Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas Day

Daniel here,

We weren't sure that anything could beat the Christmas Eve party the people at school threw for the volunteers, little did we know they would one up themselves the next evening. The students at school organized a huge Christmas party for the students and for the volunteers. The students prepared traditional Balinese food (nasi, bakso, urab, and es bua) and the volunteers prepared western food (potato wedges, chicken wings, and macaroni and cheese). Needless to say, all of the food was amazing. The students also prepared two traditional dances that they performed for everyone and then we all danced gangnam style and a traditional balinese dance (we had no idea what we were doing). It was a riot. The next day(Wednesday) we went to a Hindu temple in Keramas for the full moon ceremony. The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and consisted or sitting on the floor and praying with different flowers in our hands 5 different times. A priest then walked around with holy water and they dripped it on you 3 times then you drank the water 3 times then you washed your face with the water 3 times then took a handful of rice and put a few grains on your forehead and the bottom of your neck. We then got some martabak and terang bulan and ate dinner at one of our friends house. The whole night was a pretty amazing experience. Today Ayu and her family offered to drive us to Amed for the day and night to do some snorkeling. It is a beautiful, small, and quiet beach town on the northeastern edge of the island. It's really nice to relax and enjoy the quiet peaceful side of the island. Everything is really cheap at the hotel and at restaurants around town. Tomorrow it's back to Slukat to learn the angklung (Balinese musical instrument) for our New Year's Eve performance. Look for our next post in the new year.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Quick Picture Post

Travis here,

Not too much time before the beach club closes, but here are some pictures from the past couple of days, mostly the awesome Christmas party we had at Slukat with the kids:


 The Bedugul school in the mountains
 Daniel with Ibu Ayu and Mr. Agung in the back
 The kids prepared a really amazing dance for us
 Me, super pumped that Kadek gave me a Christmas gift
 Gangnam Style

Daniel, Austin and Seamus having a good time

Monday, December 24, 2012

Bedugul and Christmas

Austin-

This Saturday, we got the opportunity to go visit another school related to Slukat in the mountain village of Bedugul. The drive up there was beautiful: winding roads up the side of a mountain. We were told to bring jackets because it was supposed to be cold, but none of us believed that it would be too cold for us (it was!). The views were amazing because we were almost in the clouds. Our purpose for going was to motivate the students, because the area is a little more remote than Slukat and most of the students do not go to an Indonesian school there. Needless to say, the kids were very excited to see westerners in their village. They gave us a short tour of the village, which was stopped short because of rain (it rains every day there). We ate a delicious Balinese dinner and then went to sleep at the school. The next morning we went to the house of one of the founders of the school, who had recently died. The family and friends were making preparations for the ceremony, but the mood was not somber as one might expect. They explained to us that in the first few hours after the death, everyone was very sad. But after a day or two had passed, everyone was happy that he was going to a better place. It was very refreshing to see such optimism after a sad event. We helped with making some of the preparations for the funeral, and were fed an amazing lunch and invited to the ceremony on the 31st (hopefully we can make it back up there).
On Christmas Eve we were invited to a Christmas Eve party at Vishara's (our Austrailian program coordinator) house. It was honestly, one of the most beautiful houses we had ever seen. There were a lot of people there, and they fed us as much pizza, pasta, and pound cake as we could eat. It was so nice, and they really made sure that we still felt the Christmas spirit so far away from home.

 All of us in our Sarongs
 Snow man made by a student at Slukat
 Volunteers helping make offerings for the funeral ceremony
 Christmas eve party photo
 Another good photo from the party
Yellow temple in Bedugul

Friday, December 21, 2012

First week impressions


Howdy, Travis here.

We meant to blog and post pictures in the last few days, but exhaustion and a storm have kept us from going to the beach club to use their internet.  My first week teaching has been really great -- the kids' eagerness to learn and the relaxed attitude here make for a fun and easy week.  Slukat is a free after-school education center, so the children that come really want to be there.  One thing I learned about Slukat is that it is not meant to be strictly for education.  The founder, Mr. Agung, has said that the larger purpose of the school is character and confidence building.  This means that a lot of our teaching is in the form of games and chatting with the kids: giving them the confidence to speak English as well as to know that they can achieve their goals in life.  Although I had heard that the kids would be very happy to see us here, I did not anticipate how welcomed we would be by everyone in the surrounding villages.  For example, if you are at a shop in Ubud purchasing something, you very well may get a discount simply by mentioning that you are a volunteer teacher at Slukat.  I think the locals really appreciate that we are here to do something more than get drunk on the beach, even if they actually have no affiliation with the school.  After a short week of teaching, we woke up early this morning to do a bike ride down Mount Batur.  We were picked up, taken to sample all types of Balinese coffee and tea, served a tasty breakfast, and given bikes to coast down the mountain in the country side.  Afterwards we had a big Indonesian lunch and got to play a traditional Balinese instrument, the Gamelan. All for around $25 US, with rides to and from where we stay. We have plans to go to another of Mr. Agung's schools tomorrow to motivate the children, because there is apparently a lot less going on out there.  All in all, its been a quick and fun week, and all of us are looking forward to the next adventure.

Here are some pictures from this week:


 Austin and Camilla with their afternoon class
 Swingset and see-saw, Bali style
 Daniel and Jelena with one of their classes
 The "Honesty Store", where kids can get snacks, books, etc., and leave the money there.  Just another example of how Slukat teaches more than just language and computer skills.
 View from Mount Batur
 Rice fields and terraces
 The three amigos on the bike ride
 Awesome lunch

Cool statue at the house where we ate

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Slukat overview

Daniel here,

We are currently sitting at the Komune Beach Club drinking cappuccinos and talking about our first few days at Slukat. There are classes that meet Mondays and Wednesdays and classes that meet Tuesdays and Thursdays. On each of those days there are classes that run from 3:30 to 5:00 (these classes are typically basic classes) and classes that meet from 5:00 to 6:30 (these are typically intermediate and advanced classes). The classes are set up this way so the students can attend their local schools in the morning and come to Slukat in the afternoon. For the first couple of days we were paired up with other volunteer teachers to observe their class and see how they teach their classes. There wasn't much observing going on, we were immediately teaching and last night Travis and I taught a class on our own.
The kids are absolutely fantastic, they are so eager to be at Slukat and learn English. One of the surprising things about the kids is how connected they are, we never in a million years thought we would have to tell the kids to put their phones away in class or get off Facebook while on the computers in computer class. We are also very surprised by their love of "Gangnam Style" and Justin Bieber, its amazing how connected the world is today. Slukat's theme this month is Christmas so we have been making snowflakes with the kids (its kind of hard to explain what snow is to someone who lives less than 500 miles from the equator), watching home alone, and making Christmas cards for the kids to take back to their friends and family.
Overall it has been an amazing first couple of days and we cannot wait to see what the next 4 weeks have in store for us. We will take pictures with the kids after our afternoon classes and post them on the blog.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Some pictures from Slukat:

 View of the driveway
 Soccer field in the backyard
 Cows in the backyard
 Wayan, our awesome driver at Slukat



Sunday, December 16, 2012

First day at Slukat

Austin -
Today is our first day of teaching, so we are all observing other teachers before we take on a class of our own. I am not scheduled for a morning class, so I have just been walking around the school and meeting people. Everyone is so friendly and genuine. The children greet us with a loud "Hello! What is your name?" and the staff (even those that do not speak English) are eager to introduce themselves and meet us. I could not feel more welcome here at Slukat. Pictures coming soon!


Saturday, December 15, 2012

First day

Travis here,


Today was our first full day in Bali, and it has been great.  After getting in late last night and immediately going to bed, its been really cool to see the island in the light.  Our day started off with a tour of Slukat Learning Centre, which took us all by surprise with its beauty.  They have a small temple, 4 classrooms (only one with 4 walls), a garden, and a small soccer field among other things.  Just an example of how nice people are here: immediately after meeting the caretaker of the center, he chopped down some fresh coconuts and served them to us with straws and a big smile.  I'm learning that smiling is a big thing here -- everybody smiles and says hello to everyone, it's truly nice.  We also took some stray kittens who had taken a home under our stairs at the guest center over to Slukat, since we were told they would be safer there.  After the tour and kitten rescue mission, we went with Wendy and Seamus (two other volunteers) to the local beach club, where I'm now writing.  The Komune Beach Club is beautiful: right on a black sand beach, with a pool and bar where you can eat for around $2 and watch the surfers.  That's about it for now, we'll try to update with at least a picture every day, which shouldn't be hard with so much to see and do.



 Daniel and myself, taking the kittens to Slukat
 Some of the Slukat staff watching the new school kittens

View of the beach from Komune Club


Friday, December 14, 2012

Traveling

Austin - Having never traveled outside of the United States before, I did not really know what to expect when we landed in Singapore. The first thing I noticed was how extravagant the airport was. We decided to sight-see on our own, because we had a 10 hour layover before our flight to Bali. Daniel suggested that we take the MRT (similar to the subway system) to explore Singapore. To sum it up in a few words: Singapore looked like a cleaner, more diverse, and more architecturally interesting version of a large city in the United States. I really wish we had more time to spend here, but we were able to see so much in just a few hours of exploring. I could do without the extreme heat and humidity, but I definitely plan on visiting Singapore more thoroughly in the future.

Daniel - This is my second time visiting Singapore since we moved in December of 2002 and my first in 5 and a half years. As soon as I stepped off the plane all of the smells, sights, and sounds came rushing back; it was great to be back. Singapore is constantly changing, new buildings are going up everywhere and older ones are being torn down but the personality of Singapore is unchanged. Run down hawker centers next to high class apartment buildings is the norm and everyone is just as friendly and welcoming as I remembered. Now we are on to Bali and I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

Travis - Before completing our final flight to Bali, we were lucky enough to have a long layover in Singapore.  With Daniel leading the way, we hopped on the MRT subway to check out some sights.  The MRT is a smooth, efficient, and above all, clean public transportation system that we all enjoyed.  Once we got off, we mostly wandered through the heat and humidity, using a map every once in a while to reorient ourselves, and eventually came to a hawker center (food court) for some chicken rice.  It was just as awesome as Daniel made it seem, and should be on anyone's to-do list for Singapore.  Although our layover was long (10 hours), it was not nearly long enough to see all that we wanted, and we definitely exhausted ourselves trying.  Looking forward to Bali, and another long stop in Singapore on the way home!


Some pictures:

Left to right - Travis, Austin, Daniel leaving the US
 Walking around Orchard Road
 A feat of civil engineering
 Walking through Boat Quay
 Boats on Singapore River with downtown and Marina Bay Sands in the background
 Hainanese chicken rice stand at a Hawker center
 Gig 'em for chicken rice
Customer satisfaction kiosk. Rate your bathroom experience.