Please congratulate me. I have successfully navigated by foot the city of Jakarta to arrive safely at the mall and its free Internet, and I did it all by myself. It helps that someone showed me how to do it two days ago, but I’m still proud of myself.
The last week has been something of a whirlwind. We got back from Michigan; I packed, slept, went to church, and left for the airport on Sunday afternoon. My travel was mercifully smooth, despite a delay in Los Angeles (thank you for your prayers). I even made a friend in Hong Kong who was also on the way to Jakarta, and I realized that traveling alone makes you hungry for conversation, so I was very grateful for company.
Since I arrived on Tuesday, I’ve been busy with preparing for the new school year. I’m teaching mostly 11th grade and a few classes of 10th grade. The school schedule is possibly the most complicated thing I’ve ever seen. Some days I teaching two periods out of 11 and some days I teach 8. Preparations have included PowerPoint presentations, a 5 hour worship/welcome-to-the-new-semester service, meetings with the English department, getting to know my colleagues (Joseph, Karla, Tim, Laura, Glenn, Tricia, and others), and the like. If you’re interested, you can see a picture of my school at its website: www.iics.ipeka.org. It’s just as spectacular as it looks. The facility is only a year old, and it’s gorgeous, much nicer than the school where I student taught.
One thing I love is my apartment. It’s huge! Or maybe it just feels huge after four years of college living. I have a large room that includes a kitchen, dining table, and living room, a bedroom, bathroom, balcony, utility room, and oddly enough, a maid’s bedroom and bathroom, each more like a closet than a room. I also have a phone and a phone number, so let me know if you want it. I live on the fourth floor, right across from an Indian couple who both teach physics at IPEKA, and I have a great view of...well, mostly of haze. That’s something I’m still getting used to: not seeing a blue sky.
Other interesting things I’ve seen so far: avocado drinks with chocolate, on-carts (little red vans that are the only public transportation I know of), a family of five on a motorbike, and more familiar stores and products that I expected to see (Pizza Hut and Ace Hardware among others).
I’m not entirely comfortable here yet, particularly because I don’t speak any Indonesian (I don’t even know how to say “I don’t speak Indonesian” so I’m pretty much helpless when it comes to communication), but I’m feeling like this is a place where I can be happy.
Thank you for your love and prayers.
Laura
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