So...Here we are, all the way in Papua, Indonesia. Papua used to be called Irian Jaya, but the people of this part of the nation wanted independence and by way of some sort of compromise, they agreed upon a name change. So Papua it is.
We spent the afternoon packing our things up for the evening flight. We were told that it would probably be a 2 hour drive from Ibu Connie's house, and with a 9pm flight, decided that we should have a taxi sent at 5pm, to arrive by 7pm (since security protocols were supposed to be more stringent, especially since the bombing in Jakarta). Nur, the sweet, sweet maid with the fabulous smile in Ibu Connie's house, came around 2pm to let us know that the taxi's arrival time had been changed from 5pm to 4.30pm. No one seemed to know the reason for this alteration, but we still had plenty of time to get ready, so no huge deal.
We gathered our things and waited by the door at 4.20pm. Then we waited. And waited some more. And at 5pm, the taxi arrived. Perhaps the taxi was told 4.30pm so that it would actually arrive at 5pm?? It was a big car, but it's trunk was of questionable size for all the luggage--there are four of us, we each have a personal bag of medium size and there's an oversized team bag filled with our supplies...not to mention two poster tubes filled with poems and such, and our individual carry-on items. By some miracle, the driver fit all our bags into his trunk, and we were on our way, with more beatific smiles from Nur as she waved and called out "see you next week!"
Initially, the traffic didn't seem too congested (I've seen much worse on the 405 in CA and the 95 back East). At some point though, things slowed down a lot and the driver got a bit anxious when he realized that none of us spoke Bahasa Indonesian. Eventually, he asked us our flight time and when we explained that we weren't to depart until 9pm that night, he seemed much more relaxed :)
We made it to the airport in plenty of time (though poor Gracie had a bit of motion sickness from the extended cab ride)--checked in without hassle (had to pay a 40,000 rupiah airport tax for some reason that was not explained in English, haha) and went on a mission to find ourselves some dinner. We ended up at two little (semi-sketchy looking) cafes, that were pretty much identical except one had red chairs and the other had yellow ones. We opted for the yellow cafe. The people working there must have been shaking their heads at us as we tried to interpret the meager menu. Grace had pulled out her phrase book and we were working word by word through the menu. In the end, we all ordered either mie goreng or nasi goreng (stir fried noodles or stir fried rice, both with veggies), which were the only two items on the menu that we actually figured out without the phrasebook. The food was adequate--airport food, afterall--and then we treated ourselves to a DELICIOUS cream puff from Beard Papa's, this bakery from Japan that I've seen in NYC, right by NYU's campus.
After dinner, we went through security, whose protocols did not seem stringent by my standards, anyway. Again, no hassles (God has definitely seen us through on that end, for sure!), and we took a seat near the entrance to the waiting area for our gate, on some comfy benches. I kept thinking how much nicer this part of the airport was as compared to the terminal in which we had arrived...that is, until we actually entered the waiting area. The chairs were quite battered and stained, and the toilets were simply NASTY. But, the squarish room had truly high vaulted ceilings in a traditional and ornate style. It made the room itself rather beautiful. Eventually we were told that our flight had been moved to another gate, so we waited in a different room, but much the same. Finally, our flight was called for boarding (it's funny--we were up while they were making the announcement in Indonesian, before they even got to the English part).
I must admit that when we boarded the Garuda Indonesia flight, I felt more tense than on the previous two. The plane was obviously older and I was aware that Indonesia's air safety record is not the best. I wasn't freaking out, but I was definitely praying that God keep the flight safe. It was also a comfort to know that I had people around the world lifting up those same prayers!
The flight to Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia involved really 3 different flights: Jakarta to Makhasar; Makhasar to Biak; and finally, Biak to Jayapura. All three flights took place on the same plane, and we had been told that we could remain on the plane in the transit airports. Unfortunately, that was not the case. And so began what we have fondly named "The night tour of the Indonesian Airports."
When we landed in Makhasar, we were not only required to disembark, but to take all our carry-on luggage with us. This was a lot, and keep in mind that this also occurring at approximately 1am. We were far from pleased. And imagine our displeasure when we discovered that not only did we have to go into the airport, but that to enter the waiting area we had to go through security, AGAIN, just to get back on the same plane in the same seats with the same crew. It all seemed pretty ridiculous. It wasn't like the security procedures were intense, but it was an annoyance to a group of people who really just wanted to be sleeping! Poor Liz had taken a sleeping pill and she was semi delirious (there's photo documentation of our joy to be in that airport).
The airport terminal seemed fairly modern, but somehow, there were no TOILETS!! When we got back on the plane, we asked the flight attendant if we would have to do this each time and he told us that it was up to the airport's discretion. We held out hope that Biak would be more reasonable. Unfortunately, they were not. Biak was tiny. It's on a smaller island, and the airport was little more than a small garage/building with only one boarding gate, and yet, we went through security, yet again, and entered a room that at least had toilets, haha. The flight from Biak to Jayapura was less than an hour and pretty smooth. There was also a change in flight crews here.
One good thing that I can say about the airline was that they kept us fed. On every flight (even the last leg, which was 55 minutes), they offered us a meal. In the 7 hours from Jakarta to Jayapura, we were given more food than on the 14 hours from JFK to Tokyo!
On that final flight, we were all awake. We had met someone in the waiting room in Biak who is associated with MAF (mission aviation fellowship), the organization that Wally, our contact here, works for. I think that the anticipation of reaching the place we had actually planned this trip for was enough to keep our exhausted bodies functioning. And when we stepped off the plane in Jayapura, we were not disappointed.
Even from the airport tarmac you can see beauty all around you. In the distance, there are fabulous views of "Mt. Cyclops," one of the more prominent features of this region. We of course stopped for a photo op--and despite our total exhaustion and having traveled through the night, the picture looks good (don't worry, pictures to come...though you may have to wait for our return...)!! Wally met us at the airport, outside the terminal, before the baggage carousel. As Grace commented, thank God that he met us there instead of outside the terminal as expected, because collecting our baggage would have been a nightmare! There were hordes of people, as three flights had landed within 30 minutes of each other, and they were all crowded around the single functioning baggage carousel, waiting expectantly. Wally took charge and we described our bags so he could capture them. We had a bit of a scare with Janine's bag when it didn't come out with all the others, but eventually we gathered that one as well.
Wally drove us to the Hillcrest International School, where we're staying, and we put our things in our own little downstairs apartment. It's quite cute. The housing is intended for temporary teachers and there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and even a little living area. We're really fortunate to have our own space, and Wally and his wife have been so welcoming to us. The live just upstairs and invited us up for breakfast, where we got acquainted, and then headed back downstairs for a nap of recovery.
Due to our utter exhaustion, I think that each of slept a solid 2 hours (which is quality, since Janine and Grace especially have been having trouble sleeping). We went upstairs and had lunch with Wally and Joan when we woke up and freshened up a bit, took the beautiful and short walk from their home to the school itself, and now here I am sitting at the school's computer lab writing to all of you. The computer lab is amazing, by the way, with probably 50 computers in all. Hopefully, each afternoon I'll have a chance to catch you up on the happenings.
This afternoon I believe we're going to tour Lake Sentani, and tomorrow we'll take a hike to "God's Awesome Falls" in the nearby mountain. Our first day of training here is on Monday, and we're expecting 15-20 teachers of various English proficiencies. It's exciting to be here, and I hope that we'll make a positive difference for the teachers that join us!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Still in Jakarta, but on the way out...
So, we really did spend most of the afternoon lazing by the pool. And this is one amazing pool--there are 5 jets of water that arc out over the pool, creating a refreshing sound of rushing water and just making the pool ultra beautiful.
It was nice sitting out there, in the water but under a spot shaded by the many trees in the garden. We were able to spend some time talking, and just getting to know each other better. Before I had come downstairs, I had met two of Connie's three younger boys, Andre and Anthony. They had looked at us so curiously in the morning before they headed off to school that morning that I decided they should have a name to put with at least one of the faces. :) While we were hanging out in the pool, Anthony, the youngest (he's 7) kept watching us from the balcony, but whenever I would see him and wave, he would run shyly away, only to return moments later.
When Connie came home at about 5pm, she asked us if we wanted to stay in for dinner or go out to the village dining, and we opted to stay in. She also told her boys that it was time to do their laps in the pool--Anthony does 50, Alden (the middle boy) does 75, and Andre does 130. Janine and Gracie were so impressed (I mean, i totally was too) because they had tried to swim a couple of laps while I was blogging and had given up in tiredness. The boys proceeded to do their many laps with their cousin, Ben, who lives here too as he goes to the same school and the three other boys.
We all went to our rooms to shower and freshen up for dinner, which was supposed to be served at 6pm. It wasn't totally on time, which was fine, except that Janine and especially Grace were exhausted! Poor Grace actually fell asleep on the couch as we waited for dinner. Alden and Anthony were riding some kind of skateboard around the living room, creating obstacles for each other and generally being semi-rowdy young boys. When we expressed how impressed we were with their technique, they simply responded, "you just wiggle." I don't know about Janine and Gracie, but if I got on one of those boards and "just wiggled," I would fall flat on my face and probably end up with a broken bone of some sort!
Dinner was had without Ibu Connie and Pa Kasmin, so it was the three ladies and four boys: Andre, Alden, Anthony and Ben. Andre was such a wonderful host, it was adorable. He apologized for keeping us waiting (though we weren't waiting that long and it was certainly not his fault!) and insisted that we serve ourselves first. He asked me to bless the meal (I think because I was the only one who had been introduced to him) and then served me some rice. It was really quite cute. Initially it was a little bit awkward, since one side of the table didn't really know the other, but we asked some questions and things just kind of took off from there. The interactions of the three brothers was quite hilarious, but they get along rather well--I was certainly impressed.
After dinner, they insisted on giving us a tour of the house, including their own bedrooms and their parents' bedroom, "walk in closet" (which was seriously as big as my bedroom), bathroom, and office, as well as the 3rd floor of the house which provides lovely views of the backyard and the rice paddies just beyond their fence. They were quite excited to show us around,and it was certainly a pleasure to be shown around.
They invited us to a game of UNO, which turned into a competition between the "home team" (the boys) and the "away team" (us). Being gracious guests, we let them win (haha!). It was intense, but truly enjoyable. I really loved how they welcomed us into their room and all seven of us crowded on the bed to play. They were so open and funny, it was a true pleasure to play with them, and definitely the highlight of my evening.
We all headed off to bed (and by "we" I mean Janine, Gracie, and I--the boys continued to frolick around the house), and Janine was out just about as soon as her head hit the pillow! I journaled for a bit and then read, and then went to sleep, and rested fairly well, despite another early morning.
Janine and I were up around 6am again, and I think Grace must have been as well since she was at our door at 6.30am. We went downstairs and had breakfast, and met Liz who had arrived last night around 9pm. Pa Nouvell was back to pick us up at 8.15, and we headed out for another morning of training.
Since we had left most of the stuff up in the classroom, there was a little less set-up required, which was good. Liz led the class through the gallery walk, which included pictures of various storms (our unit is on weather, in case I failed to mention that earlier) and prompts for them to respond to. Our translator from yesterday was otherwise engaged, so we called on Billy, one of the students, to assist. He did a great job throughout the day. The students seemed to enjoy the gallery walk, and were engaged with the photos. Some of the comments/responses that they left were pretty hilarious. We saved them for posterity. :)
Grace went through a content dictionary strategy, which was also great. The students are supposed to predict what the meaning of a vocab word is and at the end of the day we confirm or deny (lol) and give the accurate meaning. Their predictions were again pretty entertaining. A reservoir was "a sewer" according to one prediction. And Grace is so engaging with the students. She's always making them laugh.
I went through many of the poems we had written and then through the sentence patterning chart. I was so impressed with the way the students responded to the poems--I would say it first, model it to them, and then asked them to repeat it with me. Their pronunciation was quite good, and they spoke boldly. I was really pleased. And the patterning chart went well too.
Janine next did the narrative (which they really enjoyed, and did really well with the reprocessing, even without translation) and then I did expert groups and process grids. That went fine, but I want to re-work how it's presented because it went so quickly and I want to make sure all the relevant information is accurately conveyed. They went through the process grid smoothly though, even though I insisted on going over the text without translation, so I know that at least the information was being understood for the most part! And they remembered this strategy when we asked later what kinds of strategies that we had modeled could be used in a math classroom.
We finished with exit slips, which are really a form of assessment for us, and the students seemed to be writing A TON. I haven't seen the comments yet, but I'm excited to. They seemed to enjoy the training, and made favourable reports to one of the faculty members, so that's encouraging.
We went for lunch once we had packed up all our supplies--rolled up all the poems and chants and posters and such--which was Indonsian chicken sate (much like thai satay) and something that was made from rice but was more...chunky? It's hard to describe--it was green on the outside and looked like it would be crunchy like a vegetable, but was soft and tasted like rice. I cannot at all remember the name of it...maybe I'll figure it out later and report back. But it was quite tasty, especially when dipped in a thick peanut sauce!
We opted to come back to Ibu Connie's house and rest and pack after lunch. Pa Nouvell graciously drove us home again. Our flight to Papua leaves from the Jakarta airport at 9pm, which means we should get there by 7pm (security has been increased since the recent bombing), which unfortunately means that we have to leave the house by 4.30! Apparently, it's going to take 2.5 hours from here to get to Jakarta due to rush hour traffic. This is not encouraging. :(
So, prayers are appreciated as we continue to travel-- it's about a 7 hour flight from here to Sentani/Jayapura, Papua--and there are two stops along that itinerary. Tomorrow morning, we'll arrive in Papua, and I can't guarantee what my internet access will look like, but as always, I promise to do my best to keep you updated!
Oh--a little tidbit that I forgot to mention from our arrival at Jakarta (that Janine reminded me to share with you):
I have a global phone and wanted to get a SIM card, and went to Janine, who was waiting with our luggage to tell her I was heading to find one. A janitor overheard our conversation and comes over saying "SIM card? SIM card?" and making the universal sign for phone. We nodded and asked where we could get one. Then he pulls a handful of sketchy-looking SIM cards from his pocket and moves toward us conspiratorily. We laugh, and shake our heads and he awkwardly chuckles and moves a little bit away. I head over to the LEGITIMATE kisosk to purchase one, but apparently the little guy kept pestering Janine about getting one and when she said I had one, he persisted in asking her where I had gone and when I was coming back. Poor Janine. :)
It was nice sitting out there, in the water but under a spot shaded by the many trees in the garden. We were able to spend some time talking, and just getting to know each other better. Before I had come downstairs, I had met two of Connie's three younger boys, Andre and Anthony. They had looked at us so curiously in the morning before they headed off to school that morning that I decided they should have a name to put with at least one of the faces. :) While we were hanging out in the pool, Anthony, the youngest (he's 7) kept watching us from the balcony, but whenever I would see him and wave, he would run shyly away, only to return moments later.
When Connie came home at about 5pm, she asked us if we wanted to stay in for dinner or go out to the village dining, and we opted to stay in. She also told her boys that it was time to do their laps in the pool--Anthony does 50, Alden (the middle boy) does 75, and Andre does 130. Janine and Gracie were so impressed (I mean, i totally was too) because they had tried to swim a couple of laps while I was blogging and had given up in tiredness. The boys proceeded to do their many laps with their cousin, Ben, who lives here too as he goes to the same school and the three other boys.
We all went to our rooms to shower and freshen up for dinner, which was supposed to be served at 6pm. It wasn't totally on time, which was fine, except that Janine and especially Grace were exhausted! Poor Grace actually fell asleep on the couch as we waited for dinner. Alden and Anthony were riding some kind of skateboard around the living room, creating obstacles for each other and generally being semi-rowdy young boys. When we expressed how impressed we were with their technique, they simply responded, "you just wiggle." I don't know about Janine and Gracie, but if I got on one of those boards and "just wiggled," I would fall flat on my face and probably end up with a broken bone of some sort!
Dinner was had without Ibu Connie and Pa Kasmin, so it was the three ladies and four boys: Andre, Alden, Anthony and Ben. Andre was such a wonderful host, it was adorable. He apologized for keeping us waiting (though we weren't waiting that long and it was certainly not his fault!) and insisted that we serve ourselves first. He asked me to bless the meal (I think because I was the only one who had been introduced to him) and then served me some rice. It was really quite cute. Initially it was a little bit awkward, since one side of the table didn't really know the other, but we asked some questions and things just kind of took off from there. The interactions of the three brothers was quite hilarious, but they get along rather well--I was certainly impressed.
After dinner, they insisted on giving us a tour of the house, including their own bedrooms and their parents' bedroom, "walk in closet" (which was seriously as big as my bedroom), bathroom, and office, as well as the 3rd floor of the house which provides lovely views of the backyard and the rice paddies just beyond their fence. They were quite excited to show us around,and it was certainly a pleasure to be shown around.
They invited us to a game of UNO, which turned into a competition between the "home team" (the boys) and the "away team" (us). Being gracious guests, we let them win (haha!). It was intense, but truly enjoyable. I really loved how they welcomed us into their room and all seven of us crowded on the bed to play. They were so open and funny, it was a true pleasure to play with them, and definitely the highlight of my evening.
We all headed off to bed (and by "we" I mean Janine, Gracie, and I--the boys continued to frolick around the house), and Janine was out just about as soon as her head hit the pillow! I journaled for a bit and then read, and then went to sleep, and rested fairly well, despite another early morning.
Janine and I were up around 6am again, and I think Grace must have been as well since she was at our door at 6.30am. We went downstairs and had breakfast, and met Liz who had arrived last night around 9pm. Pa Nouvell was back to pick us up at 8.15, and we headed out for another morning of training.
Since we had left most of the stuff up in the classroom, there was a little less set-up required, which was good. Liz led the class through the gallery walk, which included pictures of various storms (our unit is on weather, in case I failed to mention that earlier) and prompts for them to respond to. Our translator from yesterday was otherwise engaged, so we called on Billy, one of the students, to assist. He did a great job throughout the day. The students seemed to enjoy the gallery walk, and were engaged with the photos. Some of the comments/responses that they left were pretty hilarious. We saved them for posterity. :)
Grace went through a content dictionary strategy, which was also great. The students are supposed to predict what the meaning of a vocab word is and at the end of the day we confirm or deny (lol) and give the accurate meaning. Their predictions were again pretty entertaining. A reservoir was "a sewer" according to one prediction. And Grace is so engaging with the students. She's always making them laugh.
I went through many of the poems we had written and then through the sentence patterning chart. I was so impressed with the way the students responded to the poems--I would say it first, model it to them, and then asked them to repeat it with me. Their pronunciation was quite good, and they spoke boldly. I was really pleased. And the patterning chart went well too.
Janine next did the narrative (which they really enjoyed, and did really well with the reprocessing, even without translation) and then I did expert groups and process grids. That went fine, but I want to re-work how it's presented because it went so quickly and I want to make sure all the relevant information is accurately conveyed. They went through the process grid smoothly though, even though I insisted on going over the text without translation, so I know that at least the information was being understood for the most part! And they remembered this strategy when we asked later what kinds of strategies that we had modeled could be used in a math classroom.
We finished with exit slips, which are really a form of assessment for us, and the students seemed to be writing A TON. I haven't seen the comments yet, but I'm excited to. They seemed to enjoy the training, and made favourable reports to one of the faculty members, so that's encouraging.
We went for lunch once we had packed up all our supplies--rolled up all the poems and chants and posters and such--which was Indonsian chicken sate (much like thai satay) and something that was made from rice but was more...chunky? It's hard to describe--it was green on the outside and looked like it would be crunchy like a vegetable, but was soft and tasted like rice. I cannot at all remember the name of it...maybe I'll figure it out later and report back. But it was quite tasty, especially when dipped in a thick peanut sauce!
We opted to come back to Ibu Connie's house and rest and pack after lunch. Pa Nouvell graciously drove us home again. Our flight to Papua leaves from the Jakarta airport at 9pm, which means we should get there by 7pm (security has been increased since the recent bombing), which unfortunately means that we have to leave the house by 4.30! Apparently, it's going to take 2.5 hours from here to get to Jakarta due to rush hour traffic. This is not encouraging. :(
So, prayers are appreciated as we continue to travel-- it's about a 7 hour flight from here to Sentani/Jayapura, Papua--and there are two stops along that itinerary. Tomorrow morning, we'll arrive in Papua, and I can't guarantee what my internet access will look like, but as always, I promise to do my best to keep you updated!
Oh--a little tidbit that I forgot to mention from our arrival at Jakarta (that Janine reminded me to share with you):
I have a global phone and wanted to get a SIM card, and went to Janine, who was waiting with our luggage to tell her I was heading to find one. A janitor overheard our conversation and comes over saying "SIM card? SIM card?" and making the universal sign for phone. We nodded and asked where we could get one. Then he pulls a handful of sketchy-looking SIM cards from his pocket and moves toward us conspiratorily. We laugh, and shake our heads and he awkwardly chuckles and moves a little bit away. I head over to the LEGITIMATE kisosk to purchase one, but apparently the little guy kept pestering Janine about getting one and when she said I had one, he persisted in asking her where I had gone and when I was coming back. Poor Janine. :)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Arrived, and safely!
Welcome to my blog for my summer trip to South East Asia. I'm going to keep things as up-to-date as possible, but as my access to reliable internet might be scattered, please allow for some grace!
So, we made it! Janine, Grace and I arrived, tired but happy, at approximately 7.30pm Jakarta time last night. By God's grace, we met few hassles, despite the team bag being overweight by several pounds and Janine and I carrying on long tubes containing all of the pre-made poster materials for our training sessions. Juliet graciously drove us to the airport on Tuesday morning, and as we were able to check in at home, left my house at 5.45am, rather than the previously scheduled 4am. We didn't hit ANY traffic (I don't know that I can say the same for Juliet on the way home...) and were able to eat a leisurely breakfast near our departure gate after going through a security screening that had absolutely no queue.
The plane to Tokyo was FULL. I think I counted 3 open seats on the HUGE 747...I was seated on the upper deck, where I had never been before, and Gracie and Janine were on the lower deck, in the very rear. I accidentally stole a sandwich from the business class "oasis" on the plane...but it was worth it because that was a good sandwich, haha! The flight was incredibly long, more than 13 hours, but it passed relatively quickly, thanks to sporadic sleep and a decent collection of movies for my viewing pleasure. Also, a big thanks to those of you who prayed for me and the huge stress/hesitation I was feeling prior to the trip--I was not nervous at all, and felt totally at peace from the moment I stepped on that plane, and the flight from Tokyo to Jakarta. Hopefully, that peace will be maintained for the 8 flights I have left to go!
I found Janine and Grace in the Tokyo airport, right before the transfer security. We made it through without any problems and had about 30 minutes before we needed to board our next flight. I was feeling rather ill from the previous flight, so I went in search of this magical pain medication I had previously found in Japan called "bufferin." I found it, and bought a bottle of water, and by the time our Tokyo flight took off, my headache was totally gone.
And when I thought that things couldn't get any smoother, I discovered that the seat I had checked in for on the second flight was actually a premium economy seat! This was a huge deal because I never get upgraded or anything. It's not like it was business class or anything, but there was so much more leg room and I had a leg rest and a foot rest...and I just totally felt spoiled. It was totally marvelous. The food on this flight was slightly questionable (I think I ate a piece of octopus sucker??), but no worries. I am still alive, whatever it was that I ate on that plane. I was also fortunate enough to sleep about 5 of the 7 hours from Tokyo to Jakarta, so I arrived in Jakarta feeling less than exhausted, which was marvelous.
Arrival in Jakarta was also smooth. One semi-hilarious moment occurred while I was waiting in line for my visa: I looked up to see a welcome sign in the airport that read "Welcome to Indonesia: Death penalty for drug trafficking. For some reason this made me laugh--what a welcome! Be aware that the death penalty is available here! I received a visa on arrival, which was actually this pretty intense sticker that they print out with all your information and takes up an entire page of my passport. I hope that there aren't many more of those kind to be received on this trip because otherwise I will run out of pages in my passport! The lines weren't too long, and I beat Janine and Gracie through the visa line and immigration, and headed over to collect our bags. Gratefully, all of our bags arrived, but one of our team members didn't!
One of Gracie's friends from Chicago was to be joining us on this trip, and when we didn't see her at the gate, we weren't too concerned, and expected her to join us on the plane. Only, she never did. It turns out that she did not make her connection in Tokyo and is currently still there, waiting for a flight out tonight.
I was able to purchase a SIM card at the airport (so I now have an Indonesian cell number--email me if you want it, haha), which just totally makes me feel more secure as I roam around, knowing that I can reach someone if absolutely necessary.
We took a really nice taxi from the airport to the home of the director of the teacher's college, about a 30 minute drive from the airport. The home was like NOTHING we anticipated.
First of all, this is place is like a mansion. I am so not joking. There are two of us to a room, but we have huge king size beds, flat screen TVs and our private bathrooms. It's also air-conditioned. The back yard has two fish ponds, half a basketball court, a pool and multiple trees lining a grassy yard and a patio with a approximately 5 tables surrounded by chairs. There's a spiral staircase leading to the room I share with Janine and a balcony that connects all the upstairs rooms. I can't even describe it...it's amazing. And the woman and her family are so nice and so generous--so eager to make our stay pleasant. We're spending the afternoon lazing around the pool, trying to distract ourselves from the beds that call to us so persistently...
And the training. Today was the first day, the first time we've had to put all our hard work and planning into action. We all got up around 6am (after 24 hours of travel--imagine!) and got ready for the day. A driver came to pick us up at 7.45am and we were then shown around the building that houses the teacher's college. We met many of the faculty and staff and then were shown to our room for the day and allowed to set-up. The room was perfect--the tables were situated just in the fashion that we wanted to model and there was lots of wall space for the various posters we were going to use. There was some uncertainty as to the English proficiency of the students we would be working with, so we were given a translator. She was awesome too!
It went REALLY well. I was to model a pictorial input, but done in Spanish, a language that no one in the room knew. The idea was that even though they don't understand the words that I'm saying at first, the pictures that are associated with them make the meanings clear. When I got up there and started speaking in Spanish, the whole room kind of gasped. But as things went on, as I would say words in Spanish, they would repeat them, and you could hear students getting their English equivalents ("Oh, condensation! Oh, oceans!"). They laughed as I moved through the drawings and did hand motions and pointed to words and repeated them, and when I finished, they clapped for me! I was the last strategy of the morning, so they'd been listening for 2 hours straight, and they clapped! I cannot even express the warmth that moved through me. It was an amazing feeling. I then explained why and what I had done, and the students were nodding their heads in understanding before the translator could even get to what I had said. Then we did what is called "reprocessing" where the students were given little cards with words from the poster on them and asked to come up and stick it in the appropriate location when they hear their word called. Every single one of them did it correctly, and they loved it when I said "que bueno!" after they posted their word. Then they clapped again. It was awesome. I was pretty nervous since I was going to be talking about the water cycle in Spanish, but God's provision was once again evident. All in all, I think there were very few ways in which the training could have gone better. We're up again tomorrow, and I hope it goes just as well.
We ate lunch after the training (It was delicious) and then went to a mall nearby and wandered around. We're now back at Connie's amazing house and Janine and Grace are waiting for me to join them in the pool, so I'd better sign off for now. So far, so good--but keep us in your prayers!
So, we made it! Janine, Grace and I arrived, tired but happy, at approximately 7.30pm Jakarta time last night. By God's grace, we met few hassles, despite the team bag being overweight by several pounds and Janine and I carrying on long tubes containing all of the pre-made poster materials for our training sessions. Juliet graciously drove us to the airport on Tuesday morning, and as we were able to check in at home, left my house at 5.45am, rather than the previously scheduled 4am. We didn't hit ANY traffic (I don't know that I can say the same for Juliet on the way home...) and were able to eat a leisurely breakfast near our departure gate after going through a security screening that had absolutely no queue.
The plane to Tokyo was FULL. I think I counted 3 open seats on the HUGE 747...I was seated on the upper deck, where I had never been before, and Gracie and Janine were on the lower deck, in the very rear. I accidentally stole a sandwich from the business class "oasis" on the plane...but it was worth it because that was a good sandwich, haha! The flight was incredibly long, more than 13 hours, but it passed relatively quickly, thanks to sporadic sleep and a decent collection of movies for my viewing pleasure. Also, a big thanks to those of you who prayed for me and the huge stress/hesitation I was feeling prior to the trip--I was not nervous at all, and felt totally at peace from the moment I stepped on that plane, and the flight from Tokyo to Jakarta. Hopefully, that peace will be maintained for the 8 flights I have left to go!
I found Janine and Grace in the Tokyo airport, right before the transfer security. We made it through without any problems and had about 30 minutes before we needed to board our next flight. I was feeling rather ill from the previous flight, so I went in search of this magical pain medication I had previously found in Japan called "bufferin." I found it, and bought a bottle of water, and by the time our Tokyo flight took off, my headache was totally gone.
And when I thought that things couldn't get any smoother, I discovered that the seat I had checked in for on the second flight was actually a premium economy seat! This was a huge deal because I never get upgraded or anything. It's not like it was business class or anything, but there was so much more leg room and I had a leg rest and a foot rest...and I just totally felt spoiled. It was totally marvelous. The food on this flight was slightly questionable (I think I ate a piece of octopus sucker??), but no worries. I am still alive, whatever it was that I ate on that plane. I was also fortunate enough to sleep about 5 of the 7 hours from Tokyo to Jakarta, so I arrived in Jakarta feeling less than exhausted, which was marvelous.
Arrival in Jakarta was also smooth. One semi-hilarious moment occurred while I was waiting in line for my visa: I looked up to see a welcome sign in the airport that read "Welcome to Indonesia: Death penalty for drug trafficking. For some reason this made me laugh--what a welcome! Be aware that the death penalty is available here! I received a visa on arrival, which was actually this pretty intense sticker that they print out with all your information and takes up an entire page of my passport. I hope that there aren't many more of those kind to be received on this trip because otherwise I will run out of pages in my passport! The lines weren't too long, and I beat Janine and Gracie through the visa line and immigration, and headed over to collect our bags. Gratefully, all of our bags arrived, but one of our team members didn't!
One of Gracie's friends from Chicago was to be joining us on this trip, and when we didn't see her at the gate, we weren't too concerned, and expected her to join us on the plane. Only, she never did. It turns out that she did not make her connection in Tokyo and is currently still there, waiting for a flight out tonight.
I was able to purchase a SIM card at the airport (so I now have an Indonesian cell number--email me if you want it, haha), which just totally makes me feel more secure as I roam around, knowing that I can reach someone if absolutely necessary.
We took a really nice taxi from the airport to the home of the director of the teacher's college, about a 30 minute drive from the airport. The home was like NOTHING we anticipated.
First of all, this is place is like a mansion. I am so not joking. There are two of us to a room, but we have huge king size beds, flat screen TVs and our private bathrooms. It's also air-conditioned. The back yard has two fish ponds, half a basketball court, a pool and multiple trees lining a grassy yard and a patio with a approximately 5 tables surrounded by chairs. There's a spiral staircase leading to the room I share with Janine and a balcony that connects all the upstairs rooms. I can't even describe it...it's amazing. And the woman and her family are so nice and so generous--so eager to make our stay pleasant. We're spending the afternoon lazing around the pool, trying to distract ourselves from the beds that call to us so persistently...
And the training. Today was the first day, the first time we've had to put all our hard work and planning into action. We all got up around 6am (after 24 hours of travel--imagine!) and got ready for the day. A driver came to pick us up at 7.45am and we were then shown around the building that houses the teacher's college. We met many of the faculty and staff and then were shown to our room for the day and allowed to set-up. The room was perfect--the tables were situated just in the fashion that we wanted to model and there was lots of wall space for the various posters we were going to use. There was some uncertainty as to the English proficiency of the students we would be working with, so we were given a translator. She was awesome too!
It went REALLY well. I was to model a pictorial input, but done in Spanish, a language that no one in the room knew. The idea was that even though they don't understand the words that I'm saying at first, the pictures that are associated with them make the meanings clear. When I got up there and started speaking in Spanish, the whole room kind of gasped. But as things went on, as I would say words in Spanish, they would repeat them, and you could hear students getting their English equivalents ("Oh, condensation! Oh, oceans!"). They laughed as I moved through the drawings and did hand motions and pointed to words and repeated them, and when I finished, they clapped for me! I was the last strategy of the morning, so they'd been listening for 2 hours straight, and they clapped! I cannot even express the warmth that moved through me. It was an amazing feeling. I then explained why and what I had done, and the students were nodding their heads in understanding before the translator could even get to what I had said. Then we did what is called "reprocessing" where the students were given little cards with words from the poster on them and asked to come up and stick it in the appropriate location when they hear their word called. Every single one of them did it correctly, and they loved it when I said "que bueno!" after they posted their word. Then they clapped again. It was awesome. I was pretty nervous since I was going to be talking about the water cycle in Spanish, but God's provision was once again evident. All in all, I think there were very few ways in which the training could have gone better. We're up again tomorrow, and I hope it goes just as well.
We ate lunch after the training (It was delicious) and then went to a mall nearby and wandered around. We're now back at Connie's amazing house and Janine and Grace are waiting for me to join them in the pool, so I'd better sign off for now. So far, so good--but keep us in your prayers!
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