So much has transpired since I last wrote June 15. After a wonderfully fulfilling trip home, I am
two months into teaching my 2nd year at GS. If you had asked me a
year ago “why the long face?” I would not
have made a joke about a horse in a bar. I would have shared my woes, listing
all the myriad of reasons I was slightly on edge. I can chock it up to a few things:
adjusting to life overseas as a singleton, figuring out absolutely every little
thing needed about eating, sleeping, living, the climate, the bugs, the traffic
stress, the workload, the challenging environment, etc.
But now, with a year of adjusting under my belt and a beautiful
new classroom, I am much happier. I am glad that I am
here and thankful that I stayed on. Life is good. Here are a few reasons:
I have a great community of friends. It takes a time to
create a community and I really appreciate the friends that I have made. I miss
the ones that have already moved on from Bali and I am thankful for the new ones that
have appeared. Life is like that in the international world: people come and
go. But now I‘ve even adjusted to that. And I’ve learned to cherish what I
have when I have it.
I really enjoy teaching this year. All the long days, sweat
(buckets of it) and hard work last year have paid off. I have a handle on what
I am teaching, whom exactly I am teaching and how to teach it effectively in
this school (remember no walls or windows). I brought more material with me from
the States and it is a blessing to have that and what I created last year. Yeah for 2nd years!
I can laugh at the little things. For example, my kitties brought me a
snake the other day (every day I pull something from their mouths) and dropped it in my living room. I walked downstairs and
saw it in the dimly lit room, did a little freak-out dance and after
discovering it wasn’t poisonous or very alive, I laughed. Out loud. I still kept the
bowl over it until morning and then I laughed at myself again.
I love where I am living. With an affordable little
house, a swimming pool, great neighbors & landlords, I feel lucky. I also have
a wonderful helper (pembantu) who came every day when I was laid up for a week
(tore my tendon on the bottom of my foot playing Ultimate) and cooked, cleaned,
told me stories, gave me a massage, helped me learn Bahasa Indonesia and even
gave me pedicure. That and my immediate community was supportive and kind
bringing me boxed wine, providing company, loaning movies, giving motorbike
rides, etc. And the rice fields are
beautiful right now.
I finally acknowledge that exercise is the key to my stress
relief. After school I go to the little gym and afterwards I am a much better and happier person. Last year I was overwhelmed and
couldn’t figure out how to exercise between the workload and commute.
Now, if I decide to do laps in my little bean-shaped pool, (it takes a while) or go to the gym, I am feeling better about everything.
I have now experienced a motor-bike accident and can say I don't want another one. It was all my fault and very minor at that but it made me realize (again) to always be present while riding. I had my crutches sticking out the back from my saddle bags when I made a hasty turn. The nice Balinese couple in front of me were struck by my crutches and my poor judgement and we all slowly went down. After pulling ourselves up, and blocking traffic we settled on a price for their wounds and scratched motor bike. Awful feeling but big big lesson on my part. Slow and steady. I gave up the crutches after that too.
I am excited about learning to surf this year. Last year it
was learning to dive and experience the island and I did. Now a plan is in
motion and as soon as the foot heals, I am on a board in the water. In fact, I
leave tomorrow on a well-planned and organized Middle School Elective Week. My
group goes to a surf camp in Java! Not great timing with a torn tendon, but
we’ll see.
Pictures to follow soon.
