ever been on a bus with over a hundred people? no? well i have..

so let me tell you what hell is like..

it first takes place in a bus.. on the way to nowhere.. next all the seats are taken so you have to stand.. this may sound bad enough because remember.. the bus isnt going anywhere so you have to stand forever.. but really this isnt it.. next add about 50 more people also standing and there you go.. even though the bus has air conditioning there are obviously wayyyy to many people on the bus to feel it..

this is what i experienced yesterday.. my own little personal hell.. of course it didnt last forever but 4 and a half hours standing being pressed upon on all sides by people and having some people talk to us in rapid indonesian made for a lovely ride back home.. sometimes indonesia can just throws these little curve balls and makes you go WHATTTTTTTTTTTT.. really just picked me up and kicked me a couple of times.. ive had a massive headache for like 6 hours now.. reallly really not fun..

BUT anyways..

so this week.. kinda a weird week.. only taught two out of the ten classes that i have.. but it was an interesting week.. tuesday there was a marching event after school that some of the students participated in.. it was a march for their independence day which happens to fall in the middle of Ramadan so they had to have it early.. it was pretty interesting.. some students, i dont think from my school, dressed up as punks.. there was actually quite a few groups of them.. i snapped one or two pics of the better costumes.. but it took FOREVER and it wasnt that fun.. when you think marching you think music and i dunno whatever else marching entails.. but no.. nothing.. so i guess more power to the people who were marching in the heat..

 cant really see the vests.. they are pretty flashy

haha taking a nap..

then the week got boring.. didnt have class on thursday or friday and then today i went to Surabaya for a lunch with someone who is in charge of some major operations in Peace Corps. It was pretty nice getting away for a little bit.. the first bus ride in was pretty uneventful.. just here and there and then we went to lunch.. we had lunch at this museum restaurant and afterwards we got to go see the museum.. it was pretty cool.. turns out the museum is a ciggarette factory as well.. it smelled so amazing when we walked in.. its a clove ciggarette factory so the entire place smelled amazing.. it was pretty neat watching them packed the ciggarettes.. a lot of the process is done by hand and man they move INCREDIBLY fast.. they can roll up to 6 ciggarettes a minute.. cant imagine it.. its super fast..

and after lunch we visited the PC office grabbed some english books and went on our way to the bus station.. and then the bus ride home.. mann.. no need to explain it all again..

and i also found a little lizard friend.. sadly he passed away the same night he decided to visit me but i got some cool pictures before that happened.. i didnt kill him haha he fell from the ceiling and landed upside down and didnt get up again.. so it was sad.. but the upside is that there is another little lizard running around my desk today so new friend!

little guy!

pretty tiny lizard..

close-up!
alright well tomorrow starts ramadan.. which means fast from sun up to sun down.. pretty excited to participate.. only thing is gotta wake up before the sun rises to eat so that means getting up at like 3, eating and then going back to bed.. all im going to have is water during the day which will be more than all the other muslims.. they dont even drink water while fast.. which sounds like a bad thing waiting to happen but hopefully no one faints in this heat..

well gotta get going.. hope you enjoyed my ramblings.. seems thats all i do.. ramble on..

LOVE IT!

love you all :)

english class is fun!

i guess i should probably update about my first week at school.. since tomorrow starts week two.. my how time flies..

so class.. hmm.. sometimes i have to think that its going to be a long long two years but other times it just seems to fly by.. this week for example.. it seemed like it took forever to get to just wednesday but now.. its sunday and im going to start it all over again tomorrow.. pretty crazy..

so the first class i taught was tenth grade.. and luckily it was only for 45 minutes.. the first day of school mixed everything up.. i did the normal introduction.. not too much stuff had to be translated.. then i had them answer some questions so i could get to know them a little bit better.. some of the students didnt really care but i guess thats the same in the US.. not everyone cares about their school work.. next i taught/ asked questions to an 11th grade class.. quite exciting.. not really but its interesting to see the difference between 10th and 11th grade.. theres a huge curve of understanding though you still have some students who dont try because they dont like english..

overall it was an ok first day.. the phrase that keeps going around in my head is english here is like pulling teeth.. which was how i felt a majority of the time this week.. most of the students dont want to talk, which i can understand i never wanted to participate in class, but it just makes the class DRAAAGGGGGG when no one cares.. i find myself looking at my watch watching the minutes slowly tick by.. for me the classes are about a half hour too long.. i think sitting in class for an hour and a half is wayyyyyy too long.. students start to get bored and then unmanageable.. its really tough when your in a class that doesnt have anyone who is willing to participate.. ugh.. guess its something that ill have to get over..

the week went by without any problems.. actually for taking such a long time it went by really fast.. monday i ended up getting all the packages that my mom and grandparents sent.. so it made my day.. and then tuesday i went to a teachers volleyball game.. which was interesting.. sadly my school lost.. but it meant that we could go home so i was kinda happy about that..

but hmm.. what else.. trying to come up with fun stuff for class.. still not really sure what my role is in class.. sometimes i feel useless sitting there while the other teacher is teaching.. other times i feel like my input isnt really being listened to? which i cant fault the teachers but sometimes it frustrating saying something and then having the teacher to the opposite.. but i keep telling myself its only the first week and we have a lot of time to work it all out.. a lot of the volunteers told us that it took months to find a good rhythm.. so cant start getting too frustrated yet.. the other issue i have is with the subject matter.. i think its too hard and often times very redundant.. in one of my classes the teacher was talking about asking and giving opinion.. she wrote down some ideas on the board and then 5 minutes before class was over announced that i would give them some more to talk about.. but after spending like 45 minutes on the stuff before i didnt think anymore time needed to be spent on the subject.. i think, while the kids may not be able to articulate well in english, they understand the subject matter.. all the students were done discussing like 10 minutes in to the activity and the rest of the time they were just talking.. i know practice makes perfect but at a certain point its like beating a dead horse.. they got it.. theres no point in continuing on and making more of the lesson.. and im not good with coming up with stuff on the spot (which may be my downfall..) but had the teacher let me know ahead of time about the class i may have had a few ideas..

i really think thats going to be the hardest thing.. is getting the teachers to tell me several days before hand what it is their teaching so i can create activities to go with the lessons.. that way i can be prepared and not put on the spot.. again a work in progress..

hm.. so not too much else to talk about.. next week i may go to a dance class taught by one of the teachers.. this has the potential to be hilarious haha.. and then next month is Ramadan.. classes are shorter the whole month of August and everyone is hungry because you have to fast.. should be a fun few weeks..

this was dinner.. i of course did not partake.. nottttt my favorite fish.. smelled pretty good though..


also here is some more stuff you can add to the list to send to me.. just some ideas.. starting to get really sick of rice.. ive started to eat fruit for lunch instead of rice.. gotta change it up..

Any "just add water" mixes
pasta side dishes (http://letsmakeknorr.com/Products/Pasta-Sides.aspx)
special k protien bars
larabar
American magazines
think thin protein bars (trader joes..)
luna bars
kashi go lean bars
nutrigrain bars
Crystal Light Flavors (if you can find them)
-raspberry peach
-white peach tea
-tropical blend
-mixed berry
-strawberry orange banana
-Crystal Light Mocktails mojito
-peach mango




well now another week.. heres to time flying!

love you all :)

frustration.. at a peak

so the past few days have been pretty frustrating for me.. im starting to get annoyed at little things around me.. still have not received my schedule.. and ive been asking for weeks.. school starts in two days.. two days.. i dunno its just frustration overload.. i had to sit through a scheduling meeting on thursday.. and nothing had to do with me.. i didnt learn anything.. and i also learned that indonesians can be very very very long winded sometimes.. i was also reminded of past exec meetings in my sorority in which topics got brought up and were expressed at length.. most of which didnt pertain to anyone except the person who brought the topic up.. it seemed to me that a number of the comments made could have been done after the meeting to individual people.. i am never again going to a school meeting without something to do.. 4 hours of indonesian is brutal..

and lastly.. indonesians really dont know anything about america.. and i know thats part of the reason why i am here.. to show them the american culture that doesnt come through in the movies.. its painful sometimes when people ask me if we have certain things like farms.. hmmm.. i know i didnt know a whole lot about indonesia before i came here and heck, i still dont know that much.. but farms? everyone has farms! its also funny that some people think that ohio is a city.. hah.. i just go with it most of the time because if they dont know any english its too hard to explain to them what ohio is.. or i get my words confused.. ah well.. i guess i have two years to straighten it out.. just kinda difficult not to say really? your really asking me that question?

oh indonesia.. this is turning into an intense love/dislike relationship.. thank god the love out weighs the dislike right now..

enough of my ranting.. i just got back from a wonderful bike ride with my bapak.. we went pretty far.. he kept asking me if i was tired.. haha i enjoy getting out there and i probably could have stayed out longer but my butt started to hurt.. oh the joys of riding a bike..

well i think ill end this little post.. yes im a little frustrated but that comes with the job right?

love you all :)

The wedding.. What fun..

so today was my principals daughters wedding ceremony.. it was different than other typical javanese weddings.. her husband is in the military so they had a lot of stuff with that going on..

this isnt going to be a good post im pretty tired.. and i dunno i dont really like the pictures of myself i feel fat.. gr..

but overall it was a good experience.. it was really hot though which made it a little uncomfortable in the end.. and i really wanted to go home.. but here are some pictures..

After getting all dressed up.. it was pretty hot under all the make-up and hair..

weird angle.. i know.. but you can see the hair and the make-up..

where the bride and groom and their parents will sit during the ceremony and stuff..

me with a bunch of teachers from school.. i wowed everyone when i came in haha..

this is bu ririn.. shes a teacher at my school..

view of the isle and stuff around it..

yes.. that is a goat.. still had some fur on its legs.. yumm!

the grooms friends starting the ceremony.. i love a man in uniform haha.. actually saw some good looking indonesian men today.. i was pleasantly surprised :)

the bride and groom walking.. a little blurry..

not much better but you get the idea..

the procession

my principle is up there hes the guy on the left hand side close to the wedding party.. kinda odd since hes by the groom and the bride is his daughter..

me and joker2.. i for the life of me cannot remember his name.. but hes a funny guy..

me with the vp and i think his wife.. he is an awesome guy.. always laughing

after taking off all the fancy clothes and before taking off the make-up.. my hair is awesome right now.. haha.. its stands up on its own when i take it down.. love hair teasing..

I have some videos but they will take too long to load.. so i guess ill save that till the next time hope you all enjoyed the photos..

oh side news.. we're going to be losing another volunteer.. he has a parasite and i think he just wants to go home.. kinda sad.. we've lost 4 people now.. have to wonder if anyone else is going to leave..

well love you all :)

A walk around the Village

 Main street.. I live off to the side..

 walking around the village..

 r

 goat farm..

 the river is just beyond all this stuff.. you can barely see it..

 little village mosque or musholla

 how they sell bananas here..

 some typical houses

a house that i think is pretty neat..

well thats it for now :)

love you all :)

school days..

so school has finally started.. in a way..

today was the first day of orientation for the new students.. and oh boy what fun..

first we had upacara.. i had my camera but i was rushed out of the teachers room.. i will try and snap some pics next monday.. its really formal and has a lot of military drill stuff going on in it.. its pretty interesting.. every monday we will have these ceremonys.. at todays i was introduced to the whole student body.. i was afraid as i stood out on the basketball court that my principal was going to make me speak but he didnt.. thank god.. ive gotten over a lot of my fright of talking in front of people but 500+ students would be a little too much for me.. at least i got a loud cheer haha.. i can only hope they all still like me after i start teaching..

so afterwards we went to the teachers room and sat around for about an hour before we had to go did little english activities..

man.. i dunno.. i didnt really know what i was going to be doing so i kinda forgot supplies.. i was under the impression we would be talking to a hundred students at a time but whatever.. its very clear that a lot of the new students know no english.. which is a little daunting.. theyve been taking it since third grade.. and while i know its hard.. i can remember spanish and i took it from 4th until 11th grade.. and i knew more than they do of english.. i really hope its not a sign of whats to come.. i told one of my counterparts that i am going to refuse to speak indonesian.. and i really hope that a lot of the teachers follow up with me on that.. no wonder they dont know anything.. a majority of the class is in indonesian.. it may be like pulling teeth with some of the teachers but i hope they can see that my way, while it may be harder, it will force the kids to learn english..

its also hard to get the children to speak.. i know they are a little nervous in front of me and english is hard to speak but i dunno.. something again for them to do.. i plan on doing a lot of speaking.. they need the practice.. and thats how they are going to have to communicate with me.. i didnt come to speak indonesian.. which again i hope the students will still like me after all this.. i know im not here to be a friend but if students dont like me i dont think this year will go all that smoothly..

hm.. thats about all i have now.. its hottttttt here.. makes me feel really lazy.. hah

hm lastly.. tomorrow is the wedding of my principals daughter.. i have to be ready to leave at 6 in the morning! ahh!! but i know im going to have some awesome pictures.. im going to get my hair and make up done and im going to be wearing some traditional clothes.. ill try to snap as many pictures as i can as im sure i will not get a chance to be in a wedding like this again..

well i guess that all for now..

love you all :)

(Quote from one of my favorite movies.. pretty fitting..)
Donkey: What in the shestershire is this place?
Shrek: Well, my stomach's aching and my palms just got sweaty. Must be a high school

when 2 really means 3..

so I’ve come to notice.. and we’ve been warned about it.. but time runs differently here..

Yesterday there was a trip planned for me to go visit my friend Krystal. She lives in another part of Nganjuk.. The plan was to be there at two.. or so I was under the impression.. My two counterparts didnt get here until 215 and then we had to wait for my Bapak. Its very clear that things here also cannot be done in small numbers.. which is sometimes annoying but other times very fun.. So we finally manage to get on the road a quarter till 3.. so basically leaving at three would have been the better time.. Im starting to see a trend.. if you really want people to be somewhere exactly at the time you want.. you need to tell them earlier.. preferably a half hour earlier.. it seems that school functions start a half hour to an hour late, people show up to your house 15 to 30 minutes late.. its a trend that drives me nuts but im sure ill start to finally embrace it probably in may of 2013.. right before i leave haha..

so the visit with Krystal.. Very exciting haha.. We finally get to her house after getting lost a few times.. Its always an adventure here haha.. But finally we arrive and Krystal gives me a look.. and I know that this little excursion is going to be.. interesting.. So we walk upstairs (she has the whole upstairs to herself) and we are told to sit and talk.. ok.. Well I wanna see the village so I ask if we can walk around.. maybe down to her school. And her cp was like ok we’ll go with you.. And my cp was like we will go downstairs so you can talk up here.. i think they just thought we wanted to talk alone.. which was true but i wanted to see the village.. Krystal happens to live in a pretty rural area.. she has fields like a 2 minutes walk from her house and its not anything like my village.. i have to say the people in her village are a lot more friendly than the people in my area.. Everyone says hello when you smile to them and here.. not so much.. sometimes i dont even get a smile back.. oh well.. you win some you lose some right?

So we finally convince them to let us walk the 500 meters to Krystals school.. alone.. which was a feat in and of itself.. It was a really nice walk.. and her school is huge! I thought mine was big but hers has so much going on.. i know my school has a computer lab.. but thats all that i know about.. im going to need to do more exploring.. I dont even know if my school has a cafeteria.. craziness.. but her school has a little area where they sell food and snacks to raise money for school trips.. totally jelly.. (which is jealous..) my school does not go on trips.. so im gunna see if/ when they have a trip and Krystal invites me if im going to be allowed to participate.. School trips here are usually only one day.. you drive all night spend one day at the place and then drive back.. a whirl-wind adventure as it were.. but thats for another time..

so we walk back to her house and inquire about going out to see this pasar (which ended up being more like a street fair in which people sold a lotta food and a lotta clothes..) it was really crowded.. at one point Krystal got a little sick of the people starring at her so she started starring back and they just held eye contact.. it was hilarious.. I cant help but remembering being back in China and whenever we tried to do that the people would freak out.. Krystal says she has done it a few times and has had mixed results.. sometimes they look away and sometimes they hold the stare.. i just keep walking.. i dont like to show that it bothers me.. even though its pretty damn annoying..

so we walk around and end up walking to a graveyard.. which was interesting.. not sure where the bodies are.. its a lot different than graveyards back home.. i didnt have my camera with me so i didnt snap a pic but i guess google muslim graveyards in indonesia.. im sure a pic will come up.. but we were there literally a minute and then all these people start rolling in.. there was going to be this traditional performance and before they started they had to pray to the oldest man (grave) in the village.. apparently this was the guy who founded the village.. i dunno i couldnt really understand Krystals cp.. but after that we followed the performers out and walked back down the street.. My cp wanted to go home and since he was the driver.. didnt really have much of a choice but i think by that time we were ready to head back.. even though we walk a short way we had been out about an hour.. so it was fun.. on the way back we stopped and and got some pop ice.. which was ok.. they added sugar to it.. and it did not need anymore sugar.. so i think next time i get it im gunna say “tidak gula!” or no sugar.. sometimes the stuff they eat here is wayyyyyyy too sweet..
                                                                     
on the way back we stopped at indomart and i got some ice cream.. mmmhmm.. it was awesome.. i havent had ice cream hm.. since sometime in Malang.. after that little excursion we piled back in the car and headed back to Krystals house.. it was a good time..

krystal drinking the pop ice and then this is one of my counterparts Pak Jamal

the one thing though that has been causing some issues of tension is the amount of.. security we seem to have.. Its nice to know that everyone wants to keep us safe but sometimes it gets to too much.. I know some people have more of an issue than others so i cant really complain too much about my situation.. I dont want to have to call HQ and have them call my family and counterparts to tell them that we are supposed to be semi independent beings.. We dont need to be followed around all the time.. Sometimes it doesnt bother me.. But other times its a little un-needed and i feel like im almost causing a disturbance in their life by them having to follow me.. it can also be distracting having someone follow you.. i find myself focusing on them and not so much my surroundings.. which could get me in trouble.. hopefully i get this all figured out..

anyways back to my story.. which is not yet done.. sorry :) im feeling long-winded today..

so on the ride back we were all joking and having fun.. and we stopped for dinner at this resturant that i had my first meal at in Nganjuk.. Its kinda funny going back and feeling more at home.. I can remember walking into the restaurant and thinking.. man i want to go home.. but this time it was much different.. Ive also started a joke with my cps about smoking.. ive started calling cigarettes cancer sticks haha.. the one cp said he wont smoke in front of me and then at the restaurant he started to and i jokingly yelled at him and he immediately put the cigarette out.. “Ill save it for later..” haha it was funny..

then he procedes to ask me about some very provocative song lyrics that he wanted to know the meaning of.. i started laughing at his interpretation which was close but not quite on the ball.. he thought i didnt know but i told him i knew but it was a little inappropriate for indonesian culture and he said just tell me.. im an english teacher.. haha.. it was a good laugh..

and then dinner was over and i went home and found out that one of the boys who is staying here was waiting for me to come home to eat.. i felt bad considering it was 7 at night and we usually eat at like 530 or 6.. he then came to my room a minute later and gave me a drink, which i wasnt expecting.. its called es jember which literally means muddy ice.. i have a picture ill post with it.. not quite sure what it was but it was full with tapioca (not the pudding) and some jello like stuff.. it was pretty good..

Es Jember.. looks yucky but its good :)

and now i am waiting for Faiz to get here so we can go on a bike ride.. i think my Bapak may be coming along.. which may be weird.. but we shall see..

well this has been long enough and im sure i lost some of you halfway through.. so thanks for sticking with it this far..

love you all so muchhhhhhhh :)

“Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.”

oh what a life..

 this is faiz.. she used to be a student at the school ill be teaching at

 durian!

 where the fruit comes from

 taking out the fruit

 es degan.. made from young coconut

 urap-urap love it.. made with coconut

my lunch..

 potato cake things.. yummy

the bathroom.. squatty potty!

 ive been told this is a mango tree.. im very excited.. my fav fruit everrrrr :)

 up the street

down the street from my house..



hope you enjoyed the pictures

love you all :)