Taman Hijau (Green Park)

My first two weeks in Indonesia were spent furnishing my apartment and getting my classroom ready for the students. Here are a few shots of my place.
















My street.

My apartment is upstairs-you can almost see my pink curtains through the windows. Nice!






















The ugly blue thing under my counter is the gas for my stove- I think it adds a nice touch! :)




All the expat teachers keep reminding the new teachers to always expect the unexpected when in Indonesia- this is some solid advice. For instance, who would build a bathroom without a sink? And then decide to put the bathroom sink out on the back porch...hmmmmm.


My extra bedroom is more of an office/storage space/ironing room.

Singapore

After my long flight, I had to spend a couple days in Singapore while my work visa was processed. This was a nice chance to see Singapore, adjust to the time change and mentally prepare for the adventure ahead.

During my time in Singapore, I was able to take a boat tour of the Singapore River- this is a shot of the skyline from the river.

Look at me- I'm a tourist! :)

This is the symbol of Singapore, the Merlion.

Yusri or "Musang" sat on the plane next me. After 24 hours of chatting, we became good friends. Musang, and his wife and son, invited me out for a lovely dinner of satay and traditional foods- yummy!

After dinner, they drove me all the way to the Night Safari- where I had the incident with the bats. Besides the close encounter with the bats, this was an amazing experience!


I spotted this little car while wandering the Singapore Airport- it reminded me of Austin Powers- and I burst out laughing. How fun would it be to drive this around? The Singapore Airport is the most amazing airport I have ever seen. They have lounges all over with plasma screen TV's, little areas with free wireless internet and computers to use, they also have stations with free game systems set up and massage chairs. There is also a movie theater, gym facilities and the shopping is unbelievable! I wouldn't mind having a layover in Singapore.

The Big Day

I apologize for taking so long to get my blog together. I just hit a few bumps in the road...but now I am healthy and have Internet...so hopefully I'll be able to update my blog fairly regularly. Here I am leaving Chicago on July 14th-it seems so long ago- ready to start my big adventure in Indonesia.