Bina Bangsa Teacher's Conference in Puncak

     What a long weekend!! We finished up the induction program for the new teachers on Thursday. Then they took all of us out for dinner at a seafood restaurant. The food wasn't too bad. Of course there was rice, and then I tried a bunch of different chicken. After dinner we went to Emporium (the mall closest to our apartment), and I finally got a phone. I got a Blackberry, because that seems to be what everyone uses around here. We didn't get home very early, which sucked because we had to be up by 4:30 am on Friday.      

     We got on the buses and headed to Puncak, Indonesia. This is where the Bina Bangsa Teacher's Conference was held. It was such a beautiful place up in the mountains :) This was for all of the teachers at all of the Bina Bangsa locations. I think they said that there was supposed to be about 320 of us there.

View of the Mountains

New Friends :) 

Conference Center

     Friday was such a long day. Everyone was tired, and we had long sessions to go to. Some of them were quite boring, and other sessions were very informative. By midday, people were starting to get sick. They actually ended up taking people to the hospital. They think that it was from the seafood that we ate on Thursday night. I'm glad that I did not get sick. I didn't feel well Friday night, but I think mine may have been from dehydration. I didn't drink as much water as I probably should have. I started to feel better after I ate some soup for dinner and drank some water.

     Because there were so many people sick and everyone was tired, they ended up canceling the last session of the night. We were all so happy, because we had been up since 4:30 am and on the go ever since. We did get a chance to sleep on the bus, but still. I know that I had no energy at all, and I could not function anymore. I needed sleep. We were all just super wiped from the week. I went straight to my room to go to bed. After I got in bed, I ended up getting up and going to hang out with my friends for awhile at the poolside restaurant. I have met so many wonderful people, and I am sad that I won't be able to see some of them much after school starts. We will all be at different campuses, and probably won't be seeing each other a whole lot, because we will be busy.

     I had a king size bed to sleep in all to myself :) Josh was so mad, because he is like 6'4", and he had to share a bed with some stranger. Haha. I have been pretty lucky lately with my rooming situations. After the sessions were over today, everyone was SO ready to get out of there. We loaded up the buses, and then we had to sit for like an hour for some reason. It was something about there being a road block and we couldn't leave until 2 pm.

Bed all to myself :) 

My hotel room

     We made it about 10 minutes away from the hotel and then we came to a complete stop. The traffic was backed up for miles. We sat in that same spot for over FOUR HOURS!! Everyone just wanted to get home, and we were all stuck. People got off the bus and wandered around. Some people went to the little stands along the road and bought something to eat or drink. There are street vendors everywhere.

     Finally, we made it home around 9:00 pm. I couldn't believe how long it took to get back. There was so much traffic too! I thought traffic in Washington, D.C. was bad. That's nothing compared to this. I hope that everyone starts to feel better, and that everyone rests well tonight. I know I am tired, and should be getting to sleep. I am going to sleep in tomorrow for sure! :)

Pictures will be posted soon!