The Commoditization of Mr. Nick – Part Two

Wednesdays are traditionally a day off for Mr. Nick. Today, however, I was invited to MU, one of Madiun’s two local vocational universities. I spent two hours addressing crowds of roughly one hundred first-year college students, answering their questions about education reforms, cultural comparisons, the cost of university, sports, and religion. I surprised myself with my Indonesian, and was actually able to carry on some substantial parts of the Q&A in Bahasa. At least I understood what I was saying!
After the two hours were up, I was swarmed with requests for photographs. If I didn’t have the ego of a rock star already, Madiun certainly hasn’t deflated it at all. After the photo session, I promised to meet some of the students for coffee and tea to practice their English, and my Bahasa. We’ll see if that ever comes to fruition.
As I was walking out the door, my contact at the university pulled me into a side room, and gave me a box full of the local take on cake, and an envelope filled with the equivalent of fifteen dollars. Considering that the vice-principal whom I eat lunch with every day only makes one hundred dollars per month, fifteen dollars for two hours’ honest work is remarkably good. Actually, it’s ridiculously good.
I don’t know yet what I’m going to do with the money – I’ll either buy something for my students at school, or I’ll use it to reregister my motor bike, which expires tomorrow. In any case, I brought the cake over to Pak David’s for lunch, and consumed about two-thirds of it with a big glass of unfiltered coffee before falling into a late afternoon nap. As I was leaving Pak David’s house to return home, I got into a minor motorcycle accident with an imbecile of a high school girl who was turning right in the wrong lane. I scraped up my hands, and the bike is a bit tweaked, but I’m okay. For the most part, it was only my pride that was hurt. Just another day in Indonesia.