Out of the Office

A long time ago, I went on a photo-adventuring drive with my friend, Liz. We got lost for hours with the express purpose of taking lovely pictures. And we got some lovely pictures of some of my favorite not-often-photographed things – graveyards and bamboo. We also got lots of pictures of rice fields. However, I have forgotten to post the pictures for approximately pi months now. But I am remembering today. So enjoy these shots for the next week or so while I am in Bali. Hopefully I come home with some more lovely shots for you to see!

           

Break

This week is the first official week of summer break! School is done, graduation is out of the way, meetings are over. And yet, I still seem as busy as ever. The difference now is that I get to fill my days with all kinds of random busy-ness of my own choosing!

Yesterday I woke up early and drove to the next town to go to the animal market there. It happens every fifth day (because it follows the Javanese calendar which has a 5 day week) and it’s FULL of livestock and random jungle animals that people catch and sell. I posted about the animal market HERE once before. I’m still thinking of getting a turkey and raising it for Thanksgiving. So yesterday I basically just wanted to see what there is to see and get some prices on stuff. My good buddy, Hotjaga, was valiant enough to accompany me, and he even took me out for soto for breakfast too! I like going to the animal market with him. Creepy men don’t call me sweetheart that way. He calls himself my bodyguard.

After I finished there, I raced the rain home (and won), showered, changed, and headed to my first ever modeling job. So um… yeah. That happened. I counted not having time for lunch as part of the modeling experience.

A guy from my church is apparently a very well known fashion photographer. He’s worked in Australia and even America! He talked to me several weeks ago and asked if I’d model for him, and I said sure. It sounded like a fun learning experience. But I told him we had to wait until after school was finished. So yesterday was the day. He asked me to bring some of my clothes, and he brought some clothes too. It was kind of awkward for about 2 minutes, because we did the shoot at a construction site next to my church. So we used the church to do makeup, hair, and change clothes. More specifically, we used the church secretary’s office. While he was in there working. The church is also a school, and I kept running back and forth to the bathroom to change clothes, much to the confusion of many small children and the church janitor. I think the most awkward part though was being out at the construction site with all the men watching. I mean, working. This is the same construction site where I saw one man mixing cement while wearing only his underwear about two weeks ago.

Getting made up was like a 2 hour facial massage. The girl who did it was really sweet and gentle and patient, even when I kept blinking while she was trying to put mascara on me, thus splattering mascara on my cheeks, which she then had to go back and fix. She also attempted to straighten my hair, which was a short lived venture. It ended up being longer and frizzier, but still curly. At no point during this adventure did I see a mirror, so I really had no clue what I looked like. Ko Andy, the photographer, showed me the pictures on his camera, and other than “smoky eyes”, I thought I looked pretty natural. I didn’t realize until I got home that the 2 hours of makeup had made me look like an oompa loompa, sans green hair. That was fun to wash off. And thank goodness Hotjaga was on shift at the back gate. Any other jaga would have had some serious concerns if I came home looking like that.

So yes. Ko Andy was pretty great. I liked working with him a lot. He even bought me hot tea afterwards (because it started raining)! He sent me a few of the pictures last night. I feel weird looking at them because I really had no clue what I was doing and so they seem awkward to me. But as far as photographic evidence of my adventures goes, these will suffice.

 

PS – The hardest part of the whole thing was not laughing. Also, untangling my hair from that weird fur coat.

And An Extra One For the Neighbor

Indonesian: How many children are you planning to have?
Me: Uhm. I don't know...
Indonesian: But how many would you like to have?
Me: Maybe like 4?
Indonesian: So 5 then...
Me: No, I said....
Indonesian: I heard.
Me: ...four.
Indonesian: One is for me.

Elections

Elections for the governor of Central Java were yesterday. I had a few funny conversations with people about this.

Conversation 1.
Me: Did you vote today?
Hotjaga: Yup. (Shows me his pinkie finger)
Me: Did you vote for the winner?
Hotjaga: Nooo.
Me: Oh, sorry.
Hotjaga: I did it on purpose. When I went to vote, I saw that the other candidates had a lot of votes and I knew one of them would win, so I voted for someone who didn't have many votes. I felt bad for him.

Conversation 2.
Me: Did you vote yesterday?
Ibu Sri: Yes. (Shows me her pinkie finger)
Me: Who did you vote for?
Ibu Sri: All of them.
Me: What?
Ibu Sri: I voted for all the candidates. I didn't feel right picking just one.
Me: Okaaaaay.
Ibu Sri: My daughter voted for the first time! (Her daughter is mentally handicapped)
Me: Oh yeah?
Ibu Sri: She was really nervous. She didn't know who to vote for, so my husband told her to vote for candidate number 3. So she went in to vote, but when she came out, we asked who she picked, and she said she picked number 1 because he looked nicer.

Conversation 3.
Me: Did you vote?
Atik: Yes. (Shows me her pinkie finger)
Me: Did the person you picked win?
Atik: Well, I voted for all of them.
Me: You too?! You realize that's the same as not voting at all, right?
Atik: Yes, but it's my duty to vote.

About the pinkie finger thing, when you vote in Indonesia, they dip your pinkie finger in permanent purple ink so that you can't come back and vote again. It's kind of like a, "Kiss me, I donated blood today" sticker. That takes days to wash out from under your fingernail.

GRADUATION!

The last two years, graduation has been SO emotional. And when other people are emotional, I become a hot mess. I brought so many tissues to graduation with me today. And as it turns out, I didn’t cry a single time! Neither did anyone else. Except Jose, but he’s Latino, so I think that’s as good an excuse as any. Today wasn’t sad. It was one big party. I love my extended family in this community, and I am going to miss those who are leaving SOOOOO much. But I was so excited to have a FUN celebration with them all today that didn’t involve blubbering or swollen eyed photos.

This class was in 8th grade when I came. Some of them have been here since kindergarten! That’s a BIG DEAL in a community this transient. I first taught them in 9th grade, and some of them I taught for all four years of high school! In this group of 19 seniors, there is only one that I haven’t taught, and that’s only because he just transferred to our school this year and didn’t take a senior math class.

There are 8 different nationalities represented in this class, and SO many different talents and gifts! They announced today that the total amount of scholarship money offered to these 19 students is $980,000. That’s almost a MILLION dollars! For these 19 kids. Because they are THAT talented and amazing! They have worked so hard, and it shows.

I don’t normally take pictures of people, much less of myself WITH people, but I forced myself to today. So here is possibly the largest number of photos of myself that I have ever taken or posted of myself EVER. Oh, and a few of graduation too. XD

First thing I noticed about the seniors in their cute little gowns – these boys have no clue how to sit with them on. I was cracking up…

We only had 2 valedictorians this year (half as many as we had last year). They both gave such simple, yet such profound speeches. Speeches that I will actually remember. I love both of these girls, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

That verse on the wall is part of their class verse. Every senior class has a retreat at the beginning of the school year where they set their goals for the year and pick what verse they want to guide their year. I think that is an awesome tradition. Because the school didn’t pick it for them. They chose it together.

In the middle of the ceremony, they showed a slideshow of the senior class. Unbeknownst to everyone in the audience (except me) the seniors sneakily inserted a video clip in the middle of the slideshow of them doing the Harlem Shake dressed in RIDICULOUS costumes. I knew about it. Because they made me do it with them! Can you spot me busting a white girl move?

The audience about died! It was hilarious and embarrassing all at once. After that, our departing assistant superintendent gave the graduation address (or whatever you call that).

The class of 2013.

All of our administration is 100% bald. It’s kind of funny, really.

Finished. Tassels are turned. BERHASIL!

And now for the after party photos. We all hung around chatting and snacking and hugging and taking pictures and saying goodbyes and OK – even crying a little bit – together for hours. Like I said, I LOVE this community!

                   

And this last one cracks me up and I don’t even know why.

Happy graduation, everyone!!

Yearbook Season

I didn’t buy a yearbook this year because they are really expensive (3 weeks worth of food!), and let’s face it – they are heavy and if I ever move to another country, I probably won’t take them with me. But students kept asking me to sign theirs, so I made my own “yearbook” for them to sign. It started as a joke, but then it got passed around different classes, and what I ended up with made me decide that this needs to be a tradition.


After 10 months of blood, sweat, and tears (LITERALLY all three of those) and making high school boys cry and repeating myself 15 times every 2 minutes and focusing all my energies on not throat punching small children and wondering why on earth I ever decided to teach, I am reminded why I do it. And I have something lasting, something in writing, that I can point to on a bad day and say to myself, “THIS is why I teach.” I even had to add extra pages for all the kids who wanted to write in my book!



I debated about posting this because it kind of seems like bragging. But then this morning, someone spilled water on my “yearbook” and parts of some of the comments got washed away, so I decided to go ahead and type them all up just in case. I could have done that in a Word document and saved it privately. So I guess I am bragging a little bit. About how sweet and great my students are. And also about how I’m the teacher of the year, basically.

Here is what they wrote (with all names removed or abbreviated):

9th Grade

HEYEAYAYEAYA. I’m sorry for being not a nerd in your class.. but next year I will try to study… harder… ya. I love you sooo much and Im gonna miss you over the summer! - NH

I learned lots of things from you!! thank u for teaching us! I’m glad I can study Geometry with you next year! YAY!! In next year…, I will try to concentrate in class!! You are a wonderful teacher! Have a good summer BREAK! – Lovely CB

I think you’re one of the most diligent teachers in this school! Well you’re really smart and kind too. Thanks for being so great. Have a great summer! - <3 OK

Hey! If you weren’t such a great teacher I wouldn’t understand Alg at ALL. So thank you! – LS

Every time I see you, you are so… calm. You are such a great teacher and I really like your teaching style. Even though I get stressed with tests + EXAMS, I think I get lots of knowledge from you. Thank you for being a great teacher! See you in 10th grade! - SJL

Don’t miss me too much LOL – DKK of Baconville

I will miss you during summer. Thanks for teaching me and encouraging me in any way. – SA

You are the best teacher! Don’t leave us! Teach us until 12th! Have a good summer! – JYB

Hey – !! I <3 U sooooooooo MUCH! Have a nice break – ! AND… Ummmmmmm… YOLO! – GB

HETO! This summer, be in a good MODE and don’t be so MEAN! You should not be an ANGLE OF DEPRESSION but be an ANGLE OF ELEVATION for others! When you go pack to go somewhere, don’t bring any EXTRANEOUS things! Make sure that EVEN if people look at you funny, don’t act ODD. Write in good MARGINS and don’t make ERRORS! – JP

Hi ~ Hello ~ >.,<!! I don’t know you much, but I think you’re really nice person! (And u r so beautiful!!) Umm… Thank you! – JIY

Sometimes I feel that you are very strict and you are but I learn a lot from it. I have enjoyed you being my teacher! YOU ARE AWESOME! See you next time (in 10th grade). Hope you enjoy your summer! – JC

2 cool 2 be 4gotten – NH

It was a fun year studying Algebra 2 with you! That is probably a lie. Haha, I’m pretty happy that I got good grade on exam! Have a great summer and wait until I send you a Songpop request! PS. I’ll get you sandals from Korea. - GHC

10th Grade

Hi. This is me, your favorite student. Thank you so much for teaching and being patient with us this year. I hope we change  + mature next year but I doubt we will ever get better. But I know deep down in your heart, you love us. Yes. I’m sure. Have an amazing summer and call me maybe. – DK

Thank you for being a great and patient teacher. – MS

Please let me pass. Love, RT

Sup miss. – ET

Hey. – AA

Hi! You are patient and pretty (NOT flirting). TIP

Hi Ibu. Thanks for a lot. I can’t really say what I need to here because a, this is not a legit yearbook (cool idea tho) b, anyone random reading it will think I’m a hobo. You’re a lot cooler than I thought you were. Remember 23 November I expect excellence. – GG

Have a nice summer. – KW

You are a great and beautiful teacher. Stay like that. – PC

Thank you so much for putting up with me over this last year! I know I can drive people crazy a lot of times! You’re an awesome teacher. Have a great summer! – AN

11th Grade

Let’s go to coffeeshop and we can ya. Math isn’t that fun but you’re fun so see ya! – SHK

Hey, I am your only student that never sleeps in class, turn in all assignments, remembers every test days. You’ll never ever have another dilligent student like me. See you next year. – JL

You are an awesome teacher! Your teaching style is perfect for my learning style, so that is good. Have a good summer. – PRH

Thanks for another year of math! This was the hardest math I’ve ever studied, but thanks for teaching it so well! Have a great summer and see you next year! – MHS

Thanks for teaching me math again this year. I understand it when you teach. You’re a good teacher and a good food rationer. Haha… Thanks for guarding our dorm lunch from other students. See ya next year! – HSK

Thank you! Even though my grades haven’t been great these last few years I have sure had a lot of fun in your class and will always have great memories. I will definitely see you around. – DM

Thanks for being a great math teacher! – MS

Thanks for always making class interesting… have a great summer. – KG

I’m sorry you had to have me in your class. – SP

12th Grade

I am so happy that I had you all 4 years of high school. You are without even the slightest of doubts my favorite teacher of ALL TIME! I will miss you so much. I am blessed for having known you. And it sucks I can’t be your maid of honor because I won’t be here for your wedding (don’t even act like I wasn’t your first choice). You are an amazing teacher and because of you math was my fav. class all through high school. But most of all you are an even better friend. Not many people can call a teacher a friend (especially their math teacher) but I am overjoyed that I can call you mine. I love you! – Love always, KALH

You are THE coolest most awesomest person that has EVER worked here. That is if you exclude Amber because she is my girlfriend. JK!! You’re the best. I love you BYE. – KH

To the best math teacher ever! I’ve enjoyed taking your class for 4 years in a row. Your explanations were clear and I loved how you encouraged me to solve problems on my own instead of giving me answers right away. I’ll miss the random stories you’d share during breaks & the food you shared with us. Oh! And the time we went to a worship concert together. The fact that I have a teacher who loves God, loves Indonesia and its people meant so much to me. I’ll miss you lots! Love, JL

4 years of math class. 4 years of homework, tests, and Bs. I'm still going to miss it though for some reason. And I'm going to miss the randomness that happens during our breaks. Thank you for your time and effort. I will miss you. - BH

Bye. I love you. - KHL

I think it is pretty great that you let me teach once. I enjoyed learning math as much as possible (as much as I am capable of, that is). I hope RT doesn't give you too much trouble next year. So ya, you're pretty cool. Oh! I think it's cool that you actually have standards and rules. :D - ST

The Day I Brought A Chicken Home From Church

Pak Kur told me his village was having a special event today and that I needed to come. I didn't really know what it was. All I understood from his description was something about first fruits. Not much to go on. My neighbor, Kari, has been wanting to visit Pak Kur's village for quite awhile, so I invited her to go with me today as well. Even after she fell INTO the rice field and lost both sandals then had to wash off in the men's public bath, she still said today was one of the best adventures she's had in Indonesia. So I'd say that was a good day.

Village folk like to do things early. So that means we were up by 6, out the door at 6:20, buying gas at 6:30, at Pak Kur's house at 6:50, and walking to church by 7. The entire service was in high level Javanese, but I found myself understanding a tiny bit more this time than I did last time, which was encouraging. The pastor mixed in some Indonesian, which helped give context. Since time is rubber here, people were still trailing in the door as the service began (and for the next 30 minutes as well). They were all carrying various items. Some had cardboard boxes. Some had coconuts. Some had bunches of bananas. One had a large Shaun the Sheep stuffed animal....? They all brought their items to the front of the sanctuary where they added them to the growing pile of produce before going and finding a seat.

Apparently today is Pentecost, a day that I've never celebrated before. Once I realized that, I started bombarding Pak Kur (and Kari, because she's a Bible teacher) with questions. Here are the facts:

1. Their congregation celebrates Pentecost every year by offering their first fruits.
2. This is not the harvest time for anything grown in this wholly agrarian village.
3. Some people just bring money from their last harvest to give.
4. Some search their fruit trees for the best that they can give.
5. Others bring livestock.
6. The first fruits (which should more accurately be called "the fruits") are sold, and the money goes to the church.
7. Pentecost is 50ish days after Easter and 10 days after Ascension Day (which is also a big holiday here).
8. Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit came to the apostles + the early church.

So after the service, we all celebrated Pentecost by eating a delicious breakfast together. My favorite kind of celebration!! After we ate, I was wondering what we were all still sitting around for when suddenly there was a lot of commotion and the REAL action began. Pak Kur failed to mention (or I failed to understand) that they don't just sell the first fruits... They AUCTION them off! My little Midwestern heart just loves a good auction.

While I was busy eating delicious soto, the women had busied themselves sorting out the piles of offerings onto giant plates. One plate might contain a bunch of bananas, two coconuts, a papaya, and various other fruits. Each plate was then auctioned off, most for around $5 - 6. Several of those went through, then a bunch of green bananas was auctioned off individually. It sold for $16!! Apparently, those are the best bananas in the world. Everyone was scrambling to have them.

They eventually got to the cardboard boxes. I couldn't see what was in them, and since they were using Javanese, I had no way of knowing what they contained. Pak Kur had gone to the back of the sanctuary to smoke, which was polite of him given that most of the men were smoking in the pews. I am excellent at counting in Javanese though, so I know that most of the boxes were going for $8 - 10. I found out later they contained rabbits. Then they got to the chickens that I didn't even realize were there since they'd sat so quietly during the sermon. Pak Kur bought a rooster for $10. While he went to pay for his winning bid, one of the ladies brought the rooster and tried to hand it to Pak Kur's 9 year old daughter, Filda, who screamed and hid. So I ended up taking the chicken from the lady. I got it to fall asleep on the pew (aka wooden bench) beside me, and I just prayed that it wouldn't poop all over everything before we left. It didn't. And then we walked home from church together. Carrying a chicken.

PS - I asked Pak Kur where to put it when we got back to the house. He said to set it down in the kitchen. So I did, and then went to the restroom (which is an out house). When I got back, he had taken a piece of string and used it to tie one of the chicken's legs to the kitchen table. How's that for a chicken coop, mom?

Medical Care and Faith Slightly Restored

I've done my fair share of complaining about medical care in this country recently, and I feel like I need to share something positive.

I went with Yo last weekend to visit his sick nephew in the hospital in the next city. (His nephew is 3 and had bad diarrhea and was dehydrated. But he's already home now and doing great!)

I didn't really know what to expect, as I'd never been to that hospital and my recent hospital experience had been, well, less than optimal.

But I was pleasantly surprised! On each floor there was a nurse's station with helpful nurses who knew which room each patient was in. Each patient in the pediatrics ward had their own room with AC, a flatscreen TV, a mini fridge, and a bathroom with a real toilet AND a shower! The beds were the kind that have a remote for raising and lowering the top and bottom halves, and they even came with sheets and pillows! The IV bag holders (what are those wheelie things called?) were not completely rusted over. The room was decorated with vivid colors and cute animals painted on the walls. There was a sofa sleeper for parents as well as other chairs for family to sit on. Also, the room had windows. And there was an elevator.

NONE of these things can be found in the hospital in my town. At least not in the room Sani stayed in.

So my faith has been slightly restored in Indonesian medical care facilities. Slightly.

Nevertheless, I've been making sure all my friends know that if I ever get really sick, they are just to ship me directly to Singapore. Or let me die at home. Either one is preferable to the hospital here.

Success of the Week

Carrying a 32 inch flatscreen TV on a motorbike 30 minutes to the next town. On the main road with all the trucks and buses.

(I wasn't driving. I was the passenger with the entire front of my body from the waist up pasted against the TV box in my lap attempting to not flip over backwards every time a gust of wind from a passing semi or bus hit us. With absolutely nothing within reach to hold onto and my feet only resting on small metal pegs.)

Yup, I called that my workout for the day.

Words 2: The Sequel

One of my favorite parts about Bahasa Indonesia is that the verbs have no tenses. You really don't realize how complicated a language is until you have to conjugate the verbs. That came for me when I learned Spanish in high school and college. It was torture. Then when I moved here and started sometimes teaching English, I realized exactly how complicated English is. And I will feel eternally grateful that I am a native speaker and I don't have to pay attention to which verb goes with which subject in which tense, because I just string those things together naturally. I mean, we make grammar rules that are different for different words - and then we don't even follow them half of the time! At least Spanish plays by the rules. I can't count the number of times I have apologized to people learning English for the complicated-ness that is English. Like really, truly, from the bottom of my heart. If I had to learn English as a second language, I would honestly probably give up out of sheer frustration.

All of this has made me extremely grateful to live in a country with a fairly basic unifying language. I really don't think I would be very proficient otherwise.

Let me give you an example using a common verb.
Makan = Eat.

Saya sudah makan. (I have already eaten.)
Saya belum makan. (I have not yet eaten.)
Saya lagi makan. (I am eating.)
Kemarin saya makan. (Yesterday I ate.)
Dia akan makan. (He will eat.)
Mereka mau makan. (They want to eat.)
Kita harus makan. (We need to eat.)

Notice how the verb NEVER CHANGES even when the subject and tense change? Beautiful, right?!

Let's try another verb.
Pulang = Come/go home

Saya mau pulang. (I want to go home.)
Dia belum pulang. (He hasn't come home yet.)
Sebentar lagi kami akan pulang. (In a minute we will go home.)
Mereka akan pulang besok. (They will come home tomorrow.)
Saya lagi pulang. (I'm going home.)
Dia tidak akan pulang. (She won't be coming home.)

See what I mean?! Piece of cake! And one more beautiful thing is that since there are no conjugations, there is no such thing as an irregular verb in Indonesian! If that doesn't make you fall in love with the language, I really don't know what will.

The other thing that makes learning Indonesian a breeze is the fact that the entire language is gender neutral. For English only speakers: this means that there is only one word for he, she, and it. Dia. That one simple word covers it all. And there is no distinction between things like niece and nephew (keponokan for both) or boyfriend and girlfriend (pacar for both). For people who have learned a Latin based language: this means that there are no articles and none of the nouns have gender! What a relief...

This can get confusing sometimes though. For example, when someone is telling a story about multiple people and they are all just "dia". You tend to lose track of who did what to whom eventually. It is also humorous that "Dia", "Dyah", and "Dea" are all Indonesian names.

The one downfall of Indonesian is that because it is such a simple language, it is also very limited. Several years ago, I was trying to express to a friend in Indonesian how truly wonderful something was, but I only knew the word for good. Bagus. So I asked my friend the word for amazing, and he said, "bagus". I asked the word for wonderful, he said, "bagus". I asked about stupendous, marvelous, spectacular, exquisite, and several other synonyms. They were all bagus. Pretty much the only way to add extra emphasis is to add "very" before it. So then it became "sangat bagus". Very good.

So basically, we have this:

Pros
No verb conjugations
No articles
No gender
Not too much vocab to memorize

Cons
Relies very heavily on context which is sometimes not clear
Difficult to express extremes

My friends tell me I need to learn Javanese because it has a lot more adjectives and ways to express meaning. I mean, it has to right? The language has four levels and four sets of vocab!

I'll get there eventually. But at the end of the day (which it now is), I am thankful for Indonesian and its simplicity. It is sangat bagus.