Matt Glass: a teacher of many things. Glass currently teaches beat making and music production as well as songwriting, but before teaching these classes, he taught math at CSD as well as Lincoln Charter. Glass went to Tennessee Tech where he studied and got a degree in electrical engineering. Glass recalls a rather unique opportunity he and Lindy, his wife, experienced while on their honeymoon.  

Q: So where did you go for your honeymoon?

A: We spent two weeks in Bali, a weekend in Lombok, and three weeks in West Papua. So, the place where we stayed in Bali, we had a list of all these things you could do. There was a class for learning a local indigenous language. We went to the class, and we were the only two in the class. And there was, I guess, one of the managers who walked by and saw us there and asked us if we wanted to be in the parade. He said we get free food out of it, so we said “okay”. He said come to this place tomorrow at this time and wear your bathing suit. 

Q: What happened after?

A: So, we show up at this particular part of the resort and they pull out all these clothes to dress us. My wife had this clear thing that went on over her bathing suit and this head thing. She doesn’t wear makeup, but they coated her in it. It was like mud all over her face, this fancy makeup stuff. By the end of the day, there was a crack in her forehead from her smiling so much. They got her ready and then they said, “Okay, for you…”” and they brought me out this white dress kind of Asian style jacket with the collar [and] the buttons. [There was] this wrap bandana thing for my hair to put my hair up and like a long skirt kind of thing for me. Then they [took] us out of the resort grounds.

Q: Where did the float come into play?

A: We turn this corner, and suddenly there are rows and rows and rows of floats and trucks that are, you know, carrying the floats in all different colors. It was wild. 

Q: What was the float like?

A: In the bed of our truck there was a koi pond with live fish in the pond. And then there were two thrones on either side of it, and my wife was supposed to sit in one, and I would sit in the other and then the trailer that it was pulling had two Indonesian guys.

Q: And what was the parade like?

A: We were in the parade for two hours. We drove through the streets of Bali in this giant parade waving at people, and there were thousands and thousands of people out on the streets. They were all cheering and holding their babies up to us. I think they thought we were famous. We did get interviewed by ESPN. They asked us what we’re doing here, and we said we don’t really know but they offered us free food. 

Q: What happened at the end?

A:  At the end of the parade all of the floats had to go up this big hill where the judges were. Our hosts told us that when we got to the top of the hill, we were supposed to stand up and bow as a sort of a sign of respect and say thank you to the judges. But while the truck was at the top of the hill, it hit its brakes. We were in the process of standing up to bow when that happened. The water in the float swept one way, and then we could see it coming toward us, this big, big wave. So, my wife jumps off the float in the middle of the judging piece, so she doesn’t get hit by the wave. I kind of try to get a bow in and get absolutely soaked by the water. Needless to say, we didn’t win, but it was very entertaining. 

Q: What ever happened with the free food? 

A:  That night was the big surprise meal. It was in this gazebo. You could leave the hotel and walk out toward the beach. [Then] you take this boardwalk all the way out onto the ocean and there’s a gazebo sitting out in the middle with a table and two chairs. It was an unreal amount of food. We ate and were happy and were standing up to leave and they say no, that’s just the first course and they bring us more food. It was the best meal I’ve had in my life.