Lessons, Ducklings, & Birthday Parties

Well we have been here for 5 days and it seems like we are starting to understand the routine. We are also starting to remember more of the children's names. It is no easy task considering there are 60 of them and that they are not always around when we are in lessons. We have 2 different teaching groups: class 1- 6 and class 7 - 12. Most of the time there are about 30 children in each lesson which normally would not be unusual for a teacher; however, considering the fact that the youngest in the class is 5 and the oldest is 11 it takes some extra energy to make sure that they all have something to do at their own level. The older group (class 7-12) is a lot calmer but it still has an age span of 12 to 18 years. All of the children in both groups are very eager to learn which provides for easier lessons.

After lessons one day Kayla, Savitha , and I were able to take 29 of the children to the beach. We had to walk in a single file line for about 20mins to reach the coast.We looked like a line of ducklings. I was very anxious setting out due to the fact that there aren't any sidewalks between the home and the beach and the road is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass. Mopeds and cars were just whizzing around the corners and I was terrified that one of the kids was going to get run over on my watch. Savitha was leading the pack, I was in the middle, and Kayla was bringing up the rear. Somehow we made it without any incidents and I was once again impressed with how well behaved all of the children are.

Today was different from all of the other days we have been here because today is Sunday and the children do not have school. The children attend school Monday through Saturday 6am-11am. Today was also different because a German couple that has really done amazing things for the home arrived for a visit. The couple travels to the home every 6 months bringing donations and gifts from sponsors and friends. They have helped to build a new building on the property, purchase computers, and provide for the daily needs of the home. They arrived around 10am and we all loaded up into the vans and headed for a natural spring fed pool for the day. There were 61 kids, 9 adults, and 5 vehicles. Needless to say we did not follow any of the regulations Kayla and I are used to back in the states. There were probably 20 kids and 1 adult in one of the vans. The other vans contained most of the older children and the rest of the adults. We will post a video of the inside of one of the vans so that you can get a clearer picture of how people travel in Indonesia. Once we arrived at the pools we were swamped with children that wanted us to teach them how to swim. We learned that most of the people in this part of Indonesia do not know how to swim; even the fishermen out on their boats! We really enjoyed helping the children learn to swim. They were very eager to learn and never gave up trying.

Overall it has been a great couple of days. Kayla and I have started getting used to the food here but we have definitely been craving things like chocolate, meat, and juice. Tonight we are having a birthday celebration for the children who were born in June. I think Kayla and I are more excited about the party than the kids are due only to the fact that we are anticipating the spaghetti, fruit juice, and most of all....CAKE!