Favorable Biases

After today's staff meeting, Ibu Lia (one of the executive assistants) called me over to update me on my visa situation. My VOA (visa on arrival) expires this Sunday and, initially, I was going to have to take a day trip to Singapore so I could get another VOA, but Ibu Lia said that thanks to my..."bule-ness" (direct quote from Lia)...their visa agent was able to extend my VOA for two weeks, during which time I should definitely be able to get my work visa.

Today was also pay day. Since I don't have my kitas yet (will come with my work visa), I cannot open an Indonesian bank account, and thus I was paid in cash. I felt like a drug dealer leaving school today with an envelope full of cash, so I splurged and took the $2.10 cab ride home (instead of spending $0.40 to take public buses) Also, when I got home, I really had to resist the urge to "make it rain" lol.

After school, I finished "The Space Between Us," and even though this book focuses more on women's issues, I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it because it is really well written and properly impresses upon us to examine the paradoxes and dissonances in our lives. My only reservation is that, at times, the book can be rather graphic to the point it is hard to read and hard to believe.

Finally, two of my eighth grade classes started their "Scaling Sekolah" project today. They are to use only tools available to them on their person or in the math classroom to create an accurate, scaled drawing of part of the school grounds. Students have chosen a variety of places to create scaled drawings, but my favorite was the parking lot. More specifically, Hanif's group was frustrated by their lack of a large measuring stick or tool that could easily help them find the dimensions of the parking lot. However, Hanif was very concerned about obtaining accurate measurements and was unsure whether or not his shoes would consistently match up with one another, so he took his shoes off, measured his bare feet, and walked the dimensions of the parking lot in his bare feet. I pretty much lost it. :)

"If he were to mail a letter without postage, it would still get there. His personality is so magnetic, he can't carry credit cards. Even his enemies list him as their emergency contact. He is the most interesting man in the world."