A Refreshing Holiday With a Not-So-Refreshing End

In light of my last minute (forced) cancellation of my trip to Vietnam, I decided to make the best of my time off of school. On Thursday I spent the day relaxing and watching movies. Something I haven't been able to do in quite a while.

On Friday I went out for lunch with my neighbors. We went to this fantastic little Middle Eastern restaurant in Bogor. It was probably the most delicious meal I've ever eaten in my entire life. The spices were like a party in my mouth. Soon after I hitched a bus and a taxi over to Siloam Hospital in Karawaci to see my friend Dini.

It was good to see her and spend time with her. She is healing quite well but still in quite a bit of pain. I spent the night there and for a hospital it was quite enjoyable. I walked out of the hospital room in the morning to get the nurse for Dini and realized that I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein. Of all days to have bad hair days, it had to be in front of a ton of gossipy doctors and nurses. I'm sure it caused a lot of chatter amongst them - seeing a bule with some wild hair roam out of a hospital room.

After the morning, I took a cab in to meet up with my friend Mandy. We did some shopping in the tunnels (which is this underground mall that has all kinds of handmade scarves and bags). Then we went to Plaza Ambassador to buy some DVDs and jewelry. I got some beautiful accessories for my Christmas Eve outfit. Can't wait to wear it!

On Sunday I woke up with a case of raging and painful food poisoning. It is to your advantage that I spare you the details but long story very short is that I ended up at the doctor's office with numerous medications to take for the next five days.

I spent all day (Monday) re-cooperating and resting up for my return back to school. Aside from the food poisoning, I'd say it was a fairly serene holiday. And now as I head back to school tomorrow, I realize that I will be home for Christmas in less than a month. Life from here on out until the end of the semester will be busy - but in a good way.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Have you ever heard that saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" ? I'm pretty sure everyone has. However, when I got denied entrance to my flight for my holiday in Vietnam - I'm pretty sure the only thing I wanted to do with those lemons was chuck them at airport security. Sure, you can make something good out of a bad situation - but I just wanted to get rip roaring angry! And I did. Did it help - not even a little bit.

The truth is, I couldn't change anything about what happened. I was told conflicting information from the US embassy and when it came down to it, I was a prisoner in my own country (okay - the country that I am a current resident of).

I rode home literally weeping in the back seat of a taxi. God bless the man. He was so distraught that this crazy white chick was losing her cool. He tried to talk to me in broken English - but when I responded in sobbing incomprehensible jibberish phrases, I think he gave up. I made sure to give him a good tip for putting up with me.

After a couple hours, I finally calmed down and decided to construct a monumental backup plan for the holiday. Sure, it wouldn't be as exciting as Vietnam, but it would be better than moping around my lonesome house for six days.

To kickstart my holiday off on a new note, I did some yoga. Gotta admit - it definitely brings a sense of ease and serenity especially in a tense situation. I think after doing that it was the most relaxed I've been in weeks. It was as if I was shot with a tranquilizer. Cool as a cucumber.

I went to bed and slept like a lion - tossing and turning (having terrifying dreams of killer spiders - sadly this is a reoccurring dream). I woke up to my maid poking me. I shot out of bed, nearly missing a potential head injury and literally fell to the floor. I forgot she was coming today. Actually I think she was just as shocked to see me as I was her (as she expected me to be out of the country). However, her visit did bear some good news - the school maintenance men were here and had fixed my internet (after 8 days of trying to pinpoint the problem). They wanted to double check that it worked.

I sauntered down the stairs with my computer in hand, praying I didn't miss a step. Thankfully I (and my computer) arrived in one piece. And the best part of it is - my internet is officially fixed! You never know the importance of something until it's broken (especially for an extended period of time).

After dwadling on the internet, I went into Bogor and decided to treat myself to a reflexy (otherwise known as a foot massage). Best choice I made all day. It was just what I needed. Afterwards I felt like I was walking on air.

So now I sit here, updating this blog. I still have to admit it would be way more exciting exploring the exotic lands of Vietnam - but I'm determined to make the best of my situation and relax and unwind so I can be rejuvenated for the final four weeks of school.

The Final Curtain Call

I woke up yesterday to the sound of absolute silence. No rushing around trying to get ready. No cat trying to gnaw off my toes. No stress. At least not yet. I rolled out of bed and pushed open my blinds and laid back in bed under the rays of the sun. I'm not quite sure how long I stayed there. An hour or so, just relaxing, knowing that the last performance was coming close and the mayhem of a drama schedule was coming to an end.

The serenity of a relaxing Saturday morning came to an abrupt end when a massive storm surged through Sentul and caused a city-wide power outage. The rain slapped against the window harder than a handful of rocks. I had just finished getting ready when I had to face the wicked weather. So much for looking nice.

I rode to school through large puddles of water (nothing compared to Jakarta flooding) with rain pelting against my body. It was very painful. By the time I parked my bike, I had bruises on my hands.

The power outage also affected the gym. It was pitch black and quite scary. I was admittedly very jumpy and waiting for someone to come behind me and attack. I always seem to play that "worse case scenario" game in my mind when something like that happens.

After using flashlights to get things organized and eating dinner, we were graced with the lights once again. Still behind in the schedule, but not terribly. All the actors were able to get dressed, painted with makeup, and went through sound checks by 6:30. We pushed back the showtime about a half hour so we could to some last minute things.

The performance went amazing. So much better than Friday's. There was a lot less running around, however, there still seemed to be some confusion. We accidentally flipped ahead a few scenes and had a character in the middle of a costume change when she was supposed to be on stage. However, with four people getting her undressed and redressed, we fixed the mishap in minimal timing.

When the curtains closed and opened one last time for the actors, crew, and directors to take a final bow, I felt overwhelmed with pride for these kids. They put on a great performance. Even despite the stress it brought - it definitely was rewarding.

After countless thank yous, flashes from cameras, and hugs from people both known and unknown, I walked out of the gym. Nothing but photos and a basket of memories left to look back on this experience.

The Cast, Crew, and Directors of "A Little Princess"

Comic Relief in a Chaotic Drenched Classroom

Sometimes I get overwhelmed just stepping into my classroom. I know my students love having me as their teacher, but some of them drive me to a whole new level of insanity that I never knew existed.

Today was one of those days. After a morning of hard work, I walked to the threshold of my classroom and hesitated for a few moments. I was enjoying the day out of my classroom and yet, I missed my kids and my teaching partner dearly. Two polar opposite feelings seething through my veins, debating what action I should take. I undoubtedly chose to reunite myself with my kids.

When I walked in I found three kids sitting in front of my desk with their chins against the front, looking at the ceiling. The music teacher was at his wits end and decided that a new course of consequences should be developed, thus the chin-to-desk strategy emerged. I almost fell to the floor laughing. Probably not the best course of action considering it belched a stream of laughter through the entire classroom.

From there I was surrounded by a mob of students, my paparazzi of fans. With hugs and hellos, even from the naughty ones, I knew that there was no other thing I'd rather be doing with my life than teaching them. Even despite the days where I want nothing to do but crawl into my bed and sleep the week away, I always seem to find joy in them. They see the world with innocent eyes and smiles pasted on their faces, no matter what the circumstance. They find joy where adults can't. It is contagious and I find catching their joy and reverberating it at a whole new decibel. I am so blessed.

A Means to An End

Today was the day. The day of our first production of "A Little Princess." I feel like I've had an out of body experience for the last three weeks with all this stress this production has caused me. However today I finally felt a surge of energy sweep through my body like a comet travels through space.

The day started off at 7:45. I was gifted with my first ever director shirt. Gotta say I felt pretty darn special and important as I sported the t-shirt. Anyway, after slipping on the shirt, I slipped into drill sergeant mode.

I was in charge of getting the actresses dressed (all 10 of them). With the ill fitting costumes, it was quite difficult getting them zipped and buttoned up. However, the difficult task was successful with only minor injuries (to both the costumes and actresses). The next step was makeup. We were blessed with five extremely talented mothers who volunteered their services to our drama department. They were very patient with my incessant requests for changes and alterations of different characters.

By ten o'clock, otherwise known as showtime, the makeup was finally completed. I talked with the office boys and initiated curtain cues. I also happened to have to do platform and stage cues. For those of you that do not understand what that all entails, it basically means running around a space no bigger than a bedroom like a crazy woman.

The performance itself was pretty good, considering it was the first one. Sitting in the role of the director and watching practice after practice, it's easy to be skeptical and see all the things that go wrong in a short period of time. However, there was nothing but positive feedback. The actors and actresses worked extremely hard and performed great. There are some changes that will be happening tomorrow for our final performance, but overall, I am anticipating a fantabulous show. It's so neat to see how God has gifted these students with a passion and talent for acting.

It also brings back some great memories of when I did dramas in high school. I do miss participating in acting and back stage work, but there is something cool about being in charge and putting everything together. Watching this production being knit together to the final product is almost magical.

Pray for Indonesia

Since coming to Indonesia I have become a hardcore news junkie, especially pressing issues that are occurring in this country. After all I am officially a resident of Indonesia, I might as well know what's going on, right? However the news can be depressing after a while. Honestly, how many natural disasters can happen in one week? In case you weren't counting, we had five.

#1 - Volcano eruption in Yogakarta (going on four times already).

#2 - Earthquake in Mentawai

#3 - Tsunami in Mentawai

#4 - Flooding in Jakarta

#5 - Obama coming to Indonesia (okay so this one doesn't really fall into the one week category or a natural disaster - but it sure was something that Indonesia would rather have avoided)

It's so strange to be subject to such natural disasters that are practically unheard of in the States. These occurrences happen all too frequently considering that this country (a chain of over 27,000 islands) lays right in the middle of the ring of fire (the most active tectonic plates in the world).

SPH has been praying like crazy for our country, as I'm sure most of you back in the States have too. We also have been cooking up a plan of action. In two days our kids raised over 3,000 dollars and a truckload of clothes to be sent to victims of all these disasters. How great is that? It was so moving to see all these kids so involved with helping their fellow countrymen.

Please continue to pray for Indonesia. It's gone through so much hurt and agony in past weeks, and there will be much more as the volcano seemingly continues to erupt and the ash spreads farther and farther outward (even into Sentul where I'm living). However, God is faithful and he has a plan. Sometimes in the midst of chaos and mayhem, we forget to see that. God is in control and he knew that all these things were going to happen long before they actually did. He knows what he's doing.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Life never goes as planned. You wake up and you think, "this day is going to be a great day - nothing could go wrong." Just saying that always seems to jinx your day. At least that's what happens to me, I don't know about you readers. However, I am so thankful for all the ups and downs that happen in my life each day. I can testify that it definitely builds character and also helps me count my blessings.

This song that I named my blog title after "Just Another Day in Paradise" is written by Phil Vassar. All these crazy happenings occur throughout the day, yet it is just another ingredient to every day life. Sure, nothing goes as planned, but it's all about how we respond and improvise. "Well it's okay. It's so nice. Just another day in paradise. Weather's okay. There's no place I'd rather be. Two hearts, one dream, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I ask the Lord every night for just another day in paradise."

As I look back on the day, there were some crazy things that didn't go as planned. A short devotional that somehow turned into a discussion about aliens, an English lesson about bibliographies that ended up being dreadfully boring, a student deciding that the only way to communicate with others was through mooning them, kids forgetting their lines for the middle school drama production, and my cat thinking a scorpion was a chew toy and ended up getting stung in the face. All these things weren't planned, yet it made the day so interesting and comical - making it just another day in paradise.

Life these last few weeks have been rocky with all the things happening at school, but I have decided to take it with a grain of salt and appreciate all that God has given me. I really wouldn't trade this for anything, despite the many things that seem to go wrong in one day. It truly is another day in paradise.