The Rest of the Story...

So we caught quite a few fish Thursday morning (8.5 kilograms/18.5 pounds to be exact). But when we returned, we discovered that our helper who cooks for us had already prepared enough food for that day. So if you don't have a refrigerator, what do you do with the fish? We decided on the next best alternative, putting them in our "bak mandi" so that they would live a few more days until we ate them. For those of you who didn't read the "Kamar Mandi (Bathroom)" blog from a few months ago, the "bak mandi" is the built-in water storage container in the bathroom, from which water is dipped for both flushing the toilet and taking a "shower." So we transformed our bak mandi into a live-fish aquarium until we grilled the fish on Saturday night. Yes, that meant for two days my friends and I bathed in fish-scented water dipped from the bak mandi/aquarium. My friends at the language school said that I had a rather distinct fragrance, although I couldn't smell it myself. Whatever smell there was it was worth it, as the fish grill was an enjoyable time of eating, talking, and laughing until 12:30 at night.

Fishing

Indonesia has made Ascension Day a national holiday, which meant no school. That gave the opportunity to go fishing with a couple of my housemates. While its not the same as farm pond fishing back home, I enjoyed it nonetheless, and we caught 8.5 kilos of fish in a couple hours. There's more the the story... so check back in a few days.

Watermelon

Pak Le is the leader of the Vietnamese group that is studying here in Indonesia. We recently gathered to celebrate scholarships that several of the graduating Vietnamese have received to study their Ph.D's in Singapore, Britain, and at MIT in the States. I love watermelon.

From the Hills

This is a view over Bandung from the northern hills. While you can see the mountians on the south side of the city, the city itself is blanketed by a layer of clouds/smog.

My Favorite Pic of the Year

I took this after coming out of language school early one evening. Enjoy!

English Fun Camp

A month ago I helped out with "English Fun Camp." Middle school students came for a weekend of intensive English and intensive fun. We went fishing, hiking, played games, and ate lots of food, all while working on English. One of the goals was to change the students' attitude towards English, a subject they are forced to take but don't like that much. (I can understand, I never really was all that excited about it either.) The weekend was a success, and the few students who weren't excited about English were forced into submission by the dog-piling technique displayed below.