Well, I have been a big slacker on my Blog Posts….Sorry! I have been so busy, and the longer I wait, the more there is to write about.
Daily Life
I will start telling you about some of the things I have been doing outside of school. I started mentoring a high school student at the school. I have been attending an English bible study at the local University. Many of the single teachers attend, and I have been able to make many Indonesian friends there. We often go out to eat afterwards or go together to a Family Karaoke place in town on the weekends. I have been going to Salatiga International Fellowship for church each Sunday. The service is in English and many of the families from Mountainview, the language school, and a few of my college age Indonesian friends attend. I find it such a joy to worship with others on Sunday! I have tried to attend both an English and Indonesian Church, but the times I tried, make it difficult to plan out my lessons for the week. My roommate and I take biking adventures at least once to 3 times a week. Sometimes we bike to a swimming place, just out in the beautiful rice paddies and exploring the villages, and today we went to the marshy lake and went for a boat ride. I am so glad to have a friend who will go out exploring with me!
Travel Opportunities
Some Travel opportunities that I have had in the last month and a half include traveling to Yogya, a city 3 hours away. We bought lots of the traditional Batik stuff and visited a mall. I hiked to the top of Merbabu, which is the mountain that I see everday from my house and school. We were able to hit both points and see the volcano that is behind it. It was absolutely beautiful! I think that was my favorite thing I have done the whole time that I have been here! At the end of Ramadan, the fasting month, all the Indonesians had a big party! The holiday is called Idul Fitri. We had a few extra days off of school, which I used that time to go on a Secondary Retreat with the school. It was a great opportunity to get to know and build relationships with the high school students. We all slept in tents and ate our food on a mat under a large tarp. We had a lot of chill time because it rained a lot. Also during the break, Valerie and I painted our living room, bathroom and my bedroom. I haven’t traveled outside of Salatiga this last month, but I have had more time to explore our town, go for bike rides and get a hair cut. This morning I went to a conference that talked about the problems of Human Trafficking in Indonesia. I was blown away by how common it was, I heard about it through IJM at school, but to be living more closely to areas that are being dramatically affected by it. I am in no major threat myself, but many women and children get tricked into it, or forced into it because they can not pay off a debt. If you would like to learn more about it, or help financially/prayerfully spread the news to my surrounding community, please let me know!
My Bundles of JOY (my class)
And now for the informing you about about the biggest JOY in my day, are my children(students)! They come to school with the biggest smiles, the sweetest words, most tender hearts, and best hugs! My lil swis boy attempts to beat me to the classroom everyday, and if he does, he hides under the table, and tries to see if I can tell he’s already there. At the end of the day, I ask my students for a hug or high five, and this lil one keeps upgrading the intensity of his hugs, to the point that he goes out the back door of the classroom, waits for all the other kids to go and then sprints full speed into my arms, almost knocking me over for a spinning hug! I am so sad that I only have 2 more weeks with this bundle of JOY, his family was in Salatiga for Language school, but is moving to another island to continue with their work.
On Fridays I send home all their work for the week, but do not give any homework. My students were very upset by this idea to the point that they broke out, pounding on their desks, chanting…..”Homework, Homework, We want Homework.” I was shocked; I never thought I would encounter such a thing!
All my students have lost at least one tooth since the beginning of the year, so I started reading a Junie B Jones chapter book where she loses her teeth, and my students are hooked , they love it! We sit in a circle after lunch, and over dramatize the story and sometimes we act little parts out as I read.
Since I am a little ADD, and when my first graders are a little distracted or sat in one place too long, it makes me even more distracted….so we take full advantage of the large campus, and have parts of instruction in the gym, pavilion, under a shade tree or on the back steps everyday! We typically do language or Math centers or both everyday too.
Sorry that was long….I will try to write some shorter, more frequent updates!
