So… holy shit, I have nine days left here. How did we get to nine days?! Where did April and half of May go?

This week has been a little bizarre because I am finally teaching again after some seven weeks of holidays and testing. Yes, SEVEN WEEKS. From March 21-May 6 we had endless holidays, testing, and events. The 12th grade takes a big National Exam in April so at the end of March (and two other weeks in March too but at least we still had class) they took a week-long practice exam, and the 10th and 11th graders got the week off. WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand… What’s even more irritating is that they don’t tell you until the Saturday before… so you give assignments and plan things thinking you will have class and then they cancel the whole week. While annoying, I got a free week and spontaneously headed off to Bali for the week. Photos to come, I promise 🙂

So then we went back to school for four days and then got another 12 days off because it was time for the REAL National Exam (UN) but then they also have a remedial National Exam… and again, the 10th and 11th graders didn’t have school. (WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand!). For this, I went to Tanjung Puting National Park for a three day river houseboating adventure with a bunch of other ETAs. Then, I came home for a few days before heading off to Jakarta for the National WORDS competition with Telsy, and a few extra days of planning for next year with the other Returning ETAs or SETAs (Senior ETA). See these posts for all about the local WORDS Competition and the National Competition!

I was thrilled to be home and ready to finish the end of the grant strong. I taught Monday and Tuesday (now we’re at April 18-19) and then on Wednesday they announced Final Exams for the seniors, which meant the 10th and 11th graders had no class on Wednesday through… well, I didn’t even know. Again, WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! We ended up having no class from Wednesday through the following Thursday while the 12th graders took their exams. At this point, I was out of vacation days and unable to travel anyways because we were within 30 days of leaving (AMINEF wants us to spend our last 30 days at site) so I had a week to kill in a very quiet, boring city. Carlie had the time off as well so we ended up hanging out almost every night – usually going to see a movie. We saw four movies that week and from that week to now we have seen every movie (both Western and Indonesian) that the theater has played… Let’s just say it’s a lot of movies. But it kills the time and it’s been entertaining and it’s a particularly good way to practice my Bahasa Indonesian 😀

So then… (and I apologize because I didn’t intend to rant about all this but I’ve started the story so now I may as well finish it) we finally went back to school on Friday the 29th. I taught my one Friday class and then prepared for the following week of classes, thinking things were finally back to normal. But oh no… the education gods seem to want to do everything in their power this year to keep me out of the classroom. Monday, May 2nd was “Hari Pendidikan” (Education Day) and while we were supposed to have a day of competition and games, the headmaster never showed up so we didn’t do anything and the teachers got to sit in the teacher’s lounge and gossip for the entire day. I couldn’t quite believe it – this is how you spend Education Day? By taking the day off and gossiping? Sheesh. Luckily, I wasn’t alone – my fellow ETAs and I had an entertaining facebook thread of all the random and useless things our schools was doing, or not doing, for Education Day. This country… sometimes I just don’t get it.

A handful of my students took a big test on May 1st for a scholarship that would send them to America for their senior year of high school – I’m so proud of their efforts and we are anxiously awaiting the results of this first round!

Okay so then on Monday (Education Day), I was told that Tuesday was the farewell party for the seniors and that we would have no class again (insert angry faced emoji) – it’s a lovely gesture and I love the idea but WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN AT 8AM? Why can’t this happen at 2pm AFTER school??!!

We also ended up getting a surprise visit from a member of the Indonesian Parliament that day – they came to investigate some claims that the food the dining hall serves to the kids is spoiled. Ha! I laughed pretty hard at that. I wouldn’t say its spoiled but it’s certainly not good and certainly lacks any kind of nutritional value. So we had a little pomp and circumstance for him and his crew of 25 other government officials and then we had the farewell party. Super sweet and fun.

I finally taught one class on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday was a national holiday so no class again. We (Carlie and I and our schools) hosted an English Teaching Workshop for local high school teachers with one of the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Fellows (ELF). (Similar to the ETA program but they all have a master’s degree in TEFL/TESOL/teaching etc. and are placed in universities.)

Finally, this week we went back to school for real!! Except, it’s only for two weeks… the 10th and 11th graders have their final exams on May 23rd and it’s also the end of my grant as I leave on the 21st. So this is the answer to, where did the last two months go??? Well… it went to sitting in my house, seeing a lot of movies, not seeing a lot of my kids, and to planning my travels with Spencer come post-grant.

I taught a grand total of 8 days in those 7 weeks… (Please keep in mind the rough start I had to the grant and the fact that I think I taught like three days here in my first three months – see this and this and this and this).

And as you can see, my cultural adaptation stretches a little thin at times. I’ve gotten used to (and have begun to love) so much else here – the calls to prayer, the staring at the “white girl” (don’t love), the rice, the heat (don’t love), the cockroaches (don’t love), dressing conservatively, the language, the cultural events… I’m an entirely different person from the girl who stuffed a pillow under her door on the first night to keep the cockroaches out. But, the educational system is something that I just don’t understand. Why can’t we have school during exams? Why do we have seven weeks of vacation in the middle of the semester?? For one week, sure – that’s fine. But five weeks of no school because the 12th grade is testing? That’s crazy! I can understand that they want to spread the kids out into many classrooms so they can’t cheat – but come on, there’s ways to work around that without canceling five weeks of school for 2/3 of the students. And Hari Pendidikan? Really?

It’s hard to take teaching and learning seriously when you don’t have class. It’s hard (if not impossible) to learn when you don’t have class. It’s hard to teach when you don’t know when you’re next class will be. There are some classes I hadn’t seen for seven weeks until this week! How are they supposed to learn and how am I supposed to teach part 2 of the lesson we did seven weeks ago?!

My personal adaptation to slow life has changed dramatically. A few months ago, when faced with the prospect of a week’s vacation for semester exams, or even a long weekend because of a holiday, I would come close to a panic attack. What would I do?! How would I survive? (Quite literally… this was before I had a motorcycle to go out and get my own food) How in the world could I possibly fill a whole day with nothing planned?

Well, that’s changed. Dramatically. Somehow that whole week of Final Exams at the end of April passed and I actually dreaded having to return to school and no longer have my days to myself again. I embrace the quiet. I love a day with no plans. I can sleep in. I can take naps after I sleep in. I can go for a long walk. I can read for hours. I can nongkrong (hangout) with Carlie every single day if I want to. I can run all of my errands. And I can still go to bed by 9pm.

Yet somehow, in all those weeks of libur (holidays/vacation) I never found the time (or inclination is probably a better word – I had plenty of time!) to write a blog post. I had plenty to write about. And sometimes I would draft something but never got around to posting it. A lot of it has to do with internet. I’d rather upload pictures when I’m at a cafe and am using wifi – and not my precious data from my modem. And if I go to a cafe, I end up doing other things – like messaging Spencer and figuring out post-grant travel plans, pursuing facebook. etc… But tonight, just as I finished my shower after a lovely evening walk, the power went out. Mati lampu. I hate mati lampu. It’s dark, hot, and boring. Back in February and March we had regularly scheduled mati lampus two or three times a week for weeks. From 5:30pm-9:30 or 10. It was THE WORST. It absolutely killed any plans I may have had with my students or even to be productive and do something at home. Tonight, for the first time in weeks, we got another mati lampu. And at 5:30 too, so I know it will last until at least 9 or 10. On my walk I had decided that tonight I would finally start packing. I’ve got a small suitcase for my post-grant travels. A big one that I’ll leave in jakarta and pick up when we come back to Jakarta before flying home, and another one that I’ll fill with everything that can stay here – most of my batik (traditionally patterned clothes), my yoga mat, my motorcycle helmet, my teaching books, etc. I was finally going to start the process but then… mati lampu.

So instead I had dinner with my kids in the dining hall (for the first time in weeks) and then walked home to my dark, empty house. I studied Bahasa for a bit and then got that twitchy feeling in my fingers and my brain… I wanted to blog. I can’t do anything else so I believe it’s finally time to blog.

So here you go, my friends! I’m sorry for the extremely long and ranting post. This was not at all what I intended to write when I began writing but… it’s what came out.

My computer is about to die so I’ll get this up quick – then I’ll settle into my bed with my kindle and Game of Thrones and wait until the power comes back on… Goodnight friends!

(If you’ve made it to the end of this – congratulations. Thanks for sticking with me as I rambled. If you’re shocked (like I was) at the educational system here in Indonesia, then I’d highly recommend this article, A Nation of Dunces. It’s a fascinating take on education here in Indonesia, and I can attest to having experienced all of the anecdotes she gives… give it a read if you have ten minutes.)