Loveology

The study of love. Last week was our school's annual "Week Without Walls." A week dedicated to stepping outside of the walls of our school and serving the local community. This year's theme was "Loveology." We were on a mission to study love. What does it mean to love our neighbors? What would it look like for us to do that? Practically... not just in theory. So all 207 BAIS students and all 40 BAIS teachers and staff left the building, stepped outside of the walls of our school and tried to tear down the walls we put up inside of our hearts. I led a group of 12 high school students that went to a local school in the kampung (local neighborhood) to teach English. The school was down a muddy dirt path off the main road where no cars could drive to. The school has 210 students and only 9 teachers. The building is small with 6 classrooms (one for each grade). My high school students created lessons to teach English words for simple things like colors, body parts, animals, etc. They sang songs, acted out motions, did some coloring, and passed out candy. When it was all over we stuck around to play with the kids and a few of our guys started up a game of soccer. My favorite part of our time at the school was on our last day when we were about to leave. We told them we wanted to say goodbye, so they gathered all the kids out on the courtyard. I gave a little speech and thanked the principle for letting us come. We gave some gifts- donations we had collected for the school (basic school supplies, books, colored pencils, etc.). The principle gave a short speech and thanked us for coming. Then our group sang a couple of songs. The second one was in Indonesian and all the kids joined along in singing with us. It was a beautiful moment all of us there, singing together. And the goodbye ended with them singing an impromptu song to us. We took a group picture and then shook hands and went our separate ways. When it was all over we walked away with some simple reflections. Here are some things my group learned about love: -loving others means serving them -love is something we give away once we ourselves have received it -love takes relationships, relationships take time -love must be sincere -love is puzzling to those who do not often receive it Such beautiful stories came from each group in our time scattered across the community. One of the things I took away from the experience is how incredibly blessed we are to be living the life we do. Each of us lives a life far better than most. Yet in the midst of our thankfulness and rejoicing that we are blessed, we must not forget that we are therefore called to be a blessing to others because we have been blessed with so much. There are many pictures to share, but I just chose a few. Enjoy!

Teaching Math

For those of you who follow this blog you may or may not know that I am a math teacher. I don't often bring it up here. But anyway, yes it is true. I teach middle and high school math. I live in Indonesia and I love that, but the reality is that I spend most of my days in my classroom teaching. My current load is five different classes ranging from 7th grade Pre-Algebra, 8th grade Algebra 1, 9th grade Geometry, 10th grade Algebra 2, to 11th/12th grade Statistics. I love my job. I love the variety. I love the students. It's challenging at times and overwhelming at others but overall really, really good.

Just wanted to give you a glimpse into my classroom for a change. This week in Geometry we learned about four important points in triangles. We talked about the Circumcenter, Incenter, Centroid, and Orthocenter. Then the students created examples of each on oragami paper and I hung them in our windows to add some color to the room.

I love math! :)

Do you?

Weird Weekend

What a weird weekend.

Lots of odd things happened this weekend.

Perhaps it started last Friday when I walked into my classroom in the morning and there was a bird flying around inside. It kept darting back and forth across the room, smashing into the window over and over again.

Then Friday night I drove my motor bike into town (about 45 minute drive) in the pouring rain. The strange thing was that it was raining so hard and so hard to see but pedestrians kept j-walking across the street anyway. On top of that there were several motor bikes on the road driving without their lights on. Very, very dangerous.

Saturday morning on my way into town I saw a guy peddling a bicycle. Strapped to the side of the bicycle was a door. Yes, a whole door. He made it look quite easy to ride his bike with this large object tied to it but I had a feeling it was not.

Saturday was filled with weird things but perhaps the weirdest was the adventure a few of us went on to find a crocodile farm we had heard rumors about. We were told it was up in Lembang, a mountain town about an hour from where we live. Apparently there is a guy in Singapore that has a wife in Lembang and goes there once a month to see her. As his hobby he bought some crocodiles so that he could enjoy them when he came. We had heard you can watch them feed the crocodiles live chickens. A friend had been before and fed them live rabbits. We stuck with dead chickens. It was kind of like jaws where you could sense something under the water and then they brought out the chicken and out of the water came the largest crocodile I have ever seen.

(Oh I almost forgot! On Sunday I was sitting on the side of the road waiting for a guy to come back with a motor bike to be a taxi for my friend so she could join us for lunch after church. As I sat there a woman walked up to me and in pretty good English asked me what I was doing. I told her I was just waiting. Then she proceeded to invite me to her son's wedding next weekend. It has always been his dream to have an international wedding, she told me. He would really love it if white people came. So she asked if I would please come. Then without giving more details about time or location she walked away. So weird.)

Oh Indonesia. You never stop surprising me.

Plans Changed

Hi friends,

So despite the fact that I had planned and prepared to go to Vietnam and meet up with my sister it didn't work out. I had made my plans but the Father reminds us "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Everything was ready for me to go. My lesson plans were done, my sub plans were written, my plane ticket was bought, and hotel reservations were made. There was just one small detail I forgot in all of it. I arrived at the airport on Wednesday, sat and waited until I could check in. Finally, I walked up to the counter where the guy behind the desk informed me that I could not go to Vietnam without a visa. I had forgotten to check into the visa process in all my other planning. Apparently, you need to apply to the embassy ahead of time and can't just get a visa on arrival. Can't even get on the plane without a visa.

I was crushed.

I had come so close but could not go and would not get to see my sister. However, since I had already taken days off and arranged for a sub, I decided to take advantage of it. I bought a ticket to Batam to visit a really good friend of mine who is living there right now. We spent time at Telunas Beach where she is working right now. We relaxed and chatted lots. It was good to reconnect. We swam and ate good food and kayaked and slept. The last night we layed on the dock and looked at the stars (trying to figure out the constalations in the southern hemisphere... quite hard when you've grown up looking at totally different ones). Then one of the Ibus who works there took us shrimping. She showed us how to catch the shrimp with this long fork like thing and a bright light (to shine on them in the dark). She laughed at us the whole time as we attempted it. She would point out the shrimp to us and all we had to do was stab them, but they just kept escaping before we got to them. She told us we were good at it, but we were not.

I came back refreshed and re-energized which is what I had been hoping and praying for. God answers our prayers in many unexpected ways. And through it all I was reminded that the Father knows how to give good gifts to His children, even when we initially don't think they are good and we are filled with disappointment.

I didn't take very many pictures but here are a few:

Me and my friend Jennie in the boat on the way to Telunas

A fisherman passes us by

In the boat on the way to the isolated resort

So peaceful

To Do

This week I will:
-teach my students about standard normal distribution
-go to women's bible study
-do morning duty
-meet with my language tutor
-travel to a foreign country

Yes, the whole list is true including that last one. This week I am headed to Vietnam for 5 days. I will meet up with my sister who is sailing through and stopping there for a few days. I cannot wait to go!

On Friday I took the 10th graders on a class trip to the hot springs. I felt like they needed some bonding time as a class so I arranged for us to leave during lunch and miss 7th and 8th period on friday. The drive was an hour and a half up some windy roads (and I felt very sick by the time we got there). We arrived and some of our group went paint balling while others just walked around the large resort area. Then we spent some time in the hot springs. The water was so hot I could barely stay in it for more than a couple of minutes. On the way home we stopped for roasted corn on the side of the road before driving a little further and stopping for dinner. We went to a local favorite and ate chicken and rice. It was very fun to have the whole group of 24 people all around one table. So many fun memories together. I think we might have bonded. Here's a recap!

Bye bye school

Yay! Skipping out on the end of the day... what else would get all twenty 10th grade students there.

Let's go!

Some of our guys (and a couple girls who aren't pictured) went paint balling.

A beautiful sunset

The guys played poker for awhile around the pool...

and bet push ups.

Hanging out in the hot water

Jumping and splashing and having fun

But most importantly, hanging out together.

Time to head out. Here are most of the girls from the class (with one boy who snuck in there).

A quick stop to enjoy some roasted corn

Dinner time! We ordered two different kinds of chicken- ayam bakar and ayam goreng.

And we ordered lots of each! But ate it all- so yummy.

All of us gathered around one table.

And then we walked out of the restaurant and I noticed this hanging up. I just couldn't resist taking a picture with it. Where else would you see something like this hanging outside a restaurant. Only in Indonesia! And where else would you get to hang out with such great students and get to take a class trip like this. Only in Indonesia!

Creepy Crawler

About a week ago I was walking around a really cool garden. It was cool and quiet and there was a small stream running through it. I was following the path and then turned to continue along toward the stream. I was passing this tree when all of a sudden I realized this giant spider was in my face (and about the size of my face)! It made me jump back, startled. Before moving on I whipped out my camera and snapped a quick shot. Indonesia has the strangest creatures.

Student Council

A new journey has begun for me.

Class Photos

Each year on picture day the classes get to pick where they want to take their class photo. Classes are getting more and more creative with their class photos. Sometimes elementary classes just do something simple like take it out on the playground or take it in a special place in their classroom.

This year the 8th graders chose to go to the Kindergarten classroom and pretend they were Kindergarteners. The 12th grader took their photo out on top of the large dirt pile where they are building the soccer field. The 9th graders took a couch out to the middle of the road and took theirs there.

This year I am 10th grades class sponsor. My class decided they wanted to re-enact the earthquake that we had earlier in the year for their class photo.

When the earthquake happened they were in English class with Mr. Schaffer. Apparently all sorts of funny things were said and they had a bunch of inside jokes from this bonding event as a class. As they felt the earthquake start the students climbed under the desks but then a student jumped out and started yelling, "Guys it's just a simulation." Another student right away called his mom and told her to send the car and driver. Apparently Mr. Schaffer, still new to our school and to earthquakes, climbed under his desk with the evacuation/emergency flip chart and was frantically flipping through trying to read what the proper procedure was for responding during an earthquake.

So for the photo they made funny signs of all these things and posed for the camera. They are so fun. I really enjoy them and look forward to working with them this year.

Now just a silly one.

And of course a serious one.

Hope Amidst the Rubble

Some of you who are up on current events may have heard about the earthquake that happened in Indonesia at the beginning of November. Some have even been asking if I'm ok. I am sure by now you assume you would have heard something if I wasn't, but just to clear the air I am alright. The earthquake measured 7.6 and hit the island of Sumatra (a different island than the one I live on). I don't know the exact stats (and strangely couldn't find it when I did a quick search online) but last I heard they were estimating up towards 1000 people have died as a result of the earthquake. Many more were injured and many people lost their homes and businesses. Efforts are still being made to dig through the rubble and help those who have been hurt. The largest city near the epicenter is the city of Padang. Padang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra (located on the coast). The landlord of the house we live in actually lives in Padang. After a couple weeks we finally heard from him and he is alright, but his store collapsed and was destroyed. While we have not been directly effected here (we are way too far away to have felt the earthquake), there are indirect effects that are reaching us. Several of the dads of my students are in Padang right now helping in the relief efforts. A few of them drove all the way there and took supplies and donations to give away. At church and school we are collecting clothes and other items along with money that might be given to those who are without basic necessities because of the earthquake. If you would like to give to the relief efforts that are happening through the expats that live here and are seeing the needs first hand, send me an email and I can get you information on how to give. Here's just a few pictures to bring the devastation to life:

(Photo taken from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33085687/)

(Photo taken from http://www.theage.com.au/world/second-quake-hits- sumatra-as-death-toll-soars-20091001-gd43.html) And some photos sent back from one of the dads in Padang right now:

In the midst of the rubble these children are laughing.

Nearly 25 schools have been destroyed. Here's a temporary school building set up by some of the relief workers.

Another truck load of goods to be distributed. Apparently the Spanish government sent some representatives to give away a million dollars. Somehow this dad got connected with them and has been helping them with translation and distribution of donations.

hope amidst the rubble