Hi My Name is Molly...

Ok, so I am not sure what happened to the former version of Molly Evans. You all know her, the one who rarely took a risk without weighing every feasible thing that could go wrong, the one who was on the other side of the spectrum when it came to spontaneity. I am telling you she has disappeared and this new Molly has taken her place, a Molly that embraces adventure (even if it means she may not get a shower for a couple of days), who "doesn't even trip" when she can't use her hairdryer in the morning due to the danger of the house blowing up, and jumps at the chance to taste unappetizing foods like spicy woof woof and durian. You will believe me when you hear about the trip that she has chosen for the group to go on for Idul Fitri weekend ( the end of Ramadan in October, we get Friday off). Eight of the BAIS staff will be going to the jungles of Bukit Lawang. We will hopefully leave on Thursday October 11, right after school to catch a plane in Jakarta that night to Medan. From Medan we will take a three to four hour non-air-conditioned bus ride to The Jungle Inn (kind of sounds like the Sea Scape Inn). The Jungle Inn has nice rooms, from what we hear on the blogs of those who have stayed there before. There is only electricity sometimes, and there is no hot water. The morning after our arrival we will get up at 7am to go to the orangutan park to view the feeding time for about three hours. We will then proceed, with a guide, on a six our hike through the jungle. Be aware that on this hike, it is very likely that we will run into wild orangutans and maybe some tigers and snakes. At the end of our hike we will then take a raft or tube, we aren't quite sure exactly what mode of water transportation we will be taking, but somehow we will go back down the river to the start of our hike. The rest of the day we will be relaxing, or possible recovering from orangutan attacks, back at the inn and leave the next morning to go back to Medan to stay in a hotel with showers so we are not totally dead when we return on Sunday evening. Yes, I chose this trip, why? I am telling you, coming to Indonesia I must have left my former uptight, control freak self in Flagstaff. I am really excited for this trip. It should be amazing! Mom, dad, don't worry, I'm gonna be fine!
In other news, this week I totally bombed a math lesson, well, not totally, Charity and I were able to salvage the period in the end. It was not good, not good at all. But what are you gonna do? I also had the opportunity to sub in the 4th grade class for the afternoon, talk about a challenge. I was happy to do it, but totally scared out of my mind. I have only been observing a teaching a lesson here and there, I have never had a class to myself! I know God allowed that to happen for a reason though, and I am pretty certain that he is going to throw me into scary teaching situations like that more this semester. I also got to experience being on the other side of an Open House for the first time. Charity and I split up the presentation and got to know the parents a little bit. It went really well!
Happy to report that our electricity is back to normal. We can have more than one light on in the house and not fear that the roof will catch fire. It was pretty scary there for a while, and we fried a couple CD players in the process, but we are alive and well and our house is still in one piece.
I am having a blast getting into the school routine and laughing through all of the craziness with my awesome roommates:)

Birthday Festivities!

Ok, so seriously one of the funnest birthday parties ever, aside from that fifties/Grease party I had when I was in elementary school:)

On Saturday, some of the girls took me to sushi where I tried fish eggs for the first time...cruchyish. Then we went over to the gelato place we visited during the first week I was here. They have this amazing menu selection where you can choose eight flavors and it feeds like four people. I got to choose the flavors, and unfortunately, if you want a colorful display on your cool ice cream plate you have to choose yucky flavors. Ours was rather boring looking, but it tasted great! The flavors were almond, hazelnut (my new favorite), coffee, tiramisu (everyone hated this flavor), white chocolate, Oreo, lychee (an Indonesian fruit that tastes a little like fruit cocktail), and mint chocolate chip. It was so much fun. Then we went to the movie store where I bought a couple movies for like $7--it's a beautiful thing:)

On Sunday afternoon was my fruit party. Jennie and Lindsey worked hard to make sure nearly every fruit available in the city of Bandung was present at the party...including Durian. Ever since I knew I was coming to Indonesia, Charity has been telling me I have to try Durian and how awful it is. Everyone that I have talked to hates Durian, not even Indonesians like it. It is a giant green spiky fruit that when cut open, the pulpy fruit inside smells close to rotting flesh and kind of has similar consistency. Hotels and other malls prohibit the stuff from being in their building "No Smoking, No Food or Drink, No Durian!" To be honest, this was the fruit I was most excited to try last night because everyone talked about it so much. So, they waited until the end to bring it out, because it would stink up the whole house, and I grabbed my fork while people got out their cameras and anxiously awaited my first bite of Durian. The yellowing flesh was rather slimy in texture, but the taste...it is terribly hard to tell you what it tastes like, because it tastes like something I have eaten before, but it should not be the flavor of a fruit. It kind of reminded me of seafood casserole. I actually took three bites in an attempt to place the flavor and everyone was impressed. Most people can't get past the smell of the stuff and they say that after three bites you're supposed to love it. I can't say that is the case for me, but I am glad that I tried it. It really was probably the worst tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth:) The fun didn't end there though. Last weekend, while Jennie and I were participating in one of our favorite pastimes--grocery shopping--we came across century eggs. I thought they looked rather awful, the thought of even purchasing an egg that's 100 years old made me nauseous. Joking, Jennie said she would get it for my birthday, starting a new BAIS Staff Birthday tradition. Well, turns out she did purchase them, and whipped one out after we had all suffered through the Durian. A century egg a duck egg preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for several weeks. The finished product has the consistency of a hard boiled egg with a pale, dark green colored yolk, and the egg white is black. It took a while for me to put a piece of it in my mouth. I couldn't get the Fear Factor episode out of my head where they had to eat the rotten duck eggs. It really didn't have any taste, it was the appearance that was worse than anything.

Weird foods and all, I had a wonderful 22nd birthday. Although I was away from some of the people I love the most, it was so cool to feel loved by so many people that I only met three weeks ago:)

Charity and I have started our second week of school off on a pretty good foot. I feel like we are really getting to know the kids and they are getting to know us. I get to teach a math lesson tomorrow morning that should be really fun.

Hope I didn't gross you out too much with my stories:) Abby...no gagging!

Row Row Row Your Boat (the video)

Here is the video of the song we created at the hot springs using the glass bottles. It is pretty dark, but you really just need the sound on to hear our lovely rendition! Enjoy:)

Happy Birthday:)

Today, in Indonesia, I am 22 years old. In the states I am still 21. Weird how that works:) I have been away from home before on my birthday, so it hasn't been to hard to be away from my family and friends today. It certainly helps to have amazing people here to make me feel loved! Yesterday, Charity and Kim made brownies for our class. The only candle we had was a table candle from Charity's house...oh the life of a missionary:) The kids sang to me and the brownies were amazing!
This afternoon, some of the girls are taking me to a really yummy gelato place at the fancy new mall where Carrefore is. They have a selection on the menu that allows you to choose 9 different flavors of gelato...my kind of dessert! Then we might go to a movie afterwards. By the way, you can go to a movie here including popcorn and a drink for like $3, kind of makes you sick that we fork out close to ten bucks in the states:)
Tomorrow is the big shindig- Jennie, my awesome roommate, has planned a fruit party. She has purchased nearly every fruit available in the Bandung area for me (and the other new people) to try. Thirty five people have RSVP'd, good heavens I have never felt so popular:) I am excited, there are some pretty crazy looking fruits in this country. Many pictures will come of tomorrow's festivities.
Thank you for all of the birthday wishes.

Tough Week

God is so good about humbling His children. This week, it was my turn:) This week I was lucky enough to be suffering from a case of Bandung Belly as well as a head cold. As tough of a transition this week has been, it was even more of a challenge when I wasn't feeling so hot, but God is good. He gave me the strength to get through the day and allowed the sections of class that I was in charge of to go really well. I am still not feeling 100%, so if you all could be praying for me I would greatly appreciate it.
In other, more exciting news, I have stepped way outside of my food comfort zone this week. Mr. Brian McArthur, I did this one for you:) Hendri, one of the national staff who helps with visa stuff, loves to introduce the brand new staff to "spicy woof woof." Yes, dog. He brought a package to school yesterday and I had told Jennie that I would be willing to try it. During lunch, Emma and I stared a the rather unattractive meat sitting on the plate for a while trying to get up the courage, and get past the picture of our own "best friends" back home so we could try it. I sat there for about ten more minutes and determined I couldn't do it unless Charity cut a piece for me and through it on my lunch plate, for some reason I just couldn't get myself to touch it. Finally, Charity picked off a piece for me and in a spurt of bravery I took a bite. It was terribly spicy, but really just tasted like beef. I will never try it again, but for your entertainment I sacrificed:) That has been the strangest thing I have ever eaten, and the strangest thing in Indonesia so far. I am told there is a snake restaurant, where you pick out the snake you want to eat and they chop off the head and cook it right in front of you. Fortunately, I am not a huge fan of snakes, so probably won't have such a hard time taking a bite:)
Thank you all for your prayers for my health, hope you all are doing well!

First Day Report!

Today was the first day of school. I could hardly sleep last night because I was so nervous. Charity and I agreed to meet up early so we could pray before staff devotions. I got the school around 6:30am. After devotions at 7:15 we went back to the classroom to wait for the new 5th graders to arrive. There are a total of 14 students, 5 girls and 9 boys. They are a diverse bunch, but should be a fun group of kids. The first day doesn’t give a very good impression though because they are all rather shell shocked coming into the oldest elementary grade classroom. Then again I was rather shell shocked today too:) Being the first day, our schedule was full of get-to-know-you activities, going over rules and procedures and getting back into the swing of being in school for six hours a day. Tomorrow we will start teaching the subjects. My responsibility for the next couple of weeks is to mainly observe and assist every now and then. After lunch today I got to read a book to them, The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric, and tomorrow I am going to run “Parts of Speech Bingo!”
I am really excited to get to know the students better. I learned so much today and I know that this semester holds a lot more!

Greased pole, motorbike ride, Row, Row, Row Your Boat:)

Today was mostly spent watching men attempt climbing up a greased bamboo pole--quite a sight to see! After almost three hours, they finally made it to the top where there were presents waiting to be distributed. The teachers also got to participate in the festivities.

Now, onto the most exciting adventure of the evening. Due to the first day of school being on Monday and the long week of orientation we all endured this past week, Jennie decided to plan a trip up to the hot springs. The group included just about all of the singles and three married couples, there were 15 people in all. Eight of us rode on motorbike and seven rode in a taxi. Now, I couldn't take pictures without losing my life so my picture painting rhetoric will have to suffice:) I got to ride with Lindsey on the back of her bike. (Yes, grandma Molly, as some of you like to call me, rode on the back of a motorbike today!) Lindsey likes to go really fast, but she is a good driver. The other day we had a couple of close calls. Let's just say I have learned a lot about trust:) The trip was expected to take about an hour going up a curvy mountain highway. Keep in mind there are no rules really when it comes to driving a bike through busy Bandung traffic, we get cut off and sometimes cut people off--it really is great fun as long as I am tightly gripping the back handle:) It was about 5:00 when we headed out, which meant we would be heading up the mountain just at sunset. Once I got past the fear, I got to enjoy the breathtaking view of the sun setting over the rice paddies of Bandung with the wind blowing in my hair. It was truly exhilarating! The whole time we are driving up the mountain I am thinking "Holy cow, if my parents knew what I was doing they would flip:)" and "I am so fortunate to get to see something so beautiful, seriously the best student teaching experience ever!" I am pretty sure the drive up the mountain goes pretty high on the list of the most amazing things I have ever done:)
The hot springs part was nice and relaxing too. Kind of embarrassing, but funny nonetheless, we all got drinks from the snack stand and in boredom figured out how to play "Row, Row Row Your Boat" using our glass bottles filled with various amounts of water. A video on YouTube should be appearing shortly:)
Today was awesome, I got to experience some pretty cool things. I am so fortunate to be here in Indonesia. It has only been two weeks, but I have gotten to experience so much. Can't wait to see what these next four months have in store.
My next post will probably be reporting the First Day of School! One of my most favorite days of the year; I have had my first day of school outfit picked out for weeks:) Please keep Charity and me in your prayers as we start off this semester.

Pictures!

Happy Independence Day!

August 17th is Indonesia's Independence Day. At exactly 10:00am on August 17, 1945 Indonesia proclaimed their independence, but did not legally become indepedent from the Netherlands until December 27, 1949.

Over the past couple weeks the streets of our neighborhood have been decorated with flags of various colors including red and white in celebration of Independence Day. The Kampung's (neighborhoods where the nationals live) do a bunch of activities including climbing up a greased bamboo pole to get presents:) Today, Charity and I went to Starbucks to talk teacher stuff and on our way to getting an Angkot to take home the road that is usually bustling with traffic and people was nearly empty and there were no cars. Except near the mosque, there were a bunch of people sitting and standing listening to what sounded like a sermon. It was really interesting. Later, Jennie, Lindsey and I went to visit our Jaga, Pak Ade and his family. In their Kampung, all the children dressed up in various costumes. His daughter, Pani, got to wear a very fancy gold outfit and rode her elaborately decorated bicycle. It was so cool to get to see where he lives and interact with all the kids. We took a lot of pictures and they really enjoyed that. We didn't get to see a whole lot of the activities, but the national staff from BAIS is having a carnival at the school tomorrow, there I will get to experience all the games and stuff they do. Very exciting!

A week of encouragement and learning!

I have made it through orientation. This week has been full of long meetings, moments of encouragment, moments of stress and a lot of long hours spent getting the class ready for next week. I have been telling my co-workers that I have learned enough in just the past two weeks to write a book. I am so lucky to get to participate in all these meetings and preliminary preparations for the school year. I would guess that a lot of my former classmates are not getting exposed to this kind of stuff. I am also fortunate to get to experience working in a school where almost all of the people I work lwith ove the Lord. In the past, school has always been the place where I had felt the most spiritual oppression. Here, I am refreshed and encouraged by the fact that we are all on the same page spiritually. For example, today we did a prayer walk through the campus, praying for safety on the playground, growth in our classrooms and protection from the enemy. It has also been amazing to see God make it clear to me that this is the exact place I am supposed to be at this exact moment in time. This is what gives me hope when I think about the stress, struggles and low times that this semester holds. As much as I may struggle, I know that he is bigger and will not only carry me through it, but in the process strengthen my character and further sharpen me for my purpose. Praise God that he is in control and that I don't have to worry!

New pizza flavors and a day of pampering!

Today I went to lunch with Becky. She is the kindergarten teacher from Colorado and my "big sister." We went to this pizza place near Ciwalk. She had me try a banana blackberry pizza. It was actually really good. Tasted kind of like dessert, but it might just be my new favorite flavor!
After lunch Emma and I were feeling adventurous and in need of some relaxation so we decided to go all by ourselves to SetiaBudhi (the international grocery store/shopping complex) to get coffee, a Cream Bath and a pedicure. A cream bath is this deep conditioning hair treatment thing that includes a shoulder massage. Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of massages, I tend to be a bit ticklish (Alli can attest to that:)). Every time I flinched it made the lady laugh. The cream bath and pedicure were exactly what we needed before this intense week of orientation begins. We hailed a taxi all by ourselves and made it back to Complex Lipi (the name of our neighborhood). I was so proud of our successful trip:)
All the old teachers are back, and this week is full of fun meetings about policy, curriculum and year long plans. Fortunately, Charity and I have our room almost all the way set up, which means we get to work on lesson plans! I get to start off with a geography unit on the Lakes of the World which includes a field trip to a lake near Bandung!

Pictures!

Beautiful Rice Paddies.
Superheroes at the mall at CiWalk.
Gecko in the Durham's house.
Near downtown Bandung.
My house.
My bedroom before the paint.
My Bathroom with the weird shower.

Earthquake!

So, apparently there was a pretty big earthquake last night that hit around midnight off the coast of Java near Jakarta. My roommate said she was nearly knocked off her bed, but me...I didn't feel it. I woke up this morning and she told me I should probably notify people back home that I was alive and well because they will probably see it on the news. Wish I had a cooler story like I had to hide underneath something, but no. While the rest of the country was scrambling for shelter I was tucked into my bed not realizing the earth was shaking:) Everyone is fine, we haven't heard of any damage anywhere. There are probably more on the way, maybe I will be awake for those:)
In other news: my room is painted, thanks to my amazing Jaga. I got to try brocculi juice yesterday and it was quite tasty. My bites are healing up quite nicely, and I think I have gotten used to the time difference without a lot of jet lag symptoms. Today we are doing some more training and then hanging out at Ciwalk, an outdoor shopping mall with giant paper mache disney characters hanging off the signs...pictures will follow:)
Hope you all are doing well! I love getting your comments:)

Visitors, Showers, Helpers and Carrefore!

Sorry I haven't written in a while, we haven't gotten the internet in our house set up yet. The past couple days have consisted of real Indonesian food, shopping, church, and settling into our new living spaces. I really like the house that I live in. My roommate Jennie is awesome. She teaches high school science, is from Kansas, and loves eating adventurous food including sushi! I am really excited to get to know her better this semester.
So far I haven't eaten anything too crazy. We went to a hole in the wall outside the neighborhood for authentic Indonesian cuisine. I was expecting to get sick from the looks of the kitchen, but the food was very good, I especially enjoyed the pineapple juice. We had an amazing chocolate dessert on Sunday similar the Molten Chocolate Cake at Chili's (what a relief to know that I won't have to live without that for four months:)).
One aspect of living in this country that I am not sure I will ever get used to are the visitors in our house. These visitors include geckos, cockroaches, mice, and rats. The geckos are everywhere, yet they move so fast that I haven't been able to get a picture. They are actually pretty cute and eat the cockroaches and mosquitos. The cockroaches like to come up through the shower drain, so I brace myself for creepy crawlies every time I step foot in the bathroom.
Speaking of the bathroom, the shower is another thing that is extremely different from the states. Some have the enclosed bathtub like you see in the states and others simply have the shower head in the bathroom, meaning you stand in the middle of the bathroom and take a shower. Of course mine is the latter, but it actually is not that bad, you just have to make sure not to get everything in the bathroom soaking wet.
Every house has two helpers: a pimbantu and a jaga. The pimbantu does everything around the house--cleaning, cooking, laundry etc. She irons all my clothes and even makes my bed everyday. Her name is Ibu Nancy. She's a cute older lady that comes up to about my hip:) The jaga is our night watchman/handy-man. He hangs out outside our house at night, and during the day will repair any electronics that aren't working, build anything we need him to build or paint. Sometime this week he's going to paint my room:) I was telling my mom she needs to move here so she can watch HGTV and then ask her Jaga to do what she just watched. It is really nice having them and we get to support their families.
Yesterday we took a trip to Paris von Java, a huge shopping mall 15 minutes from the house. I was worried I wouldn't get to shop for the next four months...little did I know that Bandung is shopping central! This mall was amazing! They have great restaurants, and every store imaginable including Carrefore, the Indonesian equivalent to the Super Walmart. Talk about overwhelming. We were there for a total of four hours because the Durhams and the Emily's had to get everything to set up their houses. I got a few essentials including a hair dryer, some picture frames, towels, and a new cell phone. Funny story: so when setting up my cell phone the clerk asked for my Kitas, or police registration card. I don't have one of those yet, so she grabbed the police registration card of one of the other store clerks and entered his number. So, my phone is registered under some random guy who works at Carrefore. Apparently this is a common occurrence--to get a driver's license you pay money for someone else to take the test for you and if they pass you get a license:)
I am still loving it here. Charity and I are getting the classroom set up. I helped put up some bulletin boards today--kind of a pain, but they turned out nice. I have gotten quite a few mosquito bites including one that blistered exactly like the one I got in Ecuador...weird. Mrs. Durham is a nurse and has been making sure that I wear more bugspray:) Tomorrow we are doing some more shopping at an electronics market where I am hoping to get a coffee pot so I can start enjoying the coffee here!
I hope you all are doing well!

I have arrived!

After an exhausting 39 hours of travel I finally arrived in Bandung, Indonesia last night. Praise God for his provision--when I arrived in Los Angeles to meet Charity we were expecting long lines at the ticket counter and through security. There was no line at the ticket counter, the guy got us really good seats on the plane and some of her bags were overweight, but they didn't care. It took us about ten minutes to get through the security line and we were at our gate in no time. I ran into Brian Sun, a friend at NAU on his way to Fiji, what a small world!
The fifteen hour plane ride to Hong Kong was...long. The plane must have been made for shorter people, because I could hardly fit. So that made for a rather uncomfortable attempt at sleeping. Charity on the other hand slept rather well. We landed in Hong Kong at about 4:30 in the morning. I got my first international Starbucks!
We met up with the Durham Family in Hong Kong, the father, David, will be teaching high school science. Him and his wife Kim have four kids--Grace (14), Emma (12), Jeff (9), and Abby (3). They are the cutest kids, I became Abby's playmate right away!
The plane ride from Hong Kong to Jakarta was only about 6 hours, so it wasn't too long, but just as uncomfortable because I am so tall:( We arrived in Jakarta at 1:00 in the afternoon. We all got stamped and were allowed into the country. Praise God we all got our visas ahead of time because the line to purchase visas was terribly long. Everybody's luggage arrived (29 in total!!) and the customs people only had me put my carry-ons through...weird:)
The final leg of the journey consisted of a four hour bus ride to Bandung--although we were all tired we were forbidden to sleep so that we would be able to sleep through the night and avoid jet lag. This country is absolutely gorgeous! It is so different from anywhere I have every been or seen. Rice patties cover the landscape, even in the middle of crowded Jakarta. There are goats everywhere, kind of like the dogs in Mexico, they wander the streets and hang out on the side of the highway in Jakarta. It is a third world country so the poverty is apparent as well as the wealth. On one side of the highway you can see high rise apartments and fancy shopping complexes, on the other side are hundreds of shanties built on top of each other. The other aspect of this country that is significantly different is that it is a predominantly Muslim country. There is a Mosque on almost every corner and each of them have large speakers at the top that announce four times a day the call to prayer. The funny thing is though, that they are not all in sync, but go off within minutes of each other. I heard it for the first time last night around seven and it kind of sounded like cattle, a moaning sound. So you can hear the guy through the speakers, but then you can also hear the people actually praying. It is really fascinating.
We went to the grocery today for the first time this morning with Sarah and Zoe, wife and daughter of Joey the principal. I was rather overwhelmed, and had received a nice welcome basket, so I just followed Charity around while she got groceries. They had some interesting things, but actually a lot of things we have in the states. Can't wait to purchase some coffee!
Tonight I get to move into my house with Jenny and Lindsey. I live really close to the Durhams, the new teachers Emily, Emma and Erin, and the Beeson's! We have already done a lot of walking, so I will definitely be in good shape when I get home.
So far, I am just trying to take it all in, I can hardly believe I am here, but I am excited. Thank you guys for your prayers, God is really going to stretch me these next four months. Please leave a comment and I will write back as soon as I can! I love you all!