Day 6: In the Village

We've had a busy, stressful, warm, sickie weekend. I'm the only one that is sick right now, but it still makes it hard to get anything done. We did do a couple of fun things, but I need to get through this Indonesia trip, so more on our weekend later!

On our 6th day, we switched up our routine just a bit. The kids had their free time in the morning, and then we went to the village in the afternoon. The Indonesian students were testing all week, so they wanted us to come in the afternoon when they were out of school to teach English classes.

Two of the female group leaders didn't want to teach the classes with the girls, so two of us taught classes for two days with two different groups.

We were teaching 1st-4th grades on this day, so we were introducing basic English words such as body parts, jobs, and clothing.

The boys had fun making up their own dances while the girls did old stand-bys like "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes".

I was in awe at some of the furniture in the classrooms and how few materials they had to work with. When we passed out paper for them to write on, they were stunned. Then a couple of the boys stashed it in their desks and asked for another sheet. This was one of the chairs in a classroom.

They were so excited to learn that when the classrooms filled up, they stood in the windows and doorways. It's incredible when you think about how so many students in the world take free public education for granted.

It was pretty entertaining to watch the girls struggle a bit with how to teach a concept and to see them try to adapt to the level or to the previous knowledge of the kids.

It was nice for them to get a little taste of what life is like for us five days a week!

And it was great to see the smiles on the faces of the kids!

Those who weren't in the classroom were continuing work on the wall in the hot sun and making some good progress!

Week 17: Green

Phew! Another crazy, busy week!

Day 111: We had friends over for dinner. When their toddler got cranky, everybody put post-its on themselves to entertain her. Cade was loving it!

Day 112: I spent the day grading essays from my green folder. It rained hard all day and that was my only consolation.

Day 113: Getting lunch on Sunday after church. I thought it was so cute how Cade had his arm wrapped around Daddy's leg.

Day 114: I was trying to get a picture of our new (to us) green blender, but the kids decided they wanted to be in the picture. The shots I got of them were much cuter than those of the blender.

Day 115: Katie and I went to see the world's longest rainbow fountain bridge which is only about a 10 minute drive from our house. It takes a lot longer to walk, though!

Day 116: It was pouring down rain during our entire city tour, so this was one of the better shots. In the bathroom at Doota mall in Dongdaemun.

Day 117: The green flower beds on the walk to the bus before school

I think my favorite shot from the week is the one of the kids and me in the giant flower pot!

If you'd like to see others' work on Project 52, check out the links:

www.styleberryblog.com

Cherry Blossoms...Part 2

I know...you thought you hadn't seen enough pictures of the cherry blossoms! I figured I'd better share more! I just have a few more days of the Immersion trip to share, and I just have four more school days of full time! I am so excited to get back to a part time schedule (even though it will look a little different than before) and be able to share more of what's going on with us. (I'm even more excited that there might actually be something going on with us again!) Starting the first full week of May, I will just be teaching my four English classes in the morning, and then I will be able to go home every afternoon at about 11:30. Yay! Only four classes and one subject to prepare for. I can't wait!

Alright, these are shots of the trees at school. 

The driveway up to the school is lined with these trees. It is absolutely beautiful.

Believe it or not, I did narrow them. I'm only sharing my favorites!

It is so sad that they only lasted about a week...until the first rain...

This last one I took at the park after school while the kids were playing...

Speaking of rain...Katie was only here for one day and it rained (like good ol' Seattle rain) the entire day! We still made our way around the city, but it was miserably wet!

Linking up with:                             Our World Tuesday

Immersion Indonesia: The Routine

Once we reached Telunas we had a pretty consistent routine that we were able to keep up.

We woke up at about 6 am and headed out to the beach for PT. We did some stretches and activities to wake up the kids.

Then we had a quiet time on the beach. We just sat, read, and prayed. One of my favorite parts of the day.

After quiet time, we had a short worship time where the kids were asked to share something significant that they'd read during their quiet times. They were so sweet and sincere.

And all that before breakfast! Every morning for breakfast we had omelette stations where we could choose our vegetables and cheese and the lovely staff would cook our eggs right in front of us!

After breakfast we did whatever activity was scheduled: jungle hike, ropes course, or going to the village. When we returned from our activity, the kids had free time on the beach.

to play badminton or volleyball

to bury each other in the sand

to explore the sea creatures

or just hang out on the dock.

In the evening, we had dinner...everything from sloppy joes and onion rings to curried chicken and vegetable stir fries. The food was so good!

After dinner, we had another short worship service where our guest speaker for the week delivered a message to the kids, and then we spent time with our small groups before finally going to bed.

Sorry. This was a long one...I just still have so many pictures!! Today one of my best friends arrives in Seoul! I'm so excited to see her and show you what we are able to squeeze into the one and a half days that she is here!