Virtual Tour of the Classroom

Here is my classroom. I thought that I would let you see my classroom through the eyes of me. There is commentary as well. It is a little long, but completely worth it. Enjoy my Grade One classroom. Mom, will you please make sure that Grandma sees this since I give her a shout-out or rather her buttons.

Motorcycle

Yesterday I drove a motorcycle all by myself. I was testing one out to see if I want to buy one. I changed into 3rd gear, and back down to first again. I even made a u-ie. It was awesome. I loved the wind in my hair, and through my face. I went around the block twice and did not even crash. I drove on the wrong side of the road once, but they use the other side of the road to drive on, so that is a fine mistake by me. That is all of the excitement that I could handle in one day but it was so fun. Today I am off to my classroom to finish getting it ready.

Immigration and Toilets

Tomorrow I am going to immigration to be immigrated, I guess. I have to wear a white shirt, probably so that they can take another picture of me. This week I was introduced to my classroom. I have been cleaning it, and putting up bulletin boards throughout the week. As I was cleaning I found some mouse droppings. I guess that is all part of being in a foreign country. All of the old teachers came back today and we had an in-house retreat. The teachers seem really nice and willing to help in any way possible. Tonight I am going to go out to dinner with all of the expat teachers to get to know them a little better. Some people have been wondering if the toilet water goes down a different way and I have to tell you that I have not been paying attention, and I do not know what way it should go down. If you can tell me in America if it goes clockwise or counterclockwise, then I will watch next time I use the toilet and tell you if it goes in a different way.

Sitting in Sentul in Starbucks

Yes, it is true. I am sitting in Starbucks in Indonesia. I do not have Internet in my house yet, and I need to check my email so I ventured out to my nearest friendly Starbucks to get the free Wireless. I also picked up a cup of coffee, but I had too.

My flights to Indonesia were pretty nice, long but I was expecting that. In Singapore where I had to get my work visa, we were supposed to stay in a hotel. When we arrived at the hotel at 3:00am they said that they had overbooked our room. We ended going to the sister hotel which was the nicest hotel in Singapore. It was so nice, and the beds were amazing even though I could not sleep. They were super comfy. When we told everyone at school what happened they were so jealous. I think that I lucked out big time.

I arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday night and headed to my new house. There I put all of my luggage in my room and fell into bed. The house is great, and so big. I am staying in the Master bedroom which is connected to a bathroom as well.

On Thursday I went to school and we sat in meetings all day. We learned about the proper forms to fill out for anything that we might need. If I want to blow my nose it seems that there is a form that I have to fill out. Thursday afternoon we went to the Giant Supermarket to fill up our house with things. We bought some bowls, towels, and other necessities like a coffee pot. You know the essentials in life. At night we went to a fellow teachers house for dinner. Friday morning there was no rest for the weary. We started our day at 6:30 (am). We went to more meetings, and more shopping in the afternoon.

It has been nice because the school has made sure that we have transportation to everywhere that we need to go.

Today (Sunday) I went to church and then now I am catching up on emails from the past week. Tomorrow we have more meetings.

Luggage

Today I put more valuable pieces of my life into luggage to get ready to fly to Indonesia. I am leaving in 12 more days. I am slowly putting things into the luggage every day. I have to save time to sit by the pool.