another week goes by

and the time comes again that i should/ need to write another blog entry.. so much has happened in the past two weeks.. and at the same time nothing all that exciting..

i got an oven which is awesome.. i cant wait to make muffins and bread.. its going to be nice to have this little comfort.. its actually a pretty nice oven.. it was a little expensive but i figure it will pay for itself with my happiness haha..

a few days after buying it i made some cookies with my friend.. we had to go out and buy all the ingredients and man.. it took forever.. we had to go to several places because many places didnt have some of the ingredients that we needed.. we ended up getting this butter that i wish we hadnt gotten.. it was a cream butter but it tasted more like pink bubblegum.. needless to say the cookies we made had the taste of bubblegum.. which kinda sucked.. but whatevs it was the first time and i know i will not take that butter the next time.. We made three different types of cookies: chocolate chip, sugar, and butter with jelly. I burned myself once pulling the cookies out.. made me laugh a little because back home i always used to have hannah take the cookies or whatever out of the oven.. I thought “Man i could totally use hannah right now haha” but luckily i only burned myself once and that was enough to learn.. (pictures to come later!)

 mixing up the cookie dough! oh how ive missed baking!

 my oven :)

 the finished results.. yum :)

Faiz shaping the cookies..

so hm.. and then this week.. teaching.. all in all it was a fast week.. the beginning of the week was pretty rough for me.. sometimes its difficult going into a classroom and having none of the students respond.. its a big downer sometimes.. and then i had some other stuff going on but like everything.. it passes..

Wednesday was the Independence Day for Indonesia.. i went to this ceremony out by the village office in my school district.. They had a marching band and a couple schools there. When I walked down to the field some of my students cheered when they saw me.. stuff like that breaks my heart.. makes me feel bad all the times i think about going home.. damn those kids.. haha the ceremony was pretty brief.. A siren rang out around 10 am, thats the time that the first president signed the papers giving the indonesians their freedom.. it was pretty neat that they could have the exact time they got their freedom.. im sure its written down somewhere the exact time that americans signed the declaration of independence but its not like we commemorate that exact time.. At the end i had my picture taken with all the important people.. they were like little kids excited to get a picture with me.. i hope i managed to keep a good smile on my face.. sometimes its hard to keep that smile going..

so after that it just ended up being an ordinary day.. thursday i went back to school and tried to give some grammar lessons to the grade 10 class.. not sure how well that went over.. we shall see the next time they have to hand something in.. but to make them happy since.. grammar can be boring.. we played a game.. the first class was awesome.. they came up with so many words and they all got into the game.. as the day progressed the students enthusiasm declined.. haha.. each class after the first got a little.. worse.. i think i can blame it on them being tired.. or at least i am going to.. saturday I got to teach a class by myself.. i was a little nervous.. walking to the class by myself i started to freak out a little bit.. but the class i had to teach is probably one of my favorite classes so it wasnt that bad.. the kids were all excited that i was there and whenever i spoke some indonesian they applauded me which was funny.. i think they get a kick out of it.. luckily the class went smoothly and most of them understood what i was talking about.. one of the kids, a real joker, asked me if he could have extra lessons haha.. so i think im gunna put together a group of students who want to just talk english and have them come over or just stay after school one day.. it was a good day..

and now here i am.. baking in my room.. typing this boring entry..

well hope everyone had a good weekend!

love you all :)

creative ideas for a semi-uncreative person.. ha

so i need some ideas.. from anyone who reads this that has an idea..

starting next month i am going to have an english club about once a week.. lord knows what an 'english' club does.. i never joined a language club in high school..

i have some rough ideas for it but im not really sure..

first is tie-dying.. i know its not really english but.. i figure i can talk to the students and give them directions in english.. hah

then the other ideas is movies.. but i want to have a movie club so it may interfere.. but chances are i may not have time to do that since ill probably be the one in charge of english club..

but thats all that i have.. which is pretty sad.. you would think that i would be able to create more to do but i dunno..

HELP!

side fact: these are some links of the call to prayer.. they arent from indonesia since i found them on youtube but they are so close to what i hear everyday that i had to share it.. i dunno if anyone too the time to look up the call to prayer but here you go! imagine this at 4 in the morning and then 4 other times throughout the day.. all different in some way..

first is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzDiFcKY8uY&feature=related

this is the regular call to prayer.

Allahu akhbar( 2 x) = God is greatest
Allahu akhbar(2 x)= God is greatest
Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah (2 x)= I bear witness that there is no god except the One and only God
Ash hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah(2x) =I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God
Hayya alas Salah(2x)=Hurry to the prayer (Rise up for prayer)
Hayya alal Falah(2x)= Hurry to success (Rise up for Salvation)
Allahu akhbar (2x)= God is greatest
La ilaha illallah(1x)= There is no God except the one and only God

and then this is what happens in the afternoons.. they let the little kids take the mic and pray away.. sometimes its cute.. other times.. makes me want to cover my ears haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAOIpeRue2k&feature=related

well there we go.. this have been a post about needing help and sharing.. so hopefully ill get something.. or else i have no faith in anyone who reads this.. if anyone besides my family..

also getting tie-dye stuff in the mail would be awesome.. we have tshirts but i havent seen any dye.. so stuff at wal-mart or whatever.. just dye send it.. i can get bottles..

anyways.. hope all is well with everyone!

love you alllllllllllllll!!!! :)

oh what is the purpose of a mosquito?

so mosquitoes..

today i looked up what the heck the purpose of mosquitoes is.. why on earth is there something out there that causes so many issues.. not only diseases but they also cause unbearable itchiness.. which can be hellish if you have more than one hah.. turns out that the only good thing about mosquitoes are they are food for numerous other animals  like birds and lizards.. and if they were to disappear a major link in the food chain would be disrupted.. they also are important for pollination.. who knew? besides bees, mosquitoes help pollinate numerous plants and flowers.. i woulda never guessed.. for me though, the negatives makes it really hard to appreciate the mosquito..

and this would be why..

my body looks like i have some sort of disease.. every time i get a bite.. i have to itch.. and this itching causes some sort of bruising.. so by the time the bites go away i have big reddish brown spots wherever i had a bite.. and that happens to be pretty much everywhere.. and my feet.. man they are a mess.. it seems no matter how much i try not to itch i always end up with scabs on my feet.. i feel like a mess sometimes.. and just when i think its all good.. i get bit again..

last night was the topper for me.. i cant sit with my legs under the table when i eat because i get bit.. so i sit sideways on my chair and eat and my family thinks its hilarious.. i seem to be the only one who keeps getting bit.. i should start a count of how many bites i get during my time here.. im gunna bet it hits well over 200.. but anyways.. so i have bug spray on but that doesnt seem to deter them.. i get bit twice in a span of 10 seconds.. let me tell you.. sometimes you cant feel the bite.. but other times its like someone punched a needle in my leg.. and those suck.. immediately i get these huge.. welts on my leg and they itch like hell..

i got pics.. because of course nothing else interesting is going on so i have to show off my war wounds.. haha..

my lovely feet.. they will never be the same..

moving on..

hard to believe its already the 9th of august and that the day is pretty much over.. somedays it goes by so fast that i have to wonder where all the time went.

i dont really have that much to talk about.. ramahdan is in full swing.. ive only really participated for 2 days.. its really really hard to not eat.. i have 20 more days so im gunna try real hard to make it through.. i think if my family and friends here can do it i can too.. ive opted to continue drinking water while fasting.. or else i would be a sad puppy.. id be really hungry if i didnt have something to fill my stomach..

wow rambling..

im gunna post some photos of my students work.. the other day i had one of my grade ten classes make some comic strips in class.. some of them were pretty good.. i did correct them so pardon my corrections..

these are all from different students.. i just picked my favorite panels..

this last one is the only one done totally in color.. im glad someone had some fun with this.. it was meant to be fun anyways hah..

hm.. well i think this is enough for now.. life isnt too exciting right now.. kinda lonely.. miss talking to my friends from home.. havent really talked to anyone in a while besides my family and makes me kinda sad.. lifes tough sometimes..but at least i have some rocking american friends here.. two people really made my week last week.. and i know without them i probably would have left a long time ago.. cheers to new friends :)

love the memories right? :)

love you all :)