Sri Lanka: Jurrastic Park-like Safaris

On his bucket list, Jon had "Go on a safari."  So when we found out that we could go on a safari in Sri Lanka, we were all over that!  We went on two of them, and they were both awesome.  

Safari Number 1

The first safari was more relaxed.  We could get out of the Jeep and walk around.  This safari had a ton of animals... and we gave each of them a name.  And, Jon's camera does great zoom pictures, so all the animal pictures are his.

On the way to the hotel after the safari, we saw this little guy in the road, so our driver stopped, and I got to play animal rescue.  

A few days later we were supposed to go to an elephant orphanage, but couldn't, for some reason.  So Presanne knew of another safari and elephant place that we could go to.  It was a highlight of my trip. 

At this safari, we had an open air Jeep, could stand and let the wind blow in our faces.  Had a driver who knew that we liked crazy, so he blew through the edge of the lake, sped around the curves in the woods, and got us as close as he could to the charging elephant.

While the other safari was a leisurely drive through the woods, this one was like Jurassic Park (which we  sang for quite a while).  We rode from watering hole to watering hole looking for the pack of elephants we had been promised.  

We saw one lonely elephant at the first place, and tried not to be too disappointed.  

At other lakes we saw a flock of birds fly away, just like they do in the Animal Planet clips and waterbuffalo chillin in the water.

After five or six lakes, I was not hopeful that we would find the elephants, but we popped out of the woods and headed towards another lake, and there were the sixty or so elephants at the edge of the water.  So surreal.

As we headed back towards the entrance to the park, mourning the fact we had to finish our safari, we saw a small family of elephants crossing the path, so our driver pulled just near enough not to scare the elephants.  Another drive was not that smart, and the papa elephant turned and charged.  In case you thought these were trained elephants.. you were wrong.

As we drove through the brush after the elephant charging, we lived a video game.  We leaned back and forth on each other, hit our elbows on the bars, and tried to avoid the branches coming towards our heads as the driver flew down the path, leaving clouds of dust behind us.  

Back in the town, we got to ride an elephant!  I've ridden on elephants before, so that part wasn't new.  But riding on an elephants head, through a creek, watching the sunset's colors all around you... that was a new experience.  A beautiful moment enjoying God's creation.

A special thanks to Jon and Janna and Lauren for their fantastic photo skills on this trip. It would not be as well photographed without them.

Thankful Things

Some mornings I wake up and hop on the ojek, thrilled about what will happen at school.  Other days I hit the snooze button multiple times and drag my feet walking out the door.  But every day I show up at school, my seventeen kids, my awesome co-teacher, and my school prove to me that I have the best job in the world.

Some weeks I spend a ton of time planning lessons and activities.  Other weeks we spend a lot of time doing other activities... like this week.  Five things about this week. Five things that make me realize I have the best job in the world.  Five things that I am thankful for this week... not just because it's November, when we're all supposed to say what we're thankful for.  

One: Learning Culture

The last month SPH celebrated Bulan Bahasa, a celebration of the language (Bahasa Indonesian) that unites the country, since it spans over thousands of islands.  During the month the kids learned trivia, created posters, and sang songs.  The celebration culminated on Monday with an all-school assembly.  

My part in Bulan Bahasa: attending dance practice every Monday and Friday for the last week to learn a traditional dance.  I got to know some of the senior school girls, learned some Bahasa from the dance instructor, and learned about the different regions of Indonesia.  On the day of the assembly, I spent a few hours getting all made up.  And then danced for a minute and a half.  All about the experience, right?

Adel and Kimberly, two of the other grade 3 teachers who I danced with

Each grade had two kids dress up, grade 3 had two of mine!

Fashion show... not sure what the purpose of the outfits were

Zapin dance, from somewhere on the island of Sumatra... I'm the tall one, if you couldn't guess.

Grade three team in our cultural-wear

Two: Muslim Holidays

Yes, I am thankful I live in a Muslim country, and here is one reason why.  I work at a Christian school.  So... I get Muslim holidays off school.  Christian holidays off school.  And government holidays off school.  Tuesday this week was Islamic New Year.  So.... no school!  My friend Lauren and I decided to spend the day pampering ourselves with manicures and massages.

But what's more fun than a manicure with a friend?  A manicure with six and seven year olds!  So we asked the daughter of another teacher and her friend if they wanted to come... and what little girl would say no to a girls-day-out for mani/pedies and RB?  Not these two!

So we headed to the mall, got four seats in a row, and let ourselves be pampered!  I don't interact with kids outside of school all that often, so it was quite entertaining to see these girls in their out-of-school craziness!

One of the girls got a pedi... and we wouldn't let her put her foot on the table at A&W

What happens when you give your phone to a six-year old

Three: Living in a Tropical Country

Let's face it, sometimes living in a tropical country sucks.  Especially when everyone at home is talking about leaves changing and fall and sweaters.  And all the Pins are of boots and scarves and carved pumpkins.

But generally, the fact that I live in a tropical country isn't all that bad.  This week we had swimming lessons.  So the kids get out of class for an hour each day this week.  And they go to the outdoor Olympic-sized pool, learn to swim, and play games.  And as a teacher, I can swim with them.  So I got to play the part of a camp counselor this week and help them with their side stroke, cheer on their relay races, and play water-polo with them.

I don't have pictures of it, but just imagine me, in the pool in the middle of November, palm trees surrounding us, splashing and laughing with a bunch of eight year olds.  Yeah, I get paid for this.

Four: Music

If you like to talk with tomatoes, if a squash can make you smile.  If you like to waltz with potatoes up and down the produce isle... then have we got a show for you!!

As a kid, I watched Veggie Tales all the time.  I mean really, all the time.  I was a Veggie Geek.  Really.  My friends and I had a club when we were in fifth grade that was called the Veggie Geeks.  We were super cool.  I got to meet the guy who wrote some of those songs.  Yes, the musician, Randall Goodgame, who used to write songs for Veggie Tales came to SPH and did a concert for the kids.  WHAT!??  It was pretty cool... I think I was more excited than they were... but he didn't sing any of his old songs.  That's alright, because I learned some pretty funky new songs.

Kim, killin it as the tec-guys figured out all the tecy stuff

Randall also writes songs for the African Children's Choir, and awesome
organization that a good friend is working with!

This. Smile.

Five: Awesome Students

We are finishing up our second unit on communities.  But this wasn't your typical elementary unit that talks about what doctors and post-men and teachers do.  No, these kids learned about infrastructure, water treatment processes, sewage treatment processes, town planning, traffic patterns, community advertising, and persuasive speeches. 

I don't think I knew the work infrastructure until I was in college...

For the final project, students selected important services that would meet every need, organized them to make an efficient and well-planned city, created maps, built many 3D shapes, constructed a model community, designed posters and created slogans to persuade people to move to their communities, and developed detailed persuasive arguments to encourage people to move to theirs.

Then, we set up all their communities and invited parents and teachers and administrators to come and see their hard work.  The kids were drilled with questions about why they selected particular services, how they decided where to put each service, and how all the services are inter-related.  

As a kid, I was always so excited for presentations like this.  Where I had a model.  And a poster.  And a well-written "published" paper to share with anyone and everyone.  And today, I had something even better.  Seventeen kids who had projects that they were proud of.  Seventeen kids who know they learned.  Seventeen kids who can show off their hard work and be appreciated.  

Gosh, I love my job.

And this last picture... Carrots and peanut butter.  My favorite snack to eat during class.  A very non-Indonesian snack.  But this guy has caught on to how wonderful it is.  And now brings it to school for snack too.  Imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.