This week, I took a plane to Jakarta to meet my fellow English teaching assistants from all over Indonesia. To mark the middle of our grant year, we attended the Enrichment Conference, which included presentations and workshops relating to teaching, culture, and history. I even got the chance to present a worskshop on classroom culture. For five days, we stayed in the center of the capital and were given the freedom to explore in the evening. It was a great way to learn about other places in Indonesia, such as Java, Kalimanta, Sulewesi and Flores.
The farthest I've traveled on this journey so far is to Medan, the largest city in Sumatra. Medan is much like Jakarta, except on a smaller scale.
This week, I got on a plane with three other English teaching assistants and our counterparts, making us a group of eight on our way to the capital of Indonesia. The plane ride was very short, only 70 minutes! This meant that I couldn't finish the movie I started to watch and had to wait until I returned to West Sumatra. In Jakarta, I used the same old transportation I am used to using in Bukittinggi: ojeks, taxis, and my own two feet. There are very effiicient and working trains in Jakarta and Java in general, but I had no need to use them.
