Bali is Beautiful

Do I really need to use words?  Can't I just use pictures?

Funny Morning

What is that last thing I would do in Indonesia?  Teach kids to dance!

But God just so happens to remember that I have that skill, that I learned that skill once upon a time, that I had my own great dance instructors that I can very easily use the tricks of... and he put it all to use today!

We are spending time teaching English at a school here, which is super fun. They have between 20 and 40 kids in a class (three teachers to a class when there are so many kids) and their english is actually really good. All the teachers can have a full conversation with us, and with some prompting all the older kids can hold a conversation. Usually we just go teach vocabulary in whatever class they have that day. Last time I did the human body with one of those take-apart people (Gloria- this one was very definitely a girl).  The other group did the solar system. But today was culture. They asked us to teach them our "traditional dance". First of all I don't think Canadians have a traditional dance. And I definitely don't know where to start with Ukrainian. So what was our best option?

Yes you guessed it. Line Dancing. That is very North American right?
So there are 30 some kids who went home today being able to do the Cadillac Ranch!
I used all my dance experience, and dance teaching experience today to help it along, but these kids picked it up faster than I expected. I actually don't have the song Cadillac Ranch on my ipod so some Garth Brooks and Cotton Eye Jo had to make do. But they definitely had fun, and I learned that every skill can be used on a trip like this!

They start off good!

To the right, to the left, And backwards!

Picture Update

Long Awaited Update

February 6, 2011

I have been horrible at blogging. And I know I have been, so I apologize if there is anyone back in Canada longing to hear about Indonesia and being disappointed.  So I will try to summarize a month in one post.

First an outline:

Two weeks spent at one orphanage that actually takes in senior citizens as well that don’t have support

Two weeks in a much larger orphanage in a bigger city

Three days in Singapore

Back to our original home base in Indonesia for the first three weeks of February

The first orphanage was really cool. They had half boys, half girls and they were aged 10 to 20’s.  They actually had four kids attending university, including one adorable girl who was going to be a midwife. We were amazed to see that they had a beautiful garden with a fish pond, so we enjoyed having our quiet times there. We got to visit the kids’ school and help teach English. Never in my life had I tried to teach English before, and I’m actually not very good at it. But I’m a native speaker and sometimes that is all they want. Alex and I had the same conversation 10 times over while the kids answered questions.  But we also played language/vocabulary games with them, and shared about our cultures.  We had a few more opportunities to help there, including cleaning out our host’s kitchen.  It was pretty gross, including a mouse/rat living under a cupboard. Not so nice. But we got it all done!

I think my favourite visit to the community was visiting the families of soldiers who had been deployed.  The men can be gone for up to two years, and the women are all but held captive by the army who doesn’t want them to be unfaithful or get into trouble.  The catch is that often the men are unfaithful.  Thankfully these women have each other for support, but it is not easy.  It was really nice to be able to encourage them.  My heart really is for women’s ministry so I really enjoyed that.

It was sad to leave that orphanage, but we didn’t know what was waiting for us.

I was overwhelmed by the number of kids at the next orphanage. I never thought I would learn all their names. But amazingly I think I had most everyone, excluding some of the boys because they weren’t really my responsibility while we were there.

This orphanage was really cool because they had wifi. And internet connection on the base is something amazing for Indonesia.  We were very blessed in our time at this orphanage, even though they had the earliest wake up time: 4:30 quiet time with kids, 6:30 everyone else gets up.  Michal had his birthday there, and he had something like 4 birthday cakes over the course of the day, and he had to be dunked himself in the fish pool there. It was tradition, so he submitted to it. We also went for an Indonesian massage for his birthday, which wasn’t so relaxing because it was pretty strong, but our bodies felt pretty good afterwards.  We only visited the school there once, because we had so many opportunities at the orphanage. We sanded and painted rusty bunk bed frames that had been donated.  And Michal actually raised money to buy them mattresses and a fridge, so it was pretty cool to see them receiving material things they really needed as well.

We spent three days in Singapore after that. But what seemed like three days actually ended up being only one day.  We arrived at 6pm on Friday and left at one or two on Sunday.  So really, all we had was Saturday.

We fit in almost a full day of sight seeing. We took the metro to a district filled with malls and hotels to see the largest fountain in the world. Dissapointing! It was barely turned on! But while we were there we realized that the pan pacific hotel has great elevators. And we wanted to see if we could get in to ride one. We definitely succeeded. All the way to the top! That was a really cool view.

Then we went to the Singapore flyer, worlds largest observation wheel. Didn't go on it but ate lunch there. And Art loves formula 1 racing and he had to see the race track/ pit building for the Singapore race. And amazingly you could just walk up to it. I walked across the finish line Janka did a cartwheel across.

Then we went to see the thing I most wanted to see: a fancy bridge built as a double helix to support it. The internet says it is the only curved bridge in the world. (maybe it was the first when it was built?) Then across the bridge we went to a new mall, hotel, theatre, casino complex. It was super cool. We kinda snuck in there too. But we didn't get very high. I think it was worth walking to though.

Then we checked out the church we wanted to go to the next day. And I got to be in an English Christian bookstore... Such a treat! Then home for a couple hours to rest. Then back out to see the fountain show... That was definitely more disappointing than seeing it the first time. Did not live up to the pictures at all!

But we had supper and walked to the bay to see the lights... But it started pouring rain. Everyone was drenched except Alex and I had jackets so our tops were dry. My backpack was soaked! But I think everyone enjoyed being soaked, at least until we entered the air conditioned metro. Art wasn’t happy with being soaked in a cold train.

Sunday morning we went to church. A very famous church led by Joseph Prince. New creation church. Something like 20000 people attend a service every Sunday. It is huge. And broadcast all across the world. So I went in expecting one thing and found completely another. This guy is pretty great. He knows his stuff. Some might argue about his emphasis, but I think if his church is so big he definitely is making a difference in lives. So that was an amazing experience.  He actually broadcasts all over the world as well.

By the end of the service we needed to go straight to the airport to catch our flight. When I look at the list it looks like so little that we did but it seemed like a lot.

The boys watching the construction of a new art gallery against the Singapore skyline (photo taken on the super cool bridge)

Now we are back at our home base and having a great time. Its awesome because we already know the kids. And they have found new opportunities for us here which are really exciting. So we have 20 days left in Indonesia. A week of them will be in Bali. It is so close, yet I want to enjoy every day we have left.  

So that is my update… sorry it has been so long in coming. And there is still time to give money for the building that is being restored. My mom tells me people are giving, but I don’t know how much is still needed.  I would give more information on the building and its use but I’m unsure how much is safe to talk about via internet. Not that we are doing anything wrong, but better safe than sorry.  I am very excited about it though, and can’t wait to talk about it when I get home and to share pictures after they have done all the repairs!

Building in Need of Repair

This building could be completely repaired for 400 Canadian Dollars. 

And would be put to very good use. 

Talk to me or my parents if you want to help.

You would be blessing these Indonesians.