Filling in the Gap

This week, my student teaching is coming to a close. I am giving a test in Social Studies and a test in Bible and on Wednesday I am officially done teaching in the fifth grade. In the last month and a half or so I have been working on figuring out what next semester will hold. After the jungle trip, I determined that I wanted to pursue returning in the spring to be a substitute and help with all the details of the move. A couple weeks ago, I was called into the principal’s office and offered a part time position teaching Middle School and High School ESL. I have accepted the position and will be returning to Bandung January 8^th. I am so excited, but still can hardly believe that I have my first real job. God has been faithful in his timing and is currently working out every stressful detail that comes up. A year ago, I was trying to wrap my mind around the fact that He was sending me here to student teach, and now I am calling this place my home and the people that I have met here my family. God is good, and I am excited to see how he uses this next semester to shape and mold my character. As far as in the fall, that is still up in the air until December decisions are made and we know what positions are available, but as of right now I am hoping to return in the fall.

In the last few weeks of this semester before I return to the states for Christmas, I will be working on taking care of the details that go into me being an actual employee here, and would really appreciate your prayers in that. I will also be doing some more observation in the other elementary grades and begin spending some time in the ESL classes to get a feel for what I will be doing next semester. It is hard to believe that this semester is almost over, but it is amazing to see how much I have grown because of the experiences I have had.

Snakes on a Plate

The following post may cause some of you to lose your lunch.

Reader’s discretion is advised:)

In past years my Thanksgiving celebrations have included the usual: turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and of course the occasional spat in the kitchen. When living overseas, they advise that you try not to recreate your traditions from home, because they usually end in disappointment. I was realistic enough to not set my expectations for this Thanksgiving too high. A turkey in this country can cost up to $100, and we don’t get any time off of school for the holiday anyway. The group of singles that has become my family this semester decided we would not attempt to recreate any traditions, but instead come up with a brand new one. In years past, people have tried to venture outside the box, eating turkey made out of tofu or enjoying a feast of Mexican food instead of the original Thanksgiving spread. Never before have I heard of anyone stepping this far out of the box. Thursday November 23, 2007, Jennie, Lindsey, Emma, Emily, Donna, Alyssa, Aaron and I ventured out in search of a restaurant that serves cobra...yes the snake. After a bit of an adventure and asking some locals for directions, we finally arrived at NAYA. I was expecting an environment similar to that of Indiana Jones with dim lighting, snake skins hanging from the ceiling, and maybe a snake charmer in the corner with his flute. It turned out to be a rather regular looking restaurant that just happened to have a cupboard in the back full of cobras awaiting their culinary destiny of being fried up and served with rice. We had heard from a fellow teacher that you could go in the back and actually see the snake that would eventually become your dinner. After ordering, we asked the waiter if we could and he agreed to take the eight bules (boo-lays) with cameras in hand to the back to see the snakes. We entered the small room next to the kitchen. To the right was the cupboard full of mesh bags that were full of 15-20 snakes. In the middle was the chopping block, or a stump on which the head of the snakes were removed. On the floor were two buckets: one for the guts and skins, the other for the actual meat of the snake. One of the men whipped out one of the three-foot-long cobras that, in the minutes before its death, hissed at jabbed at the hand holding it tight. He then put the cobra’s head in a vice-looking thing and with a large cleaver chopped off the head. The head was still moving as they squeezed the blood from the body of the snake into a cup. It really was a gruesome sight that I could hardly stomach. I did get pretty good pictures though. When we returned to our table, we were presented with two small shot glasses that contained the blood that had just been squeezed out. The blood was set on the Lazy Susan in the middle of the table and made its way to everyone. Aaron downed one of the glasses in one swift gulp while the rest of us squealed and gagged as we choked down a tiny sip. I was the last one to take a sip and after a few minutes of working to break down the mental block similar to what I had with the spicy woof woof, I was able to take a taste. The room temperature and the thickness made it difficult to convince myself I was consuming something other than blood. In the end, it tasted kind of like cough syrup. The actual snake wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t that good either. It tasted like chicken but the texture was more like fish. It was difficult to enjoy a meal after (1) witnessing the decapitation and (2) drinking the blood of your main course. We all sat there silently replaying the gruesome scene we had witnessed and questioning what the heck we had just eaten. I am pretty sure this is the most insane thing I have ever eaten! With the exception of Aaron, we had all gone in there sure we were not going to drink the blood, but darn that peer pressure, we all gave in and exceeded our personal limits of adventure eating!

Sunburned yet Satisfied

The full time portion of my student teaching experience came to a close last week and as a celebration Charity, Kelly and I took a long weekend trip to Bali. Who would have thought I would every use that phrase in my life "weekend trip to Bali?!" Anyways, we left Thursday morning and returned Sunday evening. It was four days full of total relaxation, some major Christmas shopping at the markets, and some of the best food I have had since I have been in Indonesia. We stayed in the Aston Bali, a really nice hotel with a private beach, an incredible pool and a yummy European breakfast. The first day we went and had lunch at the Bali Deli, where I got the first turkey sandwich I've had since August. We ventured into the markets for a little bit, where you have to barter with the merchants and try not to get ripped off. I was totally overwhelmed and nearly on the verge of heat exhaustion...I thought Bandung was hot and humid! That evening was the highlight of the trip. We got picked up from our hotel and went to Sharky's, a seafood place right on the beach. We got there right at sunset and were seated outside. It was absolutely gorgeous. Then, we got to go pick out our dinner. They had fresh fish, prawns and crab just waiting to be cooked up on the grill. We got Red Snapper, Prawns, and crab. It was so yummy! Then to top it all off, there was a group of Indonesian men playing all kinds of instruments playing mostly cover songs. The majority of the people at this rather romantic dining establishment were couples, so the songs that these guys were singing were sappy love songs. As they made their way towards our table, I couldn't help but wonder "what kind of songs to you sing to a table of single women?" Well, they ended up serenading us with a rather painful eighties song like Every Rose has its Thorn or something. It was really funny.
The next day we went up to Ubud, a smaller town in the mountains with more shopping, more great restaurants and a monkey forest. One of the families from school hooked us up with a car and a driver to get us up there which was really cool. On our way up we got pulled over by the police, saw a very large, smelly chicken truck, and stopped at one of the Hindu Temples. The temple was really beautiful and elaborate. In the Hindu religion there are hundreds of gods that they worship, and they have people whose job is to prepare the offerings for all the gods according to their preferences. About mid-morning the streets and steps of businesses will be covered with these small offerings. It was really interesting to see. The monkey forest was quite the adventure. In my attempt to give bananas to only the monkeys who I thought deserved them, I got attacked by who I deemed the "Banana Bully." He wouldn't leave me alone, I guess I was waiting for him to say please or something, but because he was bothering me, I refused to give him my last banana. That ticked him off, so he jumped and tried to snatch it out of my hand. I freaked out, screamed and ended up throwing the banana at him. I was a little traumatized and ended up learning my lesson:) It was pretty cool to see them so close up though. The remainder of the weekend was spent near the pool, reading, listening to my ipod, and people watching. Even in an attempt to not even be in the sun, I still got sunburned...it's inevitable I guess:) I had a great time, and my next trip to Bali is going to include snorkeling and maybe para sailing!

Pajamas, Rain, Field Trip, Rain, Fairytales, Rain, and Holiday Cheer

Oh my it has been a while since I have updated you all on my life in the tropics. I recovered nicely from the Jungle Adventure, and was excited to take on five weeks of full time responsibility. The past few weeks in the fifth grade have consisted of lots of reading. October was I Love to Read month where all the kids were reading every minute they got a chance. they were all striving for the first goal of 2400 pages so they could go to dessert with the administrator. My class as a whole read about 24,000 pages! Because of I Love to Read month, we got to do a Pajama day on the 26th where the entire elementary got to come to school in their pajamas and read books all day. It was so much fun. We moved all the desks back in our classroom, and brought pillows and blankets so we could comfortably indulge in some literature of our choice. At the end of the month, instead of celebrating Halloween, we have Story Book Day. This year's theme was Fairytale Fun. The elementary teachers dressed up as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...I was Doc. My kids did a hilarious play called Cinderella Bigfoot. It was hilarious!
Earlier that week, I led my very first field trip. We went to Premier Plaza, a nearby grocery store to finish up our Digestion/Nutrition Unit. I split the kids up into "families" of four, and gave them a budget of Rp.40,000, similar to that of a Kampung family. I challenged them to make up a menu for a well-balanced and healthy meal using only the hypothetical amount. We went to the grocery store to price the items, and to see if they would have stayed within budget. It was a little crazy, but they had fun. They were all able to stay within budget after making some changes to their menus. It was a fun field trip and I think a rather eye-opening experience especially because a lot of them are businessman's kids who don't ever really go the the grocery store.
Also this month were Report Cards! We have been working all semester to recreate the elementary report cards, and a couple weeks ago we finally sent them home. This was a task that I was not looking forward to, but we figured out a system, and were able to get them done without having to stay at school until all hours of the night.
As only two weeks remain of me teaching full time, we have moved on to some fun units. In Social Studies, we are learning about the Renaissance, which has required quite a bit of studying on my part since history is my worst subject. We are reading a novel called Frindle together in literature circles and in math, I am attempting to teach measurement which is turning out to be a rather dry unit. I can't believe it, I have made it through the toughest part of this experience. Next week, to celebrate and relax a little, Charity, Kelly and I are going to Bali for a long weekend...it truly is a rough life I lead here in the tropics. I am looking forward to the food that awaits us there along with some good souvenir shopping.
Rainy season has most definitely arrived, which makes it a little easier to imagine fall weather here. It rains pretty much everyday after lunch and into early evening. Coming from the desert, I was not prepared for this kind of precipitation. It is really intense. One must leave the house with all rain gear they might possibly need, because there is no telling when the clouds will open up and you will get soaked head to toe.
The holidays are quickly approaching and the dates have been set in the house for decorating, cookie baking and Christmas music! Although it is difficult when there is no snow, and I am wearing capris and flip flops to work, it is nice to know that we can at least create the illusion of a "White Christmas."