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!
