Idul Adha

Before heading back to the States I had the opportunity to have one more cultural experience. Idul Adha is a celebration that comes in the middle of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslim's are required to go on once in their lifetime). Idul Adha commemerates when Abraham sacrificed Ishmael based on the Old Testament story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. It is a day where every family who is able buys a goat or cow to be sacrificed and the meat goes to the poor. Well, this sounds very nice but seeing it actually take place was a different story. A group of us walked up to one site where the sacrifices were taking place. There they sacrificed over 30 goats and 2 cows. Once dead the goats were hung and skinned, then an assembly line of men cut out the innerd and butchered the goats. They made all these piles of the different types of meat and the heads and the skins and the inners. A group of women were present to cook food for those working, including Aaron's house helper who seemed to be in charge and invited us into the back tent for an up close look at the butchering and cooking process. Here are just some highlight pics, although there are many, many more.

Some of the goats tied up waiting their turn.

Do you think this goat is wondering what is going on? Does he realize that he is next?

There was definitely a crowd that had gathered to view or celebrate the event. To add to the festivities their was a man selling balloons and noise makers and the ice cream man was there selling treats.

I know this one is a little graphic, but it was amazing to me how many kids were there running around. Even young kids were present, looking on at this event.

Here a woman makes some krupuk.

These women were cooking up lots of food.

Aaron's house helper. Isn't she cute?

Here the men begin to skin the goats.

Down in this area they had laid tarps down so that they could butcher the goats right on site. These men all worked on different parts, doing different jobs. By the end of the day these piles will be pretty large. We got the backstage tour, normally people weren't walking around back here.

The goats all hanging in a row waiting to be skinned.

A guy asked if we wanted to help. Jennie jumped right in. Here he is showing her what to do.

I was a little hesitant but decided to give it a try.

Aaron was given this job, then the guy walked away glad for the extra help and fully trusting Aaron would get the work done.

Time for the cow. Once all the goats were killed they sacrificed the two cows. They had some difficulty tying it up and pinning it down.

The crowd looks on.

End of the Semester

Well, yesterday I finished my first semester of my first year of teaching! I can't believe the whirlwind of the past four and a half months.

The quarter has been quickly coming to an end over the past few weeks, as I tried to wrap up as much as I could with my classes and learning new material. In the middle of last week we stopped doing new stuff and started reviewing for finals. This past Sunday night I was up all night throwing up and had to take a sick day Monday to recover, while I continued to experience, what they call here, "Bandung Belly". I either ate something bad or my body just shut down from the business and stress of life lately. Although I was really stressed at the thought of getting a sub and writing sub plans, taking a day off was wonderful and I was feeling so much better the next day. Tuesday and Wednesday all of the secondary students had half days for final exams. Although I have five exams to grade, the past couple of days have been pretty nice, no teaching just sitting around while my students take tests. And now I'm packing and wrapping gifts (and doing some last minute shopping) and checking things off my to do list before leaving Bandung for the Jakarta airport Friday morning at 4am. Me and a friend will share a taxi from Bandung to Jakarta, but then from there will go our separate ways and I'll travel the rest of the way alone. I go from Jakarta to Malaysia to Taiwan and arrive at LAX Friday late afternoon- amazing how that can happen.

Daily Life

Sometimes I think I do a pretty poor job of giving you an idea of what life here is really like. Although we do have lots of fun and some crazy adventures, it's not all fun and games. At the end of the day I'm still just trying to make it through my first year of teaching. Most of my life is consumed with teaching... lesson plans and grading. During the week I work hard and am pretty tired. On a typical day I wake up around 4:45 am to get ready for the day. I'm usually headed for school around 6:00 am or 6:15 am to do some last minute things for the day ahead. We have staff devotions at 7:15 am and school starts at 7:45 am. I don't teach 1st or 3rd period. I do teach 2nd, then teach 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th straight. Then 8th period I have another prep period to get ready for the next day or do some grading. I usually stay after school working until 5:00 pm or 5:30 pm. Plus often times I bring home grading and work into the evening. I also usually end up spending most of Saturday on lesson plans for the next week and grading from the week before. I have found that for the most part I am enjoying teaching but it is challenging and draining. Some days go well and I get a lot done, while others I feel like I'm failing as a teacher and drowning in the work load. I do love my students and feel I've been given a gift in teaching here at BAIS. Despite that, as the quarter wraps up and semester exams are right around the corner things are looking pretty busy. I'm looking forward to the coming Christmas break and spending some time in the States with my family.

Out for a Night of Sundanese Food

Last weekend we went out for dinner at a Sundanese restaurant. The local people here are called the Sundanese.

Wow! The food was spicy, and we had just begun. We passed around krupuk (kind of like a cracker) and dipped it in the chili sauce they brought. They also brought a basket of greens to help with the spice- cucumber, basil, and some other Indonesian vegetables.

Molly and Lindsey
At this restaurant you sit on the floor around a low table on pillows. And you eat with your hands, even though you are served rice and different sauces.

Jennie and I

The group of us who went, minus Emma who took the picture. From left Aaron, Me, Jennie, Molly, and Lindsey. We kind of all felt like we were in the Jungle as we sat under the a canopy with foliage all around.

Next stop was dessert at a local restaurant/hotel. But first we had to catch a taxi there. Even though the restaurant was on a busy street there wasn't a taxi in sight, so Emma, Molly, and I ended up walking along the street quite a ways. Finally a taxi stopped for us, but it was a sketchy one that didn't have a meter. At that point we didn't really have a choice. He probably overcharged us, but it's hard to tell. It was a fun evening out and ended up being a late night as we sat around and talked and played cards.

Crafting at a Local Orphanage

Instead of giving gifts to each other this year, as a staff we gave gifts to a local orphanage

Some of the girls working on making ornaments to hang on the tree we brought for them

Some of the ornamanets sitting in the sun to dry.

The front room of the orphanage

My roommate Emma with one of the little girls who lives at the orphanage

This boy was my favorite. His name was Rudy and he had the greatest smile (and knew how to play the jimbay).

Adding a bell to her ornament

Working on making a christmas tree ornament out of beads

Thirteen of the nineteen kids who live at the orphanage around their new Christmas tree, now fully decorated with gifts for each to open on Christmas

KimChi Party

Aaron, one of the science teachers at school, did an experiment on fermentation with his high school biology class. As part of it he invited one of the Korean mom's in to make KimChi, a very popular Korean food and very spicy. Jennie brought home all of the extras and made KimChi fried rice and had some people over to enjoy. She decorated the table all nice and made three large bowls of KimChi fried rice. Along with this she made seaweed soup, barley water and special tea (I forget what it's called). It was an enjoyable evening, despite the fact that my mouth was on fire. :)

Admiring the beautifully decorated table.

The group (minus Molly who took the picture)

Lindsey demonstrating her use of the chop sticks.

Now everyone starts using their chop sticks to pick up the confetti that was on the table. That is when you know you are a pro- chop stick user: when you can pick up confetti with them. We were really into it, can't you tell?

Surprise Rooftop Party

A couple weekends ago we had a early surprise birthday party for Alyssa, one of the teachers here. Her and another girl live in this cool house with stairs out back that lead up to the roof, which is where we surprised her. Donna had decorated the roof with balloons and made a cake. Others had brought munchies and drinks. She was definitely surprised, especially since her birthday wasn't for another month. Her are a few pictures from the night:

Sitting around munching on snacks and socializing.

We were going to watch a movie so they had set up a projector and screen, but due to pending rain we moved that inside. You are actually looking at the back of Emma and my apartment (these girls live right next door to us).

Trying to get out of the wind so the candles would light... Donna, Lindsey, and I crouch down under the random roof shelter (which we decided could possibly be concealing a dead body among other uses).

Their beautiful view of the city from the roof.

Alyssa recreating the surprise face since no one had captured it the first time.

It was so fun to sit around, chat, and watch the sun set. It made me miss all of those beautiful Cerro Vista sunsets.

Christmas Cookie Baking

As you might have been able to guess, they don't celebrate Christmas here. There aren't any decorations up in stores or anything around the city. The weather is the same as it was in August when I arrived here, just a little wetter. So it really doesn't feel like Christmas time. That's been a little weird for me. You always feel overwhelmed by Christmas in the States and the commercialism of it all, especially when they start to put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. But now being in a place where there is none of that you have to work much harder to make it feel like Christmas is coming.

So that is what we did. One Saturday night a couple weeks ago we spent the evening baking Christmas cookies. We put on Christmas music, made 8 different cookie recipes, and decorated my friends' Jennie, Lindsey, and Molly's house. We had fun despite the chaos of having so many projects going on at once. And best of all it made it feel like Christmas is coming.

Me, Beccy, and Lindsey unwrapping marshmallows for a haystack recipe.

Jennie ladling out cider and Lindsey making popcorn.

Beccy and I took over popcorn duty after Lindsey burnt a batch.

Lindsey and Emma opening packages of Indonesian brand M&Ms.

This was some sort of munchie mix that I had never heard of before. Unfortunately we had to do a few substitutions because we couldn't find everything we needed. I don't think the fruit loops, corn flakes, or crushed up ice cream cones were part of the original recipe.

Jennie was being a little impatient and didn't want to wait until the peanuts had cooled before putting them into the mix. Despite my protests she did it anyway.

Chaos in the kitchen- too many projects going on at one time. I believe this picture stems from the fact that Jennie couldn't find the can opener and thought perhaps her pembantu had done something with it and hadn't told her. Meanwhile I'm melting white chocolate and Beccy is roasting peanuts.

PACE Fundraising Auction

The parent organization here is called PACE. A couple weeks ago they had their big fundraiser for the year- both a silent and live auction- auctioning off a wide variety of things. Here is me and my friend Abi (one of the other new staff members daughters) who I met at my training this past summer. She is adorable and one of the most verbal 3 year olds I've ever met. She makes my smile and made my day that night as it was the end of a very long week.

Snake... Thanksgiving Dinner of Champions

As you might imagine they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here. In fact turkey is considered unclean so you can't find it here (unless you buy it from the international grocery store where they import it for a pretty penny.) In fact we had a normal day of school on Thanksgiving and it could of easily come and gone without realizing it was Thanksgiving. A group of the singles decided to get together to celebrate this past Thursday since we were famililess. To make this Thanksgiving memorable we choose to do something different, something adventurous and go out for cobra. We got directions to a place where someone else had been before and took off Thursday around 6:30. For some reason I was expecting a hole in the wall place with snakes hanging all around and perhaps dingy and dark. But the restaurant was nice, open, and very clean without a snake in sight. We had many variations of snake to choose from: sweet and sour snake, spicy snake, snake soup, snake with vegetables, etc. and we choose to share and try some of them all. One of the few channels we get here is Travel and Living and I think too many of us have been watching the show "Bizarre Foods," because we then asked if we could see the snakes and watch them kill them. They led us back through the kitchen to a small room where they pulled out a cobra from a metal box. They carefully caught hold of the snake's head and placed it in this contraption that would keep the cobra from biting or moving while they took a large knife and chopped the head off. After this they drained all of the blood out. Meanwhile both the head and the body continued moving for quite some time. They washed and de-skinned it in one large piece. While all of this was going on eight of us were crammed in this small back room with our cameras ready. They indulged our touristness and let us take pictures of it all. We went back to our table and began trying some of the different varieties of snake we had ordered. I wouldn't say that it was particularly delicious or that I want to go back again for more. But it wasn't bad either. Most of the types we had chosen were fried and kind of tasted like chicken. The soup was different, kind of like egg drop soup with finely chopped snake and tiny pieces of bone that had found their way in. We finished up dinner and headed for home. To end out the evening we gathered at one of our houses for dessert of cookies and ice cream. Nothing about our evening was very Thanksgivingy, but I was thankful to be with friends and for the adventure we shared that definitely brought us closer.

The next night, Friday, we were invited over for a Thanksgiving feast at the Hegles, a school family. The husband teaches computer and the wife teaches English and ESL, and their three kids go to BAIS. They went all out and bought a turkey and everybody brought different Thanksgiving dishes like stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and other such foods. For dessert we had a delicious pumpkin pie along with some other things to choose from. There was quite the spread of food and it felt more like a Thanksgiving celebration.

Some added pictures for those who need proof. :)

The name of the restaurant.

Cobra- my snake of choice. :) They sure knew how to handle these guys.

The delicious spread of various snake dishes. That stuff on the right is the snake soup.

Me and some of the girls at the normal Thanksgiving dinner.