Laura Joy Land

Here are a few random snapshots taken at the weekend; some funny, one just random, and one that's decidedly not funny... "Take the transversed path; the road less travelled."  Is it just me, or is there something not quite right about this sentence?   "I found me Enjoya!" Well done you! ;) Sounds a bit Bristolian, innit me luverr.  Mwah. Here's the decidedly not funny one:  "Watch Out! The dangers of homosexuals spying on our children." There's a relatively large gay community in Batam, but as far as I can tell, they live their lives in the shadows, as the majority of locals are genuinely scared and unaccepting of homosexuality. :(  I came across a shop selling plus-sized clothing. It's called Huge's.  Hadi tried to tell me that the designer's name is Huge, but I'm not convinced... And finally, the cute baby-grow for Daddy's girl! :)

What a lovely Sunday that was. In fact, what a lovely weekend. On Friday night we watched the new Bond film, which I found highly entertaining. The opening action, the general plot, the crazy villain: all good stuff. However, I have to say I was rather appalled at the portrayal of women in this one. I know, I know, Bond's a player and it's all tongue-in-cheek, right? Well, not this time. In my opinion, there's no excuse for the superficial way in which the villain's female slave was introduced and treated. Bond takes two minutes to figure out her past and then, twenty minutes later, despite offering to save her from her life as a sex slave, still thinks he's entitled to jump in the shower with her. Argh. And then there's Moneypenny: the female agent who misses one shot and subsequently decides she's not cut out for the field and would be better off behind a desk, doing the occasional 'favour' for Bond. I'm amazed that they managed to fit such...

Every day I see things that I wish I could capture on camera to share with you. Most of the time I don't manage to snap a picture because I'm sitting on the back of a motorbike at the time: it's either not safe to try to take a photo, or by the time I fish my phone out of my bag, the astounding sight has passed. I say astounding, because I really believe you'd be astounded by some of the things I see. Like a family of five on a two-seater motorbike, the kids without helmets, and at least one of them is sleeping soundly while Dad weaves in and out of traffic over bumpy roads. Or how about two guys on a motorbike, with a glass door balanced between them?! I suppose I should add myself and the hubs to this list, since we can often be seen commuting home with two backpacks, our grocery shopping, and of course an ever-increasing bump between us ;) Fortunately words are usually easier and safer to photograph, and by golly are there some funny words around Batam. What makes ...

I had a birthday. My 28 th to be precise. At school I selfishly threw myself a birthday party with my grade 4 class, although I’m sure they didn’t mind eating cake or playing musical statues (to Gangnam Style) for half an hour. In the evening I celebrated with family: my mother-in-law prepared traditional Javanese food and my brother and sister-in law brought a special kind of cake that is baked layer by layer. I received parcels from faraway places, including wonderfully comfy PJs from my brother-in-law and his girlfriend in Bandung, and a lovely top from H&M’s Mama collection from my brother and his girlfriend (we’ve never met, but I’m pretty sure she played a role in choosing it). Me and my little kicker. I wouldn't normally post photos of me in my PJs, but seeing as there's a baby bump to show off, I figured I'd make an exception. So, my first birthday as an expectant mum was delicious and comfy!

It’s Friday again. This week has been better than previous ones. Our students have had midterm examinations the past two weeks, with a reduced timetable as a result. Finishing teaching just one hour earlier every day makes a huge difference to my stress levels. Usually, I teach Grade 1 for 90 minutes at the end of the day, separated by a 15 minute break in which they remain in the classroom with me. I loath these lessons because the kids are tired and restless and the time just drags. So this week, teaching them for 45 minutes and then sending them on their way has been blissful. It goes without saying that I’m dreading going back to the normal schedule next week. It isn’t just my teaching schedule that’s stressing out this mum-to-be. My employers have refused to pay me maternity leave. Their reason? It would be ‘difficult’ for them to replace me for three months, and parents would complain. They are also being very difficult about ‘allowing’ me to resign. They like to make up...

Today marks one year in Indonesia, and my goodness, what a year it's been! Time to reflect a little. I say a little, because I've just finished teaching for the day and am feeling rather frazzled, so I probably won't be able to reflect too deeply at this time on a Monday. When I arrived in Batam one year ago today, I was on an adventure. New country, culture, language, job, people, places...everything was to be different. Now, one year on, this is my home, although many things are still new to me, and I've only recently begun giving the language the attention it's due. Then and Now Then: Blimey it was hot! Two cold showers a day to survive those first few weeks, frizzy hair, lots of sweat, not pretty. Now: Blimey it's hot! But most of the time I don't notice. If the AC isn't working when I have to teach Grade 1, well then of course I notice, but other than that I could be forgiven for forgetting I'm on a tropical island while I'm at wo...

Happy Monday everyone! It's lunchtime already, woohoo! I shall be enjoying my usual: white rice with spicy aubergines, broccoli and carrots. Spicy aubergines are delicious, in case you were wondering. Coincidentally, my fetus is currently the size of an aubergine. That is all. :)

This week turned out to be a great week for me, but it didn't start off so well. On Sunday night I had a serious case of the blues after a previous hellish week. I felt totally miserable at the thought of going to work, and bitter that I had no choice in the matter. When Monday morning came around, I was greeted by the discovery of more mouse excrement in my work space, followed later that day by the mouse itself, which has decided my desk should be used as a toilet rather than a place to store school supplies and student work. Last week, when I first noticed a few droppings on my desk, when said droppings were not cleaned up properly, and when I then couldn't even wash my hands due to the absence of running water at school, it would be very accurate to say that I lost my patience. Last week I also lost my patience several times during teaching, which was both exhausting and frustrating. Hence the topic of this entry. The limits of my patience have been severely tested recentl...

 On to a more amusing topic...*chuckle-chuckle* Isn't it always the case, or rather, shouldn't it always be the case, that the cruddiest places are also the funniest? I work in a cruddy school, where cruddy things happen on a daily basis. However, I often find myself, along with my colleagues, laughing merrily in spite of - nay, because of all the crud that surrounds us. I want to take a moment to document the laughter. Not the reasons for laughing, but the laughs themselves that I hear daily... A male colleague: he speaks with a very deep masculine voice, but his laugh contains a periodic high pitched gasp. It's marvelous. A female colleague: laughs a lot, loudly, with what I call the "my life is better than yours and I want you to know it" laugh. The Headmaster: Always laughing, almost never about anything funny, or at least not as funny as you'd expect from the level of laughter being emitted. Like an amused schoolboy laughing at something bey...

Today I arrived at work to find rat shit on my office chair. This was not a surprise to me, as this was unfortunately a repeat experience from Friday. On Friday, I had to ask three times before my desk and chair were adequately cleaned. I suggested that the whole room (a space accommodating around 30 teachers) should be vacuumed and disinfected, but of course that didn't happen. In the middle of the night on Friday, I found myself in the Emergency Room, vomiting uncontrollably for no obvious reason. Coincidence? Probably, but that doesn't help me not to be paranoid about all the invisible germs around me. This is how my first Monday morning conversation went, after asking for the cleaner to get rid off the rat shit... My boss: Is it ok now? Me: No... My boss: but I saw the cleaner, he was already there. Me: Yes, but all he did was wipe the rat pooh from my chair on to the floor under my desk. My boss: So? What should he do? Me: Uh, get rid of the pooh rather than put...

I've got the back to work blues after a week's holiday. After one hour back at work, I'd counted how many work days are left this year; approximately 87. I know that's actually not much, but right now it feels like a death sentence. I have no motivation to plan for teaching 60 students, or to prepare seminars for 30 teachers, mainly because no-one cares what I'm doing here, or knows how much work goes into creating a course for teachers who get paid so little for the job they do that most of them (quite rightly to be fair) put professional development very low on their list of priorities.  I realise I sound like a grumpy child. That's what arriving at work to find that my desk had been moved did to me. My back is to the window (a window to the hallway), exactly where I didn't want to be, and the previous teacher's junk has been left in a dusty pile on the floor for me to clean up.  If only it was that simple... Wanna know what else is annoyi...

Dear readers, as I think most of you know by now, I recently tied the knot over here in Indonesia. For those of you not connected with me via facebook, here are some highlights from my wedding day. Here we are arriving at the church. One of Hadi's cousins surprised us by hiring this vintage Mercedes for us. We arrived together and also walked down the aisle together, with parents in tow. I have no idea if this is just the preference of our church, or a wider tradition in Indonesia. Either way, I love the symbolism of it, of the couple walking together towards marriage. Hadi's Father's family are Bataknese, a community who have very detailed wedding traditions. Here we are following just one of those traditions: Relatives present us with an "ulos", a beautifully woven cloth that is wrapped around the couple as a sign of support. My Mum also received one, as a symbol of Hadi's family's friendship towards her. Ladies in Red. The lad...

This month, from July 20 th until August 26 th , is fasting month for Muslims in Indonesia. Since roughly 86% of the population (according to Wikipedia) are practicing Muslims, this means that there are lots and lots of people who are only eating between the hours of sunset and dawn. Here I want to share what I’ve learned and experienced about this holy time for Muslims in Batam. First, a glance at my life as a teacher during fasting month at my multi-religious school… At my school, three religions are represented and taught: Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. I think we actually have more students from Buddhist families than the other two, as we have a large Chinese student population (at school, and in Batam generally) who are mostly Buddhist. There is a small group of students from Christian families, as certain Indonesian tribes / communities are Christian historically (since Holland invaded Indonesia around 350 years ago, but that’s a topic for another day). As far as I ...

The Indonesian language is a simple one. For example, "I am engaged to Hadi" is expressed with just "I engage Hadi". "I hope it's okay with you that I am eating - have you already eaten?" - a very important statement that I often hear several times a day, sometimes even from someone who has just witnessed me eat, is expressed by simply saying "sudah makan?" , which translates as "already eat?" and can even be shortened to "makan?" , "eat?". However, I have learned that simplicity in language can easily be made up for in the complexities of tribal traditions and formal documents. Case in point: the Bataknese wedding invitation, complete with two languages and lots and lots of names and titles... And here, the 'simpler' version, replacing titles and repetition with bare facts and a little sentiment... So now it's official in three languages. Simple!

Around 18 months ago, I made a huge decision in my life: I chose to change it permanently and painfully by ending my marriage. The effects of that decision were all at once devastating and liberating. It was the right decision for me, but nevertheless heartbreaking. I finally had the freedom I had craved, to be who I wanted to be - to find out who that person was, alone, and yet I was consumed with guilt at the pain I had caused my spouse. The main judgment I felt from him at the time was that I was acting selfishly, which was impossible to argue with given the circumstances. Ultimately, however, I didn't feel selfish. Rather, I was choosing to take control of my life for my own spiritual well-being, finally listening to that inner voice of reason that had been bugging me on-and-off for the past several years, manifesting as doubt and depression each time I ignored its repeated claims.  Six months later, I was on a plane to South-East Asia, to start a new life on a small Indon...

On Education Day, many students performed dances, and a few took part in poetry and speech contests. The focus was not on education in a way understandable by western educators, but the strength of the school community was certainly observable, as well as the students' enthusiasm for performance! Here I am with some 7th graders who choreographed their own traditional dance and looked amazing in their intricate costumes. And here I am, half posing - half hiding, with some of my colleagues. Taking photos is very popular in Indonesia (particularly when a 'bule' (foreigner) is around). I haven't yet acquired the taste for it, but I am looking to upgrade from my $70 hot-pink point-and-shoot from Walmart, so perhaps it's only a matter of time.

In April a friend from Germany came to Singapore for a few weeks to do research for her master's thesis. Luckily for me, she also came to Batam to visit me, and we even made it to a beautiful Malaysian island called Tioman, where we went diving and waved hello to that other world down there. Here are some photos from Sarah's stay in Batam. Unfortunately the photos from Malaysia were all on her camera. Above: I'd wanted to take a photo of this sign for ages. Batam - the place I "call" home. Below: The beach can get rather crowded. Above: We managed to find a quieter spot. Below: On the way home, we stopped at a dragon fruit farm where we enjoyed dragon fruit juice, dragon fruit soup, and dragon fruit chocolate cake. Mmmm.   When you visit Batam there are 3 things you must do. 1) go to the beach. 2) go to Barelang suspension Bridge, conveniently located on the way to the beach (below). 3) Karaoke, as documented above. The random videos tha...

Since I last wrote, I had the pleasure of hosting a friend from Germany for a week. It was lovely to reminisce with someone who knew me in Bonn and to show her my life in Batam. Now I have someone far away who understands what I mean when I say "the coconuts are trying to migrate again"... Before she came, I was worried that she would be bored because I had to work every day and there's not much to do in Batam. As it turned out, we had nowhere near enough time to get everything done we wanted to, or to be bored! The highlight of her stay (for me anyway!) was our mini getaway to Bintan, an island just a 60min ferry trip east of Batam. We looked around some old buildings, took photos of very big statues, and then headed to a quiet beach resort for 24hrs of downtime.... (my apologies for the disastrous layout) Permission to skip the tedious staff meeting? Check! Lugagge? Check! Happy Travelers ready to get the bleep out of Batam? Check! Upon arrival in the capi...