Marching Parade

These are two of my fellow teachers, Ms. Cois (Joyce) and Ms. Nikmah. Cois is the newest teacher at my school. Yea! Not me! And I helped her learn the names for the other teachers and showed her around a bit. Ms. Nikmah is my team teacher for English class 11 - so 7 times a week we go together to teach an hour long class and then she stays and teaches the students English for another 3 hours each week.

These are 11th grade girls from my school in 100 degree heat and maximum humidity, marching for 2 hours with no break for water or to stand "at ease." Teachers had been assigned to go with the students who were in different groups - boys first, then groups of girls. ALL of the teachers rode motorcycles, following the students, except for Cois and I. She walked almost 3/4 of the way before accepting the motorcycle ride. I walked the full way, because in Peace Corps we're not allowed to ride motorcycles and because I wanted to see what was happening and because I CAN. I mean, I really can walk and lots of people here simply aren't able... well it is hot and I did have to wear my jilbab and long skirt and long sleeve shirt because this was a school function, but it was so fun.

My group of girls was awesome. This idea of wearing their father's Muslim hats on top of their jilbabs with the red and white ribbon (the flag of Indonesia is a red stripe over a white stripe) was a brilliant idea and they really did look great! The students at my school have been practicing for days to get their marching really snappy. A leader gives a command, the 2nd in charge marching at the back repeats it and exactly 4 steps later, they all in unison, turn, or stop or move slightly to the side or fan out into a wing shape. It's impressive!

My town held the 17th of August - Indonesia Independence Day activities early because Aug 17 is during Ramadan when almost everyone will be fasting and not drinking water from prayers before dawn till prayers after dark.
Here's the information from the last Peace Corps newsletter:

About Ramadhan…
- Fasting. Observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sun-up to sun-down. It is not compulsory for non-Muslim Indonesians to fast, but it is considered respectful to not eat or drink in front of fasting friends or colleagues. Sexual contact, being angry, gossiping, cursing (in any language!), and smoking is also forbidden/frowned upon during the day.
- Why? The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the inner soul and free it from harm. It also allows Muslims to practice self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice, and empathy for those who are less fortunate; thus encouraging actions of generosity and charity. Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.
- Common customs:
• Greetings: "Selamat Berpuasa!" This means the opposite of Selamat Makan, something like "enjoy your fast" or "enjoy your faith." This is said throughout the day.
• Exceptions. Men and women who are sick or travelling may choose to not fast. This goes for women who are menstruating, nursing, or pregnant also. Usually they'll make up the days after Ramadhan is over. Children up to the age of about 12 are not expected or required to fast a full day, though they may try -- with their parents' encouragement.
• Break Fast. "Berbuka." It’s the best time during the day, and is signaled by the setting sun, sirens, television programs and a call to prayer. Everybody will really prepare for it, making and consuming a delicious meal after a long day of fasting. At breakfast, the greeting is "Selamat Berbuka Puasa" which essentially means "enjoy your food!"
• Midnight wake up call. It can be quite disturbing -- bells, loudspeakers, banging pans -- usually from 2 am until sunrise. It is not compulsory to join sahur (that’s the meal time before sunrise), but many join in because it makes the fasting day easier.
• Sleepy & irritable. Everybody (especially students) will feel sleepy in class as a result for waking up in the middle of the night, and having an altered routine. You may find that people have short tempers as well -- part of the fasting challenge :) -- usually a result of fatigue and hunger.
• Fireworks (kembang api). For your own safety and everbody elses, avoid playing with fireworks of all kinds. Especially "petasan/mercon" (the ones which make loud noise). These two are extremely dangerous and every year people are actually killed or hurt by them.
• Television. Families often have the TV on in the late afternoon as they prepare their berbuka, and into the evening when there is special Ramadhan programming.
• Night prayers. About an hour after fasting break, people often will go to the mosque to do Sholat Tarawih. These are special prayers, done only during Ramadhan. Some people, will stay in the mosque to read Koran after Tarawih.
• Charity. In the last days of Ramadhan, you may see people giving rice or money to the Mosque for distribution to the poor.
• Idul Fitri. The big celebration at the end of Ramadhan begins with early morning prayers, visiting one another to ask for forgiveness of past wrongs, and more food! Parents and other adults often give small amounts of money to children who come to visit.

I plan to fast as well. At least to the best of my ability. I may need to drink a little water in private (in the bathroom at the school.) The teachers have told me that we do reduced time periods so the students go home early to rest and during the last week of the fasting month there are no classes and some of the PCV's (and me too!) are planning a trip to Bali then. Our 3 months of mandatory "stay at your sites, do not travel, integrate into your communities" time will be over and quite honestly I am longing for a hamburger and a conversation in which I understand everything that is being said and I want to see some of this beautiful country that I've assigned to. Walking can only get me so far!


Just another little bit of update. I am not allowed to teach in the pre-school near my home. Peace Corps supervisors came and visited my site. Playgroups & pre-schools in Indonesia are real schools and in our agreement at the National level we are only allowed to teach in the one school to which we are assigned. Yes, you did hear a sigh as I wrote this. Oh well. Do what they want me to do and see what happens. Sometimes I have to trick my mind into acceptance. It goes something like this: Maybe by not teaching the little ones, I will be free to do something else which would be even more satisfying! So I just need to keep my eyes open for the even better idea that the Universe has in mind for me!

English Textbook - back cover

The Tips to be a Rigid Person

(Printed on the back cover of our English “text book” – which looks like magazine.)

Use the network of support you have.
A happy and rigid person have not to face to problems alone, but he tends to ask help.
Everytime and everywhere, if it possible spend your days with laugh and humour to see something from different view in order always to be positive.
With all your efforts, learn from the past experience, don’t think again about what can’t be changed.
Implement the useful thinking strategy and do what you can do for better wish and feel optimistic for the future.
Don’t feel sad in a long time, but make it balance in facing a problem.
Take care your health and make sure you have enough sleep and rest.
Please, accept the fact that nothing perfect in the world and always accept the changes.
Don’t walk over the aim, direction and goal of your dreams.
Don’t stop trying to gain your goal.
Try to study more about yourself and keep focus on positive things you and the world have.

(Note from Colleen: With this kind of good advice - in English - is it any wonder that the job of the English teacher is a little challenging!)

Preschool - my secondary project?

All of us Peace Corps Volunteers have our main job. Mine is teaching English at the local Madrasah High School. But we also have secondary projects – something that we enjoy doing that helps the community in some way.

Today I took a stab at my secondary project. Well, at least I had a blast and I hope this continues being my secondary project. I went to the little pre-school near my house and asked if I could help by teaching English songs and games. The kids there are 4 and 5 years old.

The headmistress was thrilled. (Thank goodness. When I offered my services at a local orphanage at our training site they were not wanted.) I met with 2 teachers and their classes and the parents who wait in the play area while their kids attend 3-4 hours of pre-school. One mom was very pregnant and giggled and asked if I would touch her belly. First I stroked my nose and touched her belly, then I measured to show that I was tall and stroked her belly, then I said “No white hair.” She laughed and said ‘Yes, white hair.” But I wouldn’t stroke her belly for white hair. The other parents got a kick out of this. I think they all know it’s superstition that if someone beautiful touches your belly, your child will also be beautiful, but they all like the game. People in Indonesia think I’m “beautiful.” I have explained that in America I am just an old lady, but they don’t believe me. When I taught introductions to the High Schoolers, I had them make a list. Oma is a mother, a teacher, a grandmother, 61 years old, from America, etc. and they always want to add the word, “beautiful.” If you want to see yourself through someone else’s eyes – join the Peace Corps! There are some definite benefits!

I was VERY impressed with Indonesia pre-school. My little school is called Sweet Children Indonesia. I think it’s some kind of a franchise. The children all arrived dressed in identical little T shirts and shorts with the school logo. They played on the slide and monkey bars and teeter totter while their parents sat together and chatted.

The headmistress was very happy that I was there and I explained that I would like to come on Wednesdays and Saturdays, if I didn’t have to go to Surabaya or some other commitment. (I teach at the High School on Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri.) I explained that I was from Peace Corps and that I was a volunteer and wasn’t allowed to take any money. She told me that when she saw me at church (It’s the auditorium which is a part of her property.) she wanted me to come, but didn’t want to say anything. I had seen that she had written English” as one of the subjects that was taught on her banner. She really wants me to come as much as I can.

One of the teachers rang the bell and then all the students stood outside their classrooms. (I went in 2, but I think there may be 2 other classrooms.) One little girl was the leader of my class. She had the other kid’s measure so that they were all standing in line a uniform distance from each other. One little 4 yr old was disruptive, so the teacher had him stand in the back of the line. They marched into the classroom, stopping to take the teachers hand and pull it to their face, as a sign of respect and then each child put his back pack away and sat down in his seat. The teacher led them in several Indonesian songs with clapping and a Christian prayer, where they all bowed their heads and did “prayer hands.” Then I had them stand up and we sang “Head, shoulders, knees and toes.” Everything was taught in Indonesian, not Javanese (which is their first language.) with little bits of English sprinkled in. I then went to the 2nd classroom and the teacher was a little more hesitant. When I asked the kids to sing, she didn’t lead them, so they did the gestures, but didn’t really learn the English. Then I did “Ring around the Rosie” but instead of falling down, we all found seats like “Musical chairs.”

I went back to the first classroom, sat on a little 4-5 year old size chair and attended the class with the kids. These pre-schoolers knew all the upper and lower case letters and could read some simple words. The teacher was teaching a lesson on “hard” fruits and “soft” fruits. The banana and apple were clearly identified in the book as “soft” and the pineapple, selak and rambutan (local fruits with tough exteriors) were identified as “hard” The teacher called each child individually and they came to the front of the room and received their work book (with their right hand – one little boy reached with his left and she waited to release the book until he used the right hand.) walked back and sat in their chair, then when she gave the instructions, they all went to their cubbies and took out their pencil cases (with erasers and pencil sharpeners – I was impressed, I finally bought a mechanical pencil because I’m so used to electric ones, I couldn’t get my mechanical pencil sharpener to work right.)
The kids traced letters and drew lines to the right words. Then they brought their workbooks back to the teacher. She then taught a lesson on reading the words: balloon, guitar, racket, ball and doll. (In Indonesian) When the children could read them well from the white board she handed out a different workbook – individually to each child, like a special gift. They got to trace the letters in the words and color the pictures. When she gave permission they went to their cubbies, took out their colored pencil boxes and every single one of them slid the colored pencils half way out of the box so they could see the colors but not all the way so that they would spill on the table. They very carefully stayed in the lines and colored the pictures. When they were finished they brought the page up to her to approve and then put it away in the right spot. The first little girl done asked if she could erase the board and was told yes, she carefully erased the letters one by one, just like she was writing them. All the students were given enough time to finish their coloring and then it was time for recess. She called each child individually, they walked to the front, wrote their name on the board and then went stood in line. When they were all ready, they walked outside together, washed their hands in the little kid sinks and got money from their parents to buy snacks. Mostly they bought little 10 cent packages of chips and semi – sweet things that look like Trix and drinks in plastic bags with straws. They played outside with the parents only mildly supervising for about an hour. One little boy got a bloody nose and came into the canteen – snack selling area and sat on his mom’s lap. The teacher cleaned the blood off his face and then stuck a rolled up leaf in his nose. He sat quietly on his mom’s lap for about half an hour with the green leaf sticking out of his nose!

My pre-school also has a turtle aquarium! One of the parents told me that the three big turtles (each one six inches across) started out as a 1 inch turtle and the kids have watched them grow. They were red eared sliders, like Tilly, the turtle I had in New Mexico.

After recess we went back in the classroom and the teacher had them take out their piggy banks and each child put some money in their individual piggy banks. Then the teacher had them copy some information into their homework assignment books. (These are 4 and 5 year olds!) Date: 24/7/2010 name=…., age=…, home=……, father=….., mother=….. They put their homework assignment books into their back packs, sang a final song and said another prayer and waited till the teacher called each one by name, calling the quietest ones first to come to the front of the class. Each one said goodbye to me and to the teacher shook our hands or pressed our hand to their faces and then went out to where their parents were waiting.

The head mistress gave me some bananas from the tree in the yard. I told her thank you, Ibu (to her), thank you to the tree and thank you to God for the bananas. She was happy. Me too. It’s Kira’s birthday today. This project is helping with my “grandma sadness.”

Teaching - What's working well

Topic: What I’m doing at school that seems to be working well.

I just finished teaching my third day of classes (17 hours of the 20 I teach each week) and I like it! I just made up my mind that I would try to do whatever they asked and observe what happens.

The vice principal wanted me to teach every 10th and 11th grade class in the school. I said okay.
This means that I teach 15 different groups of 40 students.

Class / Grade 10: 5 classes get me for 2 “hours” (hours are 40 minutes long)
3 classes get me for 1 “hour”
Class / Grade 11 7 classes get me for 1 “hour”

All the students get 4 “hours” of English every week. I team teach with their regular teacher for either 1 or 2 of their 4 hours.

So in Class 11, I’m the guest lecturer who gets to do fun things, play games and sing songs and engage them in English conversations while the teacher helps to translate what I am saying and doing. We’re both fine with this. We don’t have text books yet. Once we get them I’ll take whatever topic we have for the week and set up the fun conversational stuff around that topic. My co-teacher for grade 11 classes has only been at my school for a year and is more into establishing routines and giving lectures so it works out well that I get to do the engaging, brain stimulating stuff. She did insist and I learn 2 very long Arabic prayers that I begin and end each class with. Okay, sometimes I forget all the words, but the students help me out.

The Class 10 English teacher and I team teach the 2 hour sessions with her starting with a basic topic and then every 10 or15 minutes or so switching off so that the other one takes over the class. The kids love it and so do I! We get better as the week progresses because we then know what the other one is going to do next and can do a better lead in for them. She suggested we do “introductions” for this first week. Sounds great to me, because in class 10 we don’t have text books yet, either. So sometimes I introduce her, sometimes she introduces me, sometimes we introduce ourselves, sometimes we have the students do the introducing, sometimes we both just make it up on the spot. And we have fun with each other! For the 1 hour sessions, we condense it down to mostly the conversational part, with me doing most of it.

I said that I wanted to teach a song to each class – to help with their English pronunciation. (Ha. Ha. I love to sing! That’s the real reason I suggested singing.) So far all 17 of my different classes have learned the chorus to: It’s A Small World After All. And they like it! They don’t think it’s dumb! After they sing it through well, saying “world” instead of “word” I change it around and make them remember when to skip some words. Then we do races to the board to see how many hobbies they can list and then they have to guess which one is my team-teachers favorite hobby. When ever they ask how old I am I make them guess and begin with a question: Am I 15 years old? Then I say older or younger depending on what they guess and by the time we’re done, they all know what older and younger means. (Most don’t know when we start the age guessing game.)

I also taught a class of English for teachers. Every week for 2 “hours” the students go to “Personal Development” English club, sports club, health club, journalism club, sewing club, religion club, etc. I was really looking forward to this but the vice principal told me that every other week I would hold mandatory English Club for Teachers during this time. (On the alternate weeks they go to mandatory Religion Club for Teachers.) In keeping with my motto of: Try to do everything they want and see what happens I said Okay. So last night I went to the grocery store and bought 25 or so different small snacks and drinks that had English words on the package. We began the session by letting every teacher pick out a snack and read the English aloud (into a microphone that I was asked to use and I carried around the bag of snacks and the microphone to every teacher who was present at the teacher meeting). The teachers liked getting the snacks and the requirement of reading a few words of English was worth it! I had 100% compliance! This is while they wanted to do their chatting and smoking and getting ready for the rest of the days activities. I had copied a page from the manual Lukasz had – that Peace Corps copied for us – describing what words are hard to say if you are a native Indonesian and Javanese speaker. I chose the page which started with “This bed is bad.” We read them aloud and I would pause and make them repeat. I had chosen this page because the last example is sacks and sex. When their attention started to wane I held up 2 sacks and had them say ”sacks” which they all promptly pronounced as “sex” I laughed and told them “Please, please do not ask for sacks, you may get something very different.” We went around the room and each one asked for sacks or sex. Some of them said “socks.” I have no idea if they really can say it correctly but they honestly were trying. I think I may have even inspired them to try using some of this English in other situations!

I ended the session a little early. The vice principal liked it! The pronunciation was challenging even for him and the others who can speak English and the simple reading of English words was challenging for the non-English speaking teachers.

Then I rushed off to find where English club for students was being held. English club was packed. The room has 40 seats and I counted 120 students! The 2 English teachers had taken the manual. If you read my post about suggested topics for English Sessions you know exactly what they had planned to teach. By the time I got there they had selected a club pres, VP, sec, asst. sec, treasurer, asst. treasurer and had talked about visiting our sister Madrasah School in the city 30 minutes away and also a possible trip with them to Bali. (I have no idea if this is possible.) Anyway, I began speaking to the club, before they opened the book of suggested topics for English Sessions and brought up the idea of doing a TV show with commercials and news and a “Take me out” dating program and other things. I hadn’t talked about this is advance with them. They did translate a little, but they told me they thought this would be way too difficult for our students to do. I told them that I had seen a similar program at a big school in Malang and a little tiny school in a rural village and that both groups could do it – of course at the village school the English wasn’t very clear, but the students had fun writing the scripts and we would get to censor or correct the English on the scripts. And it meant that the kids had to do the work, not the teachers doing everything. Well, I have no idea if the kids will get to do this fun stuff or not. But keeping with my new philosophy of: Go with the flow. Watch and see what happens. I gave up trying to have my way. If it works, fine. If we do English club out of the English Sessions book, fine. If I wind up missing almost all of English Club for students to do English club for Teachers, fine. The 2 teachers of English club for students already know my style of teaching and who knows what will happen.

And tomorrow I have the day off! Yes, every Thurs. there is no English taught at my school. The vice principal who is also the 12th grade English teacher is in charge of the curriculum set it up so that English teachers get every Thurs. off. AND – okay, I know I’m spoiled, but since he let me make up my own schedule, I figured out a way to teach all my classes early in the morning from 7 till 2 each day AND get Saturday off too! Yahoo!

I want to go to the little play school next to where I live and offer to teach the little kids songs and games in English. It may work. I have been going to church at the school and know the head mistress and I saw that they have a new poster saying that they teach English! How could they refuse a Free Native Speaker who wants to come and entertain their kids? But going with my new plan for life: Whatever way it turns out will be fine - I’ll just show up, offer my suggestion and follow their lead.

I’m thinking “Follow the Leader” “London Bridges Falling Down.” “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” And maybe I can get my High School students to write simple English “books” for these kids. I stop every time I see a little kid and practice a few English sounds with them “Baa, baa, baa” “Da, da” etc. It’s just so hard to stop being a grandma!

This Saturday my grand daughter in America will be 3. I can’t quite type these words and keep myself from crying. I love you, Kira! I know you can’t read this yet. But maybe someday you will read all about Grandma’s adventures and know that the hardest part about going to Indonesia was leaving you and Talon behind!

Today is the first day

Today is the first day of the teaching and learning process.

The day begins with the Monday morning assembly. All the students stand at attention and salute when the leader of the students directs them. They salute the flag, the principal and the teachers (I think.) All the teachers are standing in a row, partially shaded by the trees. It is so hot. I see one student swoon and she’s helped off the field. I begin to wonder how long we need to stand there. My legs are tired. I’m dreaming of water. The principal gives a big speech and the students and teachers laugh at his jokes. I think this probably would not be so painful if I really knew what he is saying – something about eating apples and going to the bathroom, as well as studying and attendance.


After an hour we are all dismissed and I go to the teacher room to find out that the teacher I will team teach with is not here today. She had to go to the hospital for a check up. So the three grade 10 double classes that I had planned to team teach with her, I now have to do alone. (An hour and a half worth of teaching to each group.)

No problem. I already figured out that teachers buy their own magic markers and bring them to class and then take them back with them. I have my magic marker, my topic in mind: introductions and a song to teach.

I go to the first class and find out it’s not there. I ask around and the room has been moved. After asking 5 different people I find the class and go in and they are thrilled.

I greet them (and every class) with the long form of the Arabic greeting:" Assalamu alaikum warohmahtullohi wabarokatuh." "In the name of Alloh, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Alloh, The Cherisher and Sustainer of the World, Who has created everything in the world for human beings." They say the answer, in Arabic, then I say ‘Good morning, class.” in English.

I have them practice simple things like everyone please stand, this row please stand, please sit down, etc. I ask them what they want to know about me. It’s hard for them to formulate questions. If I hear something that sounds remotely like “name” I ask the student who said it to please take their desk mate and go to the front of the room and write the question on the board. I can read their writing a lot better than I can understand what they are saying. They ask my name, my age, where I come from, what are the things I like, where do I live here. I have the whole class read the question and then I answer it. I tell them about my children and grandchildren. I write the word daughter and the word doctor on the board and try to get them to say them correctly. Then they say one and I guess which one they said. They get better at distinguishing the two sounds. Two different teachers come in and take attendance. This is good. I’m not supposed to sign my name to anything official and EVERYTHING requires an official signature here. I try to repeat each name as the teacher says it and the kids laugh. My pronunciation is so off, they can hardly tell I am saying their names.

I teach them the chorus to it’s a Small World After All. They love it. They can sing it well after just 1 try. I have them practice the word “world” which they pronounce like “word” Together the class and I roll our r’s and unroll them, add and subtract l’s.
Then another teacher comes in. I ask him to go ahead and he explains that he is going to teach now. I didn’t hear the bell ring. The school is adjacent to the train tracks and there are bells that ring all the time. I figure I better have the kids tell me when it’s time for each class to end.

I find the next class I’m supposed to teach and this time after the directions game, I take out 3 by 5 cards with information about me. My name is Colleen Young. Please call me Oma. I like to eat nasi pecel. My favorite snack is ice cream. I was a bus driver in America. This always amazes them. Bus drivers here are all men and fearless. Big busses rule the road. I have only seen them give way to construction trucks. Everyone else knows they are supposed to get out of their way. Each pair of students reads a card aloud and then the whole class repeats it and I repeat it and then the class says it again. I figure my main job here is to get them to speak in English so that’s the point of this whole exercise: Please do what I ask you to do and please speak in English. So far it’s working well. I say everything slowly in English, mangle a Bahasa translation, and then repeat it in English until I can see that most of them understand.

I teach this class the Small World song and we practice singing it by omitting the word “small.” I have a lot of fun. But it’s good to take a break.

The next two classes are cut short for prayers. I am informed that yes, of course, there are prayers every day. As I look around the teacher room is deserted except for 3 women teachers (out of 52) I assume they are having their periods and are not assigned to take care of the girls who are also having their periods, who sit on the steps of the mosque.
There must be some regulation that each class period is 40 minutes long, even though everyone knows that approx.11:30 – 12:00 is prayer time. Actually the prayer times vary. There is a schedule posted on the yearly school calendar. It has something to do with when dawn occurs, but it’s not symmetrical. In July, August and Sept it ranges from 11:23 till 11:39 as the time for beginning the 1st prayer. The prayers that are said before dawn belong to the previous day.

Okay, I think I better get some lunch. So far, I’ve gone with other teachers to the canteen. I’ll see what they are doing today.

No teachers are eating lunch. I buy a cold vitamin water drink. It doesn’t list calories; it lists “energy” as 80kcal. The vice principal who also teaches English to 12 graders tells me he doesn’t think 2 years will be long enough and I need to stay longer. And he also tells me that he likes the song we sang for him when he came in to take attendance and it would be good for me to teach many songs.

I go to the third class and they are smart. There is something they need to fill out, but I don’t understand what. I just tell them to go ahead and finish the papers and then they give them to one boy. I assume he is the leader of the class. Each class appoints their own leader, assistant, sec, asst. sec, treasurer and asst. treasurer. In this class a girl walks around and collects1000Rp (10 cents) from each student. There is an announcement on the loud speaker so I’m quiet so the kids can hear. I have no idea what is said, but the boy who collected the papers looks nervous so I ask him if he needs to do something and he says yes and I give him permission and he walks out of the class with the papers.

I repeat the whole introducing myself, having them ask questions and teaching them the chorus to “It’s a small world after all.” I also ask them how they got to school. One person says she walked (I have found out that there is a dormitory when students spend the night!) and one boy said he rode his bicycle. Approx. 30 students rode a motorcycle and 8 rode a little micro bus. I ask who has a computer in their house and 2 students raise their hand. I have them translate so the whole class understands and yes, 2 students have a computer at home. I ask who has ever been to a warnet and 1 other student raises his hand. I ask them what they want to be when they grow up. They come up with the answer: teacher, and doctor. I ask “Who wants to be a farmer?” (This is the occupation most of their parents have listed on the school application form.) They all say no. I ask who wants to be a mother / father? I translate and about 90% of the class wants to have children someday. I ask who wants to be a business man / woman and 2 students raise their hands. I ask what time will this class be finished and look at my cell phone. Man, this is a long class. We have 5 minutes to go. I hand the marker to a student and tell him to write an English word on the board, then run back and hand the marker to his desk mate, who then runs to the board and writes an English word.. We make it through 10 boys and finally the bell rings.

I am hungry. I need to figure out a better solution to the eating lunch dilemma.

In the teacher room, I see the teacher I was supposed to team teach with. She told me she had to go to the hospital for a heart test. I ask her if she is okay and she says, “Yes. Never mind. And Maybe.” Last week we had a long discussion about “maybe.” When ever I tell her she looks beautiful, she tells me she doesn’t believe me. I told her that “maybe” would be a better answer. That way she can make up her mind about whether she wants to accept my compliment or not. Maybe means maybe I am beautiful and maybe not, but right now I will not choose either way. I tell her that for her to say “Maybe.” Is a big step and I am proud of her for not answering automatically: I don’t believe you.

I have no idea why she tells me “Maybe, the test is fine.”

I say Goodbye and grasp hands with every woman teacher and join my hands together and bow to every man teacher. And head out the door looking for food.

A fish story

This is a true story. Maybe you know more about fish than I do and it won’t seem amazing to you. But I learned a lot! Erna and her husband had taken me to visit his aunt. She has a koi fish farm in her yard. When we were getting ready to leave she asked me if I liked fish grilled or fried. I said I like both, but I like grilled best. She then told us to come back later and she would give me some fish.

We went to the city to run some errands and on the way back, stopped by her house. She lives in a beautiful rural area where I often walk and in fact I had marked her house on my map before I even met her. It’s the house with the perfect lawn.

So we stopped by her house and she gets a big net and fishes out a giant gold fish that is black on top and is maybe a foot and a half long, plus 3 other fish, the smallest of which is about 10 inches. She scoops them up and puts them into a double plastic bag and ties the top shut (4 fish inside, no water, no air).

We thank her profusely, take the still wiggling fish and drive 10 minutes to my house. Erna and her husband insist that I take all the fish. This is a lot of meat! I’m wondering what my ibu mama is going to do with it.

We go inside, she takes out a pan of water, slides the fish in and this is the amazing part – the fish are alive! I’m shocked. I always thought fish could live maybe a minute or two outside of water, but certainly not TEN minutes. We get a baby bath tub and put the fish in there and they are swimming around! Okay, not really vigorously, but definitely swimming.

My ibu mama asks me which one I want to eat and tells me that the gold fish is expensive. I can believe it – there’s a lot of meat on it and I think if it was a gold color on top, instead of just on it’s belly, they could get a lot of money for an 18” huge decorative oriental fish. I tell her “Now, fish happy. I want fish happy.” She looks at me like I’m nuts and says “You want fish swim.” The word for swim is just one letter off from the word for happy. This is good; she actually understood what I said and is correcting me. In her mind there is no such thing as happiness for fish. Fish are food. I see what she means. So I agree. “I want fish swim.”

At my house we have 2 huge fish ponds. They have black water and all I’ve seen are a few mouths come out of the black and eat the pellets they sprinkle on top. Ibu mama and my host dad talk a lot and laugh about how I want the fish to swim. I explain. “I know fish is for food, but these fish are now my friends. They were dead and we gave them life.” They agree these are valuable fish and they need a better home than the black fish ponds.

My house is meticulously clean. I mean, we could eat off the floor. There is not a speck of dirt anywhere. But theses fish ponds are disgusting. My host dad sets up a drain system and we drain the water down in one of the tanks. All the little fish in there are now flopping around like crazy in the low water. I start scooping them out and putting them into a big bucket. Some of them jump onto the ground and the concrete and I have to catch them and put them back in the water. We keep this up for several hours until the 20’ by 3’ tank is totally empty of fish. And ibu mama gets out a scrub brush and scrubs down that fish tank. There are maybe 150 fish in there from 2 to 4 inches long. When the tank is clean we refill it and put the giant fish in and the finger fish. The giant fish are now swimming around with a lot of enthusiasm. We call it quits for the night.

In the morning when I get back from church, they have already started with tank number two. We drain that one down and it has 6 mamas and papas maybe 8 inches long and several hundred babies from under an inch to the size of your baby fingernail. We catch the big fish with a net and put them in the clean tank. The little guys are hard to catch. They will stay in the muddy goo and just flop around until my host dad scoops out the muck and then pours it into a strainer that I am holding and I manage to get every single little baby one and put them into a bucket. This is big success. I transfer the fish to the baby bath tub with cleaner water and my ibu mama and host dad get all the muck scrubbed out of the 2nd tank.

My host dad and mom talk a lot in Javanese. I can tell my host mom thinks that if we put the tiny babies in with the giants that the giants will eat them. My host dad prevails and we put the babies in the clean tank.

After tank two is scrubbed clean, we refill it and my host dad catches the biggest of the fish and puts them into the new clean tank. Now he’s exhausted. And rightly so. He had a stoke a few years ago and does only limited activities. I’m pooped too. Catching fish and scrubbing fish tanks is hard work. He goes inside and lies down. Ibu mama tries to catch the 8 inch fish and just as she tries to scoop one up it flies through the air and lands in the water 3 feet away. We laugh like crazy. I’ve never seen a fish jump that far. But my Ibu mama has a plan. She gets a sheet of rigid plastic about 3 foot by 3 foot and blocks off the tank so that the fish are concentrated in one area. I help hold the barrier and she gets two nets and manages to corner the fish and one by one she either gets them or sometimes they outsmart us and get past the barrier. They try flying through the air, but the barrier stops them. They seem to intuitively know the shape of the tank and want to get to the other side of the barrier.

We’ve chased them from one end to the other. The last 8 incher is a challenge, but Ibu mama scoops him up and put him in with his friends in the other tank. She scolds him before she puts him in and tells him that he’s naughty. I laugh. They thought I was nuts, now she’s talking to the fish!

The end result is that all the big fish are in one pond and all the little fish are in a different pond and both ponds are clean and I learned how to grab fish, how to clean fish ponds and how to save fish from dying. Of course, we are going to eat these fish. We eat fish almost every day, that’s what fish are for. But secretly I know that for right now these fish are “happy”(senang) and well as ‘swimming” (renang) and I sure had a lot of fun (bersenang senang.)

PS Hi Teguh (my language teacher, in Malang, I know he reads these) I remember the day you taught us the two words for swim (renang) and bathe (mandi). I needed a big mandi after playing with these swimming fish!

Opening Ceremonies at my school

What I love best is that I blend in so well, you probably can't even find me! I'm standing with the women teachers. I asked what was the meaning of the two students who marched forward and then the principal put a hat on each one and a sign around their necks. I was told that this only happens at our school and the materials in the hat are all made from nature. Then I looked up what the sign on his neck said: Taufiq - God's help and I think the sign on the girl said: Tauhid - the doctrine of God's oneness.