Seek. Grasp. Teach.

2010-05-29T10:27:00.001+07:00

Elizabeth Gilbert said it all in Eat, Pray, Love:

"The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving."

On my way home...

Pomp and Circumstance

2010-05-28T10:39:00.004+07:00

Yesterday afternoon there was an official ceremony for the teachers to bid me farewell. It was a 2.5 hour affair completely devoted to celebrating me. I'm pretty sure my face has never been so red ever. The event started with me seated in front of a room full of teachers and office staff listening to Ibu Ema translate speeches that people gave about me into English so that I could understand them. Then, it was my turn to give a speech. In a mix of English and simple Bahasa Indonesia I thanked everyone for adopting me into their lives, letting me teach their students, and making SMK N1 Magelang my second home. Then there was a long exchange of gifts. I officially gifted the board games to three student representatives. And was presented with a hoard of presents from the school. Then we had a completely vegetarian feast. All the Indonesian foods I like were there: veggie nasi goreng, lotek, cap cay, kupat tahu, etc. Everyone joked that if I was going to eat vegetables so were they. Then they agreed that they could never be vegetarians. Finally, we had a photo shoot. We took photos inside, outside, in pairs, in small groups, a whole group photo, etc. It was long, it was hot, it was embarrassing; but it was nice, sweet, and heartfelt. It gave my school closure and that was nice.

This morning I woke up at 6:00 to loud knocking and shouts outside my door. In a daze and my pajamas I opened the door to see one of my classes. They had come to give me some final presents and they sat in my house for a few minutes before saying a final goodbye. It's time to go now. I'm not a fan of these long goodbyes. There's no closure when you say goodbye to people constantly, but then keep seeing them again and again. Tomorrow I'm going to Yogyakarta to begin the trip home!

Me and Bu Mila Pak Heru, the principal, and the English teachers

The English teachers: Pak Hari, Bu Dyah, Bu Mila, me, Bu Rina, Bu Ema, Bu Aning, Pak Sugeng
Bu Dyah, Bu Ema, Bu Rina, Bu Mila, me

When It's Over...

2010-05-27T19:25:00.008+07:00

Today I cried. I stood in front of 36 fifteen and sixteen year old boys and cried. Before you start envisioning me sobbing publicly, I should clarify that it was only 2 tears. But still...I cried and that was something I did not want to do.

Today I taught my last class. It was my favorite class, 1 MB. 1 MB is the only class that I've taught from the beginning of my time here (I've switched classes three times). So, we've gotten close. I've done some extra projects with them that I didn't do with my other classes. For example, they keep journals. Every week at the end of class they write in their journals for 5-10 minutes. I collect the journals and write a response to each of their entries. Their journals are ongoing private conversations between the students and me. The journals demonstrate the immense improvement in their English abilities and they also have really given me more of a relationship with each of the boys. Every week I look forward to teaching their class. They make me laugh. We're comfortable with each other and they understand what I'm talking about more often than my other classes.

1 MB

To be honest, I was not looking forward to class today. I knew it would be difficult. I truly am excited to go home. That said, I will miss Indonesia. I like the teachers I work with, I love eating manggis and bakmi godog for less than $1, I enjoy living in a country where when I wake up in the morning I never know what's really going to happen during the day; but when I think about leaving all these things behind I don't feel much more than a prick of remorse and sorrow. When I think about leaving my students...I'd just rather not think about it. They are what I will miss most.
So, this morning, I walked into class and announced, "Today is our last class together. This is my last class EVER." And was gratified with a loud, "AHHHHHHHHHH!" Then we continued with our normal class. The lesson went well. The bell rang at the end and I thanked them for a wonderful 9 months. I turned my back to erase the whiteboard when they said, "Wait, Miss! We have some presents for you." And from under their desks they retrieved 4 wrapped packages. Packages obviously wrapped by boys. Packages wrapped with an absurd excess of tape. Packages wrapped in paper that said 'baby' and had pastel animals and rattles on it. That was when I cried my two tears. And while it was only two tears, my hands were shaking enough that I had to have them open the presents for me. And after lots of thank yous and another round of photos and handshakes they reluctantly left to go to their next class and I erased the white board and pulled myself together again.

Zarkasi, Danang, Anton Permana, Ma'ruf, Anang

Febri, Fajar Uut, Ricky, Dwi Cahyoko

Fahrul Umam, Nur Hasim, Azhar, Nugroho

M. Arifudin, Sarwo Edi, Saputro, Nurrohman

Andrianus, Fikri Yahya, Rifqi, Nurochman

Juni, Nurul Hadi, Imam, Imam

Willy, Fahrurrozi, Nurdiansah

Slamet, Firman, Illgner, Arif Mukti, Fatoni Imam

Students' Last Words

2010-05-25T18:52:00.004+07:00

This is perhaps a very self-involved post. For that I apologize. But I think my fellow ETA Christine said it perfectly when she wrote on her blog, "I never really knew how much I impacted my students. I didn't realize how closely they paid attention. They remember everything--events and lessons that happened my first month as a teacher. In fact, they remember the first day they met me."
Her realization came when she read her students' goodbye letters. My goodbye postcards led me to the same conclusion. I mean, I always knew that the students look at me closely, but I don't think I really believed that many of them actually listened and thought about what I said. But they remembered and wrote about things that I said that I forgot I said until I read their notes.
So, without further ado, a selection of my students' goodbyes:

"When you watch my class play soccer I am to be a goal kepper and you say to me god job!"

"Miss Sarah introduced us about America and many fun things. I enjoyed them. Thank's Miss Sarah. I will miss you!"

"[Remember] my smile and my first shake hand with you." [This deserves some explanation. 99% of the kids I teach are moderately conservative Muslims--by which I mean they observe the 5 times daily prayer, the girls wear jilbabs, their activities are fairly gender-segregated, etc. I have one student, or perhaps more that I haven't noticed, who is very conservative to the point that he never touches women EVER. Not even for an Indonesian handshake, not by accident, not ever. It's not that I'm in the habit of touching my students, but when I arrived I did shake all of their hands and have them tell me thier names. This boy would not touch my hand. No big deal, I respect that. We bowed to each other. On the last day of class, I gave each student a penny and I shook their hands again. Well, I came to this boy and I carefully handed him his penny making sure to sort of drop it into his hand. And I started to do the little head-bow thing when...he stuck out his hand. Rather awed, I shook his hand. It was weak and only about half our hands touched and it lasted only around 2 seconds, but it happened. I don't know what conclusion to draw, but he's correct: I will always remember that I was his first real handshake.]

"Your grand mother known an Indonesian who live in America."

"I learned about your culture. I learned about Amerika. I played American's games with you and with my classmate. So happy to study with you. We'll miss you. I hope we can meet again. With love, M----"

"Miss Sarah, with you I'm became know about America and your family, my class became fun class and happy class. With you Im can more understand."

"My class is very noisy. My friends are fuzy. I thing my class is trouble maker."

"You make us laught."

"When your family came to Magelang, I am the person who gave the question about BOSTON Tea Party to Neil." [Remember him, Neil?]

"My quality is polite and merry."

"I learn about parts of human body, sports, many verb and positive thinking."

"And thank you Miss Sarah for you goodness. In my class, and SMK N1 Magelang. And for your forbearance."

"I'm taller than you but you are cleverer than me."

"FYI, don't forget that me and some of my friends ever played UNO with you. I won't forget when you say to me 'You wear jeans when you're in the church?'...Well, I'll miss you so much...Don't forget Bakmi Jendralan and Mrs. Rion as the owner of Bakmi Jendralan...Believe it or not but you make get new spirit. Spirit for learning languages. Well, before I finish. Do you remember when we talking while we watching soccer in SMK N1? You say that Indonesian boys are very cute and short, but I said to you that they seems like 'POCKET.' And finally, I can make you laugh at the same time. I like your smile, Miss. I'll miss it... I think it's enough. Thanks for your chance. I miss you, and nice to meet you. Adios, amigo!" [Everyone knows I eat at Bakmi Jendralan...and I know they all know because SO many of them wrote about it.]

"I am the boy that my leg is hurt (not sick) hehe."

"I proud, I can know Ms. Sarah and her family."

"I am a silent. I am fat. And I am veiled."

"If you still remember, I am your match when matching a question with the answer like [drawing of a broken heart] the color of the paper is purple...In your lesson, I have studied many things. They are about America, expression for answer our condition like 'how are you?' 'I'm super', parts of body, sing many songs. And there are eight rules in the first class It my pleasure to study with you. I'm happy. Thanks for your lesson. So long, my lovely teacher."

"I hope I can visit in America actually in Vermount because I ant to meet you again Miss Sarah."

"I think you can't call my name correctly."

"About my country, here, everytime the sun shine brightly, and it can make your skin change into brown."

"And I want to say to you that I really missed you if you back to America."

"I will always remember Miss Sarah because she nice, friendly, and teach us with games method."

"New things and games you've given us. You're my 1st English teacher who brings a lot of changing in English lesson."

"I'll not forget when in my class there is Miss Sarah because she is very beautiful."

"I am very friendly and crazy. I love you and I will always remember with you. Miss Sarah will unforgetable in my heart."

"I am not handsome but I am is funny."

"English is my life."

"It's me. Spike hair, good eyes, always come late to go to class, I'm shy boy, I always smile when you look at me..."

"It's me: Take me out Indonesia (The name you called to me)...I am very happy when you here but you must go back to your country. I wish you succes there. I hope we can met again." [Actually, I called him 'Take me outta Indonesia"...long story.]

"I learn about jokes in America. We learned by Miss Sarah about that with match two pieces of paper."

"I know 1MA is a well class in the meet firs student always absent, but now student no absent in your lesson and student become diligent and smart."

"I'm slim and tall like is coconut tress."

"The lesson of Miss Sarah always be color full with games and I like."

"I am the mustache and beard boy."

"I learn about Valentine's day, sports, plants, and game."

"I learn speak English. Now I am can speak English."

"I love my teachers, included you Sarah."

"Miss Sarah is very peatient."

"If I to meet Miss Sarah, my class very fun. Many game, smile, song, etc."

"She like telling a story and singing together. I like Miss Sarah."

"I like Miss Sarah because she is cute and smart."

"Miss Sarah always make ours happy."

"I think study is must for me. So, if I study I feel very happy. Miss Sarah is one of the teacher with very good for me. She has says 'you are cute students.' So, I feel very interisting if I study with her."

"Learning English with Miss Sarah is easy."

"Goodbye Miss Sarah. Nice to meet you! We love you! 1EA, SMK N1 Magelang, and Indonesia will never forget you."

"Miss Sarah is teacher fun."

"May you not forget we in Indonesia."

"I am like if Sarah angry Miss Sarah can lion."

"English is adventure to me."

"I'm so funny study with Miss Sarah because she is confidant and she like to lough."

"Happy moment play a game."

"I learn about respect." [WOW!]

"English is my favorite lesson."

"Miss Sarah give me many education."

"I like Miss Sarah because the studying is happy. Miss Sarah is energetic. Many game with she. So, I'm not bored."

"I'm small and I'm black sweet. I'm cute and enough handsome."

"I like Miss Sarah's lesson when the event of Halloween's party."

"Miss Sarah is teacher profesional."

"Miss you so much my teacher! You will always be in my memories!"

"Miss Sarah is a joker. She often make me laught. I love her so much. She is also friendly teacher, good teacher, and the teacher which full of smile. I like her so much!! If I may to say honestly...I will saying...I really really really really really really really really REALLY LOVE you Miss Sarah, you are the one cute teacher I have till the day I die. You will always in my mind!!"

Will you remember ME?

2010-05-25T15:52:00.003+07:00

1 EB
1 LC

1 EA

1 MA

"Do you love we fourever, Miss?"

2010-05-21T15:28:00.003+07:00

This week was my last week teaching 5 of my 10 classes. Next week is primarily devoted to tying up loose ends, packing, eating my fill of tempe, and generally saying goodbye to everyone. Still, I felt that if I didn't teach at all I would go crazy with an overabundance of free time and decided to teach half-time.

As a final small assignment I gave my students each an index card and asked them to write me a "postcard." I asked them to write down one thing they hoped I would remember--and share with my family and friends in America--about them, their class, their school, and Indonesia. Then I asked them to write one thing that they learned from our time together either about English or about the US. Finally, they could add any last questions or things they wanted to tell me.

I got a very wide range of postcards. Some of the students wrote that they wanted me to remember that they were a boy...not likely that I will forget that obvious detail. Some got the point and were detailed enough that I know exactly who they are: "I am is a boy. I am tall, fat and brown skin" or "I'm not clever, but I'm very funny, likes drawing on the table, and a little handsome." They urged me to remember a variety of things about their school and country including: beautiful places like Bali and Bunaken, delicious food like tempe and kupat tahu, traditional dances, that SMK N1 has the international standard ranking, that there are many trees here and lots of rain, etc. They claimed to learn a lot about American holidays, games, and food in addition to how to ask questions in English, how to pronounce "th", how to sing many English songs, etc. They asked last minute questions about verb tenses, about special tricks to learning English, about my contact information, and many questions about my leaving. Those about my leaving are the kind of questions that are the hardest to answer and the ones that make me not want to leave. "Why you want to leave us anyway?" Well, I have a life in America...it's my home. "You come back when?" I don't know...probably not for a very, very long time. "Do you love we fourever Miss?" How could I not?

2 OA
1 LA

2 LB

2 MB

2 MC

Graduation

2010-05-21T14:36:00.008+07:00

This Wednesday was the graduation for the third class of SMK N1 Magelang. I don't teach the third class and I only know a handful of those students personally. Still, when I was invited to attend the graduation ceremony I was game. I was interested to see what the event would be like. Long, hot, and not that interesting turns out...similar to US graduations.
It was around 4 hours long and took place in a stifling room jam-packed with 2,000 people. Most of the time I concentrated mostly on not letting myself pass out. Each of the 550 or so students was called on stage and had a sort of medallion put around their neck. There were several long speeches in Bahasa Indonesia and lots of different academic and industry awards were presented. The girls from the first class sang 4 or 5 songs--all of which were lovely. The ceremony ended with a flashback to Halal Bi Halal and my own personal nightmare--a handshake line of the teachers so that the students could all shake our hands in farewell. Released back into the fresh air, I could breathe again and hold a smile on my face for all the pictures people wanted to take. I'd been told to dress up and my 'fancy' dress and mascara were a big hit.
Ibu Mila, one of my teaching partners, is the cutest little woman. She's currently about 5 months pregnant and incredibly self-conscious about her newly protruding belly. Ibu Murwani and some of the graduates.

The female graduates wore traditional Indonesian kebayas. They all looked absolutely gorgeous. Although, I can't imagine they were very comfortable in their hot clothes and towering heels.

Augustine and Ibu Mila. Augustine is one the graduates that I do know fairly well. She studied in the Electrical department. Her English is very good and she is a sweet girl. She is one of the few students from SMK N1 who will be going to college next year.

Friday Morning Workout

2010-05-15T09:01:00.002+07:00

Every Friday morning there is a mandatory school-wide [that means students and teachers] workout session for the first hour of the day. The theme of the exercise rotates week by week. Some weeks we go for a leisurely stroll around the town. Some weeks the students play soccer and the teachers jog. Some weeks we run laps around the school. And then comes my favorite week of the month - aerobics week. Imagine 2,500 children and adults "mouse-ercising" [remember that back in elementary school? aerobics with Mickey Mouse music?]. They blare a loud mix of Indonesian and American music. There is a hired aerobics instructor who stands on a platform leading the activity by example and by enthusiastic yelps and screaming encouragements. Surprisingly, everyone gets really into the aerobics. Both teachers and students go all out jumping and swinging their arms without restraint. Watching aerobics is one of the highlights of my month. Maybe it sounds rude, but nothing makes me laugh as hard. [I would feel bad about this, but considering how often people laugh at everything I do and 'surreptitiously' take photos of me without asking...Fair is fair.]

You'll have to forgive my cackling during the videos. These videos aren't the best of the aerobics. I missed most of it and this is their cool down, which is much calmer and less energetic than the rest of the workout. Still, it gives you a little insight into what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

ETA TFLN

2010-05-14T09:57:00.004+07:00

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the website Texts From Last Night. For those of you who aren't, TFLN is a website where people can post text messages that they have sent or received. Texts are posted anonymously, but identified by area code. The texts generally focus on 1. sex 2. alcohol/drugs 3. ridiculous things. It is very college, but entertaining.
For example:
(203): The dean held back my hair as I was puking after graduation. That means so much more than a diploma and a handshake.

Some of the ETAs and I were discussing the website and saying that one of the reasons we enjoy occasionally reading it is that posted texts are so far from applying to our current lives. We said that if we were to create an ETA version, the majority of our posted texts would focus on 1. disgusting things we find in our houses 2. people inappropriately hitting on us 3. ridiculously odd situations we get forced into. Here are some sample texts [some real, some fake though based on real situations] from Indonesia ETAs:

(+62): the cat pooped on my couch. again.

(+62): 3 foot long monitor lizard being hacked to death in my living room. can't talk right now.

(+62): exactly how bad is it to eat bugs?

(+62): ants in my bed. cockroaches under it. rats in kitchen. giant lizard in living room. i live in a zoo.

(+62): what should we name my parasite?

(+62): i dont wanna close my eyes i dont wanna fall a sleep cz i.d miss u baby.. N i dont wanna miss a thing cz even when i dream of u the sweetest dream would nv do i.d still miss u baby,. i l0ve u, n hve a nice dream,

(+62): u beautiful smart young girl. i lucky have u my special friend. i can to your house now?

(+62): apparently i'm the guest lecturer at this english conference. thanks for the heads up bu.

(+62): just confiscated porn of women in jilbabs. now what do i do?

(+62): how do you politely tell 'bus "stop cheating! i can see you and i'm not stupid"?

(+62): 3 video cameras taping my class. i hate my life.

(+62): 12 year old girl just sang to me in front of 200 people. i feel dirty.

Please feel free to add your own ETA Indonesia TFLN!

It's All Fun and Games

2010-05-13T13:56:00.002+07:00

I have had a great Fulbright grant experience. Much of that is due to my school--SMK N1 Magelang. I wanted to thank my school for hosting me and for taking care of me during my time here. I had brought gifts for teachers and students, but I wanted to give something to the school as a whole. My cousin Michelle, who taught in Honduras, had the great idea to give my school an assortment of games. So when my parents came to visit in April they brought a suitcase full of assorted games. We're talking: Scrabble, Connect-Four, Battleship, UNO, Scrabble Slam, MasterMind, Jenga, etc! Lots of fun.
I had to make the games at least semi-educational to use them in class. So I gave the kids the boxes with the instructions in English. I made them try to work out the instructions first and then helped them if they needed it. Once they figured out how to play, I had them write their own instructions for the games in Bahasa Indonesia. The point was to leave the games with instructions in Indonesian so that everyone at the school will be able to play. We had a lot of fun playing the games in small groups. I'm not sure that many of them had ever played board games before. Now every class they ask if we can play again.

Battleship was by far the most coveted game to play. Bloody-minded teenage boys. The directions weren't easy though and even I had to read them twice before I could sufficiently explain the game.

Andrianus puzzles out the directions for Connect-Four. This was another popular choice. I hypothesize that the bigger the box, the more they want to play that game.

Scrabble Slam is a card version of Scrabble. It is surprisingly a lot of fun and one of the more educational of the games since it forces them to practice spelling and word recall. One of the boys was very amused to tell me that his girlfriend's name is Jenga. Jenga was very popular because it made the most noise.

At first I worried that Scrabble would be too difficult because it is a complicated and sophisticated vocabulary game. After a bit of explaining and demonstrating on my part, all of the students were able to play. Not only able to play, but excited to play. They even came up with some words that surprised me!

UNO is so classic. Everyone loves UNO, how could you not? It is easy and fun. If I was going to pick a game to play, it would be UNO for sure!

The Beginning of the End

2010-05-13T11:42:00.005+07:00

If you didn't previously know, you can see from the above photo that I'm returning to the USA in 17 days. Frankly, I was uncertain whether to end my last sentence with an exclamation point or a sad face. I'm conflicted about my imminent departure. On the one hand, I'm over being here. I honestly feel like I accomplished what I set out to do during my Fulbright grant period. I've taught English, I've learned Bahasa Indonesia, I've made friends inside and outside of my school, I've learned more about Indonesia than I can tell you. I sometimes feel like now I'm in a holding pattern; treading water until I move on to the next step. The next step is graduate school and I'm excited to start learning again. I'm tired of being in a place that is where I live, but never where I 100% belong. I miss my friends and my family. In so many ways, I'm ready to leave Indonesia and return to the United States, my home.

On the other hand, I am very sad to be leaving. I love Indonesia! I love that every day is an adventure. I enjoy the sense of excitement that I feel every day. I will miss teaching--for I've found that I really do enjoy teaching ESL. Most of all, I will really miss my students. They are sweet and kind, silly and curious, bold and gracious. They make me feel like what I'm doing is important--that I'm impacting someone. They make me laugh. They make me blush. They make me feel effortlessly beautiful and special. They are accepting of all my cultural/teaching missteps and fumblings. Their acceptance gives me confidence. We have learned together. I think that is a powerful gift. They can at times still puzzle me. I don't know why they sometimes yell over me in class or why no one ever does their homework and I'm still not used to boys sitting on other boys' laps in class. At the end of the day, I will seriously miss them. I will miss the moments when I feel profoundly alive teaching them--those FLOW moments Bruce Crowley taught us about. I will miss their laughter and their enthusiasm. I will miss their eager little faces constantly peering at, and following, me. I wish I could see into the future and see how they turn out. What will become of them? And I guess that is what makes leaving so difficult...I probably will never know. I'll leave here and it will be like I fell off their planet. They won't have the opportunity to leave Indonesia and it is unlikely I will find them if/when I return. They will be lost to me--absorbed back into their villages. And that hurts. I'm proud of them. I'm invested in their triumphs. I want to know what they do with their lives, I want to see what they make of themselves. I want to continue to be proud of them, even from afar, even from America.

Everyone is starting to panic about my departure. That was why I made the window countdown so that they would all be forewarned and have time to adjust to the idea. In the week since I've put it up I've constantly been receiving invitations to lunch, dinner, to visit people's houses; having my picture taken ["one last time miss!"]; being asked to sign things; and being given gifts. Once again, I am awed by the generosity and depth of feeling that people here possess. Class 1EC, which I taught last semester, asked my Ibu if they could come to my house before I left. She told them to come on Thursday because it was a holiday. So this morning, 26 students from 1 EC squashed into my house [there is no comfortable way for my house to fit that many people]. For two hours we played the boardgames that my parents brought for me to give as a departing gift to SMK N1. It was strange and fun for me to see them in normal clothes. The house was full of laughter as they played the games.

After they had tried out all of the games, they presented me with a beautiful piece of hand painted batik. Most batik these days is printed with stamps, but this is the traditional, hand painted kind. It is gorgeous--full of small purple flowers--easily the most lovely batik I've gotten here. I gave them each a penny taped to the "find a penny, pick it up..." poem.

Before they could leave, we obviously had to have a photo shoot outside. We took group photos, we took all-girl and all-boy photos, and then we took individual photos. We took photos until everyone was happy.

Before they all left, they each shook my hand and "salaam"-ed me [I know that's not what it is actually called because 'salaam' is a greeting, but people are always telling their children to "Salaam Miss Sarah" so that's what I refer to it as. What I mean is that they take your hand and press it to their forehead or cheek. It's a sign of respect.]. It usually makes me uncomfortable when they do it. I'm not old enough to be an elder and although I'm their teacher I'm closer in age to them than I am to any of the other teachers. I want them to feel like my equals, not like they must obey me. Today it felt natural. It felt like a proper ending to our day and to our time here together. And that makes me hopeful that when the time comes to leave it will somehow feel right.

Need a Pet?

2010-05-12T14:24:00.009+07:00

If you're searching for the wild, the exotic, the rare, or the just plain strange; start looking at Yogyakarta's bird market--Pasar Ngasem. You never know what you'll find wandering through those narrow streets.
As its name suggests, the bird market offers many different species of birds. Chickens, canaries, small song birds, parrots, and many other birds are on display. Some of the birds can sing. Some of the birds can talk. They come in all different colors and sizes. Isn't this little blue one just adorable?They even offer owls! I've wanted a pet owl since I started reading Harry Potter books in 6th grade. Seeing them for sale instantly gave me the awesome vision of me teaching my classes with my tiny owl, Artemis, perched on my shoulder. Artemis would correct me when I made English mistakes. Sadly, back in the real world, 1. owls don't talk and 2. there is probably a 0%chance that US customs would let me bring an Indonesian owl into the states. Dreams dashed.The bird market also boasts other flying creatures...like fruit bats. This is a baby fruit bat. The adults are much larger.There were also small rodents and mammals like this squirrel-like creature. It had an impressively long jump. Also for sale: rats and mice. As if there aren't enough of those available for free in every home here.Moving on to reptiles, they had a nice selection of all scaly things. Green lizards, brown lizards, chameleons, snakes...

Miniature monitor lizards--read: komodo dragon family and the monster that invaded tall Sarah and Alexa's house in Gorontalo.

And of course, you can't forget your nice buckets of worms or maggots! Who doesn't want those?
Also available for purchase were cats, dogs, rabbits, an assortment of tropical fish, ants, and a porcupine. Who knows what else there was that I didn't even see!

Happy pet shopping!

Magelang Royalty

2010-05-12T11:48:00.003+07:00

Two weeks ago my presence was "requested" at the Women's Meeting by the Walikota's wife. The Walikota is essentially the mayor of Magelang. He's kinda omnipotent and his power extends to his wife. She demanded my presence rather than requested it. Now, I'm sure this is my Western upbringing rearing it's ugly head, but I rather dislike and resent being commanded to do anything. This is unfortunate because Indonesian society is very power-structure/"respect your superiors" oriented and I'm commanded to do things quite frequently. I've learned to swallow my response and proceed as demurely as possible. Unless it's something that I really don't want to do. I really did not want to go to this Women's Meeting. I was tired and feeling ill and did not want to sit through 3-4 hours of women talking in Javanese and pose for 100s of photos and struggle to keep a smile pasted on my face. Theoretically, being personally invited by the Walikota's wife was a huge honor, but I still wasn't into it. I pointed this out to my principal...And an hour later I was being videotaped walking into the Women's Meeting.
Ibu Murwani, a SMK N1 math teacher, was sent to accompany me. I was grumpy and trying to suppress it until we arrived and I was told that it was going to be a batik show designed and modelled by SMK K Magelang--our sister vocational school where girls learning cooking, beauty, and sewing. That sounded much better than listening to Javanese lectures on feminine hygiene or how to properly care for a household. I started to relax. I had my picture taken with all the important people of Magelang--Mr. & Mrs. Walikota, Mr. & Mrs. Wakil Walikota [vice mayor], Mr. & Mrs. Head of Police, the list goes on and on. There was a lengthy photoshoot of me with Mr. & Miss Magelang. Seriously. The city voted on the two most attractive 20-somethings and make them dress up and greet people at events like this to promote tourism and the wonders that are Magelang. The tourism office thought it would have double the effect if I was shoved in with them too.
Miss Magelang, me, Runner-up Miss Magelang [They look just about as thrilled as I felt to have all these pictures taken]

Mr. Magelang, Miss Magelang, me, Runner-up Miss Magelang, Runner-up Mr. Magelang [Mr. Magelang is actually pretty cute. Where has he been hiding these last 8 months?]

Despite the unnecessary amount of photos, I was enjoying the event. There was a booth where this nice little old lady showed me how to make batik. Ibu Murwani and I each bought a batik sarong courtesy of SMK N1. Thanks Pak Heru! Then it was time for the fashion show to start. As the first SMK K models hit the stage, all my comfort fled. Batik show it was...batik lingerie show!?!? Something of the sort. The girls were wearing little tiny batik shirts and batik bustiers. They were strutting their stuff on the catwalk. And everyone was enjoying it...everyone except me. I was sitting there thinking, How is this okay? This is a Muslim country, this is definitely a Muslim town, and these are 15-17 year old girls, in bustiers, on a catwalk. There are men in this room, people are taking photos, and no one is bothered? This is not Yogya, this is not a cosmopolitan city; this is the place where I can't wear sleeveless shirts or my hair down in public because that is too risque. The female portion of the audience was all wearing jilbabs. I was, and still am, confounded. The show ended and I left feeling rather dirty and confused. I heard people on the way out talking about the creativity and the beauty of the designs. Many people were having their photos taken with the models. I wanted to wrap them all in batik sarongs. Maybe conservatism has rubbed off on me, but I couldn't help feeling that these high school girls were being exploited. They didn't look upset--they looked happy. But how is it okay to wear lingerie in a fashion show when the other 99% of the time you get criticized for showing your elbows?

MONGGO Chocolate Factory

2010-05-12T09:48:00.003+07:00

This may be heaven on Earth! This Friday Lolly and I went to the MONGGO chocolate factory in Kota Gede, Jogjakarta! MONGGO is the only good chocolate that we've found in Indonesia and it is delicious! And expensive; which makes it a rare treat. MONGGO is made from Indonesian cocoa beans from both Sumatra and Java. The founder of the company is Belgian, but the workers are all Indonesian women.
It is a rare occurance to visit the factory when they are in production, but we lucked out! It wasn't quite as cool as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory--mostly due to the lack of oompa loompas. It was still really cool to watch the women pour big dippers full of melted chocolate into molds and then pipe them full of filling. Lolly and I stood gaping at the workers until they started to gape back at us [probably no one has ever watched them for such a long period of time before]. We finally pried ourselves away to visit the gift shop for our free samples. Of course I thought of Chesh the whole time--the wonderful Aunt who first introduced me to the delicious world of chocolate! If I ever find myself jobless with no immediate prospects, I'm moving back to Yogya to work at MONGGO! We were behind glass so my pictures aren't that great, but here is the room where the chocolate is put into molds and filling added. MONGGO makes bars with nuts, strawberry jam, ginger, praline, and other flavors.

Those big pots are full of melted chocolate. Lolly and I debated the intelligence of begging for one, but in the end decided to settle for our free sample and the many factory-discounted bars we bought!

"The Best Weekend of My Life"

2010-05-08T09:25:00.012+07:00

The weekend of April 9-11 we had AMINEF's WORDS English Competition in Jakarta. It was a crazy, fun, fast weekend. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised by how interesting and entertaining our students' performances were.

The Jakarta Post wrote an article about the competition that you can read here:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/25/students-show-fluency-local-cultures-english.html
In the early morning on Friday, the school driver took Muhammad Arifudin and me to the airport from school. Arifudin was the student competitor from SMK N1 Magelang from my favorite class, 1MB. He was SO excited for the weekend and at the end he told me that it was "the best weekend of his life."
I don't know about best, but it was certainly a weekend of firsts for Arifudin. It was his first airplane, his first time to Jakarta, his first frozen yogurt, his first time traveling with a bule, his first national English competition, etc. And I caught it all on camera.

Arifudin on his first ever airplane ride. He was a little bit nervous during the takeoff, but after that loved the whole experience. He looked out the window the whole time and kept pointing things out to me.
First stop of the weekend, The Grand Indonesia, the biggest and most crazy beautiful mall I have ever been to. Here are Sarah, Arifudin, and Sarah's student at the entrance to the mall. We didn't buy anything, but we had a lot of fun window-shopping.
None of our students had ever had frozen yogurt so we treated them to a snack in the mall. Their verdict: delicious!
Here we are, the Magelang contingency, right before the start of the competition. Arifudin was very nervous. He was practically shaking with nerves!
On the stage where the presenters stood underneath the competition banner. I'm not sure why he has posed like this.
All of the competitors who came with the ETAs from all over Indonesia. There were only 4 boys at the competition out of 32 participants.
Lolly is the closest ETA to my site since she lives in Yogyakarta. Here Lolly and her student Devie, Arifudin, and I pose after the competition with their certificates of participation.
AMINEF sent out an email about a week before the competition declaring that the ETAs would be in charge of a "workshop" for our students. So what did we do? We taught them to dance. We taught them the Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, and the YMCA. It was glorious. Can you stop Arifudin in this photo?
We went to MONAs, the national monument of Indonesia. It was hot, it was crowded, and the line was too long to go up to the top of the monument. But it was a special site for the students to see and I think they enjoyed the visit.Some of our kids posing at MONAs.
A human spelling of AMINEF. It's a little difficult to see in the picture, but I promise it was awesome.

Here is Arifudin's presentation:

He was great! I'm not sure if you can tell from the video, but I was working his PowerPoint and I was really screwing it up. The transitions that he had pre-programed into the presentation just did not work for the speed of his presentation. There was nothing I could do about it. He covered the errors marvelously. I was SO proud of him for thinking on his feet. That is one of the hardest things to do when using another language and I thought he did it with skill and humor.

M. Arifudin did not win an award from the competition, but everyone said that if there had been an award for funniest or cutest presentation he definitely would have won. Not winning did not dampen our spirits at all! We both had an excellent time at the competition and Arifudin asks me every week how "our" American friends are and when they will come to visit us in Magelang.

India Friends in Indonesia

2010-04-29T10:33:00.004+07:00

Before coming to Indonesia the longest time I had been overseas was my 5.5 months studying abroad in India. I learned a lot in India and made some wonderful, life-long friends. One of those friends, Kelsey Cobb, is currently working at a non-profit that targets teens who are/were involved in gangs in Singapore. Last weekend after my family left, Kelsey hopped on a plane and came over to spend two days exploring Yogyakarta with me. It was great to see her, share stories about India, catch up on our current lives and study abroad group gossip, and travel together again.

Keeping with the style of our study abroad trip, we decided to go visit Prambanan--the Hindu temple complex outside of Yogya. I had actually never been there before because I was saving the trip for when she visited. I know that everyone loves Borobudur temple, but I actually enjoyed Prambanan more. Sacrilegious for someone from Magelang to say, I know...don't tell on me. I found it interesting because it included multiple temples devoted to different Hindu gods and goddesses. It just seemed...more impressive somehow. Borobudur is BIG, but...personal preference I guess.

True to Indonesian style, we got rained on, bought batik, and ate veg food at Milas. It was great to see Kelsey and I hope she had as much fun visiting as I had hosting her!

Kelsey looks out over the tops of the smaller temples in the complex.Me and my good friend Nandi, Shiva's bull consort.

Bali: A Whole Different Indonesia

2010-04-28T17:26:00.006+07:00

During the second week of their trip to Indonesia, my family went to the island paradise of Bali. I love Bali, but it is very different from the Indonesia that I know and live in. So our week there was like a vacation for me too! Here are some highlights of our trip there: We went to a Kecak fire dance performance in Ubud. This involved a lot of chanting men and men pretending to ride horses and kicking flaming coconut shells everywhere. I thought it was pretty awesome. Spirits were momentarily lowered when we got drenched in a downpour, but overall it was a great performance.

Neil found his new girlfriend.

We went to Pura Goa Lawah or the bat cave temple near Padangbai. Bali is predominately Hindu and this is a Hindu temple built into a cave that is full of bats. The sound of fluttering wings and the smell of their guano was overpowering. The Hindus believe that the bats live there to feed Naga, the serpent, who lives at the back of the cave. We were not allowed to enter the cave to search for Naga.

Here are just a few of the big bats who live in the temple's cave. Much larger than your average North American flying mammal!

Mum and Dad respectfully wearing their sarongs and scarves to enter the temples. Aren't they an adorable couple?

Neil looks nice and manly in his sarong and scarf. He got along well with all of the demon statues.

Bali Fierce

2010-04-28T16:36:00.003+07:00

Family Explorations in Java

2010-04-28T09:08:00.008+07:00

During their two week stay in Indonesia my family was able to see many different and interesting sites. Here is a brief overview of our adventures in Java!

Ketep Pass is a lookout point high in the hills around Magelang from which you are able to get a great view of Mt. Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano...which just happens to be in my backyard. Unfortunately, the day we visited Ketep Pass was very cloudy so my family wasn't able to see all the way to the top of Merapi.
Mum, Neil, and Dad in front of Borobudur Temple. Often called the 8th Wonder of the World and another tourist attraction conveniently located in my backyard. Borobudur is always ungodly hot and humid, but everyone pulled through nicely.
Here they are again in Borobudur Temple surrounded by all the carvings of Buddha and his life story. I've been to the temple several times now and was able to provide some background stories and history.
In Yogyakarta we visited Kraton, which is the Sultan's palace. Yogyakarta is still headed by a Sultan though I really think he serves more as a figure head. Here Neil and Dad pose with one of the statues guarding the entrance. This photo was taken just before Neil was attacked by a group of enthusiastic adolescent Indonesian girls who wanted his photo. I had to eventually chase them away when he started to turn purple.
A family portrait at the Sultan's palace. Our tour guide assured us that this was a prime spot for a good group photo.
We visited the local bird market where you can buy not only birds, but lizards, rodents, maggots, and other assorted "pets." I made a friend at the bird market with this adorable little owl.
Neil and I got close with Buddha in Prawirotaman, one of the more touristy sections of Yogya.

MacKenzies meet the monsoon! Caught outside our hotel one afternoon my family learned that rain falls quickly and heavily in Indonesia. They were thoroughly soaked, but still happy!

A Dietary Journey Around Indonesia

2010-04-27T19:27:00.006+07:00

I have several hundred photos of my family's visit to Indonesia and am at something of a loss for where to start with sharing them on my blog. Eating and drinking are surely the things to do when on vacation. We certainly did! Since I seem to have a cornucopia of food pictures, I thought I'd start with some of those. Bon Appetit!On the night of their first full day in Magelang, my family took a group of my co-workers and friends out to dinner. Out of respect to my pescetarianism, we enjoyed several seafood dishes including two whole grilled fish, spicy squid, shrimp and vegetables, and other assorted delicious items accompanied, of course, by rice.

Mum tries her first truly Indonesian meal--bakmi godog [noodle soup]. It is one of my personal favorites.Dad, sporting his new batik shirt--a gift from my school, hams it up at breakfast. Isn't he a vision in browns and whites?!?!

Dad always seemed to order the meals with the most fabulous presentation. His favorite Indonesian food was nasi goreng--fried rice. A simple and much loved staple that made me groan every time he ordered it.

Dad and I were brave enough to try kopi luwak or civet coffee. You may have heard of it. It is the most expensive and supposedly best coffee in the world. A cup of kopi luwak in the US can cost upwards of $50. Seriously. I imagine the cost has something to do with the process of making the coffee. Kopi luwak mainly comes from Sumatra. The coffee beans are eaten by civets--a type of cat. The digestion system of the civet 'cures' the beans, which gives them a particularly strong and refined flavor. The civets then poop out the beans. The excrement is collected, the beans retrieved and cleaned [I hope], and made into coffee. I admit that the idea of drinking cat excrement is not all that appealing, but considering how exclusive, expensive, and revered kopi luwak is and how comparatively cheap it is in Indonesia...how could one refuse? Our verdict: it's good, strong coffee. Even excellent perhaps. Would either of us pay $50 for a cup of it? Hell no.In Bali, Mum tried her first mojito. A perfect place to try this cool and refreshing drink after a hot day out in the sun! She enjoyed it much more than her sip of kopi luwak!

Another beautifully presented meal for Dad. This one includes a spicy chicken curry, rice, and vegetables.

A coconut curry with squid and rice was Mum's lunch one day in Ubud. It looked and smelled delicious!

Vacation Successfully Completed

2010-04-22T20:18:00.002+07:00

Our family vacation came to a successful conclusion today. My family started their long flights home this afternoon and I returned to Yogyakarta. We had a great time together. I will post photos and stories next week.

This weekend I'm meeting my lovely study abroad friend Kelsey Cobb for a few days in Yogya! I haven't seen Kelsey since we celebrated my 21st birthday together in Udaipur, India. Kelsey is currently working in Singapore and was able to arrange to hop over for a quick visit. It will be great to see her again. So many wonderful visitors and only 5 weeks left in my grant!

More updates soon...

Selamat Datang di Indonesia MacKenzies!

2010-04-14T19:39:00.003+07:00

My family has safely arrived in Indonesia on Sunday night. So far it's been a tiring and fun whirlwind of travel and activity. On Monday, they came to class and watched me teach. They fielded questions from my students [including: "What is the culture of Canada?", "What do you know about the Bermuda Triangle?", and "Can you explain the Boston Tea Party?"]. They handed out little oleh-oleh from America to everyone they met.I took them for lunch at my favorite waroeng. Here we all are with the owner of the waroeng who was thrilled to have us visit. No one cooks bakmi godog like she does!
Neil tries his first bite of bakmi goreng [fried noodles]. His verdict: delicious and spicy.

More photos and stories of their visit coming soon. I've left them in Yogyakarta for the night because I must teach tomorrow. This weekend we're off to Bali! Wish you were here too!

WORDS 2010: Nur Hasyim

2010-04-07T13:45:00.004+07:00

Changing the World

There are somethings
That lost from our hands
Slide by our fingerscavity
There are somethings
That beginning don't whit resolved
But, now we begin to hope it

We look grey air at sky
We look water of lake that more decline
A little bird
Don't warble again in the morning

Woods lost their branches
Branches lost their leafs
Leafs lost their branches
Branches lost their woods

We look mountains pumped ash
Ash brought stones
Stones brought quake
Quake brought slide down
Slide down brought flood
Flood brought water
Eyes water (tears)

We look one thousand signs
Can we read those signs?

I loging to woods
To suck that air
Look the green of those leafs
Tread those grass

I longing to woods
To hear birds warble
All monkey be leap
Tigers be roar
Dears that skillful

I longing to woods
I longing to my world

Now.
Is time when we must changing The World
Better than yesterday.

By: Nur Hasyim, XMB

I think Nur Hasyim's poem is excellent. I have copied it for you exactly as he wrote it. I am so proud of his beautiful imagery. I know that I told you that I would share videos of my students presenting their competition pieces, but my Internet is not fast enough to upload them these days. Sorry!

Musings During School Testing Week #2

2010-04-07T09:33:00.002+07:00

I have had a lot of unstructured time this week due to an unexpected additional round of testing. It has also been raining constantly which has kept me primarily caged up indoors. This has led to several musings, some of which I will now share with you.

There is a lot of testing in this country. I would go so far as to consider it a ridiculous amount. I had a month off for testing in December. I've just had a week off in March and then this week. Rumor has it that there will be two more weeks of testing at the end of April/beginning of May. What exactly are the students being tested on? There isn't all that much time to teach in between all these tests.
Just because you want to be friends with someone does not mean they want to be friends with you. Case in point #1: There is a tiny orange kitten that has been mewling loudly outside of my house all day long. I love cats. I especially like small orange ones. During a break in the rain I decided that I would befriend this poor kitten. Thinking it must be hungry I brought it a can of tuna. It ran away from me...again and again. This decidedly amused all the Indonesians watching me [see musing #3]. The kitten finally stopped meowing and fleeing from me long enough to eat some of the tuna. Then it hightailed it out of there and hid in the drainage trench. Clearly, this cat did not want to be my friend or my pet.
In America, going to work, or school, is an obligation. Most people go to work because they must do that in order to be paid. Students go to school because the government and their parents say that they must. At my Indonesian school every teacher has Sunday off and one other day during the school week. For example, my Ibu has Wednesday and Sunday off while Ibu Mila has Sunday and Monday off. Yet, on most Wednesdays when I walk into the teacher's room my Ibu is there and most Mondays Ibu Mila is there. At first I was confused, "Isn't this your day off?" I would ask. "Yes," they would answer. "Then why are you here?" "I just came to visit." They come to visit and they stay all day long. They have no obligation to be there, they simply like to be there. Their friends are at school. Their friends are their coworkers. "But don't you have other things to do?" "No. I can do them later." The same thing happens with the students. There are always students at school. I can't take the trash out in my pajamas at 10 pm on a Sunday or 5 am on a Thursday because someone will see me. They meet their friends and they just hang out. It's interesting to me because I find myself thinking--usually in frustration when I don't want to get fully dressed to take out the trash--Don't you have somewhere else to be? But the answer seems to be: "No, there is nowhere else I'd rather be."
The world is full of ants. Indonesia is especially full of 'semut'. There are more different kinds of ants then you could possibly imagine. According to Wikipedia, there are between 12,500 and 22,000 species [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant]. I am not a fan of any of them, but some are decidedly worse than others. There are big ants here. Ones that are red and ones that are black. The red ones have visible pincers. It's the enormous black ones that have infested my house. Frankly, they creep me out even though I know they are harmless. They don't bite, but they are fast and they are everywhere. They can crawl on the ceiling and the walls. There are also normal sized ants. The kind you would expect at picnics. Then there are small ants that bite. They're small and they're red and man it hurts when they bite you. They leave little welts that itch like crazy. Then there are small ants that seem to exist solely to live in my computer keyboard. Finally, there are extremely tiny ants. Ones that you can feel crawling on you, but you have to look really, really hard to see them on your skin. I do not like that. A good rule of thumb for life in Indonesia: if you feel like something is crawling on you...something probably is.
Body piercings and Indonesia do not mix. Indonesia's wet and hot climate is perfect for infections. It's amazing how a tiny paper cut can flame up in less than a day. One ETA had a small scrape on his leg that a week later was an abscess that had to be treated in the emergency room. My problems revolve around my ear and navel piercings. None of them are happy.
Although I am still irrationally terrified of spiders, I have become much more adept at killing them myself. No one comes running when I scream in Indonesia. I don't like the idea of letting spiders live in my house. So the killing comes down to me. FYI: Anti-mosquito spray kills spiders too.
I need to stop talking to myself aloud to compensate for being alone in public. It only reaffirms people's beliefs that I am crazy.
I've recently been amazed by the importance that food plays in people's lives. People's dietary habits and their fierce attachments to their dietary habits are fascinating. When you ask someone who is away from home what they miss they start with family, friends, reliable electricity, etc. But very soon they shift their list of items to food. All those foods they miss. Bagels, salad, cheese, pesto, Greek yogurt, enchiladas...my list goes on and on. Why is food so important? What is it about food that is linked in our minds with home? People here think it is really strange that I don't eat white rice three times a day. I think that it is really strange that they can eat white rice three times a day every day. I try to explain that Americans like variety in their meals. "But rice is healthy," they say. I don't even enter into conversations about that statement. What is it that makes me jump up and down in the isle of the Yogyakarta Carrefour when I find a bottle of Tabasco sauce or yellow mustard? It's not that I don't like Indonesian food because I do. Indonesian food is spicy and I love spicy food. But when I receive a package in the mail from my mother with a block of Vermont Cabot hunter sharp cheddar cheese, I am over the moon with excitement. I would think that maybe I just have an unusual attachment to food, but other people react the same way. I have had conversations with ETAs over the deliciousness of Cheez-Its that have lasted for over 30 minutes. Song Young, the Korean teacher at my school, tells me excitedly every time he gets a package with Korean food in it from his parents. There is just something about familiar food that makes us feel home...even when we know we aren't there.
I'm nervous about reverse culture shock when I return to America. One reason is that it will be very difficult to remember that the people around me can understand what I'm saying when I am talking in public. In Indonesia, I take for granted that the people around me do not understand what I say in English especially if I am talking at a natural rate. I know that ETAs and myself have had public conversations that would have been completely culturally inappropriate if anyone had understood what they overheard. So it is difficult to remember that other people could potentially speak English. For example, in Sumatra we were having one of those conversations on the dock. One of the ETAs told us we should quiet down a little because of the other guests. "It's okay," someone responded, "they're Russian." "Yes, they're Russian, but they understand English. They were talking to us perfectly clearly in English this morning." We had forgotten to censor ourselves because the concept of being listened in on is foreign now.
Non-verbal social cues do not work in Indonesia. Neither do hints or innuendos. If you want to communicate something, you need to be direct. Yesterday I found out that my grandmother died. I was upset and really not in the mood to interact with anyone. I was sitting on my porch writing an email and listening to music through my headphones. A teacher came and sat down next to me. She started talking to me. I was acting in a way that was not rude, but clearly [to me] indicated that I did not wish to continue the conversation. I wasn't making eye contact, I was continuing to type my email, I sighed, etc. She continued talking. Finally, I told her that my grandmother had died and I was sad. Another hint, I thought, that I wanted to be left alone. She started asking questions. A lot of questions. All about my grandmother's death. Frankly, her line of questioning was making me about 100x more upset than I was before. I still wasn't looking at her, I was now fidgeting, my eyes were welling up...and still the questions continued. I even hinted by saying, "I'm sad and I think I need some time alone." It was not until I looked at her calmly in the eye and said, "My grandmother died and I am grieving. You need to leave now" that she actually left. Be direct. It may not feel polite, but it is what works.
Congratulations to Victor from Colgate who was selected as a Fulbright ETA in Indonesia for next year! You are in for one wild, amazing adventure.

Sumatra Stories: Danau Toba

2010-03-31T19:38:00.015+07:00

Of all my trips around Indonesia, I think my vacation in Sumatra last week was my very favorite. All of the ETAs had the week off for National Testing of senior high school students. During my vacation time I went to Northern Sumatra to meet up with 14 other Fulbrights--me, tall Sarah, Alexa, John, Jimmie, Ricky, Kelly, Vidhi, Kerry, Kalada, Ab, Anna, Ashley, Aaron, and Dani. We spent 4 days at Danau Toba and 1 day in Medan. John and Vidhi live and teach in Medan so they acted as pseudo-tour guides for the week. It was the biggest gathering of ETAs I've been to since the midyear conference in January. We were loud, rambunctious, and happy to see each other. People say "a picture is worth a thousand words" and I think that must be true for I have very few pictures, but can remember millions of fascinating words being spoken. We spent two days at Toba simply lounging around enjoying the intensely beautiful scenery and each other. Another day we rented motorcycles and a car and toured around the area seeing all of the tourist sights and stopping along the way in villages to take photos.
Danau Toba is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. It is big and deep! The climate at Toba was a refreshing change from the rest of Indonesia--it was cool! It was nice to spend a few days not dripping sweat constantly. We were able to enjoy being outside in the sun without getting heatstroke. There is an island in the middle of Lake Toba named Samosir. The people that traditionally lived on Samosir and in the area surrounding the lake are the Batak people. Many of their descendants still live there today. The traditional homes of the Batak people look like the little house above with pointed roofs that pitch up at both ends. I think they're quite cute!

A trip is never complete for me until we've watched traditional dances! Luckily, we were able to catch a performance at the Batak Museum. This man was the lead dancer. Later in the performance he used that stick as a sort of spear. He threw it at an egg that had been placed in the center of the dance space, which cracked the egg open and exposed the yolk for the gathering birds to eat. Batak dance seems to consist mostly of swaying from side to side, slowly moving the arms in circles in from of the body, and humming. These women are depicted wearing the traditional dance costumes consisting primarily of woven scarves. Someone has a video of us ETAs joining in the dancing--scarves and all. When I get my hands on it I'll be sure to share it with you.

Lake Toba was so green, so calm, so cool, and so relaxing. Here are some rice paddies, the lake, and the cloud-capped mountains in the distance.

We stopped in a small Batak village on our journey around the island. We were able to watch this woman weaving. Her speed and precision were impressive. I also am curious about how she knew which colored string came next in the pattern...there were so many!

Dani perusing some of the scarves for sale. They come in every color and pattern imaginable from shiny, metallic, and gaudy to more traditional earth tones. I much prefer the muted earth tones and water blues. I guess that makes me a traditionalist!

If only we were all this effortlessly adorable! One of the ETAs commented that if the group ever lost me I would probably be found playing with the local kids. He might have a point.

These stone chairs are the traditional courtroom of the Batak people. According to John, acting as tour guide, if you committed an offense you would be brought to this area to be judged by the king and the other important people in the village. If you committed a minor offense like killing a chicken you would be imprisoned in the jail, which is that lattice-work area under the house in the background. If you committed a major offense, you would be publicly killed by decapitation and your body would be eaten raw by the everyone in the village. The Bataks were cannibals until sometime in the 19th century when a missionary came and converted them to Christianity.

Don't think me morbid, but I love these tombs. They are all over the landscape at Toba, seemingly rising up out of the nothingness of the rice paddies. I think they are pretty and solemn. They make you pause for a moment. Isn't that what graves should do?

Here I am posing with the very tiny door of the Batak traditional house. The ETAs had me climb up because they said the door was "Sarah-sized" and I was the only one who would be able to fit through it.

Although tropical, Danau Toba reminded me a bit of Vermont. Sort of like Lake Dunmore in summer. Clear blue water surrounded by green mountains. If I ignored the palm trees I could almost imagine I was hanging out on the dock after a water ski.

The spectacular view from my porch. We stayed at an adorable little place owned by a Dutch woman and her Indonesian husband. The food and view were spectacular. Every morning I would wake up and sit in the comfy porch chair still curled in my blanket to just watch the morning for a bit before starting my day. It was peaceful and relaxing. A great place for thinking big thoughts.

Early one morning this Batak man set out his fishing nets. Do you see the black circles floating on the water? Those are the floats of the net. After he had set the net up in a circle he put on his mask and snorkel, got out his spear and dove into the contained area. He swam around for about 10 minutes occasionally diving down under the water. I'm not sure if he got any fish, but he definitely entertained me.

FYI for those of you interested: I officially accepted my admission to Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions this week! I will be starting classes on June 7th and will be looking for an apartment in Boston to share with the lovely Katherine Pezzella who will be attending graduate classes at Harvard. Exciting goings-on for me!

Lunch in Magelang

2010-03-31T19:11:00.003+07:00

My family is coming to visit next week and my whole school is excited. Today the administrative staff wanted to test out a restaurant to make sure it was adequate for festivities when my family arrives. So away we went for lunch. We had delicious gurame bakar and gurame goreng (grilled fish and fried fish), tofu, kalkung, sambals, and of course white rice.

This is Pak Pur, one of my very favorite people in Indonesia. He is the head of the automotive department and an assistant principal. He always has a smile on his face just like the one in the picture. I like him because he is happy but in a calm and soothing way. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the teachers at school because they can be very "aggressive" [loud voices and close physical proximity] in their attempts to communicate with me. Not Pak Pur. We have "gentle" conversations. He is patient and kind and he always makes me laugh. He is one of the people I will miss most from Magelang.

An offer of free lunch means lots of people will join in. Our group included: head of automotive department, a guidance counselor, a building teacher, a vice principal, a gym teacher, an automotive teacher, a computer teacher, a man who I see all the time and have no idea what he does, Song Young the teacher from Korea, and me.
The best part of lunch was the location. Look at this! We ate in little bungalows suspended above the rice paddy. Between the bungalows you could look down and see the fish that everyone around you was waiting to eat!
After lunch we threw our scraps into the rice paddy and the lele came to eat them! Catfish fight! I've never seen such disturbingly large catfish. If I had dipped my toes in I have no doubt that they could have bitten them off.

The World Within My Window

2010-03-31T17:39:00.005+07:00

Never let it be said that I don't rise to the challenge...

A bright spring scene for everyone to enjoy!

Whole Lotta Love

2010-03-29T13:58:00.008+07:00

I think I am the best, if not most, loved ETA in the world! If that's a statement that I can't prove, at least it's one that I feel to be true. My whole time here people at home have gone out of their way to remind me that they are thinking of me and wishing me the best of adventures. I've received countless e-mails, phone calls, letters, and packages. I arrived home on Monday morning from an excellent vacation in Sumatra to find not one but two surprise packages!

This cornucopia of absolute deliciousness came from the Tom Vickery family! All of my favorite snacks that are unavailable in Indonesia: Cheez-Its, Crystal Light packets, dark chocolate (fortified with calcium...Aunt Pam is amazing!), and even my favorite kind of girl scout cookies! The best part was the letters from my little cousins. I remember writing letters to my Aunt Kristen when she was doing Peace Corps in Namibia and I'm sure my letters made her smile as widely as I did when I read those from Becca, Kate, and Ryan.

The second package was from the lovely Katherine Pezzella! She sent a beautiful card and chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. Amazing and delicious! I'm so thankful to have such wonderful best friends. I'm so excited to be seeing Miss Pezzella again in only 2 short months when we will both be moving to Boston for graduate school!

To top of the wonderfulness I received three cards today! One from my parents congratulating me on being accepted to graduate school. One from my cousin Angela sending happy thoughts for the tail end of my grant and promises of adventures in Boston this summer. One from the Chouinard family including lots of pictures and an adorable letter written by Will [age 3]. So much happiness to receive all in one week!

I really appreciate everything that everyone has done to remind me that there are people that love me regardless of where they are on the globe! Thanks!

WORDS 2010

2010-03-20T18:15:00.002+07:00

AMINEF hosts an annual English competition for the ETAs' schools named WORDS. Each school will send one student to Jakarta with their ETA for a 3 day event in April. Winners in Jakarta receive scholarships to help pay their tuition next year. This is a big deal. Most of the kids at my school have never been on an airplane. School is expensive and winning a scholarship could have a big impact on a student's life.
The topic of WORDS 2010 was The Changing World Outside My Window: Where am I from? Where am I going? In hindsight, not the best prompt. It wasn't specific enough for our students and really intimidated them. I'm not even sure that I could easily compose a great answer. When the due date for submissions arrived at my school I had 0 participants. Great. I started encouraging, begging, pleading, coercing, cajoling, prodding, stalking...everything short of forcing the students to do it. By the end of the next week I had 10 submissions.
I am incredibly proud of every student that participated. It was difficult and they demonstrated both creativity and determination in their work. With the help of ETAs Lolly and Anna, we selected the top 5 participants. These 5 students gave an oral presentation of their work. From their presentations we were able to select first 3 finalists and ultimately the winner who will accompany me to Jakarta in April.
I have videos of the top 5 participants that I'd like to share with you. I'll upload them one at a time. First, I'll give you some quotes from the other submissions:

"Humans is the most perfect living creature that God ever create." -Mukharoron

"Each of us must have private talent and skill, so we can show our differences. It can motivate us to change the world." -Mukharoron

"I just a boy in usual who dreamt to change the world." -Mukharoron

"No one understand you/No one hears you're screaming/You need some help/No matter if you're slow" -Dwi Cahyoko

"Don't be afraid/Just be brave to say 'changing the world'" -Dwi Cahyoko

"Many people have dreams/Me too.../Like rocket that fly in galaxy/Like airs that fill the earth/Like flowers that blooming this morning/Like Bandung Bandawsa made one thousand temple for Roro Jongrang..." -Whitny

"Changing the world with my version of windows." -Yani

"Reforestation can be done in the way we use the system 'died a thousand plants'" -Yani

I think they have some excellent, interesting, and creative ideas, don't you?

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T11:10:00.005+07:00

Happy 1st day of Spring! It is 101 degrees in Magelang today. Is that double or triple the temperature in Vermont?

I've been trying to prepare people here for Neil's size. I keep telling them that my little brother is BIG. I'm trying to cut down on the number of people who will be scared of him. Not only is he tall, but he has some mass to him -- whereas you'd be hard pressed to find an Indonesian teenage male who weighs much more than me regardless of their height. I've seen how people react to ETA Jimmie who is also a good sized American male. In my mind, I try to add that Neil is also pale, blond, and has blue eyes to the response Jimmie gets. People might faint. He's sort of like the uber-bule. As opposed to me -- my Ibu tells people I'm only a half-bule because I have a darker complexion.

Yesterday one of my students said to me, "Miss Sarah, what happened to your window? It used to have such nice pictures. Now it is just a window." Well, just a window no longer! Photos of "It's Spring in Vermont!" coming soon.

But, Miss Sarah, How Did You Get Here?

2010-03-19T20:05:00.002+07:00

I love running into teachers and students outside of school. It doesn't happen that often, but occasionally I'll be walking down the aisle at the grocery store and I'll hear a shocked little voice from behind me, "Miss?" [Miss is always pronounced like 'meeeeess' in an impressively high pitch] Or someone will walk by my favorite bakmi waroeng and do an abrupt about-face at the sight of me eating my noodles. Or I'll climb onto an angkot and be greeted by a curious chorus of "Miss, mau ke mana?" by my students. It happens when I'm just taking a walk on the road that the school is on. It doesn't matter where I am, the reaction is always the same -- complete surprise. The general opinion is clearly that I do not exist off of school grounds. They are tentative at first, is this really Miss Sarah or is it a different bule that just looks suspiciously like her...are there any other bule in Magelang? Once the initial shock wears off and they realize that it is indeed their Miss Sarah that they are seeing; they all want to know three things:
1. What am I doing? What I'm doing is usually obvious and boring -- eating lunch, buying groceries, buying pulsa, etc. There isn't anything all that exciting to do in Magelang.
2. How did I get here? My two options for response are always either I took an angkot or I walked. Both seem to shock people. They are impressed that I know how to use the angkots, which actually is quite a feat. They are appalled that I walk anywhere -- don't I realize how hot it is in this country? I know it's hot, but I'd rather walk 5 miles in the heat than try to ride a motorcycle through Indonesian traffic.
3. Am I really alone? Yes, I'm alone. No, I am not scared. Indonesians do not like to do things alone so my independence leads to lots of remarks about how brave I am. I'm not brave really, I just have things to do and when I'm capable of doing them by myself I don't want to bother anyone to accompany me.
After I have satisfactorily answered their questions, they are so happy to see me. First, they are excited that I am enjoying their hometown. Usually this encounter also gives them the opportunity to introduce me to someone, which gives them celebrity status for a few minutes.
I always leave these encounters energized and smiling. Yes, I am brave! Yes, I am smart because I can use the angkots! Yes, my Bahasa Indonesia is good enough to order my lunch! Yes, I do know my way around [kind of]! Yes, I am a resident of this city! Yes, I do know people here! Yes, I can make people happy when I run into them unexpectedly!
I hope you're having a Yes! kind of day too!

Odds and Ends

2010-03-18T20:00:00.005+07:00

My internet has been atrocious for the last week or so, which is why I haven't posted anything new.
23 days and 19 hours until the MacKenzie clan invades Indonesia! That's right Donna, Chet, and Neil are all coming to visit for 2 weeks in April. It will be great to see them and show them my world here. Planning and preparing for their arrival is daunting and semi-stressful, but I know that it will be worth it when they get here.
Soon I will have some English competition entries to share with you. My students did a great job [once I practically forced them to participate] and I was very proud of them. A winner has been selected and he is excited to go to Jakarta with me for the competition in April.
On a body part test last week, one of my students wrote down "eye grasses" for eyelashes. I thought that was very cute.
When making nasi goreng for dinner tonight, I cracked open an egg into a pan on hot oil to fry and inside was the beginnings of a chicken. I am not joking. There were organs and blood. Really put me off the idea of eating dinner. I buy my eggs at the grocery store so I am not sure how this happened.
I watched two of my classes play soccer against each other (1 MB vs 1 MA) this afternoon in a complete downpour. About a quarter of the way through the game my Cabela's gortex raincoat decided the rain was just too much for it to handle. By the end of the game I was absolutely drenched and splattered with mud and other debris. The field was completely flooded. Whenever they had to stop the play for a corner kick or goal kick the ball would float away from the player on the 4-6 inches of water covering the field. I now know what Noah must have felt like at the start of the flood. Half time will go down as one of my favorite moments in Indonesia. Last week I showed 1 MB The Mighty Ducks in class and they loved it. At half time today, in the pouring rain, they gathered in the middle of the field and danced around yelling "quack, quack, quack, quack!" It was priceless. In the second half of the game there was a fight. It was quick and not that impressive or even that physical really, but it was the most exciting thing I've seen in awhile. Spectators poured onto the field to join in! I was torn between my "teacher" duty to break it up [or at least keep the spectators out of it] and blood lust [I miss hockey]. It ended before I even made up my mind what to do. The game was a blowout 4-0. Both teams were impressed that I showed up to watch and stayed for the whole thing. They thought it was crazy that I was willing to stand in the rain. I think it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Gram

2010-03-11T19:22:00.002+07:00

Sending all my thoughts and prayers to Gram MacKenzie and the whole MacKenzie clan. I wish that I could be there in Florida with all of you. I love you Gram!

Guesswork, Practice Makes Perfect, Trying Not to Laugh, and Self-Satisfaction

2010-03-10T07:29:00.018+07:00

Subtitle: English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teacher Reading Glasses and Hearing Aids

I love my job. I didn't think that I would, but I find that I honestly enjoy teaching kids English. Sometimes it is painful and sometimes I feel ridiculous [especially when pantomiming everything from 'swimming' to 'goat'], but more often than not at the end of the day it's the teaching that keeps me happy here.

Quick: Think of the hardest parts of EFL teaching. What did you think of?

Most of us probably thought of trying to get the students to understand what we're saying. I'm sure lots of ETAs also thought of getting students to participate and to pay attention/be quiet. Both of these things are obviously true, but there is another lesser-known common challenge.

Quick: Think of the skills or characteristics needed to be a good EFL teacher. What did you think of?

Common answers are patience, enthusiasm, creativity, understanding, self-assurance, confidence, etc. There is another very important skill that I have learned to cultivate during my time here: putting on my EFL teacher reading glasses and hearing aids.

I was reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris yesterday when I came to a passage in his essay "The Smoking Section" and nearly fell off the bed in laughter. The scene takes place when he is visiting Tokyo and meets a young college student who wants to practice speaking English with him.

"What wild animals do you have in Tokyo?" I asked.

"Wild animal?"

"Do you have squirrels?"

No response.

I pretended to fill my cheeks with nuts, and the young man said, "Ah, 'sukaworra'!"

I then moved on to snakes and asked if he was afraid of them.

"No. I think they are very cute."

Surely, I thought, he's misunderstood me. "Snake," I repeated, and I turned my arm into a striking cobra. "Horrible. Dangerous. Snake."

"No," he said. "The only thing I am afraid of is moutha."

"The snake's mouth?"

"No," he said, "moutha. I maybe saying it wrong, but moutha. Moutha."

I was on the verge of faking it when he pulled out an electronic dictionary and typed in the word he was looking for, "ga", which translates, strangely enough, to "moth."

"You're afraid of moths?"

He nodded yes and winced a little.

"But nobody's afraid of moths."

"I am," he whispered, and he looked behind us, as if afraid one might be listening..

"Are you afraid of butterflies too?" I asked.

The young man cocked his head.

"Butterfly," I said, "colorful cousin of the moth. Are you afraid that he too will attack?"

David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, "The Smoking Section", 278-279

Sedaris describes my life as an EFL teacher so much more eloquently and humorously than I can. He describes the twin tasks of interpreting what someone who is learning English says and making predictions about the meaning of what they are saying based on cultural norms. Believe me, it is a skill and it takes practice. It's a skill that I use several times in every class. I call it my "EFL teacher reading glasses and hearing aids." It is tricky because any time your students find the courage to speak in English you want to congratulate and reward them, but when you have no idea what they said it's difficult to find out what they said without embarrassing them and thus discouraging further acts of courage.

One of my classroom goals is to have every student talk during each class period. With that in mind one of my daily warm-up exercises is Name and A..., an activity where each student stands up and says their name and then a word or phrase that fits into the category of the day. Categories we've used have been: animal, sport, fruit or vegetable, thing you would find at school, words starting with the letter 'S', verb, etc. There's a lot of wiggle room here and you can't predict the word they're going to say. A student stands up and says, "Wahyu, choh." Now my work begins. What does choh mean? You have to be able to think quickly. If you pause too long they start to get embarrassed. First things first, "can you repeat that please?" "Wahyu, choh." Hmmm. You need to be on your toes, if the speaker doesn't have your full attention it's a lost cause. The whole situation isn't helped by the fact that most Indonesians speak at a volume some distance below a whisper. Not only do I not understand, but I can't hear either. It becomes a game...like a timed brainteaser. I think, okay, 'choh'... the letter 'c' in Bahasa Indonesia makes the sound 'ch' so, how about...'koh.' hmmm. What's our topic today? Animals. Ah-ha! Cow! Then you have to repeat what they said in the correct pronunciation so that they learn it, while at the same time making sure they knew they did a great job. "Yes, cow. Excellent!" Every time I guess correctly, I can't help but be ridiculously proud of myself. It's like a little test that I've passed. It's difficult not to laugh. It's not that I want to laugh at the students, rather I want to laugh in delight that I solved the mystery. But laughing makes them feel bad and for that reason I often have little teeth marks in my bottom lip at the end of a class.

You want to try one? This was one of my favorites. Same topic: animals. A boy stands up and says, "Rizki, chalk." What did he mean? Good luck!

The same thing happens when they write. Sometimes it is all about strange word orders. Store the I to go. What? Ah! I go to the store. Sometimes it has to do with strange spellings. We were doing a rhyming lesson and students were writing new verses to Raffi's Down By the Bay. I was checking how people were doing and came to a boy who had the word syem written on his paper. At first I was completely stumped. Syem? And then the guesswork began: 'Syem.' Hmmm. No idea. Um, 'siem'? No... Ah! 'Sy' in Bahasa Indonesia makes a 'sh' sound. 'Shem.' That is still not a word. 'Shem?' Ok. 'E' in Bahasa Indonesia is long 'a'. 'Sham'...Shame! Shame! Got it! Then the explanation begins. "In Bahasa Indonesia 'sy' sounds like 'shhh' but in English you write 'shhh' as 'sh'. So this word is spelled 'shame'. Great job!"

Sometimes you think you understand what they said, but you are really very wrong. I was teaching verbs yesterday and we were playing charades. The word was "take." After the students guessed it a kid in the back said, "Take me outta Indonesia!" At least, that's what I thought he said. I laughed and repeated it and said, "Sometimes I think that too." I didn't know why the students were laughing. Turns out, he said "Take means apa in Indonesia?" or "What does 'take' mean in Indonesian?" Not the same thing at all.

Same lesson, different class. We're talking about 'catch' and I ask what you can catch besides a ball. We come up with cat, dog, butterfly, etc. Then I ask a boy who doesn't look like he's paying attention. He says, "raccoon." I am floored! Do they even have raccoons in Indonesia? Where did he learn that word? "Wow! Raccoon! Excellent!" Everyone laughs. Turns out 'raccoon' sounds remarkably like a word in Bahasa Java that means approximately "I was not paying attention because I was sleeping." Nice.

Sometimes what they say sounds like something bad or at least something we would not say in the classroom. Back to that lesson on verbs. I decide to try out Simon Says in the last 5 minutes of class. So I write 'Simon Says' on the board. "Do you know how to play this game?", I ask. "Oh yes, semen!" yells one of the students. I'm still not mature enough to not blush when someone yells 'semen'. What on earth was he yelling about bodily fluids for? Oh yeah, just like 'e' is 'a' in Bahasa Indonesia, 'i' is 'e'. So, he thought he was saying 'Simon'. Oh pronunciation how you trap us all. And that is how I came to say, with a very purple face, the following to 36 boys, "um, actually, it is 'Simon'. Simon is a boy's name. You pronounce it 'Simon' because remember in English 'i' sounds like 'i' not 'e'. 'Semen' is not a boy's name. It is another word. It is not a good word to say in school. Okay? 'Simon!' Please do not say 'semen'."

Then we come to the cultural differences that Sedaris' story also illustrates. There is a game that we play fairly often called Sorts and Categories. It is simple and the kids love it. One of the topics that always arises is favorite animals. We're playing one day and a kid says his favorite animal is "dragon." "Dragon? Dragons are mythical creatures. They are not real. Your favorite animal isn't a dragon." "No," he says. "Dragon, why?" and he starts to flap his arms. "Do you mean a bird? Or a lizard?" "No. Dragon why? Like an ant." What? Okay, turns out he was saying 'dragonfly' as in, his favorite animal is a dragonfly. Which did not occur to me because most Americans would consider a dragonfly an insect and not an animal, but whatever floats his boat. Same game, different class, almost the same situation. Three boys tell me that their favorite animal is in fact a butterfly. What 18 year old American male would admit to anyone that their favorite animal was a butterfly? I'm going to go with none. "Why do you like butterflies?" "Because they are so cute!" Admittedly, all of my students use the word cute and pronounce it 'kuuuuuuuute!' because I said it like that one day in class, but seriously? Not at all what I expected. Similarly, my students informed me at Halloween that they are terrified of 'ghost birds.' Well, if I believed that dead birds became ghosts I guess I would be scared too. Turns out 'ghost birds' are owls ['burung hantu' in Bahasa Indonesia which directly translates to 'ghost bird'], but the students are afraid of them because they are like ghosts. My response was, "but what about Harry Potter? What about Hedwig?" "Still scared," they said.

Sometimes you just have no idea what they are talking about. Then, like Sedaris, I just want to fake it. "Oh, right. Good job!" But the kids sometimes know when you fake it and if you fake it then they don't learn the correct way to say things. This is where my knight in shining armour usually arrives. In almost every class there is that one kid who can serve as translator. For some reason or another he knows what his classmate is trying to say and he also knows how to say it so that I will understand. They are the students who help me keep the class afloat. They're the kids I turn to when I need help and about 75% of the time they pull through for me. They often become my favorites and I owe them a lot.

The answer:

Chalk was "cock" by which he meant a rooster.

Baking!

2010-03-04T16:46:00.002+07:00

Lolly, the ETA in Yogyakarta, recently moved into a new living situation. Last weekend was the first time that I had visited her at her new residence. Before, she was living in a dark, musty, little room in her school. Now she lives in a beautiful cluster of small apartments and rooms around communal kitchens and living spaces that are shared by the Indonesian and foreign residents of the compound. It is truly gorgeous and Lolly is much happier living there. My favorite part of her new home is the ... OVEN! There is a real oven there. So, the first thing on my agenda for the weekend was, of course, baking!
And bake we did! I wanted to make cupcakes. Inside-out cupcakes to be exact. A trip to the local grocery store proved that we were going to have to adjust the recipe and make due with what we could find. Instead of cupcake or muffin tins we found mini pie tins. Some of the ingredients were non-existent, but we found suitable substitutes. I was a little nervous that changing the recipe so much and using such a strange oven might have some ill effects...
We were so proud of our creations! I always love baking, but it is also a stress reliever for me. It felt great to be back at it again.

A "C" of cupcakes for Colgate and the Colgate Men's Ice Hockey team who love my baking [Inside-out cupcakes are #12's favorite] and who secured a by for the first round of playoffs! Congrats boys! Go 'Gate!!!
Lolly approved and the "cupcakes" were a success! Here she is wincing that I've caught her on film turning her cup inside out to get the last lingering bits of chocolate. What more could a baker want?

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

2010-02-24T19:10:00.002+07:00

Acceptance

2010-02-24T08:10:00.004+07:00

I received an acceptance letter to the MS program in Communication Sciences and Disorders Speech Language Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions this morning!

I'm a Little Teapot

2010-02-23T15:47:00.004+07:00

At our mid-year conference, my fellow ETAs shared some of their classroom successes and ideas. It was really helpful to get some fresh and creative lesson plans. One of my favorite suggestions was made by Dani. All of us ETAs have students that misbehave or generally ignore the fact that we're teaching. Other teachers at our schools either don't use any forms of discipline or use physical punishment [hitting, thrashing hands, push-ups, etc.]. I'm a fan of discipline, but I'm not a fan of physical punishment. Dani had the grand idea of using embarrassment as punishment. When her students misbehave she makes them sing I'm a Little Teapot in front of the class. She said her students loved it. As she was telling me this I was imagining my classes of 36 17 year old boys dancing around to I'm a Little Teapot...if nothing else, it would probably cheer me up when they were being bad.

Below is a sample from Class 1 MA. Don't worry! They're not being punished, they're just learning the song. As for enthusiasm, they are not the most enthusiastic bunch I've got. I have some classes that love the song! Again, enjoy!

Thanks to Chesh for the great travel video camera!

Down By the Bay

2010-02-23T11:03:00.010+07:00

Everyone loves Raffi--my preschoolers in Boston and my high schoolers in Magelang! A fun lesson on rhyming ended with the students begging me to let them sing the song...again and again. So here are some of their rousing renditions of Down By the Bay. Enjoy!
Here's Class 1 LC:

Here's Class 1 EA:

Presidential Plans

2010-02-20T13:57:00.002+07:00

President Obama has announced that he will be visiting Indonesia in March. Excellent news! The whole country, myself included, is excited.
Unfortunately, President Obama has declined to meet with the Fulbrights. Drat! I was hoping that being one of the few American citizens living here and having a prestigious fellowship offered by the U.S. government I might be able to meet the leader of our nation. Well, apparently the prestige of the Fulbright is not as far reaching as I thought. What's the use of this Fellowship if it can't even get us an audience with the President? Admittedly, he might have more pressing matters to attend to in Indonesia than meeting us. I wasn't asking for much though--only 5 minutes to introduce myself and take some photos!
I had grumpily resigned myself to the missed opportunity when the Jakarta Post released this article http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/17/obama-plans-give-a-public-speech-jakarta.html. President Obama intends to give a public speech in Jakarta during his visit. Ah-ha! Opportunity! I learned many lessons growing up as Cheryl Vickery's niece, but one of the most important was that you can almost anything you want if you look cute, smile, argue sweetly and persuasively, and are persistent and bold. Secret Service agents and Presidents might not be as easy to convince as your average person, but it's worth a try. I will be at the front of that public speech in my cutest batik shirt with a huge sparkly eye-catching sign. And if I don't get to shake President Obama's hand and introduce myself to him, at the very least I will be there. And his missed opportunity will be as great as mine. Here's hoping!

Any suggestions for what my sign should say?

Love Lists

2010-02-16T20:11:00.022+07:00

Things I Can't Believe I Lived Without Before Indonesia:
-> My 'Bus: especially Ibu Rina and Ibu Mila
-> My students: they are funny, sweet, and laugh at everything I do
-> Constant simple kindnesses from perfect strangers
-> Fresh mangoes, mangosteen, pineapple, papaya, rambutan, and more for only pennies!
-> Pet cicak: small geckos that infiltrate all corners of my house
-> October to February and I'm not freezing to death!
-> Friday morning workouts: more to come on this later...nothing makes me laugh more
-> A rice cooker: so easy, so fluffy, so perfect
-> Angkots: public transportation that while incredibly unreliable costs only $.20 and will inevitably eventually get you where you need to go
-> Milas: a delicious organic vegetarian experience
-> Yupi Strawberry Kiss: a gummy, heart-shaped, strawberry flavored, sugar-coated candy that has added Vitamin C [which is my excuse for eating it]
-> Excellent tofu and tempe
-> "Cantik dan pintar sekali": being considered beautiful and intelligent by nearly everyone I meet no matter what I do, say, or look like at the time
-> The other 31 Fulbrights: who keep me sane, safe, happy, and entertained

Things I Desperately Miss from the Motherland:
-> My family: the whole wild, extended bunch
-> Friends: the elders, the peers, and the little ones
-> Ovens: I want to bake!
-> Bagels: bread in general, but bagels the most
-> Cheese: cheddar, feta, bleu, provolone, mozzerella, swiss, brie...every kind
-> Mustard, hot sauce that isn't sweet, pesto: you know, all my favorite condiments
-> Salad: raw vegetables are dangerous and there seems to be a general lack of lettuce
-> Slices and Back Home Again
-> Privacy
-> Moving without dripping sweat from every part of my body
-> Hockey: the excitement of the game, the companionship of the team and staff, and the coolness of the rink
-> Reliable doctors [Dr. George] and medicine: after a few days of throwing up everything that passes your lips, the last thing you want to worry about is whether the medical treatment you get will kill you
-> The library
-> Ease of movement: easily getting where I want to go when I want to go there
-> General lack of unwanted roommates: bugs, rodents, lizards, etc.
-> Reliable power
-> Well water

Both lists subject to revision when and as needed!

Woohoo!

2010-02-12T19:18:00.003+07:00

I am officially finished applying to graduate school! Finally.

"Miss Sarah Daily Activity"

2010-02-11T18:27:00.003+07:00

I've never been into reality t.v.. It's just not my thing. Most of it is either incredibly boring or amazingly stupid. I'll admit, I get sucked into The Girls Next Door as often as anyone...I mean, who doesn't want to know what it's like to live with Hugh Hefner?...but really I'd rather see something else if I'm going to watch television. I have also always adamantly sworn that I will never be on a reality t.v. show. Most of the people on those shows either have serious undiagnosed issues or are incredibly narcissistic and out of touch with reality. I do not need to subject myself to that atmosphere.
Between my classes this morning the principal called me and asked me to meet him in his office. He is giving a presentation in English next week and I assumed he wanted more help with his pronunciation [I am a qualified 'native speaker' you know]. So when I arrived and he said, "the cameras are coming now," I was confused.
"What cameras?"
"For Miss Sarah Daily Activity!"
"What?"
"Miss Sarah Daily Activity! ... Your t.v. show."
"EXCUSE ME?!?!?!"
"Yes. The cameras follow you in your daily activity. When you get up in the morning, when you eat lunch, when you go buy something in the market, maybe sometime you take a bus to Yogyakarta and they will come with you. You show us your good habits. How you be healthy. And they go to all your classes! Every class. All of Java can learn English with Miss Sarah!" He looks at me as if this was the obvious explanation.
At this point my eyes have glazed over and I've gone into a catatonic shock state. In my mind I see myself in my completely Indo-inappropriate pajamas brushing my teeth at my kitchen sink with 2 video cameras manned by 8 Indonesians aimed at my face. I am horrified. I manage to stutter, "All of my classes?"
"All class you teach before you go to America! The people learn English with Miss Sarah! Maybe in Semarang and Surabaya and Jakarta. They want to know Miss Sarah and her lesson. And you will be actress. You put on your big bag [referring to my backpacker's pack] and walk like you arrive here today. Everyone will see your life!"
I'm struggling to understand. What did I do to deserve this? All of my classes? Most of my classes are at best rowdy and barely managable...add cameras to the mix and I predict complete chaos. My daily activities? My daily activities are not that interesting...even to me. What the heck happened to privacy? And permission? How can they expect to produce a television show without even asking the star if she wants to be in it? This is a cruel punishment for me and for the Indonesian public. No one should be subjected to seeing my sweaty, red-faced body if they can avoid it. Also, this is definitely a breach of my Fulbright contract. I'm only allowed to teach at my school. This can not be happening. This is some kind of joke. I can not let this happen.
I calmly and firmly replied, "No".
The principal looked at me in bewilderment. First, people do not say no to the principal. His word is the ultimate command...sort of like King Henry VIII. Second, he clearly thought something had been lost in his explanation. Why wouldn't I want to do this? So he called in my Ibu. She explained again what they wanted. There was no misunderstanding. They had signed me up for an island-wide television show titled Miss Sarah Daily Activity and they wanted to start filming today.
"No. This is not okay."
My Ibu relayed this to the principal by telling him that I didn't want to do it. Not only did I not want to do this, not only did the mere idea of this make me want to gag, but there was no way Fulbright would be okay with this.
"No. It's not me! It's AMINEF [Fulbright in Indonesia]. AMINEF will not allow this. I am only supposed to teach at your school. I am special for this school. No one else is allowed in my classes. If you want to do this you must ask permission first from AMINEF." When in doubt, pin it on the authorities.
It took a good 20 minutes to convince them that I was serious. They finally agreed to talk to AMINEF. The 'cameras' were called and told "maybe next week" [not if I have anything to say about it]. I went back to class, head on a swivel, keeping an eye out for any cameras tracking my progress.
Just when you think your life can't get any stranger...they want to make it into a reality television show!

My School

2010-02-10T12:51:00.006+07:00

On Wednesdays I don't teach students. Instead, I visit different departments on a rotating schedule and "teach" the teachers English. Theoretically, I'm there to help them practice what they know and teach them key phrases. Mostly they just smile at me, take my photo, and watch me fidget and watch them for 3 hours. It's rarely my favorite day of the week.

Today I went to the guidance and counseling office. It was a typical session except for...the board. Behold the board of wonderfully useful demographic information! I remember when I first arrived in Magelang. I asked all of these questions about the school's demographics. How many students? Are they all Muslim? How many girls really go here? No one could answer my questions with a definitive answer. They should have just taken me by the hand and lead me to the the guidance office. This board takes up an entire wall of this office and displays a level of organization that made my heart happy. It basically tells you all the information you need to know about the students.

The first chart refers to gender by department and class year. The total number of students, I was surprised to discover, is 1586. There are no girls in the machine department [I teach half of my classes in this department]. The most girls are in the electronics department. And finally, there are a total of 185 female students at our school. That is 11.66% of the student body. Considering that more than 10% of the students are female, it is strange that the staff continues to maintain that this is an all-boys' school.

The second chart divides the students by class year and religion. Of the 1586 students, 1520 are Muslim. There are 28 Catholics and 37 Protestants. One lonely 11th grader is Hindu. There are no Buddhists.

The third chart shows the occupation of the students' fathers. The categories are military or police, government employee, retired, farmer, merchant, and "other" [which includes a large percentage who are unemployed].

The last chart shows the students' ages by class year. They range in age from 15 to 21. The mode age is 18.

I found the chart fascinating. All of this information I had been asking about! In one very organized place. I asked if I could take a picture...they looked at me like I was crazy. The best thing was that my interest finally got them talking. They started to tell me about all the problems the students have here. Most of them are from very small villages around Magelang City. Many of them can not afford to pay tuition [education is not free in Indonesia and is actually very expensive] because their parents are unemployed. The counselors described all of the house visits they go on to access each student's living situation and level of need. They were appalled by the condition of many of the "homes" and said that many of them could not really be considered houses. If Indonesians were appalled, I can't imagine what Americans would think. The board helped me to get better acquainted with my school. Our conversations about the board reminded me how lucky I have been to grow up where education is free and in a home that is a house and where there has always been enough money for all necessities.

Making the Most of Every Situation: Murphy's Law and UNO

2010-02-07T14:19:00.012+07:00

Everyone who endured high school science knows about Murphy's Law. "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". What they don't teach you in school is that the magnitude of Murphy's Law varies by global region. Murphy's Law is exponentially more powerful in Indonesia than in the U.S..

You want to take a shower before you go to work? The power is out and, therefore, so is the water. You want to finish your last application to graduate school? There's no internet today. You need your laundry back so that you have clean clothes to wear to school tomorrow? Sorry, it rained today...maybe on Wednesday. You want to cook a healthy dinner tonight? There are no vegetables at the grocery store today. You want to go to Medan? Your flight is delayed 4 hours; you're going to miss your connection in Jakarta. You want to give your students a handout? The copier is broken...still.

So how do you survive? You adapt. You stop making definite plans and you add ample extra time into every scheduled activity. You become a master of contingency plans. You let go. You stop caring so much that things happen the way you want them to. You accept Murphy's Law; you anticipate it. Then, when something is easy or something does work the first time...you are pleasantly surprised.

The most common inconvenience of my life here is power outages. I lose power almost every day for a few hours. So when the power went out on Wednesday around 1 p.m., I sighed and resigned myself to another afternoon going past without sending off my graduate applications. I read, I did some lesson planning, and I tried very hard not to move because it was stifling hot. Dinnertime came and I cooked by the light of my headlamp. Around 7 p.m., I was starting to get antsy...this was a long outage. I looked out the window--"hey, there are lights out there!". Sure enough, all the buildings around me had power. I went and checked the fuse box. Nothing wrong there. I even reset the master switch just to be sure. Still no power. Now I was a little annoyed. I'm alright with going powerless if everyone else is, but why do I not have power and the people around me all do?

It was a mystery that I wanted to solve. I pulled on some more appropriate clothes, grabbed my keys, and with headlamp securely on my head went out to find someone to explain to me what was going on. I didn't have to go far. The internet man, Mas Dar, was only about 50 feet away from my house sitting with two students. His little internet shack is attached to my house. He didn't have power either. Mas Dar doesn't speak English and after a few minutes of bumbling through Bahasa Indonesia together he explained that they were doing some electrical repairs to one of the buildings at school and the wires were connected to my house. Great. He told me to sit down with them and wait. So I did. After a few minutes sitting silently and having the three boys watch me I started to think about what I could do to entertain them while we waited. The idea came to me and I ran back into my house to get two things: a dictionary and UNO.

UNO. You know, the card game. I love UNO. It entertained me during countless plane, train, and bus rides in Spain and Australia. Lucas and I played hundreds of games of a Harry Potter themed special edition last summer. I could play all day long. I had brought a pack with me to Indonesia in the hopes of using it in the classroom [little did I know that I would have 36 kids in each class]. UNO is perfect because the rules are simple and you really don't need to know how to speak English. I explained the rules and added one of my own: no Bahasa Java. If we spoke in a mix of Bahasa Indonesia and English then I would at least have a fighting chance of understanding what everyone was saying. They agreed.

We started to play. They loved it. We played for two and a half hours. We played until my power came back on. And then we played a few more rounds. We played until I finally had to announce that I really needed to go to bed if I was going to be able to teach in the morning.

It was great! We laughed and joked and taught each other words. It was wonderful to feel them finally relax around me. It was great to have people to share the long wait with. It was nice to have people smile and look at me because I was being silly and not because my skin is white. It was nice to interact with individuals enough to actually remember their names and faces [Dedi and Ardi]. We made the most of the situation. The power was out and we were hot and bored; but then we forgot all about that. Instead, I came out of the power outage with some new friends and a story to share.

Some UNO terms:

Reverse: Kembali

Draw two: Ambil dua

Skip: Meloncati

Draw: Minum [interestingly enough this literally means 'drink']

Red: Merah

Yellow: Kuning

Blue: Biru

Green: Hijau

Tricky tricky!: Licik-licik!

This morning the internet wasn't working so I went outside to search for a wireless signal in the hopes of checking my e-mail. Instantly, I was joined by some of my students. So much for checking my e-mails privately. I spotted Mas Dar and Dedi sitting outside the internet hut. Come on, I told my students. I went back into the house and got my UNO cards. Mau bermain UNO? [Want to play UNO?] This morning's games were even better. We played for over 3 hours until my stomach was growling so loud that I had to go inside and make some lunch. We got 8 players involved at one point. Everyone relaxed enough to eventually gang up on me and work together to make sure I didn't win again [Is it because I'm a girl or because I'm American? I joked]. And, surprise of all surprises, they started to talk in English. Maybe it was because they finally realized I'm not going to roast them and eat them if they make a mistake. Maybe it was because I wasn't acting like a teacher and we weren't in a classroom. Maybe it was because there weren't 35 other students listening to them. I don't know. But they started to say more than I had ever heard them say before. Revenge!, one of them cried after I put down a +2 forcing him to draw two cards. 'Revenge' is definitely not part of the lesson on self-introductions. I wonder what other gems of knowledge my students have been hiding from me in the classroom.

All in all, it feels good to have a way to connect with people outside of the classroom. It is nice to play a simple game and relax with people. When I leave in June, I know I'll be leaving behind my UNO cards.

Durian

2010-02-06T11:30:00.010+07:00

Anyone who visits Indonesia for a reasonable length of time will undoubtedly encounter durian. Anyone who encounters durian will have a strong opinion about it. In my experience, people feel one of two ways about durian: they love it or they hate it...it seems that no one is indifferent to this unique fruit. Durian is a fruit indigenous to Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesians call it the "King of Fruits". As shown below it is brown, sharply-spiked, and oblong. Durian can grow quite large--I've seen some twice the size of a human head. The outside of durian is hard and breaks apart into segments that contain the seeds and flesh of the fruit. The first thing thing you notice when encountering durian is the smell. I have no words to adequately describe this distinctly foul aroma. Richard Sterling wrote, "its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine, and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia". He is not exaggerating. The smell is potent and far-reaching both in space and time. Everyone knows that someone ate durian for hours afterwards because the smell clings both to their breath and their hands. According to Indonesians I've spoken to, the only cure for this is to wash your hands in water poured in the skin of the durian...I don't know if it works. Most hotel rooms that I've stayed in here have signs clearly outlining hefty fines for bringing durian into the building. Believe me, the hotel staff will know if you try to sneak it in.
Durian is something of a delicacy here. Nearly everything comes in durian flavor--ice cream, candies, lollipops...even condoms. Surprisingly, durian is quite expensive. For a small fruit sold on the street, you would expect to pay around 1500 RP or $1.50 US. For a larger durian the cost could be upwards of 100,000 RP or $10 US. Compared to my 5 mangoes for 50 cents, that is very expensive and clearly outside the average person's price range. Therefore, durian becomes a special treat.
I've been skillfully avoiding durian since the day I arrived. The smell was enough to put me off, but I probably would have been adventurous if the cost wasn't so ridiculous compared to fruits that I knew I liked. Today, however, my luck changed. At a meeting this morning the teachers excitedly announced that a visitor from Jakarta had yesterday given the school office several durians. Great, I thought. Before I knew it, everyone was crowding around to see me have my first taste of their revered local fruit. I knew this was not going to go well; but I gathered all of my courage, held my breath, and took the smallest piece of fruit that I could. I wish that I had a picture of my face at the moment of my first taste. The texture was surprisingly creamy and pleasant. The taste was anything but pleasant. I am incapable of capturing it for you in words. The closest I can come is that it tasted like a moldy, rotting onion mixed with something vaguely meat-like. They made me try it twice. Immediately, my stomach started churning. I gulped down a whole cup of sweet tea and a glass of water. Even now, hours later, I can faintly taste the durian on the roof of my mouth. The "King of Fruits" is not my friend. Lesson learned: stick to the cheap, delicious local fruits like mangoes and mangosteen. It's always an adventure!

My counterpart, Ibu Rina, loves durian. It is her favorite fruit. She was incredibly excited to have some free durian today...and probably more excited that I didn't like it and there was, therefore, more for her to enjoy!

Visible Happiness

2010-02-03T09:00:00.001+07:00

"There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness." - Countess of Blessington

Anthropology 101

2010-02-01T11:02:00.012+07:00

I'm an Anthropologist. At least that is what my diploma from Colgate claims...I'm not so sure I agree with their assessment of my anthropological [or sociological for that matter] skills. Regardless of my qualifications, Indonesia has provided me with a very interesting culture and society to observe. I've been conducting participant-observation since the day I arrived and I could probably write a pretty interesting book by now if I had the patience to research the theoretical groundwork.
During the first two weeks in January, I conducted some slightly more tangible anthropological inquiries. My school, instead of letting me teach my classes, was dragging me around to all of the classes that I don't teach and having me introduce myself and basically answer the students' questions for 2 hours in each room. A boring waste of time...until...you turn it into an anthropological game. I started to mentally tally the most common questions I received from the students. And I started to ask some questions of my own.
Top 3 Questions Received from Indonesian Students:
1. Do you have a boyfriend?
2. Do you have facebook?
3. Where have you been in Indonesia? Tell us about your travels in Indonesia.
Okay, so they weren't exactly peering into my soul. But the question about where I've been in Indonesia started to interest me. And I started to ask questions back.
My Questions:
1. Raise your hand if you have been in an airplane.
2. Raise your hand if you have been to another country.
3. Raise your hand if you have been to an island that is not Java.
4. Raise your hand if you have been to an island that is not Java and is not Bali.
I asked all the classes that I visited. Then I asked my classes. Then I asked the teachers in the teachers' room. Of the 2,000 students at the school I probably asked 1,500. A pretty good sample size if I do say so myself. What were my results? Maybe you've already guessed, but I was fairly shocked. Keep in mind that each class has 36 students.
Question 1: "raise your hand if you have been in an airplane". Look around the room, on average 0-3 people are raising their hands [including the teachers] and usually we're on the low end of that scale.
Question 2: "raise your hand if you have been to another country". Around the room, on average, 0-1 people are raising their hands. The people that are raising their hands have been to Malaysia. Our school has a program where during 11th grade 5-10 lucky students get to go to Malaysia to apprentice in their chosen industry. These are also the kids who have raised their hand about the airplanes.
Question 3: "raise your hand if you have been to an island that is not Java". Results here are skewed due to the 12th grade all taking a bus to Bali for 2 days in December. Hence the need for question 4. In the 10th and 11th grade classes, 0-3 hands raised on average. Typically, these students have taken a boat to Sulawesi. A very few have taken a boat to Sumatra.
Question 4: "raise your hand if you have been to an island that is not Java and is not Bali". Again, on average 0-3 hands are raised. Like the underclassmen, the few lucky seniors have been to Sulawesi or Sumatra.
Results for the teachers followed the same trends.
Conclusion: The vast majority of these students and teachers have never left the island of Java.
Prediction: The vast majority of these people will never leave the island of Java or if they do, they won't go much farther away than another island in Indonesia that is reachable by boat.
Significance of Findings: I found a two-fold significance for my findings. First, I felt pretty darn guilty. I have been on more airplanes than I can count. I have been to 15 countries and 6 of Indonesia's islands. I have seen more of Indonesia than any of the students or teachers I talked to. This is their country. I'm only visiting. How is it fair that they have to ask me, an American, to tell them about their country? It once again threw into sharp light how privileged I am. How can I share my privilege with my school? I can't afford to take them all with me wherever I go. But I have a new resolve to share all of my Indonesian travel experiences with my students--to show them pictures and tell them stories that show them what a diverse, interesting, and wonderful country they live in. It is the very least I can do.
As for the second significance--all the the experience and the entire world that most of the people I encounter here know is confined to the island of Java. They honestly do not have experience with the rest of the wider world. I am one of the only Westerners that many of them have met and certainly the only Westerner that they have interacted with frequently. This means that the comments that make me cringe and want to create lessons on diversity, feminism, human rights, etc. do not stem from ill-intentions but rather from pure inexperience and/or ignorance. It does not occur to the average citizen of Magelang that telling Nicole that she can't possibly be American and rather must be from Papua or Africa because her skin is black is rude, hurtful, and incorrect. Same with asking Carrie to speak Chinese even though she has repeatedly stated that she is Korean-American and doesn't know Korean let alone Mandarin because she grew up in the U.S.. It is difficult to remember and at times hard to hold my tongue. But my little survey really helped me unearth where these comments are coming from and gave me some peace of mind about their intentions.
Further Research Questions: The students and teachers that I questioned had similar levels of experience travelling outside of Java. Why then do adults make the majority of cringe-worthy statements? Sachi pointed out during my visit that I have to spend more time in the classroom "disciplining" the other teachers than I do disciplining the students ["Please don't distract the students, we are in the middle of a lesson." "Please don't answer your cell phone in the middle of the classroom." "Please use English in English class."]. She's right. Most of my 'behavior complaints' would be lodged against adults not kids. For the most part, it's the adults who leer at me and ask me about my experiences with 'free sex' and drugs; who send me inappropriate text messages at 3 a.m.; who tell Jenny that she's not American because she looks Chinese and Ab that he must be from Papua because his skin is not white like a 'normal' American; and who blatantly ignore my requests for privacy. Why is that? Is it generational? Do kids just have a more international worldview and better grasp of Western culture due to their higher exposure to television, music, the Internet, and facebook? Or is it something else? Are my students just better at reading my body language and facial expressions? Are they more in tune with what makes me uncomfortable because they are closer in age to me than my adult counterparts? It was certainly my students who first noticed my discomfort at being commanded to lead them in prayer before and after class. Is it just that they watch me more closely? To be determined...

[NOTE: I love Indonesia and Indonesians of all ages. This post was in no way meant to point fingers at individuals or pass judgements on societies or cultures. Please do not take offense.]

'Gate Girls Do Mt. Bromo

2010-01-26T20:41:00.011+07:00

I had a surprise this week: a visit from one of my Colgate friends: Sachi, who is currently completing a Watson Fellowship year traveling to study and film speed-cubing. Sachi is the first person that I've seen that I knew before I came to Indonesia. It was incredible to see someone from school and catch up! I'm so thankful that she was able to make time to visit me during all her travels.

Sachi stayed with me in Magelang for two days. She visited my classes to meet my students and try to expand their conception of Americans ["Are you sure you're American? You look Japanese!"...cue Miss Sarah cringing in horror]. It was very interesting for me to hear Sachi's reactions to my Indonesian life. I've lost a lot of perspective on the oddities of my experience here because now everything seems normal to me--most of the shock value has been lost. It was refreshing to regain some of the incredulity that I had when I arrived. I felt vindicated when Sachi proclaimed that my situation is strange, trying, and absurd and that she was impressed with the way I've adapted. Sachi videotaped one of my classes and is going to make a short video that I will be able to upload and share with all of you.

On Friday we took an overnight travel car to Malang to hike up to Mt. Bromo, one of the most beautiful and popular volcanoes in Indonesia. Despite spending three nights sleeping in cars, this was one of my favorite trips of my time here. Sachi and I stayed at Courtney's house in Malang and were able to explore the city a little bit with Courtney and Carrie [two other ETAs].

We woke up at 1:00 AM on Sunday in order to hike to a lookout point and watch the sun rise over Mt. Bromo. For the first time since I arrived in Indonesia, I was freezing! Now, I'm sure it wasn't that cold compared to Vermont or Hamilton, but I could see my breath and despite my fleece and my rain jacket I couldn't stop shivering. It reminded me of how much I do not miss winter and was a nice change from the full body sweats I'm usually enduring. The sunrise was beautiful and definitely worth getting up for. The photos barely do it justice! The volcanoes were cloaked in clouds that transformed the valleys into a seascape. Indah sekali!

After the sun rose we jumped into the van and drove across the Sea of Sand, essentially a valley of volcanic ash, to the foot of Bromo. It was shorter than I expected, but the sides of the volcano were deeply ridged from previous lava flows. We hiked up Mt. Batok, the neighboring volcano, past a Hindu temple. This grouping of volcanoes is sacred to the Hindus in the area. They hold annual festivals of worship that involve throwing offerings of food, animals, and money into the crater. The crater was impressive and was letting off a lot of steam and a sound that eerily resembled what I imagine an eruption would sound like. The view from the top was quite impressive as you could see out over the Sea of Sand to the other volcanoes.

After another overnight car ride to Yogya, Sachi and I said goodbye--time for me to return to teaching and time for her to get to work at a cubing tournament in Jakarta. It was so nice to see her and share our various travel experiences with each other. Thanks for visiting Sachi! Best of luck in the next six months of your Watson adventure! I'll be thinking of you.

There's No Place Like Home

2010-01-26T19:41:00.003+07:00

Meet my new roommate. He's a tokek or at least that's what they call him here. He's about 15 inches long and he can run like lightening across my walls and ceiling. I mentioned him to the teachers at school and they laughed at my concern. "Miss Sarah, he bites, but he's not poisonous!" Well good, that is very reassuring. My biggest question is, 'how the heck did he get into my house?'

Speaking of home, I have a new homey touch in my room this week! Thank you so very, very much to Mary Ann for the beautiful homemade pillowcase. I love it! It makes my room and bed so much more mine. I smile every time that I see it and think of you, your wonderful family, and Vermont. Thank you for the thoughtful surprise Mary Ann!

The Epic Month that Was December 2009

2010-01-20T12:23:00.039+07:00

December was an epic month of travel, holidays, meeting up with friends both old and new, and exploring the world. I know that posts with long lists of things seen and places visited can be tiring or even boring if you weren't there also. Therefore, I will try to include lots of pictures and interesting info. Feel free to just look at the pictures if you're feeling antsy. So, let me share a few highlights from my journey...

The month started with a trip to Manado, Sulawesi and Bunaken [a small island off the coast of Manado]. As you can see from the photo above, Bunaken is something of a tropical paradise. In my opinion, it is 100% honeymoon destination worthy. We spent the weekend eating fresh grilled fish on the beach, swimming, snorkeling, and relaxing in the sun. One night we went swimming after dark. As we were wading out into the ocean, we noticed lights in the water that swirled around us when we moved. It was bioluminescent plankton! They were everywhere in the water. The plankton made the water look like a mirror reflection of the stars in the sky above...a mirror reflection that moved to incorporate us into the picture. Pretty amazing! The next day I spent about 4 hours snorkeling. It was the best snorkeling of my life, I could have stayed out there all day long! I don't think I stopped smiling the whole day. The water was a clear blue that gave a perfect view of the coral reef, fish, and sea creatures below. I found myself repeatedly wishing my father was there to identify all the beautiful things I was seeing. Some of the highlight spottings included: a tiger fish, an eel, a black and silver sea snake, finding Nemo [clown fish], huge blue starfish, giant clams, and so much more! I felt just like Ariel diving down to touch the sea anemones! I would recommend Bunaken to anyone with a love of the ocean.

The mountain is Manado Tua, a volcanic island just off the coast of Manado and next to Bunaken.
I returned to Magelang just in time for my 23rd birthday. My fellow ETA Alexa met me at the airport and came back to school with me. We were greeted by my students who came to celebrate with me. My students are truly the sweetest, kindest kids. They gave me the most thoughtful presents. First, they gave me a stuffed Santa in a heart that said 'Merry Christmas!' to add to my Christmas window decorations. Then, they gave me a photo album filled with pictures of me with them and photos of them posing around the campus [see photo below of me opening the presents]. I can't wait to show you all the album when I get home. It is pretty funny because in many of the photos they look extremely happy and I look sweaty, confused, and bemused. A picture is worth a thousand words...
Alexa and I had a perfect birthday lunch thanks to my Mum! We started out with some Vermont Cabot cheddar cheese and garden veggie Wheat Thins courtesy of my mother's amazing holiday package. We rounded out our meal with some organic pesto and pasta from Milas, my favorite restaurant in Yogya. All in all, I don't think I could possibly have asked for a better meal.
On the night of my birthday, Alexa and I went to my Principal's house for another celebration. Some of the teachers and the Principal's family gathered for dinner in my honor. It was very sweet of them. They sang karaoke for me and even had a cake. This is Rio and I cutting the cake...it looks a little like a disturbing wedding photo.On my birthday I finally had the chance to give Rio the cars from Emma! They made an absolutely perfect Christmas gift [the Principal's family is one of the only Christian Indonesian families that I know]. Rio was thrilled! We played with the cars for, no exaggeration, hours. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out which cars were our favorites and finally came to the conclusion that they were just all too cool to pick just one! Thanks again Emma for your great present!
The day after my birthday Alexa and I headed out to meet up with Thom and Anna and leave for our two week grace period in Thailand and Cambodia. What a crazy wonderful two weeks we had! Alexa and I knew that the trip was going to be amazing when we found peppermint mochas at the Starbucks in the Singapore airport. To me, peppermint mochas mean two things: hockey season and Christmas. Steve and I often got them before hockey games on the road (well, Steve got hot chocolate). They were exactly what we needed to remind us that it was actually the holiday season.
Our first stop was Bangkok. Bangkok was overwhelming and honestly not my favorite city in the world. I'm sure that there are lovely parts, but we didn't have the chance to go explore them. We hightailed it out of the city at the first opportunity. We did stick around long enough to discover that we hate "sex-pats" and to explore Wat Pho [above], which boasts a huge golden reclining Buddha. If you are ever kicking around Bangkok, go see this Buddha. He is incredibly impressive and awing.
Our next stop in Thailand was Koh Chang, an island off the Eastern coast of the country. The island is supposed to be slightly less touristy than the other beach island that Thailand has in ample supply. Well, after months in Indonesia, Koh Chang seemed pretty touristy to us; which is not to say that we didn't have a wonderful time. We relaxed on the beach, treated ourselves to Thai massages, and ate our way through as much Thai food as we could. The highlight of our time in Thailand, in my opinion, was an excellent private cooking class that we took one night. Two great Thai sisters taught us how to cook spring rolls, red curry, and pad thai. I must admit that I was impressed at how well our food turned out. If anyone wants some recipes, let me know!
After Thailand, we shipped off to Cambodia. I admit, Cambodia shocked and surprised me. It was a beautiful country full of interesting and thought-provoking sites and people. Our trip to Cambodia started at the consulate in Thailand where we got completely ripped off for our visas. In the end it didn't matter, but it did serve to remind us of the problems that Cambodia is still dealing with--namely corruption, poverty, and recovering from a genocide. We spent 3 days in Siem Reap taking in the views of Angkor Wat and the other temples in the Angkor complex. I am something of a temple-snob and I admit that the Angkor complex of temples is incredibly impressive. Some of my favorite temples were the the ones in Angkor Thom including the one pictured above which features huge heads of the ruler at the time that it was built.
We received blessings from this giant Buddha via some monks. They prayed over us and gave us red prayer bracelets. There are many, many temples around Siem Reap. Some of them are Buddhist and some are Hindu. Some of them even started out as Hindu and were later converted to Buddhist when different rulers came to power. It was interesting for me to see how the temple art was altered to become more Buddhist. I had a lot of fun guessing which temples were which religion and then checking my accuracy in Alexa's guidebook.
Cambodia was surprisingly beautiful and full of pretty scenes. I happily stumbled upon this man fishing.

We got up early on our second day in Siem Reap in order to see sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, the sunrise really wasn't that impressive. But, it was still a special moment.Here are Alexa and I at the entrance to Angkor Wat. We look tired but happy; which is a theme I think you will find in almost all of the photos from this trip.
Angkor Thom is a fortified temple complex. At each of the four entrances there are huge sculptures of men fighting a giant snake. I loved those sculptures. On our last day, I had our rickshaw driver stop so that I could have my picture taken with them.
We all agreed that our favorite temples were the ones that were the least kept-up and touristy. There was something so romantic and profound about seeing nature reclaim the temples. It just seemed right. The way that the trees were emerging from and encompassing the stone reminded us of how powerful nature is.
Christmas in Cambodia does not compare to Christmas in Vermont. I'm sorry, but I'm a white Christmas kind of girl. We did our best to make the holiday happy and not sad. I think we did a great job considering what we were working with [90 degrees, sunny, no family, etc.]. We bought each other little surprise presents and opened them together. Thom bought Alexa and I very necessary pedicures! We had a delicious fancy dinner and a bottle of wine at an Italian restaurant. It was not a bad day, in fact, it was a great day! It just wasn't what I was used to. But, most importantly, it taught me that next Christmas I want to be home with my family.

After Siem Reap we headed to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh was a great city. Our enjoyment was heightened by Thom's college friend Jesse who now works at the Phnom Penh Post and who gave us an awesome introduction to the city.

The day that we visited the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and the killing fields at Choeung Ek was extremely emotional. With perhaps the exception of the missions in Western Australia, I have never been to places with such bad energy. I don't want to depress you, so I won't go into details. If you'd ever like to talk about what I saw and felt, please ask. One of the major issues that I encountered was feeling angry about the lack of archaeological integrity of the killing fields. Above is a monument to the victims. Inside are victims' skulls. The monument is open to the air. This means that the skulls 1. are not being preserved 2. are not being protected from visitors. In the photo below, you can see a pile of bones at the foot of the tree. The entire area was strewn with bones and scraps of clothing. There were teeth and leg bones in the pathway. Visitors are walking on human remains. This makes me sick. Choeung Ek is supposed to be a place where people can come to pay respect to the victims of genocide and also learn about what happened. Is it a respectful place? Is it honoring the memory of genocide victims? How can a place be honorific if visiting it requires literally treading on victims' remains? I have no easy answers for you.Jesse introduced us to a great Cambodian woman named Rina. Rina owns an awesome restaurant and store that sells her handmade clothes and jewelry. She gives 40% of her profits to different charities around Phnom Penh. She is incredibly talented. We all bought some of her jewelry and wished that we were there long enough for her to make us some clothes! We decided that we would just have to go back to visit.

During our long trip we all got a little crazy. It helped us bond. And now we are all really close.

This is essentially what I saw of Malaysia. We camped out on the floor of the airport for the night because it turns out that the airport in Kuala Lumpur is actually 70 km outside of the city. It is really not worth the trip in for only 10 hours.

The month ended with us getting dressed up to say goodbye to 2009 and welcome 2010! All the jewelry in the picture above is courtesy of Rina. We celebrated in style thanks to champagne from Cambodia. It was a month full of adventure, happiness, learning, and fun! I hope that you feel like you came along for a little piece of the adventure. Lots of love!

Glancing Back, Facing Forward

2010-01-11T15:31:00.004+07:00

Finally home after a month of exciting traveling experiences, I am just starting to recuperate and readjust to my Indonesian life. I promise that as soon as I have some extra time and energy, I will post about all the exciting places I went and things that I did in December. But I thought it was important to do this post first, before it was too late to be relevant.
On some of our recent travels, my friend Alexa found an article written by an English woman living in Indonesia detailing the 17 highlights of her year—things she was proud of, things she enjoyed, etc. Alexa recently wrote a response on her blog [http://alexahorwart.blogspot.com/]. I enjoyed both the article and Alexa’s post. Then, yesterday, one of my students asked me, “What do you like about yourself? What makes you proud of yourself?”. When one of the other students responded for me [“You’re beautiful!”] with an answer that I would not have said, I decided that it was time for me to write a list of highlights myself.
Here is my list of highlights and accomplishments for 2009:
1. In May, I graduated from Colgate University. I graduated with honors, but most importantly with the knowledge that I am not done learning yet. I love to learn and I know my time at Colgate has equipped me with the skills to remain a life-long learner. In 2010, for the first time, I have started a new year without being enrolled in school.
2. I turned down an opportunity to achieve. I know, it sounds like the opposite of an accomplishment, but let me explain. My entire life I have been an overachiever. I have always taken every opportunity for extra credit, for more involvement, for leadership positions. In January, just before the start of my last semester at Colgate, I wrote an email to my advisor detailing my decision to NOT write an honors thesis in Sociology and Anthropology. I made the decision to spend my last semester at college enjoying college and spending time with my friends rather than shacked up in the library struggling to write a paper that would let me graduate with more academic prestige, but that would ultimately have no affect on my future. I resisted the urge to achieve and it was the right decision for me.
3. I found that my passion and my purpose are for practicing speech language pathology with children with autism. Once I knew that, I created opportunities for myself to learn about and participate in this field even though Colgate does not offer SLP courses. I worked with, and became friends with, Max. Max taught me that I could handle, and even enjoy, the challenges of working with children with autism. I volunteered at Camp Kaleidoscope. At Camp K I learned about the impacts of autism on whole families and met SLPs and SLP students who were able to give me more information on the field and the process of entering the occupation.
4. I traveled to my 5th continent—Australia—not as a tourist, but as a scholar. I’ve loved to travel for as long as I can remember; which I blame completely on Nana Vickery who initiated me into the world of adventure at a young age with all of her stories of globetrotting and that first trip to Colonial Williamsburg. In June 2009, I went to Australia and was invited to live among the Noongar people, to hear their stories and learn about their lives under the aboriginal policies of a white-run Australia. I saw parts of Australia that tourists never see and that many Australians don’t know exist. For that I am thankful.
5. I packed my life up into a backpack and moved halfway around the world to accept a Fulbright scholarship and teach English in Indonesia. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I found the courage to say goodbye to everyone and everything I knew and take the plunge into a complete unknown.
6. I became a teacher. In Indonesia, I don’t just teach English, but I am a teacher. I’ve learned how difficult and stressful it is to create lesson plans, to make sure that everyone in the class is paying attention and learning, and to create a balance between fun and discipline. I’ve also discovered how wonderful it is to see the dawning of comprehension on your students’ faces, to know that you taught them something, and to see the impact that you have on their lives. I’ve learned that teaching English can be unbelievably fun and rewarding!
7. I had my first non-white Christmas and my first Christmas away from home. While Christmas in Cambodia was exciting and unique, the major lesson that I learned from the experience was that I never want to have a non-white Christmas again. I love Christmas. Christmas is not Christmas unless you are surrounded by family. I love Nana’s Xmas party and I want to be there every year from now on.
8. I learned that time has nothing to do with the depth of friendship. This year someone very intelligent whom I greatly admire, Professor Ellen P. Kraly, told me that we all have many soul mates each of whom complete a different part of us. I already knew this to be true because I have many friends from Colgate and Vermont who are absolutely indispensable. But now I find myself reliant on people whom 4 months ago I did not know existed. Our time in Indonesia has bonded us in a way that is difficult to explain. I know that without the other ETAs I would be unlikely to survive my 9 month stay here. And like Ellen said, they each serve a unique role in keeping me functioning. I have Alexa for encouraging me to try everything once and for dusting me off when trying becomes falling; Sarah for sharing life lessons and adventures; Anna for responding calmly to all my minor crises; Ricky for instant self-confidence boosts; Jimmie for smiles and dancing that solve most problems; Thom for taking me back to my flannel-clad VT roots; Lolly for the always available home-away-from-home; and the other 24 ETAs who all complete me in their own ways. They are truly wonderful people whom I know will be important to me for the rest of my life. [sorry for the Fulbright love fest...moving on]
9. I learned that very few things that we in the Western world consider essential to life are actually, in fact, essential to life. It is completely feasible to survive without electricity, internet, water, English, a schedule, reliable transportation, bug-free food, cleanliness, etc. It is, however, not feasible to survive without chocolate.
10. I have practiced acceptance. I’m a tightly-wound person [surprise, surprise]. In the last 4 months I have had a lot of practice dealing with stress. I have learned to stop, breathe, analyze, accept, and let go. Of course I have yet to completely perfect this process, but I’m working on it. I have also learned to identify when I can handle stressors by myself and when it is necessary to phone a friend…or a parent.
11. I have practiced being content alone and entertaining myself. I’m still not good at it, but I’m getting better every day.
12. My father shot two deer this hunting season. I know what you're thinking, "Sarah, you're a vegetarian. Why is this a highlight of your year?". Yes, I'm a pescetarian. No, I will not be eating any of the venison. This is a highlight of my year, however, because it made my father so happy. The last time he shot a deer was the year I was born. Clearly, shooting TWO deer means that good things are coming!

Some goals for 2010:
-Study Bahasa Indonesia every day
-Write in my journal frequently
-Blog more often and more substantially
-Make more age-appropriate friends in Magelang
-Engage with my students more outside of the classroom
-See as much of Indonesia as possible
-Learn Javanese dance
-Laugh more; laugh loudly
-Do things that make me happy; acknowledge when I am happy

“That if we are living…we had to be awake with the people who are still dancing.”
– Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity!
-Engage with and appreciate my Fulbright experience as much as possible; always be one of the people still ‘dancing’

Many Thanks!

2010-01-07T15:53:00.004+07:00

After a month of travel around Southeast Asia and Indonesia, I am finally back 'home' in Magelang! And waiting for me when I arrived were some birthday and Christmas surprises!
Laura Coyle is a goddess disguised as a hardcore scientist! Not only did my wonderful Colgate roommate send me a package, but she sent me a package full of goodies from Trader Joe's. Very few things in life compare to organic chocolate, peppermint tea, and dried organic fruit. Thanks Laura!
More thanks go out to my Aunt Laurie and Uncle Paul who also put together an amazing package! Various wonderfully scented soaps, loofahs, Cheez-Its, M&Ms, books, card games, star decorations, a desk set, iced tea mixes, and many more wonderful goodies were all included in the huge box. My stomach and my mind will be thanking you for weeks to come!
The biggest gold star, all the ETAs agree, goes out to my mother! She, as most of you already know, is a saint. She managed to send me blocks of Cabot cheddar cheese. Additionally, she sent Wheat Thins, M&Ms, books, movies, school supplies, etc. Eating real cheese and crackers on my birthday was the best celebration I could think of. Thanks Mum!

Merry Christmas from Cambodia!

2009-12-25T11:03:00.002+07:00

Merry Christmas!
I hope that on the holiday--no matter where you are celebrating--everyone is as happy, healthy, warm, and surrounded by wonderful people as I am.
Love to everyone...

The Fishbowl

2009-12-03T09:47:00.003+07:00

As I sit here, struggling to contain my frustration and maintain my dignity as I fight to complete my graduate school admission essays, I find myself also battling another opponent. There appears to be a fundamental clash between my desire for natural lighting and the desire for the privacy in which to freely rant at my computer in a prolific stream of rage-filled words and gestures. It is difficult to patch together an essay worthy of woo-ing MGH Institute of Health Professions when every five minutes a little impish grinning face pops up in the window waving and yelling, "Hello Miss Sarah! I love you full!" followed the next minute by the stares of the gardeners as they wonder what on earth the crazy white woman is doing yanking the hair out of her head. I live in a fishbowl. A fishbowl located conveniently in the school parking lot. I am truly in the center of it all and on some days I am thankful for my prime location. On days like today, however, I find myself cursing Indonesia for not only making me lose the ability to write a proper English sentence in under 4 months, but also for stripping away any private space or time that, as a Westerner, I feel entitled to. For, even when I close the filmy curtains of my fishbowl it is possible to see though them into my home. With them closed, however, I do retain the luxury of freezing when the faces appear in the window and pretending that if I don't move they may mistake me for an armchair or perhaps a large pet cat if I can't keep from twitching. I don't think I'm fooling anyone.
I've been thinking of forgetting about the whole graduate school dream for awhile and pursuing my other dream instead: backpacking across Europe for a year. There are old friends to visit and historical places that I am itching to see. I could be happy with the itinerant life--always somewhere new to go, always something new to see and learn. Unfortunately, my parents raised me to want to become something, to make something of myself, and to do something with my life. My father also passed on motivation for immediate action and impatience in waiting to getting your hands into the task. So, graduate school applications here I come. Besides, I already asked for letters of recommendation...can't let my professors down! Until I finish, the curtains are closing again and I am becoming a recluse the likes of Dickinson. The creative process is just so difficult without M&Ms...

Christmas Spirit!

2009-12-02T17:05:00.002+07:00

I'm on vacation from now until January 4th, 2010! Also, I've been sick and not feeling up to doing much so this is what I've been doing with my time...decorating my window. Since I live in the school parking lot all of the students see my window every day. I thought I would give them something fun to look at. I have no idea if it is snowing in Vermont, but that is usually a good guess this time of year! Happy holidays!

A Very Bali Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T19:21:00.014+07:00

My Thanksgiving vacation to Bali was unbelievable! You would not believe how many hours it took me to upload all of these photos, but I just had to share them with you! So, please join me on an abbreviated photo journey of my vacation.
After arriving, getting into my bathing suit to lay by the pool, and greeting everyone when they arrived with many, many, many hugs; it was time for our first adventure: Mexican food! There is this crazy little hole-in-the-wall restaurant named Mojo's Flying Burritos that serves excellent authentic Mexican food. Here Alexa and I are ecstatic over our burritos and mojitos. I was the most excited about real cheese!
The next morning it was off to soak up some sun on Kuta Beach. The sun was hot, the water warm, the beverages cold, and the company perfect!
That night was Thanksgiving and all 12 of us (plus one German) went out for a nice dinner together. Kelly's mum had sent her these Thanksgiving bears to decorate our table and a jar of olives! The restaurant staff thought we were crazy, but they obliged us by providing a bowl for our olives. They were delicious and reminded me of home. Kelly's mum also sent us paper leaves for us to write down what we were thankful for. She sent string for us to string the leaves on to hang in our hotel as a garland of thanks. What a cute idea. In the picture below Sarah and Kalada are writing on their leaves. After everyone had finished, we swapped leaves and read them aloud for the table to hear what everyone was thankful for! Here are some of our completed leaves! We concluded that we are a group who have a lot to be thankful for!
This is my Thanksgiving dinner! It doesn't get much better than this...mashed potatoes and salmon. Not as good as my mum's cooking, but a close second considering the part of the world in which I am currently living.
No holiday dinner is complete without dessert. It just happened to be Emma's birthday (Happy Birthday to Nana Vickery too!) so the waiters sang to her and presented her with this delicious warm chocolate cake!
We rounded out our holiday by going dancing. Here is Jimmie, me, Ricky, and Marvin (the German). Do you like my new Bali beach dress? We met Marvin at the pool at our hotel and invited him along to dinner because he was traveling alone. I enjoyed talking to him mostly because he reminded me of Patrick (German, sweet, and adorable), although Patrick has the good sense to keep his shirt on in public.
The next day the girls headed to Ubud, the cultural hub of Bali. Aren't these flowers at our hotel beautiful? I hope that some of you have read Eat, Pray, Love because that will make this part of the story much more interesting for you. Our first stop in Ubud was to visit Wayan (on my left in the photo above), the healer from the book. She gave us full body readings, which essentially means she touched different parts of our bodies and told us what was wrong or out of balance with us physically and then read our palms to predict our futures. She then began the healing process by giving us various drinks, foods, herbal pills, and rubbing us with different lotions, leaves, herbs in water, etc. The whole process took several hours (and we didn't even have time for the final massage!). It was a truly fascinating and enlightening experience. If you ever make it to Ubud, make sure to stop by her little shop. It is well worth the money! On our first night in Ubud we went to a traditional puppet show. Bali is the predominately Hindu area in Indonesia and so the culture there reminded me distinctly of India. The shadow puppet performance was of part of the Ramayana. It was performed by flat wooden puppets held up in between an open fire and a mesh screen.
On our second night in Ubud, we went to a Legong dance performance at the Ubud palace. This was incredible! There were 9 different pieces to the performance and all of them were captivating. I was sitting next to a 5 year old German girl named Josefina who enjoyed explaining the dances to me (in German), which had her mother and grandmother laughing hysterically and nodding profusely and pretending to understand what on earth she was talking about.
This dancer is performing the butterfly (kupu-kupu) dance.

All of the dances were performed by women, but it was amazing how well they could make themselves look like big men. The masks worn in some of the dances were ornate and scary.

This was part of the opening dance (the dancer is holding a puja platter). In Balinese dance eye movements are a key part of the dance.

This dancer is representing a flower. During the course of the dance she makes a bumblebee fall in love with her.Next stop, Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana or the Sacred Monkey Forest. Basically, a ton of monkeys and some awesome Indiana Jones-esque temples. The monkeys were cute, but we knew enough to stay well away from them and to leave the fruit at home. They may be cute, but they can also be very dangerous...just ask the wife of the ex-mayor of Delhi.

Sarah, Anna, Alexa, and I in front of the Pura Dalem Agung Temple or Temple of Death. We rented sarongs so that we could be properly dressed and allowed to enter the temple. It was a great temple and I'm kinda a temple snob.
Me at the temple.

I mentioned that it was the temple of death. The entrance to the inner temple was flanked by two monsters eating children. Got to love the Hindu symbolism. Fascinating!

Monkeys climbing all over the temple. Clearly they know who is sacred here and who isn't.

Here are some women at the gate of the sacred forest selling bananas to tourists who are much braver (read: stupider) than us.

All in all it was a fantastic vacation! Now I'm home again, have a terrible cold, and can't wait to go on another adventure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-24T09:45:00.005+07:00

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Bali for 4 days to celebrate Thanksgiving with other ETAs. It should be a great vacation and a chance to relax and escape for a little while. I'm especially excited to see the ETAs that I haven't seen since I got to Magelang two months ago! I will be thinking of all of you on the holiday! Wishing you well and many, many things to be thankful for.

This year, I'm thankful for:
-My family, which besides being big, loud, and often full of it has always been full of love!
-My friends
-Always having enough money, food, and support to not only survive but thrive.
-Growing up in a country where education is free and mandatory for all children
-Growing up in an environment that taught me to have compassion and understanding for everyone, believe in myself and my own morals, and to have the intelligence and curiosity to inquire about the world around me
-Intercontinental e-mails
-Having a Fulbright, which has given me the opportunity to explore and examine Indonesia, myself, and the world in which we live.
-Knowing English as my native language
-Students who think I look like a Disney princess
-Chocolate, which can comfort you in any lonely situation.
...and so many more reasons why I am blessed!

Thank You Emma!

2009-11-23T12:35:00.002+07:00

Emma Clerihew is amazing! Not only did she graciously talk me through the fundamentals of teaching before I left the States, but today an awesome package arrived from her! I never really expected anyone besides my mother (who loves me and is the most thoughtful person on the planet) to send me anything and Emma's package totally made my day! Thanks to Emma's facewash I can now wash my whole face and not just target potential problem areas (I was running really low and all of the soaps here include whitening creams). She also sent great Matchbox cars that I can't wait to give Rio [photos to come soon]! My students will love all the crazy stickers and you really can never have enough positive reinforcement in the classroom! Her sweet note made me smile during a week that has been kinda rough due to the approaching holidays. Thanks so much Emma!

Update: Xmas Plans

2009-11-19T16:06:00.004+07:00

My parents were originally going to visit me in Indonesia for Christmas. Traveling from the states during the holiday season, however, turned out to be nearly impossile (at least if you're not a millionaire). Therefore, I found myself with nothing planned during my longest vacation of the year. So...

I am going to Thailand and Cambodia for Christmas!

We are only allowed to leave the country once during our grant period and only for 14 days. So, Thom, Anna, Alexa and I are taking this trip over the holidays (December 17-30) with our grace period. In addition to Thailand and Cambodia, we have two quick stops in Singapore and Malaysia. Round trip tickets for the whole adventure came to a grand total of, get this, $375! Absolutely worth it! It should be a great 14 days and a great birthday and Xmas present to myself.

Thanksgiving and a Street Art Festival

2009-11-19T14:51:00.003+07:00

This past weekend I went to Yogyakarta for a Thanksgiving dinner (early, I know). The dinner was wonderful! There were about 40 people there from the US, England, Australia, and Indonesia. The hostess gave a little explanation of the meaning of Thanksgiving for those who aren't American. Then we all said "thanks" before we tucked into an enormous dinner. Someone had even managed to find two turkeys (not that I eat turkey anymore, but it was nice to see)! We feasted on delicious stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots, cranberry sauce, rolls, pies, cakes, and ice cream. The atmosphere was familiar and festive.
After the Thanksgiving dinner, I went to a Street Art Festival on Jalan Malioboro. The festival was a celebration of graffiti, which is very popular in Indonesia. There were 400+ artists who all were given wooden boards. They had from 12 pm to 4 am to create graffiti on their boards. At 4 am winners were selected and given prizes. I, however, only stayed to watch for 2 hours because I was tired. It was fascinating to see! The artists used many different techniques to create very interesting pieces. I was incredibly impressed by how talented everyone was. Within a matter of minutes they had started to create masterpieces. I would love to go back to see all of the finished pieces.
These men are using chalk to create outlines on their board. Doesn't it remind you of Bert in Mary Poppins?

These boys have opted for a more traditional graffiti medium: spray paint.

This man is using regular paint. I thought his dragon was beautiful and his color scheme is one of my favorites!

This woman is starting by applying a base coat of yellow to her board.

Happy Colgate Day!

2009-11-13T12:32:00.000+07:00

Three Amigos

2009-11-08T18:23:00.000+07:00

Salma, Bintang, Sarah

5:00 AM: We have been up since 3:00. We are now waiting outside the second mosque of the day for my counterpart's family to finish the praying part of the ceremony to send her parents (and 300 other couples from Magelang) on hadji/pilgrimage to Mecca [I will write an in-depth post about this whole process and amazing experience later]. Bintang and Salma were too young to sit through the whole formal ordeal in the big mosque and I, well, there was no way to disguise the fact that 1. I am not an immediate member of the family and 2. I am neither Indonesian nor Muslim. So I had to wait outside also. That didn't upset me; Salma and Bintang kept me entertained.
Much of our conversation went something like this:
Sarah: Apa ini? [What's this? (pointing to my star earrings)]
Bintang: Ini bintang. [It's a star.]
Sarah: Sama kamu! Bintang dan bintang! [The same as you! Star and star.]
Bintang, Salma, Sarah: hahahaha
[Bintang and Salma run around in the park, run back to me laughing]
Sarah: Kenapa ketawa? [Why are you laughing?]
Bintang, Salma: hahahaha [Bintang pokes me in the stomach, I respond by tickling him, Bintang and Salma shriek with laughter and run away again]
The rest of our 3 hour wait centered on blowing bubbles, running around, and talking about colors, fish, trees, and how tired and hungry we were. You've got to love the minds of children!

Jejamuran: The Mushroom Restaurant

2009-11-05T20:23:00.000+07:00

Last weekend I went to Yogyakarta, the big city closest to Magelang, to visit some friends and generally just escape my everyday life for awhile. Yogya (as it is fondly called...pronounced Joe-jah) is a city full of culture and interesting things to do. Historically, it is an important city in Indonesia because it is a cultural, philosophical, and educational hotsprings from which many ideological and actual revolutions have started.
There are these offices around Indonesia called The American Corner and one of them is located in Yogya. These offices are a collaboration of the U.S. State Department and the Indonesian Government. Their essential mission is to convince Indonesians of the goodwill of the United States. They offer English courses, provide literature about English and the U.S., give lectures about topics pertaining to all facets of life in America, and offer assistance in applying for grants to go to the U.S..
During my weekend visit, The American Corner in Yogya decided that they wanted to take me, Lolly (ETA), Thom (ETA), and Colin (Fulbright Researcher) out for lunch--both to welcome us to Indonesia and to rope us into giving guest lectures at their center. Who are we to turn down a free meal? They took us to this restaurant called Jejamuran, which is the hot new place in Yogya. At this restaurant, everything on the menu is made out of mushrooms (jamur). We had mushroom soup, mushroom sate, mushroom omlettes, spicy mushroom relish, etc. It was delicious! I couldn't believe how each dish had such a unique flavor and texture, but they were all made from mushrooms! Enak sekali (very delicious)!
All the mushrooms eaten at Jejamuran are grown on site. After you eat you can go out back and look at how your lunch was grown. It was fascinating! I have never seen such odd "mushroom gardens" before.
Lolly and Colin approve of these crazy looking mushrooms.

Look at all of them! They grow out of plastic rolls of what I imagine is dirt.

Jejamuran set up this lovely display that identified the many different varieties of fungi they grow and cook on site.

Beach Camping

2009-11-05T19:47:00.000+07:00

Imagine waking up with the rising sun to the view below...

A few weekends ago 8 ETAs, myself, and our Indonesian friend Oscar went beach camping. Oscar is a professional photographer and he had a photo shoot scheduled to take place on this little secluded beach outside of Yogyakarta. He invited us to go with him the night before to have a bonfire and camp for the night. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we love and trust Oscar and so away we went.

We slept in the lean-to pictured below. It is made out of bamboo and sits on stilts directly on the sand of the beach. The view can't be beat, but bamboo does not make the most comfortable mattress. None of us had any camping gear so we slept under sweatshirts or towels and used each other as pillows. Needless to say, we didn't get all that much sleep. But the experience did not disappoint! The bonfire was beautiful, the weather superb, and when we woke up to the ocean view...it didn't matter how much we slept.

In the morning, we walked down the beach and around a point that had kept our area secluded into a tiny little fishing village. These boys went out in this boat to catch us a fish for breakfast. They then proceeded to grill it up with rice and vegetables. It was a delicious local meal.

While we were waiting for our food, Thom played us some soothing music on a guitar that was lying around. (Lucas: Thom works as a counselor at Farm and Wilderness Camp!)
After breakfast we went for a swim in the warm, blue water. The waves were just big enough to make it interesting. We all agreed that we would like to extend our stay, but with classes to teach the next morning we headed back to Yogya that afternoon to return to our schools.

Just Lion Around With Buddha...

2009-11-04T15:47:00.000+07:00

...at Borobudur Temple.

Lucu Sekali!

2009-11-04T10:49:00.000+07:00

Lucu sekali translates to very cute. And aren't these kids adorable? My teaching counterpart's parents are taking pilgrimage to Mecca this month. Before they leave they have to host a number of gatherings so that everyone can say goodbye and bless them for the journey. I went to give them my blessing (I was unaware that this was my task until I arrived) last weekend. These are some of their 9 grandchildren. Everyone thought it was very funny that I prefered to sit on the ground and play with the kids rather than listen to old people babble at me in Javanese (which I do not speak a word of). I miss hanging out with little kids and babysitters aren't necessary here because some extended family member is always around to watch the children.

The little boy on the far right is named Bintang (star in English). He is very shy and too cute for words! I think of him as the Indonesian version of Will. He came with me to the bookstore and slipped his tiny little hand into mine while we shopped. I wish I could borrow him on days when I need a pick-me-up.

This little guy is one year old. He ate everything he could get his hands on all day long. Here he is enjoying a huge slice of watermelon.

Sorry for how small all the pictures have been lately, but this is as large as my internet connection will let me upload. If you click on them they can be enlarged.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T20:05:00.000+07:00

Bobbing for Apples

2009-10-29T18:53:00.000+07:00

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the time-tested American tradition of bobbing for apples! There are two inherent ironies to this situation: one being that I have never personally bobbed for apples because I think the idea of sticking my face into a bucket of water that other people have spit into is revolting and the second being that there is absolutely no way that I would be allowed to have 300 students bob for apples in an American school right now due to the swine flu frenzy.
My students absolutely loved this activity! All the other Halloween songs, games, poems, costumes, scary stories, and even candy were quickly forgotten when I pulled out the bucket of water and explained what I wanted them to do. They laughed, took pictures on their cell phones, exclaimed in surprise at how difficult it was, and clapped with incredible enthusiasm each time one of their classmates successfully got an apple.

For me, there was something quietly inspiring about watching girls in jilbabs (Muslim headscarves) determinately bob for apples. I did not tell them that they had to do it, but they watched the boys do it and they stepped right up for their turn. They flatly refused to remove their jilbabs (even when I offered to kick all the boys out of the classroom) or have help holding them out of the water. I felt honored to watch them go after their apples with fiery determination and gusto. And I was touched by the way they cheered for each other and even more so by the soft, kind way the boys encouraged them.

My Students

2009-10-26T17:01:00.000+07:00

I am planning the most elaborate Halloween experience! Or, at least as elaborate as you can get with one piece of orange paper, really bad candy, some markers, tape, and a pair of scissors. Good thing I have a big imagination! Photos to come soon.

To tide you over, here are some pictures of a few of my favorite students (I can't possibly put up pictures of all 300 of them even though they are all wonderful):

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-21T20:08:00.000+07:00

Kids Say the Darnedest Things...

2009-10-21T18:54:00.000+07:00

My mum is a teacher. My whole life I've been listening to stories from her classroom that have had me in tears from laughing so hard. Kids just have a way of framing their world in words that can be either profoundly astute or deeply humorous. Actually, I'm not really teaching children. My students are 14 to 17 years old--solidly teenagers. They are more like American children though than American teenagers. This is partially due to the language barrier--most of my students are on a 1st or 2nd grade English level. Their childishness is also a factor of their relative lack of maturity, which comes from growing up in a collectivist society that does not place value on individualism (aside: On a index of individualism, the U.S. ranks a shocking 91%, while Indonesia brings up the rear of the rankings with a 14%!). And my students have come out with some hilarious statements and questions so far!
I handed out a "personal fact sheet" to my students the first week I was here. The purpose of the sheet was for them to introduce themselves to me so that I could tailor my lessons to their interests and make English relevant to their lives. I asked questions about their families, their favorites (color, food, music, sport, book, etc.), their hobbies, and also why they wanted to learn English. I'm going to share some of their responses with you now (some funny, some inspiring)!

What are your hobbies?
-"Play football, I'd like to eat a meatball."

What do you want to be when you grow up?
- "I want to be a sailor man."
-"I want to be Advokat [advocate]."
-"I want to be U.S. Army."
-"I want to be President Amerika, like Barack Obama."
-"I want to be a succesman."
-"I want to be a human which usefull for everyone, I want to be a career woman."
-"I want to get job and mate."
-"Hacker."
-"I want to make my parrent happy."
-"Man succes."
-"I want to be an ARMY."
-"Body builder."
-"I will look for many science for my life in earth and the here after."
-"I hope become a electrical."
-"I hope become a elektion."
-"Road."
-"Super viser in big office."
-"A poem."

What do you want to know about America?
-"I want to know how America be a forward country."
-"I want to know the faforite foot in America." [I checked, this was not a spelling mistake, he did not mean food]
-"Why Americn people are tall?"
-"I want to know about night race in the street. It's ilegal."
-"I want about, do you life?"
-"Most of the American tall?"
-"About people, football [soccer], and girls."
-"America have a people is very smart?"
-"About America have Amazon River." [several students asked about this, in Indonesia "America" means U.S.A., so they must think the Amazon River is in the U.S.]
-"The brain of people."
-"I want to know about morning activity of American's peoples."
-"America is the country that people have attitude like: dicipline, clever, but not too polite them."

Why do you want to learn English?
-"Because English is verry funny!"
-"Because I want to add my knowledge more spacious again."
-"I am forget."

What about English do you think is fun or easy?
-"I think learning English is fun or easy because the teacher is friendly and beautiful."
-"I think learning English is fun because Miss Sarah is very beautiful."

Photos of the students to come soon!

Perspective

2009-10-20T18:10:00.000+07:00

I'm working very hard at recording all the unique moments of this adventure in my memory. I'm endeavoring to suck the glory and the joy out of every second of my life here. When I talk with the other ETAs we make the distinction between "real life" and our lives in Indonesia. We use this distinction with a smile because we know that this is real life. It can just feel so surreal at times. I find myself mentally pausing at points throughout the day to savour what I'm doing at that moment. I often smile or giggle at the ludicrous and ridiculous things I catch myself doing or the bizarre situations I find myself in during my mental role call. This is made all the more hilarious for me because everyone surrounding me is business as usual and recognizes no cause for uncontrollable laughter. Truth be told: I revel in the hilarity.
This is my second week of teaching English as a second language! Most of my "what the heck am I doing? this is absurd" moments occur in the classroom. I have pantomimed everything from scuba diving to witches to zombies to growing up to talking louder and beyond. I have repeated the same sentence word by word with different intonations and eyes pleading for the dawning of comprehension on the faces in front of me countless times. I have grown accustomed to students professing their love to me and taking my picture while I attempt to teach them the English color words. And yet, while I often question the realness of my "job", I unquestionably enjoy it. I am honestly surprised by how much I like to teach. I have 8 different classes of 36 students. 98% of my students are male. I am teaching in a classroom a total of 20 hours each week. I also run English clubs for both the teachers and the students and join in other school extra curricular activities. The English level here is mixed, but on the whole very low. These past two weeks I have been teaching self-introductions and color description. Even if my students frequently have no idea what I am talking about, I am impressed by their enthusiasm and energy. I think the next eight months will be rewarding for the students, the school, and myself.
Stay tuned for some photos of my students and excellent quotes from the first two weeks. I'm sorry that my last few posts have been wordy and philosophical. I promise photos and fun soon!

The Deluge

2009-10-15T21:04:00.000+07:00

Last night a crack split open the atmosphere, exposing the Earth without her protective cover briefly to the heavens. And out of this crack gushed an ocean's worth of water. It was all of the tears that had been cried over the year. All the tears spent over hunger, persecution, violence, poverty, injustice. All the tears cried by all the human eyes in all the countries around the world. For a whole year they had been collecting up there in heaven. Until our collective grief was overpowering and its weight finally broke through. Our tears were returned to us--transformed; our griefs sent back down to us in the form of nurturing rain.
I was suddenly exhausted. Purged. And I felt somehow clean. This is what I heard whispered on the wind, this is what was carried down on the sheets of rain: People of the world, your suffering was not for naught; it has made you stronger. It will restore you now. We are all in this together.
And so the monsoon began.

Lessons Indonesia has taught me, truths Indonesia has made me appreciate

2009-10-11T17:00:00.000+07:00

I've told you that a lot gets lost in translation, but here are some lessons and truths that shine through any language or cultural barrier.
1. The meaning of generosity: Indonesians take generosity to the next level. In terms of money, most Indonesians are relatively poor. I make more in a week than many of the teachers at SMKN 1 Magelang make in a month (and it's not like I'm making a fortune...I'm paid far below the U.S. poverty line). Yet, my Indonesian friends and colleagues are always giving. I am invited to lunch almost every day, and no matter how much I argue, I'm never allowed to pay. I told one teacher that I love mangoes. I now have 13 mangoes (4 different varieties!) in my refrigerator. All the teachers that had trees in their yards brought me mangoes! Indonesian generosity stretches far beyond money. I am amazed by how much time everyone has given me. People will stay after school to take me to the grocery store, they will take a two hour lunch to chat, they will draw me maps by hand so I don't get lost at school, etc. I am constantly in awe and full of gratitude for all that I am given.
2. The early bird gets the worm: This maxim has a whole new meaning in Indonesia. I swear, no one sleeps here. First of all, school starts at 7:00. For me, that is a little rough...and I live at school. Many of the teachers live up to two and a half hours away...and take public transportation to school! Moreover, the majority of teachers are Muslim and get up for 4:30 a.m. prayer every day...they don't go back to sleep afterwards! So, you're now thinking that they must go to bed super early. Wrong! I go to bed around 9:00 p.m. so that I can function when I have to get up at 6:00 a.m.. All of the Indonesians think I'm crazy; they stay up until 11:00 or 12:00. Yet, every day they are so friendly and chipper!
3. Everyone, everywhere, loves children: Whenever I'm in a situation where I don't know what to say or I don't have the language to talk about what I want to, I always revert to talking about children. It is a universally happy topic. It hardly ever fails because it seems like everyone I've met is married and everyone who is married has at least one child. It is also amazing how long you can drag out a conversation about someone's kids. People are also tickled when I tell them that I think Indonesian babies are way cuter than American babies.
4. A smile is a universal language: When in doubt, smile. When happy, smile. When upset, smile. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much, but I keep getting compliments on how friendly I am. If all else fails and you can't communicate at all (like with my maid who speaks Javanese), just smile. It's amazing how much you can convey by flashing some teeth. And it is amazing how many wonderful friendships start with just a shy little smile.
5. The secret to youthfulness is laughing: Indonesians look so young! They have made it a game at school to have me guess how old everyone is. It is funny because I'm usually off by 5-10 years. I swear, one man claims to be 31 and he looks younger than my 18 year old brother. What is the secret to their youthfulness? Indonesians laugh all the time...almost as much as they smile. And these aren't just little chuckles. They laugh big belly laughs. They laugh until they cry. I swear, it keeps them young. Really, I don't know, but I'm practicing my belly laughs just in case my theory is correct.
6. The most powerful thing in the world is the ability to communicate: Communication is something that we take for granted in our everyday life. It is only when we lose the ability to successfully express ourselves that we realize how important it is for our mental health to be able to tell other human beings how we feel, what we need, etc. and reciprocally to be able to understand what other people are telling us they feel and want. I have a new awed understanding of the frustration that Max, the non-verbal 3 year old with autism that I worked with at Colgate, feels every day. This experience has reaffirmed my desire to be a speech language pathologist and my belief in the beauty of the work that they do. If you can give someone the skills for a successful communication episode, you give them one of the biggest gifts imaginable.
7. The simplicity of the name "Sarah": Today I met a man whose name is 57 letters long. Kindergarten must have been a very rough year for him. Don't ask me what his name is...I didn't stop and wait for the 5 minutes it would have taken me to write it down.
8. The definition of tedious: Is, in fact, picking 2 millimeter long bugs out of a 10 kilo bag of rice. Nothing keeps all bugs out, nothing kills them all. I've learned that you want to have lizards in your house because they eat the nasty little bugs. In the end, bugs don't kill you...so, they've also taught me the lesson of acceptance.
Stay tuned for more words of wisdom learned on this small cluster of islands...

The Divinity of Children

2009-10-11T15:05:00.000+07:00

Meet Rio. Rio (for those of you who speak Spanish, exactly like "river") is the youngest son of Pak Heru, the principal of my school. He is 10 years old. I met Rio last weekend when I stayed at Pak Heru's house. He took me to the fish market to personally pick out my fish for dinner. Rio likes cars. He builds model cars from kits that he orders from America. His latest project was a remote-controlled "American Jeep". It took him one whole week to build by himself!
This picture is of Rio while we are reading a car magazine together with the help of a Bahasa Indonesia-English picture dictionary (what an amazing invention! such a great way for kids to learn another language). Please notice that he is wearing a Harry Potter Ministry of Magic outfit! He is going to borrow my Harry Potter book if I ever finish reading it. Rio is my best friend in Indonesia.
You may be wondering why my best friend is 10 years old. The answer is that Rio understands me better than anyone else I've met here. Which brings me to the title of this post, "the divinity of children". Anyone who has spent time with kids knows that they are uniquely perceptive, receptive, and adaptable. Children are patient. It is often difficult for me to communicate with people here because of the language barrier. Sometimes even when people are saying words in Bahasa Indonesia that I recognize, I don't understand the meaning of their sentences. Rio showed immense patience and diligence in our conversations. He spoke slooooooowly. Adults are not patient enough to say one word and wait until they see the understanding dawn on your face before moving on to the next word in the sentence. Children are generous. Rio carted around his picture dictionary the whole weekend so he could look things up when needed. He would take things off of shelves, tell me about them, and teach me the words to describe them. Often no matter how slowly and simply I speak in English, most of the meaning is lost in translation. Rio searched for the full meaning of everything that I said. He told me, with the refreshing frankness of a child, when he didn't understand something. He waited for me to look up words in my dictionary and taught me how to pronounce them correctly. Children are kind. Rio never laughed when I butchered the pronunciation of a new word. Children are not bashful or easily embarrassed. Rio was not above using hand gestures, noises, or pantomime for communication. Children are inquisitive. Rio asked and answered questions for hours on end about everything from names of objects, to likes/dislikes, to how to properly set about eating a whole grilled fish. Children are genuine and pure. I was able to relax with Rio and not worry that my friendliness would later lead to a request for a phone number or date. Children are always ready to be silly and laugh! Children adapt quickly. Rio is so smart...I swear that between Saturday and Monday he learned 1/4 of the English language!
Rio and I created our own little pidgin language. We adapted what each of us knew about the other's language and pooled our knowledge to create a full method of communication that allowed us to understand each other completely. I can't fully express the relief and comfort that come from being understood after a week of inquisitive looks. So, for all of those reasons, and most simply because he is still a child, Rio is my best friend in Indonesia. And when my parents come to visit, I fully intend to ask them to bring a big model car for us to build together!

Bionic Ants

2009-10-07T19:57:00.001+07:00

I'm begging for suggestions on how to kill enormous ants with pincers. Any advice?!?!? I also encourage suggestions on how to keep them out of my house to begin with. They freak me out.

Saya Belajar Bahasa Indonesia

2009-10-03T14:24:00.000+07:00

One of my major tasks besides teaching English and absorbing Indonesian culture, is learning to speak Bahasa Indonesia. There is no incentive to learn a langauge quite like being thrown into a situation where no one speaks your own language. I can now say from experience that there is nothing as frustrating as never being completely understood by anyone.
During Fulbright orientation in Bandung I had Bahasa Indonesia lessons twice a day for a total of 3 hours every day. Since I've been at my site, however, I've had to teach myself. I have a book, "Teach Yourself Bahasa Indonesia" and a English-Indonesian dictionary that are very useful. I'm amazed at how quickly I'm learning! But there isn't much interesting in my book or in my basic conversations. So, how to make learning Bahasa Indonesia interesting?
I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone...in Bahasa Indonesia! I've read two pages so far and it took me 2.5 hours. I have to look up a lot of words in my dictionary. But this is an incredibly fun way to learn a language.
If you're interested in learning some Bahasa with me, here are a few key phrases I've learned (pronunciation is similar to in Spanish):
I am afraid of spiders. Saya takut laba-laba.
My name is Sarah. Nama saya Sarah.
I am from America. Saya dari Amerika.
I'm sorry. I can't speak Bahasa Indonesia. Maaf. Saya tidak bisa berbicara Bahasa Indonesia.
Thank you. Terima kasih.
I am happy. Saya senang.
Nice to meet you. Senang berjumpa dengan Anda.
I already ate. Saya sudah makan. (This is because people are constantly trying to feed me. Which is very nice, but sometimes it is just impossible to fit more food into my stomach.)
I like... Saya suka...
I want... Saya mau...
I am a vegetarian. Saya vegetarian. (This is very confusing to people. It takes a lot more explaining than this to get food without meat. Also, people think that because I am a vegetarian I must eat 4-5 eggs every day. I have no idea why they think that...I don't even really like eggs.)
1 satu
2 dua
3 tiga
4 empat
5 lima
6 enam
7 tujuh
8 delipan
9 sembilan
10 sepuluh

Grocery Shopping

2009-09-29T17:58:00.001+07:00

I went grocery shopping yesterday. I went with the head master of my school and two male English teachers. It was clear that none of them do the shopping for their households. It was a hilarious hour and a half excursion. I couldn't read any of the labels and they didn't know what brands were best. I could write a great comedy act about it. I spent the equivalent of $32. This is what I bought: (if some of these items/numbers sound odd, remember that I was shopping with 3 men who didn't know what they were doing)
1 box tissues
1 bag sugar
1 bottle dish soap
1 bag frozen peas
1 tub butter
5 boxes noodles
1 jar sambal (Indonesian hot sauce)
1 bag salt
5 tomatoes
4 onions
1 can tomato sauce
1 jar nutella
1 jar nasi goreng seasoning (for Indonesian rice)
1 bottle of mizone (equivalent of gatorade, good for regaining electrolytes when sick)
9 garlic bulbs
3 mango yogurts
1 box tea bags
2 bags of tofu
1 roll toilet paper
1 bottle shampoo
24 eggs
1 bag of organic rice (the size of half a bail of hay)
1 huge bottle of cooking oil
1 bar of peanut sauce
2 red bell peppers

Finally in Magelang!

2009-09-29T17:26:00.000+07:00

Hello everyone,
I have finally arrived at my school in Magelang! So far I have been enjoying getting to know my school and the people that I will be working with for the next 8 months. It has been confusing and entertaining so far. First, not many people speak any English. Schedules don't seem to exist-I'm being dragged around all day and introduced to people with no idea what I'm doing next or where I'm going. That said, the people here are so incredibly friendly and really want me to be happy. So I'm getting used to living with geckos, ants, bad internet, a maid, no privacy, and 2000 male students who whistle at me. Since the internet is so slow I might not be posting as often anymore, but I will try to keep you up to date.

For now, some of my favorite quotes thus far:
"You're so beautiful...you look so tired!"
"You're beautiful because you have a nice nose."
"How did you get so big and strong?" (in response to the fact that the vice principal-a man-couldn't pick up my luggage, but i did it with one arm...indonesians are small)
"Why aren't you white? Americans are supposed to be white, you're the same color as an Indonesian!"
"Don't be upset if the boy students point and laugh at you. It means they're afraid of you." (yeah, right, i'm sure that's what it means)

See Dad! There are deer here too...

2009-09-22T17:35:00.001+07:00

Maribaya Hot Springs and Waterfalls

2009-09-22T17:28:00.000+07:00

Tofu Factory

2009-09-22T17:18:00.000+07:00

This Sunday a group of the vegetarian ETAs went to a tofu (tahu in Bahasa Indonesia) factory. The first picture above is what we could see of the factory...not much. We were able to to try the tofu though. It was delicious! Ita, one of the AMINEF ladies, told us that the tofu from Bandung is supposed to be especially tasty because of the excellent quality of the water that is used to make it here. I have no idea if that is true, but I do know that the tofu was delicious.

Hello Marc Jacobs Dresses!

2009-09-22T17:10:00.000+07:00

Selamat Idul Fitri!

2009-09-21T16:30:00.000+07:00

There is something fabulously exotic about this moment. Unique. I'm sitting here in a dark hotel room, alone, looking out over the city lit from below by thousands of headlights illuminating the busy streets. Cracks boom just before fireworks flash over the sky--their bright glow showering the sky with shimmering red and white sparks. The whole scene is played to the soundtrack of the Al-Quran being read over the loudspeaker in melodic, undulating, slightly hypnotic tones. The night is awake and aware; the energy is undeniable. My experience of the moment is unable to be captured by photo, video, or even really words. And because of that, I am profoundly present. I am living in the moment in a way both uncommon and sublime.
[written 9/19/09, first night of Idul Fitri]

Meet some ETAs

2009-09-13T20:43:00.001+07:00

Emma, Michael, Raj

Courtney, Jenny, Jimmy, Graham, Vidhi, Anna

Carrie

Abdul, Kalada, Vidhi, Alexa, Carrie, Sarah, John, Me

Me, Sarah, Ricky

Sarah Squared

John, Me, Jimmy

Thom, Kalada, Courtney, Risma's cousin, Risma, Ita, Erica, Sarah

Me and the glowing orb

Kalada, Ricky, Me

Ab, Dani

Aaron, John, Jimmy

Aaron, Vidhi, John

Look at this Bat!

2009-09-13T20:37:00.000+07:00

Saung Anklung

2009-09-13T12:15:00.000+07:00

Yesterday afternoon we went to a cultural performance at Saung Anklung--a school for traditional arts of Indonesia. Anklung is a type of instrument made out of bamboo. The performance consisted on children playing anklung and doing traditional dances for us. They were so talented! They ranged in ages from 3 to around 15. The anklung music was so peaceful and beautiful. The little girls that danced were amazing! Although they were only 10, they were so composed and graceful. After the performance, we were able to try out the Anklung. The director taught us hand signals and we played a few songs. We were actually pretty good, you could recognize our songs (ABBA, The Beatles, etc.). At the very end the kids came into the crowd and picked people out to dance with them. A cute little five year old girl picked me out. The dances were a lot like the line and square dancing we did in 4th grade gym class. It was a lot of fun!

Bandung School Visit

2009-09-13T11:43:00.000+07:00

This week all of the ETAs had the opportunity to go visit Indonesian high schools in Bandung. We split into groups based on the type of schools that we are going to be teaching in so that we could visit similar classrooms. Since I am going to be teaching at a vocation school, I visited SMKN 3 Bandung--a vocational school focusing on business and travel.

Erica and I visited a classroom of 10th graders. The class was all girls--38 of them! We sat in the corner of the room and observed their hour long lesson. The girls were giving presentations on directions for how to do things (take money out of an ATM, put a SIM card in a cell phone, send a text message, make a paper airplane, etc.). I was very impressed with their English. We have been told repeatedly that Indonesian students have a good grasp of the grammar of English, but don't really speak English. These girls spoke quite well. They were quiet and shy, but they were clear and understandable.

Everyone at the school was excited that we were there. Like all Indonesians we've met, they were so open and generous. The girls in the class I visited gave me a doll that they made from a water bottle. Isn't it cute?!?!

One of the boys from another class shared some traditional foods with us. We had a delicious banana wrapped in sticky rice and a round sort of pastry with sesame seeds on it that might be my new favorite snack.

Our visit made me very excited to start teaching! I can't wait to meet my students and learn with them.

A Room With A View

2009-09-11T18:03:00.000+07:00

Outside my window I see...

Isn't it beautiful?!?!

The Basics

2009-09-07T21:16:00.001+07:00

I think it is time to give a more detailed background about where in the world I am and what the heck I'm doing there.
Let's start with where I am. First, find the continent Asia.
Next, find the country Indonesia.
Then, find the island of Java.
Look at for the center of the island. See a town named Magelang? That's where I'm going to be living for the next 9 months. Magelang is a city of around 100,000 people in the province of Central Java. It is about an hour north of the popular city Yogyakarta. Magelang is near Borobudur where there is a gigantic Buddha statue. It is also near Gunung Merapi--one of the most dangerous volcanoes in Indonesia.
What am I going to be doing there for 9 months? I have a Fulbright fellowship. I am participating in the Fulbright Foundation English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) program. Essentially, I will be teaching English to high school students. The major goals of the ETA program in Indonesia include increasing the use of English as a spoken language, providing alternative ways to learn English, and increasing understanding of American culture. I will be paired with an Indonesia English teacher. We will work together in a team-teaching sort of atmosphere. Please visit the IIE Fulbright website for more information: http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html.
Right now I am in week one of a three week orientation that focuses on teaching techniques and lesson planning as well as learning basic Bahasa Indonesia. It is amazing how difficult and time-consuming it is to create effective, coherent, interesting, and dynamic lesson plans. This has made me respect my mother and all the wonderful work that she does in her classroom even more! Even though I know it will be a hard first week, I am really looking forward to getting to Magelang and meeting my students. Orientation has given me some great starting ideas that I can't wait to share in my own classroom.

Tangkuban Prahu

2009-09-07T16:33:00.000+07:00

Yesterday we rented a car and driver for the day and drove about an hour out of Bandung to visit Tangkuban Prahu. The top of this volcano collapsed in on itself and it has not erupted since 1969. You can't hike down into this caldera because it emits poisonous gases. We hired a guide and hiked down a steep, wooded trail to Kawak Domas--a volcanic area that includes pools of boiling water, geysers, boiling mud, and sulfur caves. Did you know that sulfur crystals are the color of Juicy Fruit gum? I was literally IN a volcano! The scenery was beautiful. See for yourself:

Bus Ride From Jakarta to Bandung

2009-09-04T17:50:00.000+07:00

We had a nice long bus ride from Jakarta to Bandung yesterday. I wanted to show you some videos of the scenery (thanks to Chesh for the awesome videocamera!). Ignore the audio--it's all Michael Jackson music from the karaoke machine at the front of the bus and pointless commentary on the scenery.

The Earthquake

2009-09-03T16:08:00.000+07:00

Yesterday afternoon between 3 and 4 p.m. there was an earthquake in Java, Indonesia. I was in my hotel room on the 8th floor of a 32 story building in Jakarta. I had just stood up from the table when the floor started to shake. At first I thought I was having a headrush from standing up too quickly, but when I looked up at the window I could see that the building was swaying from side to side. Earthquake! I've never been in an earthquake before and the only thing I could think of was that in movies people stand in doorways. So, I ran to the bathroom door and held on. The scariest part was the sound. I could hear the walls cracking and the plaster falling off them them. It was loud! It probably only lasted for a minute or a little more, but it felt like a long time. When it ended, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to move. I heard the other ETAs (English Teaching Assistants-I'll write more about the Fulbright program soon) in the hallway and ran out to join them. We decided that we should try to exit the building. We found a sign that said "Evacuation Route" that led to the stairs. We started down. About halfway down we ran into some Indonesians who work at the hotel. They were waving their arms at us and yelling "faster, faster". Indonesians do not raise their voices. Ever. When they started screaming we knew it was serious. We booked it down those stairs. Everyone was outside. They made us wait outside of the building to make sure that the aftershock wasn't worse than the first hit. We had to stay outside for 90 minutes. The earthquake was initially labeled a 7.4, but was later lowered to a 7.1. Luckily, no one died in Jakarta, but people were killed closer to the epicenter (off the coast of Java) and one person did die in Bandung (where I am going tomorrow). It is kind of difficult to see in these photos due to the flash, but there were cracks in all of the walls of my room when I was finally allowed back up to it.

What an introduction to the natural disasters Indonesia has to offer! But, do not worry. I am fine and now I know what to do if it happens again. It is always better to be prepared!

I'll post again soon about orientation and what I've been up to so far! Until then...

Arrival in Jakarta

2009-08-30T13:16:00.000+07:00

Hello all! After over 24 hours on planes and 40 hours of travel time, I have finally arrived safely in Jakarta.
Highlights (note: this term is loosely used in some cases) of the trip: luggage lost, discovering that the woman who checked me in at the Burlington airport did not give me my baggage claim tickets, luggage found, barely making the flight from Singapore to Jakarta, most turbulent flight ever from Sing-> Jakarta, being a diplomatic exception to immigration and customs in Jakarta (and thus bypassing the lines), and most recently arriving to a beautiful and comfortable room.
We have already begun filling out paperwork for Indonesian Immigration and US State Department. There is always more paperwork to complete. This afternoon we have off and are going to take a shuttle into the city to exchange some money and eat dinner. I plan on crashing right after dinner because orientation starts bright and early at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.
***NOTE: I am 11 hours ahead of EST.***
I will write a more interesting post of first impressions soon! Until then...

T-16 Days and 10 Hours

2009-08-12T10:08:00.001+07:00

It is almost time for me to board a plane to begin my first major post-Colgate adventure: a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Indonesia. More info to come...