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!
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