Hello Lagi

The last while I have been reflecting a lot more on what I have been doing here. Why am I here? What have I learned? What will come next? It's been more than 6 months now and I think I have done a bad job of really communicating with people at home my experiences here. Not that it's possible to fully tell you about it all but I wish I could! Here are some things I can say about Indonesia and learnings in my SALT experience thus far:

• I need, and have lacked, personal relationships while here. Even though I have met a lot of people and have made many new friends it has not been easy to be close with them. I think this is largely because our perspectives are very different; and while I would like to express my opinions and feelings with others, it is difficult because I don't want to offend anyone by saying what I think or how I truly feel. (That said, I have made a couple close friends who are more open-minded and view things more critically)
  
• I like eating rice 3 times a day. It makes sense here! BUT it doesn't make much sense to do the same in Canada. The rice here is fresh and sticks together so you can easily eat with your hands. And no need to smear soy sauce or butter or seasoning all over it! That is just silly. Mmmm..eat some fried chicken with rice and fresh sambal and you're good.
• I under-appreciated Snickers bars previously. I recently received a package with 2 small snickers bars included - and they were DELICIOUS! Maybe it's because I have been a bit deprived of chocolate bars, but I'm not sure a Caramilk would have tasted any better!
• Choreographed dances, especially performed by little gr.1 and 2 girls can be so touching! Yesterday was the school's (late) Valentine's celebration. Parents came and watched their kids dance, listened to them sing, heard them recite poetry, were served spilled tea and soggy cake by them... it was a really lovely morning. It made teachers and parents cry. It was nice to celebrate love and Valentine's day without all the romance riff-raff and paraphernalia!
• Singapore is so clean and modern. And has a lot of yummy food. 5 of the SALTers on Java traveled to Singapore for new Indonesian visas recently, and we got to enjoy 2 days eating. Well, we did other things, but eating was the highlight. Egypt, Mexico, little India, ... shawarma, humus, babaganoush, guacamole, enchiladas, chicken and chickpea curry, fish, beef-something-or-other.. it was wonderful. I even had french quiche in the airport and it tasted good! NOt that I don't still hold to my feelings about rice 3 times a day (mind you it helps that I know I will be going back to Canada in a few months).
• Teaching goes a lot better when you have a plan :) ... but don't expect the plan to work for the class to go the way you want it to.
• At the end of the (school) day, the most important thing is showing students that they are worth something - that they are valued whether or not they are good in school. They need to know that someone believes in them in order to push themselves and find a desire to learn.
• Surabaya is HOT! Before going to Singapore I was in Surabaya with my host family, the second-largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. It was panas. And there is a lot of shopping. Unfortunately I didn't see that much of Surabaya except the inside of malls.
  

Haji Street, Singapore


More photos to come...