Sunday was Chinese New Year, and today is Islamic New Year. We were at
school yesterday, with a surprisingly large number of students.

Last night ten of us went to a Chinese restaurant. The food was good,
but the waiter was vying for the “worst waiter in Indonesia” title eg:
He brought a tray of drinks, served the bottle of wine on it, then
walked away, leaving the other drinks sitting on the tray, 5m away. He
even came back twice past it, before I politely pointed at it. The
bloke who organised the evening said that we couldn’t complain to the
manager, because the waiter was the manager!

We slept in past 9am this morning – a personal best in Indonesia. At
noon, we headed out to play 18 holes. My score wasn’t too bad, until
the 9th. I lost it in frustration, and wasn’t going to continue, but,
several bad shots later, hit the #$%^-ing ball into the #$%^-ing cup.
It was actually quite warm as we began the next 9 holes. Half-way down
the 10th, it started to rain. It eased off long enough to play the
next, and then bucketed as we lined up for the third. Four players and
four caddies sprinted for a nearby bale. Two poor blokes ahead of us
were caught in the open. The rain was being blown horizontal by a cold
wind. It eventually eased enough for us to walk back.

In an hour or two I’m off to play in the weekly pool competition. We’ve
lost the first two rounds, 4 games to 2. Last week a drunken golf pro
was very aggressive and took the edge off the night. It’s fun, but most
of the other players are 35+ (and 50+) blokes with young local
girlfriends and nicotine and alcohol addictions.

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