my days

so a day in the life..

ive been asked by a few people to say what my days are like.. they all pretty much run the same

4:30 am
I wake up briefly due to the call to prayer.. i usually look at my phone see what time it is and then fall back asleep.. sometimes ill hear some of it through my ear plugs but i can usually tune it out..

5:30 am
wake up and go take a mandi.. really this just consists of me standing in the bathroom and trying to take a half decent “shower” with freezing water.. its really the worst in the morning.. something about dousing yourself with frigid water at 530 in the morning isnt really welcoming.. lately ive just been getting my hair wet and getting a little water on my arms and legs before i just quit because im so cold..

5:45 am
eat breakfast.. after getting out of the bathroom and getting dressed i walk down the hall to the kitchen and grab a bowl of rice and whatever my ibu has made that morning.. I am not a big fan of eating in the morning so this is hell for me.. my ibu always looks at the portion i put on my plate and asks me if i want more.. almost every morning this happens.. i should look up small stomach.. haha to drink i have hot sweet fresh milk or hot sweet tea.. nothing here drink wise, besides water, comes without sugar in it.. its a little weird to get used to, everything being so sweet..

6:00 am
go back and sit around in my room till i have to leave for class.. lately ive been studying my flashcards or reading a book.. i have so much time to kill its not even funny.. One of the other trainees and I decided on starting to walk in the morning to exercise off the food that we keep getting fed.. im going to have awesome legs 8 weeks from now

7:25 am
leave for class.. on my way out the door i say goodbye to whoever is still home, usually only my ibu. We shake hands and then move the right hand briefly over our own hearts.. it shows respect.. I usually say sampai jumpa, which means until later.. or something along those lines. I then make the very short walk to Daniels house, another trainee who literally lives like 2 minutes away from me down a small hill.. On my way to his rumah (house) i smile and say pagi or selamat pagi to pretty much everyone on the street.. still getting quite a few stares but i also recognize quite a few of the people i pass by.. I get to Daniels house say hello to his Ibu and then we are off.. it takes about 15 to 20 minutes depending on how fast we are walking to get to the school or sekolah. Its a really nice walk, i have pictures that I hope to post soon..

8:00-10:00 am
class starts.. for the next two hours we sit in class, go over past lessons and learn some new vocabulary.. i feel like i have learned so much in such a short period of time but there is still sooooo much to learn.. This language is so easy but its pretty backwards when compared to english.. When you want to describe something you usually say the word and then the adjective.. it really takes some getting used to..

10:00-10:15 am
first break of the day.. we get about 15 minutes to stand up and stretch before our next round on Bahasa Indonesia.. usually we go stand on the front porch of the school and try talking to the little kids that have started to stand outside our classroom.. Its funny how many children have popped up.. the first few days they were all scared of us and they would say hi and then run away but recently they have been very interested in us and have started hanging around.. they are so cute..

10:15-12:00 pm
learn more Bahasa Indonesia.. review what we’ve learned from the previous two hours and learn more new vocab.. its just a constant stream of new words..

12:00-1:00 pm
Lunch.. Everyday i have brought a lunchbox from home.. in the beginning i got really worried about leaving the food out for 4 hours before i got a chance to eat it.. they really dont believe in refridgerators here and i am surprised i havent gotten sick from it yet.. ive gotten over it.. food stays out during the day and what you had for breakfast is usually your lunch and your dinner.. at around one or maybe a little bit before we all leave and usually catch an angkot to go to our link site for the next round of meetings.. the link site is only like 20/25 minutes walking but it is all uphill in the middle of the day.. today it was sooooooo warm it would have been brutal.. to take the angkot up it only costs about 2,000 rupiah.. which is really really cheap.. do the math yourself (exchange rate is roughly 8,500 to 1)

1:30-4:00 pm
at link we usually are either learning about TEFL learning, lessoning planning, or some other thing we have to be doing during training.. Last week we had a session on transportation safety which was interesting and found out that there are a few places we really arent allowed to go to in Indonesia.. Luckily they werent any parts that I want to visit..

usually around 4 is when my day can go one of two ways.. i can go home.. or i can go use the internet.. I usually dont go online every day so almost every other day i come home right after all the training is done.. when i come home I usually take a mandi.. which this time is real.. haha i actually take a cold shower, unlike in the morning.. Then around 6 or so i eat dinner.. After dinner i usually pull out my notecards and make new ones while my bapak studies with them haha.. He wants to learn english so he is constantly looking at my notecards and reading the english out loud.. he is so funny..

After studying for a bit the family starts asking me if im tired.. im starting to see that when i go to bed is when the rest of the family goes to bed.. i only realized this last night when i went to bed early because i wasnt feeling well.. after like 10 minutes the whole family was in bed and it was only like a quarter till 8.. usually i dont pack up and go to bed till 8.. hopefully i wasnt disrupting anything haha.. i think them asking if im tired is kind of a cue.. but lately its been true and ive been going to bed after they ask about twice..

so thats pretty much my day.. i type up my entries at night in my room while everyone is getting ready for bed and then i read for a little bit.. i really dont have that much time to do much else..

i  know soon some of us want to climb up the big mountain in the distance that is behind our village.. hah Maryellen, another trainee, said that one of the volunteers did climb it and while it was challenging (the woman is in her 60s) it was wayyy worth it.. so we’re planning on making the hike soon.. i think the name is Pandaman.. but im not sure..

well my meds are kicking in (ive somehow managed to contract the common cold/ hay fever over here.. lucky me..) so ill have to catch up more later..

love you all :)