There have been many many changes in my Peace Corps service. After 7 months of doing next to nothing in Garut, I finally got transferred to another site. I am now a high school English teacher at SMAN 1 Cimalaka, Sumedang. Let me tell you about it.
Cimalaka is a village east of the town of Sumedang. Sumedang is east of the city of Bandung. Bandung is a huge city here in West Java. Bandung is about 2 hours away from me depending on the traffic. I have made the trip by bus in an hour and 3/4 and also in 5 hours.
My school is SMAN 1 Cimalaka. It is a secular high school under the Ministry of Education. Remember: MAN 1 Garut, my first school, was an Islamic school under the Ministry of Islamic Education. There's a big difference in my mind between the two distinctions. I'll write about the differences another time. My goal today I just to describe the new place.
The school has almost a thousand students. We have grades X, XI and XII. It was a former "English Resource School" where new methods of teaching English were tried. It seems they kept all the methods that worked, because the level of English here is higher than anything I have encountered in Indonesia. There used to be a private school right beside SMAN 1 but it went out of business. SMAN 1 bought the former school, knocked down the wall between the two schools and now has a rather large campus. There are about 27 or so buildings all connected by covered paved walks so that students and teachers can get from one building to another easily even in the rain. Between, behind, beside, in front of, in fact all around there are lush gardens filled with trees, bushes and flowers. It's really a beautiful place on the side of a mountain.
The school 'orders in' lunch for me every day. They order 3 or 4 lunches and other teachers join me. The 'other teachers' are different all the time so I have gotten to know many of the teachers of other subjects.
I work very closely with two of the four English teachers but teach with all of them. I teach 7 classes of class X and 4 of class XI. I do not teach class XII because they have a National Exam to prepare for and the Indonesian teachers know better how to get the students ready for this rather difficult test. AND, I am not teaching the regular English classes. The teachers for each subject sit together at the start of the year and evaluate each student. Those who are good in a subject, have shown interest and have some ability in that subject are given extra class time in that subject. I teach these extra classes. The level of their English is way beyond anything I have encountered in Indonesia. The teachers have done an exceptional job. The students are not the least bit shy to try new things. Based on what I had in my last school, I went slowly at first. When I found how easily these students absorb everything I can give them, I took off the reins and now just let them have it. It's a fantastic school in which to teach.
Of course, I have a new 'host family.' The father is a year older than I, a retired Air Force officer and former mayor of the sub-district where we live. He knows everyone. Everyone knows him. I have taken walks and gotten lost. All I have to do is ask where Pak (Mr.) Ilik lives and I get directions if not an escort. He spends a lot of time watching TV. I often join him, especially for game shows since I can usually understand everything that is going on in these. We watch a couple of Indonesian soap operas too. The mother is a year younger than I. She is a retired elementary school headmistress. She cleans constantly. The house could not be cleaner. The entire house and for about a meter all around, is covered in white tile: perfectly clean spotless white tile. I can't say that she is the best cook I have encountered in Indonesia but there is always food. I think they have some aversion to meat. I eat a lot of fish and, from time to time, chicken. There's a lot of tofu too so I know I am getting enough protein. There's also rice. I found that the per capita intake of rice for Indonesia is 130 Kilos a year. If I eat 1/2 of what the Indonesians eat, I still eat 143 pounds of rice a year! The family has a granddaughter living with them. She is 5 years old. Aside from the fact that she has, in addition to a twin brother, 6 other siblings, I don't know exactly why she is with Grandma and Granddad and Uncle Jay.
My room is behind the carport. I have my own outside door. In my room there is a door into the kitchen and one bathroom. The room came with a large net covered bed, a wardrobe and decorated with pictures of flowers and windmills cross stitched by Ilik himself. The school had a desk and chair made for me. I have everything I need.
I have an English Club at school. It is made up of Class X and XI students. Class XII has no time for 'extra' things because of the national exams. There are usually about 12-15 students in Club every Wednesday after school. WOW! These are the really good students. We have a Facebook page I invite you to join. It's "English Club SMAN 1 Cimalaka (Indonesia)".
There are little kids all around my neighborhood. I have started a class for "Little People" at my home. I get 6-10 kids age 5 to about 8. They are lots of fun. The have a lot of energy.
Every Thursday I finish teaching earlier than the other days. A "Special Needs" school up the mountain from SMAN ! comes and picks me up. I have lunch with the teachers there then have English conversation with them for a couple of hours. The school has different sections for different handicaps: deaf, blind and mentally challenged. I work only with the teachers. The teacher with the best English is the blind teacher. Not only does he teach blind students but he himself is blind. We have become friends.
The man who is a supervisor for all the schools around Sumedang used to be an English teachers here at SMAN 1 Cimalaka. He is also a professor of English at the teachers' training university in Sumedang. Several times he has invited me on my day off to go with him to observe other schools, visit university classes, and lead workshops for English teachers.
I truly did next to nothing at my first site. I feel I am being well used here in Cimalaka. Yet, almost every night as I'm getting into bed I have a strange feeling that I have something to do, something I didn't do, something I haven't thought of doing. It's a good feeling.
