Back from Jakarta

If I’m posting this it means I’m finally back to Sidrap after the weekend in Jakarta. It took a little longer to get back than I wanted or anticipated because we stayed Sunday night in Makassar since we didn’t land until almost 8pm. I’ll cut the story to this: on the way to Jimmy’s I stopped at an ATM to get money to front to Daya so that she could buy phones for her store and that ATM decided to eat my card. After a bunch of running around and hassle I got my card back. I’m still going to watch my account closely though.
On to the more important topics…the national English competition. Thursday afternoon Daya, Febby and I eventually caught a bus and got to Makassar. This was the first time Febby had returned to Makassar since she was about 5 years old (i.e. she hadn’t been to the only big city near her in over 10 years). We got some dinner and they spent the night with Daya’s cousin while I crashed with Jimmy (how many times has that guy bailed me out and let me stay there?...too many!). Actually, I met Jimmy at a bar where he was having a beer with a former ETA (that I had ran into when I was returning from Sumatra) so we sat around and talked for a while.
The next morning I got a cab and picked up Daya and Febby on the way to the airport. We of course got there earlier than we needed to because Daya didn’t want to be late! This was the first time she has ever left the province, so I understood wanting to be prompt. It worked out because we met up with Jimmy and his student (who had received a ride from Jimmy’s school) and all checked in together. Later, we met the rest of the SulSel crew at the gate and we all took off for Jakarta.
The flight was pretty mundane even though it was Daya and Febby’s first. I was surprised a bit, but they didn’t seem to be nervous at all (though they later said they were).
In Jakarta we met up with a bunch of the other ETAs in the airport, but we all took separate cabs (eventually) to the hotel. At check-in I was pleasantly surprised to see that AMINEF had given everyone (ETAs, students, and chaperones) Rp300,000 for meals we needed to buy. I thought I was going to be buying Febby some meals, because I really wanted the whole weekend to be free for her.
The next thing I knew I was in cab headed to some big, grand mall in the middle of Jakarta (because despite what they had said previously and our complaints, AMINEF put us in a hotel in the middle of nowhere). The mall was RIDICULOUS! All you need to know about it is that parked outside I saw the first Porsche 4-door coupe I’ve ever seen! I didn’t even know those were outside of Europe yet!
I also got some sushi and build-your-own frozen yogurt! That evening there was a welcome dinner and ice breakers, but for the most part the ETAs caught up with each other and we let the students hangout by themselves.
The next day was the competition which consisted of each student giving their presentation. I thought Febby did very well for herself, though due to some nerves her pronunciation was not as good as during some of her practices. In my opinion, she was in the middle of the pack, maybe on the lower end. She didn’t win any of the awards, but I thought she did just fine. It was pretty funny watching the ETAs, we were like proud parents; I was nervous for her when Febby was presenting.
We also felt like parents when we had to constantly keep herding them along at various times (Daya was a help on that most of the time, though at other times I had to keep her moving too!). One time in particular was that night when we took our students out to see some of Jakarta. There were several groups, but I took Febby and Daya to see the giant mall I had gone to previously. I made a point on the night that it was all about Febby and Daya doing whatever they wanted to do; this was their moment to get to have a new experience.
Febby is so shy that she didn’t talk much with the other students that came with us, and Daya was feeling very ill. In fact, when I eventually sent them back in a cab (I was staying for some nightlife with the ETAs), Daya scared me. I left them walking around a bit before returning to the hotel, but 3mins later I got a call from Febby on Daya’s phone crying/screaming “I need you mister!”. To cut it short, Daya had gotten some sharp pains in her feet and basically collapsed. Luckily the pains subsided, but when I found them she was sobbing and needless to say I was freaking out a bit.
The next morning she was feeling fine and everyone piled into 2 tour buses to go see Monas (the national monument). That was mundane, but I think Febby enjoyed it. After that it was back to the airport (like Febby said, this whole weekend was sitting, waiting, repeat). We didn’t fly out until 3:30 though so we had a TON of time to kill. After Jimmy and I finally got our 3 students (Daya was the 3rd) herded through security (any store selling something pulled them like a magnet!), we headed straight to an Executive lounge where you get all the food you can eat and all the soft drinks you want, plus free internet, a pool table and much more comfortable chairs. Considering that a standard meal in the airport is at least Rp25.000, the Rp50.000 entrance was a really good deal, and Jimmy and I made it pay!
The flight went off without a problem and we were back in Makassar for my little ATM fiasco.