I'm too lazy to think of a good title!
But I'm okay with that. So you should be, too. Well, things are...they're better, I suppose. Right now there are good moments, just okay moments and "GET ME ON THE NEXT PLANE HOME!!!" moments. Teaching is something I don't ever think I'll really love, but it's something I can live with and try my hardest at for two years. My English 11 class is still evil. The girls are little sweethearts, but they're teensy and quiet and shy. They do want to learn, though, and so it's important that I make sure they can. The guys in the class, with maybe one or two exceptions, are just dreadful. As I've mentioned before, they're notorious. Even the school's principal can't stand them and knows how horrible they are. Unfortunately, at USD$11,000 a year for tuition, those kids are too "valuable" to be kicked out. Damn money.
These guys are not enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, the fancy diploma program. The English 11 class I teach is national program, as in Indonesian national program. Therefore (despite the fact that the school is allegedly all English-speaking) I'm the only teacher that makes them speak English in class-except for Travis, who teaches them religion, but that's only one period a week. They hate this. The sucky thing about the national program is that the government controls it, and everyone who is in it takes an exam to graduate. The exam, once completed, is rigged so that all students finish with similar scores in the average range. Seriously. I'm not just some skeptical expat making this up-the national teachers who took this exam attest to this. So basically it doesn't matter if these kids learn a damn thing. The majority of the kids in the national program at our school don't plan to go to college because they don't have to-their fathers are so wealthy they'll never have to do anything except inherit the family business. Sad and awfully cynical-sounding, but unfortunately it's true. These guys, the ones in my English 11 class, don't care if they learn or not-their parents send them to our school because it's a private school and apparently that's what you do if you're wealthy. Most of them (and keep in mind, I don't mean most of the students in the school, just most of the ones in this class) are spoiled beyond rotten. Their parents, it seems, are in denial that their precious darlings could ever be bad. Even the administration at the school attests to that-some of these guys are still serving detentions they earned LAST YEAR, but their parents think they're "just boys." One of them, Mario, is the ringleader of sorts. He explained to me once that it doesn't matter if he gets detentions or suspensions. They do nothing for him and it's no big deal-in fact, it's cool that he gets in trouble! Fabulous! These guys have also explained to me that it's stupid I expect them to speak English in class. No one else does! (Imagine that-but I teach ENGLISH CLASS!!!) They think I make them speak English because I can't understand them when they speak Indonesian with their friends. Exactly. Blah. They also have a problem with respect because I'm a woman. It annoys me to no end, but it doesn't surprise me. Plus, it actually makes me feel a little better to know that it's not me-it would be anyone in my position who was a female. They hate me because I won't let them walk all over me. I make them work and I enforce classroom rules. I'm such a jerk. Yay, me! Oh well.
The rest of my students are cool. My English 12 class-also national program students-is wonderful. The kids are just so cool. They actually do want to learn, and we have a nice mutual respect thing going. They're a pretty close group, and they're always sitting together at lunch, playing guitars and singing. Some of them are in a praise band together, and the band also plays some pretty good rock and pop stuff, too. Sometimes we talk a little about music. This one kid, Agung, carries his guitar with him from class to class. He plays it while he walks from one class to the next, and his classmates walk with him, singing along. Apparently he was in a bad motorcycle accident a while back, and since he survived, he decided he wants to spend as much time praising God through music as he can. Is that incredible, or what? Great kids.
Anyway, things here are okay, like I said. Nothing exciting has happened lately. We have two three-day weekends in a row coming up, but Travis and I have to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the first one in meetings. Huzzah. At least we get Sunday and Monday off. Then, the next three-day weekend, we're going to this beachfront resort about three hours from here. We're going with all but a few of the other expats, and staying in beachfront bungalows. I'm pretty excited! I plan to do...not a whole lot but relax. I believe I will indulge in the advertised "in-bungalow massage service," however. The website for the resort also said there's a spot on the beach where sea turtles lay eggs, so that's really cool! This midwestern girl is looking forward to being a beach bum for a few days.
Nothing else new, really. We bought some new furniture for our living room from these cool shops in Kemang, a district in Jakarta. They have all these little furniture shops (most are furniture shacks, actually) filled from floor to ceiling with gorgeous, handmade and/or handcarved furniture. The furniture is mostly solid teak and the prices...well, you'd be stupid to not buy some of this furniture if you had the chance. We picked up a pretty coffee table, some cool lamps and an ornately carved jewelry box. We also got a wall hanging with 12 little carved men on it. It's made out of mahogany, and has these 12 little tribal guys in big headdresses sitting on it. The shop lady said it was made in Kalimantan. It's very cool.
I just keep thinking of all these good things-most of my students, the friends we have here and the cool experiences we've had and will have over the next two years. That cheers me up, as do little things like funny geckos skittering about on our walls, the now-daily rainshowers that are leading us into the rainy season and the fact that at almost any restaurant I go to here, I can order watermelon juice. Watermelon juice! It's FABULOUS! Anyway, it's time for me to get some sleep. I woke up MUCH earlier than I planned to this morning (not by my own accord) so I'm getting drowsy. It's so weird to think that it's bedtime here and lunchtime back home. Bon appetit and bon soir!
These guys are not enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, the fancy diploma program. The English 11 class I teach is national program, as in Indonesian national program. Therefore (despite the fact that the school is allegedly all English-speaking) I'm the only teacher that makes them speak English in class-except for Travis, who teaches them religion, but that's only one period a week. They hate this. The sucky thing about the national program is that the government controls it, and everyone who is in it takes an exam to graduate. The exam, once completed, is rigged so that all students finish with similar scores in the average range. Seriously. I'm not just some skeptical expat making this up-the national teachers who took this exam attest to this. So basically it doesn't matter if these kids learn a damn thing. The majority of the kids in the national program at our school don't plan to go to college because they don't have to-their fathers are so wealthy they'll never have to do anything except inherit the family business. Sad and awfully cynical-sounding, but unfortunately it's true. These guys, the ones in my English 11 class, don't care if they learn or not-their parents send them to our school because it's a private school and apparently that's what you do if you're wealthy. Most of them (and keep in mind, I don't mean most of the students in the school, just most of the ones in this class) are spoiled beyond rotten. Their parents, it seems, are in denial that their precious darlings could ever be bad. Even the administration at the school attests to that-some of these guys are still serving detentions they earned LAST YEAR, but their parents think they're "just boys." One of them, Mario, is the ringleader of sorts. He explained to me once that it doesn't matter if he gets detentions or suspensions. They do nothing for him and it's no big deal-in fact, it's cool that he gets in trouble! Fabulous! These guys have also explained to me that it's stupid I expect them to speak English in class. No one else does! (Imagine that-but I teach ENGLISH CLASS!!!) They think I make them speak English because I can't understand them when they speak Indonesian with their friends. Exactly. Blah. They also have a problem with respect because I'm a woman. It annoys me to no end, but it doesn't surprise me. Plus, it actually makes me feel a little better to know that it's not me-it would be anyone in my position who was a female. They hate me because I won't let them walk all over me. I make them work and I enforce classroom rules. I'm such a jerk. Yay, me! Oh well.
The rest of my students are cool. My English 12 class-also national program students-is wonderful. The kids are just so cool. They actually do want to learn, and we have a nice mutual respect thing going. They're a pretty close group, and they're always sitting together at lunch, playing guitars and singing. Some of them are in a praise band together, and the band also plays some pretty good rock and pop stuff, too. Sometimes we talk a little about music. This one kid, Agung, carries his guitar with him from class to class. He plays it while he walks from one class to the next, and his classmates walk with him, singing along. Apparently he was in a bad motorcycle accident a while back, and since he survived, he decided he wants to spend as much time praising God through music as he can. Is that incredible, or what? Great kids.
Anyway, things here are okay, like I said. Nothing exciting has happened lately. We have two three-day weekends in a row coming up, but Travis and I have to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the first one in meetings. Huzzah. At least we get Sunday and Monday off. Then, the next three-day weekend, we're going to this beachfront resort about three hours from here. We're going with all but a few of the other expats, and staying in beachfront bungalows. I'm pretty excited! I plan to do...not a whole lot but relax. I believe I will indulge in the advertised "in-bungalow massage service," however. The website for the resort also said there's a spot on the beach where sea turtles lay eggs, so that's really cool! This midwestern girl is looking forward to being a beach bum for a few days.
Nothing else new, really. We bought some new furniture for our living room from these cool shops in Kemang, a district in Jakarta. They have all these little furniture shops (most are furniture shacks, actually) filled from floor to ceiling with gorgeous, handmade and/or handcarved furniture. The furniture is mostly solid teak and the prices...well, you'd be stupid to not buy some of this furniture if you had the chance. We picked up a pretty coffee table, some cool lamps and an ornately carved jewelry box. We also got a wall hanging with 12 little carved men on it. It's made out of mahogany, and has these 12 little tribal guys in big headdresses sitting on it. The shop lady said it was made in Kalimantan. It's very cool.
I just keep thinking of all these good things-most of my students, the friends we have here and the cool experiences we've had and will have over the next two years. That cheers me up, as do little things like funny geckos skittering about on our walls, the now-daily rainshowers that are leading us into the rainy season and the fact that at almost any restaurant I go to here, I can order watermelon juice. Watermelon juice! It's FABULOUS! Anyway, it's time for me to get some sleep. I woke up MUCH earlier than I planned to this morning (not by my own accord) so I'm getting drowsy. It's so weird to think that it's bedtime here and lunchtime back home. Bon appetit and bon soir!
posted by Erin @ 11:40 AM
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