Bina Bangsa Teacher's Conference in Puncak

     What a long weekend!! We finished up the induction program for the new teachers on Thursday. Then they took all of us out for dinner at a seafood restaurant. The food wasn't too bad. Of course there was rice, and then I tried a bunch of different chicken. After dinner we went to Emporium (the mall closest to our apartment), and I finally got a phone. I got a Blackberry, because that seems to be what everyone uses around here. We didn't get home very early, which sucked because we had to be up by 4:30 am on Friday.      

     We got on the buses and headed to Puncak, Indonesia. This is where the Bina Bangsa Teacher's Conference was held. It was such a beautiful place up in the mountains :) This was for all of the teachers at all of the Bina Bangsa locations. I think they said that there was supposed to be about 320 of us there.

View of the Mountains

New Friends :) 

Conference Center

     Friday was such a long day. Everyone was tired, and we had long sessions to go to. Some of them were quite boring, and other sessions were very informative. By midday, people were starting to get sick. They actually ended up taking people to the hospital. They think that it was from the seafood that we ate on Thursday night. I'm glad that I did not get sick. I didn't feel well Friday night, but I think mine may have been from dehydration. I didn't drink as much water as I probably should have. I started to feel better after I ate some soup for dinner and drank some water.

     Because there were so many people sick and everyone was tired, they ended up canceling the last session of the night. We were all so happy, because we had been up since 4:30 am and on the go ever since. We did get a chance to sleep on the bus, but still. I know that I had no energy at all, and I could not function anymore. I needed sleep. We were all just super wiped from the week. I went straight to my room to go to bed. After I got in bed, I ended up getting up and going to hang out with my friends for awhile at the poolside restaurant. I have met so many wonderful people, and I am sad that I won't be able to see some of them much after school starts. We will all be at different campuses, and probably won't be seeing each other a whole lot, because we will be busy.

     I had a king size bed to sleep in all to myself :) Josh was so mad, because he is like 6'4", and he had to share a bed with some stranger. Haha. I have been pretty lucky lately with my rooming situations. After the sessions were over today, everyone was SO ready to get out of there. We loaded up the buses, and then we had to sit for like an hour for some reason. It was something about there being a road block and we couldn't leave until 2 pm.

Bed all to myself :) 

My hotel room

     We made it about 10 minutes away from the hotel and then we came to a complete stop. The traffic was backed up for miles. We sat in that same spot for over FOUR HOURS!! Everyone just wanted to get home, and we were all stuck. People got off the bus and wandered around. Some people went to the little stands along the road and bought something to eat or drink. There are street vendors everywhere.

     Finally, we made it home around 9:00 pm. I couldn't believe how long it took to get back. There was so much traffic too! I thought traffic in Washington, D.C. was bad. That's nothing compared to this. I hope that everyone starts to feel better, and that everyone rests well tonight. I know I am tired, and should be getting to sleep. I am going to sleep in tomorrow for sure! :)

Pictures will be posted soon!

One Week Down, and I'm Still Alive :)

     I have been tired a lot this week. The days are very long at school with orientation. We leave at 7:30 am and we leave school at 5:00 pm. We have been working on our lesson planning for the first weeks of school. I have to plan for English, Math and Science for the whole first week of school. With the cockroach infestation in my apartment, I feel like I have been pretty stressed out. 

     To update you on the cockroaches, they are getting better! Someone came to clean our apartment today. We got home and the floors were mopped, sinks and toilets were clean, etc. It was great! I'm glad they are doing something to help us get this taken care of. We did put some bait out in the apartment so hopefully that will help. 

     Today at school, I had my first demo lesson. I think it went pretty well, but of course, there are things that I need to work on. I did a 3rd grade Science lesson on classifying things. We were in a room where we "taught" the lesson to a group of colleagues and the principals. It was nice to get feedback at the end of the lesson, so that we know what we can work on in our lessons. 

     I really like it here. When I first got here, I was thinking: "What am I doing? What did I get myself into?" Now that my apartment is getting better, and I am getting used to things, I really like it. The apartment and the city are growing on me for sure. My roommate and I can't wait for our apartment to be somewhat bug free (our place will never be completely bug free), so that we can start making the place our own.

     The traffic is completely insane here. I would never be able to learn to drive. They have lanes on some of the roads, but they don't use them. Of course, they drive on the opposite side. That threw me for a loop the first day. I didn't even think about things like that before I came here. Lots of people drive little motorcycles around the city, and they weave in and out of cars like crazy. There is no stopping for traffic to turn onto your street. You just keep going and hope that they don't hit you, and that you don't hit anyone. It's a bit scary when we're riding in the school van on the way home from school. On the way to school, there is hardly any traffic since it's early. 

     Starting today, we did a new thing where we sit in the van and learn how to say new phrases and words on our ride home since traffic is horrible at 5:00 pm (I think it's worse than D.C. traffic!). There is a guy who works with us from the Philippines who can speak the native language fairly well, so he helps us with pronunciation. Today I learned how to say, "I love you", "I hate you", and "you're stupid", "welcome to Jakarta", and the proper way to say "thank you". We have been using a English/Indonesian phrase book, but most of the words that it teaches you are the formal words.  

     Since we have been staying with Andrew, Josh, Ike and Ben; we have become like a little family up here in this apartment. Amber and I were just talking earlier about how things happen for a reason. It happened for a reason that our apartment was infested with bugs. It made us become much closer with everyone so fast. I feel bad that we are taking over their living room, but they don't seem to mind us being here. 

     There is a man and his wife from India that live in our building that help us out a lot. Their daughter speaks the native language fluently, so that is very helpful. They helped us to order some pizzas last night. It was funny, because we told them that we wanted six pizzas and two orders of bread sticks, and they asked us if were partying. Us Americans eat too much food, I guess. Haha. 

     The food that we have been eating at school is quite interesting. Today was probably the best, probably because it seemed so American. Haha. We had a choice of 3 different kinds of chicken, and it was all served with mixed vegetables, some garlic bread, and cold french fries. 

     Well, I should probably stop here and get to sleep soon. I will be woken up in about four or five hours, because the guys will be waking up to watch the soccer game. Oh, I almost forgot; The school is flying a bunch of us to Singapore for the day, because we have to get our business visas. I definitely won't complain about that. I'm pretty excited. Also, a bunch of us are planning a trip to Bali in Aug. I am super excited about that. Let the traveling begin! :) 

My First Days in Jakarta

     I left for Jakarta, Indonesia last Tuesday (June 19th) from O'Hare in Chicago. The flight was 15 hours long! I flew with another teacher, Ike, who was also hired at the Bina Bangsa School. We spent most of the flight trying to sleep, so we didn't talk a lot. We talked mostly during meals. I watched a lot of movies and listened to a lot of music when I wasn't sleeping.

     We arrived in Hong Kong at about 8 pm on Wednesday. Our cab ride was over $40 US from the airport to the hotel. I had a room to myself. It was so nice to lay down in a bed instead of trying to sleep in my seat on the plane. The hotel room was small, but very clean and nice. When we first got there, we could not figure out how to turn our lights on. Haha, silly Americans. I finally figured it out that there was a card slot on the wall where you inserted your room key and they would turn on.

     My flight from Hong Kong to Jakarta was just over 4 hours long. Not as bad as the first part of the trip. We arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia around 1 pm Thursday. An agent from the school was waiting for us to help us with our visas, and he waited with us until we got our luggage. Then a driver from the school brought us to our apartment. 

     After I was dropped off in my apartment, I had no idea what to do! I didn't have to go to orientation, since it was already early afternoon. When I first walked into my room there were bugs crawling all over!! I thought it was so disgusting. They were on my bed. I didn't want to sleep in there, so I went out on the couch and turned on the tv. I took a little bit of a nap, and waited for my roommate to come home. 

     My roommate's name is Amber, and she is from Tennessee. After she got home we both realized that we did not like the bugs in our apartment at all. She informed me that they were cockroaches. How disgusting!! She introduced me to some other teachers in our building (Ike's roommates). We decided to sleep in their apartment, because they do not have nearly as many cockroaches as we do. 

     On Friday morning, we got up and went to school. Our driver that picked us up from the airport is the driver that takes us to school everyday. We learned about our duties and responsibilities and played some get to know you games. All of the other teachers are very nice. At lunch time we had KFC chicken. It was the first meal I had since I arrived. 

     After school we went to the mall that is close to our apartment building. It's quite a walk, but we made it. Everywhere we go people stare and us and laugh. The people are very friendly though when you ask them for help. My roommate has a Indonesian phrase book, so we try to use that as much as we can. It is a challenge when you are out trying to shop, because not many people speak English here. It's kind of crazy that this city has so many malls! They are huge malls like the Mall of America, yet there are so many poor areas.

     I received all of my books on Saturday and need to start lesson planning for 3rd grade Science, 4th grade English, and 4th grade Math. I have to have at least one week of lessons done for each subject by the end of next week. We also have to do a lesson demonstration on Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a lot of work to do!

     Amber and I are still not sleeping at our apartment, because the bugs have not gone away. It's getting better, and I'm sure it will keep getting better. I just have to get used to things and give it some time.  

Living Room

Kitchen

Laundry Room

Stove Top and Sink

Fridge and Cupboards

Flatscreen!! :) 

Amber's Room on the Left and Hallway

My bed

My bedroom

My Bathroom

Dining Room