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!