days go by

yesterday was ascension day. the muslim schools got the day off. but did we? no. much to the astonishment of all my indonesian friends.

i just got home from speaking to a cross-cultural studies class at a nearby college. that was interesting. they asked me some really good questions. atypical questions. questions that made me think. i feel confident about how i answered, which is a good feeling. i don't normally feel that way after speaking to a group.

and speaking of speaking... there is an english camp coming up soon for indonesian high school students learning english as well as for english teachers. they will be having a retreat up the mountain near the end of this month. today i got asked to speak at the retreat. i have to preface this by saying that i'm scared of the lady who asked me. i have heard horror stories from people who have done these little "projects" with her. for example, 2 of my friends (also teachers) were recently asked by her to practice english with some local teachers for an hour or so. yeah... they got there and found out that it was actually a formal meeting with the minister of education that lasted hours. (if an indonesian says 1 hour, they really mean something between 3 hours and all day long)

so my conversation with this lady went something like this:
her: so you will help with english camp? (wink, wink)
me: uhh... yeah.... about that....
her: (wink)
me: are you winking at me?
her: you are so cantik (beautiful) today. (wink)
me: STOP WINKING AT ME! YOU ARE TRYING TO SEDUCE ME!
her: HAHA! (wink, wink) so you will help?
me: well. would i use bahasa indonesia or english?
her: english. speak english. *which actually means it will probably be in indo*
me: how long would i have to talk for?
her: maybe.... satu jam.
me: ONE HOUR?!? *see above*
her: or you can leave time for questions.
me: well, here's the thing. i don't know what i could say that would benefit them. i'm not a language teacher. i can't help them with that. i'm a math teacher...
her: but you are bule! (slang for white person) to them, you are so perfect! it does not matter what you say.
me: oh. well, that doesn't seem quite right....
her: ok, ok, ok. thank you. *she walks away*

soooo... i'm not really sure if i'm speaking or not? dear God, i hope not...

oh, one other thing. i've gone to church now two weeks in a row! that is impressive, given that i haven't gone to church regularly for about 6 months now, since my church closed. it's an indonesian church. but one where i am happy and comfortable. i'd gone to this church before, but after being out of church for awhile, it was hard to make myself want to get out of bed at 6 on sunday morning (indonesian church is dang early!). but now that i am, i see how worth it it is. and i'm excited to be part of the body of that church.