Weekend plus

I'm breaking down the weekend into bits.  There will be another blog tomorrow to give more information on Friday's events.  I won't go into all the drama.  That seems to be the new norm lately.  I will lay out the broad strokes though.

Me with the headache

Friday afternoon from 12-5pm was Teacher's Sports Day at school.  It culminated in a meal together and I left at 4:30.  The ojek took me home, I changed, showered and napped for about ten minutes.  I then tried to spring from bed only to realize I have what I have affectionately termed, the railroad headache.  It's a headache I get sometime, well often enough to give it it's own name.  It's the railroad headache because it feels like someone has driven a railroad tie into one eye socket and straight out the back of my skull with the main pain points being in my eye and at the back of my head.  I struggled out and made it to dinner with Zoe anyway.  She and I caught up and she graciously let me beg off after to go home and rest.  An hour nap with an ice pack on my head in a cold room after taking tylenol (paracetamol or panadol, it's all the same active ingredient) and I had beaten the headache into submission. 

Me after nap, drugs and ice pack!

BoT and ridiculous roommate (his not mine) came straight from work to pick up Carla and I for a house party.  We all intrepidly trouped out.  We'd had lots of trouble finding this house last time.  The gods were on our side and we had the best taxi driver.  He got us there, no problems. The party was a blast.  Remember what I said about the bule world being small?  Turns out one of the secondary school teachers I met that afternoon was at the party that night.  And his girlfriend knows a woman I knew who left Jakarta last year.  We are all flies tangled in a small, tightly interlocking web.

The party was great.  The drama kicked in after.  It sort of revolved around group dynamics and taxis as was the case last weekend.  I don't have the patience or interest in regaling you with all the boring details.  I think part of it is that BoT and I rarely see each other during the week due to the fact that we have almost opposite schedules.  I'm up at 6:15 and home by 4.  He's into the office at 1 and off at 10 if there's no overtime.  It means that weekends become a pressure point of seeing each other but also having a ton of stuff to do.  Solutions pending.

How did I end up as an inhabitant of Total Drama Island?

After drama that bled into early Saturday morning, I slept fitfully and was a mess most of Saturday.  Carla was a doll and let me moan and was an optimistic beacon through the din.  We laid out at the pool and I recovered at least physically, if not finding any inner peace.

Sunday brought a few answers and a definite tan.  I started by day off with a meal of champions.  A brunch time meal of fried rice and cold Heineken.  Oh to be a bule in Jakarta!!  Carla's good friend Jo is in from NZ.  Accounting for jetlag, she'd planning an epic day of doing nothing by the pool.  I was obliged to join them as to be hospitable.  After five hours by the pool I was a nice shade of brown. I headed out in the evening to join BoT and IOMH for a couple beers.  The conversation was good and I needed to see BoT.  Not much had been sorted since the taxi thing of Friday night. I'm feeling better about it but there's work to be done. That will have to suffice.  I know there are a couple of you who are close enough to deserve an explanation.  It's on the way but with final grade reports due this week I'm not sure when I'll get the email out to y'all.

Best news? We had a surprise early release day today.  I nearly ran out the front gate at 12:30 after teaching five classes in a row.  I spent 100,000Rp and over and hour  and a half on three taxis rides but I got three errands out of the way that I'd spent weeks procrastinating on and was still home before dark (which is at 6:30 everyday, all year).  Worst news? Congestion and cough are back again.  Maybe they come with living on Drama Island.  Anyone have a cure?