A Week of Festivities!

It has been quite the busy and exciting week! One of my favorite parts. . .getting to wear something different to school each day :) [it really makes the days more exciting!]

Monday {normal uniform}

[haircut to come for Chris!]

[Feeling a little greasy after a hot walk home from school!]

Tuesday {National Batik Day. . .traditional Indonesian formal-wear}

[Chris with his grade 8 class]

[Aren't they so cute!? The boys have so much fun together, can you tell?!]

Wednesday {Indonesian Independence Day. . . no school + bbq}

[Chris and Jack (5th grade son of another teacher couple)]

[hangin' at the BBQ!]

Thursday 
{Celebrate Independence Day at School with RED and WHITE}

[Chris couldn't WAIT to wear his cougar's shirt! :) ]

The whole school got to celebrate by playing class games against other classes in the gym!

[One of my girls in the sack race!]

[Senior School students trying to eat rice cake[ish] things! Fun to watch!]

Friday {School-wide theme launch. . .wear theme shirts!}

[Sadly enough, we did not get to wear them today because the students didn't have theirs yet :( ]

Well, there you have it! A quick little recap of our busy week! We just have three more school days to go until we jump on a plane with Erik and Amanda to Bali! :) Can't wait!

Ramadan

Right now, Muslims are in the middle of observing Ramadan, a month long period of fasting. They wake up very early in the morning to cook and eat a large meal, then fast during the day until 6:00. This is when the party starts for them, and they feast! This also means that the mosques go CRAZY during this month! They still project the call to prayer over loud speakers 5 times a day, but it's even louder right now. The most devout Muslims take this time to pray 5 times every day. It's convicting to think that they spend so much time in prayer to a god that isn't personal. . .  It's a good reminder for us to do the same, but unfortunately more often than not, I get annoyed at the sound instead of inspired to pray. . .

Here's a little  video clip from several nights ago outside our balcony. We hear this mainly from 6:00 pm -9:00pm. 

Don't feel like you have to listen to it all. . .just keep in mind that you'd have to replay it approximately 180 times in order to hear it as long as we do every night. . .I did the math.

The end of Ramadan (about two weeks away) is celebrated with the Idul Fitri holiday. We've heard that the city of Jakarta is basically empty during this time, because it's 10 days designed for Muslims to travel back to where they're from to visit their families. It's a time of forgiveness. While all of the staff at our school are Christians, the custodial crew is not because they are contracted through an Indonesian company. This means that out of courtesy, we try not to eat or drink in front of them when possible (excluding the school's lunchtime of course). Something we learned in chapel today, is that the Idul Fitri compares to our 'holiday season' in the states in that it's a time of giving. So, as teachers, we are pooling money together to make gift baskets for the custodial staff. I thought this was a great idea by our principal because it shows that although we are not observing their time of fasting, we still respect and appreciate them, and all that they do for us.

Well, that's all for tonight. . . as I have been putting off my lesson planning for too long now. . .
Oops, never mind. . .time for a skyping with my Dad :)

Long Days, Short Weeks

Time is so different here. . .in more ways than one.

Rubber Time: this has been teaching us patience. There have been numerous instances between us, and Erik and Amanda, that we have experienced this.  . .

         --When the internet providers say they are coming "tomorrow at 4:00" it might mean tomorrow at 7:00, or even two days from then!

         --We have to drink water from big jugs that sit on top of a dispensers. They're pretty cheap to get refilled, but it's the only water we can drink without getting sick. Chris and I went to the little store at the base of our apartments and payed for water a couple mornings ago that we were supposed to get when we got back from school. When we went to pick it up, they said "tomorrow". They speak limited English so we just said okay, we'll come back tomorrow. Tomorrow comes around, and again. . .they say "tomorrow". On the third day, we finally got to talk to a guy who could explain to us that the water suppliers hadn't delivered it yet. It's a continuous circle. We went without water in our apartment for 3 days, and filled our water bottles at school before we came home. Water is a precious resource when you have to have clean water to brush your teeth too!

12 hours of sun: The sun rises and sets at 6:00 every day of the year. It's nice to walk to school in the "sunlight" (in quotes because rarely can we actually see the sun through the smog).
While we are up and working for many hours in the day, it seems like we work through the night because it gets dark so early! We usually only see the sun for about an hour and a half after we get off work.


Making the Most of our Time

Time management is crucial here, but very difficult. We can easily be at work for 10 hours and then feel like we need to work for several more after we get home. If we do this every night, there is nothing to break the cycle! We're working hard to find a balance between time spent working, and time spent experiencing life outside of work.

Our principal and his wife are our "host family". They have had us over to their place twice for dinner, and boy is that nice! Our principal has also been great in encouraging us to relax. The last time we went for dinner he told us to bring our swimsuits, and purposefully didn't plan dinner until 6:00 so we would HAVE to relax at the pool until then. He understands that you have to MAKE the time or else you won't find it.

Futsal! I was finally able to play some "soccer"! Futsal is basically playing soccer on a tennis court with a size 4 soccer ball that's a bit heavier than normal. The goals are a little smaller than the size of indoor soccer goals, and you play inside the lines instead of playing the walls. One of the PE teachers at our school plays every tuesday night and invited us to play. It's from 7:30-9ish. Neither of us felt like we had the time, but went anyways and it was the break we needed! It was therapy for me, and good exercise (I'm still sore)! yikes. Chris was an amazing goalie for us, and also had a hat trick on the field (I was a pretty proud wife :)
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While this has nothing to do with the rest of the post, I finally took some pictures of my classroom! :)

reading corner!

my desk!

  

view from the door

No-Bake

Before we leave Indo, I will be a no-bake pro. There are quite a few things we miss over here, but one of the big ones for me is. . .an OVEN! I'm not a great cook. Get rid of an oven. . .and it REALLY limits my options! Let's just say that cooking dinners is a s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e! We've learned one good Chicken Curry recipe with coconut milk that is delicious (from our Aussie friends Ben and Taryn)! So not only can I not make dinner, but I can't bake goodies :(

So, I decided to make Rice Krispie treats! I'm gonna find every no-bake recipe possible!
They were such a 'treat'! ;)

Stipulation: Chris does dishes, because those pans are gonna be a beast to clean the sticky off of! ;)

They're halfway gone already!

The boys sure enjoyed them [and mario kart wii]

Next up. . .no-bake oatmeal cookies :)

Monkey in Jakarta

I'm sitting in our cool apartment while Chris and Erik are swimming. I'm pretty sure Amanda is doing the same as I am [we cherish quiet and cool apartments after long days with little ones!] The boys go to the pool any chance they get, and never forget the camera! I can't help but add this picture. . . even if it has nothing to do with Jakarta, because Chris would do this anywhere! :)

It's monday night, and we just started our second week of school. Chris is doing great, and his students love him. One of the 4th graders from his computer class asked if he was from Hollywood, and the middle school girls in his humanities classes giggle in the back because they think he's cute - but who could blame them   ;) 

I have 17 kiddos in my Grade 1 class. Since I have the same class all day, classroom management is one of my main concerns right now.  I get a little jealous of Chris getting to have lots of fun with each of his classes because he only has them for one period. Not that he doesn't have good management, but I have to follow the "no smiles until Christmas" rule (right Linda? ;)  It sounds harsh, but it's been one of the most emphasized teaching points since Freshman year of college. I promise I smile a lot everyday :) but I've definitely been pretty strict with my management. Half of my class is new to the school as well, so I have  to set the tone early. I wish I could post a picture of my class though. . .they're pretty darn cute! 

Well, it's now almost 8:00 [took a break for dinner] which means it's gettin' close to bedtime  unfortunately. Our days go pretty quick here. We're at school from 6:30 to about 4:00 everyday, and then need to be in bed at 9:00 to get 8 hrs of sleep [we haven't done that yet though, whoops!] 

I'll be posting pics of my class as soon as I remember to take my camera to school!

Selamat Malam! [Goodnight!]