Idul Adah

Well friends, it's been a while since I posted.  Not that I haven't doing anything exciting, or had any thoughts worth expressing.  But maybe that's why it's been so long.  Too much going on, that sitting down to type up a blog post isn't top priority.

But a few days ago I got to witness something new.  Since Indonesia is a Muslim country, Islamic holidays all become national holidays.  Last Thursday was one of the most important Muslim holidays. Idul Adah.

In Christianity and Judaism,  the story of Abraham's sacrifice is about his younger son, Isaac, born to Sara.  Abraham and Isaac went to make a sacrifice on Mt. Uriah, but brought no animal for the sacrifice, because God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his promised son.  This was a common practice among other religions at the time, but since Isaac was a son that included a promise for countless descendants, God's request would be confusing.  Nevertheless, Abraham showed his faith in God by being willing to do this act.  Abraham is listed in the Bible as a man filled with faith as shown by his actions here.

This holiday, Idul Adah is celebrating this even.  But the Muslims understand the story differently.  They believe that Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away to the desert (which the Bible also teaches us), where they wandered and thirsted.  Last year I bought a Muslim Children's book about the Hajj that taught me, as well as my class, about the rituals, many of which represent Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael.  They believe that Abraham had a dream where he was sacrificing Ishmael, which he understood as God's (Allah's) call.  So he prepared for the sacrifice and laid Ishmael down to sacrifice him. But at that  moment, God called out to stop him from sacrificing his son, and instead provided an animal sacrifice.  God was pleased at Abraham's willingness to obey.

On Idul Adah, Muslims take part in sacrificing to remember what Abraham did.  They give one third to the poor, keep one third, and give one third to their friends.  They are called to use the sacrifice as a representation of putting their own desires to death so as to better be able to acquire the desire to do the good works that Allah asks them to do.  (Here's where I found quite a bit of my information: http://www.muslim.org/islam/sacrifice.htm)

I had never been around over Idul Adah until this year.  It always fell on a longer holiday when I would go travel, so I was excited to hopefully get a glimpse of this important holy event.  A friend and I hopped on a motor bike and went to a kampung nearby.  We drove down a little side street and arrived at a clearing with a few trees shading a large crowd of people.  Men were bent over the bulls, carefully gutting them.  Women sat to the side and chatted.  Children ran and laughed and played with the heads or other body parts laying around.  They were dividing up all the beef into different piles, It was quite an even to witness!  They were very friendly and welcoming, inviting us to take pictures and telling us about what they were doing.

I had been expecting a somber event.  But it was really a celebration!  The whole village together to sacrifice, eat, and enjoy.

Below are some pictures. I would say enjoy, but most people don't enjoy scenes like this.  But be informed, and learn, as I did, a little about this religion, just as strong in our world as my own.  It's so closely tied, shares many traditions and beliefs, yet is so far from knowing and experiencing the truth of God's love and grace found in Christ Jesus.

Weekend trip to Krakatau

We just passed the half way mark for the semester.  Half way to our long Christmas holiday.  And the longest stretch of the year where we don't have any days off.  And we were feeling the stress and exhaustion.  Weekends filled with marking and planning.  Evenings stressing over finishing up a set of papers.  Meetings filling up our free periods.  It was time to get away.  So Becca found a company that does short trips to Krakatau, a volcano not too far away from where we are.  

So early Saturday morning, we got picked up, napped in the van on the way to the coast, and then ate a typical Indo tourist breakfast of eggs and fruit before hopping on a boat for an hour and a half speed boat ride out to the island.

Krakatau, as my sister commented on my profile picture following my trip, is very significant in world  wide ecological history.  In 1883, Krakatau erupted.  It was the loudest sound ever recorded on earth, heard thousands of miles away.  The tsunamis, earthquakes, and other geographical effects continued world-wide for a few days following the eruption. The massive eruption caused two-thirds of the island to disintegrate, leaving a few smaller islands in its wake.  Over the years, as the heat below the surface continued to stir, another volcano rose to the surface of the sea.  This became known as Anak Krakatau, or Child of Krakatau.  Krakatau has had a number of other large eruptions, and is still considered an active volcano.  It is constantly smoking, covered with sulfur, and sometimes glows red at night!  They say that it grows up to five metres a year because of the constant activity!  We were so excited to be able to go to this volcano, even before we know of its significance and cool facts.

The eruptions have poured into the ocean, creating the perfect landscape for reefs to develop.  On our way to Krakatau, we stopped at the island Rakata (the mother island of Krakatau that erupted in 1883) and did some snorkeling.  We were also able to do some right at the edge of Krakatau.  It's amazing how above the water, all you see are the rough igneous rocks that poured down the side of the volcano.  But just inches below, the rocks are covered with coral and algae.  Swarms of fish call these wall reefs home, and we were able to see so many different sea creatures!

For lunch, we picnicked on Rakata,on a beautiful secluded beach, covered with black sand and scattered with smoothed rocks.

A half hour boat after leaving our lunch island, we arrived at Krakatau. Our guides set up camp for us while we took a walk down the beach.

Early in the evening, we started the hike up the volcano.  It's only a short trip (half hour) up to the typical stopping point, but our guide was willing to wander further up the volcano with us.  It was difficult, as the path turned into large boulders, which turned into large loose rocks, which turned into volcano ash, making the trek up very interesting.  We each had our stopping point, where we decided that we had enough adventure, and didn't want to try to attempt what no hiker has done in the last few years after the most recent eruptions.

After hiking as high as we dared, we wandered around the volcano just in time to watch the sun dip below the horizon.  

We made it down the volcano just as it turned dark.  The cook had our dinner, grilled fish and chicken all ready for us, and we sat down for a delicious meal.  Yes, we were surrounded by fluttering insects, and the table was covered with ants, but that didn't matter.  As we finished our meal, we walked out to the beach to see a million stars over head.  Here is a photo that one of the guys, David (Becca's friend from the States) took.  He knows how to take a long exposure photo, and was able to perfectly capture what we saw that night.

We wandered along the beach and looked for fire wood, and our guide made us a beautiful bon fire, and we sat on the sand around the fire drinking hot chocolate.  A few of us girls decided to take a dip, so we made our way into the water, to find that it was perfect conditions for bio-luminescence.  This is when the algae in the water reacts with the oxygen from our bodies and creates sparkles in the water.  I had a million stars in the water around me.  And a million stars in the sky above me.  I floated on my back, and marveled at the beauty of this creation.

After a rough night's sleep in a very toasty tent, we woke up and poked our heads out of the tent into the cool, refreshing, morning air, greeted by shades of purple and pink bathing the beach in their glory.  We hiked back up the mountain to see the sun pop up over the next island.  What a way to worship on a Sunday morning!

Also one of David's photos...mine did not get the colors this perfect

A quick trip back down the mountain, a delicious breakfast, and a couple hours reading in my hammock strung up between two palm trees, and it was time to head out.  The guides packed up camp, and we hopped back on the boat.  Took a trip around the island to find a good snorkeling spot.  Then made our way back to the main land.  It's funny how "mainland" for us now consists of a slightly larger island... perks of living in an archipelago. 

avoiding sunburn

We made it back to Java to a city called Carita, where the tour company is based.  We went to where the owner runs an English school. We were greeted by a bunch of excited, if nervous, English language learners who were excited to practice on this large group of Bules.  They treated us to the best grilled chicken I've had in a while, fresh coconuts, guava and mango juice, and fresh fruit.  Then we made conversation with the people for a while before hopping back in the van for the long trip home, during most of which we slept. Except for the part where we passed a heard of water buffalo.  

I should take more little trips.  There is so much close by.  It's so easy to take cheep, easy trips like this.  It was so refreshing to leave behind the work and stress of our jobs and take in a little fresh air and natural beauty.  Now, it wasn't easy going back to school on Monday.  But at least I had a little fun and gotten some energy out.

Kids Like These

I realized as I was talking with my mom the other day about a few of my silly students and tried to show her photos of them via my blog, that I don't actually have many photos of my precious little ones... so I decided to pull together some photos of them.  These are from the best of times, the moments when I can pause and take a picture without worrying that they will start distracting each other.  Overall, the days are good.  More often than not, even the days that I get frustrated with their chattiness, I am more overwhelmed with how adorable they are, and how eager they are to learn and have fun.  So... even on those rough days, I am content. 

But here are some photos of the days when I am amazed at how wonderful my class is.  At how I don't want to trade in any of my students or teach anywhere else. 

The month of September is called Bulan Bahasa.  (Bulan: month, Bahasa: Indonesia's national language) It's to celebrate national history and culture and remember how Bahasa brought together 17.000 islands and 360 languages.  There was a carnival for a few days, and the kids got to listen to traditional music, make batik, and eat lots of traditional food.  It's so fun to see the school in party mode... with tons of food and kids roaming around with their friends.

This is from a month and a half ago.  It was the first day that I had the whole class together.  So... it needed a photo!  Everyone was back from holiday.  No one was sick.  And everyone was willing to try to smile... not that they had a choice.  As I look back, they've already grown so much.  And I've gotten to know them so much better, and fallen in love with them in ways I couldn't have imagined.  Some of the photos are kind of rough.  There's no such thing as a "serious" photo with this group.  Which, I'm okay with.  They're a lively bunch, so why shouldn't a photo show off their personality!?

With routines in place, these next photos happen pretty regularly.  After coming in from break, the students find a book, or get out their quiet work.  But as you see, even their quiet work usually involves another student... that's okay though.  They're still so engrossed in their literature sharing! 

Making math fun.  Learning about things we want and things we need.  Here, we practice making a bar graph of all the things we want.  And the bar for everything related to technology stretched to the ceiling...

This is the middle of lesson time.  Miss Rachel pulled out her camera to illustrate how a Luke was very accurate as he wrote his account of Jesus's life, accurate since they didn't have cameras to take pictures of all the things that happened.  And where there's a camera, there are silly faces.  If only you could hear the laughter and see the personalities that go along with each smile.

Grades three and four share chapel time every Friday morning.  Each class takes a turn at leading.  I try to give the kids as much of a say in what we teach, what songs we have, and how we do the whole process.  This chapel was inspired by a group of my girls who made up a skit during their break times.  When Ida and I watched their performance about why to not steal, we knew that we had found inspiration for chapel.  

They tweaked their skit a little to make it "enthusiastic but not over the top" (our favorite phrase in class 3C), I found another skit to go along with the theme we discussed, they picked songs that supported the theme and made up motions, they came up with Bible passages that emphasized the main points, and then we spent a little time every day practicing.  By the time Friday rolled around, they put on an awesome performance.  And God was there.  Unknowingly, the theme lined up perfectly with some issues that grade four was dealing with.  And our skits really helped them to see how to follow God's way, instead of giving into temptation.  Even with a group of 22 crazy third graders, God gets all the glory for making it truly meaningful.

I love them.  And am so excited to see them bright and early each morning!