April 30th, 2011
Days Left to Journey: 23-22 Days
Training Kilometers Cycled: 675 km
Kids, Be Interested in the Earth... C'mon.
Persuading students to leave the comfort of their own beds and travel 1 hour to a city and Botanical Garden they know quite well for an optional Earth Day event is a task of attrition. First, we started with 10 students who said they wanted to go. Then some forgot that they were going to go camping in Bandung for a school event or an English competition in Depok. Then we were down to 6. One was adamantly against going even though the Biology teacher required him to go as a future participant of the Biology Olympiad - he slept in. 5 students. 1 student had a set of chemistry problems to finish the night before, then the morning of he had a set of trigonometry problems to finish. 4 students. The 4th student felt sick. 3 students. The 3rd student suddenly didn't want to go. 2 students. Finally, an hour and 15 minutes after the designated meeting time the 3rd student decided to join and we were off to the Earth Day event! Oh yes, and the Biology teacher slept in and showed up an hour late to the event.
Saving Face or Self-Sacrifice.
I woke up at 5:45am with a pounding headache and a temperature of 101.9 F. My plan, initially, was to cycle down to the event then take the bike back to Jakarta. That option was out of the picture. Now it was just down to deciding between going or staying. I gulped down 2 Advil and made my way out to the school lobby to wait for them. I was in a crappy mood - few students wanted to come, the vice principal withdrew the school car that she had already promised, my general malaise, no one knew the taxi phone number, and the lobby was completely empty of students. You don't know how much I wanted to turn around and just call the event and inform them of my sickness. I'm not sure what made me stay: was it the dedication of one student who wanted to come and spent an hour convincing her roommates, or was it my unwillingness to not show up? Maybe it was inflammation of my brain.
Students cleaning up the river.
Worms! Bio-indicators of a dirty ecosystem.
Group shot with Ciforr, myself, and my 3 awesome students
About 100 kids in 2 hours collected over 1000 kg of trash from the river and the grounds of the Botanical Garden!
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