So what is new?

Teaching is starting to make sense. That is good I suppose. That is also new, so it fits with the title. This stuff was pretty daunting at first, but now I'm getting comfortable enough to be able to take a step back and look at what I'm doing in front of the kids. This is diffrent because a few days ago, I felt like a drowning person struggling to not look like a drowning person. While this change sounds like a good thing, I wish that had come at a later time, because now I see that I could be teaching these kids so much more. Being able to see that makes me feel like a crummy teacher.

This is going to be a challenge to tackle seeing as how all nine of my classes varry in level and all classes themselves have a range of skill levels. To give an example, I swear that the kid who has the strongest command of English is in the class that is supposed to be for those who scored lowest on the exams. This is just madness I tell you.

Yesterday I got paraded around. Litterally. There was this parade thingy, and I was in it. The dressed me up in this traditional stuff. Traditional, yet 100% polyester. (Not complaning about quality, but most definitely complaying about the heat dissapation abilities of the fabric. I struggle hard enough with the heat without thick layers of that stuff.) They even gave me this fake dagger to go along with it. Anyways, there where lots of people taking pictures of me dripping in sweat. Good times. Good times.

But in lighter news, I found a place that lets me play PS3 by the hour! Wooooo! Guess where all my grant money is going to end up.

Teaching is haaaaard!

Resisting urge to write "you heard right." Resisting urge to write "you heard right."

Honestly, it is not that bad though, but most definitely much harder than I expected. More accurately, much harder than all those orientation sessions have led me to believe. All they seemed to want to tell me was "fun games this" and "lasting relations that" and "warm glow from a good deed" and all sorts of happy stuff like that.

However, no one ever seemed to feel the urge to teach me about how challenging this could be at times. For example:

1. What do you do when you ask a question to a student and then said student proceeds to spend the next minute (which will feel like an eternity) smiling at their desk thinking that this will make you go away?
2. What do you do when you when you have asked the class over and over if they understand, they say "yes" over and over, you walk around checking on them and asking them one by one if they understand, they all say yes, but when it comes time to show the fruits of their labor, it becomes painfully apparent no one understood you?
3. What do you do when you open it up to questions and some kid pops off with "what are your feelings on 9/11?"
4. What do you do when you where told to not prepare anything the day before, show up and everyone is expecting you to have a full on lesson plan ready to go.
5. What do you do when your whole class of students all want to take pictures with you and you really really have to go pee? Not just that, but have had to really really have to go pee for the past hour.
6. What do you do when all your students just point blank refuse to respond to anything you say to the class?

I could go on with these things, and even before doing so I have already managed to make it sound like teaching here is absolutely miserable, but I want the record to show that it is not. At the end of the day, it can be quite rewarding. Literally regarding the whole end of the day thing. As soon as the bell rings the kids so far have all some up to me, shook my hand, happily thanking me for being there and then proceed to get all excited about me agreeing to take pictures with them. . . much to the dismay of my tiny bladder. 

Ok, time for a new post!

But I must do it with hasty, for now I'm at an internet cafe, and they are charging me like 25 cents every half an hour. Time is money yo.Can't be wasting that stuff.

Anyways, some bullet points about where the adventure has taken me thus far:

• I'm now no longer enjoying the comforts of my four star hotel in Bandung
• In fact, one could say I'm pretty darn far from four star as possible right now
• I need to stop starting things in this blog with the phrase "you heard right"
• I managed to weasel out of teaching on Fridays
• I should probably try and make this blog a little more profesional while I'm at it
• Getting these kids to talk is like pulling teeth. OMG, just say something pleeeeeeaseeeeeee! They totally know the awnsers to my questions too, but they just like tourturing me apparently
• Spellcheck is not working for me right now because this public computer has it set to Indonesian. Brace for spelling errors.
• . . .you know, one of those flash scrolling slideshow things with pictures and short intoductions to my post would be nice
• They totally just let me have at three classes today. . .after telling me that I did not need to prepare anythign for today
• AHHHH, that slacker song by Bruno Mars is playing in the cafe right now. I hate that song so much! Why can't I get away from it!? WHYYYYY!?!?
• . . .but I don't want my blog to be too nice you know? People might think I'm pretentious.
• This keyboard is pretty dusty
• Annnnd now I'm out of things to say.

Was about to log off, but went back into to editor to add this one last thing: AHHHH!, they put the slacker song back on! I'm half way across the effing world! Go away! Go away! Get out of my ears!

Volcano Hiking!

Yeah, you heard right. I went VOLCANO HIKING! There was this VOLCANO! And upon reaching said VOLCANO I proceded to HIKE it. This was not some sissy "oooo, look at the pretty foliage" hikes. No! This junk was all smoking and what not and was totally active yo. Also, the smoke smelled like sulfur eggs.

It was sooooo hardcore man. So hardcore that the terrain was all rocky and slippery all manners of unforgiving-y. Then this one girl was like: "oh no! I have sliped and fell." But then I was all like: "silly volcano! Your hardcore-ness cannot stop us for I have been carrying a Johnson and Johnson Travel Safe First Aid Kit this whole time!" Then, through the power of teamwork and synergy, the group got this girl patched up and we continued on, undeterred by the volcano's hardcore-ness.

Later on, the hardcore volcano decided to test us once more. One of the group decided to buy a tasty beverage, but something was amiss! "Oh no, I wish to enjoy this delicious Sprite but the bottle's cap is not a twist cap! How oh how can I Obey My Thirst if I can't open this bottle?" Then I was all like: "not this time Volcano!" and then used my trusty Leatherman Skeletool CX to open said bottle. As this brave companion proceded to enjoy the delicious lemon-lime flavors of Sprite in the face of the hardcore volcano, I took the time to use my Panasonic Lumix ZS3 to take a picture of the angry volcano, frustrated that it could do not to stop us.

So yes. It was a good day of hiking and of volcano conquering and of product endorsements.