17/11/08

First of all, I'd like to say hi to the Javanese readers of 'Rob's in Java' - particularly to the one who often asks me if I've posted recently - you know who you are :-p

Well, I was going to start this update by saying I've fared pretty well in a medical respect, but the last 12 hours have changed that slightly. Curiously, I felt fine for most of yesterday. Then, within a matter of minutes at about 10:30pm, I started to feel less well and met the day's lunch for the second time. Getting it out of  my system made me feel better for all of 2 minutes before my temperature soared, so I went to bed. Due to my current sleep pattern, I couldn't actually get to sleep at that time, so I simply lay there. By 1:30am, I could tell my temperature had dropped, I felt more comfortable and drifted off to sleep. I woke at 6:30 of my own accord this morning, and while my digestive tract is still flushing itself out, I generally feel little more than fatigued, which, frankly, I was before I got ill. Essentially, I've just fallen foul of one of the shortest-term illnesses I can recall.

So it's a lazy day for me today, and the first for a while. On top of my lessons, people have a tendancy to say "wanna go there?", and my response is invariably yes, which results in a lot of spontaneous 'Ausflüge' (anyone got a good translation for that word?), especially on Sundays, my only free day, but also in the afternoons, as lessons are already over by 9am on some days. Typical destinations include a reservoir, various temples and a tea plantation. Thus this may be my first free day in a few weeks.

The trips sometimes constitute a form of dating, but I wouldn't want to bore you all with details of my romantic life now, would I?

While I do enjoy zooming around the isle (not that I get the feeling it's an island as I've not yet once been to the coast, something now high on my list of priorities), it's fair to say the novelty of being in Java is wearing off. It was a positive relief when the day before yesterday, I didn't see the sun all day and the weather was for the first time reminiscent of ye olde UK. Being equatorial and all, Indonesia is quite warm - I even catch myself sweating from time to time. The mountains are cooler, and thus a popular escape from the heat and the mossies amongst the locals.

I'm not sure what else to say really, so I'll leave it at that for now and add more bits and bobs as and if I think of them.

I hope you're all well, and please do drop me a line to let me know what you're up to - I'd be interested to know what's going on back home.

Until time next,

Rob