Beautiful Bali

I'm just back from a week in lovely Bali.  We had a nice combination of three nights in the  beach area of Seminyak and the rest in the interior of Bali, in Ubud, of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame.   Seminyak is a surfer's beach, with a small area set aside for swimmers and boogie boarders.  Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from the beach down a gang or lane.  At the beach, you are immediately met by young men willing to rent you a lounge chair under an umbrella.  You can negotiate the price and we ended up paying about $5 for two seats for a few hours.  They will also provide you with cold beer, water or soft drinks from their coolers.  Once you are in your chair the vendors start to come.  Men and women stroll the beach with their goods in baskets on their heads, everything from fresh fruit to household goods.  They also entice you with services such as pedicures or massages.  We soon learned not to give any encouragement as they become very persistent in their efforts to sell you something.

A hat vendor.  This reminded me of the children's story "Caps for Sale"  We
just needed a few monkeys!

Checking out the surf.

Our hotel in Seminyak.

Bali is predominately Hindu as opposed to Muslim in Java.  There are temples everywhere and the architecture of the buildings is very different than in Jakarta.  There are also statues everywhere and each morning, offerings are put out for the Gods. Food and flowers will be left on the beach, on the pavement at the entrance of shops or in special boxes on stands on the street. The women are beautifully dressed in colourful long skirts and tops.  Even the statues are wrapped in sarongs and the colours are symbolic.   

Early morning offering.

A statue at our hotel.

A man working in a rice field.

Rice field surrounded by palm trees.

A lotus pond and temple in the background.

On the first of seven terraces of Besakih the Mother Temple.  It is built in the shadow of  Anung Ganung, a large volcano.

Lotus closeup.

The fancy door to our bedroom in Ubud.

Our open air lounge area.

A fire and trance dance.




You don't have to go far off the main roads to see rice fields, especially in the Ubud area.  They are very beautiful and often terraced up the hillsides.  On one long day in Ubud, we travelled the country side and visited a huge temple that was built in the 8th century, and has survived earthquakes and volcanoes.  We  visited a coffee plantation, that also grows cocoa, vanilla, cloves, tumeric, and more.  One of their specialties is the most expensive coffee in the world.  You may have heard of it.  Coffee beans are fed to mongoose (mongeese?).  After going through their intestinal system. the droppings are collected and the beans are dried, washed and ground very finely.  We had a cup of it, but it didn't seem especially good to me and it is much more expensive than Starbucks!  

I feel like I haven't scratched the surface of Bali, so I'm really looking forward to exploring it more in December with Cara, Caitlin, Clay and his parents! Bali is bagus!

Nine Weeks In

I've settled in to a routine here and I guess I can safely say that I am used to my new home and job.  The days are actually flying by, much like they do at home when I'm working.  School is very busy - there is lots expected as far as feedback to the parents goes - a weekly individual newsletter on each child and a bimonthly class newsletter.  This takes me a long time as it involves importing photos of each child and some written information too about what they are doing.  This week we are also completing a "settling in" form which is emailed to each parent in preparation for conferences the following week. Then, we have a week off and I'm heading for Bali!  I've also heard this week that I'm being sent to Mumbai for Professional Development for three days in November!  Every teacher in an International Bacculaureate School has to get the Primary Years Program training within their first year in the school - very exciting!  I think I will have to watch "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" again.

I thought I would write a bit about the culture here.  The people are very friendly.  Being Western attracts a bit of attention and people will call out in English as you go by.  The majority of the population is Muslim and all day long we hear the "call to prayer".  There are prayer rooms (musholas) in all the public buildings, malls etc.  Most Muslim women wear a headscarf and long skirts or pants and long sleeves but I rarely seen them wearing the full face cover.

The Indonesian people are warm and friendly. They have a take as it comes attitude and anything that happens is "nasib" (destiny).  Class distinction is very evident.  My school has worked hard to overcome some of this and everyone is expected to treat others with respect which seems normal to us, but here, with the heirarchy, it is very evident who is at the top and bottom of the totem pole.   Anyone in a position of authority is "Guru".  White = Fat= Wealthy, so anyone who it too thin is pitied.  When you meet someone for the first time that day, he/she will ask "Have you eaten?" but it translates literally to "have you had rice yet?" and if you haven't had rice, you haven't really eaten!

Everything is about saving face.  The people are very gentle (even the handshake is light) and shyness is part of being polite. When asked a question, they can't say they don't know and are "takut" afraid of getting it wrong.  They can't give an answer that disappoints, so yes doesn't always mean yes, which makes for some interesting situations at school.    Where we tend to be very black and white, here everything is shades of grey!

For all of this, the Indonesian people can be very direct with their questions and within a few minutes of meeting you will ask very personal questions - What's your name?  Where are you from? Then moving on quickly to, Are you married?  Do you have children?  What is your religion? What is your work?  These questions aren't being rude, they are just interested and trying to place you in the heirarchy that is their life.

People here talk about "rubber time" - stores don't necessarily open at a certain time or sometimes at all!  Deliveries may or may not arrive when scheduled.  Speaking of deliveries, I'm still waiting for my shipment from home!  I heard it had arrived in Jakarta Port two weeks ago and I'm still waiting to hear more.  Two other teachers got their shipment on Friday, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this week!  My wardrobe is getting pretty monotonous!

Well that's all for now.  Please keep sending those emails.  I love hearing from home!

                                                   Dinner at a Mexican restaurant

Security in Jakarta

Security is a big deal here.  Every large mall has security at all the entrances and all bags go through a scanner.  When I come home in a taxi, it pauses at the security gate and the contents of the trunk are scanned.  So far, nothing in my grocery bags has set off an alarm!

Security is also taken seriously at our school.  We go through security to enter the building, then when we get to the doors of our school on the 8^th or 9^th floor, we are met by our school security.  We have to be wearing our ID badge, then when we get to the doors, we use our fingerprint to unlock them.  To get out, we also use the fingerprint scanner.  The students have to be signed out by their nanny or parent every day, so my Teaching Assistant stands at the door at the end of the day and the children are dismissed one at a time.  Many of the children also have body guards that stay at the school all day, on the alert for any suspicious activity.  Apparently, the only thing that has caused an emergency so far,  was last year when word got out that one of the students had developed hoof and mouth disease.  This was so alarming that all the bodyguards rushed up, rescued their charges and within minutes most of the school was empty!  With all this security around, I feel that I’m pretty safe too, by association!  More seriously, a fire or earthquake would really be a disaster, as getting the students out down several flights of stairs, through a parkade, and down a lane to our assembly spot would be next to impossible.  My Indonesian Teaching Assistant says not to worry as all the body guards would come for the students and we would only have to take care of ourselves!

With all the nannies and body guards the children are growing up in a very rarified atmosphere.  They are very coddled.  I think I mentioned previously that if anyone is hurt, a phone call to the parent is made right away.  I’m not talking about stitches or concussions;  any bump to the head no matter how light and any scratch or bruise is reason to call.  We  have two full time nurses on duty and they are kept busy! We have to make sure we talk to the parent before the nanny sees them.  Apparently if the nanny notices anything, it’s a great upset.  The nannies are very reluctant to give up the care of the children to the school.  They also stay around all day, “in case they are needed”.   The parents are very concerned about germs, so the school has to be kept spotless (and it is!).  The children do not have to change into “inside shoes” as we do at home because their feet rarely touch the ground.  Considering how dirty the city is, maybe it’s understandable.    One of the teachers told me that last year she took her class on a field trip and they planned a picnic lunch in a park after the outing.  The parents that were along, were horrified when she asked them to sit on the ground.  There might be ants!  I think it is quite amusing and it makes our Canadian kids seem very rough and tumble in comparison!

The traffic at 6:00 pm on Jalen Sudiman, right by our school. There are just as many lanes going in the other direction.  This traffic was moving.  Sometimes it's at a standstill. To the right are Kathy and Rob, on the pedestrian overpass above the traffic last Friday night.

Jakarta's Contrasts

On Monday, while on our Idul Fitri break, a few of us went to Old Jakarta,  taking advantage of the lighter traffic.   We were able to get there by taxi in about 30 minutes,

usually it would take much longer with the regular traffic.  I was

excited to go because it is right on the harbour, where the Dutch

people first settled ( I'm picturing Lynden Washington) and I thought

it might be a good place to show any visitors that I'm hoping to have in the future. We arrived at a large

square in an area called Batavia.  It was disappointing and

dilapidated but full of people looking around, buying food from stalls

and renting 2 and 3 seater bikes (the bikes come with sunhats instead

of helmets!).  

We spent a few minutes looking around there and then

thought we would walk to the harbour and take a look at the boats.

Again, I was picturing something quaint and lovely, maybe like

Steveston or English Bay. ( note to self, I can't compare to Canada)   We were sidetracked on our way by a little lane.  We thought it might be a place to get a cold drink as it was

very hot.  It turned out to be an area where people live and it

took us about 45 minutes to walk through and find our way out again.

I found it quite depressing as these people are living in such

appalling conditions, again by our standards.  The lane was about 6 feet wide and the little

hovels open right on to it, so as you walk you are glancing right into

their living areas. There was a very dirty, polluted canal on one side,

then the path, then the houses all joined together, that's all.  We

could see that many people had TV's and there were lots of the

motorized scooters that everyone has here and lots of

cooking going on, laundry hung out to dry, people sitting

out and kids running around.  The people seemed happy enough and were friendly, but it was

very hard to see them living like that, especially with the dirty canal which I'm sure is their water source.  However, even here, it was evident that many people take pride in their home.  Some of them had beautiful wooden doors and others had nice tile work at their front step and around their door. 

One of the little homes in the lane.

Kathy and Annie on the lookout for cold drinks!

We eventually made it back to the main road (without the cold drink!) and continued on to

the harbour.  There were lots of huge fishing boats, Herman might appreciate

them but they didn't look very sea worthy to this sailor.   A man in a long

wooden canoe shaped boat waved us down and motioned to us with sign

language that he would take us in his boat out to the end of the

harbour. As it looked like a long way still and did I mention how hot

it was (?) we decided to go for it.  We all clambered in and he had to

paddle this boat in the small spaces  between the huge fishing boats.

We finally made it out to a more open area and he was able to start

his motor and take us out to the end of the harbour and back again.

It took about an hour and he charged us 10,000 Rph each, about $1.

 By this time, I was sure I was coming down with sunstroke as I was in a

sleeveless top and no hat but luckily, I had put on sunscreen.  We walked

back to the Batavia area and had lunch in the Batavia Hotel, which is

probably the one attractive building in the whole area.  Thank goodness it

was air conditioned and I felt much better after food and water!  That

was enough sun to last me for a while. I won't make the mistake again

of going out for the day without a hat and more protection from the sun.  

Our water taxi

Maneuvering through the fishing boats

The next day, Annie and I went in the opposite direction to Kemang, which is an area in South Jakarta.  We went on a walk about and saw how the other half lives.  There were nice, tree lined streets, big, fancy houses and beautifully landscaped gardens. The contrast between our two "field trips" was pretty amazing and more than a little uncomfortable.

School Life

I've just finished my first two weeks of school and am now on holiday from Friday to Wednesday, then we have two Pro D Days.  This holiday is Idul Fitri, the end of Ramadam, and the end of their fasting.  Apparently everyone goes back to their home village, and Jakarta will be the quietest that it will be all year.
School has been quite amazing.  Everyday I meet Kathy outside of our apartment building at 7:00 am and we walk to school arriving by 7:15.  We are required to be there by 7:30, but most people are earlier than that.  Two mornings we have meetings, one a lead teacher meeting and one a "stand up" (read short) meeting for everyone that works in the classrooms.  School starts at 8:30 but there are no bells and the students start drifting in by about 8:15.  Many children are habitually late (maybe it's the traffic).  Three mornings a week, we start with an assembly called Morning Song which Kathy leads with her guitar in hand and it's a nice way to start the day.  Then it is back to the classroom with my 16 students, although this past week, many children started their holiday early and I only had 10 kids!  We have our circle time, which consists of more songs, a very brief calendar and graphing activity, some singing games and a Math activity then we have some physical activity, either on the balcony where there are some tricycles, scooters, plastic big blocks and a mini trampoline or in the Dragon's Den, which is a large room with lots of big foam building shapes,  a tunnel and some climbing toys with a slide.  Back to class for morning brunch which magically appears at 10:00.  After that the Chinese teacher does a half hour lesson, then we have Centres where I do observations and perhaps work with kids that need extra help with some math or language concepts.  My Indonesian teaching assistant, Mercya, is amazing and is alway there stepping in with kids that need help with something.  The Chinese teacher, Stella (!) is also always there helping out at a centre. After Centres, there is a half hour Indonesian lesson with Dina or a Moral Studies lesson with Kristen.   We finish off with a story, Reflection, and book time, good bye song and that's it as my class leaves at 12:30!  Mercya controls the end of the day, because every child has to be signed out by their nanny or parent.
After that, I am free to go for lunch except for one day where I have Gym supervision with the older children that stay for the whole day.  My afternoons are for planning with my team and two afternoons a week, I have meetings, one a general staff meeting and one a Primary Years Planning meeting where we learn about and plan for the current unit of inquiry (International Bacaluareate Program).  I know it will get a bit busier, because we all have to take turns offering after school programs once a week for a term or two.   Also, after the holiday we start reporting to the parents weekly with a sort of newsletter, telling what their child has accomplished, photos etc.  That will take some time but I have my afternoons to work on it, unlike the teachers who have students the whole day.  They'll be using their prep times, which they get a lot of.  All of the teachers can leave at 4:00.

Working during a Math activity

The most amazing thing for me is how much help there is available. If we want to paint, one of the cleaning crew sets it all up on the balcony and cleans it all up when we are finished. After morning brunch, someone appears with mops and cloths to take care of spills and crumbs and every day my area carpet is vacuumed and steam cleaned, (Joanne are you jealous yet?) along with the big pillows that the kids use at book time. The workers dust every day, tidy up the block and book centre and if I accidently leave my water bottle on my desk, it's cleaned when I return in the morning.  If I need furniture moved, Mercya calls for help and someone comes immediately.  When we leave our classroom to go to the gym or Dragon's Den, which involves elevators and walking through public areas of the building, a Security Guard comes with us.  If I need paper cut or a display put up, Mercya does it.  There is a worker that stays in the bathroom all day long, cleaning and supervising that area.  The children are very indulged, mostly by their nannies (some of them have two nannies!) and are less independent than comparable children at home.  If a child is hurt at school, he/she is taken to the nurse and the teacher must call home right away to explain what happened.  My first week, the same student was hurt two days in a row, once with a minor bump to the head and once a bleeding lip and a trip to the hospital.  That involved several phone calls and  emails.  This whole experience is really not comparable to teaching at home, where you constantly feel as though you can't get on top of things and spend hours prepping for lessons and activities and little or no time during the day to catch your breath.  Is there anyone out there that wants to join me?

Winston and Fahri singing during a Chinese lesson

In the Dragon's Den

                                  A Day in Singapore

I got to play hooky last Friday and go to Singapore with six other teachers.  It was necessary to leave the country, as we entered on a tourist visa (only good for 30 days) and then complete some immigration papers in Singapore and re-enter on a work visa.  The work visa is called a Kitas and is necessary for many things, like opening a bank account and receiving my shipment from home.  This was all at the school's expense, which made it even more enjoyable!
Singapore was a great break from the craziness of Jakarta.  It's clean, organized, the traffic is normal and everyone speaks English.   I loved hearing "Mind the Gap" on the subway at the airport. 
After giving up our passports to the agent working for the school, we headed for the "Singapore Flyer" which is like the "London Eye".  We had great views of the city and the harbour.  It's surrounded by water like Vancouver and has some very interesting and modern architecture.  One skyscraper has a ship perched on top of it.  Apparently when you go into it, it is an infinity pool.  After the Flyer, we walked to the landmark "Raffles Hotel" where the Singapore Sling was created.  The hotel was built in the late 1800s and has hosted many famous writers and actors.  It is built in the colonial style, in contrast to the rest of Singapore which is very modern.  When you enter the bar, you crunch, crunch across peanut shells that people toss onto the floor. (Can't believe that's allowed in Singapore since chewing gum and spitting is an offence.) A Singapore Sling was going to be $25, but for about $35 you could have the drink and fish and chips, which is what we did.
After lunch and a nice respite from the muggy heat, we caught a cab to Orchard Road, which is a trendy shopping area, similar to Robson Street, with lots of high end stores.  We window shopped for a bit, then went to a cafe and watched the world go by.  After an hour or so there, it was time to head back to the agent, then on to the aiport for the 1 1/2 hour flight to Jakarta.  Sometime, I'd like to go back to Singapore and have a little longer. Apparently there is lots more to see.

The Singapore Flyer

A view from the Flyer. Notice the ship on top.






















The menu from Raffles.

With "London Liam" our Gym teacher at Raffles.

My day to day adventures!

Satu, Dua, Tiga, Here we go!

Traffic in Jakarta

Traffic seems to be the bane of everyones’ existence here.  Apparently there have been attempts to build a rapid transit system, but stakeholders backed out after corruption problems.  To relieve some of the congestion, there is a 3 in 1 rule during peak hours on the busiest roads.  It’s like our HOV lanes on the freeways. If a driver is caught without 3 people in the car, he/she is heavily fined.   However, it has created an underground economy.  Every morning as I walk to school, I see people lining the streets holding their fingers up, indicating if they are 1 or 2 (eg. a mother and baby).  The driver pulls over, the person or people hop in and they charge the driver 10,000 Rupiah ($1.00).  They stay in the car until they are out of the restricted area, then get out and do the same thing coming back in the other direction.  Sometimes it is young children doing this.

Normally I walk to school, but last Sunday, a few of us were going to in to get some extra work done.  Annie and I decided to catch a Tuk Tuk because we had a lot to carry.  The Tuk Tuk is about the size of a golf cart.  The main road beside the school was blocked off, so the driver attempted to drive through the narrow, twisty lanes of the Kampon which is a very poor area, just off the main road, full of little wooden shacks with tin roofs that serve as homes and small businesses.  The trouble was that we seemed to be going in the wrong direction on a one way lane and there was no room for us, even though our vehicle was so small.  We were stuck, no room to turn around and would still be there, if it weren’t for some entrepreneurial young boys who make money directing traffic in the Kampon.  They actually hold up a rope and hold out a bucket for money from the driver, before they put the rope down.  Anyway they had a good laugh at us and stopped traffic so we could eventually sneak through.

Money in Jakarta

I’m getting used to the money now, but my heart has raced a few times when I’ve gone for groceries and the bill has come to say 300,000 Rph.  I have to keep reminding myself that it is only about $30.  I’m paid partly in Rupiah and partly in American dollars.  When a person goes to change US to Rupiah, the money changers are very particular.  They will not take old bills and in fact, the bills have to be perfectly flat, no folds or turned corners or they will not give you the best exchange rate.  People have been known to iron their money before exchanging it. 

It takes me a lot of time to get things done here, because of it being so unfamiliar and of course because of the language.  Luckily many people know some English. I’m happy to say that I now have internet (although it doesn’t always work) and TV, know where to get the big jugs of water delivered from (no one drinks from the taps) and have found the laundry service in the building.  My apartment is compact but comfortable and the pool area is beautiful. It’s like an oasis from the busyness and noise of the city.  I think I will be using it a lot!

Miss you all and think of you often, but baik-baik saja (doing fine)!

My "oasis" that I step out to from my apartment.

Enjoying the pool last Sunday morning.

The start of our ride in the tuk tuk.

Riding along the main road, quiet as it was Sunday.  Normally
the little stands are full of people selling food.

Entering the Kampon.  Notice the young
 boy - one of the enterprising sort!

First week!

Apa kabar!
Pinch me... Am I really here?  As Dorothy said, "I don't think I'm in Kansas any more".

First impressions:
 - the Indonesians are very friendly people.  If you smile at them, you get the biggest, friendliest smiles back.
-  the weather is better than I expected, hot (about 30) but not too hot and much less humid than I  feared
- huge extremes as far as poverty and wealth
- noisy and polluted here in the city
- great food and lots of choices for not very much money.  So far I've eaten Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and North American and others have managed to fit in German
- beer is easy to get and cheap, wine is harder to get and fairly expensive by Indonesian standards
- the money is hard for me to wrap my head around - 10,000 Rupiah is about $1.00

I have spent the first week in orientation with the 43 other new teachers this year.  It has been at the main campus of the school, which is truly amazing for someone coming from the public school system as I am.  It is more like a resort than a school.  A grand entrance, a beautiful theatre, cafes and lounges in every building, two pools, one that looks Olympic size to my eyes and one smaller one for younger children, beautifully landscaped gardens, pathways, play areas and a state of the art soccer field.
We have had information sessions on everything you can imagine from Indonesian and Chinese culture, ( eg. don't point with your index finger as we do but hold your hand palm down and gesture, don't touch anyones' head, never put your feet up on a table or point with your feet) , Indonesian language lessons, trips to various shopping malls, technology lessons on our new Macbook Air laptops, counselling sessions about what to expect in adjusting to a new country (apparently 8 weeks is the lowest point for homesickness), visits to a Medical clinic where English is spoken, to how to set up house etc. etc.  I'm  told that this school does an unusually good job of orientation and although I can't compare, I suspect it's true!
My move here is much easier than some of the others who have young families, (one couple has 4 young children).  They are needing to arrange nannies, buy furniture and appliances, arrange for cable, internet and electricity. buy school uniforms and many other things.  I will be moving into a furnished apartment and the utilities are arranged right in the building.
The expats here that work at the main campus live a pretty nice lifestyle.  They have beautiful, spacious  homes in one of the many "clusters", most with pools in the backyard.  They all have maids and drivers (can't blame them for that as I wouldn't want to drive here!)

Well, I think that is it for now.  I will try to attach pictures.  I miss all of you so much but "Saya hatiku senang", my heart is happy!

A courtyard at the school.

Near the main entrance of the main campus.

The high rise on the right is my new school on the 8th and 9th floors.

.                                                The pool on the balcony at my school!