Dear SMAN 5

May 22, 2016 by Mackenzie

To my Family at SMAN 5,

I didn’t sleep Friday because my heart hurt so much. And now, as I’m completely exhausted and trying to sleep on the plane, I can only picture your faces and our memories together and I can’t sleep and can only cry. I’m stuck in a middle seat with two old men next to me and I think they think I’m crazy.

I know I’ve cried a lot over the last few days – you say “jangan menangis” (don’t cry) but my love for you is overflowing and I can’t keep it inside of me. These tears are my love.

You are my family. You’ve been there with me through it all – my highs, my lows, every moment of every day in these last nine months. I wouldn’t trade living in the asrama for anything. Not a mansion, not a beachside villa, not even my home in America. My home is with you and I’m leaving a huge chunk of my heart there.

Thanks for saving me from scorpions (shout out to Loge!) and rats, for making pancakes and s’mores with me, for playing UNO and Bananagrams, for always inviting me to eat at your table in the RM (dining hall), for singing and chanting at all hours of the day, for teaching me Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Dayak… I’ll carry these memories with me forever. Whenever someone says, “Selamat Pagi” (good morning) I’ll be waiting for you all to shout, “SELAMAT PAGI!” (shouted – military style)

I’ll never forget our Scout Camp, when you all hugged me and got me covered in mud and then we swam in the swamp together. And then you walked all night long and I was waiting for you in the roundabout but I fell asleep on the ground before you got there. When we did aerobics and the penguin song in the morning and then as you were all lined up, someone played “Timber” and I started to dance. I messed up your apel (announcement ceremony at the end of each day) as we danced together and you laughed. These are memories I’ll keep forever.

All my love,

Miss Mackenzie

Each of my nine classes on our last day together

My last night in the dorm – we made s’mores, played bananagrams, laughed, and cried

Last day of school – I totally interrupted and messed up their afternoon military ceremony 😛

Saying goodbye to my girls at the airport

I love you SMAN 5!

Sometimes, I Just Don’t Understand

May 11, 2016 by Mackenzie

So… holy shit, I have nine days left here. How did we get to nine days?! Where did April and half of May go?

This week has been a little bizarre because I am finally teaching again after some seven weeks of holidays and testing. Yes, SEVEN WEEKS. From March 21-May 6 we had endless holidays, testing, and events. The 12th grade takes a big National Exam in April so at the end of March (and two other weeks in March too but at least we still had class) they took a week-long practice exam, and the 10th and 11th graders got the week off. WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand… What’s even more irritating is that they don’t tell you until the Saturday before… so you give assignments and plan things thinking you will have class and then they cancel the whole week. While annoying, I got a free week and spontaneously headed off to Bali for the week. Photos to come, I promise 🙂

So then we went back to school for four days and then got another 12 days off because it was time for the REAL National Exam (UN) but then they also have a remedial National Exam… and again, the 10th and 11th graders didn’t have school. (WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand!). For this, I went to Tanjung Puting National Park for a three day river houseboating adventure with a bunch of other ETAs. Then, I came home for a few days before heading off to Jakarta for the National WORDS competition with Telsy, and a few extra days of planning for next year with the other Returning ETAs or SETAs (Senior ETA). See these posts for all about the local WORDS Competition and the National Competition!

I was thrilled to be home and ready to finish the end of the grant strong. I taught Monday and Tuesday (now we’re at April 18-19) and then on Wednesday they announced Final Exams for the seniors, which meant the 10th and 11th graders had no class on Wednesday through… well, I didn’t even know. Again, WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! We ended up having no class from Wednesday through the following Thursday while the 12th graders took their exams. At this point, I was out of vacation days and unable to travel anyways because we were within 30 days of leaving (AMINEF wants us to spend our last 30 days at site) so I had a week to kill in a very quiet, boring city. Carlie had the time off as well so we ended up hanging out almost every night – usually going to see a movie. We saw four movies that week and from that week to now we have seen every movie (both Western and Indonesian) that the theater has played… Let’s just say it’s a lot of movies. But it kills the time and it’s been entertaining and it’s a particularly good way to practice my Bahasa Indonesian 😀

At an event with my student Keke, who is the 2016 Tourist Ambassador of Central Kalimatan (think like Miss Washington)

At an event with my student Keke (grey gown), who is the 2016 Tourist Ambassador of Central Kalimatan (think like Miss Washington)

At the waterpark with Telsy and her family on one of our free days!

So then… (and I apologize because I didn’t intend to rant about all this but I’ve started the story so now I may as well finish it) we finally went back to school on Friday the 29th. I taught my one Friday class and then prepared for the following week of classes, thinking things were finally back to normal. But oh no… the education gods seem to want to do everything in their power this year to keep me out of the classroom. Monday, May 2nd was “Hari Pendidikan” (Education Day) and while we were supposed to have a day of competition and games, the headmaster never showed up so we didn’t do anything and the teachers got to sit in the teacher’s lounge and gossip for the entire day. I couldn’t quite believe it – this is how you spend Education Day? By taking the day off and gossiping? Sheesh. Luckily, I wasn’t alone – my fellow ETAs and I had an entertaining facebook thread of all the random and useless things our schools was doing, or not doing, for Education Day. This country… sometimes I just don’t get it.

Oh yeah, and this happened too…

A handful of my students took a big test on May 1st for a scholarship that would send them to America for their senior year of high school – I’m so proud of their efforts and we are anxiously awaiting the results of this first round!

Okay so then on Monday (Education Day), I was told that Tuesday was the farewell party for the seniors and that we would have no class again (insert angry faced emoji) – it’s a lovely gesture and I love the idea but WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN AT 8AM? Why can’t this happen at 2pm AFTER school??!!

Farewell party

We also ended up getting a surprise visit from a member of the Indonesian Parliament that day – they came to investigate some claims that the food the dining hall serves to the kids is spoiled. Ha! I laughed pretty hard at that. I wouldn’t say its spoiled but it’s certainly not good and certainly lacks any kind of nutritional value. So we had a little pomp and circumstance for him and his crew of 25 other government officials and then we had the farewell party. Super sweet and fun.

The guy on the left with the quilt-looking batik is the Parliament Representative

My senior girls <3

I finally taught one class on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday was a national holiday so no class again. We (Carlie and I and our schools) hosted an English Teaching Workshop for local high school teachers with one of the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Fellows (ELF). (Similar to the ETA program but they all have a master’s degree in TEFL/TESOL/teaching etc. and are placed in universities.)

Our teacher workshop

Finally, this week we went back to school for real!! Except, it’s only for two weeks… the 10th and 11th graders have their final exams on May 23rd and it’s also the end of my grant as I leave on the 21st. So this is the answer to, where did the last two months go??? Well… it went to sitting in my house, seeing a lot of movies, not seeing a lot of my kids, and to planning my travels with Spencer come post-grant.

The view on my evening walks, which have become a daily routine with all this spare time

I taught a grand total of 8 days in those 7 weeks… (Please keep in mind the rough start I had to the grant and the fact that I think I taught like three days here in my first three months – see this and this and this and this).

And as you can see, my cultural adaptation stretches a little thin at times. I’ve gotten used to (and have begun to love) so much else here – the calls to prayer, the staring at the “white girl” (don’t love), the rice, the heat (don’t love), the cockroaches (don’t love), dressing conservatively, the language, the cultural events… I’m an entirely different person from the girl who stuffed a pillow under her door on the first night to keep the cockroaches out. But, the educational system is something that I just don’t understand. Why can’t we have school during exams? Why do we have seven weeks of vacation in the middle of the semester?? For one week, sure – that’s fine. But five weeks of no school because the 12th grade is testing? That’s crazy! I can understand that they want to spread the kids out into many classrooms so they can’t cheat – but come on, there’s ways to work around that without canceling five weeks of school for 2/3 of the students. And Hari Pendidikan? Really?

It’s hard to take teaching and learning seriously when you don’t have class. It’s hard (if not impossible) to learn when you don’t have class. It’s hard to teach when you don’t know when you’re next class will be. There are some classes I hadn’t seen for seven weeks until this week! How are they supposed to learn and how am I supposed to teach part 2 of the lesson we did seven weeks ago?!

My personal adaptation to slow life has changed dramatically. A few months ago, when faced with the prospect of a week’s vacation for semester exams, or even a long weekend because of a holiday, I would come close to a panic attack. What would I do?! How would I survive? (Quite literally… this was before I had a motorcycle to go out and get my own food) How in the world could I possibly fill a whole day with nothing planned?

Well, that’s changed. Dramatically. Somehow that whole week of Final Exams at the end of April passed and I actually dreaded having to return to school and no longer have my days to myself again. I embrace the quiet. I love a day with no plans. I can sleep in. I can take naps after I sleep in. I can go for a long walk. I can read for hours. I can nongkrong (hangout) with Carlie every single day if I want to. I can run all of my errands. And I can still go to bed by 9pm.

Yet somehow, in all those weeks of libur (holidays/vacation) I never found the time (or inclination is probably a better word – I had plenty of time!) to write a blog post. I had plenty to write about. And sometimes I would draft something but never got around to posting it. A lot of it has to do with internet. I’d rather upload pictures when I’m at a cafe and am using wifi – and not my precious data from my modem. And if I go to a cafe, I end up doing other things – like messaging Spencer and figuring out post-grant travel plans, pursuing facebook. etc… But tonight, just as I finished my shower after a lovely evening walk, the power went out. Mati lampu. I hate mati lampu. It’s dark, hot, and boring. Back in February and March we had regularly scheduled mati lampus two or three times a week for weeks. From 5:30pm-9:30 or 10. It was THE WORST. It absolutely killed any plans I may have had with my students or even to be productive and do something at home. Tonight, for the first time in weeks, we got another mati lampu. And at 5:30 too, so I know it will last until at least 9 or 10. On my walk I had decided that tonight I would finally start packing. I’ve got a small suitcase for my post-grant travels. A big one that I’ll leave in jakarta and pick up when we come back to Jakarta before flying home, and another one that I’ll fill with everything that can stay here – most of my batik (traditionally patterned clothes), my yoga mat, my motorcycle helmet, my teaching books, etc. I was finally going to start the process but then… mati lampu.

So instead I had dinner with my kids in the dining hall (for the first time in weeks) and then walked home to my dark, empty house. I studied Bahasa for a bit and then got that twitchy feeling in my fingers and my brain… I wanted to blog. I can’t do anything else so I believe it’s finally time to blog.

So here you go, my friends! I’m sorry for the extremely long and ranting post. This was not at all what I intended to write when I began writing but… it’s what came out.

My computer is about to die so I’ll get this up quick – then I’ll settle into my bed with my kindle and Game of Thrones and wait until the power comes back on… Goodnight friends!

(If you’ve made it to the end of this – congratulations. Thanks for sticking with me as I rambled. If you’re shocked (like I was) at the educational system here in Indonesia, then I’d highly recommend this article, A Nation of Dunces. It’s a fascinating take on education here in Indonesia, and I can attest to having experienced all of the anecdotes she gives… give it a read if you have ten minutes.)

National WORDS Competition

April 20, 2016 by Mackenzie

My last post was about our local WORDS competition – and now I get to share with you about the National WORDS competition!

The Palangka Raya girls set off Sunday morning for the big city. We stayed at a fancy hotel in downtown Jakarta which was a treat for the students but a REALLY big treat for us ETAs! Hot showers, bath tubs, the biggest and most delicious breakfast buffet I’ve ever seen… Three days was not enough there…

Sunday evening we all dressed up in our fancy clothes for the welcoming dinner – it was fun to watch the students mingle shyly with each other and size each other up before the competition the following day.

I was part of the Pesta (party) People 2k16 team that organized some fun activities for the kids throughout the weekend. After the dinner we organized an oleh-oleh exchange, where the kids each brought some kind of special food or gift from their region and we randomly paired them up so they had a new friend to exchange gifts with! It was adorable watching them introduce each other, share about their gifts, and then continue chatting and making new friends.

Pesta People 2k16 (Bryan, Kendra, and me)

Counting off students… I’ve gotten real good at that as a teacher this year 😉

My student Telsy, and a student from Manado, exchanging their Oleh Oleh

Love this shot they captured of us!

Monday morning was a blur of nerves and excitement. One by one the students delivered their speech and talent before the panel of judges and audience. They were all incredibly impressive and so fun to watch. I’m glad I wasn’t a judge!

Nervously awaiting our turn! #27

The two palangka raya girls quickly bonded!

Finally, it was Telsy’s turn! I gave a short introduction and then she took the stage! Telsy’s speech was about wanting to motivate people, become a tv producer, and be a tourist ambassador of Central Kalimantan – and so she wore a beautiful traditional Dayak costume.

She sang a beautiful traditional Dayak song called Itak Gumer

Wow-ing the audience with her mandau knife – all the ETA boys immediately looked at me and said, “How did she get that on the plane?!” “Indonesia…” I replied.

I was so proud of her. She delivered her speech flawlessly, sang beautifully, and danced to perfection. It was all I could have asked for and more <3

All the ETAs and their impressive students!

Afterwards she was even taken aside by the media for an interview!

After the competition, the Pesta People 2k16 took the crew out for an evening of lasertag and mini golf. None of the students had ever done laser tag before and they LOVED it. We were hot, sweaty, and happy!

The next day, after the students had toured Jakarta and the ETAs had a debriefing meeting – we took the kids out to go ice skating! Unfortunately, traffic kept a lot of ETAs and students from making it there before it closed but at least some of the kids got to try it!

Carlie and Fati (her student) ice skating and Telsy and I watching them from above!

However, seeing as the rink was in the middle of a mall, that meant we had the whole evening to explore the mall! I don’t think our girls had ever seen a mall like this – maybe only in the movies! We wandered through every floor window-shopping, buying any treats the girls wanted, and meandering a bookstore where I was inspired to try reading a book in Bahasa Indonesia. I crazily chose The Girl on the Train as my beginner novel… And the girls laughed at me as I tried to read the first paragraph and couldn’t make out anything but a few words here and there. But I’m determined! I’ve now read a whole two pages in the week since I bought it 😉

Ice cream filled crepes

Trying Korean Odon noodles for dinner! And it was their first time using chopsticks 😀

Her first starbucks!

Mall crawlers

We truly had a blast – it was a weekend of so many firsts for the kids and that made it so special. I was sad to say goodbye to Carlie and the girls on Wednesday when they headed for home, while I stayed a few extra days in Jakarta to prepare for next year’s incoming cohort with the other SETAs (Senior ETAs).

It was a fabulous week!

WORDS Competition: SMAN 5

March 27, 2016 by Mackenzie

As ETAs, most of our work is done at our schools, independent of the rest of our cohort. However, there is one event that all of us ETAs are required to do at our schools – the WORDS competition. Every year, each ETA hosts an English speaking competition at their respective schools and then the winner from each school gets to travel to Jakarta with their ETA for a national competition against all of the other ETAs’ students. It’s an incredible opportunity for our students – many of whom have never been to Jakarta, or maybe even left their island. The competition occurs towards the end of the school year so it’s a great chance for ETAs and their students to put all their hard work into practice… writing and delivering a speech.

Our “Superlative” Winners – best costume, talent, speech, dancer, singer etc

My kids started preparing a month ago for the competition. After announcing the competition in every class, I made a poster board and hung it in my house. For any student who signed up to participate, I would write their name on the poster. I had no idea how much this would mean to the kids… The first day, a few kids came over to work on homework and when they saw the poster and told me they wanted to participate, the look on their faces was one of shock and disbelief when I stood up and wrote their name on the poster. “Really?! You’re going to write my name on there?!” “Of course!!” “WOW, Miss! Thank you!” And it continued… every time someone came over, they saw the poster and were motivated to participate.

The theme this year is “Three Wishes: If you could change something in the world, in your city, in yourself… what would you change?” In addition to their two minute speech, students are encouraged to perform a talent – it can be anything from singing to dancing to telling riddles… And in total, each student should take no more than 5 minutes (I didn’t stick to that rule in my local competition… oops)

The week of the competition was a flurry of preparation. Tisia and I were busy printing banners, a photobooth backdrop, name tags, participant numbers, and scoring rubrics. Meanwhile, my students were finishing their speeches and working to memorize them. Every evening a handful would drop by my house for last minute corrections or pronunciation help… this is why I LOVE living at school.

Our best costumes!

The night before the competition I was as nervous as my students. I drempt I slept through the competition, I drempt the aula (auditorium) flooded (not an idle threat – it had flooded the day before, we spent the whole previous afternoon cleaning it, and then that night it started to pour again)… but Saturday morning I awoke thrilled and excited. I raced around setting up, answering last minute questions, driving in to town to pick up Carlie and print the nametags that we had forgotten to do before…

Awesome photobooth

And then… my kids stole the show! We had 19 participants and every single one was so so good. I was so proud of them. We had crazy costumes, and modern dance. Traditional costumes and singing. It was one of my happiest days at SMAN 5!

The crew! Minus a few who couldn’t stay for the whole three hours 😀

Our top three!

In the end, the judges’ decision came down to three students – each were exceptional in their own way but they had to choose one. They eventually chose Telsy as the winner because her pronunciation was the clearest and you could easily understand her speech – in addition to her speech being entertaining and inspiring, and her talent (singing and dancing to traditional music) was beautiful! I cannot wait to bring her to Jakarta with me in a few weeks!

Theresia doing story telling as her talent

Escool’s pantomime was incredible!

Instead of giving an oversized check to my winner – I found this $$ pillow case at a tiny store in Palangkaraya! It was a hit!

Thanks to the judges and English teachers for helping us!!

A favorite moment 🙂

Congratulations!!

Coming Back for Round 2!

March 20, 2016 by Mackenzie

Drum roll please…!!

It’s official – I accepted the offer this week… I’ll be returning to Indonesia next year as a second year Fulbrighter!

I’ve been contemplating for awhile now what I want to do next year and I knew I wasn’t ready to leave Indonesia. A year ago, when I first started this journey, I met the three returning Fulbrighters who would be joining our cohort as Returning ETAs and our mentors. I knew pretty early on that I would want to apply for a second year, particularly after having had such a bizarre start to my grant this year (see this, and this, and this, and this).

I want a second chance. I want to experience a “normal” nine months at one school, to improve my teaching skills, to build on the lesson plans I’ve already created, and make them better for next year. I want to explore a new part of Indonesia (TBD!), to continue learning Bahasa Indonesia, to experience more of this culture, and perhaps most importantly, to mentor the incoming cohort. I’ve always been a leader and a mentor and not having a formal leadership role this year has been somewhat odd… I feel like something is missing and I know that’s what it is. A substantial part of my role next year, in addition to my teaching and school responsibilities, will be assisting and mentoring the incoming cohort, as they adjust to life in Indonesia. I couldn’t be more excited to meet the incoming group and go on this journey for a second time.

A few logistics you must be thinking to yourself…
– Will she come home?! Yes, of course! I’ll come home to Seattle June 4th and plan to travel a bit (hoping for St. Louis, DC, Spokane, and LA – let me know if you’re there!) and then I’ll leave mid-August.
– How long is this grant? 9 months plus two weeks at the beginning where the Returners will come early to help plan orientation
– Same city? Nope! New! I don’t yet know where I’ll be placed but somewhere new! I’m desperately hoping to be near water and absolutely refuse to be anywhere near smoke.
– Can I come visit her? OF COURSE! Now that I’ve got a year under my belt I have a much better idea of good times to visit and places we can travel to 😀 So please hop across the ocean and come visit the land of 17,000 islands! I’m sure we can find you one that will suit your fancy 😀

There’s a few things that sealed the deal for me to come back. It’s crazy days getting bear-hugged by my mud covered kids… It’s living in the midst of a military school where my kids come over at every odd hour for every odd reason (I had four girls come over about 10 minutes ago to stash chicken in my freezer…). It’s spending the day at a waterpark with a few of my students and holding their hand as they go down the big slide for the first time… And it’s watching them give speeches in English in front of 100 of their classmates and absolutely knocking it out of the ballpark, that make me absolutely have to come back.

A Day in the Life: Scout Camp

March 14, 2016 by Mackenzie

What kind of school sponsored event results in 150 students being sick the following Monday? Scout camp of course! Scouts is big in Indonesia… it’s mandatory for all students from elementary-high school. My kids were shocked that I had never done scouts in America and when I said it’s popular mostly for elementary-aged boys they couldn’t believe me!

As an enthusiastic teacher and supporter of my students – I of course told my students I would watch them participate in scout camp – what I was not prepared for however, was participating in scout camp…

Saturday, February 27

I can hear the kids chanting and preparing at 7am but I have no intention of getting out of my bed just yet. It’s Saturday… my one day to sleep in, and I’m taking advantage of it. Especially because I know I will be getting very little sleep tonight.

I mosey around in the morning, finish my lesson plan for the upcoming week, and run out to pick up my laundry – clean jeans are clutch, seeing as I can only wear pants around my school which means I wear the same pair every single day after school and they are sweaty, dirty, and smelly. I have since made the quality investment of a second pair from the local department store – they aren’t quite long enough for me but I roll up the bottoms and I’m good to go.

Around noon, I head over to school to join the fun. What I see as I exit the asrama and enter the school grounds, is 30 tarp-tents, pitched on the only dry area of the field (which turns into a lake every time it rains). The kids see me and I suddenly have kids calling at me from all directions, “Miss! Come look at our tent!” “Miss! Come over here!” “Miss!” I tour the tents and end up settling down with my favorite 11th grade girls. All the kids are split into teams of 8 and it so happens that my favorite 8 girls are all on the same team… 100 selfies, and promises of sleeping in their tent with them tonight later, I meander over to the school to where the teachers are.

After lunch in the canteen, we assemble the students and march over to the challenge course. Now, I’ve done a lot of challenge courses in my years of summer camps and school outings, but I’ve never seen anything as intense as this. 7 obstacles have been created in the empty area behind some of the classrooms and these are your stereotypical challenges, but on steroids. The third challenge was by far the most intense – a 30 yard army mud crawl in the nastiest of mud ditches.

Team by team, the students began the challenge course. I laugh and cheer as I run from obstacle to obstacle screaming out every form of encouragement I could think of. After completing the mud crawl, many of the kids attempt to grab me and get me all muddy and I run away screaming. But after a few attempts, one of them finally catches me unaware, and gives me a big muddy hug. And from there, it was all over. Kid after kid would emerge from the mud and bear hug me, to shrieks of terror from the other teachers and shrieks of delight from the other students.

When another team of “my girls” finished the course, I jokingly join their military line and head off towards the dormitory with them, where I think we will be showering. But no… the course wasn’t over yet. One by one, the kids jump into the swamp that sits in the middle of the asrama and swim across to the other side. I have been told this swamp is home to the scorpions that invade my home – I am not enthused about jumping in the scorpion-infested swamp, but alas, in I go!

The girls go back to the dormitory to clean up and I return to the course to watch the other kids. I’m a tad less muddy now, after my swim, but it doesn’t last for long.

Finally, after 100 more bear hugs, and two more swims across the swamp I stumble back to my house, enter through the back gate, strip off my ruined clothes, creep through my house to the bak mandi (shower). My floor turns brown as I scrub myself clean and I pray that there is enough water in the water tank to get me clean again. Finally, I am better – certainly not clean, but no longer black. I make my way back to school where all the teachers laugh hysterically as they point to all the mud I didn’t see – my neck, the backs of my arms… (I don’t have a decent mirror in my house so I can never see what I look like). Ah well…

We eat dinner in the canteen and the students all begin to assemble around a massive pile of branches, which is soon to be our campfire. Darkness has set in but there are torches around the field and soon enough, the campfire is blazing. All 200 students or so are standing arm in arm in a gigantic circle – and I’m pleased to be invited to join them. We sing, chant, march, and dance before the circle dissolves and everyone gathers together to watch each team perform a song or dance.

It’s 9pm or so by this point, which is typically nearing my bedtime. But the night is far from over. The students are allowed to go back and rest in their tent for awhile and us teachers end up lying on the floor of the nurses room, where I promptly doze off.

At 11:30pm we all wake back up and the students assemble again. They are back in their scouting uniforms – girls in skirts and black mary jane shoes – I’m feeling bad for what they have to do next (they don’t know but I do…)

Team by team, they come to the front and the scout leader gives them their instructions. Exit the school, turn right, and continue walking until you find the first post. Off they march, single file, into the pitch black night (and I mean PITCH BLACK – there are no street lights on my rural road haha)

At 1am, after about half the teams have departed, I climb into the car with a few of the teachers and we set off. As we pass each team walking down the dark, empty road, I stick my head out the window and enthusiastically cheer them on. A few give a little wave, but most just nod and look straight ahead – military procedure. There are four posts spread between our school set on the outskirts of the city, and the city center – the bundaren besar or the big roundabout. The roundabout is 6km from our school and the students march into the night… completing physical and mental challenges at each post and walking and walking and walking. By 2:30am, most of the teams have arrived in the roundabout. They spread out in the grass, strip off their shoes and socks, and are told to meditate for awhile. I meanwhile, roll over and fall asleep on the concrete path. At 3:45am I am awakened by the sound of singing, I sit up and see that all 200 students are now sitting clumped together, holding candles, and singing. I’m exhausted but I can’t imagine what they are feeling right now.

When the song is over, the teams set off again, to walk the 6km back to school. Once they have all departed, I climb back into the teacher’s car and we drive back to school. We get home at 4:30am, and I deliriously roll out of the car and cozy back onto the floor of the nurse’s room where I instantly fall asleep.

At 5:45am I am awakened by the sound of music blasting out of the shittest speakers you’ve ever heard. I groan but sit up and walk outside to find the teachers already scurrying around. Pretty soon, the students are reassembled, looking haggard but amazingly cheerful, and we begin doing exercise aerobics. I’m of course told to join, so I jump into the line and crack up as 250 people do exercise aerobics at 6am after no sleep. I’m terrible at it but my kids are pros and that makes me laugh even harder 😀

Us teachers eat breakfast in the canteen again and then I excuse myself to go home and take a quick shower. I’m thankful I live at school and I can walk home in about three minutes. At 9am, the students assemble again and someone plays “Timber” by Ke$sha and in my half-dazed state, I begin to dance. The students are standing at attention in their perfectly straight, military lines and I am 20 yards in front of them dancing to Pitbull. Their exhausted faces break into smiles and then into giggles and pretty soon everyone is giggling at me and some are breaking their rank and dancing along with me.

But the music stops, and it’s time for the ceremony. The Scout Leaders bring in large buckets of brown water with some little flowers on top. They look disgusting and I ask what’s in it… “oh, just coffee grounds, flour, dirt, some spices, and… you know what” WHAT?! Yes… shit. This was shit water and it was about to be poured on my poor student’s heads as their induction into scouts (I would classify this as hazing but who am I to judge?)

I make it through about 20 minutes of the ceremony (and about 5 heads doused in shit water) before I almost tip over from exhaustion and decide that it’s time I call it a day (or two). I wave to a few teachers and sneak out… walking quickly across the field and back into my cold air-conditioned bedroom. It’s 10:00am and I am so, so ready to go to bed. I sleep until 4:30pm when I am awakened by hunger pangs. I haven’t eaten anything since 6am… I venture out for some food, and just as I settle in to my nasi goreng and tempe, the power goes out. Mati lampu… of course. I sit in the dark for a stifling four hours before the power finally returns at 10pm and I slip back into a deep sleep.

I made a short, cheesy video combining all the snapchats I took that day if you want a peek at what it was really like!

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Mackenzie

A Look Back