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. :)