Becoming a Mum

I often wonder if one day I'll wake up to find several small bodies nestled in my bed, a household strewn with children's clutter, a shopping list dominated by school items and birthday party supplies, and realise that I've become the super-woman I once admired.

It seems to me, as a naive and childless young adult, that the act of becoming a mother (or father) mysteriously grants you the super powers necessary for rearing young and transforms you into this admirable super being. You can sleep, but still hear everything. You can tell the weather without reading any forecast. You can detect the invisible emotions of your own children, and often others' as well.

On school camp this week, my lack of these skills was very apparent. Some kids got up around 3am to get up to some innocent mischief. I, the uninitiated, peacefully slept right through the sound of doors, footsteps and toilet flushes, while my experienced-parent colleagues, intuitively attuned, promptly rose to deal with the matter. It seems to me that I shall have to wait until I have become a mother myself before I'll ever be a good camp leader... unless anyone knows another way to train yourself to sleep lightly?

"Let me play among the stars"

Last Saturday Matt and I went star-gazing at the lake. As you might know, I love star-gazing, so the opportunity to peer through professionals' telescopes and see planets and constellations was not something I was going to miss for anything.

Mars was a little disappointing - it was just a big red blob, a magnified version of what you can see with the naked eye. We missed Pleiades, but saw some wispy clouds in an Orion cluster instead. The brightest star in our sky, Sirius, lived up to its reputation as a piercing brightness when viewed through the telescope.

The highlight of the night was definitely Saturn. After Mars' somewhat bland appearance, I was expecting a planet even further away to be less distinct again. When it finally rose around 10.30pm, the enthusiasts eagerly spun their telescopes to see it. Matt was excited because he was allowed to play with the telescope and line up Saturn himself. After a bit of fine-tuning by the expert, we were gazing at a brilliant orange planet complete with rings. Miniature when compared with NASA imagery, but recognisable and breath-taking nonetheless.

A second first day

Today was my second first day of teaching, if that makes any sense. It was my first day at Victory (with students), and although I only had two classes today, I am exhausted. Surprisingly, it actually felt good to be back in a classroom... But I'm sure the feeling will pass!

You've got mail

I "joined up" so that I could view friends' photos... Now the only emails I get are Facebook notifications!

New Job

I have exciting (albeit by now old) news: This year I've got a job teaching at Victory Christian College! I'm teaching P-8 Indonesian, P-7 music and Year 7 science. I'm really excited, but more than that I'm absolutely terrified! I don't know how to be a "real" teacher! There's so many subjects and across so many different levels, it's difficult to get my head around it all. In reality, my load is much more narrowly focused than many of the other secondary teachers, or any primary teacher for that matter.

I always wanted to start off as a generalist teacher before being locked into a LOTE position, so this is a strange deviation from my plans. But I don't mind all that much, really. I'm just glad for the opportunity to work with one of my languages again!

Travel Backlog

As promised, it's finally time to upload some of my thoughts and photos from my recent travels. There's so much to write about, I don't know where to start! I've got so many funny stories, from my family cooking the rooster that kept me awake all night, to my imagined pirate attack at sea, not to mention my host family inviting themselves to my non-existent wedding, or being stranded in a crusty old speedboat in the middle of an allegedly croc-infested swamp! There are other stories too, like the tragic conditions of the orphanage, the impressive devoutness of the Muslims, or the incredible feeling of communicating with the people in their own language.

Sometimes people get bored hearing those stories, though. So if you're interested in any of those, please request them! For now, I'm just going to write about some of the things I learned while I was away, which might be more relevant/interesting. I've grouped them under three saying which were uttered on a daily basis over there!

I need a mandi!

This is a bak mandi. When you want to have a shower, you use the little plastic scoop to splash the COLD water over yourself. Some people were lucky enough to score western showers, but for me it was bak mandis from day one. I absolutely hate pouring cold water over myself, but in the constantly sticky, humid weather you find yourself sweating profusely and you just feel gross and smelly all the time. It wasn't uncommon to go back for two or three mandis a day, and as we were walking around visiting places we would often long for a good, refreshing wash! This reminded me of our need to get with God regularly and 'freshen up'. In the heat of life in this world we quickly get smelly in a spiritual sense, and only regular contact with God will refresh us and keep us 'fragrant' (2 Cor 2:14).

Cape deh!

This roughly translates to "So tired!" and is a Jakartan slang word which has filtered in to the rest of Indonesia through television soapies and the like. Every day we were flat out: visiting the uni for 8 o'clock classes, sight-seeing in the afternoons, going places with the host families, attending celebrations and meetings, teaching or visiting places in the village, etc. Already being jet lagged from the massive journey over, the late nights, early starts (5:30am for me, others were woken earlier by morning prayers) and crowded itinerary were exhausting. The weather really zaps you too. This reminded me of our need to persevere and run our race to the end (Heb 12:1). Things in life get tough sometimes, but we need to stick things out to the end and run our race in order to win the prize (1 Cor 9:24). The ultimate "prize" is so much better than relaxing on a gorgeous tropical beach, but that was good enough for me while I was there!

It's Indonesia!

Overcrowded public transport, excessive horn-honking, rubbish all through the streets, goats on the streets, catching a motorbike taxi, children following you around, strangers asking for a photo with you, food that is all deep-fried, cakes that are green jelly, chips that are made out of bananas, transport that arrives hours late... "It's Indonesia!" the locals explain with a mix of apology and pride. In Indonesia, you need to learn to just run with it. If you're going to wait for hours for someone to pick you up, you may as well be patient. If you're going to be an inevitable celebrity, you may as well enjoy it! I've learned to join with the locals and just throw up my hands and say, "It's Indonesia!" This reminded me of the "It's Indonesia" moments we have in life - the moments when everything is out of our control and we feel completely frustrated or overwhelmed. We need to remember that God is in control, no matter what weird or trying situation we find ourselves in. We should learn to say "It's life!" and trust where God's taking us.

I'll be back

It's been crazy! Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to update my blog while I was overseas, and shortly after I got back I caught yet another plane to Queensland to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. I got back just in time for New Years but today I'm heading off to Frankston again.

I'll be back soon with photos and details from my travels!