Has it really been 3 months?

Hello all!  Sorry for the laps in information here. We were on break and kept pretty busy.  But now our classes have begun again.  We just finished day three of Unit 2 and, whew, are we challenged.  Yeah, for those of you who find a joke in that, we are probably considered mentally challenged too!  Hee Hee.

Our break was wonderful in many ways. Our brains rested, maybe a little too much but none the less, they rested.  Our house got many needed projects finished. Jack got lots of “mommy/daddy” time and we even got away for a day without him to do some shopping in the city. 

Our class changed over the break. As for the students, we are now with all Americans.  Before it was the two of us and four Koreans.  Added to our class is a gal we know and are neighbors with.  She had to step out for a time to have a baby and so now is joining us. It’s been fun to have her there.  The other two students aren’t with our group – NTM but are here for the same reasons!  Amanda is a teacher at the International School here and is taking this unit while she is on summer break.  Justins parents “work” here and he has spent 11 of his 16 years here in Indonesia.  He’s a neat kid and we enjoy his youthfulness and what it adds to our class dynamic!  So we are now 5 English speakers trying to learn Indonesian and having fun together doing it. Our Korean friends are now in a class all their own and I’m sure are glad to be able to communicate together in Korean.  The class also changed in content.  We are now focusing on word conjugations.  Fun for me, but Joel finds it a little less desireable. I think it’s like figuring out a puzzle.  Right now we are learning all the affixes they put on words to change the root word from a noun to a verb and then to a command and to a passive verb, etc.  We are still learning new words every day but along with those are many more phrases for conversation.  Once again it’s like a fire hose aimed at our heads, but we just take in what we can and trust that the rest will come in time.

We’ve both just had our 2^nd RT meetings tonight for our neighborhood.  It’s amazing to me how much we are able to say and understand now. Just one month and it makes a huge difference.  I had an entire conversation about babies and how children sleep here and there, all in Indonesian!  Wow!  Oh and by the way, Indonesians have their children “sleep in” with them until they are maybe even 10 years old!  Waaaa, no thank you! I like a peaceful sleep and not being whacked in the head all through the night by a childs flailing arms!  It’s bad enough to share a bed with a 6 foot guy who forgets I’m there sometimes and whacks me with his elbow!  Add 2, 3 or 4 kids to the mix and I’m finding a different place to sleep.  They can’t believe we don’t want our kids in bed with us.  Funny how cultures can vary.  Neither being right, just different!

Ok so there’s the update.  We are still so glad to be here.  Keep praying for us.  It is making a difference!

Bethany