The sea was angry that day my friend...

this is a quick two parter since I've been away from my computer for a while...

First, this week I'm living/teaching in a new city, Klung Kung. However, the city itself is not nearly as much fun as the name is to say. Yappenatim is closed for one week so I'm teaching at a government high school called SMU. It's I nice change of scenery but I miss the kids at Yappenatim, and after being gone for a week I've realized home much like home Gianyarhas begun to feel.

A large swell came through the last few days, now I thought that I'd ridden some descent sized wave before and that I was decent but these waves were on a completely different level. I estimated that they were around 15 feet and afterwards I talked to some local guys and then checked the report that night. Turns out they were around 4 meters. So being scared out of my mind and pissing my pants I paddled out. I dropped in a bit shallow on the first one I could just to build up a bit of confidence, then on the next one I went all out and dropped in just a tad bit to deep. I hit a chop on the drop in and lost it. For a minute or two I thought that I was never going to resurface (it felt something like hopping into a washing machine and setting it on spin cycle). After about 15 seconds of tumbling and bumping into the reef I finally popped up above the surface with nothing worse than a damaged pride. (After that I took it a bit slower and I was able to get a few waves, some of best I've ever had a chance to ride).

Yappenatim

Lest everyone think that I really don't do anything but surf and ride my moped around I figured I'd talk a bit about teaching. I do most of my teaching at a local orphanage called Yappenatim. I have two 7th grade and two 8th grade classes there. The kids are out of control but still a blast to be around. Because the level of English is so low we've worked mostly on basic topics ranging from basic vocabulary to forming simple questions. I usually teach from 8-12 and then try to hang out and play sports with the kids after class for a bit. I also teach twice a week at a government elementary school. The kids there are really cool and we spend most of the time playing games that keep them entertained and help build their English vocabulary.

Keramas

For those of you that don't know Keramas is a world famous break spot with a heavy, right-hand reef break (the picture is from a competition last season) on the East coast of Bali. Which, conveniently, is about 15 minutes from Gianyar (my house). Needless to say I've spent a good deal of time there since I've been in Bali. After a few early spills and tumbles I've begun to get settled in there and it feels a bit like home. Right now it's high season (the rainy season - till march) for the east coast of Bali and the waves have not disappointed. They're been averaging around 6 to 9 feet since I've been here (Keramas surf report). Once the seasons change some trips will be made to the west coast and hopefully I'll be able to get some nice left handers too.

Pride and Joy

Early on I decided to get a sepeda mobil (which is directly translated "motorcycle" but more correctly translated "moped"). Since then I've been cruising around the streets of Bali mostly listening to Journey. The traffic "laws" here have taken a bit of time to get used to, in fact, at first I didn't realize that they existed.  Imagine Shanghai's traffic without all of the order or maybe that old video game frogger meeting biker week at the beach. However, to my surprise, it turns out that there is a method to the madness here. Basically, you can boil it down to three basic "rules" that most people try to follow...

1. as a general rule you "try" to stay on the left side of the road
2. there is no such thing as having the right-of-way, every conflict is decided by a game of chicken
3. honking your horn and yelling really loud will solve most problems

The Rupiah

So as of today the exchange rate is $1 to 113750 rph. Unfortunately that doesn't mean that I'm now a millionaire (although my account looks pretty good when I go to the ATM for once) but it does mean that the money here is fairly worthless. In fact the smallest unit that they use is the 200 rph coin. It's so worthless that many times instead of giving it to you as change they'll give you candy instead. At first I thought that the casher was just being nice or ripping me off, but it turns out that just how they roll here, and I think I like it.