Where are we going? (And what's with this handbasket?)
Well, it's been a while since I've sat down and actually written a proper blog, so here goes.
First of all, let me just say to everyone, "Gong Xi Fa Chai!" I'm not really sure what that means, but that's the typical Chinese New Year greeting around here. Chinese New Year is one of those holidays that I never really appreciated back home. Probably because nothing really happened. The most that ever happened is that maybe you'd see it on a calendar, or someone would say, "Hey, it's Chinese New Year." Then you'd say, "Oh yeah?" And that was it.
Here, Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year as it is also known, is a very big deal. Not just in China either nearly all of Southeast Asia celebrates the holiday. It's a big deal. Stores will have decorated displays, decorations and other items for the home are sold, it's quite impressive. Obviously, the thing I appreciated the most about the holiday is the fact that I had the day off. Not only did I have the day off though, I also had the next day off for Islamic New Year. Since those holidays were on a Wednesday and Thursday, it only stood to reason that Friday be a holiday also.
So we had a nice five day holiday. Erin & I joined several of the other expats for a nice relaxing week on the beach at Pelabuhan Ratu (see the September blog entry for more about this place) It was quite nice.
We returned to school on Valentine's Day, a day of such importance it obviously warranted a two period assembly involving Student Council passing out flowers and candy to students who had the items purchased for them by other students. (That is with the exception of one 8th grader, Edgar, who purchased a box or two of candy, and I believe some flowers that were sent To Edgar, From Edgar) During this whole thing, one of the school praise bands got up and attempted their own covers of some of the hit love songs of today. While I think Freddy in 10th grade is a nice kid, his in my Drama class, he's pretty good; I don't think he's got the vocal chops to sing the newest Alicia Keys song. It was a little painful.
The week of Valentines Day was a circus anyway. Due to different holidays and special assemblies and what not, we only have five or six actual Fridays this quarter. This is a problem for teachers like me who teach certain classes only on Friday. (I have three, two drama, one religion) To compensate, we created special weeks where we'd substitute the Friday schedule for a normal schedule. It worked as follows: Valentine's Day; Friday schedule, Tuesday; normal, Wednesday; Friday schedule, Thursday; normal, Friday; Wednesday schedule. (The teachers had a spiritual retreat Friday & Saturday; we left early Friday, so we used the Wednesday schedule because on Wednesday, school ends at one for faculty meetings & chapel.) In the coming weeks, we'll have a Friday on a Tuesday and a Friday on a Thursday. If you can't figure this out and have no idea what's going on, don't worry, none of us do either.
At the same time, this has been a hectic quarter for teachers of 10th graders, like me, due to the fact that we have to have a ton of assignments finished for them by the end of the quarter. Since the school is a member of the IBO, and is authorized for MYP, we, at the end of year 10, participate in moderation, this is where we have a sample of large assignments sent off to the IBO headquarters in Cardiff, Wales where they take a look at how we've graded them and see if they're up to MYP standards and whether we graded them too hard or too easily. The problem is the deadline for this is in April, which means we have to send stuff to them in March so it'll get there on time. At this same time, the 10s are finishing their Personal Project, a year long individual research project thingy they do on their own. This is also due at this time. The one nice thing about all of this is it's pretty easy to get your way when ever you utter the magic words, "It's for moderation." As none of this probably makes sense to you, the thing to do would be to check out the IBO Website and take a look at the MYP section. It'll probably make more sense then. Maybe.
So what does any of this have to do with my title? Well, I've been reading the Jakarta Post lately and have become somewhat fascinated with the goings on of the local government. Those of you who watch CNN and read the newspapers and such may have heard of a thing called the Kyoto Protocol. (I think that's right) For those who haven't, here's my basic understanding: it's a worldwide agreement set up to decrease air pollution and greenhouse gasses throughout the world. The US and Australia have been catching some flack from environmentalists around the world for their refusal to sign. The protocol addresses such important issues as emissions from vehicles, factories and agricultural emissions (read: cow farts. I'm not kidding.) and asks countries who participate to work together to reduce these emissions.
Indonesia is doing its part. In an attempt to decrease the amount of pollution in Jakarta, the government has enacted a smoking ban. I'm not making this up. Obviously, in a city of over 9 million people, with thousands of cars driving on the roads, thousands of commuter busses belching out the blackest smoke I've ever seen, hundreds of factories all over the place, the real culprit is the cigarette smoke indoors.
I also learned that, in an attempt to reduce traffic jams and other traffic problems, the rates of parking have increased. That’s right. So, instead of paying 10 cents an hour for parking, we’ll now have to pay 20. As you can guess, it’s a major deterrent. Especially since the people who own cars are all considered quite wealthy.
In other news, a recent survey found that customs was the most corrupt of all government offices, with average bribes nearing $3000 or more. The next two corrupt are military and police. The post office is the least corrupt.
Other news stories include an announcement from the president claiming the local police and military are both actively involved in illegal logging activities on Papua. It has also been uncovered that customs, the quarantine office, police and airport security at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta are all involved in the smuggling of endangered species.
One of my favorite sections in the newspaper however is a regular report on corruption wherein people, using pseudonyms, talk about the amount they had to bribe someone in a government office in order to get something done. For instance one day I read about a 50 year old driver had to pay 200,000 Rupiah (around $20, quite a lot of money for someone who probably makes around $100/month) so his son could get his free ID.
In other exciting news, the town of Bukit Sentul has been growing lately. When Erin & I returned after Christmas, we learned that a new casino had been built and opened in town. There’s been so much business there, the local bank has run out of cash a couple of times! Funny thing though, the parking lot is always full of cars and there are multiple security guards standing around doors that are locked and chained shut. You hardly ever see anyone coming or going. Of course, this could be because of the fact that casinos and gambling in general are illegal in Indonesia. But don’t worry, I feel safe. After all, the security for the place is some of the best around. It’s off-duty police officers!
So that’s what’s going on here. Business as usual for the most part. I suppose I’d better get back to grading papers now.
First of all, let me just say to everyone, "Gong Xi Fa Chai!" I'm not really sure what that means, but that's the typical Chinese New Year greeting around here. Chinese New Year is one of those holidays that I never really appreciated back home. Probably because nothing really happened. The most that ever happened is that maybe you'd see it on a calendar, or someone would say, "Hey, it's Chinese New Year." Then you'd say, "Oh yeah?" And that was it.
Here, Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year as it is also known, is a very big deal. Not just in China either nearly all of Southeast Asia celebrates the holiday. It's a big deal. Stores will have decorated displays, decorations and other items for the home are sold, it's quite impressive. Obviously, the thing I appreciated the most about the holiday is the fact that I had the day off. Not only did I have the day off though, I also had the next day off for Islamic New Year. Since those holidays were on a Wednesday and Thursday, it only stood to reason that Friday be a holiday also.
So we had a nice five day holiday. Erin & I joined several of the other expats for a nice relaxing week on the beach at Pelabuhan Ratu (see the September blog entry for more about this place) It was quite nice.
We returned to school on Valentine's Day, a day of such importance it obviously warranted a two period assembly involving Student Council passing out flowers and candy to students who had the items purchased for them by other students. (That is with the exception of one 8th grader, Edgar, who purchased a box or two of candy, and I believe some flowers that were sent To Edgar, From Edgar) During this whole thing, one of the school praise bands got up and attempted their own covers of some of the hit love songs of today. While I think Freddy in 10th grade is a nice kid, his in my Drama class, he's pretty good; I don't think he's got the vocal chops to sing the newest Alicia Keys song. It was a little painful.
The week of Valentines Day was a circus anyway. Due to different holidays and special assemblies and what not, we only have five or six actual Fridays this quarter. This is a problem for teachers like me who teach certain classes only on Friday. (I have three, two drama, one religion) To compensate, we created special weeks where we'd substitute the Friday schedule for a normal schedule. It worked as follows: Valentine's Day; Friday schedule, Tuesday; normal, Wednesday; Friday schedule, Thursday; normal, Friday; Wednesday schedule. (The teachers had a spiritual retreat Friday & Saturday; we left early Friday, so we used the Wednesday schedule because on Wednesday, school ends at one for faculty meetings & chapel.) In the coming weeks, we'll have a Friday on a Tuesday and a Friday on a Thursday. If you can't figure this out and have no idea what's going on, don't worry, none of us do either.
At the same time, this has been a hectic quarter for teachers of 10th graders, like me, due to the fact that we have to have a ton of assignments finished for them by the end of the quarter. Since the school is a member of the IBO, and is authorized for MYP, we, at the end of year 10, participate in moderation, this is where we have a sample of large assignments sent off to the IBO headquarters in Cardiff, Wales where they take a look at how we've graded them and see if they're up to MYP standards and whether we graded them too hard or too easily. The problem is the deadline for this is in April, which means we have to send stuff to them in March so it'll get there on time. At this same time, the 10s are finishing their Personal Project, a year long individual research project thingy they do on their own. This is also due at this time. The one nice thing about all of this is it's pretty easy to get your way when ever you utter the magic words, "It's for moderation." As none of this probably makes sense to you, the thing to do would be to check out the IBO Website and take a look at the MYP section. It'll probably make more sense then. Maybe.
So what does any of this have to do with my title? Well, I've been reading the Jakarta Post lately and have become somewhat fascinated with the goings on of the local government. Those of you who watch CNN and read the newspapers and such may have heard of a thing called the Kyoto Protocol. (I think that's right) For those who haven't, here's my basic understanding: it's a worldwide agreement set up to decrease air pollution and greenhouse gasses throughout the world. The US and Australia have been catching some flack from environmentalists around the world for their refusal to sign. The protocol addresses such important issues as emissions from vehicles, factories and agricultural emissions (read: cow farts. I'm not kidding.) and asks countries who participate to work together to reduce these emissions.
Indonesia is doing its part. In an attempt to decrease the amount of pollution in Jakarta, the government has enacted a smoking ban. I'm not making this up. Obviously, in a city of over 9 million people, with thousands of cars driving on the roads, thousands of commuter busses belching out the blackest smoke I've ever seen, hundreds of factories all over the place, the real culprit is the cigarette smoke indoors.
I also learned that, in an attempt to reduce traffic jams and other traffic problems, the rates of parking have increased. That’s right. So, instead of paying 10 cents an hour for parking, we’ll now have to pay 20. As you can guess, it’s a major deterrent. Especially since the people who own cars are all considered quite wealthy.
In other news, a recent survey found that customs was the most corrupt of all government offices, with average bribes nearing $3000 or more. The next two corrupt are military and police. The post office is the least corrupt.
Other news stories include an announcement from the president claiming the local police and military are both actively involved in illegal logging activities on Papua. It has also been uncovered that customs, the quarantine office, police and airport security at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta are all involved in the smuggling of endangered species.
One of my favorite sections in the newspaper however is a regular report on corruption wherein people, using pseudonyms, talk about the amount they had to bribe someone in a government office in order to get something done. For instance one day I read about a 50 year old driver had to pay 200,000 Rupiah (around $20, quite a lot of money for someone who probably makes around $100/month) so his son could get his free ID.
In other exciting news, the town of Bukit Sentul has been growing lately. When Erin & I returned after Christmas, we learned that a new casino had been built and opened in town. There’s been so much business there, the local bank has run out of cash a couple of times! Funny thing though, the parking lot is always full of cars and there are multiple security guards standing around doors that are locked and chained shut. You hardly ever see anyone coming or going. Of course, this could be because of the fact that casinos and gambling in general are illegal in Indonesia. But don’t worry, I feel safe. After all, the security for the place is some of the best around. It’s off-duty police officers!
So that’s what’s going on here. Business as usual for the most part. I suppose I’d better get back to grading papers now.
posted by Travis @ 10:29 PM
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