Today was a pretty normal day in Palembang, but with a few added perks. I just got back from a trip to Bali and Flores with a some other lovely ETAs (I promise I'll post on that trip, along with my trip to Yogya back in October sometime soon!). It was a blast and I was a little bummed to be returning from the awesome adventure.
The morning started out rough, with motorcycle horns and roosters (plus the call to prayer) going non-stop from 5am until I got out of bed at 7am. I then went out looking for a Western Union (my new ATM card still hasn't arrived), and it wasn't as hot as I was expecting, and the trek wasn't as far as I was expecting. So things were looking good. Then the folks at the bank were very friendly, and the girl who helped me out wanted a photo afterwards, it was cute.
I stopped to get gado-gado at my favorite little corner stall, and had a nice chat with the ladies who work there. Then a guy walking by stopped to chat. He was nice, and it turns out he had studied in the US a few years ago, we chatted about Palembang and the US, and then he told me he owned all the little shops in the area, and that my gado-gado was free! Then he passed me a cold iced tea and told me that if I wanted help getting a bicycle or a motorbike, he'd be happy to help. I told him I didn't know how to drive a motorbike, then he pointed to his son and said he'd give me lessons if I wanted. It was great!
Then I went to school, and I was swarmed with love! The teachers told me how much they missed me, and how excited they were for our upcoming trip. Everyone was friendly and funny, and it made me happy to be back at school, which I wasn't expecting to feel. I learned more about our trip (I leave for Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia with my school tomorrow, yippee!) and I started to look forward to the trip even more.
After school I took a nap and headed to the radio station. My Ibu offered my a motorcycle ride which was nice (and saved my time, money, and the sweaty discomfort of an angkot ride). At the station I got to see some of my absolute favorite people in Palembang, and catch up a little bit. I also did some voice over work for their upcoming New Year's Eve party. It's pretty cool to know my voice is going to be on the radio waves over here. One of the producers also asked if I could talk on the show tonight about my favorite/the best live show I've been to (Elton John/Billy Joel for sure). It's funny because they are so excited and grateful for the efforts, but it's seriously my pleasure, not everyone gets the chance to talk on air.
It has been a pretty low-key day, but it has just been the best of all my favorite things around town. I really needed this day to feel good about being in Palembang. I have an awesome opportunity to travel around Indonesia and SE Asia, and it's easy to enjoy yourself on vacations with friends, but it's something else to be comfortable and happy in the place you actually live doing your normal routine. And today was a nice do and see my favorite things around Palembang, and the things I can look forward to on a daily basis.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Days like this are why I'm here.
One of the teachers I work with gets lazy and rather than actually teaching class, she just encourages students to ask me questions. Usually it's like pulling teeth to get students to ask me questions in English in front of the whole class. But they are much more confident in small groups. Today I had class with this teacher, and after trying to get kids to talk, her interest had shifted to a few students that were near her, and I moved to the back of the class in hopes of making myself more approachable. It worked like a charm.
There are some students in each class who are really curious about American culture, and some who have really good English, and a few who fall into both of those categories. Usually the curious ones all surround me and those who speak better English will serve as translators. In today's class, there was one student who I've had good conversations with before, and he asks great questions that lead to neat discussions and cultural understandings. I was sitting near him, and just as I had hoped, he started asking me questions. We talked about American high schools, and how they are different, than Indonesian high schools, including the topics of school uniforms, subjects studied, elective courses, what high school students like to do, etc. Then we talked about how life is different in big cities verse small towns, how the East coast is different than the West coast, where different states are located. It was a great environment where I talked about whatever topics they wanted to know about. One kid asked what Broadway was, and included a clarification between the city and the state of New York.
The students were very respectful and understood what questions might be uncomfortable for me to field, but we had built up some trust and understanding, so I was happy to aid in the cultural exchange. We talked about racism, religious views, discrimination, prejudice, and why they exist, different views people have in America and in Indonesia, and it was awesome. I left feeling so energized, and excited to be here. This was why I was here. Yes I am an English teaching assistant, but I feel like that's just an excuse to get me into a high school where I can have meaningful conversations with inspired/inspiring young people.
Usually at the end of the day I'm pooped and I want to take a nap, but like I said, this talk left me more energized than I'd been in awhile, and I still had a few hours of daylight left. So I went out for a walk. Usually I walk along the main road, just so I don't get lost, but there was a back road I had seen last week that I was eager to check out, so I set off on an outing. It was nice being off the main road, much more peaceful, more foliage, less garbage, more color, it was very lovely. When I returned to the main road I was quite thirsty, and as I was walking along I came across a coconut stand. So I sat down and enjoyed fresh coconut milk with ice. It was magical.
On my final stretch home, I was passed by a number of my students, all of them beaming at me while they say "Hi Miss!" Whenever I am feeling down, it is always my students that cheer me up. Their enthusiasm is the greatest thing to have around. It's nice to be in a place where hundreds of people are happy you are there, and smile at you whenever they see you. Days like this are why I'm here.
There are some students in each class who are really curious about American culture, and some who have really good English, and a few who fall into both of those categories. Usually the curious ones all surround me and those who speak better English will serve as translators. In today's class, there was one student who I've had good conversations with before, and he asks great questions that lead to neat discussions and cultural understandings. I was sitting near him, and just as I had hoped, he started asking me questions. We talked about American high schools, and how they are different, than Indonesian high schools, including the topics of school uniforms, subjects studied, elective courses, what high school students like to do, etc. Then we talked about how life is different in big cities verse small towns, how the East coast is different than the West coast, where different states are located. It was a great environment where I talked about whatever topics they wanted to know about. One kid asked what Broadway was, and included a clarification between the city and the state of New York.
The students were very respectful and understood what questions might be uncomfortable for me to field, but we had built up some trust and understanding, so I was happy to aid in the cultural exchange. We talked about racism, religious views, discrimination, prejudice, and why they exist, different views people have in America and in Indonesia, and it was awesome. I left feeling so energized, and excited to be here. This was why I was here. Yes I am an English teaching assistant, but I feel like that's just an excuse to get me into a high school where I can have meaningful conversations with inspired/inspiring young people.
Usually at the end of the day I'm pooped and I want to take a nap, but like I said, this talk left me more energized than I'd been in awhile, and I still had a few hours of daylight left. So I went out for a walk. Usually I walk along the main road, just so I don't get lost, but there was a back road I had seen last week that I was eager to check out, so I set off on an outing. It was nice being off the main road, much more peaceful, more foliage, less garbage, more color, it was very lovely. When I returned to the main road I was quite thirsty, and as I was walking along I came across a coconut stand. So I sat down and enjoyed fresh coconut milk with ice. It was magical.
On my final stretch home, I was passed by a number of my students, all of them beaming at me while they say "Hi Miss!" Whenever I am feeling down, it is always my students that cheer me up. Their enthusiasm is the greatest thing to have around. It's nice to be in a place where hundreds of people are happy you are there, and smile at you whenever they see you. Days like this are why I'm here.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thank goodness we are getting a new school
One of the first things I learned about my school (SMAN5) was that they were building a new school. First I heard it would be done in December, but then I started asking around and heard January and February. The construction has been going on behind my school for months, and I finally did a little exploring. One of the assistant headmasters was back there, motioned me on back and I got a mini-tour. I was able to see the second level as well, by way of rickety, sketchy ladder. It was cool to see the progress up close, I can't wait to see it!
I can see my students from here!
I also had a view of the nearby elementary school.
It has been raining a lot and this has caused some flooding... good thing we are getting a new school!
School was essentially canceled for the three classrooms that were housed in the flooded building.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
A post on fitness
This post is dedicated to fitness and goes over some of my fitness endeavors here in Palembang.
Novotel So I meant to write this post weeks ago, but was re-inspired today by a trip to Novotel, the nicest hotel in Palembang. I had been wanting to check it out for awhile because it looks very impressive from the outside, and the pictures I'd seen from the inside were equally beautiful. So today I decided to treat myself to a day at the pool and nice gym. And it's very nice, but it cost like it too. It was ~$15 for day use (which included gym, steam room, sauna, and pool. plus a burger/noodle/rice dish). For reference, the gym I go to now costs ~$10, a month! I was glad I had set aside a whole day here, and have given myself lots of time by the pool reading, and it was great to see an elliptical for the first time in 3 months. I laughed at myself in the sauna and steam room, leaving the hot sun outside to sit in an even hotter more humid room inside. How silly.
It really is a mini-vacation here- everybody speaks english and wants to assist you with anything you want to do. It's nice to have a little get away. I was considering a membership here for the remainder of my time here, but it would be about ~$85/month, and it would drastically cut the number of interactions I had with people in the community. My gym isn't anything fancy, but it has it's charms.
Basketball at school
A few weeks ago my school repainted it's basketball court, and the coach invited me to their practice the following Sunday. I warned him that although I like basketball, I'm better at watching than I am playing. When I first showed up I was shooting around with some of the students, and happened to make all of my first few shots. It was completely misleading. Later when we were doing drills and I wasn't making any shots, the coach announced that if I made a basket everyone would have to do push ups. Lucky for everyone, I still couldn't make a shot.
Regardless of my poor performance, the coach put me on the scrimmage game with all the best players. Although I still couldn't make any shots, I was decent at marking and was good at switching back and forth between offense and defense and the first one up or down the court, so I think I earned my place on the team. Then we did an all girls scrimmage. That was fun because I was taller than all the other girls, and could run faster and throw the ball farther. I felt a little guilty about all of this, but overall fun was had by all.
Sunday morning "jogging"
There is a park in the middle of the city called "kambang iwok" with a pond, and it takes up about half a city block. On Sunday mornings, the community all gets up early for a little exercise. They city closes off the surrounding streets so that people can run/walk/bike around the loop. I have only been once, but I am supposed to go again tomorrow. It isn't exactly exercise, because whenever the teachers from my school want to go for a "jog", it ends up being a very short very slow walk. But some people do exercise there! They have the largest congregation of Zumba enthusiasts that I have ever seen. There are hundreds of people dancing along with a number of instructors, and they take up an entire corner of the track. It's impressive.
There is also a neat little bike community there. It's the only time it's really safe to ride your bike in Palembang, so people bring out all kinds of bikes. The kids are there to actually ride there bikes, but then there are lots of really cool people who just stand next to there bikes. There are different cliques too. Old school bikes, fixed gear bikes, nice road bikes, each group has there designated hang out spot along the track. I don't know if they groups have any beef with each other, but all the guys look pretty tough so I'd imagine so.
Mercy Fitness & Salon
Now I'll talk about my gym. Maybe sometime I'll profile all of the different characters I've met, but for now I'll just give an overview. The first two floors of the building are filled with chairs and beds for all sorts of salon/spa treatments, and then the gym is on the third floor of this lovely old un-airconditioned building. If I were to compare it to another gym, I'd say it's like average joe's gym from the movie Dodgeball, but it's an all women's gym. Which is really fun. These women come in all dressed in long pants/shirts, with head scarves, then dress down to shorts and a tank top and they are ready to go. They are still entertained by their bule member and I often get interrupted several times throughout my workout for photos. So there are hundreds of photos of me, gross and sweaty, somewhere out there in Indonesia. Also, whenever I show up I can hear both my name and the word bule and my name being shouted from the entrance up to the third floor where the gym is, so there is a nice welcoming crowd ready to greet me by the time I get up there, along with techno remixes to 80's hits.
The ladies in the gym are excited to talk to me and work out with me and all have really fun goofy personalities. Perfect for working out with. There are lots of weights/machines, a few cardio machines, some spinning bikes, and a TV. There is always some sort of Zumba-esque video playing, with different people joining in or dropping out as they like. Everyone is very welcoming and thoughtful, and they always want to give me a ride to or from the gym. There have even been a few minor arguments about who gets to take me. It's funny being such a novelty sometimes.
The instructor there is really excited to have me there, has shown me how to use everything in there, and makes my arms want to fall off. My first day there she gave me a ride home, after a detour to her own house where I took lots of pictures with her and her children (post-workout, so very sweaty). She has also asked me about becoming a fitness instructor. I briefly considered it, but didn't seem like a good idea for a multitude of reasons, most importantly I'm not allowed to do any outside work from Fulbright.
Novotel So I meant to write this post weeks ago, but was re-inspired today by a trip to Novotel, the nicest hotel in Palembang. I had been wanting to check it out for awhile because it looks very impressive from the outside, and the pictures I'd seen from the inside were equally beautiful. So today I decided to treat myself to a day at the pool and nice gym. And it's very nice, but it cost like it too. It was ~$15 for day use (which included gym, steam room, sauna, and pool. plus a burger/noodle/rice dish). For reference, the gym I go to now costs ~$10, a month! I was glad I had set aside a whole day here, and have given myself lots of time by the pool reading, and it was great to see an elliptical for the first time in 3 months. I laughed at myself in the sauna and steam room, leaving the hot sun outside to sit in an even hotter more humid room inside. How silly.
It really is a mini-vacation here- everybody speaks english and wants to assist you with anything you want to do. It's nice to have a little get away. I was considering a membership here for the remainder of my time here, but it would be about ~$85/month, and it would drastically cut the number of interactions I had with people in the community. My gym isn't anything fancy, but it has it's charms.
Basketball at school
A few weeks ago my school repainted it's basketball court, and the coach invited me to their practice the following Sunday. I warned him that although I like basketball, I'm better at watching than I am playing. When I first showed up I was shooting around with some of the students, and happened to make all of my first few shots. It was completely misleading. Later when we were doing drills and I wasn't making any shots, the coach announced that if I made a basket everyone would have to do push ups. Lucky for everyone, I still couldn't make a shot.
Regardless of my poor performance, the coach put me on the scrimmage game with all the best players. Although I still couldn't make any shots, I was decent at marking and was good at switching back and forth between offense and defense and the first one up or down the court, so I think I earned my place on the team. Then we did an all girls scrimmage. That was fun because I was taller than all the other girls, and could run faster and throw the ball farther. I felt a little guilty about all of this, but overall fun was had by all.
Sunday morning "jogging"
There is a park in the middle of the city called "kambang iwok" with a pond, and it takes up about half a city block. On Sunday mornings, the community all gets up early for a little exercise. They city closes off the surrounding streets so that people can run/walk/bike around the loop. I have only been once, but I am supposed to go again tomorrow. It isn't exactly exercise, because whenever the teachers from my school want to go for a "jog", it ends up being a very short very slow walk. But some people do exercise there! They have the largest congregation of Zumba enthusiasts that I have ever seen. There are hundreds of people dancing along with a number of instructors, and they take up an entire corner of the track. It's impressive.
There is also a neat little bike community there. It's the only time it's really safe to ride your bike in Palembang, so people bring out all kinds of bikes. The kids are there to actually ride there bikes, but then there are lots of really cool people who just stand next to there bikes. There are different cliques too. Old school bikes, fixed gear bikes, nice road bikes, each group has there designated hang out spot along the track. I don't know if they groups have any beef with each other, but all the guys look pretty tough so I'd imagine so.
Mercy Fitness & Salon
Now I'll talk about my gym. Maybe sometime I'll profile all of the different characters I've met, but for now I'll just give an overview. The first two floors of the building are filled with chairs and beds for all sorts of salon/spa treatments, and then the gym is on the third floor of this lovely old un-airconditioned building. If I were to compare it to another gym, I'd say it's like average joe's gym from the movie Dodgeball, but it's an all women's gym. Which is really fun. These women come in all dressed in long pants/shirts, with head scarves, then dress down to shorts and a tank top and they are ready to go. They are still entertained by their bule member and I often get interrupted several times throughout my workout for photos. So there are hundreds of photos of me, gross and sweaty, somewhere out there in Indonesia. Also, whenever I show up I can hear both my name and the word bule and my name being shouted from the entrance up to the third floor where the gym is, so there is a nice welcoming crowd ready to greet me by the time I get up there, along with techno remixes to 80's hits.
The ladies in the gym are excited to talk to me and work out with me and all have really fun goofy personalities. Perfect for working out with. There are lots of weights/machines, a few cardio machines, some spinning bikes, and a TV. There is always some sort of Zumba-esque video playing, with different people joining in or dropping out as they like. Everyone is very welcoming and thoughtful, and they always want to give me a ride to or from the gym. There have even been a few minor arguments about who gets to take me. It's funny being such a novelty sometimes.
The instructor there is really excited to have me there, has shown me how to use everything in there, and makes my arms want to fall off. My first day there she gave me a ride home, after a detour to her own house where I took lots of pictures with her and her children (post-workout, so very sweaty). She has also asked me about becoming a fitness instructor. I briefly considered it, but didn't seem like a good idea for a multitude of reasons, most importantly I'm not allowed to do any outside work from Fulbright.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
My weekend. With photos!
Here is an update from my weekend! After a lovely spa day with Femmi, Dierdre, and Dustin where we had lovely 2 hour massages for 170,000 rupiah (~$17), I was off on an ibu overnighter as I like to call them. Many of the teachers from school want to have me stay over at their houses, and it is always an experience, but often takes a lot of energy so I try to space out the visits. This weekend I stayed over at Ibu Yana's house. I knew it was going to be interesting because she knows only a few words in English, and most of our conversations would be in Indonesian. She picked me up (along with her daughter and husband) at my house then we were off to the mall. I don't know if she was trying to cater to my American taste, but she gave me the options of McDonalds or KFC for dinner. We ended up at KFC after I tried to get her to go to an Indonesian place, but Indonesian KFC is still a cultural experience. People love KFC over here. They are massive, open 24 hours, have free wifi, lots of fried chicken, but instead of a biscuit on the side, you get a packet of sticky rice wrapped up like a hamburger. After dinner we walked around the mall, did some grocery shopping, then headed home. It is now a well known fact that I love papaya and mango, so teachers often have it at their house for me, and we had it as our midnight snack. Very thoughtful.
The next day we had pempek, for breakfast! With papaya and mango of course. Pempek is basically fried fish dumplings, and it is the dish that Palembang is known for. People love it here. It was gross the first time I tried it, but I've since warmed up to it a bit. Pempek kulit is pempek made from the meat close to the skin of the fish, and it is my favorite type (the darker of the two shown below). After breakfast, I showered and dressed and we were off! Where exactly, I had no idea, but that is usually the case.
First we went to Ibu Yana's sisters house to pick them up for where ever we were going, took plenty of photos (this happens everytime I meet new people), then we all got into the car. We showed up to something that looked very busy, and after walking through a crowed of people and turning the corner, I found out it was a wedding! My first in Indonesia, and it was just like I'd been told. You invite everyone you know, and their mother, and get dressed up in super cool outfits (at least in Palembang, see below!) for a long ceremony. The ceremony was all in Indonesian, so I wasn't exactly paying attention, but when I heard a few English words I knew they were directed at me. I looked up and sure enough the MC was staring at me, along with several hundred wedding guests. I don't know what he said next, but based on the gestures and the eruption of laughter that followed, I knew a joke had been made at my expense. At least I'm used to it at this point!
After the ceremony, everyone shakes hands with the bride and groom, and eats whatever food is there. The majority of the crowd rushed in line for the food, but small crowds worked there way over to the newly weds. I got the feeling that weddings are the kind of thing that people go to just for the food... And boy what a mess that makes! Imagine hundred of plastic chairs lined up in rows, with dirty dishes stacked on top and underneath. It was dangerous just maneuvering our way out! After eating, then shaking the hands of the bride and groom (I stopped up the whole line to get the photo below, but I knew it'd be worth it) we continued on with our adventure.
We went back to Ibu Yana's sister's house, after stopping to get mango, because they had heard I liked mango, and ate some mango. Then we got back in the car, and from what I understood, we were taking Ibu Yana's other home. Everyone around here knows the English for "go home". It's its' own verb over here. My first week or so here everyone would say "go home" when I finished classes, and it sounded like they didn't like me and wanted me to leave, but I think the tone and translation don't exactly match up. Anyways, we were assisting her sister so she could "go home". I thought we'd drop her off at her house, there'd be more photos, then I'd be on my way. But we just kept going farther and farther out of town. I learned that I live pretty close to the edge of the city, and about 10 minutes beyond me you start to see different living arrangements. Not the suburby/city that is most of Palembang, but rickety looking houses and walkways on rickety looking stilts, and lots of vegetation. It look like what I thought Indonesia was going to be, and I want to go back and take pictures, it was beautiful.
We kept going until we reached a giant arch, where we parked and started walking. It didn't look like any houses were around so I was very confused, until I saw the river right there. We were at a dock and she had to take a boat back home! Suddenly all of these little clues that I'd been picking up in Indonesian made sense. Why it 2pm was so important, and why it would take her four hours to be home, why her husband/children weren't at the wedding, and why her sisters were so excited to see her. I was very happy to put to the pieces together, and to see the river! It was the closest I'd been, and I had been wanting to check it out. This combination made me quite a spectacle. Here I was, a crazy foreigner bouncing around this tiny dock taking pictures of everything. People are staring at me all the time anyways, I might as well give them something to look at every once and a while! The boats were very cool. Colorful, hand painted, intricate, and very crowded. I definitely want to take one someday, but first I need to find somewhere along the river to go...
Ibu Yana at the dock.
SWednesday, October 3, 2012
Some new photos
Here are some photos from the week: students studying biology, English (and Spanish!) words to call your boyfriend/girlfriend (a filler activity that my students loved), the hallway of the radio studio, and a wedding party favor tissue box cover. Oh Indonesia.
Hanging Out in Palembang
I've been in Palembang just about a month now, and I'm starting to settle in. I know names and recognize faces, and things are getting more comfortable, or rather less uncomfortable.
I feel very fortunate to have found myself fitting into a few social groups in Palembang. I had some built in friends from the US Government (Dustin, another ETA, and Dierdre, the English Language Fellow in Palembang), and they have been lovely. Dierdre has a spare room at her place so I have stayed over there a few times on the weekend. It is so nice to have solid English conversations after days of trying to communicate in an Indonesian/English combo that changes depending on who you talk to.
Most of the other friends I have made have been through Dierdre, who found some friends online before heading out here. First we have Femmi and Ramdan, two Indonesians who work at the coolest radio station in town, 97.5 Play FM. They both have great English (Femmi is a part time English Teacher) and like meeting new people. They knew the ETAs in Palembang a few years back too. They are fun to hang out with around town or at the radio studio. The studio has great people, fast wifi, AC, and is conveniently located above a restaurant that serves burgers, lattes, beer (rare). I have come here (I'm writing this from the studio, of course) on any days off I have during the week to skypre, email, blog, and hang out. It's a nice thing to look forward to. Femmi live pretty close to my house so we've gone out for coffee a few times, to do "lesson planning".
Dierdre also found some other English teachers who work for a company called English First, which is for students who want additional English lessons after school. There is a house that all of the teachers live in together, and there are 5-6 cycling through on one year contracts. We went over to their house a few weekends ago, and I went out to get reflexi (reflexology) and dinner with one of the girls, Megan, this past weekend. The EF teachers have a few contacts that get shared from past generations, so meeting them connected me to a lot of people in Palembang.
So, I have plenty of wonderful people to hang out with, but Palembang doesn't have a whole lot to do. We can hang out at people's houses, or the radio studio, I have been to all of the malls several times (PIM, PTC, and PS), and seen the Ampera Bridge at night, and I think we are running out of activities. Luckily, people here are really into karaoke! I am a big fan of singing songs really loud, and I am in good company. The karaoke places have private group rooms, so you can belt out songs with your favorite friends. I went out to karaoke both Friday and Saturday night, and I'd probably be happy doing it every weekend.
I feel very fortunate to have found myself fitting into a few social groups in Palembang. I had some built in friends from the US Government (Dustin, another ETA, and Dierdre, the English Language Fellow in Palembang), and they have been lovely. Dierdre has a spare room at her place so I have stayed over there a few times on the weekend. It is so nice to have solid English conversations after days of trying to communicate in an Indonesian/English combo that changes depending on who you talk to.
Most of the other friends I have made have been through Dierdre, who found some friends online before heading out here. First we have Femmi and Ramdan, two Indonesians who work at the coolest radio station in town, 97.5 Play FM. They both have great English (Femmi is a part time English Teacher) and like meeting new people. They knew the ETAs in Palembang a few years back too. They are fun to hang out with around town or at the radio studio. The studio has great people, fast wifi, AC, and is conveniently located above a restaurant that serves burgers, lattes, beer (rare). I have come here (I'm writing this from the studio, of course) on any days off I have during the week to skypre, email, blog, and hang out. It's a nice thing to look forward to. Femmi live pretty close to my house so we've gone out for coffee a few times, to do "lesson planning".
Dierdre also found some other English teachers who work for a company called English First, which is for students who want additional English lessons after school. There is a house that all of the teachers live in together, and there are 5-6 cycling through on one year contracts. We went over to their house a few weekends ago, and I went out to get reflexi (reflexology) and dinner with one of the girls, Megan, this past weekend. The EF teachers have a few contacts that get shared from past generations, so meeting them connected me to a lot of people in Palembang.
So, I have plenty of wonderful people to hang out with, but Palembang doesn't have a whole lot to do. We can hang out at people's houses, or the radio studio, I have been to all of the malls several times (PIM, PTC, and PS), and seen the Ampera Bridge at night, and I think we are running out of activities. Luckily, people here are really into karaoke! I am a big fan of singing songs really loud, and I am in good company. The karaoke places have private group rooms, so you can belt out songs with your favorite friends. I went out to karaoke both Friday and Saturday night, and I'd probably be happy doing it every weekend.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Photos from Singapore/Orientation
Hello! I put some photos up on Facebook from Orientation and Singapore, I made the album visible to the public so everyone should be able to see them!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151108346934217.431746.713004216&type=1&l=9c807258b1
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151108346934217.431746.713004216&type=1&l=9c807258b1
Cool fruit!
This is dragon fruit. It is so beautiful! The picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it is bright fuchsia on the outside and white, speckled with seeds in the middle. The actual rind/outer layer is pretty cool too! Definitely dragon-esque. And it's tasty too! Next to it is some mango. I absolutely love all of the fruit here. I think I go through a whole huge papaya every other day here! I went to the grocery store with a teacher from my school the other night and she bought me a ton of fruit, mainly things I hadn't tried yet, it was so sweet! Dragon fruit was in the bunch.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Why yes, I am an Indonesian Princess
 |
| One of the teachers at my school teaches dance and wanted to get me dressed up in traditional costume. This is the result. They tried to fasten some fake hair pieces on, but it didn't quite work out. |
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Class today.
Today is Thursday, and Thursday's are the last day of my work week (lucky me!). So the lesson I was teaching I had done a few times and new how long certain things took, how to give the instructions, what kind of thing students got hung up, I was set for smooth sailing! But for some reason the lesson wasn't going as well as expected. The classroom set up was different, it was the largest class of students, and every class is different with its own style. I had found a better way to challenge the advanced students, the intermediate students were doing fine, but the less advanced students, I didn't feel like I was benefiting them or being as helpful as I had been in other classes. There was one student in particular that I knew wasn't getting it. He wouldn't speak any English to me, I tried using basic words but he kept turning to his friend and asking what I said. I had to keep checking in on other students who wanted my attention, but I was getting more and more disheartened. At this point his friends were making fun of him, and most if the class had finished the activity that he hadn't even started.
Determined to not let this student leave with a blank page, I worked through forming a sentence from a list of nouns adjectives and verbs they had created earlier. Red and snake were two words I had helped him with, so I knew that he knew them, I asked what color the snake was, he said red (English, finally!) then I asked him what the snake does, and he said plays. Yes, the red snake plays. Sudah, begus! You've done it, good! It took a second to sink in, then he whipped out another sentence much more complex, I was impressed! Then his next sentence came, it was amazing! There were a few minor errors but they were complex sentences that made sense! The look on his face had completely changed. At first he was nervous and trying to avoid me, but by the end he was confident and smiling! It was really great. Even if he hadn't actually learned anything, he at least got a boost of confidence in his English skills. It changed my whole mood about the class, because I knew I made a difference for at least one student who needed the encouragement.
Determined to not let this student leave with a blank page, I worked through forming a sentence from a list of nouns adjectives and verbs they had created earlier. Red and snake were two words I had helped him with, so I knew that he knew them, I asked what color the snake was, he said red (English, finally!) then I asked him what the snake does, and he said plays. Yes, the red snake plays. Sudah, begus! You've done it, good! It took a second to sink in, then he whipped out another sentence much more complex, I was impressed! Then his next sentence came, it was amazing! There were a few minor errors but they were complex sentences that made sense! The look on his face had completely changed. At first he was nervous and trying to avoid me, but by the end he was confident and smiling! It was really great. Even if he hadn't actually learned anything, he at least got a boost of confidence in his English skills. It changed my whole mood about the class, because I knew I made a difference for at least one student who needed the encouragement.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Photos! Finally.
As promised, here are some photos that correspond with a few of the activities I mentioned in the last post. Along with photos of where I live, the children in the neighborhood, and some shots of me with students and teachers. Finally!
Monday, September 17, 2012
About time for another post
I apologize for my poor reporting, especially when it comes to
photos, but as soon as I figure out the best way to get internet at a
fast enough speed to upload pictures I will get on it. So much has
happened in the last 10 days , and I've either been out doing things or
resting in between activities. I'll try and give a brief but thorough
update.
The teaching- I am starting to learn my role in the school and classroom and understand how things work around here. I will be teaching 8 classes on TOEFL grammar to 10th and 11th graders. I will be solo teaching, rather than assisting, but will sometimes be accompanied by other English teachers if they feel like sitting in the back. I just learned today that all the students actually have a TOEFL book! And I received a copy myself. So now rather than making up lessons I hope will be relevant, I have material that matches the TOEFL exam! I still don't really know what I am doing, but luckily I can speak English well enough to pretend.
The students- They are so nice to be around. The are curious, engaged, and excited to see me whenever I pass. They are bashful about their English, but love hearing me speak Indonesian, or Palembang (the mother tongue), they laugh and applaud when I say things correctly. They will also raise their hands just to tell me I'm beautiful. I could get used to this.
The teachers- I can't tell who is more excited about me being at SMAN5, the students or the teachers. The teachers have been so welcoming and helpful, it has been incredible. The English teachers I can communicate with pretty well and am becoming close with, but there are also a few teachers who speak very little English, about the same as my Indonesian, and they are so much fun to be around. Laughter is a truly universal language. Laughter and math. I have been teaching on of the math teachers the english words for different symbols and equations. It was neat translating the words for the Quadratic Formula, because although we have different words for it, the equation is exactly the same here as it is in the US. I love math for that reason.
The school- I had heard I was going to an underfunded public school, and it is just about exactly what I expected. Too crowded, not enough resources, but essentially the Indonesian equivalent of my high school experience. However, they are building a new school! I thought it was going to be finished next summer but I just found out it will be done in December/January and will open next semester! Class sizes will drop from 40-45 student to 30-35 students, teachers will have there own classroom that students will go to, instead of teachers shuffling around to different rooms, it should be pretty cool!
Things I have done around town with teachers, students, and friends.
-Had henna done on my hands (by teacher's sister)
-Stayed overnight at my teacher friend's parents house and hung out with her whole big family.
-Went to Ampera Bridge at night. Very cool, lots of young people, would love to go back.
-Went for a Sunday morning "jog". Sunday's from 6-10am they close of a block of the city for people to jog, bike, hang out, it was really neat. I want ot take pictures next time and do a whole post on it.
-Went to two of the three big malls in Palembang (PIM and PTC, PS coming soon!)
-Went to SMA 17 with Deirdre (Fulbright ELF) to see Dustin (another ETA) and get a tour of his school.
-Befriended a taxi driver, Tirta, and now have a driver I can call.
-Went to a rock concert, saw lots of young people, met some cool Indonesians that Deirdre found on couch surfers.
-Went to a radio studio where Fenni, and Randon work (the cool Indonesians mentioned above) that is above an indoor soccer center, talked about forming a girls league. Also talked about having a radio show once a week.
-Rode on the back of several motobikes.
-Went to the pool with some teachers and their kids, and saw my first burkinis!
-Eaten a ton of traditional Palembang dishes-lots of fish, noodles, rice, fried things. Pempek is the dish the are most proud of, fried fish dumplings. Enough said.
Upcoming Activities:
-Tomorrow I will get dressed up in traditional dance clothes with make-up, for the sole purpose of taking pictures to send back to America. I promise I'll post one.
-Karaoke! With Deirdre, Fenni, and Randon.
-Another overnighter with a teacher from school. this is one of the funny teachers who doesn't speak much English, so it could be a little interesting.
-Visit a pineapple farm. I don't know exactly when this will happen, but the dance teacher wants to take me.
-Many more exciting things! I honestly never know what will happen, and at the end of the day I am always surprised by something. So many unknown adventures await!
The teaching- I am starting to learn my role in the school and classroom and understand how things work around here. I will be teaching 8 classes on TOEFL grammar to 10th and 11th graders. I will be solo teaching, rather than assisting, but will sometimes be accompanied by other English teachers if they feel like sitting in the back. I just learned today that all the students actually have a TOEFL book! And I received a copy myself. So now rather than making up lessons I hope will be relevant, I have material that matches the TOEFL exam! I still don't really know what I am doing, but luckily I can speak English well enough to pretend.
The students- They are so nice to be around. The are curious, engaged, and excited to see me whenever I pass. They are bashful about their English, but love hearing me speak Indonesian, or Palembang (the mother tongue), they laugh and applaud when I say things correctly. They will also raise their hands just to tell me I'm beautiful. I could get used to this.
The teachers- I can't tell who is more excited about me being at SMAN5, the students or the teachers. The teachers have been so welcoming and helpful, it has been incredible. The English teachers I can communicate with pretty well and am becoming close with, but there are also a few teachers who speak very little English, about the same as my Indonesian, and they are so much fun to be around. Laughter is a truly universal language. Laughter and math. I have been teaching on of the math teachers the english words for different symbols and equations. It was neat translating the words for the Quadratic Formula, because although we have different words for it, the equation is exactly the same here as it is in the US. I love math for that reason.
The school- I had heard I was going to an underfunded public school, and it is just about exactly what I expected. Too crowded, not enough resources, but essentially the Indonesian equivalent of my high school experience. However, they are building a new school! I thought it was going to be finished next summer but I just found out it will be done in December/January and will open next semester! Class sizes will drop from 40-45 student to 30-35 students, teachers will have there own classroom that students will go to, instead of teachers shuffling around to different rooms, it should be pretty cool!
Things I have done around town with teachers, students, and friends.
-Had henna done on my hands (by teacher's sister)
-Stayed overnight at my teacher friend's parents house and hung out with her whole big family.
-Went to Ampera Bridge at night. Very cool, lots of young people, would love to go back.
-Went for a Sunday morning "jog". Sunday's from 6-10am they close of a block of the city for people to jog, bike, hang out, it was really neat. I want ot take pictures next time and do a whole post on it.
-Went to two of the three big malls in Palembang (PIM and PTC, PS coming soon!)
-Went to SMA 17 with Deirdre (Fulbright ELF) to see Dustin (another ETA) and get a tour of his school.
-Befriended a taxi driver, Tirta, and now have a driver I can call.
-Went to a rock concert, saw lots of young people, met some cool Indonesians that Deirdre found on couch surfers.
-Went to a radio studio where Fenni, and Randon work (the cool Indonesians mentioned above) that is above an indoor soccer center, talked about forming a girls league. Also talked about having a radio show once a week.
-Rode on the back of several motobikes.
-Went to the pool with some teachers and their kids, and saw my first burkinis!
-Eaten a ton of traditional Palembang dishes-lots of fish, noodles, rice, fried things. Pempek is the dish the are most proud of, fried fish dumplings. Enough said.
Upcoming Activities:
-Tomorrow I will get dressed up in traditional dance clothes with make-up, for the sole purpose of taking pictures to send back to America. I promise I'll post one.
-Karaoke! With Deirdre, Fenni, and Randon.
-Another overnighter with a teacher from school. this is one of the funny teachers who doesn't speak much English, so it could be a little interesting.
-Visit a pineapple farm. I don't know exactly when this will happen, but the dance teacher wants to take me.
-Many more exciting things! I honestly never know what will happen, and at the end of the day I am always surprised by something. So many unknown adventures await!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
SMAN 5 Palembang
Today is day Friday, day three at school. I have only really taught one class, but have sat in for observations on several, as I am doing right now. My school seems to be very on top of things and I already know my schedule. I will be teaching three classes on Monday, one on Tuesday (maybe tow, I can't remember), two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, and none on Friday! They are not scheduling me for more than 20 hours, so that is good, but they did plan on having me solo teach, which is not exciting, but I am going to try it before shutting it down.
Everyone is very nice and friendly and welcoming, everyone wants to talk to me in English and Indonesian and Palembang (mother tongue) and I try and follow and communicate as best I can. The students are bashful about there english, except one which did his study abroad in no other state but South Dakota! It blew my mind. He was in Sioux Falls for 9 months. I am going to try and get photos from his time to show and show him photos from my trips there. What are the chances? His english is much better than even most of the english teacher. His pronunciation and vocabulary are great. I'm excited to keep his english skills up! There is another recent grad that wants me to help him with his application to study in the US, so that is exciting.
The teachers love chatting with me and want to have me over and stay the night and go to lunch and go to the mall and all sorts of things. I will be staying the night at my counterparts parents house this weekend, which is right next to the Ampera bridge, so I can see it at night, and then go to the park for a jog at (gulp) 6am! So everyone wants to help me and show me around, which is great. And just simple greetings and conversations on the way to school are greatly appreciated.
My living arrangement is great. I live in an extra room with an Ibu who loves gardening, so the beautiful house also has a beautiful garden. She is also very sweet so I have a nice lady to practice my Indonesian with. We usually have dinner and breakfast together, and can watch TV in the evenings. I have a nice big room with my own bathroom (it even has a real toilet!) so I am very comfortable. My house is about a 5 minute walk from school which is very convenient.
I have been dealing with immigration stuff upon arrival, I have 7 days to complete the KITAS process otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what happens, but it's not good. I came in on Tuesday, the process needs to be completed by Monday, and today is Friday with only the weekend in between. I have heard this is a long process requiring several visits, so we'll see how this all works out.
Pictures coming soon!
Everyone is very nice and friendly and welcoming, everyone wants to talk to me in English and Indonesian and Palembang (mother tongue) and I try and follow and communicate as best I can. The students are bashful about there english, except one which did his study abroad in no other state but South Dakota! It blew my mind. He was in Sioux Falls for 9 months. I am going to try and get photos from his time to show and show him photos from my trips there. What are the chances? His english is much better than even most of the english teacher. His pronunciation and vocabulary are great. I'm excited to keep his english skills up! There is another recent grad that wants me to help him with his application to study in the US, so that is exciting.
The teachers love chatting with me and want to have me over and stay the night and go to lunch and go to the mall and all sorts of things. I will be staying the night at my counterparts parents house this weekend, which is right next to the Ampera bridge, so I can see it at night, and then go to the park for a jog at (gulp) 6am! So everyone wants to help me and show me around, which is great. And just simple greetings and conversations on the way to school are greatly appreciated.
My living arrangement is great. I live in an extra room with an Ibu who loves gardening, so the beautiful house also has a beautiful garden. She is also very sweet so I have a nice lady to practice my Indonesian with. We usually have dinner and breakfast together, and can watch TV in the evenings. I have a nice big room with my own bathroom (it even has a real toilet!) so I am very comfortable. My house is about a 5 minute walk from school which is very convenient.
I have been dealing with immigration stuff upon arrival, I have 7 days to complete the KITAS process otherwise, I'm not exactly sure what happens, but it's not good. I came in on Tuesday, the process needs to be completed by Monday, and today is Friday with only the weekend in between. I have heard this is a long process requiring several visits, so we'll see how this all works out.
Pictures coming soon!
Singapore
Singapore was amazing. It is a beautiful city with so many impressive things to see! My feet were killing me by the end, because we were walking around the majority of our 36 hours there. We had dinner in Little India, which was a fun district to explore and a very delicious dinner. After that we went to the Arab Quarter and stopped at a hookah bar. Then we went to the square where all the night clubs were, and because we didn't want to pay $15 for a drink, we spent most of the night bouncing between clubs, hanging out at the nearby bridge, and dancing by the beautiful fountain that was in the center of the square.
The next day we saw the smaller Merlion, which was just as great as it sounds, and made a trip back to the Arab Quarter for lunch and a look at the beautiful Mosque there in the daylight. Then I took a quick nap (we were up until 4 or 5am) before heading out again to see the super trees. The super trees look like something from Avatar. Its an incredible garden that is hard to explain, so I will attach photos. On our way to see the super trees, we stumbled upon a laser light show that had holograms, music, fog, fire, and bubbles included, and was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It was like magic. Which reminds me, one of my friends called Singapore "Disneyland for adults", which I completely agree with, there are so many entertaining things to do and awesome things to see. Including the largest Ferris Wheel I've ever seen.
After the garden we went on top of the tallest building in Singapore (I think), and the design is three pillars with a giant ship on top. It is very impressive, and the view from the top was incredible. There was a fee to see the view, which gave you access to the restaurant and the night club, but the infinity pool was for hotel guests only. The view was totally worth it. I would return to Singapore in a heart beat, it was the cleanest safest feeling city I have ever visited. I loved it!
Pictures coming soon!
The next day we saw the smaller Merlion, which was just as great as it sounds, and made a trip back to the Arab Quarter for lunch and a look at the beautiful Mosque there in the daylight. Then I took a quick nap (we were up until 4 or 5am) before heading out again to see the super trees. The super trees look like something from Avatar. Its an incredible garden that is hard to explain, so I will attach photos. On our way to see the super trees, we stumbled upon a laser light show that had holograms, music, fog, fire, and bubbles included, and was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It was like magic. Which reminds me, one of my friends called Singapore "Disneyland for adults", which I completely agree with, there are so many entertaining things to do and awesome things to see. Including the largest Ferris Wheel I've ever seen.
After the garden we went on top of the tallest building in Singapore (I think), and the design is three pillars with a giant ship on top. It is very impressive, and the view from the top was incredible. There was a fee to see the view, which gave you access to the restaurant and the night club, but the infinity pool was for hotel guests only. The view was totally worth it. I would return to Singapore in a heart beat, it was the cleanest safest feeling city I have ever visited. I loved it!
Pictures coming soon!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
A few photos.
Hello, I've added some photos from around town during orientation. Gado-gado, which is a delicious peanut sauce veggie dish. A group of us riding in an angkut (gutted van turned into a minibus). And I had to include a motorbike shot because there are thousands of them on the streets, and the baby up front is a nice touch. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Getting Oriented
I first started thinking about Fulbright about a year ago. I had heard wonderful things about the program and it seemed like a great opportunity to see the world and make a positive impact out there somewhere. I decided to go for it and then slowly throughout the year deadlines approached, status updates came, increasing hope and anticipation, and at the end of March I got word that I made it! Next came the massive amounts of paperwork and even more waiting on the details of what the next year of my life would be like. Now I am finally here in Indonesia! I have been placed in Palembang, the capitol of South Sumatra, which is an industrial city with a population around 1.6 million.
I am currently in Bandung, on the island of Java, for three weeks of orientation. We arrived in Bandung a week ago, after after three "days" of travel --we lost 14 hours somewhere-- consisting of planes, trains, and automobiles (minus the trains). We have since been engaging in intensive classes 8am-5pm everyday. We have 4 hours of language class everyday, and an impressive amount of bahasa Indonisia has been jammed into my brain. We also have daily teaching classes, along with presentations/sessions with returning ETAs and folks from the embassy, telling us about the wonderful country we are in and giving tips and insight into making this experience as successful as possible.
Week one has been exhausting--adjusting to a completely different time zone, 8 hours of class everyday, and socializing with 50 other amazing people from around the US who will be my closest friends for the next 9 months. With the exception of eat out for dinner, I haven't seen much of Indonesia yet. But we do have the weekend off and there are lots of exciting festivities, so a much more exciting post (with pictures!) will be coming soon.
I am currently in Bandung, on the island of Java, for three weeks of orientation. We arrived in Bandung a week ago, after after three "days" of travel --we lost 14 hours somewhere-- consisting of planes, trains, and automobiles (minus the trains). We have since been engaging in intensive classes 8am-5pm everyday. We have 4 hours of language class everyday, and an impressive amount of bahasa Indonisia has been jammed into my brain. We also have daily teaching classes, along with presentations/sessions with returning ETAs and folks from the embassy, telling us about the wonderful country we are in and giving tips and insight into making this experience as successful as possible.
Week one has been exhausting--adjusting to a completely different time zone, 8 hours of class everyday, and socializing with 50 other amazing people from around the US who will be my closest friends for the next 9 months. With the exception of eat out for dinner, I haven't seen much of Indonesia yet. But we do have the weekend off and there are lots of exciting festivities, so a much more exciting post (with pictures!) will be coming soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)