The formula was valid a year ago. I spent so many days doing nothing—just trying to make plans for the evening, looking longingly at my dirty clothes and wishing the pile could grow legs and walk over to the machine. Days where I did nothing but wait for the Heat game to start at 7:30. So much time just waiting for life to happen. What’s worse is when you’ve been a sloth for so long that you actually start to fear and avoid activity. Actually, no, Dad, I would NOT like to go to the store and pick up the groceries. Make JESSE do it.
Since the second semester began, I’ve been busier than ever
(not counting the last two days, which have been depressingly empty). I mean, I’ve been busy in my life before, but
it’s usually been because of a large school workload and having to go to a
job. That’s not really chosen. Here I have to choose my activities and fill
up my time by myself. I’ve started to
get really antsy when there’s nothing do, which is a big change from
before. I used to thrive in
downtime. Now I don’t want it at all,
unless I’ve earned it by tiring myself out with some kind of productivity.
____
·
I’ve had one-on-one English conversations with
56 students so far, and my counterparts have talked with another 17. I’ve been surprised by how many kids have
worked up the nerve to make appointments with me or a counterpart. Once a few did it, more and more jumped on
the train, and I think there will be no bottleneck issue at the end of the
semester. I learned not to make more
than two appointments in one day. My eyes begin to resemble glazed donuts after about 75 minutes.
I’ve also been keeping notes of all my conversations and entering them
into a big document on my computer. My
“student conversation journal” now has over 30 full pages of information about
my students—where they live, the makeup of their families, their ambitions,
their likes and dislikes, my observations of their strengths and weaknesses,
and much other information besides.
Priceless!
·
We’ve started the World Map Project at my
school. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm
for it. The project is painting a mural
of a world map on a wall in my school.
It’s located in a really good spot.
I’ve been documenting the creation, and will continue to do so. When it’s finished, it’ll make for a really
good slideshow. The students (and the
principal) have been very enthusiastic about it.
·
There’s a new principal at my school. He seems like a good fellow, we’ve gotten
along well so far. The farewell ceremony
for the departing principal was perfectly Indonesian in its mixture of
formality, fun, absurdity, and mishap. I
may write about this later.
·
Borrowing an idea from Truong, a PCV friend
who’s done great things at his site the last two years, I started a
conversation club. Five students form a
group, and that group must meet with an English teacher—probably me—three times
a week for at least 20 minutes to speak English. At the moment we’ve got three groups, but I’m
hoping this will expand to five or six by sometime in April. It’s been awesome.
·
That last bullet comes somewhat at the expense
of the English Club, which has fallen apart due to lack of coordinated
leadership. Nobody was paying enough
attention to it, and we weren’t promoting our activities, so kids weren’t
showing up consistently at all. We may
revive this later on, but make it a biweekly activity. It could
work, but we’ve gotta do things differently.
·
Last week I helped a few students with speeches
in English for a contest that my school held.
Justice prevailed in the contest, and the winner was the student who
actually wrote his own speech, rather than copying one directly out of a
book. About 16 students participated,
and three of them made exactly the same speech about the environment. There were a couple other duplicates as
well. What really struck me about
helping students to write speeches is that, more than learning how to use English
correctly, the students need help in thinking logically. They are so unpracticed at making arguments,
it’s somewhat shocking. I actually found
myself discussing the Introduction-Thesis-Argument-Conclusion format. Terrible flashbacks of FCAT days. I had to pry specifics out of students who
are only used to speaking and thinking in generalities (“don’t do bad things
because bad things will make your life worse”).
Critical thinking…desperately needed.
·
New trainees arriving next month! Yay! I
hope some of you are reading this, and if you are, you should know that I’m
very excited to meet you all, and if you’ve got any questions or concerns you
want to send my way, feel free. I want
to make it a point of my service to be helpful/useful to the newer folks, and
I’m very interested in getting to know you guys.
·
Next month will make one year in Indonesia. You know, no big deal. I’ve been thinking about stuff to do after
these two years have been completed.
Part of me is considering extending service, if the conditions are right
and the job fits—and if I can still stand it here in another year. Grad school, as ever, remains on the
table. And then part of me really wants
to do some sort of traveling or adventure in the world. And who knows what sort of working opportunities
might tempt me were I cool with staying in Asia? So much to think about, but nothing yet to
decide.
