Christmas Party Ballet Style

Ok, please don't judge me for posting about Christmas almost a month later! How in the world is it already mid-January?? Before Christmas, I had a party for my ballet class to watch the Nutcracker(a favorite of mine around Christmas time!) and decorate Christmas cookies. Well, unfortunately we couldn't get the projector to work to watch the Nutcracker, but the cookies were a success!
I baked over 100 cookies with my friend, Widya(thanks for helping, Widya!), thinking there would be more than enough. They were completely gone by the end of the party! These kids didn't let anything go to waste! :) They went home with lots of decorated cookies and maybe some stomach aches from the sugar...sorry moms!

I came an hour early to set everything up, and these 4 were already waiting! So, I put them to work...they were great helpers setting up for the party!

Some of the girls that came...there were about 20 kids that showed up, despite the downpour of rain!

Those are some good lookin' cookies! The kids had a blast decorating. It was such a fun time(even though watching Nutcracker didn't happen!)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Indonesia!! It was a blast celebrating here with friends. Christmas Eve I went to an English service here in Malang and following that spent the night at the Pierce's to wake up and celebrate with them and Danny's sister, Kim, who is visiting from Sudan. Of course, I had some moments here and there throughout the day(and the week leading up to Christmas) wishing I was with family back in America, but being with the Pierces and Marcus' made it special! And to top it all off, I even got to play a good ole game of touch football with a group of expats here!
As much fun as the day was, it was the weeks leading up to Christmas that have been more impacting for me. Each year, I feel like something from a Bible verse or a Christmas hymn stands out to me to reflect on. This year, lyrics from the song "O Holy Night" has stood out more to me than ever before and I am moved every time I sing it.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn."

As we are surrounded by pain, sadness, tragedy, violence, we can't deny that we live in a broken world. We're all sinners and these things are all a result of that. When I think of the tragedies that have happened lately in the U.S., the poverty and brokenness that I see here, and even more magnified in Papua when I visited, there is a sense of heaviness and hopelessness that I feel. God has been speaking so strongly to me lately about "hope." He is the God of hope! The lyrics of the song don't just end with the world laying and grieving in sin, but it continues with the hope we can rejoice in and later with the lyrics:

"Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother,

And in His name all oppression shall cease."

 Jesus came to earth to lift us from our sin, to free us from the bondage of it. In Luke 4, He quotes and fulfills the words of the prophet Isaiah "...He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." God's heart is to bring restoration to a broken world and it's the promise of this and the coming again of Jesus that we can put our hope in. Despite circumstances and difficulties in life that are temporary, we have been given the gift of salvation that is eternal.
So, lately, as I have become sad and heavy with things that I see and experience, I meditate on God's heart for His creation and the gift that He has given through Jesus. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Merry Christmas!!

Papua: TK Beach day!!

At the end of the week, the TK went on it's yearly beach trip. Sorong(the city we were in) is right on the coast of Papua. Like most coastal cities, the water is pretty dirty, but 45 minutes away are a bunch of beautiful beaches to swim at!

Me with Misi

It was so beautiful here!

The kids playing ball...this is after they kicked my butt in soccer :)

Iin, Fatia and Wiwin. Fatia and Wiwin are two of the girls that Misi has taken in to live at the TK.

Playing in the water! This beach was great for the kids, because it stayed pretty shallow all the way out.

Look who I found up in the tree!

As soon as I brought out the camera, lots more climbed up! :)

It was a fun way to end the week with the kids! The only problem with spending a week there and getting attached to the kids is having to leave again...

A Papuan Experience: TK Papua Kasih

One of my friend's Misi just moved to Malang(where I live in Indonesia) after being in Papua for the past 7 years. Papua is the western half of Papua New Guinea and is the farthest eastern island in Indonesia. In Misi's time in Papua, she opened a kindergarten, called TK Papua Kasih that serves the kids in the area around it, providing quality education in a place that is seriously lacking. Last week, she traveled back to Papua for a week of activities she had planned for the TK, as well as a yearly beach day they do with all the students and their families.
Because of my interest in education and desire to work with and serve children, Misi thought it'd be a great opportunity for me to join her and visit the TK. It was awesome to hear from Misi how things got started and see how far it's come and where the TK is now. As I have been thinking about what it might look like to serve children in Surabaya, I saw a few things that I have envisioned played out at the TK in Papua. It was awesome to see what those things look like.
The TK is held in a house that they have rented. The house is also where Misi(before she moved) and 2 teachers live and also serves as a girls home. Misi has taken in 4 girls(middle and high school aged) to live and provides for them to go to school. There are 3 classrooms in the TK(40 kids total) and during the day, the main part of the house is turned into a classroom. I got to stay at the school for the week and room with one of the teachers, Ade. I loved seeing the "family" atmosphere in the house that Misi has provided for the girls and how she has invested in their lives. They love her!
There are way too many pictures from the trip that I want to share, but I'll start with the ones of the kids and the TK. I will post more soon from other adventures from the trip.

In the front of the TK, where the kids get to play. The house actually has a lot of yard space(for Indonesia at least!) for the kids to play in.

One of my favorite things about the house was that you could always hear kids voices. There were always kids playing in the yard throughout the day!

One of the classrooms. There are 2 rooms in the house that are classrooms and one room that's turned into a classroom during the day, but then back into a family room afterward.

Working hard!! :)

The 2nd classroom...each day I helped in a different class

One of the fun activities during the week was making Christmas cookies!! They all got to use cookie cutters to cut out their own shapes.

 

Another fun activity was making snowmen out of playdough...I had to explain what a snowman was first :) Unfortunately the heat and humidity had the same effect on playdough snowmen as it does with snow. They went really limp by the end of the day.

This is one of my favorite close-ups, these kids are precious!

The last day of class was a "Natalan" or Christmas party. Here's Misi telling a story to all the kids

Then all the kids got to decorate the cookies they made in class the day before. Femi is one of the sweetest little girls. She's also the only red head Indonesian I've ever met. Her whole family is a family of red heads!

Berto & Celo showing off their masterpieces :)

Thanks Misi for inviting me along! It was amazing to see Papua Kasih and see the effect of your investment in the lives of these children and their families.

New Food Friday-Surabi Imut

Friday night I went to get dinner my friend, Nining and her little girl. She took me to a place I've probably passed a ton of times, but have never noticed or stopped at. They specialize in making one food(actually besides drinks, it's all they offer), called Surabi Imut. I had never heard of it before and when I ordered had no idea what to expect. So, I just followed suite and ordered similar to what Nining ordered haha

This is the way surabi is made. There's this long platform set up that has charcoal burning on the bottom. Then on top they have bowls set up on top of the fire. They pour the batter, which is similar to a pancake(a little more rubbery), and let it cook. I thought it was the coolest thing!

The batter is always the same, but you choose what topping you want on the surabi. I chose the egg and cheese combo. Now that I know what it is, I think next time I'd get a sweet one!

This is Sifa, Nining's little girl. She is the cutest! She's really not shy at all, but as soon as I took out my camera she didn't want to look.

I Love It! Skills put to use...

Something I thought as I sit here making up an English lesson to teach a group of kids tomorrow is "how the heck am I qualified to do this??" Well, the answer is, I'm not really at all. I don't have an education background or any ESL teaching experience(yet...). But, the fact that I'm a native English speaker, always causes people to ask if I will teach them English. On Saturdays, I help at an after-school center for street kids, helping them with homework. Last week they asked me if I could start doing English lessons a little bit each Saturday. The kids were so excited for it! I told the leader that I don't really know how to teach English, but she still asked just if I'd go over something basic. And, here I am, planning a little lesson to do with them tomorrow :)
One thing I love about living here is that any little skill or knowledge you have can be used to serve others. As it is with English, I've found the same thing with my knowledge of dance. Yes, I've danced for years, but I've never taught it or considered myself qualified for such a thing. But, even with the skills I have, it's being used to serve a group of girls as I teach them ballet. I've seen them really develop in their dance skills, creativity, and social skills too. It's been amazing to see how much they've learned over a year. And, they love it!
I've learned that it doesn't matter how skilled you are at something...the fact is there are things that I have knowledge and experience in that can be shared here. I've loved being able to take what I know and be able to utilize it here and I'm so grateful for how it's opened up ways to connect with Indonesians.

A TK Field Trip

Last week, I went with all the kids from the TK on a field trip. We went to a park for the kids to play and swim at. I guess the term "swimming" can be used loosely...more like them climbing on me :) Some of the kids think they're funny and call me "pohon" which means "tree"(because I'm so tall if you didn't catch that one..) and they love climbing on me. That happened even more when we went swimming! :)  It was fun to go outside of the classroom with the kids and just get to play with them. There was so much for them to do, and we squeezed it all in before it started downpouring!!

We started out by celebrating one of the kids' birthday with cake and singing.

A few of the kids playing on what looked like a giant hampster wheel. I secretly wanted to go on it!

Bintang and Adi ready for the train ride...love these two.

Latif and Rama...too cute!

I didn't take any pictures in the pool(since I was in it the whole time), but I did catch these two! :)

Me with some of the kids' moms. It was great that most of their mothers came along, too!