It's been really hard for me to believe that Christmas is fast approaching when I sweat almost every time I walk outdoors. December just doesn't seem like December without gloves and scarves and waiting for snow. But yesterday we had our school Christmas pageant. We sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night," and it started to feel like Christmas. I loved watching my kids up on stage--three of my goofballs playing the shepherds with comic flair, a girl who seemed shy in class as the angel Gabriel, and a kid whose incredible singing voice I never suspected playing Joseph. I was proud of them.
After the pageant, we had a reception in the cafeteria with an open stage where kids were singing "White Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad," which made me laugh since snow and people who speak Spanish are pretty much unknown to Indonesia. And then we were done for the year. I don't leave until next Saturday, so I'll do some Christmas shopping and wrapping this week. If you thought that living in the world's most populous Muslim country would protect me from the American commercialization of Christmas, you were wrong. I saw fake Christmas trees being sold at the mall in early November, lines are longer, and I hear classics like "All I Want for Christmas Is You" while shopping.
The "I'm-still-getting-used-to-being-a-teacher" moment of the day: I ran into a student at the gym. It could have been worse. I could have been sweating, out of breath, and red-faced, or it could have been an unfriendly student, but I was just getting on the treadmill when one of the sweet ones came up to say hello. I've forgotten how interesting it was to see teachers out of context. I couldn't have been much more out of context. At school, most days I wear a uniform--blue skirt, white blouse, dark shoes, makeup--but today I was wearing yoga pants, running shoes, and my high school gym class t-shirt. It shouldn't feel weird to see students outside of school, and it's happened before, but sometimes it still does.
If you're interested in knowing, I'm flying out of Jakarta on Saturday, December 20, and I'll be flying through Singapore and Hong Kong before I get to Chicago the next day. I'm meeting my family and driving from Chicago, so I'll be in Indianapolis from about the 21/22 of December to January 5.
Things I'm looking forward to when I go home: singing Christmas songs, snow (hopefully!), sweaters, Christmas lights, seeing friends, seeing family, being cold, cooking with my mother, Christmas services, my room, taking walks around my neighborhood, driving myself around, streets without traffic, drinking tap water, living with other people, using a washer and dryer instead of a bucket and a clothesline, making mincemeat pie, and having a fire in the fireplace.
God bless us, every one.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
How to have a Happy Birthday in Indonesia
The Indonesian tradition for birthdays is that the birthday person treats. It's kind of like grade school, as one of my elementary education major friends pointed out. So I made chocolate chip cookies for the teachers at school today. It's a good feeling to be giving on your birthday and not just receiving. Plus, I got to enjoy some warm cookies and milk for breakfast. Another Indonesian birthday tradition is that everyone shakes your hand. Now this does seem like that big a deal, but it's warm and friendly, and I enjoyed it. I also ended up with some lovely orchids (from my parents via Karla), balloons, and far too many sweets.
The cool thing about having a birthday on this side of the world is that it seems like it last longer. My birthday started this morning for me, but I don't feel like it's really over until it's over in the U.S., which isn't until tomorrow afternoon. I even got my birthday started early here. I went out to dinner on Wednesday with a few friends from work. The Italian restaurant near my apartment was celebrating its first anniversary by having everything half off. It was good times. I didn't go out for my birthday tonight. I decided to stay in, finish the book I'm reading (That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis), talk to my family, finish off the cookie dough, and enjoy a quiet birthday evening.
It still feels strange to have 80 degree weather in December. In some ways, I feel like my sense of time passing is all wrapped up in seasonal weather changes, which means I'm a little discombobulated by Indonesian weather (and it sure doesn't feel like I'm been here almost five months). A good example would be rain. I'm used to Midwestern rain, which usually gives you some clues that it's coming: it gets colder or windier, or you hear thunder in the distance, or it's gets darker with that strange greenness right before a thunderstorm. Not so in Jakarta. Rain comes without any preliminaries, as if someone flicked a switch. I'm really looking forward to some weather variety when I go home for Christmas. It will be wonderful to have something besides hot hot hot, but I'm a little worried that I'll be a cold weather wimp. I think that I need to go ice-skating at the mall before I leave, just to practice.
It was really nice that I didn't have to teach today. I didn't have a lot to do except plan for next semester since I'm done grading finals for my eighth grade students. I was sad to say goodbye to them last week. They gave me headaches, but they also made me laugh. My favorite answer on the final exam was in response to a question about the target audience of a Burger King ad for the Whopper. One student wrote that the ad was directed to almost everyone--families, teenagers, adults, children, etc, "except for people who can't eat solid food." Thank goodness for students like that who add a little spice to the bland monotony of grading.
Technically, this is a long weekend because of a Muslim holiday on Monday, but tomorrow there's a Christmas service for all the IPEKA teachers, so I have to get up early for that. It's kind of a bummer, but I'm going out to see Twilight afterward. To the shame and embarrassment of my sister, I have read the book by Stephanie Meyer. It has pretty much swept the school by storm, so I thought I'd better get on board. And I'm thrilled to see kids getting excited about reading, especially in English. I borrowed a copy from an eighth grade boy, and I was reading it in the library facing these big windows where students pass on their way to the chapel. You should have heard the squeals of excitment when some of my old 11th grade students passing by saw that I was reading Twilight. They loved it, and I'm pretty sure that I'll see some of them at the movie theater tomorrow.
15 days until I leave for home!
The cool thing about having a birthday on this side of the world is that it seems like it last longer. My birthday started this morning for me, but I don't feel like it's really over until it's over in the U.S., which isn't until tomorrow afternoon. I even got my birthday started early here. I went out to dinner on Wednesday with a few friends from work. The Italian restaurant near my apartment was celebrating its first anniversary by having everything half off. It was good times. I didn't go out for my birthday tonight. I decided to stay in, finish the book I'm reading (That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis), talk to my family, finish off the cookie dough, and enjoy a quiet birthday evening.
It still feels strange to have 80 degree weather in December. In some ways, I feel like my sense of time passing is all wrapped up in seasonal weather changes, which means I'm a little discombobulated by Indonesian weather (and it sure doesn't feel like I'm been here almost five months). A good example would be rain. I'm used to Midwestern rain, which usually gives you some clues that it's coming: it gets colder or windier, or you hear thunder in the distance, or it's gets darker with that strange greenness right before a thunderstorm. Not so in Jakarta. Rain comes without any preliminaries, as if someone flicked a switch. I'm really looking forward to some weather variety when I go home for Christmas. It will be wonderful to have something besides hot hot hot, but I'm a little worried that I'll be a cold weather wimp. I think that I need to go ice-skating at the mall before I leave, just to practice.
It was really nice that I didn't have to teach today. I didn't have a lot to do except plan for next semester since I'm done grading finals for my eighth grade students. I was sad to say goodbye to them last week. They gave me headaches, but they also made me laugh. My favorite answer on the final exam was in response to a question about the target audience of a Burger King ad for the Whopper. One student wrote that the ad was directed to almost everyone--families, teenagers, adults, children, etc, "except for people who can't eat solid food." Thank goodness for students like that who add a little spice to the bland monotony of grading.
Technically, this is a long weekend because of a Muslim holiday on Monday, but tomorrow there's a Christmas service for all the IPEKA teachers, so I have to get up early for that. It's kind of a bummer, but I'm going out to see Twilight afterward. To the shame and embarrassment of my sister, I have read the book by Stephanie Meyer. It has pretty much swept the school by storm, so I thought I'd better get on board. And I'm thrilled to see kids getting excited about reading, especially in English. I borrowed a copy from an eighth grade boy, and I was reading it in the library facing these big windows where students pass on their way to the chapel. You should have heard the squeals of excitment when some of my old 11th grade students passing by saw that I was reading Twilight. They loved it, and I'm pretty sure that I'll see some of them at the movie theater tomorrow.
15 days until I leave for home!
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