They have Indonesian maps on the internet, you know

Some day I'll get round to blogging about some of the excuses we hear from students. In the meantime, as you might expect, the recent tsunami in Asia has added a whole new extra flavour to the tales we are hearing from some of our international students.

"My house was flooded."

"My laptop was ruined and I lost all my data. I was very lucky to escape with my life."

"50 of my relatives died."

Back here at this UK university, I've been trying to make arrangements for students, so that those who are suffering problems as a result of the tsunami don't have to have their degree courses disrupted any more than they have been already.

One Indonesian student, however, won't be benefitting from any such arrangements. He told a terrible tale of woe about how his house had been flooded and he had had to go back there to help his relatives. And where do he and his poor relatives live? In some place that I've never heard of. But our secretary has, she grew up in Indonesia. Apparently this place is on the other side of the island, far away from any tsunami effects...