Darcy Down Under Goes to College

In order for this blog to make sense, I need to give you some background information that I have been meaning to share for a couple of weeks now: Last week, I started a new part-time job at Trinity College of the University of Melbourne, planning their summer schools. I'm working a couple of days a week, and I really like my supervisor, who is extremely flexible. She's also new, which is nice, as we have been figuring things out together.

Anyway, today was the first day of one of our summer schools (well, it's really the winter school, but who's focusing on semantics?). Last week Sue (my boss) and I were thinking of ways to break the ice with the kids who are going to be coming in, and she thought it would be a good idea to bring Darcy in as a conversation starter of sorts. So just like that, Darcy got through Admissions and was accepted into Trinity College, no SAT scores or essays required.

Will and I spent all day yesterday preparing Darcy for her first day of school. We prepped her on current events (Michael Jackson's tragic demise) and economic trends (global crisis). Finally, she took a bath and was all scrubbed down and ready to meet the new kids!

Getting pretty for her first day of school

Out the door!

After taking a (very traumatic) first ever escalator ride, getting on a big train, and being stared at by 3 piece suits, we made it to the University. Darcy fit in well with the other kids and settled into her new office quite nicely.

Darcy in her new office

After and hour or so she was ready to meet the students and begin her ice breaking function. She performed admirably even allowing teenage girls to squeal and chase her around the room. Once the lectures began, Darcy curled up in my lap, tired out by the excitement (and the squealing girls). Even Darcy can get too much attention. At seeing the seemingly calm puppy, everyone commented on what a well behaved dog I had. It was a day of firsts in more than one respect!

Though Darcy slept through her first ever class, she still contributed the occasional "smell" to the lecture. It's OK, though, because everyone always blames it on the dog!

After all the excitement she needed a real nap, so we went back to the office and she turned my desk into her own personal den.

Taking a page out of the George Costanza handbook

Overall, today was very successful and Darcy did a great job in her role as demure and cute little dog on her first day of college, and in fact, secured an open ended invitation to return whenever she wants to. It will probably stand until she comes back and lets her sleepy time flatulence loose for all my co-workers to smell.

Darcy at the Beach

Monday was Darcy's first beach experience. My friend Debra and I both took our Westies for some fun in the sand. Darcy met Tofu (and I met Debra) when the two dogs were in quarantine at the same time, and luckily they enjoy playing (ahem, getting into mischief) together. Here are a couple of pictures.

Debra and I with our bundles of joy

Tofu and Darcy... how cute are they?

Darcy rediscovered her love of digging. The poor beach was filled with holes by the time we left, and I swear that all of the misplaced sand was in her fur!

Next Trip

I haven't even completed posting about our last trip before planning my next international foray. That's right, this morning I bought a ticket to Thailand! I just felt the need to travel, so I pulled out my trusty atlas and a needle, then closed my eyes and vowed to go wherever the needle landed.

Ha! Yeah right. I might be spontaneous, but not that spontaneous.

No, really, I'm going to Chiang Mai, Thailand July 2 - 8 (well, I'll be spending on night in KL because I'll be flying through there) to visit my parents during their tour de munde. Seriously, they really are touring the world (work-related touring, but still touring)... Delhi, India; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Melbourne, Australia (hmm... I wonder who they'll be visiting there?); and Hong Kong, to name a few of their destinations. I figured, why not piggy-back on their vacation to a) spend some more time with them, and b) see a little bit more of the world? Hence the trip.

Unfortunately Will won't be joining me on this trip... the whole "real job" thing kind of frowns on unlimited vacation days. But we're planning on going back to Thailand together at some point to visit Phuket and Bangkok, so he's not missing out completely! Not to mention, he'll get to spend plenty of time with the inlaws when they come stay in our little one bedroom apartment with us for a week. Now that'll be fun.

Well, I have to go pry a little wet dog off our bed. Sidestory: this morning I decided to take Darcy on a walk and she decides that she is absolutely in love with mud puddles (it's been raining a lot lately), so she spends the entire walk running full speed ahead through every puddle she sees. Well, I decide it's time to head back because this puddle-love is getting out of hand, and, of course, it starts raining-- hard-- on the way back, so now we're both all wet. I immediately put my very dirty dog in the bathtub and scrub her off, and then take my own shower, but she used all of my hot water and I forgot to get a towel for me so I have to use her stinky one. Then, when I won't let her on the couch because she's all wet, she runs to the bed, hops on, and stares at me as if to say, "Yeah, I'm smarter than you. What you gonna do about it?"

We'll just see how snarky she is when she has to spend a week holed up in the bedroom because her favorite dog walker is in Thailand.

Indonesia: Part III

Alright, the plan is to finish up the posts on Indonesia in this one post, then I'll have one more covering our night in KL, Malaysia (which will be short). So never fear, there is light at the end of this Indonesian tunnel.

So we caught a flight from Surabaya to Lombok. Lombok is an island east of Bali that is famous for the Gili Islands (Eat, Pray, Love anyone?) and a less commercialized style of tourism. Taylor, Will, and I stayed at the Hotel Jayakarta, which had great pools and really cheap massages.

The beach in Lombok

When we got in to Lombok, werelaxed for a little while, walked on the beach, and then hit the town for some dinner and cover bands. We dined at a small little restaurant with plenty of nasi goreng and gado-gado. I began a national gado-gado competition in Taylor's village. Now, to the less Indonesian-cuisine-enlightened, gado-gado is a special dish of steamed veggies, tofu, rice, and shrimp crackers, all covered in peanut sauce. Yum. I made a point of ordering gado-gado at every restaurant we went to. The winner of the competition was the hotel we stayed at in Taylor's village. Oh, and nasi goreng is a basically chicken fried rice. So good.

After dinner we headed to the Happy Cafe, which featured--of course-- Indonesian cover bands. They were so good that we returned to the Happy Cafe the following night, where they proceeded to invite us to sing on stage with them. Think cover band turned karaoke. Taylor sang Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams, and I sang Santeria by Sublime. Santeria became the theme song of the trip after that, and I requested from every cover band we came across. Most of them knew it, too.

Taylor singing Summer of '69

Kim singing Santeria

The next day I like to call the day of pampering. We all relaxed at the hotel, and I decided to get a cheap massage at the hotel spa ($10!!! Seriously!). Well, it was so good, and so cheap, that I then decided to get not only another massage, but also a facial, a body wrap, an exfoliating treatment, and a mineral-infused bath. What I did not expect to get from this package was a mineral-infused-bath-turned-naked-sponge-bath, courtesy of my masseuse. Interesting.

Kim and her favorite massage table

After a fun night with the cover band, we woke up the next morning to catch our flight to Bali. We said goodbye to Taylor at the airport and headed to the honeymoon destination of everyone's dreams.

Bali was different from Lombok in that it was definitely catering to (and exploiting) tourists at every opportunity. A nice young man from BaliHotels.com met us at the airport and navigated through the congested streets to our fabulous resort, the Resor Seminyak. Bali, being Hindu rather than Muslim, has a lot more nightlife, commercial opportunities, name-brand stores, shopping, beggars... you get the idea. In other words, a lot more to do.

The pool at Resor Seminyak

We started off our Bali experience with a trip to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. The Sacred Monkey Forest was an interesting experience. Basically it's the location of three Hindu temples, plus hundreds and hundreds of very misbehaved monkeys. Taylor told me that his mom lost her glasses to a precocious monkey who thought they would look better on a furry face. Geez.

Precocious monkeys

Kim among the temples and monkeys

After monkey watching, we went to a Kecak Dace, a traditional Balinese fire dance. The dance is a portrayal of a battle between kings and a bunch of men who sit around in a circle and chant a lot. At the end of the dance a man comes out and kicks a bunch of flaming coconut shells (we were sitting in the front row and it almost burned Will's jeans), then he dances through them barefoot. Ouch, but I guess he knows what he's doing. Despite not understanding what they were actually portraying, it was beautiful.

Women in Traditional Balinese dress during the Kecak Dance

The barefoot fire dancer

The best part about Ubud, though, was the restaurant we ate at afterwards, Gula Bali. It looked really nice, so Will and I were afraid it was going to be pretty expensive (you know, being Bali and all). But not to fear-- we had four dishes (including gado-gado, of course... and the fire dance made us hungry), water, and two drinks for the grand total of $9. We tried the traditional Balinese cocktail, Arak Madu. It tasted a lot like a popsicle. We suggested that since Indonesians love Obama so much (they really do love him there. They're convinced he was born in Indonesia, and that he's Muslim... two arguments that I'm powerless to disprove) they should have a new cocktail, the Arak Obama.

Will with his Arak Madu

The next day we laid out at the pool all day, ate nasi goreng and gado-gado, did a little bit of shopping. Will also decided to try his hand at surfing the open Balinese ocean. Let's just say the ocean won and he left Bali with a nice scar on his knee.

Surfing the big waves

After a day on the beach we caught the sunset at Ku De Ta, a fancy beach-front restaurant that is famous for its sunset view (and very Westernized prices. It was a far cry from our beloved Gula Bali).

Ku De Ta

That night we went to dinner in Kuta, the orginial tourist area of Bali. Think Panama City for Spring Breaking Australians. There were tons of shops, plenty of Indonesian cover bands, a Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe, and restaurants. We ended up at a fresh seafood restaurant. And when I say fresh, I do not lie. We actually chose the fish/prawns that we wanted to eat (which they were alive on ice in front of us) and they killed them and brought them to our table. It was a little bit too much like premeditated murder to me. I mean, at least at a regular seafood restaurant I can claim accessory after the fact, but to choose my victim? A little disconcerting. But yummy.

Lobsters at the fresh seafood restaurant (who knew they were that color?)

Again, the next day featured much sun bathing and poolside activities. We decided to spend our last Indonesian evening in a fishing village called Jambaran, about twenty minutes from our hotel. This was, once again, a fresh seafood restaurant. We ate fresh prawns and red snapper at our table on the sand to the music of a string quartet/wanna-be Indonesian coverband as the sun set.

Balinese sunset from our restaurant

Our table on the sand

And so, at last, we said goodbye to Indonesia and headed to the last leg of our trip, Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesia: Part II

Sorry for the delay, work has been picking up lately since my colleague was deported back to Finland. They must be worried about overpopulation ...

Anyway, after a night in the nice hotel, we met Taylor at his village. It was slightly difficult to find him, because we didn't know exactly where to tell the drive to take us, but we stopped and asked villagers to take us to the "bule" (foreigner), and considering Taylor was the only "bule" around everyone knew who we were talking about. We arrived at Taylor's school and found the principal's office. Upon entering I forgot I was in a Muslim country and a Muslim school and received a friendly rebuke for not removing my shoes. Taylor wasn't there, so one of his students, Ulfi, offered to guide us to his house. He gave us the choice of taking a car or walking. Now we're not stupid -- we asked how far the house was, so when we were informed that it was only 400 meters, we, being the hardened Australians who walk everywhere, scoffed in the face of such short a distance and said we'd walk. Too bad, since I'm beginning to think that the "400 meters" may have refered to the elevation change, and the distance was more like a mile. So after walking seemingly straight uphill in 95 degree heat, we found Taylor's house. On a side note, Ulfi spoke perfect English, so Taylor must be doing his job well.

The walk back to the school (thankfully downhill!)

Taylor showed us around the village and everyone asked us "where are you going?" which is the usual greeting, but it was kind of confusing since we weren't really going anywhere, but "jelan, jelan" which literally means "walking walking" and can be translated as "walking around" seemed to be a good enough answer to satisfy everyone's curiosities. We had quite the entourage of interested children as Taylor showed us around the rice fields. The scenery in and around the village was absolutely beautiful.

Our entourage of children in front of Taylor's house

A villager cutting bamboo

"Where are you going?" "Jelan jelan!"

Some of the beautiful scenery

A photo to commemorate our tour

On our way back to the school we stopped at a "warung" which is the center of Indonesian entertainment. They are mainly huts on the side of the road where you can hang out and eat. We had traditional Javanese coffee and spicy corn fritters all for about 15 cents. Both were delicious.

Drinking coffee at the warung

As we came down the hill toward the school we passed by some of the students doing scout training, which turned into more of a photo op both for us and them. I think Will and I are in at least 20 camera phones.

Scout training/photo op

After hanging out at the school for a while a driver from the hotel came to take us to the airport to catch our flight to Lombok.