Quick update

Hey everyone!! Just a quick little update. I'm here at Matos with my host family and wanted to check in...

This past weekend has been a blast. On Friday evening I went out to dinner with a former student, Juwita, and her family. They were really fun and she had a little 7-year-old brother named Iwan who was absolutely adorable!! He asked me to come play computer games with him one day. How cute!!!

Then yesterday (Saturday), I went to visit SMA 4 (Public High School #4). One of the host mothers works is an English teacher there and she said she set up a meeting with the headmaster so that I could introduce myself and talk about the possibility of it being an LE school next summer. There was some major miscommunication because when I got there, the headmaster was not there and so I met with 2 English teachers there. Then they asked me when I could start teaching. Say what?! Yea...so I said I could help them out for this week while they are short one English teacher, but after that I won't be able to. Incredible. A miscomunicasi, we called it. I'd say!!

Anyway, after that early morning (7am) meeting, Prido came to pick me up and take me to his house in the village. It was such a great time!! We hung out with his family, I got to meet his uncle and some cousins, and his entire village. They told me I was the very first foreigner to ever come to their village. Isn't that crazy?! His family was really proud to have me there, and they asked me to stay the night!! Unfortunately I couldn't because I had some appointments today, but they said next time I have to sleep there. Funny, funny. So we went around to a lot of places - a few elementary schools (where I met headmasters and teachers who called me beautiful and generous, and tons of students who all one by one took my hand and put it to their cheek as a sign of respect...needless to say I was blown away by how nice these people were!), an old man's house where he teaches gamelan lessons to children (where I got to see how the gamelan drums were made...all hand made, and it takes like a month to make a single drum!!), and all around the village. You should have seen this village - it was seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It's up in the mountains, so there are breathtaking terraced rice fields everywhere and gorgeous green mountains rising up every once in a while. Incredible. I can't wait to go back!!!

When I got back home in the evening, Octa and I went to youth group at church together. It was kind of a cool feeling, because I saw many people I knew and got to talk to them, so I didn't really feel like a foreigner. It felt like home!!

All throughout church our stomachs were growling, so we went to get some grub afterwards and then met up with the rest of the family at their cousin's house. She just had a baby about a week ago, so we had to go see her. She was so small! Oh my goodness they said she weighed about 5 pounds when she was born, and she wasn't even premature! Her name is Mei. So cute!!

So today early this morning I woke up at 5:00 am to go walking with Juwita (my former student) and her sister. We walked for about 1.5 hours and then decided it was too hot to continue. So instead of going to church again, I decided my time would be better spent catching up on my sleep. And I didn't wake up until 11am, which is absolutely unheard of!! Luckily my family was still at church and Octa was still asleep, so I didn't feel bad since no one knew!!

Okay that's about it. Mom, to answer your question - I am going to be teaching at SMA 5 for the year that I am here. I guess I kind of forgot to mention that here, but because I don't update very often I kind of forget what I say and what I don't say...The good thing is that they will be paying me Rp 1.000.000 per month under the table so I don't get in trouble with my Visa, so at least I won't be strapped for cash while I'm here! And tell Tasha congratulations for me! I'm so happy for her. And Landon is an adorable name!!

I hope everyone is healthy and happy and doing well. I miss you all and love you lots and lots!! Later!