A Saturday in Sumbawa

One of the reasons that I bought a new motorcycle and brought it out to Sumbawa was so that I could get out of townsite on the weekends and do something beside sit in my little apartment watching tv, grading papers and working on the school website. Last Saturday, I went down to Rantung Beach for a swim on Saturday morning, and I had a great time. I went down today for a little swim, but the waves were really up, so I decided to take a pass.

On the way back to townsite, I decided to drive down to Tongo, but once the road got rough, I decided to come back to the apartment and finish up work on the school website. Hmm, always some work here to do.

Yesterday, two of my former students dropped by for a visit. They have been in town visiting their parents. It was great to see them and hear about what they have been up to even though I hear from them occasionally on Facebook. They are both doing great so it seems that we didn’t do too much damage to them while they were in school here. In fact, one of the girls is interested in anthropology – my main field, and the other is going to be a math major in college – my main teaching field. I love it. The girls did have a good time teasing me about my mishaps with motorbikes, forgetfulness and my sci-fi addiction.

This is week 2 of not smoking, and it still is a problem. I have this intense desire to just go out and buy a pack of cigarettes and smoke all of them. I’ve been rationalizing this by saying that I can quit smoking once I leave here and get home to Bali where I will be with Su and the kids who will be a good support group. On the other hand, I could have another stroke in the 16 more weeks that I have to work here if I start smoking again so there’s a strong motivation to not start up again. Nothing like addictive personalities.