It's Been A While!

Dear Friend,

I am so sorry it has been forever since I have written! So much has happened! The last few months have been a whirlwind in my mind! I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it all. I think I will copy what one of my good friends does and give you a list of 5 highlights of things I've done in the past three months.

1. Jogja: I never told you about my Jogja trip. It was awesome, we got to see so many places and eat amazing food. My favorite part though was the train ride. We didn't fly to Jogja, instead we took an 8 hour long train ride. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I felt like I was watching a National Geographic show. The train takes you through all the rice fields and I feel like I got to see so much of Indonesia. I saw the whole process of growing rice: people plowing the fields, people planting the rice, the baby shoots, the 'teenage' shoots, the grown up stalks, people picking the stalks, people thrashing them, and even the rice drying on blue tarps. I saw the whole process, it was so cool to observe! I also saw water buffalo, kids playing soccer with little poles representing the goals, little girls washing clothes in the river, workers working on the rail roads, people selling food, little graveyards beside the rice fields, cranes (I once saw around 20 of them fly off together, it was beautiful), ducks, goats, and even someone training a pigeon. It was so neat! I would definitely recommend people taking the train to go places rather than always flying on an airplane.

2. Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands)- I went on another trip to the Thousand Islands. It was really fun. I loved sitting on the front of our little rented boat and dangling my feet over the edge. I realized that I had never experienced the ocean like that before! I was so up close to the sea, completely surrounded by water. I watched the little creatures swimming in the water while we drove by. It was so fun! I saw things that looked like krill and then Nemo started running through my head. Then I started talking whale like Dori, which then made me miss my sister Hannah! I also saw a sword fish swim by, some flying fish and jumping fish. Probably the craziest thing I did there was go snorkaling! I was a little scared of going because I am not the best swimmer, but I wore a life vest and was able to just float and relax. It was so cool to see the ocean life. The colors are incredible! I wish I knew more about fish and coral so I would know which fish eats what and then I could watch for that! We even found Nemo in some sea anemone. The best part was eating sea urchins. Yes, you did read that correctly. So sea urchins have these long spikes and you don't want to get stung by them! There is a special way to pick them up without getting stung, so we, meaning some people in the group (not including me), caught some. THEN they cracked them open, took out the little bit of flesh, washed it off in the ocean and ate it. It was really fishy! I felt like I needed some rice or something, but it was so fun to eat them right there!

3. Prince and the Pauper- Grade 6 had a massive group project where they put on a musical drama of the Prince and the Pauper. They were in charge of it all! They helped write the script, design the costumes, come up with props, everything. It was great! The coolest part was that they performed it with kids from Sanggar Anak Akar, a group of street kids in Jakarta that are really talented at drama and music. It was so neat to watch the kids interact with them and make good friendships. Anyways, all of the junior school teachers had to help out on the performance day. I was in charge of costumes, so on the day of the performances I ended up sewing on buttons that had popped off and sewing up a couple of pants that had ripped. It was fun to be able to help out! I love drama!

4. The end of School- I successfully finished my first year of teaching. It was a lot of fun and I am excited to go back next year! The end of the year was crazy! It seemed like there was no time to think, we just kept going, trying to finish up everything for student portfolios and report cards. My students were so fun and so talented. I loved reading my third graders stories, working on drama and dance performances with the second graders, and partner reading with first graders and reading their free writings. I am excited to have some of the same students next year, and some new ones too! God is good!

5. Ben's Wedding- As soon as school ended I came to America for my best guy friends wedding. We have known each other since we were one. Our families are all best friends. It was so much fun meeting his fiance who is now his wife, she is awesome! I can't believe he is married, but I am so happy for him. It was fun to help set up, to hang out with other CAJers (we had a little reunion) and just enjoy such a happy time together! I was actually in the wedding on Ben's side, which was such an honor. It was good to see his family again, but it was sad to say goodbye! It was my first time in California, but now I guess I will have to be back to visit.

Now I am in Chattanooga visiting family and friends. It is great to be back here. To be honest, this is the first time I have ever been excited to be in America, probably because I actually know people here!

Okay friend, I have to go to lunch with my grandma! Yeay!!!

I hope you are doing well!

Your friend,
Rebekah