After returning from a Bali trip in March with a few of my best friends, and a quick 4-day week of teaching, I wasted no time getting back into the adventurous spirit. I would like to consider my travelling style as always looking for a unique experience. As looking for an authentic, cultural experience to really see how other cultures live. Most of the time I try to avoid the activities that are directly targeted to tourists and don't reflect the culture of that country at all. But, sometimes there are things you try just to say you did it. I am about to share with you the most stomach-churning thing I have ever tried eating. For those with a weak stomach, you've been warned. .
Since the first time we met Kyle has wanted to take me to an area of Jakarta called Mangga basar, but better known as "Snake street". As Kyle and his wife Cassandra are leaving Indonesia this year to teach in Northern Alberta (Congrats guys!) there was a sense of urgency to make this trip to Jakarta happen. We went to a restaurant called King Cobra. I now understand the phrase "hole in the wall" to describe a restaurant.
It is no wonder it was a difficult place to find
The restaurant was literally a hallway. I ordered a Bintang and the waiter walked across the street to a convenience store to complete my order
For dinner we had some universally typical appetizers. These included alligator, python and turtle. These were the warmup to prepare our stomachs for the main event.
I am not sure which one is which. Alligator and Python tasted similar to chicken but the turtle had an interesting taste.
For the main event we had to head outside, and find one of several stalls that had live cobras. We selected a cobra. .
To be chopped. . .
To be skinned . . .
And to be cooked into satay. . .
The satay was delicious!
But we weren't finished with this little guy yet.
The man behind the snake stall drained the blood into two cups. . .
Kyle and I prepared ourselves. . .
And it was bottoms up.
Although the cobra satay was excellent, the cobra blood was really gross (surprising I know!). Not only was the taste bad, but the thick consistency was very unappealing. The worst part though was that the snake man had added several organs (my biology knowledge is not quite able to identify which snake organs they were) which made the already awful drink chunky. That was almost two months ago but I can still remember the texture and taste quite vividly.
I guess at least now I can say I did it, or perhaps I'll have to keep the tradition alive and bring one of next year's new teachers there for their right of passage.
I invite you to keep reading, I promise the rest of this post will bring only smiles, no more heebie jeebies!
Bina Bangsa School friendship debate games
Some of you may have watched the highlights on Sports Centre but here is the recap from my perspective.
Again with Mr. Kyle, and again to Jakarta, 4 students and the two of us travelled to one of the Jakarta campuses to compete in the BBS friendship debate games. The Jakarta campus has a debate club and one of the purposes was to try to spark interest in debate for our campus, and give a few students some experience so we could possibly start a debate club at our campus next year. I would say our students did quite well considering they had never once participated in a formal debate before.
The topic for the first round was "Should schools provide free lunch for their students?". Teams of two from each campus were matched up and randomly drawn for if they would be the government (for the position) or the opposition. They were then given 30 minutes to discuss strategy and prepare their arguments.
Two of our grade 11s preparing their arguments for why schools should not provide free lunch
Our grade 9s preparing their arguments for why schools should provide free lunch
Our grade 9 team in action
Both of our teams were victorious in round 1 :)
The question for round two was "Should the government limit the number of private cars allowed on the road in Jakarta?". Our grade 11 team immediately identified themselves in round one as the team to be feared. I was watching our other team in round one, but watched the grade 11s in the second round. I couldn't handle the one-sidedness of the debate and had to leave the room. I could stomach the cobra blood, but not this. I think our team could have convinced the President of Indonesia that the number of private cars should be restricted in Jakarta. Although to their credit, after the debate a lot of sportsmanship was shown.
One of our teams finished in 3rd place, and our other team (Which Kyle had nicknamed team cutthroat) advanced to the finals.
The final topic was "Should teachers be paid based on the performance of their students?". I couldn't help but picture this question being asked at a Canadian teacher's college and all of the teacher candidates erupting with protest. One of my students joked that "Sir, you would be lucky because you teach me."
Somehow I must have really impressed someone with my audience skills as I was asked to judge the finals. Kyle was asked to be a judge as well but responded with "That's not a good idea, I am way too biased".
The most difficult part of judging was basing it on the strength of the students' arguments, and not just choosing the side of the question that you agree with.
It was a very well fought final but our team walked away as champions. And fortunately teachers are not going to be paid based on the results of their students. It is a scary thought as a teacher to know that your students are very skilled in the art of arguing!
Alice's birthday
Alice is the lone Australian teacher at our campus. Her favourite pass time is baking. My favourite pass time is eating. We are very, very good friends. Alice is another teacher who will be leaving Indonesia next year. She has accepted a job in Peru! I know very little about Peru but it sounds very exotic. I wish you all the best next year Alice!
Australians, just like Canadians have birthdays. Alice's is on April 13th and we celebrated by going to a very nice restaurant with a bunch of the teachers.
Alice! Trying to fly
Living in a city that has so many mountains, valleys and rice fields I can see views this almost every day
Our Mathematics department: Willy, Alice, Pitchai and Handoko
A birthday wouldn't be the same if the game Bang! wasn't played
Over the Easter long weekend it was back to Bali for me. I have a University friend Rachael from Canada who is working as an au pair in Australia. In University we lived a perfectly straight line across the street from each other. She had a few weeks off from work and was visiting Indonesia. As this was the first time we were on the same continent in about a year there was no excuse not to meet up with her in Bali. Not that I needed another reason to go to Bali, but it also happened to be Rachael's birthday! We were joined by another one of our University friends Maggie, as well as Lucas (see previous post) and his brother Jon who has lived in Bali for almost two years.
The extreme amount of relaxation translated into not very many photos. One of the coolest things we did was in Uluwata. First we rented motorcycles. I use "we" generously here. I rented a bike and had Maggie (eyes closed the whole time out of fear) on the back, and Rachael rented a bike and did her best to give Maggie and I a heart attack. She did quite well though with only one fall, a very graceful one I must say. When the five of us needed to bike together Lucas hoped on the back of mine and in typical Indonesian style, Maggie AND Rachael hoped on the back of Jon's. With limbs sticking out everywhere it looked like an octopus was riding the scooter.
With these bikes, Mag, Rachael and I went and saw a "Kecek" dance. A more descriptive name would be a sunset fire dance. I didn't fully understand the meaning but basically you sit high up on the cliffs of Uluwata, listening to the waves crashing on the beach, and watch the sunset. While you are in this beautiful oasis there is a performance put on by locals. The meaning behind the dance is that it is telling the story of a noble King and him fending off an evil King and his army of monkeys. I think there is a part about rescuing a princess, but I am fluent in neither bahasa Indonesian nor fire dancing so I cannot be certain. Additionally the dance is meant to communicate with deities, using the dancers as a medium.
The "Kecek" dance is named because the dancers repeat the word "Kecek, kecek, kecek, kecek" repeatedly throughout the dancing.
We were the only three people who did not bring an umbrella, but despite the rain, and cloudiness causing a lack of visible sunset, the performance was really, really cool!
Myself with Rachael and Maggie
Ensemble
I believe I have mentioned several times how musically talented our students are, and Indonesia as a whole. Just a reminder that all of our students choose an instrument to master throughout their time at our school. Most students master 3 or 4.
This semester our school's Ensemble performed for the school and parents at "A Wonderful Night of Music". I felt so untalented afterwards and was so motivated that when I got home I dusted off my guitar and gave it my best shot. I was also able to persuade our music teacher to give me some lessons.
I can't even name all those instruments although I am reasonably confident one of them is a flute
Shout out to Mr. Agung who was a fantastic conductor, and prepared the kids all year long for this wonderful night of music
Sometimes when you are teaching, an opportunity to teach something of importance comes up that is just too important to pass up, even at the expense of the curriculum. This happened in April when I found out my students don't have Easter egg hunts. This was one of my favourite holiday traditions both as a kid, and as an adult, and this was close to being the first year of my life that I didn't participate in one.
One Friday after assigning my students some seat work as a distraction I slipped out of the classroom and frantically hid candy (Indonesia doesn't have chocolate Easter eggs) outside. I returned to the classroom ready to explain the tradition of an Easter egg hunt but I was huffing and puffing from hiding eggs so frantically. All I could manage was "Hey guys I just saw a giant bunny outside hiding something!". To which one of my students responded "Sir, are you the Easter bunny?". "No, I wish I was the Easter bunny. Who wants to go outside and find some candy?".
This was a record for warmest outdoor temperature during an Easter egg hunt in Trevor Easter egg hunt history
Unfortunately while they were searching one student found a bird that by my estimate had died several days ago and decided the most logical course of action was to show everyone. Amongst accusations of "Sir, did you hide this here?" I reminded them that an Easter egg hunt is a competition and there is no room for such distractions.
Some of my students showing off their haul! Although most students picked up the skills of Easter egg hunting quite quickly, one student only managed to find one candy (I hid about 150). Fortunately for her the other students shared with her, a rule my mom would always enforce at Easter but I never bought into.
It seems like the school is organizing an event almost every weekend. One weekend early in term 4 the event was "Run for life". Not to be confused with "Run for your life".
Most of the students, quite a few parents, and a few teachers participated in the big 5km (I demand a more accurate measurement of this distance) race.
Having legs that are longer than some students are tall I took off to a very sizeable early lead.
The rest of the recap of this event requires a quick back story. When I was about 12 years old, my Aunt Mina (in her 50s or so) challenged me to a race. In her mind she was thinking "there is no way this child is faster than me". In my mind I was thinking "what are you, like 100 years old? Piece of cake". It wasn't a close race at all. I held back so that she wouldn't feel so bad but I beat her very easily. I remember seeing the look on her face of "wow, when did I get so out of shape?" and thinking I hope I never have that feeling (foreshadowing).
Despite my early lead I hadn't seen the course before and foolishly overestimated my athletic prowess. The first kilometer was fairly smooth except for the pot holes and speed bumps (which I smugly thought to myself couldn't slow me down). The next two kilometers were merciless and entirely uphill. I became completely exhausted, lost all my speed, and resorted to walking in the longest strides possible in order to conserve energy. I was passed by several students. Upon reaching the top of the hill, it was time to turn around and run for 2 kilometers straight down hill. It felt like I was slowly falling forward for 10 minutes. Running downhill is very awkward. I ended up finishing in second place, but the knowledge that a 12 year old student beat me (wasn't even close, he beat me by over a minute) reminded me of how my Aunt Mina must have felt 12 years ago. At least she was in her 50s when children started beating her in races.
I guess maybe my running technique is wrong?
This student finished 2nd in the 14-40 category, one spot behind me. He approached me after the race and asked "Sir, you are in the 40 and older category right?". . . It was a very humbling day
This student finished 2nd in the 14-40 category, one spot behind me. He approached me after the race and asked "Sir, you are in the 40 and older category right?". . . It was a very humbling day
After the run for life we hosted a friendly basketball game. We had played this school once already this year so I believe that makes them our rivals. The difference was that this time our team (and coach) had just ran a 5km race in the morning.
The game turned out to be a shoot out, a real barn burner. After 3 quarters the crowd had been treated to a 20-14 lead for our team. . .
Our team held on for a victory despite two technicals (I was not impressed) thanks to strong defence and taking care of the ball on offence.
Our boys team (back row) with our flashy new jerseys. Yes I coached in flip flops
The last time our girls' team played against this school the other team raced (literally sprinting up and down the floor) out to a 20-0 lead. Our girls had 4 more months of practice since then and this time around was a different story. Holding on to a 3 point lead in the final seconds of the 4th quarter the other team hit a 3 to tie it and send the game to overtime. In overtime our girls trailed by 2 with 30 seconds left but hit a clutch shot to tie the game and send it to double overtime. In double overtime we lost, but considering the result last time these teams played it helped everyone to appreciate the growth throughout this season.
Our girls team (front row) after the match
A great shot of one of our players going up for a layup in traffic at a game we played a few months ago.
Kidney donors
In the grade 9 curriculum our final unit was the excretion unit, a process that would not be possible to perform without our kidneys. When teaching about kidney failure I discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the two major treatment options including dialysis, or a kidney transplant. One important point was the lack of kidney donors. I decided to ask the students to raise their hands if they would donate one of their two working kidneys to one of their classmates if they had kidney failure. Not a single hand was raised. . .
Feeling that this lack of generosity and sharing was unacceptable I decided to stress the importance of organ donation and make it a bonus question on their final unit test. The question read "Name one person (if there is one) in this classroom who you would donate one of you two healthy kidneys to if they had kidney failure."
I had some very honest responses . . .
Some very kind responses . . .
One very stressed student. . .
And some very clever responses from students trying to earn bonus marks. . .
Birthday number 24!
On June 9th I celebrated the completion of my 24th year on Earth. When it comes to Canada compared to Indonesia birthdays are celebrated quite differently. I would make a t-table or a venn diagram to compare but I don't know how to do that (heck, I've been posting blogs for almost a year and I still have a white background). The two major differences are:
In Canada - your birthday consists of the day of your birth, and the closest weekend. You are free to celebrate for three days.
In Indonesia, and Asian culture in general, celebrating your birthday in advance, or wishing someone a happy birthday too early in the day is like wishing for them to have a shorter life. In fact, Asia is quite superstitious when it comes to things that lead to longevity. One of my students wished me a happy birthday and said be sure to eat noodles today. I said thank you, but why should I eat noodles? She explained to me (in a bit of frustration because isn't it obvious?) that eating noodles on your birthday will help you to have a longer life. The biological link between eating noodles on your birthday and living a long life is still not 100% understood. She also mentioned that eating fish and oranges would help me to live long too. Perhaps what she means is eating all your vitamins and nutrients will keep you healthy? Regardless, I raced down to the cafeteria and ordered the noodle, fish, orange special. . . No thanks, I've already eaten too many gross things this semester.
The second difference.
In Canada - all your buddies take you out for your birthday and you don't pay for a thing.
In Indonesia - on your birthday you need to pay for everyone else. This does explain why all Indonesians are very secretive about their birthdays. I thought maybe it was just a cultural thing that no one had a birthday. I quickly realized my mistake that I had invited people out for dinner and told them it was for my birthday.
Overall I had a great day. Lots of smiles, warm wishes, and some singing from the students. When I walked into the teacher's room at 7 in the morning this is what my desk looked like.
Many thanks to Alice, Cass and Kyle! (Cass in particular who blew up every balloon)
Later in the day when I walked into the teacher's room my desk now looked like this.
Feeling a little ridiculous that I was looking for a desk, I ventured around the school until I found it.
I eventually found the culprits, 4 of my grade ten students (my home room class)
Abraham, Keven, Aldi and Ervan
I later found out the prank had been in the planning stages for months. They had organized an admin to pretend I was needed in the finance office to give them time to move my desk.
However, apparently the heavy lifting of my belongings was not finished yet.
My VIP birthday parking spot
Graduation
In the Cambridge curriculum that my school offers there is a graduation of the IGCSE program after grade 10, and a graduation after the A-levels are completed in grade 12. Along with Kyle, I had the honour of being an MC at this year's graduation ceremony. I couldn't be more proud of my students for all of their hard work this year, and their role in making my first year of teaching arguably the most amazing year of my life.
Our grade 12 grads
Top in academic rank in grade 11. Just months ago he told me "Sir, I do not like biology. No matter how much I study I do poorly." He scored an 87 in Bio this year
Our grade 12 Valedictorian, flashing his top in class Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math awards
Our handsome MCs during the singing of the school song. Giggling over the fact that neither of us know all the lyrics to the school song, and we hope we remembered to switch the microphone off before we started to sing
Some of our grade 9s being silly
My home room class!
Our grade 10 Valedictorian
The hat toss by my grade 10 graduating class
From the catastrophic start to the my first year of teaching (being sick with E. coli for two weeks), the year certainly finished off in remarkable fashion. Gonna be tough to top this year next year but I am excited and ready to give it a shot.
Indonesia and I celebrate our one year anniversary on June 27th. However on this day I will be in either Thailand or Laos, both of which I plan to visit over the next three weeks.
Stay tuned for stories of my Thai and Laotian adventures!
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