That Is That And This Is This

This past weekend Andrew, Jason and I spent the weekend in Brastagi. A co-worker of Andrew's was getting married there and we were invited. That was the main reason for going but I think we all were stoked on the idea of getting out of the city, even if it was just for a weekend.

The wedding was huge as you can see...

...there was a ton of more people behind where I was standing too.

We didn't stay for long but we stayed as long as we thought was appropriate. The weddings here are a bit strange. You don't stay for the whole ceremony, you come and stop by and stay for as long as you want.

Andrew was asked to give a small speech when they were passing a microphone around. He used three classic quotes and that was all, Napolean Dynamite "I hope all of your wildest dreams come true" Star Trek "Live Long and Prosper" and finally Star Wars "May The Force Be With You." He did replace "Force" with "Lord" but we both knew what he really meant.

In Brastagi they have this "funland" called Mickie Holiday where all the kids we teach go on Holiday and talk about all the time. We were told the "funland"had paintball so we thought we would check it out. They did and we had to go back the next day for it due to rain, but the place was a blast. They had some half decent rides and a few cheesy ones but for and entry fee of only 25,000 rupiah which is 2.50 canadian you will have a blast no matter what.

Since I have been home I have been working on this Canada presentation I am doing next weekend that I don't think I have mentioned. On Saturday the 4th I will be doing a one hour presentation about Canada to 100 University students. When I first heard the number of students I was very hesitant, I can deal with my classes which are no more than 22 students MAX, but 100 is a lot. I have never been the best at talking in front of large groups, I will usually talk faster than the speed of light and that can really ruin things. I accepted this as more of a challenge for myself more than anything. There is also pay involved but thats seriously not the reason I am doing it. I want to try and do this semi-professionally without messing up a single thing. I'll let you know how it goes....
...Wish me luck

Converge/Darkest Hour

New Converge and Darkest Hour albums out this year.
Stoked.

peep this preview of upcoming Converge...

BBQ

This weekend is Tom and Andrew's and to celebrate we are having a day long BBQ. We all have invited pretty much everyone from both our schools. Most of whom probably won't come because they are too afraid to cut loose.

Seriously who would want to miss 12+ hours of booze and bbq? you?

Star Trek

holy shit holy shit holy shit...


Of course this epic movie is being released in every country in May except Indonesia. Does anyone want to pay for a flight to Singapore so I can see this?

A Walk In The Park

Andrew brought up the idea of walking the "ring road" of Medan probably about a month back, or "making history" as he put it. Tom and I had been pretty keen on the idea since the beginning and we all actually made an attempt at it on Saturday.

We knew starting early in the morning would be best so we could do a large portion of our walking before high noon hit. Our scientist Andrew estimated our trip would take roughly 12 hours, give or take an hour depending on speed and amount of stops. We set off a little after six, accompanied by an amazing sunrise. We hoped on a Becak to take us to the ring and from there we would start our walk.

The walk wasn't that bad in the morning it was cool out and the sun took it's sweet time getting up into the sky. We met a little old lady who fancied Tom but he kept trying to pawn her off to me. She was interested in having a Bule (white foreigner) as her husband. One day I am sure she will get what she wants, she seemed very determined.

My legs started to getting tired about 7-8 hours in. I figured I would push on and see how far I could take it, we had to get to the finish. Shortly after that I whipped it out "I don't think I will be finishing this today". Tom was in agreement due to his cut up feet from crummy flip-flops. We started the walk on the west side of the city and headed south. We were now coming on the north east corner of the ring road. That was when we parted ways with Andrew, he wanted to press on. He said something along the lines of "this thing was my idea so I think I should finish it".

So after about 8 and a half to 9 hours Tom and I headed home. In a becak obviously, we sure as hell were not going to walk back. Andrew pressed on but when he noticed he was getting slower and slower he also decided to pack it in. He came in the house about 2 hours or so after Tom and I got in. We were all in bed by 9 and in rough shape but it was worth it.
There has been mention of doing another big walk, but instead of around the city we would go through all the side streets from one end of the city to the other. I will need to get more sleep the night before next time...

Here's a map of the city to give you an idea of the scale of our journey.
The first X is where Tom and I quit, and the second is roughly where Andrew quit.

China

So about two weeks back or so my housemates Tom and Charlie were surfing through Air Asia's website. They came across some kick ass deals on flights to China from KL (which is in Malaysia). The flights per person for a round trip were about 200 bucks. You can't beat a 6 hour flight to China for that cheap. They also found cheap ass flights to get from Medan to KL for only about 40 bucks and that's a round trip. So all the way to China from Medan for under 250 bucks isn't bad at all. We are going to have to pay something like another 50 bucks to immigration for leaving the country (which we though was going to be 250), but hell, how can you say no for that price.

They both thought right away that maybe they could go and asked the rest of us if we all wanted to go. I was stoked on the idea because I have been thinking lately about heading up to China in the next year or two to teach. This could be my sneak preview.
Then right after that thought reality hit, I didn't have the money to pay for the flight.
I then, being my usual self, starting to think maybe I shouldn't spend the money, I could put it towards something else. But like I said, how can you say no for that price.

My two housemates, being as amazing as they are, offered to front me the money for the flight and we could figure that out later. Whoever thought two "English" could have such big hearts...?
...kidding
I was unsure about it at first, thinking again about the money, but of course I said yes.

So come the end of June I will be taking a stroll along the Great Wall and training it through China with my two housemates. We all are incredibly stoked and will probably be loosely planning out itinerary soon.

Holy shit I can't wait.

word.