Jay Thomas News: October 2014

I feel like taking.

I have had some interesting things going on here of late and want to share them with you all.

The In Service Training conference was in Bandung this month. I was rather looking forward to learning how to get to this large city so I could escape Garut from time to time. Bandung in only 2 hours away from Garut but requires a number of Angkots and a bus. One of the English teachers lives in Bandung and commutes by public transportation so I asked him if I could join him on his way home, He very agreed. He very agreed to the point to driving his car the day I needed to go. Because of traffic and being in a car and not a bus the two hour trip took 4 ½ hours. Instead of taking me to the hotel I booked for the night before the conference, he took me to his house to meet his three very nice daughters and his wife. And a very nice house it was too, with lots of plants on a very quiet street. We had tea and cake and pictures. When he got back into his car to go to the hotel, he said it was about an hour from his house. Bandung is a really big city. That evening I went to a mall and experienced heavy duty culture shock. I was sure I was in America but knew that I was in Indonesia. I had dinner at Wendy’s in the mall. There was nothing I needed or even wanted at the all but I spent a couple of hours just walking around watching the Indonesians spend huge amounts of money of American and other foreign goods.

The first three days of the conference were about Peace Corps things. PC is now so large, international and politically correct that there are sessions that every PCV in the world gets at specific times during their service. We had sessions on nutrition, safety issues, personal security, health concerns and unwanted attention. As you may have understood from earlier entries, I get no attention, unwanted or otherwise here in Garut. A couple of us asked for a session on how to get attention. We also had lots of sessions about TEFL. These led into having our counterparts show up for the last two days of the conference. My counterpart was not at all happy about having to go to the conference until he realized that not all of the PCVs are 82 year old men. I had to have a couple of talks with him about how to act around 24 year old American women. He was not prepare to listen to me.

I thought I could have the learning experience of how to get back to Garut from Bandung but my counterpart snagged a ride in a car for us so that route will be new to me the second time I go to Bandung.

The day after I got home from the conference was my birthday. I say I’m 82 now. I didn’t mention the occasion to anyone here in Garut but accepted an invitation to dinner at a little restaurant just down the street from my pond where the daughter is an English Education major at the teacher training university here in Garut. The family is very friendly and have students coming and going all the time. I had a great meal. We played UNO after dinner and one of the students taught me an Indonesian game with dominoes[JT1] .

The week of school I missed was not a miss at all. It was mid-term exam week. I can’t believe the school lost a week of teaching time giving silly tests. I had repeatedly offered my help to my counterpart in writing our students’ tests but he didn’t take me up on the offer. My first day back at school I thought I was going to be grading exams but found that my counterpart has accepted two student teachers who he had do the grudge of grading. Twelve percent of the students passed the test. My counterpart should have accepted my help. Some of the questions has no correct answer. Some had all correct choices. Some had questions about stuff the students had not been taught. The reading comprehension was about “The snow white,” which, if it hadn’t mentioned seven dwarfs I would have thought it was about white snow.

Following the week of testing there was a week of “remediation.” There were retests. I pushed and lost for there to be review before the retests.

While the students were bring retested, I took the few who passed and made simple little books to give to the first primary English students at the school I pass on my way to my school.

The retest was not a big success. A rather unique way of grading brought about 75% up to passing grades.

Since Pre Service Training I have known there are English speech contests at the high school level. When I first got here in June I asked about these. I have asked every couple of weeks since. At the end of last week, about October 25, I asked again and was told that our school will host this year’ contest November 6, 7 and 8. Two students have been chosen to represent our school. This week they (and I) were told the topic for the speeches. I have no idea if I will be able to help our students prepare. I do know that I have been chosen to be one of the judges. Twenty schools are sending two students each to give seven minute talks on “The role of the Madressa (Islamic school, like mine) in the character building of Indonesian youth.” Forty speeches at seven minutes each will take three days. Well, two and a half since Friday is a half day. At least the judges get served lunch.

I thought my three English clubs had bit the dust because teachers were forgetting to remind students about the meetings, gave too much homework on club afternoon or insisted the club be held at a time when no student were at the school. I have been waiting for an English teachers’ meeting to resolve the issues. It seems getting the four English teachers to all be in the same room at the same time is not easy. Today I was told I had to have English Club for class XI. OK, I made a template for masks, went out and bought candy and was prepared to do some Goal Two of PC – exchanging culture - and celebrate Halloween. I guess I was the only one told about English Club class XI meeting today since no one came. I’m glad I bought the kind of candy I like.

I know a lot of this sounds depressing and even negative and it is but I continue to hold hope that what I am doing is having an effect on the students. If I didn’t think that…..

And now for something completely different. (Thank you Monty Python.) October 25 was New Year’s Day Hegira. (The Islamic calendar dating from when Mohammed left Mecca in about 724 A.D. (Zero H.). The day starts at sundown the day before. I wondered if there would be anything going on the night of October 24. I asked my host family if there were any special traditions or customs going on and was told “No. It’s a very quiet holiday celebrated at home.” October 24 I went for an evening walk and saw hundreds of kids in parades with their parents. Every child had a flaming torch. It looked a little dangerous but it also looked fun. I wish I had been prepared with my camera.

That evening as I turned into the walk to my pond, men on the verandah of another house on the pond before mine invited me to join them for the first meal of the year. It was the first time I had been invited to a neighbor’s for a meal. I had been inside this house before when students invited me to play UNO but this was the first invitation by the adults. I was thrilled to go. The men grilled eel. Did I eat it? You bet I did. I was not about to decline part of my neighbor’s first invitation to dinner. I’ve been in Garut since June 9. It was the evening of October 24. Grilled eel is not even in my top 200 things to eat, but I waited a long time and did a lot of work to get to this point. I ate what I was served.

I’m going to take myself to Jakarta for the weekend. I have no idea what I’m going to do there except a few tourist things I have heard of. I’m just going on a solo adventure. I will write about it later.

I don’t feel like talking any more.

[JT1]