Dear Friend,
How was your week? Mine was good. This weekend I was able to practice piano, so that was exciting. My school has one real piano, an upright. On Friday afternoons I ask the music teacher if I can have the key for the weekend so I can practice piano. This is going to become a regular routine I believe. I have bible study on Friday nights at 5 pm, so I can practice from 3:30-5 and then come in on Saturday or Sunday too. I am relearning Deux Arabesque by Debussy, and brushing up on a couple of other pieces I know.
Wednesday was payday so I went shopping to buy a few more big items that the house needed. I was in line, waiting to have my things rung up, and this sort of sing song chanting goes over the speaker system. One of the store clerks who was holding a cup of water says something in Indonesian along the lines of "Finally, thank you" and he took a sip of water. Odd? Perhaps, then again, maybe not. You see, we are in the month of fasting for Ramadan. Muslims do not eat or drink or even swallow between the hours of 4 am and 6 pm. The chanting that was heard at 6 pm, while I was standing in line, was the nation wide call announcing the breaking of the fast. It is all very intriuging. In fact, yesterday I was at the mall buying some school supplies for my classroom, and as I was leaving, all the restaurants were FULL. Everyone was sitting down, they had their food in front of them... but NO ONE was eating. This is because it was not yet 6 and the breaking of the fast had not begun, they were just preparing!
The chanting is really soothing. In fact, sometimes I have woken up at 4 or 4:30 and you can hear them chanting in the distance. For quite a while, too. It is a nice quiet soothing back ground sound.
This week we are launching book month in junior school. Each grade will read a different (simplified) classic book. First grade will read A Little Princess. I believe it is later version of Sara Crew by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Sara Crew is one of my favorite books. Second Grade will read Gulliver's Travels, and third grade will read Treasure Island. I did not know what either of these books were about until early Saturday morning.
Saturdays are meant for sleeping in, right? Well, apparently a pesky little mosquito thought differently this Saturday. I woke up around 3 am with mosquito bites on my legs, I turned on the light trying to spot the insect and squash it, but he was too clever and decided to hide. I went back to sleep until around 4:30 a.m. I heard a buzzing in my ear, I quickly turned on the light in order to turn off his lights, but he disappeared again. One hour later, I was woken up in the same fashion, a buzzing in my ear, I flung my hands around my head and then turned on the light. I decided to give up on sleeping, and instead I read every single one of these simplified classic books! I have checked out the real versions of Gulliver's Travel and Treasure Island, so over the 10 day break coming up in a week and a half I will read them. That way I can tell my students some stories that may not have been added to their versions.
Even though that mosquito was annoying, he actually knew me very well, because my favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning is to read. I love waking up and reading before anyone knows you are up. Sometimes, if I can manage it, I wake up, sneak into the kitchen and grab a cup of hot chocolate and then sneak back into bed to read. It is important that no one knows I am awake or else it spoils the enchantment of reading in bed. Once someone knows you are awake, they want to talk, or have breakfast or do something besides reading. Apparently if you are awake and reading in bed you are being unsocial, but it is perfectly fine to sleep in until forever. Once I am awake and doing things in the day, it is hard for me to sit down and read again, so mornings before the days begin are my favorite time to read.
When is your favorite time to read?
Anything fun happening for you this week?
Well if you don't know of anything, I hope something fun and unexpected comes up!
Let me know!
Rebekah E.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Smiles and Motorbikes
Dear Friend,
I had an amazing day today. It is horrible to say this, but today is the first time, since I have been in Indonesia, that I really enjoyed being a teacher. It all started with first grade. You will remember I was sick on Friday, so I had not seen them for 3 days. Monday is my day to lead devotions with first grade, so I told them the story about Daniel in the lions den. Then we sang Jesus Loves Me and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. We have been singing these songs with the motions a lot for the first graders to gain familiarity. I don't know what it was, but something about singing those songs and seeing the kids finally doing the motions and smiling because they enjoyed it, made me so happy. I love singing, it is an awesome way to start the day, and to share that with my students was just what I needed. Then at break time I was talking some the third graders and just watching them made me smile. Perhaps I finally felt apart of the place and not just someone acting like she knows what she is doing. Whatever it was, I had a wonderful day and truly enjoyed teaching my students.
On other news, I rode on the back of different motorbikes 5 times today... sidesaddle! I would call them motorcycles but they aren't as big and hunky as most motorcycles in America. Motorbikes are one of the main modes of transportation here in Indonesia. Here is my story:
Every morning I walk to school, and I am usually carrying at least one majorly overloaded bag and then a few more small bags. My friend drives a motorbike to school and I think he takes pity on me the young bag lady, so if he sees me walking to school he typically stops and lets me hop on. Since I have to wear a uniform to school, I am usually in a skirt, so I have to ride side saddle. That was incident number one.
Next, I had to run to the bank and it is only open during school hours. We are aloud to leave if we get permission, so I went with someone from the finance department who was already going. Unfortunately, I brought the wrong thing, so I ran outside and hopped on an ojek. An ojek is a guy with a motorbike who will ride you wherever you need to go for a very small fee. Sort of like a taxi. They are all around just waiting for someone to need a ride. He drove me to my house, I hopped off, paid him and run into my house as he rides away. I immediately find my bank books and run out of the house. An ojek sees me and asks if I need a ride by clapping his hands together. I, in response, clap back to tell him I would like a ride. He pulls on his helmet and rides over to where I am (Only the drivers need to wear helmets). I ask him to take me to the bank and he does. After that, I have to catch another ojek back to school. By this time I am running out of the small bills you pay with so I had to pay him with a few bills and then coins. I felt so bad. So far that is four rides. My last one happens after school.
Tomorrow is Indonesia's Independence day so everyone has a flag hanging in their yard and the day off. Since I was sick over the weekend I decided to go to school and get some work done. But first I needed colored paper to print on. So I walked to the mall to buy various colors of printing paper. I also bought some snacks for my fun day at a deserted school. So I'm walking out of the mall carrying three heavy bags, one of which is over sized. One of the ojeks that was waiting outside the mall saw me and gave me a ride home. I was still wearing a skirt so I had to ride side saddle again and he zoomed off! Seriously that was the first time I was a little scared on one of those things and thought I might fall off. Of course I was holding my over sized shopping bag and trying to balance side saddle so I had a right to be a little nervous. I mean, if it's a friend driving you can hold on to their arm or something, but a stranger, no thank you!
I have only ridden on the back of a motorcycle once before and that was with a helmet on. I actually really enjoy riding ojeks. The wind blows in your face and I now know what a dog feels like sticking his head out the window of a moving car. It feels refreshing and exhilarating, I can't help but smile while I am on the back of one! If you ever come and visit, I am making you ride one. Just like if I ever take you to Japan we are riding the trains at rush hour. Now there is something ironic! Japan is such a closed big personal bubble sort of culture, but when it comes to rush hour you are seriously pushed into the train standing back to back, butt to butt.
If I were to bring you one snack from Indonesia, it would be chocolate cigars. It is an amazing invention. It is a little wafer cigar about five inches tall and it is filled with chocolate. It is great! I mean, if you need a chocolate fix, this will suffice. You will not even need a second one. The amount of chocolate in each bite is wonderful, and it is soft chocolate with a crunch of a waffer. I mean, you know me, I am by birth a chocoholic, I am Swiss!
Well, I miss talking with you,
Your friend,
Rebekah E.
P.S. I just realized that I am once again in a county whose flag colors are red and white. My birth country, Switzerland, is red with a white cross. Japan, the country I grew up in, is white with a red circle. America is red and white... with some blue. Now Indonesia is half red and half white. Funny huh?
I had an amazing day today. It is horrible to say this, but today is the first time, since I have been in Indonesia, that I really enjoyed being a teacher. It all started with first grade. You will remember I was sick on Friday, so I had not seen them for 3 days. Monday is my day to lead devotions with first grade, so I told them the story about Daniel in the lions den. Then we sang Jesus Loves Me and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. We have been singing these songs with the motions a lot for the first graders to gain familiarity. I don't know what it was, but something about singing those songs and seeing the kids finally doing the motions and smiling because they enjoyed it, made me so happy. I love singing, it is an awesome way to start the day, and to share that with my students was just what I needed. Then at break time I was talking some the third graders and just watching them made me smile. Perhaps I finally felt apart of the place and not just someone acting like she knows what she is doing. Whatever it was, I had a wonderful day and truly enjoyed teaching my students.
On other news, I rode on the back of different motorbikes 5 times today... sidesaddle! I would call them motorcycles but they aren't as big and hunky as most motorcycles in America. Motorbikes are one of the main modes of transportation here in Indonesia. Here is my story:
Every morning I walk to school, and I am usually carrying at least one majorly overloaded bag and then a few more small bags. My friend drives a motorbike to school and I think he takes pity on me the young bag lady, so if he sees me walking to school he typically stops and lets me hop on. Since I have to wear a uniform to school, I am usually in a skirt, so I have to ride side saddle. That was incident number one.
Next, I had to run to the bank and it is only open during school hours. We are aloud to leave if we get permission, so I went with someone from the finance department who was already going. Unfortunately, I brought the wrong thing, so I ran outside and hopped on an ojek. An ojek is a guy with a motorbike who will ride you wherever you need to go for a very small fee. Sort of like a taxi. They are all around just waiting for someone to need a ride. He drove me to my house, I hopped off, paid him and run into my house as he rides away. I immediately find my bank books and run out of the house. An ojek sees me and asks if I need a ride by clapping his hands together. I, in response, clap back to tell him I would like a ride. He pulls on his helmet and rides over to where I am (Only the drivers need to wear helmets). I ask him to take me to the bank and he does. After that, I have to catch another ojek back to school. By this time I am running out of the small bills you pay with so I had to pay him with a few bills and then coins. I felt so bad. So far that is four rides. My last one happens after school.
Tomorrow is Indonesia's Independence day so everyone has a flag hanging in their yard and the day off. Since I was sick over the weekend I decided to go to school and get some work done. But first I needed colored paper to print on. So I walked to the mall to buy various colors of printing paper. I also bought some snacks for my fun day at a deserted school. So I'm walking out of the mall carrying three heavy bags, one of which is over sized. One of the ojeks that was waiting outside the mall saw me and gave me a ride home. I was still wearing a skirt so I had to ride side saddle again and he zoomed off! Seriously that was the first time I was a little scared on one of those things and thought I might fall off. Of course I was holding my over sized shopping bag and trying to balance side saddle so I had a right to be a little nervous. I mean, if it's a friend driving you can hold on to their arm or something, but a stranger, no thank you!
I have only ridden on the back of a motorcycle once before and that was with a helmet on. I actually really enjoy riding ojeks. The wind blows in your face and I now know what a dog feels like sticking his head out the window of a moving car. It feels refreshing and exhilarating, I can't help but smile while I am on the back of one! If you ever come and visit, I am making you ride one. Just like if I ever take you to Japan we are riding the trains at rush hour. Now there is something ironic! Japan is such a closed big personal bubble sort of culture, but when it comes to rush hour you are seriously pushed into the train standing back to back, butt to butt.
If I were to bring you one snack from Indonesia, it would be chocolate cigars. It is an amazing invention. It is a little wafer cigar about five inches tall and it is filled with chocolate. It is great! I mean, if you need a chocolate fix, this will suffice. You will not even need a second one. The amount of chocolate in each bite is wonderful, and it is soft chocolate with a crunch of a waffer. I mean, you know me, I am by birth a chocoholic, I am Swiss!
Well, I miss talking with you,
Your friend,
Rebekah E.
P.S. I just realized that I am once again in a county whose flag colors are red and white. My birth country, Switzerland, is red with a white cross. Japan, the country I grew up in, is white with a red circle. America is red and white... with some blue. Now Indonesia is half red and half white. Funny huh?
Friday, August 13, 2010
My One Month Gift
Dear Friend,
Friday was the mark of my first month in Indonesia. I arrived on the 13th of July. As a 'happy one month' present my body decided to give me either food poisoning or the 24 hour bug. Yup that's right, I was up all night and had to miss school on Friday thanks to this one month present. Thankfully it went away 24 hours later. I just wonder what will be my two month gift. (-:
It was good to know I had so many friends praying for me to get better! Even if I am in a new country without knowing too many people here, I am still able to talk to and write to others and let them know what is going on. That definitely was comforting.
So during devotions I have been reading the book of Daniel. I hadn't realized that when Shadrack, Meshack and Abendego are thrown into the furnace and then come out unharmed or anything, king Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God and declares that anyone that says anything against God would be cut to pieces. And he was the ruler of a vast area, of people from all over and of many different languages. Then Nebuchadnezzar went crazy and only when he humbled himself before God was his sanity restored and he declared "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven...." (Daniel 4:37). Then, when Daniel is thrown into the lions den and comes out unharmed the King Darius declares to all the nations that everyone must revere the God of Daniel. That's as far as I have read so far, but I am just impressed that these rulers of so many people would declare and testify to everyone about the might of God.
That was way back then, I wonder how the rulers and high up people in this day and age are being influenced or touched by God and how it is affecting their lives and the lives of others. SPH has a goal of raising Christian servant leaders so that these students can study and become high up Christian leaders in Indonesia and have such a good influence on the country. I am excited to see what the future brings with that.
Till next time my friend,
res
Friday was the mark of my first month in Indonesia. I arrived on the 13th of July. As a 'happy one month' present my body decided to give me either food poisoning or the 24 hour bug. Yup that's right, I was up all night and had to miss school on Friday thanks to this one month present. Thankfully it went away 24 hours later. I just wonder what will be my two month gift. (-:
It was good to know I had so many friends praying for me to get better! Even if I am in a new country without knowing too many people here, I am still able to talk to and write to others and let them know what is going on. That definitely was comforting.
So during devotions I have been reading the book of Daniel. I hadn't realized that when Shadrack, Meshack and Abendego are thrown into the furnace and then come out unharmed or anything, king Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God and declares that anyone that says anything against God would be cut to pieces. And he was the ruler of a vast area, of people from all over and of many different languages. Then Nebuchadnezzar went crazy and only when he humbled himself before God was his sanity restored and he declared "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven...." (Daniel 4:37). Then, when Daniel is thrown into the lions den and comes out unharmed the King Darius declares to all the nations that everyone must revere the God of Daniel. That's as far as I have read so far, but I am just impressed that these rulers of so many people would declare and testify to everyone about the might of God.
That was way back then, I wonder how the rulers and high up people in this day and age are being influenced or touched by God and how it is affecting their lives and the lives of others. SPH has a goal of raising Christian servant leaders so that these students can study and become high up Christian leaders in Indonesia and have such a good influence on the country. I am excited to see what the future brings with that.
Till next time my friend,
res
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Dinner, Long Sleeves & Downpours
Dear Friend,
Would you like to come over for dinner some time? I miss eating with people. It is a drastic change eating with multiple people a week at college to not having anyone to eat with. I mean in college if you wanted to you could eat alone, you could eat in the great hall with tons of people that you recognize but few that you know, you could have a friend down to the apartments to share a meal, you could have a friend over to watch you eat and have a good conversation, or you could even go to 75 cent tacos at Amigos... the list goes on and on. Now I find myself eating dinner alone without the option of having anyone over to have a conversation with or to share a meal. Drastic change? I think so.
Another thing I know I will miss soon enough is long sleeves. Since we are on the equator the temperature is not going to change. There are two seasons wet and dry, but not cold! I like cold! I like wearing long sleeves, they are my cozy comfort clothes. Hopefully I will be going to Japan for Christmas where I will have to wear long sleeves! Yeay!
In case you are wondering, we are currently in the dry season. There has been some rain, but not too much. Thankfully, I have not been caught in a downpour yet. I'm sure I will at some point, I am kind of excited for that. Imagine with me: you are walking home after a long day of work; you walk slowly because of your heavy bag on your shoulder full of work things to do at home. All of a sudden the heavens let loose a massive bucket of water. Perhaps you begin to run so you don't get drenched, then you stop, realizing that you are already drenched so getting home in two minutes or five minutes won't make much of a difference. You smile and decide to causally walk home. While walking, you think of how exciting it is to get caught in the rain with no option but to get wet. You stop, look up at the sky and just enjoy this experience that may not happen to often. Thankfully it is warm so you are not freezing and shivering, you are just wet. Finally you are home, in a dry place. At this point I hope you are laughing with enjoyment at being drenched. The only thing better than this is if you had a friend that was walking home with you that also got drenched so you both could enjoy the moment together. I think that would be fun, don't you?
I'm sure I will let you know if it happens,
Your friend,
res
P.S. Ramadan began today. That is where Muslims fast from sun up to sun down. They are not even allowed to drink anything. Pray for them, this fast is 30 days long.
Would you like to come over for dinner some time? I miss eating with people. It is a drastic change eating with multiple people a week at college to not having anyone to eat with. I mean in college if you wanted to you could eat alone, you could eat in the great hall with tons of people that you recognize but few that you know, you could have a friend down to the apartments to share a meal, you could have a friend over to watch you eat and have a good conversation, or you could even go to 75 cent tacos at Amigos... the list goes on and on. Now I find myself eating dinner alone without the option of having anyone over to have a conversation with or to share a meal. Drastic change? I think so.
Another thing I know I will miss soon enough is long sleeves. Since we are on the equator the temperature is not going to change. There are two seasons wet and dry, but not cold! I like cold! I like wearing long sleeves, they are my cozy comfort clothes. Hopefully I will be going to Japan for Christmas where I will have to wear long sleeves! Yeay!
In case you are wondering, we are currently in the dry season. There has been some rain, but not too much. Thankfully, I have not been caught in a downpour yet. I'm sure I will at some point, I am kind of excited for that. Imagine with me: you are walking home after a long day of work; you walk slowly because of your heavy bag on your shoulder full of work things to do at home. All of a sudden the heavens let loose a massive bucket of water. Perhaps you begin to run so you don't get drenched, then you stop, realizing that you are already drenched so getting home in two minutes or five minutes won't make much of a difference. You smile and decide to causally walk home. While walking, you think of how exciting it is to get caught in the rain with no option but to get wet. You stop, look up at the sky and just enjoy this experience that may not happen to often. Thankfully it is warm so you are not freezing and shivering, you are just wet. Finally you are home, in a dry place. At this point I hope you are laughing with enjoyment at being drenched. The only thing better than this is if you had a friend that was walking home with you that also got drenched so you both could enjoy the moment together. I think that would be fun, don't you?
I'm sure I will let you know if it happens,
Your friend,
res
P.S. Ramadan began today. That is where Muslims fast from sun up to sun down. They are not even allowed to drink anything. Pray for them, this fast is 30 days long.
Monday, August 9, 2010
PYP and Batik
Dear Friend,
How was your weekend? Mine was wonderful.
My weekend sort of started on Friday. Instead of going to school, I had to go to an all day PYP induction. PYP stands for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program. It was an all day event with all the new primary grade teachers within the Sekolah Pelita Harapan (SPH) system. In case you don't know, Sekolah Pelita Harapan means School of Light and Hope. I work at the SPH in Lippo Cikarang, and the induction was at another SPH a couple hours away. So my journey started at 5:30 am.
Thankfully there were two other teachers going to the same school, one for the same PYP induction, and the other for an IT meeting; both of these teachers were Indonesian. I'm sure you already know it, but I am a morning person, so even though it was 5:30 am, I ended up receiving a Bahasa Indonesian lesson during our car ride. I now know the days of the week in Bahasa Indonesia. As a result of this initial lesson, I might receive more lessons in return for English lessons. I think that is a fair trade, don't you?
The PYP induction was reaffirming in what I was taught at Covenant College. Even though we use different words, the ideas are the same. The biggest thing that got me was the idea of a thematic unit. I learned a lot about thematic units at Covenant College. However, during this session, I found others to view thematic units as very shallow. They thought it was a topic title, such as dinosours, with which you teach everything in an artificial way, such as using dinosaur figures for math because that is our 'theme'. Instead of thematic units, PYP aspires to use a transdisciplinary method where everything is taught under one idea or concept with no distinct lines between disciplines. The concept behind transdisciplinary method is very similar to the sort of thematic units that Covenant taught me to use. To me, a thematic unit is not just a shallow topic used to teach each discipline, it is a substantial core idea that guides the unit planning, weaving together the different disciplines. My view of a thematic unit is much deeper than the view that others had at this induction. I found that very interesting. I would almost equalize my idea of a thematic unit with the PYP idea of a transdisciplinary unit, almost.
Anyways, sorry for all that education talk, if it made no sense what so ever, that's fine.
That afternoon, rather than going home, I went to the SPH in Sentul to meet some other teachers my age. In fact, I spent the weekend there. It rains a lot more in Sentul than it does in Lippo Cikarang! I'm talking torrential downpours every day! No joke! Thankfully I was always in a car or a house when it was coming down hard!
On Saturday we ventured out into the busy streets to find a fabric store. The streets were so busy, there may be two lanes painted but at least three being used with motorbikes weaving through also! As we drove by the palace gates I surprisingly saw deer. Not just a couple, but the whole area within the gates are filled with does and deers. What a random sight! We did find a fabric store I bought a lovely green and gold batik fabric. Batik is a special designed fabric made in Indonesia. With this fabric I plan to make a cover for the big water dispenser in the dining room. The tap water here is not drinkable so I buy big jugs of water that you attach to a water dispenser. In addition to that, I want to make a small purse and a tube holder for plastic bags. I do not have a sewing machine, so I might try to sew by hand because that would be quite a fun project. I will pretend I am back in the days of Jane Austen!
The fabric and the deers were probably the highlight of my weekend. During this weekend I also went to church, had quality conversations with new friends and planned all my lessons for this week. It is going to be a fun week! The third graders are going to write scripts for common folk tales and then they will act them out. In second grade we are going to listen to the orchestra music of Peter and the Wolf while David Bowie narrates the story along with the orchestra. I am very excited for this lesson and I hope it does not flop!
I hope your upcoming week is exciting too!
Let me know!
Your Friend,
res
P.S. Please pray for the third grade teacher at my school. She has been in the hospital since Thursday. She is pregnant and they found out that she has a large gallbladder stone. I'm not sure yet what they will do since she is pregnant and all. Please pray that she feels comfort and that this will go away without an operation. Thanks!
How was your weekend? Mine was wonderful.
My weekend sort of started on Friday. Instead of going to school, I had to go to an all day PYP induction. PYP stands for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program. It was an all day event with all the new primary grade teachers within the Sekolah Pelita Harapan (SPH) system. In case you don't know, Sekolah Pelita Harapan means School of Light and Hope. I work at the SPH in Lippo Cikarang, and the induction was at another SPH a couple hours away. So my journey started at 5:30 am.
Thankfully there were two other teachers going to the same school, one for the same PYP induction, and the other for an IT meeting; both of these teachers were Indonesian. I'm sure you already know it, but I am a morning person, so even though it was 5:30 am, I ended up receiving a Bahasa Indonesian lesson during our car ride. I now know the days of the week in Bahasa Indonesia. As a result of this initial lesson, I might receive more lessons in return for English lessons. I think that is a fair trade, don't you?
The PYP induction was reaffirming in what I was taught at Covenant College. Even though we use different words, the ideas are the same. The biggest thing that got me was the idea of a thematic unit. I learned a lot about thematic units at Covenant College. However, during this session, I found others to view thematic units as very shallow. They thought it was a topic title, such as dinosours, with which you teach everything in an artificial way, such as using dinosaur figures for math because that is our 'theme'. Instead of thematic units, PYP aspires to use a transdisciplinary method where everything is taught under one idea or concept with no distinct lines between disciplines. The concept behind transdisciplinary method is very similar to the sort of thematic units that Covenant taught me to use. To me, a thematic unit is not just a shallow topic used to teach each discipline, it is a substantial core idea that guides the unit planning, weaving together the different disciplines. My view of a thematic unit is much deeper than the view that others had at this induction. I found that very interesting. I would almost equalize my idea of a thematic unit with the PYP idea of a transdisciplinary unit, almost.
Anyways, sorry for all that education talk, if it made no sense what so ever, that's fine.
That afternoon, rather than going home, I went to the SPH in Sentul to meet some other teachers my age. In fact, I spent the weekend there. It rains a lot more in Sentul than it does in Lippo Cikarang! I'm talking torrential downpours every day! No joke! Thankfully I was always in a car or a house when it was coming down hard!
On Saturday we ventured out into the busy streets to find a fabric store. The streets were so busy, there may be two lanes painted but at least three being used with motorbikes weaving through also! As we drove by the palace gates I surprisingly saw deer. Not just a couple, but the whole area within the gates are filled with does and deers. What a random sight! We did find a fabric store I bought a lovely green and gold batik fabric. Batik is a special designed fabric made in Indonesia. With this fabric I plan to make a cover for the big water dispenser in the dining room. The tap water here is not drinkable so I buy big jugs of water that you attach to a water dispenser. In addition to that, I want to make a small purse and a tube holder for plastic bags. I do not have a sewing machine, so I might try to sew by hand because that would be quite a fun project. I will pretend I am back in the days of Jane Austen!
The fabric and the deers were probably the highlight of my weekend. During this weekend I also went to church, had quality conversations with new friends and planned all my lessons for this week. It is going to be a fun week! The third graders are going to write scripts for common folk tales and then they will act them out. In second grade we are going to listen to the orchestra music of Peter and the Wolf while David Bowie narrates the story along with the orchestra. I am very excited for this lesson and I hope it does not flop!
I hope your upcoming week is exciting too!
Let me know!
Your Friend,
res
P.S. Please pray for the third grade teacher at my school. She has been in the hospital since Thursday. She is pregnant and they found out that she has a large gallbladder stone. I'm not sure yet what they will do since she is pregnant and all. Please pray that she feels comfort and that this will go away without an operation. Thanks!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Lightning Bolts and Comfort Zones
Dear Friend,
Tonight as I was walking home I was continually amazed by the evening sky being lit by a lightning shower. I didn't hear any thunder nor feel any rain, I only saw the entire sky filled with light for a brief second. I don't know why, but for some reason I always feel inspired to write someone when I see lightning like that. Maybe I just want to share the amazing experience with someone. I mean, for one flash of light to fill the sky for miles and miles is incredible! It's like being able to physically see, for just one second, the power of God covering the whole earth. At least, that is what it reminds me of.
Anyways, how are you doing? I am eager to hear how life over on your side of hte world is going. As you know, I am currently teaching in Indonesia. I have been here for 3 weeks and one day. It feels like I have been here for a lot longer than that. I like Indonesia. It's not as hot as I expected, or perhaps I am just never outside when it is extremely hot. I haven't learned too much Bahasa Indonesian yet. I figured I should get used to being a new teacher and being in a new country before I start to intensely learn the language.
You know, I haven't gone through any culture shock yet. Perhaps that will come, but I honestly don't think it will. (You will probably read a letter from me in a while saying, "Ha, what was I thining? Of course the culture shock was going to come, and boy did it!" But that will be another day, not today.) The reason why I don't think it will come is that I am back in my odd comfort zone. I am once again living in an Asian country, eating quality rice every day, and I not understanding a word of anything anyone says around me. I know, you are probably thinking, "Dude, that's not normal." But for me that is, remember, I grew up in Japan, loved the Japanese food which included at least one serving of rice each day, and I sadly didn't learn the language fluently so I never fully knew what anyone around me was saying unless I was at home or school.
School here is going well. As you know I am teaching Language Arts for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. My first day was a little tough. I started out with first grade and I had a lot of fun things planned I thought, but it turned out not being enough. We had story time where I read them my newest favorite kids book Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. Such a fun book! If you haven't read it, I suggest you do! First I read it to them, then we listened to the CD recording of the story and I taught the students the dance that the author, Eric Litwin, taught me at a conference last year. Then I taught them alphabet aerobics and we started slowly and kept speeding it up, finally we played a name game to help me learn their names. Regardless, I still had extra time and I ended up teaching them the procedure for getting the reading books from the back of the room. So not being adequately planned for that class threw me off and the rest of the day was rough because of it. As a result to that day, I have over planned every single day since for every single class.
I haven't had one of those 'go home and cry' days yet. I almost cried that first day, but in the end, there were no tears shed.Perhaps that day will also be in a later letter.
I hope you are doing well and look forward to hearing from you,
Till next time,
res
Tonight as I was walking home I was continually amazed by the evening sky being lit by a lightning shower. I didn't hear any thunder nor feel any rain, I only saw the entire sky filled with light for a brief second. I don't know why, but for some reason I always feel inspired to write someone when I see lightning like that. Maybe I just want to share the amazing experience with someone. I mean, for one flash of light to fill the sky for miles and miles is incredible! It's like being able to physically see, for just one second, the power of God covering the whole earth. At least, that is what it reminds me of.
Anyways, how are you doing? I am eager to hear how life over on your side of hte world is going. As you know, I am currently teaching in Indonesia. I have been here for 3 weeks and one day. It feels like I have been here for a lot longer than that. I like Indonesia. It's not as hot as I expected, or perhaps I am just never outside when it is extremely hot. I haven't learned too much Bahasa Indonesian yet. I figured I should get used to being a new teacher and being in a new country before I start to intensely learn the language.
You know, I haven't gone through any culture shock yet. Perhaps that will come, but I honestly don't think it will. (You will probably read a letter from me in a while saying, "Ha, what was I thining? Of course the culture shock was going to come, and boy did it!" But that will be another day, not today.) The reason why I don't think it will come is that I am back in my odd comfort zone. I am once again living in an Asian country, eating quality rice every day, and I not understanding a word of anything anyone says around me. I know, you are probably thinking, "Dude, that's not normal." But for me that is, remember, I grew up in Japan, loved the Japanese food which included at least one serving of rice each day, and I sadly didn't learn the language fluently so I never fully knew what anyone around me was saying unless I was at home or school.
School here is going well. As you know I am teaching Language Arts for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. My first day was a little tough. I started out with first grade and I had a lot of fun things planned I thought, but it turned out not being enough. We had story time where I read them my newest favorite kids book Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. Such a fun book! If you haven't read it, I suggest you do! First I read it to them, then we listened to the CD recording of the story and I taught the students the dance that the author, Eric Litwin, taught me at a conference last year. Then I taught them alphabet aerobics and we started slowly and kept speeding it up, finally we played a name game to help me learn their names. Regardless, I still had extra time and I ended up teaching them the procedure for getting the reading books from the back of the room. So not being adequately planned for that class threw me off and the rest of the day was rough because of it. As a result to that day, I have over planned every single day since for every single class.
I haven't had one of those 'go home and cry' days yet. I almost cried that first day, but in the end, there were no tears shed.Perhaps that day will also be in a later letter.
I hope you are doing well and look forward to hearing from you,
Till next time,
res
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