Prabamulih

A few weeks ago I was presented with two options. One was to work every Saturday for four months with no extra pay. The other was to get up at the crack of dawn every other Saturday and travel to a power station just outside a city called Prabamulih and teach there for two hours, and earn an extra one million rupiah a pop. Seemed like an obvious choice!

So today I made that journey alone for the first time. The journey takes about three and a half hours, so I got picked up by Udin the driver at 6.30am. Not a fun time of day to be up and about. I got in the car armed with my pillow and ipod and tried to settle down back to sleep. In between sleeps it's also fun to look out of the window. It's so nice to see some sights that are not just the blocky buildings and busy traffic of the city. Although there is a lot of crazy overtaking that goes on on Indonesian roads and a lot of beeping. And indicating seems to mean that it is ok for the car behind to overtake, not that you are intending to move, completely the opposite of the wide beliefs held in the UK with regards to driving etiquette. Anyway, along the way you can see green, yes, green! Fields and swampy areas where people live in run down wooden houses on stilts. There are little shops dotted about which are basically families selling stuff from their houses. Such a different way of life. Closer to the destination there are some more foresty areas where you can see trees arranged in neat rows with the bark stripped diagonally down the trunk with a collecting pot at the bottom to get the sap. During the journey we have to cross a few railway lines, which, safety first of course, involve the driver looking both ways for trains before venturing across the track. The last forty minutes of the journey require you to stop your sleep, or reading, or whatever. You will not be able to do that, the roads are filled with ruts and bumps like no British person could ever imagine. I can see Udin swerving the steering wheel this way and that in order to avoid the bumps but unfortunately this is not at all possible. You must pretend you are on some kind of slow and bumpy rollercoaster.

The teaching at the power station is really enjoyable. All the students are adults, so it's a nice change from school. The power station is owned by the Chinese, so the boss is providing English lessons as a common language for the Indonesian and Chinese staff to communicate, which I think is quite cool. They also provide an authentic Chinese lunch. Reminds me of my times visiting Tombo in Nanjing. I should learn to cook some Chinese dishes, I find the food really fills you up in a satisfying way, like you don't want to eat any more.

On the way back there was more of the same, plus an overturned lorry and a truck stuck in a pothole in the middle of a busy road. I got home around 3pm and had a rest before the evening's activities.

So, last night I was prepped for tonight by watching the first instalment of "The Hunger Games" trilogy. With Beth and Sarita we got becaks (little bike taxi things) to PIM to purchase our tickets for the second film being shown in the cinema. We then went to a nice restaurant for dinner before the film. The film itself was really good. I was pleasantly surprised seeing as I'm usually reluctant to see films that are this hyped up. I'd give it a few stars out of five!

On the way home we had to get becaks again as the one empty taxi we saw deliberately drove away from us. The becaks seat up to two people so this time I volunteered to ride alone. Obviously the heavens decided to open a couple of minutes into the journey. The guy stopped after this which was a bit worrying, but it was soon obvious that he was just trying to put the covers down to stop me from getting ridiculously wet, and also to try and put his lil handbag thingy that a lot of men have, into a plastic bag to protect it. However the plastic bag ripped and blew away out into the road. We finally arrived back at the house where Beth and Sarita had been waiting for a few minutes. I think they were starting to worry that I'd been kidnapped or something. I gave the driver my money, and a plastic bag for his manbag. I hope it wasn't too wet already, he was a nice guy and I don't want his belongings to get damaged!

Anyway I think I've waffled on a bit more than usual. I think it's because I've been up since 5.30 in the morning and it's now one thirty. I will now try and get some sleep to the soothing sounds of rain and rumbling thunder. Good night, and see you soon!