A group of girls from the school I helped teach English

A cashew nut. Apparently, it's poisonous in this form. You have to roast it a certain way before you can eat it

Smoke from the volcano, Rinjani. May tourist come here to do the 3 day hike up it

What's been going on the last few months

I can't believe 2 months have already past me by. I feel like I'm just getting started with my work and language. I know it has been a while since I've updated my blog. But, that is mostly due to living in a village on the mountain where there is no internet connection. The times I get to come into the city have been busy and short. But now I'm heading back to Australia ready to take on my next assignment.

So, what have I been up to the last month or so? Well, you can see most of it in the pictures I've attached. A few weeks ago, a group of students came from Australia for a few days to do some community development. So, I stayed with them most of the time helping translate and guide. Unfortunately, I was mostly guiding since my language is still pretty limited and I couldn't translate a whole lot. We all painted a local preschool and then played with the kids some. There were several artists in the group so they were able to put quit a beautiful jungle scene on the walls plus numbers and shapes to help the kids learn. After they left, the head teacher told us that attendance had gone up dramatically due to the snazzy looking school.

Throughout my time here, I have been asked on several occasions to come to schools and help teach English. On one occasion, I thought I was coming to sit with a few students and just talk English with them. When I arrived, I found that was not the case. There were about 40 students sitting there and the head teacher looked at me and told me to teach them whatever I wanted. What? I am suppose to TEACH them? Yikes! But, I guess he saw the panic on my face so he suggested a game to play that they liked. Thank God! I was about to loose it. The games went well.

Other than just getting out there and practicing language, I have been going to the village beside us to teach a girl basic typing and computer skills. I met the father a while back ago and he speaks really good English. So, he asked if I would teach his daughter. So I went once a week and become good friends with all the family. Of course, I could barely drink the coffee they would give me everytime I went because it was so strong....but the food was good:)

I guess that's about it. I know I am going to miss this place and the people. I hope to continue my language studying when I return to Perth so when I come back to Indo, I'll be able to get around a little bit better. Now for more pictures. There were so many, it was hard to decide which to put up. So, here you go:

This is a traditional house in my area. Here you see the man of the house sporting his traditional dress

And inside the traditional house with the traditional man is this computer. This is his daughter whom I was teaching basic typing and computer skills

This is one of my good friends and her daughter who has Down Syndrome. When the other workers arrived, nobody in the village knew what Down Syndrome was and thought that she was just really stupid. Luckily, they have come to learn what Down Syndrome is and they now know how to deal with it. The little girl is of course beautiful and has the best smile!

This is my most frequent visitor, Tiara. She is the daughter of the guy who owns our house and she and her family live beside us. Almost everyday I could count on Tiara to come in so I practiced my language with her more than anyone. Unfortunately her mother neglects her so Lili (the woman I lived with) and I have taken her in and just love on her. When I left, we were just teaching her how to write her name.

A team of students came in from Australia and I joined them for a few days painting a local preschool. Sometimes I feel like I'm in Mexico with all the bright colors around me.

I had many opportunities to help with English classes. There were several guys who came to our house for English practice and several of them invited me to their English class.

What's next? I'm heading back to Perth, Australia to live. They have asked me to make a 3 year committment to the work there and I said yes. My work there will be 2-fold. First, I will helping with community development opportunities in Indonesia, China, and Nepal. Second, I will help lead the same school I'm and doing now next year. I will be buse but really looking forward to it. Thanks for you who have been thinking of me.