i.... just got a job offer.
teaching pre-calc and prob & stats.
in honduras.
for the school that i was going to go work at originally.
i told them no.
but it's nice to be remembered.
and even nicer to be wanted.
it's thundering out.
we're going to karaoke tonight.
welcome to another wonderful day in indonesia.
23 January 2009
22 January 2009
a line by one of the characters in the last lemony snicket book.
it is my new favorite poem....
the night has a thousand eyes
and the day but one
yet the light of the bright world dies
with the dying sun.
the mind has a thousand eyes
and the heart but one
yet the light of a whole life dies
when love is done.
it is my new favorite poem....
the night has a thousand eyes
and the day but one
yet the light of the bright world dies
with the dying sun.
the mind has a thousand eyes
and the heart but one
yet the light of a whole life dies
when love is done.
20 January 2009
barack hussein obama
unfortunately, i did not get to see the inauguration yesterday.
because unfortunately, it was on tv in the middle of the night here.
and unfortunately, i do not own a tv.
fortunately, the history teacher streamed it online and showed it during u.s. history.
unfortunately, we have very slow third world internet.
so unfortunately, we only saw the first 10 minutes of obama's address. (it buffered for 7 hours!)
this was my favorite part.
obama: we remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
me: uhmmmmm.......
mike: i think that was a little out of context.
me: uhmmmmmm........ yeah?
obama: ....that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness....
me: uhmmmmm......
mike: yeah.
me: does he THINK he's quoting scripture?!
mike: oh yeah, that's in second jefferson, i think.
right.
i took a picture.
for history's sake.
for history's sake.
in history class.
in this picture, there are:
a dutchman
3 koreans
a brit
an afghani
an indonesian
2 americans.
*EDIT*
after writing this, i was talking to an american friend serving in indonesia...
he summed up both of our feelings about the inaugural address spot on.
"reminds me how americans are characterized by pursuing what they think is happiness. and how sacrificing a little of that ideal is never done for the good of america, let alone the rest of the world. all in the name of upholding a 'right' that we inherently possess solely because of our place of birth."
i thought about that for a long time. and all i was eventually able to say back was "amen and amen."
14 January 2009
10 January 2009
but you can't sleep.....
At about 2 AM, I was feeling pretty amazed at how much I accomplished after midnight compared to how much I accomplished all day BEFORE midnight. I am undoubtedly a night person. Too bad I don't often have the luxury of being a night person here. Anyways, I made an impressive list. But then I just kept going and going and going and going. It's 9:30 AM now. I'm still not tired. Here's my lists.
List 1 (Or: Things I did before midnight)
Woke up at 12:36 (Don't judge me. I'm still sick a little. I definitely needed extra sleep.)
Took a shower.
Ate an apple.
Sporadically watched 6 hours of The Office while doing a cross-stitch gramma sent me.
Played guitar.
Ate a tuna sandwich. (First meat since being sick!)
Walked up to school to check my email.
List 2 (Or: When I come alive)
Fixed the decorations in my room.
Hung up my mirror that has been sitting on my desk since I got here. I used tools.
Put all my Yiddish magnets on my refridgerator.
Fixed all my candles that swallowed their own wicks.
Rearranged my lemari (wardrobe/shelving) to open up more room for books/dvds.
Cleaned out the fridge.
Cleaned my house.
Killed a lot of ants.
Swapped out computer batteries in my laptop. Put the old one back in. The charger is bad.
Wrote out three weeks worth of lesson plans.
Did three weeks worth of Math 7 homework. (The power was out and I was working by candlelight at this point)
Called home and located a paper I need, via Kyley. (Thanks)
Ate dinner. (Seaweed and cold rice!)
Read my Indonesian dictionary and learned a few new words.
Took some pictures in the dark.
Wrote a math quiz.
Brainstormed and typed up guidelines for 2 different quarter projects.
Played mahjongg.
Played guitar.
Had a brilliant idea for my class bulletin board.
Changed my handwriting. Again.
Freed up a ton of space on my hard drive.
Got the pick out of the inside of my guitar. Finally.
Made Chai. And drank it. Duh.
Read the first 20 chapters of Around the World in 80 Days.
Did situps.
Got dressed.
Walked to school.
Typed this dumb list.
Church starts in 30 minutes.
List 1 (Or: Things I did before midnight)
Woke up at 12:36 (Don't judge me. I'm still sick a little. I definitely needed extra sleep.)
Took a shower.
Ate an apple.
Sporadically watched 6 hours of The Office while doing a cross-stitch gramma sent me.
Played guitar.
Ate a tuna sandwich. (First meat since being sick!)
Walked up to school to check my email.
List 2 (Or: When I come alive)
Fixed the decorations in my room.
Hung up my mirror that has been sitting on my desk since I got here. I used tools.
Put all my Yiddish magnets on my refridgerator.
Fixed all my candles that swallowed their own wicks.
Rearranged my lemari (wardrobe/shelving) to open up more room for books/dvds.
Cleaned out the fridge.
Cleaned my house.
Killed a lot of ants.
Swapped out computer batteries in my laptop. Put the old one back in. The charger is bad.
Wrote out three weeks worth of lesson plans.
Did three weeks worth of Math 7 homework. (The power was out and I was working by candlelight at this point)
Called home and located a paper I need, via Kyley. (Thanks)
Ate dinner. (Seaweed and cold rice!)
Read my Indonesian dictionary and learned a few new words.
Took some pictures in the dark.
Wrote a math quiz.
Brainstormed and typed up guidelines for 2 different quarter projects.
Played mahjongg.
Played guitar.
Had a brilliant idea for my class bulletin board.
Changed my handwriting. Again.
Freed up a ton of space on my hard drive.
Got the pick out of the inside of my guitar. Finally.
Made Chai. And drank it. Duh.
Read the first 20 chapters of Around the World in 80 Days.
Did situps.
Got dressed.
Walked to school.
Typed this dumb list.
Church starts in 30 minutes.
in all my talk about bali, i totally forgot to mention anything about the flight there. or, more accurately, the flight security in the jogja airport. let me list my favorites.
1. mari had water bottles in her carry-on. and got to keep them.
2. i set off the metal detector, so they pulled me aside to wand me. i set the wand off in the general area of my right pants pocket. they waved me on anyways.
3. when i checked in and went through three security checks, i never once showed a single form of id.
4. i was never asked to remove my shoes.
5. i left the airport and came back in without getting security checked.
i watched the curious something or rather of benjamin button last night. it's a movie. and that's not its actual name. i just can't remember it right now. it was long, but actually a rather good story. i understand it's still in theaters in the states. there were subtitles. in english. done by indonesians. these ones were, however, better than the ones in meet dave (see some other blog i wrote on some other date in recent history). they at least tried to write what they heard. it's understandable. i mean, even native english speakers have trouble sometimes. take the old creedence song, for example, "there's a bad moon on the rise". don't worry dad, i think it says "there's a bathroom on the right" too. some subtitles and (actual lines) from the movie. the only ones i can remember, sorry.
i'm old enough for love things (i'm old enough for a lot of things)
you look fantastic (you're a lucky b*****d)
she had a 2,380 kg baby (she had a 6 lb 4 oz baby)
and that last one is especially funny because here in indonesia, a period is a actually comma. so what it really says (american style) is a 2.38 kilo baby. which is, in fact, 6 pounds 4 ounces. (i checked)
1. mari had water bottles in her carry-on. and got to keep them.
2. i set off the metal detector, so they pulled me aside to wand me. i set the wand off in the general area of my right pants pocket. they waved me on anyways.
3. when i checked in and went through three security checks, i never once showed a single form of id.
4. i was never asked to remove my shoes.
5. i left the airport and came back in without getting security checked.
i watched the curious something or rather of benjamin button last night. it's a movie. and that's not its actual name. i just can't remember it right now. it was long, but actually a rather good story. i understand it's still in theaters in the states. there were subtitles. in english. done by indonesians. these ones were, however, better than the ones in meet dave (see some other blog i wrote on some other date in recent history). they at least tried to write what they heard. it's understandable. i mean, even native english speakers have trouble sometimes. take the old creedence song, for example, "there's a bad moon on the rise". don't worry dad, i think it says "there's a bathroom on the right" too. some subtitles and (actual lines) from the movie. the only ones i can remember, sorry.
i'm old enough for love things (i'm old enough for a lot of things)
you look fantastic (you're a lucky b*****d)
she had a 2,380 kg baby (she had a 6 lb 4 oz baby)
and that last one is especially funny because here in indonesia, a period is a actually comma. so what it really says (american style) is a 2.38 kilo baby. which is, in fact, 6 pounds 4 ounces. (i checked)
08 January 2009
new years eve
New Year's Eve. It deserves its own blog, really. How eventful... First off, all the girls wore dresses, which was fun all by itself. Also, by this point, we had accumulated about 15 friends, so we had quite a crowd going. Also fun. The evening's adventures began with dinner. Indian food. a-MAZ-ing! Yohanes told us that the restaurant was about a 30 minute walk away from our hotel, so we all set out in high hopes, knowing that we were hungry enough to get us there in 20 minutes. An HOUR later, we arrived, sweaty and famished. Between the food and the company, the walk was well worth it! (Cashew curry chicken and garlic naan? Divine!) After eating our fill and spending a bit of time just relaxing and conversing, we decided to change locales. We paid up and left the restaurant, stopping briefly on the way out for Yo to buy some obnoxious noisemakers from someone on the sidewalk. One for everyone! We also took about a hundred pictures to commemorate the blessed event, much to my chagrin.
In high spirits once again, we began the arduous trek back. As we neared the heart of Kuta (the highly tourist-y/resort-y/ritz-y area of Bali where our hotel was located), we encoutered throngs of people heading out to clubs and parties all over town. The place was a mess. So we took the road less traveled - a side street that took us directly to the beach! Without ever really discussing it, we unanimously decided that this was the place to be. I mean, there were fireworks and firedancers. What else could we need? The beach was absolutely packed. I actually never even saw the water, which became a bit of a concern for me as people started shooting off random fireworks from within the crowd. Unlicensed unprofessionals shooting off things that explode just a few meters over my head does not instill a sense of safety in my heart. Or liver. Or any other internal organ. Oh well.
As midnight approached, we realized that every single one of us had a different time on our handphones. Did anyone actually know when the new year would arrive? We made the best of it and counted down the new year at least 4 times, much to the amusement of the Indonesians around us. I took that opportunity to call Katy, my bestest and dearest friend with whom I have spent every New Years since about 1997, give or take. (I heart you.) Unfortunately, by this point, the crowd was so loud that I couldn't hear her, but she could her me wishing her a selamat tahun baru at 1:00 in the afternoon. Time zones are funny things. Shortly after that, a roar of voices came from behind us, which spread like a fire fueled by a powerful accelerant down the waterfront. The new year was finally here. Or at least someone had managed to convince us that it was.
After much general gaiety and thousands more pictures taken on the beach, Peco remembered an earlier desire that I had expressed for ice cream. So we went to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach, where he kindly bought me an ice cream cone. I have not had soft-serv in 6 months. Oh, man..... Here, we accidentally met up with even MORE friends of ours from Salatiga who were holiday-ing in Bali, and we hung out for a bit, watching the beach crowd disperse. After awhile, we were ready to head back to our hotel, none of us being the party/club type. So we walked to our road, conveniently located right next to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach.
There were a lot of people on our road. So many, in fact, that they formed an impenetrable wall. The whole road is about 4 meters wide and is walled in on both sides, thereby forming a chute of sorts. A chute that was completely plugged and entirely impassable. Our hotel was about half a kilometer down this road. We decided to see how far we could get, but some important looking guys started yelling at people to turn back and get off this road. So we went back near the McDonalds and pondered our course of action. Shortly, Peco and Yohanes, who we had previously left at the McDonald's, joined us. Quickly assessing the situation, they decided we should try again. So we did. It was a mess. Our group got separated in the crowd, and I found myself at the tail end with Peco and Yo. In about 15 minutes, we made it no more than a meter or two into the human wall, with more and more people coming from behind, pressing us forward, a direction in which we could not go. It was a very hot and claustraphobic experience. The guys took excellent care to protect me. In a crowd that tightly packed, I don't think anyone even brushed against me, so good were they at defending my right to breathe. Faced with the realization of how long it would take us to reach our hotel, we decided once again to turn back.
Finding ourselves again at the waterfront, we decided to walk farther down the main road and take the long way around back to the hotel. But not until Yo took 50 more pictures. It is quite a walk, but we figured it would be much quicker than waiting for the crowd to thin out. And it was. There were still masses of loud and drunk people everywhere, but we made it back to the hotel easily in less than 30 minutes. We were hot, tired, and sweaty. So we all ran to our rooms, threw our suits on, and jumped into the pool! Eventually, other friends started trickling back from their arduous walk, and so enticed were they by the pool, that they all jumped in with their clothes still on! Now, why didn't WE think of that?? We were having such a good time that the hotel guard had to come tell us to be a little quieter. Because who is asleep at 2 AM on New Years Eve in Bali?!
After cooling off and drying off, we all went to the guys' room to hang out on their massive balcony. One by one, people said their goodnights as the hour became too much for their sleepy eyes to bear. By about 3, only Peco, the 2 South Africans, the German, and me remained. By 5:30, when we were all still wide awake, we decided that we should definitely see the first sun rise of the year. But where at? Kuta is on the west side of Bali - not a good place to see the sunrise in all its glory. But wait! - Sanur! It's on the East side of the island! Yup. We definitely woke a taxi driver up at 5:30 AM so he could come pick us up and drive us across the island just in time to see the first amazing sunrise of 2009. Once it was up, we all realized how incredibly tired we were, so we all came home and went to bed. All before anyone in the States had even finished their New Years Eve dinner. And THAT..... was New Years.
In high spirits once again, we began the arduous trek back. As we neared the heart of Kuta (the highly tourist-y/resort-y/ritz-y area of Bali where our hotel was located), we encoutered throngs of people heading out to clubs and parties all over town. The place was a mess. So we took the road less traveled - a side street that took us directly to the beach! Without ever really discussing it, we unanimously decided that this was the place to be. I mean, there were fireworks and firedancers. What else could we need? The beach was absolutely packed. I actually never even saw the water, which became a bit of a concern for me as people started shooting off random fireworks from within the crowd. Unlicensed unprofessionals shooting off things that explode just a few meters over my head does not instill a sense of safety in my heart. Or liver. Or any other internal organ. Oh well.
As midnight approached, we realized that every single one of us had a different time on our handphones. Did anyone actually know when the new year would arrive? We made the best of it and counted down the new year at least 4 times, much to the amusement of the Indonesians around us. I took that opportunity to call Katy, my bestest and dearest friend with whom I have spent every New Years since about 1997, give or take. (I heart you.) Unfortunately, by this point, the crowd was so loud that I couldn't hear her, but she could her me wishing her a selamat tahun baru at 1:00 in the afternoon. Time zones are funny things. Shortly after that, a roar of voices came from behind us, which spread like a fire fueled by a powerful accelerant down the waterfront. The new year was finally here. Or at least someone had managed to convince us that it was.
After much general gaiety and thousands more pictures taken on the beach, Peco remembered an earlier desire that I had expressed for ice cream. So we went to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach, where he kindly bought me an ice cream cone. I have not had soft-serv in 6 months. Oh, man..... Here, we accidentally met up with even MORE friends of ours from Salatiga who were holiday-ing in Bali, and we hung out for a bit, watching the beach crowd disperse. After awhile, we were ready to head back to our hotel, none of us being the party/club type. So we walked to our road, conveniently located right next to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach.
There were a lot of people on our road. So many, in fact, that they formed an impenetrable wall. The whole road is about 4 meters wide and is walled in on both sides, thereby forming a chute of sorts. A chute that was completely plugged and entirely impassable. Our hotel was about half a kilometer down this road. We decided to see how far we could get, but some important looking guys started yelling at people to turn back and get off this road. So we went back near the McDonalds and pondered our course of action. Shortly, Peco and Yohanes, who we had previously left at the McDonald's, joined us. Quickly assessing the situation, they decided we should try again. So we did. It was a mess. Our group got separated in the crowd, and I found myself at the tail end with Peco and Yo. In about 15 minutes, we made it no more than a meter or two into the human wall, with more and more people coming from behind, pressing us forward, a direction in which we could not go. It was a very hot and claustraphobic experience. The guys took excellent care to protect me. In a crowd that tightly packed, I don't think anyone even brushed against me, so good were they at defending my right to breathe. Faced with the realization of how long it would take us to reach our hotel, we decided once again to turn back.
Finding ourselves again at the waterfront, we decided to walk farther down the main road and take the long way around back to the hotel. But not until Yo took 50 more pictures. It is quite a walk, but we figured it would be much quicker than waiting for the crowd to thin out. And it was. There were still masses of loud and drunk people everywhere, but we made it back to the hotel easily in less than 30 minutes. We were hot, tired, and sweaty. So we all ran to our rooms, threw our suits on, and jumped into the pool! Eventually, other friends started trickling back from their arduous walk, and so enticed were they by the pool, that they all jumped in with their clothes still on! Now, why didn't WE think of that?? We were having such a good time that the hotel guard had to come tell us to be a little quieter. Because who is asleep at 2 AM on New Years Eve in Bali?!
After cooling off and drying off, we all went to the guys' room to hang out on their massive balcony. One by one, people said their goodnights as the hour became too much for their sleepy eyes to bear. By about 3, only Peco, the 2 South Africans, the German, and me remained. By 5:30, when we were all still wide awake, we decided that we should definitely see the first sun rise of the year. But where at? Kuta is on the west side of Bali - not a good place to see the sunrise in all its glory. But wait! - Sanur! It's on the East side of the island! Yup. We definitely woke a taxi driver up at 5:30 AM so he could come pick us up and drive us across the island just in time to see the first amazing sunrise of 2009. Once it was up, we all realized how incredibly tired we were, so we all came home and went to bed. All before anyone in the States had even finished their New Years Eve dinner. And THAT..... was New Years.
in which i emerge from my cave
so. i got back from bali on saturday morning.
the 18 hour bus ride was actually great.
got to ride a ferry to java at sunset.
i even saw orion! my favorite! he was upside down.
got to hang out with some good friends.
got to see more of indonesia.
got to eat supper at midnight.
got to sleep a lot.
got to almost die like 27 times.
excellent.
chilled sunday.
had movie/pizza night with friends on monday.
barfed my guts up on tuesday.
writhed in pain on my couch on wednesday.
vowed never to eat pizza again on thursday.
i can't wait to see what friday holds in store.
the 18 hour bus ride was actually great.
got to ride a ferry to java at sunset.
i even saw orion! my favorite! he was upside down.
got to hang out with some good friends.
got to see more of indonesia.
got to eat supper at midnight.
got to sleep a lot.
got to almost die like 27 times.
excellent.
chilled sunday.
had movie/pizza night with friends on monday.
barfed my guts up on tuesday.
writhed in pain on my couch on wednesday.
vowed never to eat pizza again on thursday.
i can't wait to see what friday holds in store.
30 December 2008
so we made some friends.
zubs and jay.
they're from south africa.
they were in our car that took us white water rafting.
we've been inseparable ever since.
the day we met them, we invited them over for dinner.
we cooked spaghetti.
but then the power went out, so we couldn't cook.
so we sat in the dark and talked.
right as we were in the middle of expressing our relief over bali not having 17 mosques sounding call to prayer right outside our backdoor 5 times a day, we discovered that they are muslim.
oops.
we then also realized that we had put pork sausage in the spaghetti sauce.
oops again.
so we had some good laughs.
then we had some good talks.
we've had lots of those in the past few days.
and soon they're coming to visit us in salatiga.
because they're world traveling right now, on their way to lombok for three weeks next, and what's a little jaunt to our town gonna set them back?
nada.
i'm excited for more good talks.
and some pork-less meals.
hi.
zubs and jay.
they're from south africa.
they were in our car that took us white water rafting.
we've been inseparable ever since.
the day we met them, we invited them over for dinner.
we cooked spaghetti.
but then the power went out, so we couldn't cook.
so we sat in the dark and talked.
right as we were in the middle of expressing our relief over bali not having 17 mosques sounding call to prayer right outside our backdoor 5 times a day, we discovered that they are muslim.
oops.
we then also realized that we had put pork sausage in the spaghetti sauce.
oops again.
so we had some good laughs.
then we had some good talks.
we've had lots of those in the past few days.
and soon they're coming to visit us in salatiga.
because they're world traveling right now, on their way to lombok for three weeks next, and what's a little jaunt to our town gonna set them back?
nada.
i'm excited for more good talks.
and some pork-less meals.
hi.
27 December 2008
hey hey hey hey
I'm in Bali!
It's like another country.
Everyone speaks English.
And I haven't seen this many whiteys since I left the States!
Haven't found any Americans yet.... Everyone is Australian or European.
I've impressed the locals with my Indonesian abilities, which is nice.
At the very least, I get better prices on stuff.
Well, I should go now.
This internet usage is costing me a whole 1 cent per minute.
And I smell rough.
Just got back from the beach.
THE BEACH!
It's like another country.
Everyone speaks English.
And I haven't seen this many whiteys since I left the States!
Haven't found any Americans yet.... Everyone is Australian or European.
I've impressed the locals with my Indonesian abilities, which is nice.
At the very least, I get better prices on stuff.
Well, I should go now.
This internet usage is costing me a whole 1 cent per minute.
And I smell rough.
Just got back from the beach.
THE BEACH!
25 December 2008
and now the moment you've all been waiting for
monday was the school christmas celebration (natalan) that the national staff put on. every year, they choose some lucky new teachers (maybe they assume we're too naive to know what they're up to) to be greeters for the blessed event. naturally, i was one of the "lucky ones". i got to spend three hours getting layers of makeup put on, my hair teased and hairsprayed, my torso bound up so i fit in the corset, and jammed into a sarong so tight i couldn't walk. and oh yeah, high heels were involved. i spent the next several hours shaking people's hands, saying "selamat datang" (welcome), "selamat sore" (good afternoon), and "selemat natal" (merry christmas). what a great time. hotjaga ended up with my camera, via yohanes, and he did a really good job with it, so that's exciting. so here's some pictures for you. i do like to spread christmas cheer, but try not to laugh too hard. someone actually told me, "If we were in L.A., I would probably mistake you for a man."
Disgusted by our outfits....
My, what big hair you have....
Paul: This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Me: That's what I'm counting on.
Disgusted by our outfits....
My, what big hair you have....
Paul: This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Me: That's what I'm counting on.
21 December 2008
the rain is getting to me
I spent a good part of the morning de-molding. It started with my backpack. Last night, I looked down at it and realized that things were growing all over it. So I threw it in the shower to sit overnight. This morning, I saw that the two pairs of leather sandals I bought in Africa had whole biospheres growing on them. Then I checked my pair of Champions I left by the door after I got them soaked through (I had to wring out my socks) while walking in the rain last week. Sure enough. Green. Inside and out. So I got those things all washed out and threw them out on the lawn to roast in the sun for a few hours. Then I went to eat breakfast. I went to cut off a hunk of bread from this most delicious loaf I have. And I mistook my cutting board for some sort of Terrier sitting on my counter. So I scrubbed that, then left it to soak in bleach in the sink. I ate my bread, then went to fold some laundry that my pembantu hadn't gotten to last week. As I was hanging up a skirt in my lemari (wardrobe type thing), my hand brushed against a Golden Retriever. A WHAT?! In my lemari?! No, actually, it was one of my dresses. Quite fuzzy, I'd say. That went into the hamper. Immediately. Ugh.
"Welcome to rainy season." - Marie
"Welcome to rainy season." - Marie
19 December 2008
Meet Dave
So the other day, I watched Meet Dave, an American movie done in English. For some reason it also had English subtitles. So that's easy enough for the subtitle writers, right? I mean, just write down what the actors are saying, and you're done. No translating or anything. These guys take their jobs pretty seriously though, and they made it a LOT harder than it needed to be. I actually suspect that the movie was first translated into Indonesian and then BACK to English, because the supposedly English subtitles were actually a mix of Indonesian words and bad English grammar. Some of my favorites go as follows.... The subtitle is in quotes, with the actual line in parentheses.
"Permanent at your place!" (Stay right where you are!)
"This stood planet unanimous with us." (This planet rocks.)
"I shall blow up your head." (I don't know you that well.)
"Security outside sky." (Homeland security.)
"I am captain jam in." (I'm stuck.)
Today was the last day of finals, and all the kids left. So it will be pretty quiet around here for the next 3 weeks. Or at least it'll be as quiet as the most densely populated island in the world can be. I got some sweet Christmas gifts from students... One gave me one of those giant plastic candy canes filled with little candies. Yum! One gave me a loaf of homemade bread, which I can't wait to eat. I got some incredible homemade cards and candies. However, what was possibly the most memorable gift was the plastic bag filled with Korean food, complete with three bags of seasoned seaweed, a dish of noodles (like ramen, but infinitely better), some small candies, packaged cakes, and, of course, chopsticks. Thank you, Glory.
"Permanent at your place!" (Stay right where you are!)
"This stood planet unanimous with us." (This planet rocks.)
"I shall blow up your head." (I don't know you that well.)
"Security outside sky." (Homeland security.)
"I am captain jam in." (I'm stuck.)
Today was the last day of finals, and all the kids left. So it will be pretty quiet around here for the next 3 weeks. Or at least it'll be as quiet as the most densely populated island in the world can be. I got some sweet Christmas gifts from students... One gave me one of those giant plastic candy canes filled with little candies. Yum! One gave me a loaf of homemade bread, which I can't wait to eat. I got some incredible homemade cards and candies. However, what was possibly the most memorable gift was the plastic bag filled with Korean food, complete with three bags of seasoned seaweed, a dish of noodles (like ramen, but infinitely better), some small candies, packaged cakes, and, of course, chopsticks. Thank you, Glory.
15 December 2008
teacherhood
I've been grading papers. That's right - the math teacher. Grading papers. I assigned my two Algebra II classes a project.... They had to do/count/measure something 10 times, plot the points on a coordinate plane, then use the graph to find an equation for whatever it was that they originally did. Then they had to write a paper on it. The only stipulation was that the graph couldn't be a straight line, because that would be too easy. So, for example, several of them had the idea to exercise hard for awhile, then stop and take their pulse every minute for ten minutes.... It declines nearly exponentially until it plateaus at the resting heart rate. At any rate, some of these papers are real beauties......
"To start this project, I had to get data first. I was thinking about what to do. Finally, I decided to time every three pushups I do. I had to do that for ten times. It was very tiring. After I got all the data, I plotted those points on a graph, and it was a line. I was very disappointed. I did thirty pushups. That was not even funny."
"As I think to those ugly times, I can feel the pain inside my stomach." (This from the boy who timed himself drinking 100 ml of water 10 times. That's an entire liter in less than 5 minutes!)
"While I was doing it, I spilled water all over my shirt, only because it was the teacher's water bottle. . . When I was doing it, she took pictures with the big, black camera." (Same boy)
"After finishing, I went to the restroom three times at school, but before I finished, I went twice. At home, I went to the toilet five times, which makes it that I went to the toilet 10 times after I did this project." (Still the same boy. Obviously.)
"I'm glad Christmas break is almost here! Yay! Merry Christmas, Miss!"
"Since if I plug in 10 for x in my equation I will get 51.45 for my heart rate. If I keep adding up the minutes, I'll eventually die in one hour!"
"The Effects of Gravity on a Scooter and Rider with Little Forward Motion Caused by the Rider on a Fairly Evenly Sloped, Rough Road. " (One kid's project title)
"Then, taking long, comfortable strides (since I was not confident in my own ability to keep my strides constant), he would walk back up to the original starting point while counting his steps."
"So that means that if I did 35 jumping jacks, my hart rate would be 1,276 hart beats per minute."
"I seriously didn't know what to do for this massive project. I figured that checking my pulse ten times every minute after an exercise would be the easiest of all. I went down to the gym and played basketball with my little dorm fellows. After thirty minutes, I still didn't feel like my heart was beating faster, so I played my favorite sport, soccer, instead. But because I was goalkeeping, my pulse slowed down completely. So I ran a suicide and four laps." (By Steve, the best goalie ever who is moving to America in a week and I cried like a baby when I found out)
"Readers beware, without a high (indeed, a higher) level of mathematical education, one will not be able to comprehend the intensive mathematical processes that I used to discover the effects of a power on the number 2."
"I then proceeded to attempt to plot this data on a graph. It was rather difficult, seeing as how one point goes up to (8, 256). However, I persevered through the trial because, as Paul put it, 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance' (Paul/God 1)."
"I then hoped desperately that the teacher is in a humorous mood when she reads this and grades it.... I hope any points she takes off will be justified by an error in calculations on my part, and not her prejudice against creative writing and humor expressed through an Algebra II project 'typed description' (Teacher 1)"
"This is my equation. Take it away from this scrap of paper, apply it to your life, and you will find success in all you do."
JiHyun, the water drinking wonder. See the pain etched on his face.
Kang running circles around my room to get his pulse up after doing pushups resulted in a straight line, as taken by Jimin.
"To start this project, I had to get data first. I was thinking about what to do. Finally, I decided to time every three pushups I do. I had to do that for ten times. It was very tiring. After I got all the data, I plotted those points on a graph, and it was a line. I was very disappointed. I did thirty pushups. That was not even funny."
"As I think to those ugly times, I can feel the pain inside my stomach." (This from the boy who timed himself drinking 100 ml of water 10 times. That's an entire liter in less than 5 minutes!)
"While I was doing it, I spilled water all over my shirt, only because it was the teacher's water bottle. . . When I was doing it, she took pictures with the big, black camera." (Same boy)
"After finishing, I went to the restroom three times at school, but before I finished, I went twice. At home, I went to the toilet five times, which makes it that I went to the toilet 10 times after I did this project." (Still the same boy. Obviously.)
"I'm glad Christmas break is almost here! Yay! Merry Christmas, Miss!"
"Since if I plug in 10 for x in my equation I will get 51.45 for my heart rate. If I keep adding up the minutes, I'll eventually die in one hour!"
"The Effects of Gravity on a Scooter and Rider with Little Forward Motion Caused by the Rider on a Fairly Evenly Sloped, Rough Road. " (One kid's project title)
"Then, taking long, comfortable strides (since I was not confident in my own ability to keep my strides constant), he would walk back up to the original starting point while counting his steps."
"So that means that if I did 35 jumping jacks, my hart rate would be 1,276 hart beats per minute."
"I seriously didn't know what to do for this massive project. I figured that checking my pulse ten times every minute after an exercise would be the easiest of all. I went down to the gym and played basketball with my little dorm fellows. After thirty minutes, I still didn't feel like my heart was beating faster, so I played my favorite sport, soccer, instead. But because I was goalkeeping, my pulse slowed down completely. So I ran a suicide and four laps." (By Steve, the best goalie ever who is moving to America in a week and I cried like a baby when I found out)
"Readers beware, without a high (indeed, a higher) level of mathematical education, one will not be able to comprehend the intensive mathematical processes that I used to discover the effects of a power on the number 2."
"I then proceeded to attempt to plot this data on a graph. It was rather difficult, seeing as how one point goes up to (8, 256). However, I persevered through the trial because, as Paul put it, 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance' (Paul/God 1)."
"I then hoped desperately that the teacher is in a humorous mood when she reads this and grades it.... I hope any points she takes off will be justified by an error in calculations on my part, and not her prejudice against creative writing and humor expressed through an Algebra II project 'typed description' (Teacher 1)"
"This is my equation. Take it away from this scrap of paper, apply it to your life, and you will find success in all you do."
JiHyun, the water drinking wonder. See the pain etched on his face.
Kang running circles around my room to get his pulse up after doing pushups resulted in a straight line, as taken by Jimin.
13 December 2008
you pierced your WHAT?!
so when i was 14, i got my first piercing. in the top of my left ear. in terminal tower. a building that is actually sinking. in cleveland. 8 years ago, back when nobody actually had their cartilage pierced. back when i was cool. even though i was only getting one hole put in me, they had no protocol for selling only one earring, so i had to buy a pair.
i used that same pair when i got my second hole at age 17. well, i used one of them. in a tattoo parlor in fort wayne. i just had the guy sterilize them and put one right through my ear, below the first one.
so last night at 10 o'clock, when my judgement was probably already impaired, i decided i wanted to pierce my earlobes, like normal girls. i mean, i already bought some sweet earrings in africa last year, so why not?
in keeping with tradition, i decided to use the same studs as the last two times. but i needed to somehow clean them first. i didn't really have any cleaning agents in my house. except for bleach. but i didn't want to shove something bleach soaked into my body. so i used listerine instead. i checked the label. third ingredient: alcohol. i don't know if this is the same listerine they market in the states, but it's powerful. i have to water it down to use it or else it burns too bad and i can feel it decroding through my tongue. i figured that would suffice for the earrings.
so i let them soak for an hour while i graded papers, like a good teacher. then i dried them off, numbed my ears with ice cubes until i couldn't feel my head, and the rest is history. they didn't even bleed. i did good. real good.
i used that same pair when i got my second hole at age 17. well, i used one of them. in a tattoo parlor in fort wayne. i just had the guy sterilize them and put one right through my ear, below the first one.
so last night at 10 o'clock, when my judgement was probably already impaired, i decided i wanted to pierce my earlobes, like normal girls. i mean, i already bought some sweet earrings in africa last year, so why not?
in keeping with tradition, i decided to use the same studs as the last two times. but i needed to somehow clean them first. i didn't really have any cleaning agents in my house. except for bleach. but i didn't want to shove something bleach soaked into my body. so i used listerine instead. i checked the label. third ingredient: alcohol. i don't know if this is the same listerine they market in the states, but it's powerful. i have to water it down to use it or else it burns too bad and i can feel it decroding through my tongue. i figured that would suffice for the earrings.
so i let them soak for an hour while i graded papers, like a good teacher. then i dried them off, numbed my ears with ice cubes until i couldn't feel my head, and the rest is history. they didn't even bleed. i did good. real good.
like mother, like daughter.
11 December 2008
don't think too hard
Yesterday I was planning on teaching Spanish class the Spanish lyrics to some Christmas carols. So I chorded the songs out, brought my guitar to school, and was sitting on my desk before class, tuning and playing through the songs to make sure I remembered them. JiHoon, one of the Spanish students came in and came up to my desk and watched me for a minute, then pulled his wallet out of his pocket and began fishing through it. I wasn't really paying attention to him, until he handed me a 1000 bill.
JiHoon: Sorry, I don't have any coins.
Me: What's that for?
JiHoon: You're playing guitar.
So I should be a street musician. I could make money.
Another gecko died in my room yesterday. Right on my desk. He was ailing pretty badly, and having some serious respiratory and bowel issues, but there's a slight chance that I was the one who actually put an end to it all. On accident. The cleaning man is a witness, and he was the one to pronounce the little guy dead (I now know how to say "the gecko is dead" in Indonesian. What a learning experience. "Cecak mati") and take care of the body. This is 4 geckos that have died in here, I think. I checked with the previous teacher, who is now in the States, and he said he never found dead geckos. It just must be me.
JiHoon: Sorry, I don't have any coins.
Me: What's that for?
JiHoon: You're playing guitar.
So I should be a street musician. I could make money.
Another gecko died in my room yesterday. Right on my desk. He was ailing pretty badly, and having some serious respiratory and bowel issues, but there's a slight chance that I was the one who actually put an end to it all. On accident. The cleaning man is a witness, and he was the one to pronounce the little guy dead (I now know how to say "the gecko is dead" in Indonesian. What a learning experience. "Cecak mati") and take care of the body. This is 4 geckos that have died in here, I think. I checked with the previous teacher, who is now in the States, and he said he never found dead geckos. It just must be me.
09 December 2008
feelings
in an amazing feat of self injury, i somehow managed to trip on perfectly flat dirt and fall in such a way that i scraped up the top of my foot and sliced the skin in between my toes. so now every time i take a step and my toes move even slightly, the open wounds rub the other toes and it feels like something sharp is stuck in between my toes. kate is right - these kinds of things happen only to me.
remember my friends, charles and marie? - the ones who are getting the baby. well, sometimes i just have feelings about things. and in this case, i wasn't the only one. some of us... we knew. charles' dad has been sick for awhile. we knew his dad would die and the baby would be born all at once. and that is exactly what happened. the mother went in to labor as mr. h took his last breaths, and an hour later (ONE hour!) samuel was born. charles and marie went from saying their goodbyes at a hospital in semarang to pick up their son in a village near kopeng. he is beautiful. i held him. he is dark, dark, dark. i'm convinced his dad must be papuan. God had His hand in this. maybe both of His hands. every little detail was just as we had prayed...
conversation last week at lunch:
carolyn: (one of the new girls) have you learned much indonesian since you've been here?
me: here and there.... i can barely get by, but i can't really have a conversation.
*peco, a grown man, climbs under the table*
mega: orang gila! (crazy person)
me: ¡es verdad! (it's true)
carolyn: well, it sounds like you speak it pretty well.
me: thanks. that was spanish.
remember my friends, charles and marie? - the ones who are getting the baby. well, sometimes i just have feelings about things. and in this case, i wasn't the only one. some of us... we knew. charles' dad has been sick for awhile. we knew his dad would die and the baby would be born all at once. and that is exactly what happened. the mother went in to labor as mr. h took his last breaths, and an hour later (ONE hour!) samuel was born. charles and marie went from saying their goodbyes at a hospital in semarang to pick up their son in a village near kopeng. he is beautiful. i held him. he is dark, dark, dark. i'm convinced his dad must be papuan. God had His hand in this. maybe both of His hands. every little detail was just as we had prayed...
conversation last week at lunch:
carolyn: (one of the new girls) have you learned much indonesian since you've been here?
me: here and there.... i can barely get by, but i can't really have a conversation.
*peco, a grown man, climbs under the table*
mega: orang gila! (crazy person)
me: ¡es verdad! (it's true)
carolyn: well, it sounds like you speak it pretty well.
me: thanks. that was spanish.
07 December 2008
jam karet
12:00 PM
yohanes: you wanna go to lunch with us?
me: sure, where at?
yohanes: kayu arum
me: oh... is that the lunch with the family of the new student?
yohanes: yeah
me: is it gonna take forever?
yohanes: no
me: ok. i'll come. sounds good.
4:00 PM
yohanes: i think that was the longest lunch i've ever had.
yohanes: you wanna go to lunch with us?
me: sure, where at?
yohanes: kayu arum
me: oh... is that the lunch with the family of the new student?
yohanes: yeah
me: is it gonna take forever?
yohanes: no
me: ok. i'll come. sounds good.
4:00 PM
yohanes: i think that was the longest lunch i've ever had.
06 December 2008
Wedding
I have this friend named Phydel who got married this weekend. She called me up on Thursday and asked if I could help. I've never been to an Indonesian wedding, but I've heard the horror stories... I was hesitant, but I have this moral issue about saying no to a bride on her wedding day. I just can't do it. And plus, I just plain love the girl. So I said yes.
The original plan was to have me dress in traditional clothes and serve as the greeter/guest book attendant at the reception. I pointed out that I really don't speak Indonesian, and she assured me that if I knew "selamat datang" (welcome), "terima kasih" (thank you), and "silakan" (please do), that would suffice. I don't know if I was more intimidated by the thought of having to speak a language I don't speak all day or having to wear a traditional outfit...
Luckily, I had to do neither. It was decided that my American... umm... figure... probably wouldn't fit in an Indonesian corset. And I had my own clothes in the appropriate wedding colors. So I just wore those. And when I got to the reception, there was already someone else greeting, so I laid low and hoped no-one would notice that I wasn't doing my job.
However, this does not mean that I was off the hook. The day before the wedding, I was talking to Phydel, and I mentioned to her that if she wanted, I could take some pictures in the morning of people getting ready before the actual photographers got there. That made her happy. So that made me happy.
I got up and dressed at 6 on Saturday morning, and a girl who looked to be about 12 came and picked me up on a motorbike. I thought we were going to die on the way to Phydel's house, but we made it. The girl dropped me off at the front gate and sped away. There were crazy women everywhere running around trying to get everything ready. And none of them spoke a lick of English. So I finally found the groom, Wisnu, and was able to ask him where I should go. He took me to the room where Phydel was getting ready. She was in there with a few other girls and her hairdresser/makeup artist. We laughingly referred to him as "the woman" all day. He was probably more ladylike than me. He also knew how to curse in English. Oh good, my native tongue.
I watched Phydel get ready for a bit, but then she decided I should go take pictures of everything else that was happening. So I left the safety of English speaking people and ventured out into the house. However, there seemed to be nothing happening and nobody was around. So I returned to Fidel and explained the situation. After some thought, she remembered that all the ladies had gone next door to get ready. So she sent me there.
Awkward moment of awkward moments. A little white girl with a big camera walks into a room full of Indonesian women frantically trying to make their skin whiter and their hair bigger. And of course, none of them had any clue who I was and none of them spoke any English. So they decided to feed me. Bread. And bread. And bread. Then one of them thought to ask if I wanted a drink. I said yes please. So they poured me a glass of tea. But after much discussion and staring at the glass of tea, it must have been decided that it wasn't good enough, because they set it down and poured another glass. The same discussion ensued and ended with them opening the tea pot and taking turns peering in. It must have all been faulty, because I never did end up getting a drink. I also never ended up taking many pictures either, because I raised my camera once to take a picture and one lady started yelling. Maybe they didn't want the white stranger taking pictures of them half made-up? I don't know. So I sat there in uncomfortable silence for about 45 minutes until a little girl came in and told me Phydel needed me.
At this point, the professional photographers had arrived, so Phydel asked me to take some more formal portraits with Wisnu and other family and friends. I acquiesced, much to the chagrin of the pros who shot me murderous looks from across the room. After many pictures and some sort of formal ceremony that involved the bride, groom, and female family members marching down the driveway while a man prayed in a very loud voice, we all got in cars and drove to the church.
I was directed toward one of the last cars to leave. We left, and about 5 minutes later, the driver declared that he actually had no idea where he was going. Shortly thereafter, we realized that every single person in the car was from out of town. So they turned to me. The foreigner. Luckily, I had been to the church once before, and I kind of-sort of-relatively knew where it was at. And luckily, I know how to say "left" and "straight" in Indonesian, but not "right". So also luckily, one girl in the car spoke some English. We made it. Eventually.
And the rest is history...
The original plan was to have me dress in traditional clothes and serve as the greeter/guest book attendant at the reception. I pointed out that I really don't speak Indonesian, and she assured me that if I knew "selamat datang" (welcome), "terima kasih" (thank you), and "silakan" (please do), that would suffice. I don't know if I was more intimidated by the thought of having to speak a language I don't speak all day or having to wear a traditional outfit...
Luckily, I had to do neither. It was decided that my American... umm... figure... probably wouldn't fit in an Indonesian corset. And I had my own clothes in the appropriate wedding colors. So I just wore those. And when I got to the reception, there was already someone else greeting, so I laid low and hoped no-one would notice that I wasn't doing my job.
However, this does not mean that I was off the hook. The day before the wedding, I was talking to Phydel, and I mentioned to her that if she wanted, I could take some pictures in the morning of people getting ready before the actual photographers got there. That made her happy. So that made me happy.
I got up and dressed at 6 on Saturday morning, and a girl who looked to be about 12 came and picked me up on a motorbike. I thought we were going to die on the way to Phydel's house, but we made it. The girl dropped me off at the front gate and sped away. There were crazy women everywhere running around trying to get everything ready. And none of them spoke a lick of English. So I finally found the groom, Wisnu, and was able to ask him where I should go. He took me to the room where Phydel was getting ready. She was in there with a few other girls and her hairdresser/makeup artist. We laughingly referred to him as "the woman" all day. He was probably more ladylike than me. He also knew how to curse in English. Oh good, my native tongue.
I watched Phydel get ready for a bit, but then she decided I should go take pictures of everything else that was happening. So I left the safety of English speaking people and ventured out into the house. However, there seemed to be nothing happening and nobody was around. So I returned to Fidel and explained the situation. After some thought, she remembered that all the ladies had gone next door to get ready. So she sent me there.
Awkward moment of awkward moments. A little white girl with a big camera walks into a room full of Indonesian women frantically trying to make their skin whiter and their hair bigger. And of course, none of them had any clue who I was and none of them spoke any English. So they decided to feed me. Bread. And bread. And bread. Then one of them thought to ask if I wanted a drink. I said yes please. So they poured me a glass of tea. But after much discussion and staring at the glass of tea, it must have been decided that it wasn't good enough, because they set it down and poured another glass. The same discussion ensued and ended with them opening the tea pot and taking turns peering in. It must have all been faulty, because I never did end up getting a drink. I also never ended up taking many pictures either, because I raised my camera once to take a picture and one lady started yelling. Maybe they didn't want the white stranger taking pictures of them half made-up? I don't know. So I sat there in uncomfortable silence for about 45 minutes until a little girl came in and told me Phydel needed me.
At this point, the professional photographers had arrived, so Phydel asked me to take some more formal portraits with Wisnu and other family and friends. I acquiesced, much to the chagrin of the pros who shot me murderous looks from across the room. After many pictures and some sort of formal ceremony that involved the bride, groom, and female family members marching down the driveway while a man prayed in a very loud voice, we all got in cars and drove to the church.
I was directed toward one of the last cars to leave. We left, and about 5 minutes later, the driver declared that he actually had no idea where he was going. Shortly thereafter, we realized that every single person in the car was from out of town. So they turned to me. The foreigner. Luckily, I had been to the church once before, and I kind of-sort of-relatively knew where it was at. And luckily, I know how to say "left" and "straight" in Indonesian, but not "right". So also luckily, one girl in the car spoke some English. We made it. Eventually.
And the rest is history...
03 December 2008
last week i was out to dinner with about 10 friends.
i was sitting at the end of the table, and everyone was laughing and talking.
as i sat there looking at them, i had a moment.
a moment in which i realized that if i were not sitting right there, nothing would be different.
if i had never come to indonesia, they would all still be sitting exactly where they were sitting, laughing and talking.
i could mentally remove myself from that table, from that restaurant... and everything was the same.
it was a little disconcerting.
but then i began to wonder about how many millions of other places in the world i'm not at right now, and how many other things are the same, without knowledge of my existence. i want to go to all of them. life is not quite long enough.
i was sitting at the end of the table, and everyone was laughing and talking.
as i sat there looking at them, i had a moment.
a moment in which i realized that if i were not sitting right there, nothing would be different.
if i had never come to indonesia, they would all still be sitting exactly where they were sitting, laughing and talking.
i could mentally remove myself from that table, from that restaurant... and everything was the same.
it was a little disconcerting.
but then i began to wonder about how many millions of other places in the world i'm not at right now, and how many other things are the same, without knowledge of my existence. i want to go to all of them. life is not quite long enough.
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