On our Christmas Parade banner, that we marched through the city streets in the annual Palangkaraya Christmas Parade, were the words, “Keluarga Besar – SMAN 5 Palangkaraya.” And I couldn’t agree more. This school is so special because we are one big family. And let me just tell you, it feels so good to be home and welcomed back into this big family.

After three months of hotel rooms in five different cities, I couldn’t be happier to be back in my mosquito/ant/cockroach/spider/SCORPION-infested house in Palangkaraya. Truly.

Yeah, my legs are covered in mosquito bites… and yeah, I chased a big-ass spider through my house the other day, finally cornering it in the bathroom and spraying it to death, and YEAH, I came home to a huge scorpion in a corner of the room and went SPRINTING out of my house and straight to the boys’ dorm where I begged them to come rescue me (which they did – and now it’s the story of the dorm… “miss, how big was the scorpion?!” “Miss, the boys said you were so scared!”) – but, despite all my new roommates, it feels unbelievably good to unpack my clothes, move into my house, and finally meet my students.

And let me just tell you, the students are absolutely the best part about being home. SMAN5 is a boarding school, so all the students live in dorms in the asrama (dorm area) and my house is right in the middle of it all 😀 It’s an incredibly unique experience for me to get to live here with them, to be apart of their lives 24/7 (quite literally – see below) and get to know them on a more personal level, something that would be impossible in the classroom when I have 200-some students.

My house is nestled next to the houses of two families – Pak Jon and his family and Ibu Ferra and her family. Pak Jon is like the dorm dad and Ibu Ferra is like the dorm mom. Which makes me the dorm big sister?? Really, I feel like some combination of a big sister, super cool RA, camp counselor, and celebrity… Which, I’ll be honest, is exhausting at times, but oh so worth it 😀 The other part I love about these students, and what truly makes it feel like family, is how they all call each other brother and sister. “My brother over there…” or “My sisters…” – at first, I thought everyone was somehow related but have since learned that they all just truly see themselves as one keluarga besar (big family)… and I love it.

And while they are one big, happy family, there is also a very distinct hierarchy between the 10 graders and the 11th and 12th graders. The 10th graders are extremely shy, have extra strict rules, and do the majority of the cleaning and chores. They are always the first ones called when something needs to be fixed or cleaned up. And they have to show deference to the older students by ducking their heads when passing by the older students. The younger students have shorter haircuts and stricter dress codes. They can’t have smartphones and can’t play sports with the older students. They eat in a separate dining room and must eat silently (which is a problem when I eat dinner with them and cause disruptions trying to talk to the girls at my table – ooops). When 11th and 12th graders have free time, the 10th graders are generally sweeping or cleaning up the asrama. The 11th and 12th graders were exposed to the ETA last year, Emily, and so they already feel more comfortable speaking to a native speaker like me. The 10th graders however, are generally terrified of me. We are very slowly overcoming this 🙂 In class, I’m trying extremely hard to learn all my students’ names. I see other teachers calling the students, “boy!” or “Girl!” and honestly, I find that pretty rude. I believe that one way I can give back to these students for welcoming me and taking care of me is at the very least learning their names. While you might think this a simple task, it becomes a little more difficult when you count up nine classes x 25-30 students (225 or so total – and then there are another 100 12th graders no less) and then consider the fact that this is a military school and ALL THE STUDENTS HAVE THE SAME HAIRCUT. I cannot tell you how difficult this is. But I’m trying. Really hard. I made charts of where everyone sits in the classroom and I continually ask the student’s their names. At this point (only a week’s worth of effort), I’ve got probably 50 or so students down… and a long way to go.

After the students finish classes, they generally have at least some portion of the afternoon and evening free to do homework and play soccer or hang out. In small groups, the students have discovered that my door is open to them (literally) and since I’ve been back, they’ve begun visiting me more and more frequently. Following what I see from my neighbors (Pak Jon and Ibu Ferra), I generally keep my door open whenever I’m home. I’ve told the students that if my door is open, they are more than welcome to stop by and say hi, hang out, practice English, work on their homework… and they do!! Some happen to be walking by and see me sitting outside and will wave and maybe stop to talk for a bit, others will shyly ask if I’m busy and whether they can look at the pictures on my walls, some bring me snacks, others bring their homework. It’s absolutely adorable. Some have better English than others… a few of the girls will ask for my phone and type things in to the translator… this one made my heart burst!

As this is a military style boarding school, the students are much more rigorously scheduled than most 15 year olds. They wake up at 4am and go running – chanting all along the way. This past week, they were up and chanting by 3:30am. WHAT?! As my house is literally next to where they line up and chant, the students have become my alarm clock. I obviously don’t get up at 3:30 with them (although they have asked if I want to go running with them – I declined for now) but I definitely wake up every morning at 3:30 and lay there until they run out of the asrama – although a few times a week, they actually run in circles around the swamp in the middle of the asrama, and my house is right next to the path. Clomp, clomp, clomp… chant, chant, chant… Lol. What is my life?

I usually fall back asleep until they begin chanting again at 5:45am as they line up for breakfast. Then maybe around 6:00am I stumble out of bed as they march off to the classrooms. Classes are from 6:30-3:30, although the school district added two (I think) hours of class a day for a few weeks to make up for the seven lost weeks of class due to the smoke. During those few weeks, the students had class from 6:30am-5pm – with only a short break for lunch. Can you imagine that??!! 11 hours? WHAT?! But thankfully, we’re done with that now.

I teach the entire 10th and 11th grade – nine classes total. My classes are in the morning, ranging from 6:30am-1:00pm. I may run in the morning and then I will head to school a little before my first class, stop by the teacher’s lounge to say good morning and meet Tisia or Bu Juniar and then we’ll head to class. Classes are a blast and definitely the highlight of my day – I’ll share more in a later post. After class, I’ll either get lunch with some of the teachers, go to the small canteen/food stand across from the school or wait until 2pm when the students have lunch. After lunch, the students go back to class and I head home. I usually take a nap or chill in my AC bedroom – cooling down after the horribly hot, sticky morning. When the students finish around 3:30, I like to go sit outside on my porch and read and watch the boys play soccer. This is when a lot of the students walk by and I like to be outside to make my presence more comfortable for them. Plus, I want to hang out with them!

At 5:45pm they line up for dinner and I follow them over. I usually have a number of tables of students offering for me to eat with them. I jump around between the different buildings – some meals with the 10th graders, some with 11th or 12th graders in building 1, other nights with 11th or 12th graders in building 2… Whoever wants me, gets me… and I love it. After dinner, I leave my door open and some nights students will come over and bring their homework or just stay to chat. By 8:30pm, my door is closed and I’m getting ready for bed! I’ll read or chill until about 10 and then I’m sound asleep!

This has become my routine in the last two weeks that I’ve been at school. It’s a wonderfully slow, comfortable pace. I’m reading more books then I’ve read in years (thanks to everyone who sent me recommendations! I’m working my way through them!! So far I’ve read: The Midwife’s Revolt, Ashley’s War, Station Eleven, Missoula, The Goldfinch, If You Follow Me, and Between the World and Me). I’m napping when I need to nap. I’m going for runs. I’m spending a lot of time with 15 year olds talking about crushes, dreams about going abroad, college scholarships… we make pancakes on Sundays and I went to the stadium to watch the boys play soccer one Saturday. I think we’re even having a sleepover at my house this weekend. Life is pretty perfect.

I am anxious to get a motorcycle so I can finally leave school on my own. Right now, I’m confined to the school campus unless I go on a run or a walk. But there is nothing but tiny warungs (food stalls) within walking distance and I feel very cooped up. Hopefully that will change soon and then I can go to the store on my own, visit Carlie, go to the market, go to the coffee shop (and free wifi! yeah!), expand my meal options, and escape when it’s mati lampu (blackout) – which as I’m writing the very end of this right now, the power just turned off and we have been plunged into darkness. All of the students are at dinner (I skipped because I’m not hungry for more rice) and the yell from 300 students suddenly plunged into darkness was quite funny. But, besides the mati lampu, the scorpions, the never-ending rice, and the lack of transportation… I’m pretty darn content.

Oh! And I finally got my KITAS. So I’m actually legal now. Party on…