The First School Week = First Impressions

August 11, 2010

Wow! After four years of college, I finally have my own classroom and a “regular” “full time” job! School started Tuesday. This is an International school so we are using American Curriculum and attempting to meet American standards, yet we are less than half Americans. I have children from Switzerland, Holland, Korea, India and the United States. Many of them are still struggling with the English language and they all experience varying levels of difficulty being “third culture kids.” A since of where do I belong? And Where am I from? Lingers. I also put “full time” in quotations because like many first year teachers, I have spent many hours at school since I have been in Indonesia. I feel like I have lived at school the last few days, only going home to crash at 11pm.

I have been really busy and slightly overwhelmed by my first year of teaching first grade and all that it entails…….. but over all I have been loving almost every minute of it! I love teaching, having my own classroom and students. I feel especially blessed to be at an amazing school like Mountainview. I only have 10 students (so far), so the class size is really nice, the students are really good(so far;)), I get along really well with all the faculty. I have great support staff like our fill in Principal (Ginger), Secretary (Ibu Hesti), and my TA (Pita). They have been great about if I need something, they will find it or make a suggestion of how to improvise. At first I didn’t have my curriculum and know how I wanted to teach, so I didn’t know what to do with my help, but now I have found a ton of things that an assistant can help with! The curriculum was not as rigorous as typical for the United States last year and many were set back by just learning English for the first time. The new curriculum is closer tied to the U.S., so now I have to play catch up with these kids. They are sweet fresh babes who are overwhelmed by a reeeeaaaalllllly long day. This is their first week back, and none of them have gone to school all day every day of the week. Before lunch, they are already asking, is it time to go home soon? I love their sweet smiles and joyful hearts!

Thank you for all your prayers and support in this time, I really feel your prayers…I have had way more strength than I should the last few days. And many of you made encouraging comments on my facebook wall too that really blessed me!

Some first day shocks………….When you go to an international school in Indonesia it typical that your helper brings your lunch freshly prepared to school, and that your driver comes and pick you up!...Im not joking, these are my first graders! Manuel labor is really cheap here, and the saying I have heard often to describe what seems a little ridiculous is, Either you have a helper, or you are one. Having a helper, is giving someone a job. Honestly, I could not teach, at least not well without my helper. The way shopping is done here (daily in the very chaotic market), clothes are washed here (by hand), food that I know how to cook is expensive, fruits and vegetables need to be washed very well (or I will get sick), things get dirty very quickly….to say the least, I wouldn’t survive very well without my helper…Ibu Citi…..and my wonderful friends who translate for me about random things at random times.

My new Home

My pre-school teacher meetings are now done, and my classroom is almost set for classes to start on Tuesday…or at least as ready as it is going to be before school starts. All last week I tried to get up with the sun in order to exercise and explore the town before I had to be at or 8am meetings. Then I typically stayed at school until 9pm or so working on my classroom, trying to get it ready! It has been a very fun and exciting yet also tiring week.
Some highlights were when my roommate(Valerie) and I bought used bikes in the market. That way I can get to school quicker, explore/navigate through the town, exercise, and ride out in the mountains by the rice paddies…so beautiful!
On Friday, we had a worship service with all the national workers, and then went out into the nearby streets and park and did some clean up.
We also had a family reunion once all the staff had returned with team building activities, burgers and potluck and fireworks. I never thought baking my favorite cookie bars could be such a complicated process(trying to say, find, and buy the ingredients, get the stove to work)
I constantly find myself trying to say things in Spanish. The language barrier makes doing just about anything outside of the Mountainview English speaking community extremely difficult.
We had to hire a new helper named Ibu Citi that does most of our grocery shopping (in the market), cook us a meal a day, washes all our laundry by hand, and cleans our house. Hired help is essential when being a foreigner and trying to also teach. When I first got here, I doubted how much we would need here, but know I understand. Shopping is done mostly in the market and involves going to many different stores and bargaining in Indonesian for each item you buy. Having Ibu Citi’s help makes a big difference! We have internet at our house, but it also broke twice this week, and we had to go home for someone to fix it.
Today I rent a car with five other teachers to go to Semarang with a walmart like place, movie theatre, and mall. And tomorrow will be back to work after church!

My new Home

My pre-school teacher meetings are now done, and my classroom is almost set for classes to start on Tuesday…or at least as ready as it is going to be before school starts. All last week I tried to get up with the sun in order to exercise and explore the town before I had to be at or 8am meetings. Then I typically stayed at school until 9pm or so working on my classroom, trying to get it ready! It has been a very fun and exciting yet also tiring week.
Some highlights were when my roommate(Valerie) and I bought used bikes in the market. That way I can get to school quicker, explore/navigate through the town, exercise, and ride out in the mountains by the rice paddies…so beautiful!
On Friday, we had a worship service with all the national workers, and then went out into the nearby streets and park and did some clean up.
We also had a family reunion once all the staff had returned with team building activities, burgers and potluck and fireworks. I never thought baking my favorite cookie bars could be such a complicated process(trying to say, find, and buy the ingredients, get the stove to work)
I constantly find myself trying to say things in Spanish. The language barrier makes doing just about anything outside of the Mountainview English speaking community extremely difficult.
We had to hire a new helper named Ibu Citi that does most of our grocery shopping (in the market), cook us a meal a day, washes all our laundry by hand, and cleans our house. Hired help is essential when being a foreigner and trying to also teach. When I first got here, I doubted how much we would need here, but know I understand. Shopping is done mostly in the market and involves going to many different stores and bargaining in Indonesian for each item you buy. Having Ibu Citi’s help makes a big difference! We have internet at our house, but it also broke twice this week, and we had to go home for someone to fix it.
Today I rent a car with five other teachers to go to Semarang with a walmart like place, movie theatre, and mall. And tomorrow will be back to work after church!

Beautifully Blessed by Four Specific People

Beautifully Blessed by Four Specific People
Wow, I am in awe of how God has taken care of me! I feel so blessed! I made all of my flights because all of them were at least an hour delayed. =) I watched lots of movies and slept a lot on the plane. I traveled GR-Chicago-Seoul, South Korea- Jakarta, Indonesia-Semarang, Indonesia. On my longest flight, I was blessed to be sitting next to a man who was traveling with his family of ten who were going to help run a Christian summer camp for 3 weeks. His four oldest children have a traveling Christian music group in the states. I love to see who God places next to me on planes, especially when they are 14 hours long! I had to stay in a hotel in Jakarta, because I had a long layover at night. The next big blessing was Yohanes, an Indonesian man who worked for the school, but was in Jakarta for the weekend and flew with me on my last flight. He made sure I made it to the hotel ok, and helped me with my domestic flight and took my luggage (so I didn’t have to pay any extra charges). I do not know what I would have done without Christine, who picked me up at the airport, preset up my house, showed me around my house, school, and town. She has gone out of her way to answer my thousands of questions, and always connect with all the right people. Last, but not least, on Monday night another blessing arrived, Valerie, my roommate arrived. She is a very sweet girl who will be teaching mostly ESL classes. She is originally from the Chicago area, but has spent the last year teaching just outside of Seoul, South Korea. We have discovered a lot of similar interests (running, swimming, traveling, etc..). We have had a lot of fun discovering everything new and brainstorming ideas to decorate our new house!
I have had many opportunities to connect and get to know most of the staff through a large prayer breakfast, small lunch outings, and an all-day shopping spree to the big city about 1.5-2 hours away. I am really excited to be able to be spending all year working with them at Mountainview. I have already spent a significant amount of time in my classroom, trying to get it ready for the school year. It feels so good to finally have my own classroom; I just wish I had a little more time to prepare! My teacher training starts Friday and there are several staff social events for the next week! It seems like there is a never ending list of little errands that need to be done for our helper, internet, insurance, broken refrigerators, broken water heaters, passport/visa needs, etc….. It is taking a while to learn who to contact and who can translate for me.

Next Stop: Indonesia

I have been very blessed to have many opportunities to teach and travel abroad. In less than a year, I have spent extended amounts of time teaching in Guatemala and Ghana, and now I just accepted a full time position teaching in Indonesia. About half of my little first graders will just have started learning English the year before. The majority of my students are children of missionaries in the area. I am very excited about this incredible opportunity to travel, teach, and serve at this school. I will also help out the dorm parents of the secondary students and hopefully coach cross country or swimming. I leave July 23rd and I am committed to a year. I will finish my commitment at the end of May 2011. It has been exciting for me to see how God has worked through my life and given me some incredible opportunities!