New Picasa Web Albums

I've put up a couple new Web Albums full of pictures.

One is from a trip a group of us took to a local orphanage. At our staff Christmas party instead of giving gifts to each other we gathered gifts to give to a local orphanage. Then one Saturday we went up (it's a little ways up the mountain) and spent the morning with the kids of the orphanage. We brought a Christmas tree and stuff to make ornaments to decorate it. We also brought up some cakes to enjoy and Jennie, one of our teachers, gave a little devotion. It was a very fun day.

View the Orphanage Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/emilyinbandung/OrphanageTrip

The other album is of the Idul Adha holiday. This holiday is celebrated by performing animal sacrifices. I had put up some pictures on my blog before Christmas, but there are quite a few more. It was quite the cultural experience! Caution: These pictures are pretty graphic (unlike the censored version I had put on my blog before). But for those of you who want to view the whole experience, enjoy.

View the Idul Adha Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/emilyinbandung/IdulAdhaAnimalSacrifices

Switchfoot

Switchfoot came to Jakarta last night and quite a few of our secondary students went. They were all talking about it on Friday at school. (Some of them had bought t-shirts and were wearing them.) I guess this would be an exciting event in the States, but our students don't usually get to do stuff like that here in Indonesia so they were pretty thrilled. Those that went had to make the three hour drive from Bandung to Jakarta but I'm sure they thought it was worth it. Their excitement is so fun to see.

Here are a couple of pictures taken before Christmas break. These are my 9th grade students (they were having a study party right before semester exams). I don't have a whole lot of pictures of my students so I thought I'd post a few that I do have. Figured maybe you'd enjoy seeing some of the faces that I work with day in and day out.

Studying for exams in the BAIS library.

Hanging out in the "pit," one of the few places here that actually has carpet. Students have to take off their shoes before going it and get to relax on pillows.

Yes, that's me. I showed up at the study party for a little bit to help answer geometry questions.

Revive Me

I know I promised pictures of my birthday celebration... they are on their way, I promise.

It's been hard to get back into the swing of things here. We are almost done with our second week back. Everyday seems filled to the max with unexpected things popping up all the time. I've been tired and come home pretty worn out each day. Pray for strength and adjustment.

This is going to be an incredibly busy semester. There are a lot of different things going on at the school. In a couple of weeks we are having Week Without Walls, a week where the students and staff spend time in various ministries around the city. We're hosting some open houses this week to try and attract new families to the school for the coming fall. The school is in the middle of a building project, building a new school about 45 minutes from where we are right now. There are so many details that go along with this project. One of which is the logistics of actually moving all of the stuff in our school. Another is all of the staff (and many school families) moving their houses and personal belongings. Some drama has surrounded our recent house searching... details aside, it has been an added stress. Please be in prayer over the many details of our new school, the building project, and the move.

But in the midst of these circumstances God has been showing up. Last week one of our high school teachers shared in chapel of her recent struggles and how God showed up in the midst of them. She played a song that has been running through my mind ever since, part of which says "Revive me according to your loving kindness." And slowly, but surely He is.

This is the view out my front door. That's my tree. We've been having some amazing sunsets that light up the whole sky (only for about 3 minutes, but still). Don't you see Him? He's all around...

Celebrating Year 23

Well, I'm back in Bandung, Indonesia. I had a great Christmas break and now I'm back to life here. We started school again this past Monday. Although it's hard to start getting up early again, it is good to be back. I'm blessed to really be enjoying my job.

I wanted to share my birthday story. I left LAX on January 8th. Along the way, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, it became January10th. After serving breakfast on the plane, a group of flight attendants came over and gave me this cake and sang Happy Birthday to me (at least I think they did... I was kind of delirious). The cake was a little strange as you can probably tell from the picture and image because it was airplane food. Then other crew members continued to come over and wish me Happy Birthday. Although it was sweet, it was also kind of depressing to be traveling alone on my birthday, traveling toward a place with good friends but no family.


Things went fairly smoothly in all my travels to get back. My flight took off an hour late from LAX, which caused me to miss my flight in Malaysia. They got me right on the next flight with just a couple hours layover. However, I didn't get into Jakarta until 6:00 pm or so. From there I got on an airport shuttle that took me to southern Bandung and then I took a taxi from there to my apartment.

By the time I got to my house it was 10:30 pm and I was a beyond exhausted. But I arrived to these fun door decorations. Some girls had come over shortly before I got back and done it all.


Although we had originally planned to go out to dinner that night for my birthday, that didn't quite happen. But it was postponed to Saturday night and we had a great time. I'll post some pictures soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I have had a wonderful vacation in the States over the past few weeks. It was great to get a chance to hang out with family and visit with some friends. Now I'm off on a red eye flight to make the long journey back to my home very far away. Please pray for safe travels. I also ask for your prayers as I'm currently not feeling too well. Just this morning I woke up a little achy and with a stuffy nose.

Here are some highlights of my time here with family and friends.

Cookie Baking

The day after I arrived in the States my mom and sisters (and one of my sister's friends) and I spend the day baking lots of yummy Christmas cookies.

Tea with the Girls

With lots of family in town a bunch of the girls got dressed up and went to afternoon tea.

New Year's Eve

It was a quiet New Year's Eve with just a few friends. We ate a yummy dinner of ham and played games and toasted in the New Year while watching the ball drop on TV.

My parent's new giant TV. My dog Conner.

Rose Parade

My sister, one of her friends and I had prime seating at the Rose parade in Pasadena because one of my sister's friends lives on the parade route. I've been to the parade many times, but it was fun to enjoy it once again.

Happy 2008!

  

Early Birthday Dinner

My parents took me out for a very fun birthday dinner at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. We enjoyed cheese fondue, salad, dinner fondue with meat and vegetables cooked in a chicken broth, and a delicious chocolate dessert fondue.

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