Mentoring in Medan

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
We're off to Medan in the evening. The flight is not long: Medan is on the other side of Singapore - about 2:20 away. The drive is smooth - the roads are paved and curbed.

We stop to eat at a restaurant that has a unique form of service. The waiter piles plates in the center of the table. Anything that we touch, we will pay for. The rest goes back to the kitchen. We serve ourselves, and it's all delicious.

The university puts Pak Hubbi, W and me up at a nice hotel. The beds are comfy so we sleep deeply.

Wednesday

Comfy leather executive seats for every faculty member

We are in a car on the way to the university by 8 and ready to start by 9. But the faculty is returning from a budget meeting and we start at 10. Hubbi and I go back and forth, teaching research writing.

There's enthusiastic participation. The faculty is kind and attentive. The boxed lunch of rendang (Indonesian beef stew) is delicious, but we're back in the conference room within an hour to finish up.

typical edits

We break into small groups and let them edit a paragraph of their peer's paper. W demonstrates a citation program to help them footnote their papers more easily.

And then we wrap it up with speeches, selfies, and a group photo. They present us with a picture frame from the rector and wrap me in a local fabric.

Indonesians love selfies. So we take a lot of them, besides the official photo.

W and I meet for supper with Karrie and then tour her church. We see two groups studying and enjoying time together. "Doing life together," we say.

The city is full of little motorcycle taxis. One lady waves as W leans out the window of the car to snap a picture.

A little beca (taxi)

Thursday
We have an early breakfast at the hotel and are on our way to the airport at 6:30. One flight later, we're on the runway in Bandung. There are no motorized jetways (bridge) at the airport, so everyone walks from the plane to the terminal, hauling carry-on luggage.

Today, we have to wait near the plane after we walk down the steps to the taxiway. There's a plane leaving. It taxis right by us - an attendant keeps us from getting run over by putting out his hand and making us wait until it passes by. Then we walk across the hot pavement to the domestic terminal to get our luggage from the one baggage carousel.

Yes, it's that close. The wing extends over our heads.

The new terminal is such an improvement from the old one, which had one conveyor belt that shot luggage off the end into the waiting arms of passengers.

We catch a Grab home by 12:30 @Rp16.000 ($1.20).

I'm exhausted. W has some administrative work but I take the rest of the day to read. We have no study in the afternoon. It's another national holiday - this time, New Year's in the Muslim calendar.

Read more:
*The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the Lord has made them both. Proverbs 20:12

Paul wrote: Test everything; hold fast to what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Moravian Prayer: Lord, open our eyes and ears to see what you see in others and to love those that are difficult to love. Amen.