Quarter 4

Well, we made it! Spring Break is over, and the final quarter of the school year is well underway on this side of the planet. Last week was the first week of the quarter, and at the end of the week, I joked to a co-worker that if that was any indication of how the quarter was going to go, then we should just call it quits now.

The week started with my fellow math teacher being informed that she had two hours to leave the country (due to visa reasons). She ended up hustling to Singapore for what was at that point an undetermined amount of time. It ended up being three days, so for the first three days of the quarter, I was teaching every single period of every single day, covering some of her workload as well as teaching my own classes. Thankfully, she ended up getting her visa sorted out, and no more last minute trips are anticipated in the near future. The day after she returned from Singapore, another co-worker's father suddenly died. This co-worker is an only child and felt that his mother really needed him to be with her, so the very next morning, he caught a flight to America to be with family and to handle arrangements, leaving his wife and three children here in Indonesia. Within 30 minutes of being notified of that death, I was then informed that a woman from my local church here had passed away rather suddenly while her husband was out of the country for business. Oh, and we also had parent-teacher conferences on that same day. By Friday, I really just wanted another Spring Break. But then our superintendent had to leave the country before I could convince her to declare an emergency supplemental break. She is still out of country at this point waiting on visa things to come through.

Unfortunately, rather than looking forward to some rest and down time in the near future, we are all bracing ourselves for April. The first weekend, we are hosting a national athletic tournament at our school, which will be an all hands on deck situation. After that we have Easter, which includes two much-anticipated days off. The following weekend we will have a drama production, and the weekend after THAT, we will be travelling to yet another athletic tournament, this one hosted on Bali. Somewhere in there, we will also have standardized testing for grades K-10 and the Indonesian national exams.

Fourth quarter always seems like a whirlwind, but this one seems even more so. It goes by in the blink of an eye, but in the moment, it feels like we've been stuck here for an eternity (I mean, did this quarter seriously just start LAST WEEK???). I'm thankful for the community I live in and the support and the grace that we extend to one another. We would appreciate your prayers for this last quarter. It hasn't been an easy year. We have experienced 8 deaths in our extended community (all parents of co-workers) in the last three months, we have had medical issue after medical issue (with students and teachers missing weeks of school at a time), our current principal is leaving after this school year, and we have not had a single applicant to fill his position for next year, some of our staff members have been told that under new government regulations, they do not meet the requirements for the visas they are on (meaning that when their current visas expire, there is a chance they may not be able to renew them), and the end of the school year is approaching oh, so quickly. We continue to trust in God's unfailing faithfulness and provision.

An Unexpected Answer

On Sunday at lunch, I found myself sitting across from a four year old girl that I had never talked to before. I vaguely know her parents, but they were elsewhere at the moment, and their daughter was staring at me wide-eyed while swinging her legs violently under the table, effectively kicking me in the shins repeatedly.

So I decided to strike up a conversation with her. I asked her what her name is, and she told me. I asked her how old she is, and she told me. Then she said, "I bet you can't guess what my favorite animal is!" So I tried. I went through all the obvious answers.

Ponies

Puppies

Kittens

Unicorns

Siberian tigers

Tarantulas

Pythons

And then I gave up. So I asked her what her favorite animal is. In glee, she squealed, "I LOVE NAKED MOLE RATS!"

I can't begin to fathom how I didn't guess that.

I'm A Big Kid Now

I have a house helper. This is common knowledge. I don't always like to make it common knowledge though, because I'm afraid it makes me sound like a spoiled elitist foreigner living the high life. That is not the case. I live well below the American poverty line in an apartment I do not own that is the exact same size as my classroom. That's probably why I can afford to have a house helper. I rely on her so much, and I love her dearly. I always joke that if it weren't for her, all I would ever eat is instant noodles.

Well, that claim is being put to the test this week. Tuesday morning, I woke up to an insistent knocking at my front door WAY too early in the day. I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't stop, so I eventually stumbled to the door, hair askew, and opened it. My helper's husband was standing there, and my heart jumped into my throat. "WHAT HAPPENED?" I asked (or maybe barked... I'm not really sure). He told me, "She got in a wreck last night, and she can't come into work today." In a surprising moment of pre-coffee clarity (shock will do that to you), I managed to asked all the right questions.

Is she in the hospital? No.
Is anything broken? No.
Did she see a doctor? Yes.
Is she in pain? Yes.

So we agreed that she would not be in to work that day, and he went to his job and I put some gel in my hair and made some coffee and then went to my job too.

I visited her at her house after work on Tuesday. She was in bed. Her left knee was swollen to the size of a grapefruit, and she was covered in bruises and Betadine infused scrapes and cuts. The doctor had her on pain meds. She insisted she would be in to work the next day. I told her she was not allowed.

I talked to her Wednesday, and she told me she was having an allergic reaction to the medicine the doctor put her on. I told her not to come in on Thursday. It is now Thursday. She thinks she is coming in on Friday, but I'll see how she's doing tonight.

It's a little bit embarrassing to admit that this is the first time I've gone through a work week without a helper cooking and cleaning for me. I still don't think I'm an elitist or a high roller, but I can maybe accept that I might be a little bit spoiled. However, I am proud to say that even after 8-10 hour workdays, all my dishes have gotten done, all my laundry has been folded, and my floors are kind of clean. And most importantly of all, I have NOT ordered out OR made instant noodles a single time so far! But we'll see how long I can keep it up, because I'm running out of ingredients, and I refuse to wake up at 4 AM to go to the market.

If you think of it, please pray for my helper and her family. She told me yesterday that she feels "very sad" that she can't work. She thrives off of activity, so sitting at home is not easy for her. Her husband, her elderly mother, and her two kids also rely a lot on her, so her being out of capacity is tough on everyone. And of course, please pray for her to heal well. She never got her knee X-rayed, so even though the doctor said nothing is broken, it's still possible that there is some damage there.

I'm so incredibly thankful that her accident wasn't any worse than it was.
I'm also thankful that she has a great family and a great support system.

And lastly, I would also like to take this opportunity express my thankfulness to my mother for teaching me how to cook. Thanks, mom!