When in doubt, say it with confidence!

I am finding myself falling into more of a routine, I am slowly starting to realize that I am not just here for a vacation that for the next year (possibly two) this is my home.

This past week was my first week teaching solo and I feel like things went really well. My very first class I did have a kid puke (and those of you who know me know that I don't handle puke very well) but I handled it very professionally, removed the student from the class, brought all the other kids outside to play games and had the janitor clean it up! (I am SO thankful for our janitor). I feel like I have already established a good rapport with all of the kids they are really funny and are anxious to learn english. I was a little more stressed about teaching at our central Efex location. I am coming into the middle of a semester so it's a bit tough to pick up where the last teacher left off, but I now have made my own schedule of what needs to happen and things are much more organized so I am feeling more and more confident teaching. I remember as a kid I used to pretend I was a teacher and line up all my stuffed animals and teach them basic stuff, it is so much better with real kids. They aim to please and say the cutest things. I had a student in my Friday writing class (which is my favourite) say the sweetest thing to me. I had written "If I were a ... " and then given them a bunch of scenarios that they had to base a story on. I also encouraged them to make up their own topic sentence, and this kid goes "If I were Miss. Kim I would be beautiful!" I almost cried.

I am going to attempt to do more grocery shopping and less eating out, because even though it is cheap it is even cheaper to make your own at home. I do have to pass by a majority of the food in the grocery store because I really have NO idea what it is. I really miss cheese, everything here is all processed and their cheddar "cheese" comes in a tube. I have been eating more traditional Indonesian food and I am slowly starting to acquire a taste for it there is a street by our house called Mulyosari and there are a lot of Indonesian food vendors (basically holes in the wall) but they serve the best Nasi Goreng (Fried rice). I tried Tempay Penyat which is a rice tofu dish, and well it wasn't a pleasant experience.

We have had a couple big rain storms since I last posted, I thought we were getting lots of rain before, that was nothing compared to what we had on Friday day and night. We got 12 inches of rain in a 15 hour period. The roads where all rivers there were cars stranded left and right, luckily ours made it to the mall. The power was out at our house so we went to the mall for dinner and some AC. When we got home the power was still out and it was so hot in our house.

On Saturday Kelsea, Karrie and myself went to a beach three hoursish away from Surabaya. It was so nice to get out of the city and see a bit more of the country side of Indonesia. We had our own driver and rented car so we wouldn't get lost, and we stayed at a hotel 5 steps away from the ocean for 30$ a night. We left early in the morning in order to get the most out of the day as well as to avoid traffic, our plan was to leave at 4am but our driver was late. We arrived at the beach around 10am. Our room was going to take an hour to prepare (not really sure what they did to "prepare" our room because it was disgusting) so we went for an early lunch. The restaurant we went to brings out ten dishes and charges you only for what you eat, there were some very interesting looking dishes. After lunch we got changed and headed straight for the beach. For 7$ each we rented a boat and went out snorkelling, the first location we went to sucked because all of the coral was dead but then we went to a second location which was much better. I could snorkel for hours it is such a freeing feeling to me being under the water. I may have the opportunity to get my scuba diving certificate while I am here, and if that opportunity arises I will take it.

After snorkelling we went to the hotel room to watch Kelsea's boyfriend play soccer. He is on an Indonesian soccer team which is quite famous here so his game was broadcasted on TV. I hadn't slept at all the night before so I fell asleep five seconds after we started watching it. I slept right through dinner and woke up only to go into town to get something quick to eat, we got back to the hotel room and we were all asleep by 8pm (We are quite the party animals).

Now we had planned to wake up to see the sunrise, Kelsea and Karrie did . . . I didn't I chose sleep. I woke up around 7am we rented innertubes and sat in the ocean for almost two hours.

Once we were done with the ocean we went across the street to this seafood shack where we ate the most delicious fish I have ever had. We were all pretty spent and headed back home.

The night we got home a bunch of us went to the spa where we got 6 dollar massages. It was glorious we went home and I was asleep in a matter of seconds.

With the way technology is today I haven't really felt the distance between myself and home, until February 18. I found out that Mr. Buchanan (friends of mine's dad) had passed away. That night was really rough for me I felt so useless being here and not being home to support my friends. I was so heartbroken for their family and sending encouraging Facebook messages just didn't feel like enough. I talked to my mom and they were able to go to the visitation and give condolences on my behalf. He was a great man and they Buchanan's will be in my prayers in this difficult time of transition.

Well that is a "small" update for you guys!

This is my Friday writing class.

Love from Indo

Kim