The Beginning of the End

I just finished giving an AP Calculus test. It was business as usual until I realized that this was the last math test of their high school career. THIS WAS THE LAST TEST I'LL EVER GIVE THEM! And then I almost burst into tears.

Because I have given them ALL their math tests since 8th grade! I've been grading their work for FIVE years. And now I'll never grade their work again.

I'm gonna miss that. Even the ones with the horrible handwriting that I usually can't decipher. Even the ones that skip half the steps in their work. Even the ones that always forget to write their names. That part doesn't really matter anymore, because at this point, I don't need names to know whose work it is.

I've taught them for over half my teaching career. And now the only thing I have left to teach them is how to ace their AP exam.

A Korean Dinner

There is a Korean family whose kids attend my school. Well, there's a lot, actually. But I'm talking about one family in particular. As is the case with many Korean families here, the mom lives in town with the kids so that they can attend school while the dad works somewhere else. That situation works for many families. But it's not working for this family. They are struggling without their dad/husband here with them. The kids are acting out in various ways and the mom is having a hard time with the whole single parenting thing. I've gotten to know her a bit this semester as we've worked together to help her son especially. I teach him, and he and I have a good relationship. According to his mom, he respects me more than he respects her, and because of that, I have a lot of influence in his life.

Last week, the mom told me that her husband was coming to town and staying until the end of the semester to help her with the kids. She also said that her husband wanted to meet me, so they invited me over for dinner on Thursday, which happened to be last night. I've never been to a Korean home for dinner. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect at dinner last night.

Oh, yes. And one thing I've failed to mention is that neither of the parents speak English. They do both, however, speak fairly good Indonesian. It sometimes takes a little decoding as they translate their thoughts from Korean to Indonesian, then I back-translate from Indonesian to English. But our communication usually works out. And I'm getting really good at speaking Indonesian with a Korean accent.

I quickly exhausted the TWO Korean words I know. But the dad's Indonesian was much better than I expected it to be, and we settled right in to a great conversation about what God is doing on the island where he works! Then the mom called us to the dinner table, where she had a Korean feast laid out. The dad invited me to pray over the food, and I said I would, as long as I could pray in English!

I love most Korean foods, but since I've never actually eaten WITH Koreans, I told the kids to serve themselves first, and I'd follow. I had no plate, so I really wasn't sure what the protocol was. They had kindly set my place with a fork and spoon, but as they started grabbing food off platters with chopsticks, I quickly realized the fork and spoon were going to slow me down, so I requested a pair of chopsticks too. Much to my own delight and amazement, I managed to not drop any food on the table or my lap. I hope they were equally as delighted and amazed with my chopsticking skills.

Over dinner, the parents would talk to each other and the kids in Korean, the kids and I spoke English, and the parents and I spoke Indonesian. It was quite the multi-lingual event. We talked about everything from shotgun weddings to how your pee can turn purple if you eat enough dragon fruit (which we were eating). It was a lot more laid back than I expected dinner in a Korean home to be! And I really, genuinely enjoyed it.

After dinner, the mom told her daughter to go to the piano (she is one of the most incredible pianists I have ever heard in my life, and she brought her piano with her from Korea!), and asked if we could sing some worship songs together. It took some work to think of songs we all knew, but we eventually found two, and we sat around the piano singing together. Then the dad asked if he could pray, which of course everyone agreed to.

It was a fun cultural experience. And it was neat getting to spend time in the home of fellow believers. We don't have the same first language, and we don't have the same cultural background. But we have Jesus. And we can worship Him together no matter what!

Academics

I've become quite the academic lately. Well... quite the academic proofreader, that is.

1. It all started when a friend from my church had to present his research at an international conference. It all had to be in English. His research was in Indonesian. So he translated his entire paper (20+ pages) into English and had me proofread it before he presented it.

2. Then that same friend wrote a dissertation proposal. It was only about 10 pages. But I proofread that for him as well. On a train, in fact. I proofread it on a train.

3. Then another friend had to WRITE a proposal for a PhD level research project. He had no idea what to write about, but it had to relate tourism, gender issues, and social media. Together, we came up with an idea and wrote the proposal from scratch.

4. That proposal got rejected by the committee because apparently, it really had nothing to do with gender issues. It was supposed to be about tourism and batik making. I don't know how those wires got so crossed. So he is currently re-writing that proposal, and I'll proofread it when he has it finished.

5. Yet another friend messaged me just today from Australia, where he is currently working on earning his PhD. He has a chapter of his dissertation nearly finished, and he has to submit it on Tuesday. He asked if I'd proofread the chapter over the weekend. I said sure.

Things I have learned from all this.

1. My friends who basically never speak English to me are actually QUITE FLUENT IN ENGLISH.

2. I should basically have a PhD of my own by now.

3. I never want to get my PhD because it is WAY too much writing.

4. Enough higher education type things are conducted in English here that I'm pretty sure I could make a living off of it.

A Grim Fairytale

Grimm and Mother Goose have NOTHING on Indonesian fairy tales. If you think the story of Hansel and Gretel is intense, then you should never ever under any circumstances EVER read an Indonesian fairy tale. And you should DEFINITELY not read one to a child unless you are prepared to answer some VERY awkward questions.

(So you should stop reading now, because you KNOW I'm about to tell you an Indonesian fairy tale!)

Now you are probably curious. How bad could it really be? So here is one of my personal favorites, translated into English by yours truly. It is the legend of how Mount Tangkuban Perahu came to be (in West Java). Also, I would just like to remind you, THIS IS A CHILDREN'S STORY.

ALSO ALSO, this is your VERY LAST WARNING. STOP READING NOW!

The story begins with a god and goddess who, because of mistakes they made, were forced to spend eternity on earth. The goddess, Wayung Hyang, turned into a wild pig, and the god, Tumang, became a dog. Wayung Hyang tried to do good in the forest, and Tumang became a hunting dog for a king named Sumbing Perbangkara.

One day, King Sumbing Perbangkara went hunting in the forest. While he was there, he really needed to pee, so he peed near a tree. He didn't realize that some of his pee pooled on the leaf of a plant there. A short time later, the pig, Wayung Hyang, passed by. She was very thirsty. She saw some water on a leaf and drank it. Who would have predicted that drinking this water would impregnate her?

Several months later, the king was hunting in the forest again. It happened to be shortly after Wayung Hyang had given birth to a very beautiful baby girl. The king heard the baby crying, and he found her all alone on the forest floor. Entranced by the beauty of the child, he brought her home and raised her as his own child. He named her Dayang Sumbi.

As she grew, she became a beautiful princess. Her beauty was known throughout the land. At that time, a great war broke out. Dayang Sumbi did not like the war, and she asked her father, the king, to allow her to live in solitude, away from the kingdom. The king eventually granted her wish and sent her away with his best hunting dog, Tumang, to be her companion. Dayang Sumbi lived in a small cottage at the edge of the forest. She lived simply, and nobody knew that she was the princess. Living in solitude, she spent her hours weaving cloth.

One day, as she was weaving, she got drowsy and dropped her weaving shuttle. She felt very lazy, and didn't want to get down from her seat to retrieve the tool, so she swore in her heart that if someone would come pick it up for her, she would marry him. To her surprise, it was her companion, Tumang, who picked up the shuttle for her! Because she had to keep her promise, Dayang Sumbi married Tumang.

When the king heard what had happened, he was very embarrassed. His beautiful princess had married a dog and was already pregnant with their first child! In his shame, he banished Dayang Sumbi to the forest. Nobody besides Dayang Sumbi knew that Tumang was actually a god. Every full moon, Tumang transformed into a very handsome man.

Dayang Sumbi eventually gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. He had white skin and thick, black hair. Dayang Sumbi named him Sangkuriang. The boy grew, and was very nimble. He was a very talented archer, and one day, he asked his mother for permission to go hunting in the forest. Dayang Sumbi was craving deer heart, so she let her son go with Tumang to protect him. While he was hunting, Sangkuriang saw Wayung Hyang, the pig, cross his path. He readied his arrow. But Wayung Hyang ran and hid. Sangkuriang commanded his dog, Tumang, to find the pig. Tumang knew the pig was the goddess, Wayung Hyang, and he refused to obey Sangkuriang. He just sat and look at Sangkuriang.

Sangkuriang was very angry at Tumang. He tried to scare Tumang into obeying by pointing his arrows at him. But he accidentally released an arrow, and it sank deeply into the body of Tumang. The dog died. Sangkuriang panicked and didn't know what to do. Finally, he took Tumang's heart and brought it home to his mother. He told her it was a deer heart, like she wanted.

Dayang Sumbi happily cooked the heart, and the two of them ate it for dinner. After they finished eating, Dayang Sumbi remembered Tumang. She asked Sangkuriang where their dog was. Sangkuriang could hide the truth no longer, so he finally confessed to his mom that he had shot Tumang with an arrow and brought home his heart.

Dayang Sumbi flew into a rage! Sangkuriang had killed his own father! She grabbed a spoon and beat Sangkuriang's head with it until he was wounded very badly. Even so, the wounds in his heart were greater. He ran away from his mother's cottage.

When she realized that she had hurt her child and caused him to run away, Dayang Sumbi felt very sorry. Sangkuriang was her only child, and now her only companion as well. She was all alone. In her isolation, the gods took pity on her and granted her a long life and a beautiful, youthful face. For her whole life, she remained beautiful and never appeared to age.

Meanwhile, Sangkuriang spent his years roaming the forests. He studied with various magicians, and he gained many powers. He became great and mighty and defeated many of the spirits of the forest that he met in his wanderings. He defeated them with magic, and he became the ruler of them all.

One time, as he roamed the forest, he met Dayang Sumbi. Sangkuriang was amazed by her beauty and fell in love with her. Dayang Sumbi felt the same. Eventually, they got married. One day, Dayang Sumbi was coming her new husband's hair, and saw a big scar on his head. As she gazed upon his face, she finally realized that she had married her own son. Sangkuriang didn't know that his wife was his mother.

Dayang Sumbi tried to tell Sangkuriang that he was her son. But Sangkuriang couldn't think straight, and he forced Dayang Sumbi to stay married to him. Dayang Sumbi had to find a more subtle way to escape from the marriage. So one day, she told Sangkuriang that she would honor their marriage if he would do one thing for her - make her a lake complete with a boat in one night. Dayang Sumbi thought this would be impossible for Sangkuriang to do. And if Sangkuriang didn't uphold his end of the deal, then the marriage would be over. Dayang Sumbi thought that Sangkuriang wouldn't even try. But unexpectedly, he did!

That night, Sangkuriang worked on making a lake and boat. He used a tree to make the boat, and then he called the spirits of the forest to help him build the lake. Dayang Sumbi saw his progress halfway through the night, and she grew scared. The lake was nearly finished! She took the cloths she had woven and spread them out to the east. She prayed to the gods to cause Sangkuriang to fail. The gods heard her prayers. The cloth she had spread out began to glow red. The glow caused the roosters to wake up, and they began to crow, thinking it was already morning. The spirits of the forest heard the roosters crowing and, thinking that it was morning, disappeared into the earth. Sangkuriang was left alone to finish building the lake, but he felt that he had been tricked, and he grew very angry.

With a mighty roar, he threw the boat he had made. It flew quite a distance and landed upside down. In the blink of an eye, it changed and became Mount Tangkuban Perahu. Sangkuriang chased Dayang Sumbi, who had run away. When Dayang Sumbi saw that Sangkuriang was gaining on her, she once again asked the gods for help. They turned her into a flower. Sangkuriang searched and searched for Dayang Sumbi until he got lost in the spirit world.

The End.