Wow, we might finally be teaching!

I don't feel like I have a lot to write about because I've hit a rhythm and am becoming used to many of the subtle differences here (or maybe what once seemed vast now seems subtle.) But we are still moving through PST at a steady clip. As of last week we now have language class in the afternoon (as opposed to the morning) and school visits in the morning. These are.....interesting and definitely informative. We have to leave our village at 6 to take a 15 minute angkot ride to a nearby school. The school is stunning. It has the vibe of a zen meditation retreat.

This school is where my group of 14 will be doing our teaching practicum for the next two weeks.

In case you wanted to know what the days of the week are in Indonesian.

The bule is a guy from ID5 who taught there. Apparently they do find a purpose for some of the thousands of pictures they take with us. 

Outside the main office, where we've spent most of our time thus far. I didn't get the whole length of his bottom legs in the shot very clearly but it was definitely bigger than any of our hands.

Look Emily, they even have a dinosaur-oid thing. May be a Komodo dragon?

There's some city flora for you dad. Not in great focus cause we were on an angkot.

I say the school is interesting for several reasons:

1. It's immaculate and high-tech to boot. None of the schools I've visited so far match up with the description we're given from Peace Corps of what to expect when we get to permanent site.

2. Time management. Oh lord, I can already tell my time management skills aren't going to improve while I'm in Indonesia. On our first day we got there at 6:15, waited until school started at 7:30 before the teachers and principal arrived to greet us. Some of them didn't even know we were coming. Then we waited until 9 to actually start our tour of the school.

3. The students. They were sweet and really engaged when we talked with them but for some reason they shout their answers, in unison, to whoever asks them a question and it's really, really loud. I think we all stepped back a foot when that first happened. 

So next week (starting tomorrow) we will wake up at some ungodly hour to get to the school well before we're needed and then meet with a temporary counter-par to begin lesson planning. Another volunteer and I, who are paired with Bu Ini, are going over expressions of love and sadness the first week and expressions of anger, embarrassment and annoyance the second week. That should be fun. From what I've seen so far, Indonesian students absolutely love idioms regarding love and the trials thereof.

Some days we just observe an Thursday is our big Language Proficiency Interview, which is what actually influences where our permanent site will be (those less fluent in b. Indonesia will continue language courses and will be placed in an area that speaks b. Indonesia. Those more fluent will have more flexibility of placement and will start learning Javanese or some other dialect.

We asked the university students to write down one thing they wanted to learn about English and why they thought it was important to learn English.

Presh. Another quick annecdote before I get off this train of thought of our time with the university students: I never realized how similar kitchen and chicken sound until I played charades with a class of Indonesians. We were all quite confused when one girl started acting out chopping up a chicken and then started flapping her arms when the word she had drawn was kitchen. 

Even more presh. These kittens and their mom live at the school I'm doing my practicum at. I HAVE KITTEN ACCESS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. I can die happy now. (They seem to be well cared for. They don't seem to have fleas.) 

As an end-note about cuisine, I have never had funnier thoughts in my head as I try and guess what my ibu has cooked that day. I usually regret it when I ask. So far I've knowingly tried cow's tongue, this weird fish dish that smells (and tastes) like dog vomit (how do I know? I just do) and liver of some animal. I didn't auote catch what it was. I'm still holding out chicken feet and chicken head...tbc.