Nov.17-21, 2008

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, i went to Malang with Slamet and another two accompanying persons(each day different). On Monday, it was the headmaster’s car which took us to Malang. On the way, I’m glad to take photos, but as the car was going, the effects of the view of the side was not good. The view of the front was better. The distance going to Malang was the same with that going to Surabaya. As there was a mountain between our place and Malang, we first needed to go two hours in the direction of Surabaya and then turned south to Malang. Malang seemed a little higher and the highway sometimes went up. On Monday when we arrived at the Malang Immigration Office, we came to the second floor and found an official. Slamet told him my case and the official said that we must come three times and the fine could be reduced. We took the forms and left the office. Then we went to a shop, looking around, i wanted to buy an Indonesian-Chinese e-dictionary, but it was expensive, costing 450,000RP. I hesitated and did not buy one at last. I wanted to buy an Internet card, but i did not see one. After leaving the shop, we drove back. Out of Malang, we came to a roadside restaurant to have lunch. I saw some people wearing uniforms were also eating there. In restaurants like this, you needn’t see the menu. At checkout, you just told them what you had eaten or drunk.

The highway of Indonesia was narrow but it was tarmac road, very flat with few potholes. But the traffic was heavy and it was dangerous to drive on. I found it was not easy to overtake others here. I remembered one girl who rode a motorcycle. The time between i first met her and i last met her was half an hour. The style of the roadside houses were similar, all decorated. There were many houses along the way, which indicated that it was much populated. I thought before the fruits here should be cheap, but now i found only mangos and bananas were cheaper, the others were expensive, especially the apples and pears in the supermarket. Only two cost 5,000RP.

After supper on Tuesday evening, Slamet came to my home with his wife and his child. We filled in the form we had taken from Malang Immigration Office together. In the form, besides my information, there was other information such as that of my parents, my wife and daughter. After I finished, Slamet filled in another form. My photo was taken to print in the school but there was no ink, so they printed it in the street and they did it quickly. I appreciated that. In the evening, Slamet said I needed a bigger photo and he took me on his motorcycle to print one in the street. I said now it is 8 o’clock, are they still working? He said yes. Sure enough, in the street, one shop was busy and we went to another. They both use printers to print photos. I printed 4 bigger ones and 5 smaller ones, costing only 11,000RP, cheap and convenient.

On Wednesday, we 5 people took the materials to Malang. This time the car was driven by the teacher who scratched the other car. When we reached Malang, the Office accepted our materials and told us to come on Friday. We had to return. Out of the Office, we went to have a meal in a restaurant, just opposite UNIVERSTAS MUHAMMED. They ordered their favorite food and drink and ordered some for me, tea, rice and mutton soup. It was raining and I wore a short-sleeve shirt. When I got out of the car, I felt a little cool.

My Indonesian colleague asked me whether I remembered his name and I said no. I could remember only after I wrote down, so I bought a small notebook to write down the names.

On Thursday, I went to take a walk around the west side of my house at about 5 pm. I remember it was my first walk outside. It was rare to see people walk because in the day the sun was bright and in the evening people came and went quickly. It was hard to see a person taking a leisurely walk in the street. So when I went out, taking a walk(in Indonesian it was called JALAN JALAN), my neighbors felt fresh. It was my first time that I carefully watched the crops in the Indonesian countryside. At that time, the crops were harvested.Taking only over 10 minutes’ walk, I went back cooking supper.

On Friday, we went to Malang again. This time, Slamet sat in the back seat with his wife and daughter. READONE and another teacher sat in the middle seat. Maybe I had not rested well the night before, or maybe I could not understand their conversations(Mainly because I was not in a good mood. The night before when I took out my laptop, my hand was cut off a piece of skin by the edge of the drawer due to carelessness. And the blood came out. I did not remember that I had hemostatic plaster and waited for the blood to dry. But it did not dry. I reluctantly took out the international travel health care box from Chongqing Administration of Exit and Entry Inspection and Quarantine. To my surprise, there were two pieces of hemostatic plaster. I used one piece immediately. But the next day when I was in the Immigration Office I found it was not dry inside. I was afraid that it might get infected as the wound did not get well.) In short, I was tired and I was asleep for most of the time in the car. Arriving at Malang Immigration Office, first we paid 750,000RP, then went to fill in forms (we filled with pencils before) and had my thumb print in the form. I felt uncomfortable when the officer took my right hand to sign with right thumb( my wound did not get well). I felt as if I was being sold and made my wound get worse. My hands got dirty and it was Slamet’s wife who went to buy a pack of wet wipes and settled this matter. In the last they had my photo taken before a computer and had my ten fingers scanned. We had to wait for every process. I asked about my passport and they said that next Tuesday someone could come to take it, I did not need to come. I did not feel well, for getting registered in the immigration office, I came four times. And there would be the other time, costing much, inefficient.

In PROBOLINGGO, READONE bought me an electric fan with timers (the school paid) and took it to my home, adjusted it and left.

It was early back home because we did not go to shops in Malang and Probolinggo. I went out of my home and talked with my neighbors. The daughter of one neighbor taught me Indonesian and I taught her Chinese. After some time I went to walk along banks of the field. Coming home and having supper, I went upstairs. Thinking over and over, I decided to use the last piece of the hemostatic plaster. When I cleaned the wound with cool water, I found where skin was taken off was red and it would take some time for the wound to get well. The wound was on the metacarpus bone behind the index finger of the right hand. It was not easy to avoid water splash.

In the evening I got news from ZWY. I called him at once, talking about problems of life and work. Twenty minutes later, the connection failed, costing 3,000RP. I called again and talked another 10 more minutes. I called DSJ because in the morning when I was in Malang he called. We talked for 40 minutes. Later I talked with CMK for 20-30 minutes. I found out that we liked to chat, maybe we were psychologically in the difficult period and we had much to share. I called Huang Jie but she did not answer. I sent her a message and she replied after 11 pm. She said she had taken part in an activity. I did not call in reply because I had slept for over an hour. I called LR and she said YY had born a child, HMJ had had a 60-year –old birthday party for her mother and FTM’s mother died. For these costs, she took 4000 yuan from my account.