Strange lands, Strange life: I'm horrible

It took me until this week to realize that I hadn't posted a blog in, well, let's just call it ages. It's been so long that everything here on blogger has changed and it took me ten minutes to get this far. When I was living in Jakarta, I would usually post my blog entries during planning periods at school. Now those have evaporated. Instead I'm teaching eight plus hours in a ten hour work day, then trying to hit the gym or bike before going home to feed the pets and collapse to do it again. Is it any wonder I'm not getting much else done these days?

There are a few of you who'll read this and put it together with the fact that it took me two to five weeks to respond to your emails. See?! It's not you, it's me. I haven't blogged, I haven't emailed, if you look at my facebook you'll see that I've done little more that "Like" stuff. Boy how life has changed from five months ago.

A quick update today with the. . . not promise. . .um . . with full intent to try and squeeze in at least a couple blogs per week.
I've been at my job about seven weeks now. I got credentialed as an Epic trainer two weeks ago. It's proven to be a double edged sword. They loved me so now I've been loaded up with work. I think they'd have me teaching every class if they could. This week involved a couple of ten hour days and it looks to increase from here. I though I'd have a couple days next week to update my outlines and prepare. They're already changed my Wednesday from one two-hour class to two four-hour classes.

I really like the teaching and I think I'm great at it. Teaching is one of the few things that I'm brazenly, unabashedly proud of. I'm a fantastic teacher. I could teach Indonesians to build igloos, though why you'd want to I'm unsure. I also know why saying involve igloos/ice since so little of life ever refers one to an igloo. For the folks back on the ranch in CGK, you'll know that teaching Indonesians anything can be trying. I can see that during the next several months, the most enjoyable part of work will be that spent in the classroom. That was usually the case at JIKS too.

The catch with EPIC and VMC (my hospital) is that it's a bit like flying the airplane while it's still being built. The powers that be are still making decisions on what should be taught and how, which Epic uses follow their policies. Then the analysts have to make the build match what we're going to be doing. Sometimes the trainers get the change first and the build hasn't changed, occasionally it's the other way around. It makes every day a new adventure (she says through gritted teeth). Part of what makes me an above average Epic trainer is that long ago I learned that teaching is part tap dancing. I make some of it up as I go and learn to keep the show moving, even if it's not what it was yesterday, or an hour ago (yes, I have had things change between when I checked before class and when we'd gotten then in class).

The feedback from the ~~students~~ trainees has been very positive. I am happy to hear it and use it to keep the course.

Outside of work life is also a roller coaster. I'm out hiking every weekend. It's usually a few of the same people and lots of other folks that rotate through. I bike after work when the weather is nice, or head to the gym if it's not. Ten hour work days have put a bit of a kabosh on my social life during the week. I've had a few dates which have precipitated me thinking about if I want to include that part of my life here. No decision yet. For now, I'll leave you with a couple GoPro photos from my first successful trip out with it hiking, two consecutive days, one on Tiger Mountain (Poo Poo Point trailhead) and one on Little Si.