so i had a good time at ist and i learned a lot of ways to make teaching more fun.. that being said i have some ideas of stuff you can send me if you so choose.. all would be used for class but they would also make my life more fun and lord knows.. i need some fun..
one: stamps and ink.. i can find some stuff in the cities but i cant find anything in and around my site.. finding ink might be easier buttt finding the stamps is kinda hard.. the stamps can we anything.. simple words like good or even pictures since thats kinda like a sticker and i think it will be easier for me to keep up with.. i use a lot of stickers so this mightttt be better..
two: stickers.. of course as said above.. i use a lot of them so having more would be nice.. any stickers work the students just loveee them
three: postcards.. if you see any or have any extra ones send them my way.. eventually we are going to learn about postcards and stuff and i figure having a good example would be good.. its hit or miss here finding postcards..
four: interesting magazine ads.. as above eventually we will turn to advertisements and i would like something in english.. not indonesian.. its pretty hard to find magazines at site.. so yeah.. you can always send them in a letter envelope its cheaper then putting them in a package, just make sure you put in more than one to make it worth the 98 cents haha..
lastly: mr. sketch markers.. if anyone takes the time to track these down i am sure you will remember using them in grade school and smelling them all.. these, while a tad bit distracting, would be super super fun to use in the class room.. i know the kids get really excited about things theyve never experienced before.. heres a link to amazon just in case you have no idea what i am talking about.. its
http://www.amazon.com/Sketch-Scented-markers-18-Color-20071/dp/B000JKMQOE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319889229&sr=8-1
kk well im back at site.. "ready" to take on the next months challenges.. hah we shall see..
love ya all :)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
two week lessons
so ive learned/experienced a lot the past few weeks..
1.we all depend on each other here
2.working with counterparts can be a challenge
3.number 2 can be over come
4.we are all experiencing the same things
5.ive made some really really really good friends
6.i am really in peace corps
7.poop in a hole is a video that you all should youtube..
8.there are many community projects that i am capable of doing.. thank god
9.i still have a lot of growing up to do
10.getting your hair cut by someone who.. is not in their right mind is not the best idea
11.relaxing with fellow volunteers after 4 months of not seeing each other is pure bliss
12.the guy from quantum learning was amazing and i hope everyone can experience that positivity in the classroom
13.i have a big sister named Erin :)
14.chocolate has never tasted so good
15.i still feel like the youngest most awkward person in the group
16.life is a work in progress no matter how ‘with it’ you feel
17.toast with real butter is awesome
18.christmas presents/souvenirs here are cheap.. niceee
19.i really miss my friends from home..
20.bromo was pretty sweet
21.i am incredibly out of shape..
22.life isnt meant to be easy.. but it also doesnt have to be hard..
23.badminton with the staff was thrilling.. yay for not making it past round one!
24.one jay weilik has the most hilarious facial expressions
25.to end it all.. life is an adventure worth living
i learned a bunch more and felt more too.. this has been a great time and a learning time.. i never thought i would miss my friends as much as i do.. it hits me randomly and usually when im with my new friends.. sometimes i just dont feel like i fit in.. like im the odd one out and i miss my crazy bunch of friends.. ahh but such is life and hopefully ill find my groove with this group.. time will tell
tomorrow i go back to site.. and live continues for another few weeks before i reconverge with my teman in surabaya for thanksgiving.. and then hannah comes.. this is the only thing keeping me sane.. i miss my baby sister and i cannot wait to squeeze her..
ok this post is getting lame..
as usually..
love you all.
1.we all depend on each other here
2.working with counterparts can be a challenge
3.number 2 can be over come
4.we are all experiencing the same things
5.ive made some really really really good friends
6.i am really in peace corps
7.poop in a hole is a video that you all should youtube..
8.there are many community projects that i am capable of doing.. thank god
9.i still have a lot of growing up to do
10.getting your hair cut by someone who.. is not in their right mind is not the best idea
11.relaxing with fellow volunteers after 4 months of not seeing each other is pure bliss
12.the guy from quantum learning was amazing and i hope everyone can experience that positivity in the classroom
13.i have a big sister named Erin :)
14.chocolate has never tasted so good
15.i still feel like the youngest most awkward person in the group
16.life is a work in progress no matter how ‘with it’ you feel
17.toast with real butter is awesome
18.christmas presents/souvenirs here are cheap.. niceee
19.i really miss my friends from home..
20.bromo was pretty sweet
21.i am incredibly out of shape..
22.life isnt meant to be easy.. but it also doesnt have to be hard..
23.badminton with the staff was thrilling.. yay for not making it past round one!
24.one jay weilik has the most hilarious facial expressions
25.to end it all.. life is an adventure worth living
i learned a bunch more and felt more too.. this has been a great time and a learning time.. i never thought i would miss my friends as much as i do.. it hits me randomly and usually when im with my new friends.. sometimes i just dont feel like i fit in.. like im the odd one out and i miss my crazy bunch of friends.. ahh but such is life and hopefully ill find my groove with this group.. time will tell
tomorrow i go back to site.. and live continues for another few weeks before i reconverge with my teman in surabaya for thanksgiving.. and then hannah comes.. this is the only thing keeping me sane.. i miss my baby sister and i cannot wait to squeeze her..
ok this post is getting lame..
as usually..
love you all.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Adventuring Around Indonesia..
So I had a really long and exciting weekend.. A couple friends and I decided to go see Bromo, which is an active volcano/crater in East Java.. Let me tell you.. I have never seen anything so wonderous in my life..
So to start it all off I left my site on Friday around 7:30, got on a bus and went to Surabaya.. Met one of my most awesomest friends at the station and then we preceded to sit around for about a hour and a half waiting for two other people.. But it was nice being around a friend and someone who is American.. Haha.. Finally we went on our way to Probolinggo to meet two other volunteers and spend the night at one of their houses.. It was really fun having six of us be around each other after not seeing anyone really for 4 months.. Lots of laughs shared..
Around 9 on Saturday we packed up and headed to Bromo. We had to take a minibus up some twisty roads and even though we were going up-hill we still would speed around the curves.. I stopped looking out the window at one point because theres no guard rail so it kinda makes me nervous.. We were also packed like sardines. I think at one point there was like 20 people in this bus that really should only have had like 9.. it was interesting.. at one point someone was riding outside the bus hanging on through the window.. Only in Indonesia.. I can only imagine how fast the police would pull over a vehicle like that in the states.. Hah.. so after an hour we got to our hotel which was really awesome.. It was apparently started by a German woman and her Indonesia husband.. the eating area kinda reminded me of a place I ate at in Germany so I could see some of the European influences..
The lobby of the hotel we stayed at..
view outside the hotel and my friend Gio!
Anyways just some pictures so you get the idea.. We got to the hotel dumped out stuff and decided to go and see Bromo.. We didnt have much of a plan so we just started walking hoping that maybe we would be able to get a minibus to the top of the hill.. and man.. did I need one.. I have never felt more out of shape in my life then I did this weekend.. I think it had something to do with the air and being out of shape but I had to keep stopping.. Luckily everyone was a good sport and someone usually stopped with me.. It was a pretty tough walk at times.. The road would start to angle at like 45 degrees and it was tough..
the ash that is still covering everything months after the volcano has stopped belching ash
just amazing landscapes..
it appeared that we were close.. we werent.. at all.. haha
So finally a minibus came and we traveled the last few kilometers to the entrance of the park.. It also happened to be the steepest part of the road so I was really happy we finally got a ride.. I would have had to turn back.. So I finally get my first glimpse of Bromo and it was awesome.. Everything is just COVERED in ash and it all looked grey and dead. Also got a nice history lesson from one of the boys who happens to be a vulcanologist.. This whole area used to be part of a GIANT volcano that was around hundreds and hundreds of years ago.. All the walls you see around Bromo happen to be old caldera walls of the previous volcano.. so everything inside used to be in the crater.. which happens to be a whole lot including the new(er) volcanoes (including Bromo). I have a video of him explaining it so hopefully I can get that up sometime because it was really interesting..
Bromo is the volcano that is more like a crater and the other one is now dormant.. The whole group!
Below is the surrounding wall that used to be part of an ancient volcano..
Us being funny.. worked out really well..
So after this we walked back to out hotel had some dinner and went to bed. We had to wake up at like 3:30 this morning so we could catch the sunrise. I could not sleep a wink.. it was soooooo loud.. There were some people sitting outside chatting until like 11pm.. it was also extremely cold so it was a little hard falling asleep.. but finally morning arrived and some of us (not me) bundled up to make the journey to the viewing point.. I did not have any warm clothes so I doubled up on my tshirt and added a sweater.. It was a little chilly but it wasnt too bad.. Going up hill has a way of warming you up.. We had a jeep drive us to the start of the trail to the viewing point and from there it was ALLLLLLL uphill.. it was one of the most grueling hikes ive ever had.. I had to stop so many times and I felt bad that my friends had to wait for me.. But finally i made it to the top in time to watch the sunrise! It was so amazing even after the sun past the horizon.. Totally worth doing if you are ever in Indonesia..
full gear for the cold morning!
got up just in time for the sunrise!
a look of Bromo and Semeru
The mass amount of people up at the top of the lookout
How far up we walked from the jeeps
Awesome light!
The lighting was nice and the fist helps it.. :)
Some of the horses that took people up half the trail.. I declined them because I wanted to say I did it all by myself even though I almost died
Last lovely view of the sun through the clouds!
yeah.. this looks steep.. I walked up this.. in the dark..
So after the ardous hike up to the lookout point, we got back into the jeep and went down to the crater.. It was pretty awesome coming down into the sea of sand.. It is part of a very large crater created by the enormous extinct volcano and is currently filled with ash from the 'little' volcanoes that now are currently in the middle (ie Bromo).. So first we went and saw the temple that is close to the base of Bromo.. Its been there for close to around 500 years which is pretty neat. Its obvious that some additions have been made so its not all the original structure.. But then again its close to a volcano.. It turned out that there was something going on at the temple.. The main religion is Hinduism so it was interesting watching them pray and see the stuff going on at the temple.. After that we went to climb the crater.. Man that sucked..I had to stop several times.. The whole way up is just covered in sandy ash and its incredibly hard to walk in.. Finally we came to the stairs that led to the top of the crater.. Those were buried in ash and only rarely could you see the whole step.. To climb up you have to grip what was left of the railing and haul yourself up.. My friend Erin was in front of me and she kept trying to clear the steps by sweeping the ash to the side so that it was easier to walk up.. She is really like the older sister I never had.. Im soooo lucky :) Finally we made it to the top.. Pictures and words cant really describe just how awesome the view was.. just check out the pictures!
close(r) view of the volcanooooo!
the temple
this is an old volcano that is no longer active.. the 'hotspot' is now under Bromo
the mass amounts of horses waiting at the top.. sheer craziness!
going up!
....
just awesome.. (again sorry the quality has some how been degraded)
My friend Mary Ellen getting a little close to the edge!
the mass amounts of people chillin at the top.
starting the hike back down.. bye bye Bromo!
So thats pretty much it! Maybe one day you all can check it out!
love you all :)
So to start it all off I left my site on Friday around 7:30, got on a bus and went to Surabaya.. Met one of my most awesomest friends at the station and then we preceded to sit around for about a hour and a half waiting for two other people.. But it was nice being around a friend and someone who is American.. Haha.. Finally we went on our way to Probolinggo to meet two other volunteers and spend the night at one of their houses.. It was really fun having six of us be around each other after not seeing anyone really for 4 months.. Lots of laughs shared..
Around 9 on Saturday we packed up and headed to Bromo. We had to take a minibus up some twisty roads and even though we were going up-hill we still would speed around the curves.. I stopped looking out the window at one point because theres no guard rail so it kinda makes me nervous.. We were also packed like sardines. I think at one point there was like 20 people in this bus that really should only have had like 9.. it was interesting.. at one point someone was riding outside the bus hanging on through the window.. Only in Indonesia.. I can only imagine how fast the police would pull over a vehicle like that in the states.. Hah.. so after an hour we got to our hotel which was really awesome.. It was apparently started by a German woman and her Indonesia husband.. the eating area kinda reminded me of a place I ate at in Germany so I could see some of the European influences..
Anyways just some pictures so you get the idea.. We got to the hotel dumped out stuff and decided to go and see Bromo.. We didnt have much of a plan so we just started walking hoping that maybe we would be able to get a minibus to the top of the hill.. and man.. did I need one.. I have never felt more out of shape in my life then I did this weekend.. I think it had something to do with the air and being out of shape but I had to keep stopping.. Luckily everyone was a good sport and someone usually stopped with me.. It was a pretty tough walk at times.. The road would start to angle at like 45 degrees and it was tough..
So finally a minibus came and we traveled the last few kilometers to the entrance of the park.. It also happened to be the steepest part of the road so I was really happy we finally got a ride.. I would have had to turn back.. So I finally get my first glimpse of Bromo and it was awesome.. Everything is just COVERED in ash and it all looked grey and dead. Also got a nice history lesson from one of the boys who happens to be a vulcanologist.. This whole area used to be part of a GIANT volcano that was around hundreds and hundreds of years ago.. All the walls you see around Bromo happen to be old caldera walls of the previous volcano.. so everything inside used to be in the crater.. which happens to be a whole lot including the new(er) volcanoes (including Bromo). I have a video of him explaining it so hopefully I can get that up sometime because it was really interesting..
Below is the surrounding wall that used to be part of an ancient volcano..
So after this we walked back to out hotel had some dinner and went to bed. We had to wake up at like 3:30 this morning so we could catch the sunrise. I could not sleep a wink.. it was soooooo loud.. There were some people sitting outside chatting until like 11pm.. it was also extremely cold so it was a little hard falling asleep.. but finally morning arrived and some of us (not me) bundled up to make the journey to the viewing point.. I did not have any warm clothes so I doubled up on my tshirt and added a sweater.. It was a little chilly but it wasnt too bad.. Going up hill has a way of warming you up.. We had a jeep drive us to the start of the trail to the viewing point and from there it was ALLLLLLL uphill.. it was one of the most grueling hikes ive ever had.. I had to stop so many times and I felt bad that my friends had to wait for me.. But finally i made it to the top in time to watch the sunrise! It was so amazing even after the sun past the horizon.. Totally worth doing if you are ever in Indonesia..
So after the ardous hike up to the lookout point, we got back into the jeep and went down to the crater.. It was pretty awesome coming down into the sea of sand.. It is part of a very large crater created by the enormous extinct volcano and is currently filled with ash from the 'little' volcanoes that now are currently in the middle (ie Bromo).. So first we went and saw the temple that is close to the base of Bromo.. Its been there for close to around 500 years which is pretty neat. Its obvious that some additions have been made so its not all the original structure.. But then again its close to a volcano.. It turned out that there was something going on at the temple.. The main religion is Hinduism so it was interesting watching them pray and see the stuff going on at the temple.. After that we went to climb the crater.. Man that sucked..I had to stop several times.. The whole way up is just covered in sandy ash and its incredibly hard to walk in.. Finally we came to the stairs that led to the top of the crater.. Those were buried in ash and only rarely could you see the whole step.. To climb up you have to grip what was left of the railing and haul yourself up.. My friend Erin was in front of me and she kept trying to clear the steps by sweeping the ash to the side so that it was easier to walk up.. She is really like the older sister I never had.. Im soooo lucky :) Finally we made it to the top.. Pictures and words cant really describe just how awesome the view was.. just check out the pictures!
So thats pretty much it! Maybe one day you all can check it out!
love you all :)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A Cross Cultural Experience - Tie-Dying!
So I know its been awhile.. Nothing really exciting has been happening and Ive been a little lazy trying to figure out stuff to post.. BUT the next few days are going to be exciting.. Friday I am leaving my site for two weeks.. I CANNOT wait.. First I am going to Bromo, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia.. SOOO pumped.. that was one of the first things I looked up about Indonesia when I found out I was coming here.. The Volcanoes! It was closed like the first 3.5 months we were here because it was erupting.. so I'm excited.. One of the volunteers is a studying volcanologist so he knows all this stuff about volcanoes and the earth and yeah.. so it should be informative and just all out awesome.. I always wanted to see a volcano.. and then off to Surabaya for two weeks with my fellow Americans.. I have missed them so much.. I feel like ive known most of them forever and some of them are turning out to be my best friends..
anyways onto the real reason for this post!
So since English Club started I wanted to tie-dye and this was the week.. I had a blast.. I really really really like this kids.. Some of them are sooo funny.. One girl loveessss Justin Bieber.. shes so cute..
Anyways..
First I got to school lugging around 24 empty water bottles.. All the teachers in the teachers room started laughing and asking me what I was doing.. It was kinda hard to explain but luckily most of them understood.. After filling all the bottles up two teachers and I walked the classroom and all the students playing soccer and walking around kept asking what we were going to be doing.. It was like being singled out for being white haha.. which happens all the time.. So I walk in the class and like no one has a tshirt or fabric out.. i was kinda bumming since I texted them all the night before reminding them.. But then some of them whipped out fabric and I got excited all over again.. I went outside to mix the dye and some of my students stopped and asked me what I was doing.. They even wanted to help but once I showed them my hands they changed their minds.. I am going to have blue hands for probably a week.. but it was all worth it.. as I was filling all the bottles I ended up having a huge audience.. It was funny having some of the boys watching making commentary.. They kept trying to get some of the girls to drink the dye haha..
Then we tie-dyed.. it took a little bit for them to get excited about it but once they saw how it worked they all really got into it.. which was awesome..
love you all :)
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