INDONESIA!

I am definitely starting to get the hang of my new Jakarta lifestyle... the showers that consist of pouring water over my head with a bucket. The toilet that's a toilet seat on the ground. Bahasa Indonesia language (I can count to 10... sahtu, dua, tiga.... I can also say greetings, and I've become fairly knowledgeable of math terms from teaching math tutorial everyday!) The random thundershowers. The incredible amount of motorcycles on the roads (they outnumber cars at least 2 to 1). My mosquito bed netting. Indonesian rupiah ($1 equals about $10,000 rupiah.... it always throws me for a loop.) The chili paste and white rice that's in every meal. 

Our cook/cleaner staff woman, Rini, is getting married tomorrow, so she has left us to fend for ourselves! The kids have been great and have been doing her chores in her absence. I went with Ayu to the market yesterday to buy our food for the evening meal, and it was a fun experience. The local market is filled with tile stalls selling everything from clothes to food, with cats and kids running around, and we went from stall to stall buying our veggies, tofu, eggs and spices. Everyone is super friendly to me, and they always smile and ask me what my name is. I havn't had a chance to help out in the kitchen, to cook, but Ayu and Ade have done an excellent job cooking the meals while Rini's been gone. Last night they made this great curry, and tonight they made a spinach dish to go over rice, and made a ground chili paste to go with it (we were all sweating...it was SO spicy!) They made fried bananas for dessert. Yum!

Ramadan is fun, because its the only time in the year where we all sit and eat dinner together. (Normally food is just prepared and then kept for us to eat whenever we want throughout the day. ) We all sit on the floor of our house together every evening at 6 and the kids break their fast with mini prayers and a drink made of water and flavored syrup. (They make ice for this drink by filling little plastic bags with water every morning and freezing it!) It's nice.

One of the kids' favorite treats is smoothies (really more like juice) from this smoothie stand on the main road near our house. The stand is covered in different types of fruits, and you pick 2 and the vendor cuts them open and puts them in a blender. SOOO good, and only about 60 cents. I had a dragonfruit-guava one tonight. I plan on trying all possible flavors! (The chicken satay stand is the next vendor over... I'll have to try that soon, too!)

Prashant and I are working on developing an efficient and sustainable school program. Classes have been held here in the past, but it's been pretty unorganized so far. Things we must do include teacher recruitment, student recruitment (we go out to the slums and post fliers), curriculum development, and class scheduling. We worked on the class schedule today, and worked it out so students come to class for English, math, and computer class for 6 hours per week. We will also offer extra-curricular activities like acting, sports, and debate as fun clubs on the side. I am really excited! 

Many of you donated used clothes for me to bring here- thank you so much! I gave them to the boys tonight and they were so happy. It was so cute to watch them trying on everything and trade clothes. They take such pride in their things, and after thanking me for the clothes, they folded them super neatly in piles and put them in their rooms. 

I am off to sleep! Good night! Selamat malam!