World needs to see Indonesia as a normal country

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSYD239528

From Reuters:
World needs to see Indonesia as normal country-report

By James GrubelCANBERRA, May 27 (Reuters) - The world needs to update its image of Indonesia and start treating it as a "normal" country, similar to middle-income developing nations Brazil, India and Mexico, an Australian strategic think-tank said on Tuesday.

Click the link above to read the entire (pretty interesting) article.

PONOROGO

I have been assigned a post! It is in a small city, Ponorogo, in East Java (in green on the map).

The school that I'm going to be at is shared between two organizations. In the morning it is a high school and in the afternoons it is a teacher's college. I'll have classes with both. It'll be great to be able to experience teaching both younger and older students. VIA has never had a volunteer in this post before, but when the interviewed the school, everyone was very enthusiastic.

One of the living options is apparently to live in an apartment with other female teachers. That sounds perfect to me - I'll be living with Indonesians so I'll get a taste of living like a local, but I will be with peers, so it will hopefully not be as awkward as I imagine a family stay would be.

Here are a few pictures of the city and surrounding area. I found them online at the official tourism site.