Let the rain fall down

Yes, it is another rainy day in Surabaya.  No, I am not sick of the rain.  Yes I have taken some pictures.  No I will not upload them.  I have decided to hold out pictures until my loving friends and family post a comment on my blog.  Blackmail?  Perhaps.  Worth it?  Definitely - I have pictures of my apartment all ready to share!  Come on now, share a comment!

I'm into my second week in the classroom.  It's been a good start to the week.  We only have 3 days left this week, then we're off for a full 10 days for Spring Break.  I know, I know, I am spoiled.  But don't you think with all the stress I've had to deal with this year, I've earned a little bit of the easy life.  I should watch what I say...never know what might happen.

This past weekend my social calendar was full.  On Friday after work, a number of the teachers gathered at the pub across the stress from the school (the Wild Wild West) for a few cold drinks and some munchies. Then I went shopping to a neat place called Mirot (I think).  It's sort of a collection of various markets.  I bought some house hold necessities and a few decorative items to make my apartment feel more like a home.

On Saturday, I got up bright and early and began another shopping marathon.  A few more markets (some large, some small) and a delightful place to buy kitchenwares and I was set.  We also went to Lotus, a food warehouse that has no resemblance to its tranquil sounding name.  I stocked up on nuts and frozen fruit while were were there.  Then, we had lunch at a loverly little restaurant called Harvest (how appropriate for this prairie girl), followed by a few more little home decor shops and the most bizarre experience at an art gallery ever.  It is an art gallery relatively close to where I live (car close, not walk close)  We went in - the doors were unlocked, but there wasn't a single soul anywhere to be seen.  I would have thought there might be one person hanging around, but nope.  Not a soul.  so we freely went about from downstairs to upstairs.  It was bizarre!

Saturday evening involved a dinner outing for one of our teacher's birthday.  We went to a little french restaurant called Vignette.  I ordered the pesto pasta (I know, not french).  It looked so appetizing and was served atop the cutest baby carrots I'd ever seen.  Only, they weren't baby carrots.  As I took my first bite (a good girl always starts with the vegetable) I discovered that the frickin' orange thing was a hot pepper.  For those of you who know me, I don't do spicy.  So having this thing in my mouth was the worse possible thing that could have happened - picture my first outing with a group of teachers and I have to spit the pepper out of my mouth.  My lips were fire red, my tongue was on fire and no amount of bread calmed the flame.  It was awful.  I don't recall what my pasta tasted like (i'm not sure my tastebuds work to this day) however, I have learned a valuable lesson.  If it looks like a carrot and feels like a carrot and is in Indonesia, it is NOT a carrot.

Sunday was a work day.  I cleaned all the kitcheny things I bought, baked banana bread, oatmeal raspberry muffins, brownies and granola bars and then worked on my university class. I have a few more weeks until my brain can take a much needed break.  I've opted out of the May/June Options course.  I will just pick it up sometime in the fall or winter semester.  I think right now I have enough on my plate.

And that just about sums up the events of the week...aside from the creepy shower experience I had this morning.  Picture it:  Tylene gets up extra early so she can work on her uni class.  She hops in the shower and is slowly waking up (after only 5 hours of sleep - working on uni class late last night too).  I turn in the shower and see two long black antennae coming out from behind my hot water tap.  My panic attack was short lived, I bolted out of the shower, took every ounce of bravery I had an turned off the tap.  While I did report the vile critter (likely a cockroach) to the school, they were unable to find it.  My house lady did a thorough examination of the tap and shower, but to no avail.

And on that note, I will go and try to sleep without dreaming of creepy things crawling out of my shower.  icky icky icky icky is all I have to say.

Love and peace to each and all.  Remember, as soon as the first person posts a comment on my blog, I'll start uploading pictures.  I'm devious, I know.

Ty