Indonesia!

Crazy, here I am writing out my life on my computer. Experiences, adventures, learnings, and thoughts to come! My first entry is extremely long, probably because my mind is racing 10 times over trying to take it all in. So...I'll give a couple details before I go on:

Where am I?: Lippo Village, Indonesia, about 20 km. from Jakarta, Indonesia
Why? I’m student teaching for my final practicum at Dordt College. I am teaching 3rd grade at SPH school (Sekolah Pelita Harapan).
For how long? March 5-April 30, 2010
With who? I am here with my roommate from Dordt, Kristin Tenbrinke, who is from Lacombe, Alberta. She is teaching grade 7 and 8 science. She also likes birds so we both have our eyes and ears peeled.
A little about Indonesia: It’s hot! The average day has been 35 degrees C!
There are over 300 languages in this country! The language of this island is Bahasa (we’re learning some of the words, especially menu words!)
A lot of the food is fried, and includes rice! So delicious! And the fruit!
The common way to get around is motorcycle, which we haven’t tried yet!
They drive on the left side of the road.
The people are very friendly! It’s strange how much we stand out. Many people take pictures of us, sometimes asking permission, sometimes trying to hide it.

And for the rest of the entry (I wrote it earlier and am just posting it now that I've figured out the internet situation)

March 7, 2010

So we’re here! After a long, thirty-some hours on planes we have come to a tropical haven of palm trees, banana trees, and muggy air. Our flights went well, although it was strange to us to receive supper at 1am (which for us was 3am). We were both able to sleep 11 hours out of 14 on our long stretch which was wonderful!
Our drive from Jakarta to Lippo Village had our eyes glued to the windows. We saw a bit of the city life, more of the traffic, which travels on the left side of the road, with tons of motorcycles! As we got more into Lippo Village (about 20km out of Jakarta) we noticed newer structures and a cleaner city. The vegetation is remarkable, greenery everywhere with flowers and butterflies all over the place. Simply gorgeous!
We live at the University in a dormitory. There are beds, desks, and a bathroom with a shower. Down the hall is a kitchen and a lounge with couches. Although we are adjusting to cold showers, eating on our desks/beds, and a mosque behind our building that chants at 4:24 every morning, things are working out! We find the waking up at 4:30am isn’t so bad when we go to bed early (8:30pm!) and all of our friends back home are online! The 13 hour time difference (to Iowa/Winnipeg) and 15 hour time difference (Abbotsford) is beginning to feel doable. We have access to clean drinking water (hot and cold!), a gym (which we still have to use!), and a huge cafeteria. The mall is right across the road, which we were happy to find a Burger King and Starbucks!
The school community has been very helpful! We have had two of our meals at teacher’s houses, which were delicious! It was nice to be in a home setting. We are going to make some of these meals weekly and we look forward to other inclusive activities.
Now to the school: the purpose of why we came! The school is huge! And gorgeous! A brick structure, built with different levels, with no walls! They have a roof to protect everyone from the rain, but the classrooms/meeting rooms/offices are walled in for air conditioning. There isn’t a point to AC the hallways, so they are outside. At first Kristin and I got lost around campus, but now we have figured out different locations, based on the two outdoor pools, tennis courts, and fountains.
I am teaching in third grade, with a class of 22 students. The class has two teachers, one with the prominent language of English and the other prominent in Bahasa, Indonesia (the local language). Both teachers are in the class the majority of the time as they work together for translations and routines. The one teacher is originally from North Carolina, and the other has grown up here. The school day starts at 7am....yes....7am! and ends at 3pm! So the days are quite long. For those who know...curriculum standards are quite high here. The summative assessment is regarded with high expectations so the lessons have to be prepared effectively in order to meet the standards. I look forward to the challenge!
The students are great! They call me Ms. Shena, as every teacher goes by their first name with either Ms., Mrs., Ibu, Mr., or Idu, for the preface to their name. Students give high respect to the authority, and all wear uniform of skirts and ties, with hats for recess and lunch. Most students come from this area, but there is also a mix of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Caucasian, and Japanese in the group. I find the students are very intelligent in math with the ability to compute facts quite well. However, problem solving and individual thinking are new concepts.
The Christian atmosphere here is wonderful. We have chapel with other grades, devotions in the morning, devotions with staff, and prayer circles with the students. Today we sang “Mighty to Save” and “Indescribable”. It brought tears to my eyes to hear such lovely and familiar words sung by such precious children.
Kristin and I walk home from the school (about 20 minutes) and discuss what we see, if we ever could live here, if our fiancés would live here (yes, we talk about them often), if our families would live here, and what the school is establishing as their worldview.
It’s a different type of culture. We find it hard to accept how every student and most teachers have a maid, a driver, a gardener, security guards to their complex, and a nanny. We understand how they are giving the Indonesian people jobs (who else would not have jobs) but the concept of living highly and knowing that they are going back to the village (just outside of the city) where the roads are made of dirt, the children playing soccer in bare feet. Janitors, gardeners, there are even people who do my photocopying and laminating (plus cutting out the laminated paper) for me, and they can’t be paid a whole lot. We just look and wonder how they see us. The American students who come over to experience what it’s like to live here -- but are we really experiencing the Indonesian culture? Or rather this bubble formulated around this highly regarded school? We keep hearing about how great the community is within the school. Yes, there is strong ties within the teachers and parents, which are wonderful! But what about the people that see us from the other side? Are we stuck up? Rich? Do we show our Christian joy? We wrestle with these thoughts. We look at what we have and we’re thankful, but now what?
We look at the school mission. A Christian man started the school in efforts to one day see a saved nation. If you want to change the whole nation, you have to start with the new generation. This school is for the wealthy. These are the students that could one day be running the capitol city Jakarta, being only 20 km. away. We understand that these children need to be taught the Christian worldview and life style as well, and we are whole-willingly ready to give ourselves to bring this message across. There is a bigger picture and goal in mind then we can imagine. With this in mind, the staff and rest of the school community know that the only way to get down this path is through the work of God. We are trying to be a part of this walk. How is living the Christian life applicable in the rich community? It’s almost easier to think of how we would teach for the poorer regions, but when you are guiding future thinkers for the nation, you want to be strong in what you believe, honest in your actions, and filled with the Holy Spirit so that our words will sound of his truth.
Here’s just the introduction....wooh!
We are growing as teachers, but also as believers. Thank you for your prayers of safe travel. Continued prayers for health, wisdom, and strength are appreciated! We are trying to keep up with the e-mails!!! I Messages and e-mails are sooo encouraging and we love to share our daily experiences too!
I hope to keep updates on our activities! I led devotions on being humble, and a math lesson of capacity at the poolside today. Next week I will be starting a literature unit on a book entitled “Helen Keller: A Light for the Blind” to correspond with our unit on Sound and Light in science.

Thanks for keeping up with me! God Bless!!