See Kelly Go... to Indonesia!

Wednesday night at 10:35 p.m. Approximately one and a half days from now, I will be on a plane, ultimately bound for Jakarta, Indonesia.

Yes, I'm excited.

Yes, I'm nervous.

Yes, I'm mourning the agonizing good-byes that have been crammed into this week.

There is honestly no real way for me to know what the coming year will have in store for me. But what I do know, I'll share with you.

For the next year I'll be teaching English to high schoolers in a vocational school in the town of Majene, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. Here's a map:



(See the sort of bump that juts out on the western side of the island? I'll be on the southern tip of that, somewhere in the midst of the mountains and ocean...)

The reality of this journey is still quite blurry in my mind. How do you comprehend the amount of contact solution you use in 10 months? How do you comprehend your first holiday season away from your family? How do you know what gifts to buy for people you've never met?

This note is scattered, but I will try to make order of it as I am doing in all aspects of my life within the next day and a half.

Regarding staying in touch, there should be a number of ways for me to keep contact. However, I'm not sure which methods will work best until I get there. I will be getting a new phone once I am there. I should have some internet access, but am unsure of its reliability. And of course there is the wonderful world of snail mail. I believe the address where you can send mail is:

Kelly Nielsen
SMKN 1 Majene.
Jl. K.H. Muh. Saleh No 41,
Majene, West Sulawesi
Indonesia

Please note, that this is the address of my school, not the home address. (It sounds like mailing here will be more reliable.) Also, I will be spending the first two weeks in Bandung and Jakarta for my training (and birthday!), so, it may be best to hold off on letters until I'm at my site and have confirmed the address.

While I'm abroad, I'll be keeping a blog about my adventures. The address is:

seekellygo.blogspot.com

Put it in your bookmarks. Check it when you think of me. If you go now, it will look excruciatingly boring, but I will do my best to post soon. It may be that I have to post-date a lot of my entries... that may not be the right verb, but I'll do my best to be detailed.

You can e-mail me at nielsen87@mac.com. No promises on when I'll be able to get back to you, but I'd love to hear from you.

Also, if you want a postcard, please e-mail me your mailing address at nielsen87@mac.com. I'll be happy to oblige... and make you jealous. ; )

I know there are a good number of things I'm forgetting and leaving out. But thankfully that's why we'll be staying in touch.

I love you all. And miss you all dearly. Please send me your thoughts, prayers, good vibrations, karmic loveness, and anything else you might be keeping there in your soul.

Selamat malam.

Good night.