home for a bit

Hey everyone i am sorry its been such a long time since i updated you on everything. I know that most people me on facebook as well so i didnt think i needed to write on here but i have heard some people want more of an update so here it is.

I cant believe how fast this school year went. Since i last blogged i have gone a few adventures. March i went on my first trip out of the country to Maylasia. It was a great trip. I got to see the largest flower in the world in bloom. Its called the rafflesia flower and its about 3 feet in diameter or bigger and can weigh up to about 20 lbs. It was a sight to see because they are only in bloom for like 2 weeks and I saw it. I have some pictures posted on Facebook.

In April i went to Jojakarta which is close by to the volcano Mt Murapi that erupted in October. We got to see the destruction it caused and believe it or not it was still smoking from october. Also there I saw two famous temples, Borobudur a buddist temple and Prambanan a hindu temple. They are both built during the 9th century. Its amazing to think that these temples were made with no modern technology.

In May i spent a weekend exploring a new island of Indonesia. It was remote and you had to get there by fast boat. It was great no cars or motor bikes. If you wanted to get around you walked, rode a bicycle, or went on a horse drawn cart. What a relaxing weekend. We did have a few hiccups with transportation but made our flights on time and know what to do for next time.

Also in May i moved apartments. I love my new apartment!! Its about the same size as the other one but is a 10 minute walk to school and i can get to downtown in like 15-20mins. I live in a little residential neighborhood and we can walk to 3 different malls. Its nice to have options and not be limited to what you do because of traffic. I am sure i will love life even more this next year.
We have had some troubles trying to get taxi's to find our new place because there are many streets that look the same and with the same name. We live in between two pretty big roads but there are 5 streets names Jalan Dahksa and we live in between two of them lol. I have only lived there 3 weeks but enjoy my little garden and roof top pool that the apartment has to offer.

The school year finished about the same as everyone elses. The students last day was on June 9th. The school year went by so fast. I am sad to see my kids move on because we had such a great year but a majority of them will be back next year so i will still see them.

I stayed the weekend after school ended and left on monday and arrived states side last Tuesday. After 3 long plane rides i finally made it home. All the flights went pretty smoothly and were on time so that was such a blessing. I was a little jet lagged but got over it pretty quickly. I was back to normal by Saturday.

Being home is nice but different. Things here dont change but I feel that i have so its weird to come back. I have been just relaxing the last week. I have spent a lot of time with the family. I will be in PA for most of the next month. I will be going to Colorado to visit some friends and then go to NC where i used to live to visit friends and colleagues in July for 5 days. I hope i get to see a lot of people while i am home. I wont be home this Christmas because i have decided to travel to Sri Lanka and Australia.

If you want to hear more about my adventures feel free to email me or send me a msg on facebook. Thanks for following me and my adventures over the last year.

Summer plans are finally made!

I know that most of you are wondering summer plans already but summer is still months away but it will be over before you know it. The snow will be gone and will be warming up for you guys on the other side of the world. Here its about 86 everyday! I am still loving it.

I havent done to much since i last posted. I went a long holiday weekend to another indonesia island. It was only a Thursday-Sunday trip but a lot of fun. Its amazing how each one of these islands are completely different. Some of you may know that Indonesia is one of the largest muslim countries in the world. If you didnt now you do! With that being said it was a completely different experience in Menado on the island of North Sulawesi. I felt like i was in the jungle and in some parts i was. We stayed out in the country and were surrounded by green trees and tons of palm trees. It was nice to breath fresh air made by all these trees. Some major highlights from the trip were going to see the smallest monkey in the world the Tarseir monkey. Please look him up. They are nocturnal so we walked through the jungle at dusk and went to a tree in the middle of the jungle to see him. Another great thing in Menado was the diving outside Bunaken Island. This are is a national park area and it is protected so it was just beautiful. I will have more pictures up soon about what i saw. I was surprised of all the different corals and fish that i saw. I even saw an 80yr old sea turtle. He was HUGE! He was about 5 ft in diameter. The other turtle was probably about 3ft in diameter. I was so surprised i was just snorkeling and not diving.

I cant believe all the awesome things i have got to do so far and its all here in Indonesia. Next month will be my first time visiting outside Indo. I am going to Maylasia for 6 days.

School update. I got three new students in January. Two of the three are adapting well but I am having lots of struggles with the third. I just dont know if our school is the right place for her. We struggle with things daily. So please pray for Gita and I. It can be challenging every day.

Something cool that happened in my room was when Carl Anderson came in for Professional Development from the US. He is a guru in teaching writing and has written many books. He came into my room and taught and it was great to see him use my students and I learned a lot about my students from the experience.

I miss home but i am happy seeing the world. Just FYI i will be home June 14th-July25th. Trip to NC end of June and Colorado trip mid July.

december update and happy 2011

Wow I dont know where the time goes. I cant believe we are already in 2011. These last 6mths have flown by. I hope you all had an awesome holiday season! I went home to see my family. It was a long trip home and I didnt get to sleep as much as I would have liked on the plane rides but I made there. When i got home it was like a blizzard. I had 70 degree temperate change when i made it to PA. December was a little harder than I anticipated with the unexpected passing of my grandfather. With this I went home a week earlier and spent more time with the family. I was so thankful that my school was so willing to help rearrange my ticket and let me leave 4 days early from break.

Being home was definitely good but weird. It was a little of a culture shock seeing so many westerners. I dont see many outside of my school. It was so weird wearing heavy clothes instead of shorts and flip flops. Most of the time I wore a long sleeve under my sweaters to stay warm enough. One thing i really enjoyed was being able to drive myself around and not have to wait for a taxi to come get me but leaving when i wanted to and not waiting in traffic was fantastic.

While i was home i was able to see many friends and family. I am not back in Jakarta and enjoying the warm weather and being back in my own place. I went to school to prepare for my new semester and met one of my three new students. I cant wait for the new year to begin.

Hope you all had a great holiday and talk to you soon!