Thursday, September 4, 2014

Indonesia Raya

Indonesia Raya! Merdeka Merdeka!

Freedom!  Victory!  Independence!  

This year was Indonesia's 69th year of independence.  The country is spread over thousands of islands, which has made it hard to unify.  But the people, together, have a beautiful spirit and support for their young country.  The older generations are able to remember when the country was under foreign rule.  And there are still so many remnants of Dutch influence throughout the city of Jakarta.  But the people are proud to share about their country and excited to celebrate.  

It's also a hopeful time as Indonesians look towards the future.  A new president was recently elected.  The turnout for the election was fabulous, as people are still thrilled about being able to participate in the governmental process, whereas not too long ago, they had no say.  The hope is, that President Jokowi will bring Indonesia into a new era, with better care taken of the poor, better management of resources, and less corruption, everywhere.  I hope as well, that God uses this newly elected president to bring much-needed changes to some aspects of Indonesia.

We spent the actual Independence Day (August 17) going to church, singing the few lines from the two Indonesian patriotic songs we know as we rode in the taxi (we totally made that driver's day), playing frisbee while listening to the kampung on the other side of the wall give celebratory speeches over the loud speaker all day.... It was fun!

Then, on Monday, we got to celebrate at school!  No classes!  Lots of games!  Lots of Indonesian food!  

Now, those of you who have followed my blog since last year, you've seen Independence Day photos before.  But these kids are just so cute, so I have to share some photos again.  

A bunch of kids from my class last year




Grade 6 students leading the ceremony

















So, one of the traditional games we played was this krupuk game.  Where the new staff has to go make a fool of themselves eating krupuk (fishy puffs as I call them) off of a string.  The krupuk is nasty.  I hate it. Like, I would rather go hungry than eat it.  So, I was thrilled when I could just watch some of my new friends do it and take lots of photos and laugh.

It was adorable, because Becca, the girl with the short blond hair on the right, was a student teacher last spring.  She student taught in grade two, where she is now a regular teacher.  Well, all the grade two students from last year know her and love her.  And all the grade two students from this year know her and love her.  So, she had about 90 little children screaming "Miss Becca" the whole time she was eating.  Adorable.







Miss Becca! Miss Becca!  Miss Becca!

Some teachers may find these days frustrating, because of the complete lack of instructional time and the chaos that it brings.  I, however, love these days.  They're fun times for me to interact with the kids on a different level.  And to help them learn about team work and patriotism or school spirit.  And after all the sweat and cheers and bumps and bruises, we get to lounge around the room and have quite reading or read aloud time.  Always a highlight for me :) 

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