The reason I am here....

OK, finally what many of you have been waiting (patiently) for..... the reason I am here... to teach.  I teach at Ichthus International School (South) in Jakarta, Indonesia.  I have a pretty interesting schedule:  four math classes each day - two 3rd grade and two 4th grade; 4th grade homeroom twice each week; three remedial classes each week; and a debate class (H.S.) each week.  Oh yes, and four Cambridge Math preparation classes per month.  It sounds like a lot, but if you are a teacher and reading this, you will know that it is actually a fairly light load.  We have 10 periods in each school day/ 45 minutes in each period; 11 if you count the after school activity classes.  (That's where my Debate class comes into play).  I have plenty of time to prepare and grade papers at school, but always seem to have the need to bring things home.  No surprise there, since I am a daughter of two teachers and a sister of three teachers.

Let's start with my homeroom class:

Wait a second.... let's talk a minute about about how I get to my room each day.  First, the bus picks all the expat teachers up and takes them to school (we all live in the same neighborhood).  It's more like a Big van than a bus, but we call it a bus just the same.  It is crowded and the streets are Very crowded....

You will find motorcycles (notice the child's book bag on the back of the motorcycle), cars, vans, buses, taxis... you name, it's on the road... all headed to get their children to school, themselves to work, or early morning shopping.

... especially motorcycles...

the side streets can be a little scary, at times....

If you notice, there isn't much room here.  A car and a motorcycle can pass each other comfortably.  Therefore, our driver is pulled over in the above picture and is waiting for the van to pass.  If you look further down the street, you will see pedestrians.  There are normally more than the two or three in this picture.  What seems so strange to me is how we all seem to 'dance' around each other in perfect timing.  Notice where this street ends at a T in the road.  There is a 'safety mirror' so that you can see who is coming around the corner.  Horns honk and the cars keep on going!  Yes, I pray, Daily, on my ride to work! LOL

After our Awesome driver delivers us safely to school, we clock in for the day (with our finger print), check the teacher's log book for new memos, and drop our things off in our teacher's staff room before morning devotion.

My staff room is on the top floor.  So, I have three (count them, three) flights of these stairs to climb each morning to put my things away and do any last minute preparation before our morning devotion.  About 20-30 minutes later, I go down four flights of stairs to the dining room where we teachers have our morning devotion.  Our devotion time is spent singing, praying, scripture reading, and sharing uplifting words.  Then, you guessed it,  back up four flights of stairs to my homeroom class.  We have homeroom two days a week, assembly two days a week (taking the class down stairs), and chapel on Fridays (taking the class down stairs).  All of which, I am with my homeroom class.  Homeroom is over at 8:15 and classes begin.  They are all 45 minutes long and take me from the fourth floor, to the third floor, to the next building.  Usually there are multiple trips up and down the stairs for classes, lunch, and preparation errands (as much as 7-8 times a day).  Needless to say, I get a pretty good workout daily... (not to mention the 45 minutes that Meena and I spend walking in the evenings and the swimming and workout facility we are joining this week). So, you get the picture... up the stairs.... down the stairs.... up the stairs... down the stairs... I am now Back into my size 8's!  I would say those stairs are a blessing, right! :)

This is my staff room.  My desk is the one on the right with the ORANGE purse on it. I share it with 4 other subject teachers and 4 classroom teachers. The classroom teachers do a ton of work for us.  They take role, collect homework and get them to the subject teachers for grading, keep the class together between subject teachers, and usually have a class of their own throughout the day.  Mr Kristyo (Mr. Kris) is my classroom teacher.  He does an Awesome job and is so busy, you will rarely find him in the teacher's staff room.  I count on my other classroom teachers, as well. 

OK, that brings me back to my homeroom class.....

I am homeroom teacher to 22 students - 17 boys and 5 girls.  To those of you who just bowed your heads in prayer for me, many thanks!  So, would you like to meet them?  Let's go in and meet my 4th Grade Honor class.......

Welcome to my homeroom.  We are 4th Grade Honor. (Each class is named after a virtue: hope, faith, love, honor, perseverance)  These are the sweetest children you will ever meet.  Each one of them are winning my heart.  They all come from prominent families.  We have students here whose parents are actors, actresses, models, major businessmen, major suppliers, etc.  Somehow in all the pampering and awesome experiences these children get on a daily basis, they are really great kids!

My other classes are: 3rd Grade Hope, 3rd Grade Faith, and 4th Grade Harmony
My Debate class doesn't start until August, so you will hear more about that class later.

The building to the right is my building.... my class is just right of the one you see on the top floor.

Here are some of my boys on the playground.  This is also where they have their P.E. classes.  These are the uniforms they wear on P.E. days.... otherwise they are in their more formal uniforms (like in the class picture).

This is the parking lot for the teachers who drive to school... notice all the motorcycles lined up under the awning.... I am pretty sure there are more cycles there than vehicles.

We are breaking ground for the new secondary school..... Ichthus is Growing!
Thank you so much for letting me share our school with you.... I hope you enjoyed the tour.  If any of this brought up more questions, please leave comments and ask.... I will answer all questions and will share with you anything you are wondering about.  Which brings me to a question:  What do you want to hear about next?
Till next time....

People of Jakarta...

Whew, today was a Full day.... a trip to the Yayasan Kampung Kids to drop off food, to the nail salon for a fill, and the local market to shop for baskets and flowers.... Get ready for some very interesting pictures.  I took pictures along the way and hope you enjoy....
First, we went to the Yayasan Kampung Kids to drop off some food. Jo cooks for them once a month.

From their website: "The idea for this project started in the garage of one of our founder, who, during the last three years provided soup , rice, fruit, juice and milk to approximately 30 of the local children.

Bahasa English was also taught once a week to the same children and some adults. Due to the recent economic crisis in Jakarta on September 20, 1999, we began serving soup and rice to approximately 150 children in village. Additionally, approximately 50 children 5 and under and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers receive a cup of milk. This presently provided 3 days a week. KAMPUNG KIDS was legally formed in November 1999."

It was a great experience to see such good things happening here....





I was gifted a tour of the facility then we were off to the salon.  It has been 3 weeks since my nails were filled.  Way past due!  That was an experience all of its own.  I miss Danny at Muskogee's Arrowhead Mall and Tammy at the salon in Moore!  The girl who filled my nails today was very sweet, but everything was done manually and not up to my American Asians' standards.  No drills and it cost 250,000 rupiah which equals $29.41.  That is $14.41  more than I am used to paying in America.  Then, I had to pay another 50,000 rupiah ($5.88 USD) to get them painted!  I said NO to the polish and decided it is time for me to paint them myself!  You can imagine the reaction I had to the news!  It was Not good... OK, Char, it's OK... don't sweat the small stuff.  Nails done, I sat outside the shop and watched traffic while I waited for Meena and Jo to return from their shopping.  A thirty minute wait produced some very interesting shots....



They carry everything conceivable on their motorcycles...

Families will ride on one bike.... (small child is in front)

Her drink is from McDonald's!

These are a couple of ladies headed into the salon.  I was surprised to see how much Muslim women are into fashion and looking good.  They may need to cover their hair, but they are going to look good doing it! :)

Then, we were off to the market.... Along the way, I couldn't help but take a few more pictures for you....

I caught this lady riding side saddle while the man is balancing their goods in the front of the cycle!

It is very common to find children (babies and older) on the motorcycles...

If you look closely, you will find that the woman in pink is carrying  baby and the man has a small boy in front of him... all on one motorcycle.

One the street, you will find motorcycles, cars, buses, people walking, and pulling a cart.  They all seem to work together to get where they are going.  This is the friendliest 'traffic mess' I have ever seen... horns honking and all. :)

Jakarta is wall to wall traffic.  It takes an hour just to get a few miles down the road.  Sometimes, it is faster to just walk. (That is why there are so many motorcycles)  So, there are those who take advantage of the fact that there are so many cars just inching down the road.  Having a captive audience makes marketing (peddling) products very easy. 

The locals were very interesting at the market... the flowers were beautiful, and the school kids were so cute... Let me explain - The above picture is of three men taking it easy.  They are at a booth at the market and relaxing to a great game of chess....

There were baskets, home decor, greenery, and flowers everywhere...

Awesome! This caught Jo's eye, too!

He is making a memorial or a design for a wedding.... could be either.

The cages are filled with flowers that the florist use to complete orders.

Meena and Jo are walking through the upper level of the market where the designers are sorting and prepping the flowers.  One of the men is found eating his dinner.  He has 'INIO' spelled out in rose petals in front of him.  Inio is a type of music that is popular.

I couldn't help but miss the days at Teleflora when we would bring flowers home.  I love flowers!

Beautiful arrangements ready to be sold.

Pink Roses! Beautiful!

 There are many florists here at the market and flowers everywhere!

These bags are filled with rose petals used by Muslims in their religion.

This is a florist in the market.  Customers are gathered ready to place orders.  Flowers are so much cheaper here than in the States.  Meena bought a bunch of Gerber Daisies for about $5-6 USD today... They make a lovely addition to our home.

The vendor is showing Jo something that appears to be: The Nipple plant also known as the Cows Udder plant is a hardy perennial with large velvety leaves, small purple flowers and firm thorns. Its showy yellow nipple shaped fruit is related to the tomato. Unlike the tomato however, it's quite poisonous. It does have some medicinal properties though and can also be used as a detergent for washing clothes. The fruit can even last up to two months which is a long time in relation to fruits. It is native to South America

.

These guys are so talented!  Mom, this is the same stuff used to make the cross I bought for you in VA.

Now that's talent!

The market was complete with a band.... She sang very well.  This redheaded White woman caught the attention of some locals as I walked through here.  I just smile, say hello, and keep on walking.  LOL

I must say that my day was made complete with the flirtations of some young local boys......

These are 11 and 12 yr olds from the government school... They attend school Monday - Saturday.
We were leaving the market and headed for the main road to catch a cab home and Jo tells me that the boys are trying to talk to me.  They were walking in the same direction but on the opposite side of the street.
The one on the left (see pic) says, 'What's your name?'  I answer and told him that my name is Ms. Charlotte (It is Ms. Charlotte / not Ms. Shipley here).  He says, 'Where are you from?"  I answered and told him that I was from America.  He smiled really big and continued to talk.  The one in the middle asked how old I was, then asked if he could take me for a ride on his motorcycle!   They were too cute and too sweet... I asked if I could take a picture with them and they were all too happy to entertain.  I think I made their day too!

Now that my ego has been stroked (even if it was by some little eager young men), I am headed to bed for a much needed good night's rest.

Till next time....









Friday 22 July 2011 in Jakarta...

Several friends have asked me about my maid... her name is Ibu (eeboo).  Today, she reluctantly agreed to let me take her picture so that I could share it with you....

Ibu comes every day but Sunday.  She cleans the dishes, sweeps the floors (inside and out), mops, and cleans the bathrooms.  If we have clothes that need to be ironed, she does an amazing job at that too.  We set out the vegetables we want cut up or anything else we want done and she takes care of it.  She doesn't speak English and I don't know Any Indonesian, but we seem to be able to communicate fairly well.  Meena has to step in quite often and translate.  It's kind of funny actually - Ibu talks to me as if I should know what she says and I talk to her as if she understands me.... somehow, we get the job done.

After she finished the housework this afternoon, Meena and I set off to find a place for me to get my nails filled.  Those of you who wear acrylic nails know that 3 weeks is way too long!  There were a few interesting things we found along the way:

We have a Circle K.... sometimes called K Circle here :)
I walked inside and felt like I was back in the states.... for just a moment.

Restaurants.... Eat, Live, Love (LOL)  Everyone loves Julia's movie!  Or, maybe This is where they got the name for the movie Eat Pray Love... hmmm just sayin'

This is one of the many shops we passed that are located on the side of the streets.  If you look, you will find the shop owner on the left.  He is relaxing until a customer approaches. (He graciously allowed me to photograph his business)

After finding out that we would have to go to one of the malls to get my acrylic nails filled, we headed home.  Keep in mind, we walked to the main street, then walked home.  We covered about a mile.  Neither one of us wanted to cook tonight, so we headed out for some fried noodles.  We took the little red bus and I sat beside a lady who, I think, didn't want to be sitting so close to this redheaded white woman.  All she got from me was a smile. :)  The mall wasn't too far away (not the one that does acrylics) so it wasn't a bad ride.  The cost for the bus is 2000 rupiah - which is about 0.24.  Not bad for public transportation, huh?  We arrived at the mall and I got out while Meena handed the driver the money.  At our destination, there were some men who were sitting on a bench.  They started talking like crazy when I got out of the bus.  Meena tells me that I was attracting attention.  Apparently, it's not every day that they see such a white skinned woman in their area. LOL  There was a woman inside the mall who couldn't help but stare, as well.  This experience has given me a chance to be treated as a minority.  At first, it kind of bothered me.  I couldn't help but wonder what it was about me that they didn't like.  Then, it occurred to me that it really didn't matter if they liked me or not.  I will continue to be myself and enjoy my time here. 
We ate dinner (or supper, as Dad would call it) at an oriental restaurant in the mall that is owned by the father of one of our students. 

We changed our minds on the fried noodles and had chicken and fried rice instead.  It was awesome, but I got ahold of some chilies that I didn't know was on my plate.... talk about being on FIRE!  If you look closely to the left of the slice of cucumber, you'll see the tiny green chilies that kicked my butt!  It was so hot I got nauseous and had to head for the restroom.  Luckily, by the time I walked half way through the mall, I felt better and never threw up... but it was close!  Note: No more chili pepper for me!  Meal 27000 rupiah = $3.18  Not bad...

Really delicious chicken!  and the strawberry juice was really good too!  After eating, we headed for the mall to look around.  I found a pair of FitFlops (google it).  I am sure that I will go back and buy them.  I looked them up on the Internet and they go for 65 pounds = $105 but I can get them here for about $41 ($30/each if I buy two pair)  Yea!  Sounds like a deal to me!

Meena needed to get a few things at the grocery store (one in almost every mall around here) so we headed down stairs.... what can I find new today?

Tropical fruit like I have never seen before... much less heard of - the red is dragon fruit and the green beside it is mango (yes, I've heard of mango/ the juice is really good too).  Beautiful!  The melons are a little different than what you find in the states.... Better flavor, I think!

OK, those of us in the US know about escalators.... but what about travelators?  Notice, there are no steps and it is not level like what you would see in the airport.  It is at an angle taking you from one floor to the next.  It allows you to take your groceries (shopping cart) from the floor it is located on to the ground level.  It has magnets in it to keep the carts in place and stop them from rolling.  You can imagine, I acted like a country girl on her first visit to the Big City!  Wow, what fun! LOL

It was such a beautiful evening, we decided to walk home.  This is a street not too far from my home.  Notice how close the shops are to the street and how narrow the streets are.  The walk home took about 25 minutes... Mom would have a fit if she knew about some of the roads and Traffic we were on. Ha!  A big difference here is that I feel safer walking down these streets at night having no idea what the locals are saying than I do in some areas of OKC.  It's not the area that brings fear... it's the fear of the unknown.  Edwardo, a fellow teacher asked me the other day if I felt fearful traveling (literally) half way around the world to a place where I know not a soul.  I answered him the best way I knew how... "No, I am not afraid... I have God with me every step I take."  In order to survive here, you have to put ALL your faith and trust in God and Know that He will walk with you every step of the way... even in the dead of night.

Safely home, we each took our showers and got into cool, comfortable clothes and settled in for a good movie on the TV.... Oh, yes,  I bought the Harry Potter movie  Deadly Hallows Part I.  I could have bought Part II, but Meena says NO! Wait for it to come here to the theatre.... then I will buy it, giving me a full set of Harry Potter.  (The DVD was 7,000 Rupiah /   0.82 USD - yep, it's Bootleg, but Mom, that's what they have here! LOL)
Till next time...

Shopping in Jakarta

We all know I Love to shop, but I must say that being the minority here and not knowing the language kinda takes a little of the fun out of it.  I have been several times to the grocery store, mall, and small stores since I got here.  Each trip has turned out to be very interesting. 

I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed when I go shopping.  I can't read the signs unless they have been gracious enough to put them in English, I don't recognize many of the products and they, too, are illegible to me.  I rely on pictures to tell me what the product is. 

Meena, Jo, and Robert (fellow teachers) have been a Huge help to me.  They have been here long enough that they have picked up on a lot of the language.  They have definitely made it more enjoyable for me.  Earlier this week, the girls and I went to the mall to search for some black shoes for me to wear to school.  We went into a store that is much like Dillards, JC Penny's, or Macy's.  The shoe department was like none I've ever seen before; Shoes were everywhere!  Beautiful shoes filled the shoe department and Very inexpensive ($10-$25).  I was in heaven.... so I thought.  The girls left me on my own so that they could do a little shopping of their own.  I can do this... how hard can it be to tell them what size I wear and which ones I want to try on.... wrong!  First, the size thing was an issue... No 8 1/2 or 9 anywhere.  hmmm what does 32 mean.  This one looks a little small; this one, maybe.  I asked the sales ladies who were so eager to help if they would help me figure out what size i wear.  They looked at me speaking English like I look at them speaking Indonesian... huh???  It's kind of comical, actually, to watch their reaction when they discover that I don't speak their language and they don't speak mine.  Then, they look desperately around for a co-worker who might speak English.  There are usually one or two who know just enough to get the job done.  So, the sales lady does the 'someone help me' look and gets another sales person to help me.  They guide me to another area.  I discovered it was the Big Size area.  Come on!!  I just had a major surgery almost 2 years ago to get out of the Big Size area!  Really?!?  As it turns out, Asians have small feet... go figure.  So, here I am in the Big Size area (ugh) and Still trying to figure out what shoe size I am... she suggests a 42, the biggest size they carry.  OK, surely it will work... Not!  Just small enough to be too small.  I am sure that a 43, maybe a 44 would work - but they don't carry them that large.  It doesn't stop there - clothes, I am in an XL or maybe even an XXL.  OMG! Please tell me this is not happening.  OK, Char, don't get too excited, after all, size doesn't really matter, right?  yeah right! I did find the best thing ever.... the best bra I have Ever worn!  I want to buy out the store in this style!  They are like $50- $60 bras for $15!  What a find!!  Now, to buy it, is a process all its own.  First the salesperson hands you a ticket. (Remember the days when they wrote out a ticket for you at the counter?) Well, she hands you a ticket and you take the ticket to the register.  The salesperson takes your purchase and puts it in a cubby behind the counter.  After you pay, the item is placed into a bag and handed to you.  Makeup is a little different.  I purchased makeup from three different makeup counters, so after I payed at the register (with my tickets) I went back to the counters and showed my receipt to receive my products.
Next stop, grocery store... down stairs...

 Off to the grocery store led me to discover a few new things....

Including a full line of fresh seafood.... lets take a closer look...

Yummmm.... Includes the head and tail!  But wait, what is that in the bottom right corner???

It's chicken.... wait, is that chicken feet??? yep, it is... they believe that chicken feet is good for the skin.

OK, with grocery shopping done, we stopped on the way out and Meena bought me a refreshing drink - sugar cane juice with lime... Delicious!  Take a look at how it is made.  (The guys behind the counter were way too eager to pose for the camera!)

Looking at the picture makes me want another one!  OK, it's off to the cab and go home.....
See you next time!