inspired in indonesia: October 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010

English Club Rocks my Socks

Ninuk, Ika and Putri: 3 of the All-Stars

The English Club Introducing Themselves

Learning Introductions

Some of the Kids

English Club!!

Last Sunday’s English activity for the children in the village was a huge success!! My English Club (EC) students from MAN totally stepped up and were absolutely, 100%, incredibly amazing!
But to rewind momentarily, a bit of background info about this first, official, secondary project. It started as a small idea, a quick question to Bu S., my RT, about possibly starting an English camp for the kids in my village. I got the idea after some of the women in my local Ibu-Ibu PKK (a neighborhood women’s group) suggested that I leave my current school and teach at their kids’ elementary schools instead. Since that wasn’t really an option, I thought about what other ways I could help out with English education for the younger kids. I read some of the PC books and came across an idea of pairing older students in the community with younger, orphaned kids as a kind of Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Which led to the idea of having my EC students lead an English camp for the kids in my village (since, as far as I know, there isn’t a large orphan population). Bu S. was immediately on board and she spoke with the village head who was equally enthusiastic, so we decided to outline some of the details. In my head, I was imagining a day-long English camp, with maybe 30 kids who would show up, and where each English Club student would be in charge of a different station, i.e. animal station, counting station, etc. In Bu S.’s mind, we would meet every week for a shorter amount of time. So we settled on meeting for an hour-and-a-half one Sunday each month, and if it was successful, maybe we could do it more frequently. Some of the Islamic schools have class on Sunday during the day (Friday is their holy day off), so we decided to have the English camp in the evening,
It took a bit of convincing with my counterpart to involve EC as much as I wanted. I know there’s still a long way to go to having the students have more control of the planning and running the activities, but my kids in English Club are amazing. They brainstormed ideas about what types of activities to do with children, what material would be appropriate, and helped cut out over 300 nametags. They were hesitant to accept a lead teaching role at first (I was terrified my first day in front of a classroom, so I totally understand) but when I stressed how important it is for the younger kids to have positive role models, how teaching something you’re studying is a great way to solidify the knowledge you already know, and how this is great practice for those of them who aspire to become teachers in the future (probably about 80% of them want to go into teaching), they all jumped on board and were eager to participate.
After Bu S. and I combined our efforts to write an official proposal which we submitted to the village head, we made registration forms and flyers, went around to the elementary schools in my village, and door to door to some of our neighbors to share the information. We limited registration to ages 7-12 or grades 1-6, and it was only for the children in our immediate village. There was instantaneously a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the idea, and by the night before English Day (IF ANYONE HAS A MORE CREATIVE NAME FOR THESE ENGLISH DAY ACTIVITIES, PLEASE SHARE) close to 100 kids had registered. We divided the kids into 3 groups based on grade, each of which would be led by an adult (Bu S., my counterpart Bu E. or myself- all English teachers) and the English Club students would walk around and help. I wouldn’t really consider myself a “kid person” but I thought I could handle 30 of them for less than 2 hours.
DAY OF: Close to 170 kids showed up, over 60 of which were in my age group, and I started to have a minor anxiety. So many children in what turned into a small space, with all of their parents standing around to watch. But my English Club kids totally stepped up. I encouraged them to help with the registration and attendance process. We divided the 3 large groups into smaller clusters on the spot, and had EC lead the kids in pairs or alone. The younger kids were thrilled! The EC students could communicate better in the local language AND were way more active and enthusiastic than any of the adults. After the youngsters left, during our debrief and candy session, the EC students expressed a lot of eagerness to do this again, and have more responsibility. They were such rock stars, and I know that they they’ll be the ones who make this program into something really great and sustainable. I’m so proud of them!
A few of the troubles we faced:
• There were a lot of upset people who thought that younger/older kids should be included
• A ton of people wanted us to include other villages in our town, but due to limited space and resources, we couldn’t accommodate those requests
But overall it was a huge success, everyone had a blast, and I'm sure the next meeting will be even better!

Monday, October 11, 2010

#14 october 7,2010

I’ve gotten a lot of positive comments from friends and family who have read this blog, so thanks to everyone back home for your continued support!
This past Sunday Bu S. took me and my host bro Pam, on our weekly bike ride, to a rice refinery. In Indonesian, there are several words for rice: padi, if it’s still in the field; beras, after it’s been dried and husked, but before it’s cooked; and nasi, after it’s cooked- the rice we eat. I know there are others, but I can’t remember at the moment. When she was a child, Bu S. used to go there with her father. She would play- climbing the massive mounds of packaged rice, or racing up and down the isles between the rice piles lying out to dry in the hot Indonesian sun- while her father would work at the refinery, usually 12-hour days. He wanted to stress to her and her siblings the importance of getting a good education so that she wouldn’t be forced to work 12-hours days for low wages like him. Just one of the many stories that factor into why she’s such a remarkable woman. We not only saw all of the machinery and methods used to process the rice, but were able to trek out to the peanut/corn/soybean fields (they alternate crops in order to help sustain the mineral levels in the soil, I think). We dug for our own peanuts, and then took them back to roast them in a fire for a tasty morning snack.
Later that afternoon after English Club, Bu S, her 9-year old niece, my counterpart Bu Eni, and myself, all went to check out some of the local history of the area. Apparently it was the center of the great empire (not sure if that’s by international, Indonesian, or Javanese standards) Majapahit which was discovered and excavated in the 1920s by the Dutch, the then colonial power. Maja is the name of a green fruit with white pulp and is about the size of a large grapefruit, and pahit means bitter. The kingdom was named after the limitless maja trees that are found in the area. We stopped by the resident museum to read up on the history before heading out to the graves and temples nearby. A museum guide cracked open a maja and offered us a taste. I definitely understand why bitter is the adjective used to describe this fruit! The taste is appalling! And afterwards the guide explained the myth that if you eat too much of the fruit, you’ll die. Would have been nice to hear that story before I ingested such a big bite. Then for lunch we tried a local favorite, wader: tiny fried fish about the size of fish bait. Eyeballs, tails, bones, and all. Tastes just like you might imagine. Fishy. It wasn’t my favorite meal thus far in Indonesia, but I’m glad I was brave enough to try it.
The only ruins that we had time (and energy) to see were those of Candi Tikus or Rat Temple. The story goes that before the temple was discovered, the farmers in that area had a major mouse problem when trying to harvest their crops. They decided to dig up the fields in order to destroy the mouse nests, and discovered an ancient temple instead. It’s believed to have been used as a fancy bathing area for the female nobility during the time of the empire.
In other Mojosari news, we’ve been really busy prepping for the first English Camp this Sunday. Over 60 kids have registered already, and we’re definitely expecting a lot more to show up the day of. I had no idea that so many people would be interested when I casually mentioned the idea about a month ago. But it’s exciting to know that there’s so much encouragement for an educational program for children in the area. I feel the pressure, but have a good feeling about the success and sustainability of the project.
On Saturday a former Peace Corps Volunteer from Africa (who now lectures at a university in Malang) along with 2 Fulbright scholars who lecture at UMM, want to come see my school and meet my students. My school is excited because this visit will contribute to their image as a hopeful international school, and I’m excited to talk to a former PCV. I’m sure she’ll be really impressed by the fingerprint scanner that was recently installed in the administration office in order to check the teachers’ attendance… I feel more like James Bond than a Peace Corps Volunteer every time I scan my thumb.
And starting Monday I’ll be in Surabaya for two weeks of intensive training with Peace Corps. I’m eager to see everyone again and receive the teacher training that was lacking during our Pre-Service Training. And daily hot showers will be a nice treat too.
I think that’s about it for now. I have excellent intentions of trying to keep this blog updated regularly. No promises though…

Sunday, October 10, 2010

#13 Sept. 29, 2010

Wayang Cici- Chinese Puppet Show

Takbiran

Cleaning our Goat Intestines in the River

Washing Clothes

Tokek

Things have been wildly busy over the past few weeks (minus a relaxing few days in Bali with my fellow PCVs, and no internet). I think my last entry was around Indonesia’s Independence Day which means that it’s been over a month since I’ve written. Sorry.

Since the school day during Ramadan was dramatically shorter than usual, I spent a lot of time working on creative activities for my students (my favorite being Scrabble sets made out of recycled cardboard, using the Sharpies Mom sent out, even though most of the teachers thought they were ugly) and getting to know my community a bit better. My homestay situation is less than ideal at the moment, so I try to spend as much time out of my ‘home’ as possible, which has definitely had its rewards. Every Sunday morning I go on a bicycle ride before English Club with Bu Sari, my RT or head of neighborhood. She’s the English teacher that befriended me awhile back and she’s been super supportive and gracious ever since. Each Sunday she takes me somewhere where there’s someone with a ‘unique occupation’.

The outskirts of Mojosari are much more rural and the terraced rice paddies at sunrise are absolutely breathtaking. Since I haven’t been able to run here, these morning bike rides have been my new way of exploring my surroundings while simultaneously clearing my mind. The first weekend Bu S. took me to a home in a neighboring village where there’s a man who catches these white lizards, tokek, (maybe geckos? I’ve never been good at classifying different species of reptiles) in order to use their blood (I think, maybe venom…if lizards have venom) for some type of HIV medication which is exported to neighboring Asian countries for hundreds of dollars an ounce. Apparently it’s a really difficult and dangerous job because the lizards bite and one must climb unstable bamboo? trees…some of the details may have been lost in translation. A different weekend she took me to meet a woman who specializes in helping women get pregnant…via massage. Newlywed women who are having difficulty conceiving come to this woman for a special back massage followed by drinking Jamu (a local Javanese health drink, which, in my humble opinion, tastes awful!) While we were there I watched someone clean the intestines of a recently-slaughtered goat in a nearby stream, which surprisingly didn’t make me queasy like I had anticipated. In the village there was also a small enclosed freshwater spring where women wash their daily laundry while their half-naked children swim. Being in these more rural areas is more of how I pictured my Peace Corps life. It seems like the people in these smaller villages are much more community oriented. My host bro always accompanies us, and this is usually the only time that he’s 100% pleasant to be around: he’s polite, respectful, and light-hearted. Outside of those bike rides he lies, is demanding, angry, likes to set things on fire, and occasionally throws in a death threat when I’m wearing my Arema (soccer team from Malang) t-shirt because it’s the rival team of where we live now.

The end of Ramadan was astoundingly uneventful considering Idul Fitri (the last day of the Islamic month) is the most important Muslim holiday. We went to all the neighbors to ‘ask forgiveness for those faults we have knowingly and unknowingly committed’ as well as every member of the extended families, all 950 students at my school, the teaching staff…and anyone else we seemed to run into. I did enjoy watching takbiran where all of the village children walk through the neighborhoods carrying colored torches and singing about Allah the Great.

And then it was off to Bali for a mini PC reunion! 16 of the 18 of us met near Kuta for 4 days. We stayed at the Bungalows, an amazing, low key, relatively remote place near a quiet beach. One of the most wonderful places I’ve ever stayed! An outdoor shower, oil lamps at night instead of using electricity, surrounded by beautiful flora and a 3 minute walk to the beach. The waves were a bit rough at times, but it was absolutely incredible to sit on the beach in shorts and a tank top, enjoying a cold beer and western food, while sharing stories with friends in English. We went into the city one night for dancing and Mexican food. I felt like a normal person again! I felt refreshed and ready to come back and conquer the remainder of my time here.

Teaching is getting easier and I’ve started establishing more of a routine. I spend more time with friends outside of my house. The other night I went with Mas A. to watch wayang cici (traditional Chinese puppets) at a Buddhist place of worship. There weren’t very many people there, so the leader invited us up to see the behind-the-scenes action. It was really cool to meet another segment of the Mojosari population and learn about Buddhist as well as Chinese culture. Last weekend I also went back to Malang to visit my original host family. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I felt like I was returning home. Eni is like a sister, Ibu like a mother, Mas Teguh a good friend, and all of the girls like nieces. My neighbors were ecstatic to see me and were wildly impressed at how improved my Bahasa Indonesia is. I wish I could have stayed longer, but as I mentioned before, time doesn’t really permit at the moment.

Right now I’m working on creating an English day camp once a month for the school-aged children in my immediate village. I have a lot of support from my RT and Village Head. My English Club students will help administer the activities. I have big hopes for establishing this as a sustainable secondary project. I’m super excited about its potential for success, but equally nervous about the potential of failure. We just passed out announcements and registration forms for the first meeting which will be on Sunday October 10.

My school is under construction at the moment which has proven challenging for teaching: four classes in one room, separated by cubicle barriers. 150 kids, four different teachers, four different subjects, all at the same time. It’s absolute chaos. But supposedly it’s “only” for 2 months. The other day BAPPENAS (the Ministry of National Development Planning), members of the national and provincial Ministries of Religious Affairs, as well as various Peace Corps staff (10 significantly important persons in total) came to observe and meet me as well as 3 other volunteers. I was tremendously nervous to teach in front of them, but my students and counterpart were amazing- I couldn’t have paid them to be more enthusiastic and participatory! They made me look like a better teacher than I actually am. I think I helped make a good first impression of what Peace Corps represents and after talking with all of them I was reminded of why I wanted to join Peace Corps in the first place. My energy has been rejuvenated.

That’s been the last month in a nutshell. Super busy, but I’m starting to see positive results from my time here, both in me growing as a person as well as the impact I’m having on my school and my community. There are tough days, but the good days are starting to drastically outnumber those that I have to fight through.