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Published: December 8th 2013
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This semester I have been coaching grades 1 and 2 basketball. Roughly 50 kids have signed up for the season and twice a week we have practice. Kindergarten to Grades 2 is let out early afternoon every day and then they have different afternoon activities which they join. Depending on the day, they do dance, music lessons, basketball etc. For students who need extra support, parents have the opportunity for them to join a group of teachers who tutor them with whatever is challenging on certain days instead of participating in these activities. Every year the school runs a tournament for each of their sports teams and invites other schools in the greater area to join in. Grade 1 and 2 Basketball is no different. It was a ten team tournament, where we entered 5 ourselves. The kids did well and had a lot of fun. Starting January I’ll be coaching soccer to this same group of Grades 1-2 students. The Basketball seasons for Grades 3-6 also ended the same time. My season with the Sr. Girls Volleyball team will also end this week as we have our tournament this coming Thursday and Friday. It’s been
a longer season than what I’ve been used to coaching back home, but I’m excited to be coaching volleyball again next semester, this time for Grades 7-9 where as right now I’m doing Grades 10-12.
A large group of us celebrated American Thanksgiving on the actual day. We had a large spread of scrumptious food, making for a bountiful buffet. Thanks to my culinarily talented friends, our meal was complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac 'n cheese, green bean and sweet potato casseroles, and a chocolate fountain to name just a few items on the menu. It was an evening full of laughter and the company was made up of friends from all over the world. The final head count of the evening came to 32 people!
A few weeks back at parent teacher interviews, I was talking with two colleagues. The one friend grew up in Jakarta and told us she found cheap tickets on groupon for the Alicia Keys:Set the World on Fire Tour concert and asked us if we wanted to join her. My other friend and I agreed and so last Friday night we headed into the city right
after work to beat some traffic, go for a bite to eat first and then enjoyed the concert. Towards the end of the concert, Alicia brought her son out on stage –he was adorable and rocking a fro! Since the concert was general standing, we arrived on time so we could be near the front.
A few months ago I heard about the opportunity to go with others from work to an orphanage and volunteer. This happens once a month and you sign up when it works for you to go. Our team has gone a total of six times but each time only part of the team signs up and runs the program. Last Saturday I went and yesterday we had the kids over at one of the school’s pools where we had a Christmas pool party. These kids are super cute and they repeatedly asked me to pick them up and toss them back into the water. We played soccer out on the field, went swimming, ordered pizza, ate popcorn, fruit etc. Then the kids performed some dances for us they had practiced . We watched a photo slideshow and said our
goodbyes till we see them next year.
Recycling is not very evident here in Indonesia. It’s not like it doesn’t exist at all, but it’s certainly not as prevalent as it is back home. I recycle here, but so far my helper takes care of it when she comes to clean meaning I’m pretty sure she takes it home and re-sells whatever she can for some extra money. I don’t mind she does this, but I was told that a wife of one of the other teachers I work with helps coordinates the pick up of recyclable items once a month that benefits street kids living in Jakarta, I decided to join. The organization is called KDM Green Project. Check it out at
http://jakartagreenproject.com/. I’m excited to participate in this. It just means, I must store my recyclables a little longer than a week, but that’s ok.
Then last Sunday a friend and I went to a champagne brunch – it was mouth watering delicious! It was French and Italian cuisine with bottomless champagne and alcohol. It wasn’t cheap, but was totally worth it. We were able to eat foods that are hard to
find here or are too expensive to buy on a regular basis. There was live Christmas music –instrumental as well as a children’s choir that come in to perform a few songs. Needless to say, we spent a few solid hours there and didn’t need to eat dinner that night. At night there was a Christmas movie night accompanied with wine and cheese at my friend’s place – a great way to end the weekend!
At dinner club earlier this week, someone threw out the idea of going to watch the new animated movie titled “Frozen”. We were all in the mood to watch a winter/Christmas movie, we decided to go this past Thursday night. As we left our apartment building it was POURING. It usually rains hard here, but I was wearing my rain jacket plus I was walking under someone’s umbrella with them and my shorts were soaked by the time we reached the mall. As we crossed the street, we were walking through puddles that were mid-calf deep. I even lost my flip flop once I reached the other side of the street and luckily I found it floating quickly downstream
away from me…I was able to catch it in time! This made for an interesting and wet start to our night. We did a little shopping before the movie to kill time and afterwards we shopped for Christmas trees and garland. My friend bought a tree and its accessories whereas I bought garland, lights and some red berries to scatter throughout it. We were craving something more for our apartments to make it more Christmas-like even though we know we’ll be gone during the holidays. The actual garland was cheap but the Christmas lights here are priced way to high. I’m super happy with it and the garland is my “tree” this year. It’s nice to have some greenery and white lights displayed.
The Christmas season is in full swing around here with Christmas Bazaars, music playing, Santa in the malls etc. This past week we had a Christmas Bazaar at our school from Wednesday to Friday. There were several white tents set up, vendors selling their Christmas items, and various food booths. Different restaurants were invited to set up a booth - Starbucks even had a truck set up. Lunch during these days was tasty! The
students performed a whole range of Christmas entertainment .
We are coming in to the home stretch here before Christmas! Just two week left of work and then holidays! Two weeks today I’ll be in Thailand – so stoked! There is much to do before that time comes: report cards, marking etc.
I hope you’re Christmas preparations are going well and that you are looking forward to the holidays too!
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Angela
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Merry Christmas
Hi Janice, Here's wishing you a blessed Christmas in Thailand. I hope you have wonderful and safe trip, full of adventure and yet some time for reflection on our Saviour's birth. The blog, as always, is wonderful. Thanks for another glimpse into your life.