his only option.

The final Tretes view photo
This is also the view from our villa. Very, very nice. Oh the ambience.

Comments

[MEP]

Great Blog
Loved reading your first entry. It is great to finally see that you are doing stuff over there. Can you bring home that tiger thing please?

[Michael]

Can you send me that big cat
Wow you where able to hold that lioness cub. Where u scared

[Sarah]

Hey Love
So good to finally see you!, it's seams like a life time ago when I saw you last! You're looking good, love!! Much, much love Sarah xxxxx

[brad]

go indo
nice one cloz! i'm telling you, blogs are the go!..just got back so mine'll be dormant for awhile, but i'll be checking this one out for an update awright. take care