I wrote this on the plane on the way here:


So far our journey hasnt been so tough. The airport was full of tears, hugs, photos and love. My whole family came plus Adams whole family and Robyn and Amir. I felt so many crazy emotions, I know what I am doing is brave and great and I will learn so much. Its just obviously really scary. For the first part of the summer I felt so far away from my friends now i am moving insanely far away, where i cant just call someone whenever i choose. I am scared of not staying in contact and people will change and forget about me and I will suddenly pop back into their lives in a bit. I know this most likely wont happen but it still scares me.

It was really nice to be home for a week. I did however remember why I moved and after being in such a beautiful, amazing city it was really hard to go back to pollution, crazies and little wildlife. It was very, very amzing to get to see all my friends and family. There are some people I wish I saw weekly, even everyday. I am so happy and grateful that so many important people in my life made an effort to see me. I am thankful I have such people in my life.

I am now on the plane heading to Taiwan, where we stop quickly to let some people off. It has been about 7 hrs total of this plane ride and 12 hrs in total plane rides so far. Its morning now and I have not a clue what time it is where you are. This plane is the most gigantic thing I have ever seen in my life. I couldnt believe it. We had a two hour delay in LA (where I did not spot any celebs) but Adam got to see his first palm tree so that was pretty cool for him. The delay didnt even suck at all because i got to sleep on the floor which was much better than sleeping upright on the plane.

Now its been 18 hrs of flying , ONLY 5 more to go. It honestly has not been that bad at all. Pretty good plane food too. I had some lentil curry and rice with carrot cake and salad. For breakfast they didnt have a veggie option (oh, i decided to be a vegetarian) so I had yogurt, fruit and a crossiant which is just about what i eat at home so it was not a problem. We stopped in taiwan for an hour. It was pretty crazy, they had a hello kitty plaza thing. we changed 20$ and got 500$ of theirs. And to buy a bottle of coke it was 25$. SO CHEAP. I bet its even cheaper in Medan. Coming into taiwan was beautiful , we hadnt seen land since LA, we saw a bit of japan but not enough to judge its beauty. Taiwan had amazing huge green mountains(pics to soon come). There were canals that flow through them so blue. We have a window seat now so hopefully we will see more things.

THE END.


now we are in medan. once we got here we were SO tired. we almost missed our flight because they didnt put our luggage through to medan only to kuala lampur, so it was a bunch of running around and stressing out. but everything was fine. The co-ordinator picked us up along with another teacher. I didnt know this but they drive like they do in England. Also the driving is pretty fucking crazy. There are lanes but there are so many motorcycles that they weave in and out of the cars and the cars really dont follow the lanes. The police are corrupt and stopped us on the way in and they make you pay them, for no reason at all.

It took about an hour to get home to our house. We live with 2 English people, who are a couple and super nice. I really like them. Bruce is another housemate, who has been in Indonesia for about 12 years. He is a really nice helpful man from burlington. And our last roomate is Danny from USA, and he has been here for 10 months, and is super nice. All our roomates are very nice and helpful and we all get along very well.

Our house is a whole different story, lots of ants! LOTS AND LOTS OF ANTS. if you keep you clothes on the ground after wearing them they are covered!!!! We live with some lizards that eat the mosquitos, so they are our friends, also they are super cute. The mosquitos are SO bad. I have got bitten probably 28 times. they are all swollen and gross. None of the toilets have toilet seats, but we are bugging them for them. We have no hot water at all. so our showers are cold, not too cold though, and its kinda nice if its really hot out. Our room is super huge though and we have a nice balcony with a hammock.

The food here is pretty delicious, VERY spicy. Lots of tempeh, rice and curry. Fresh juices which is wicked. We ride in buses that are 30 cents to get to school, 1/2 hour ride. or we could take a bechuk which is about 1 dollar and its a side car on a motorcycle. When we go out they LOVE us. always saying "hello miss, hello mr" and sometimes they even call me mr because they dont know. I have had people ask if I am married, and yell out their windows they love me. Its pretty funny and crazy. everyone stares at you and you kinda feel like a celebrity. It hasnt been so bad dressing wise, I can wear tank tops like wife beaters just not spaghetti strap ones. and i have to cover up below my knees.

So far everything is pretty good. The only time I have been sick is when I ate pizza last night, which is odd. I eat Indonesian food and I dont feel crappy at all, then I eat western food and i feel like shit. We are going to the mall with our housemates today to buy school clothes and some food, then maybe swimming this afternoon. I miss you guys and I will be home in a yearish.

MUCH LOVE!!!!!!!!!