Head in the Clouds

SIGNS

I get a kick out of many of the signs I see. Click on the photos to see my take on each of these. Some quick observations:

Personally, I just don’t think a ladies lingerie company has any business being named ‘GIANT’.

Finally, a little respect…I am listed in the company directory as Karen Van Allen, GURU! (Guru is Indonesian for teacher….)

03

Mar. '12

My Job

My job is pretty multi-faceted. Freeport McMoRan mining company operates Mt. Zaagkam International School for the English speaking children of the international workers who have their families here. I am the general music teacher for the students in grades K-8. At the moment I have students from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mongolia, Peru, Chile, Holland, Great Britain, Ghana, Zambia, Indonesia, and South Africa! It is truly a mini United Nations, and I just love it!

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The students come for music 45 minutes twice a week. Grades 2-3, 4-5, and 6-8 are combined classes, so I really only have five different groupings of students counting Kindergarten and First Grade. Class sizes are small; the largest has 13. In addition to general music, I also teach two sections of chorus each week: one for K-3 and one for 4-8. Every student in the school is in the chorus.

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Since I have time in my schedule, I’ve started two separate adult percussion groups, and these ladies are doing a great job jamming on the tubano drums! Each group has met twice so far, and it looks like we will have a gig performing for a Ladies Festival in late April.

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Next door to my school is the YPJ Indonesian school which serves students from pre-school through high school. At the moment, the YPJ first and second graders do not receive music instruction, so I have added them to my schedule. I see three first grade classes one week and then three second grade classes the next week. The students speak a little English, and I rely on body language, gestures, and facial expressions. So far we understand each other just fine!

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The last photos are Kindergarten boys drumming in the YPJ school. I heard them practicing one morning and went over to investigate. They are playing from a notation of letters…a = right tap, i = left tap, o = both hands tap, and a dot = click your sticks. It was fascinating!

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Each week I have a scheduled videoconference with my colleague at the company school in the lowlands. We are supposed to align our instruction so that our students are covering the same material. After school I am also responsible for a weekly music club, and I’ve recently started teaching some piano and violin lessons…this is a bit of a stretch for me, but the parents really want it. I have explained that I am not a pianist, and it’s been 30 years since my strings classes in college, but they are willing to take their chances! My next challenge is to put an order together for band instruments, so I can offer band for the middle school students. This job is definitely not boring!

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(In case you are wondering about these mysterious x’s…it’s the only way I can get this format to leave a space between paragraphs!)

02

Mar. '12

Did you know that umbrellas have been around for over 4,000 years? Here’s a toast to the brilliant artists from ancient China, Assyria, Egypt, and Greece who left us artwork depicting some sort of umbrella-like rain protection. After seven weeks here, I have experienced rain most days, and yet the variety of precipitation is interesting. I have felt the gentlest of drizzle…an almost silky rain that delicately brushes the skin. I’ve witnessed a ferocious downpour that rattled the roof and pummeled the ground. To date, that type of rain has been of short duration…as if the sky expended its energy in an angry outburst and then somewhat embarrassed at its passionate display eased up and released its remaining moisture with calm reassurance. There has been rain accompanied by wind, rain that splatters as clouds are wrung out, misty rain, insistent rain that beckons the rivers to frenzied action, rain in the midst of struggling sun accompanied by the shyest of rainbows, and joyful rain dancing on the ground. I have not tired of the rain yet…I find it soothing, refreshing, and cleansing. Nevertheless, I am grateful to the ancient inventors of the umbrella!

15

Feb. '12

Happy VanAllentine-Christmas!

The last four boxes of my air shipment arrived on VanAllentine’s Day! These boxes have been sitting in storage down in the lowlands since mid to late December. It was so nice to be reunited! In the whirlwind of packing (the week after Thanksgiving) and the subsequent chaos involved in relocating halfway around the world, I had forgotten many of the items I packed in the first place! Here are some highlights:

My hairdryer: It blows warm air! I have been borrowing a hair dryer, but it needed a voltage adapter, and the result was that it only blew cold air. It is not easy to dry your hair with cold air in a damp climate…
Earl Grey tea: I love my tea, and this climate is perfect for a cup of Earl Grey.
April May Wednesday: Some of my favorite puppets have finally made it! I introduced April May to my first graders today, and they love her. :-)
Alarm clock: I have had to use my Indonesian cell phone to wake up. The alarm is a nasal, staccato, authoritative voice commanding: ”It’s six o’clock. Time to get up. It’s six o’clock. Time to get up. It’s…” Now I can wake up to music.
Lamp: I have a lamp in my bedroom! And even better, it’s a natural daylight lamp, so I can pretend the sun is out! And even better than that, it’s right next to the bed, so I don’t have to get out of bed to turn it off. :-)
Dish towels: Who knew how happy I would be to dry dishes? I know that Superman (my houseboy) will do my dishes, but most of the time I do them anyway…just doesn’t seem right to let them sit around until morning. However, without a dish towel, I have had to let them drip dry…not quick with the humidity!
Q-Tips, Glad Wrap, kitchen knives, potato peeler, raincoat, bathroom towels, Charmin…oh, how I’ve missed you all!
Bathroom scale: Oops…what made me decide to bring this? I have been quite happy in my blissful state of weight unawareness…hmmm, time for tea and a cookie.

11

Feb. '12

Saturday Morning Hike

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, so I decided to take advantage of the rare sunshine and head out on a hike. Hidden Valley is a family community two miles UP the mountain road. Many hardy folks hike up and down…I’m not one of them! :-) Wisely, I decided to take the town bus up and then hike down. The bus departs every 20 minutes from the town shopping center, and there are rules posted in the front. If you click on the photo, you may be able to read them easier. My favorite rule is the first one reminding passengers to fasten their seat belts…I would have been happy to comply if only there were seat belts!

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The road to Hidden Valley is steep and curvy, and after heading up, up, up, I promptly got off the bus and started back down! It was quite exhilarating, and despite the occasional four-wheel drive company vehicle grinding uphill or coasting down, it was surprisingly peaceful. My eyes can never get enough of the majestic waterfalls that spill off the edge of the mountain cliffs and fearlessly swan dive to their next toehold. Leaves me speechless…which is a rare event.

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About a half mile down, I saw a mysterious stairway heading up into the dense jungle. I was extremely tempted to venture up, but since I was alone and unexplained hammering sounds were echoing from beyond, I resisted the explorer’s urge. When I got back to town and asked folks about it, I was told that it is a recently built pathway that security can use to check out the jungle below the helipad and make sure all is well. The hammering was most likely coming from the helipad or from work on the stairway itself.

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I took my time hiking down and soaking in the sights. My feet could definitely feel the stress of the steep grade, and I was glad to have my ankle brace. The rain kindly held off until I made it back to town, and I rewarded my brief flurry of exercise with lunch at the little cafe in the shopping center…complete with some type of pseudo German chocolate cake. (Forgive my strange editing…the x’s are the only way I can trick this format into letting me leave spaces between paragraphs!)

05

Feb. '12

The Music Room at Mount Zaagkam International School (MZIS)

My walk to school takes about 5 minutes, and I pass this sign everyday. It just makes me laugh. I feel like I should stop and make a hearty exclamation of some kind. ”Yikes!” ”Wow!” ”Gadzooks” “Hark!” ”Blimey!” …okay, sorry, just had to get that out of my system!

I also pass many Indonesian flags which align the soccer field. There are several theories as to the origin of this country’s flag. One is that the flag colors date back to an ancient reverence for Earth (red) and Sky (white). Another is that the colors are related to the flag of the Netherlands. Indonesia was a Dutch colony at one time, and the Dutch flag has a blue stripe below the red and white ones. As Indonesians moved toward independence, they ripped off the blue stripe (symbolic of Dutch aristocracy) and left the red and white stripes which have deep symbolic roots in this region.

The remaining photos are of my classroom, where I have been busy exploring. The room is extremely damp (think mold on the inside of plastic bin covers and metal cymbals turning green). My heartfelt gratitude to one school family who has loaned me a dehumidifier until the school is able to purchase a new one. It has made a world of difference!

The Primary Years Program (IB for elementary students) is the philosophy behind the curriculum here, and the entire K-8 school focuses on a specific learner attribute every 3-4 weeks. The first one for the new quarter was Inquirer. I am enjoying learning a new teaching philosophy. It is quite different from the US, and while data is still important, it is not the bottom line. Instruction is student-driven and not test-score driven. I feel like I’ve landed in Oz. :-)

04

Feb. '12

A Tour of My Kitchen…OR The Three Second Tour

It’s a 450 sq. ft. apartment, so you know from the get-go that the kitchen will be small. On the plus side, there is a garbage disposal and ample storage for me. On the minus side, there is limited counter space and no dishwasher. However, Superman (my hero…and also my assigned houseboy) will do any dishes I can’t quite get to. Not a bad trade!

The picture in the last row on the left is of a rice cooker and some chicken. Rice cookers steam rice and are quite affordable here. They are supposed to be pretty foolproof…put in the rice, add water, close the lid and turn it on. You can even steam meats or veggies in the little basket. Those of you who are familiar with my culinary skills won’t be surprised to hear that I have yet to master this simple contraption. (sigh) Thank goodness I can also just go and eat at the mess hall. :-)

25

Jan. '12

Waterfalls

I have an amazing morning commute to work. It’s about a 5-minute walk. Granted, there are parts that are steep, but it will be easier when I have my mountain lungs. I start out by crossing the river…then walk on a bit of level ground past the soccer field…steep climb up to the school, but while most mornings are overcast, it isn’t raining, and the mountains are clear. I am fascinated by the number of waterfalls cascading down. This just gives you a brief glimpse. I counted 7 of them one morning! Just lovely. :-) When I leave at the end of the day, they are covered in clouds…

23

Jan. '12

First Day of School

I’m sitting in my cozy BQ (Bachelor Quarters) listening to the Islamic Call to Prayer…happens five times a day: before dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening. This would be sunset at the moment…very cool! The mosque is across town, and there are a couple of churches up here also. The services are held in Bahasa Indonesia. (A non-denominational English service is held at the school, but I don’t know much about it yet.)

It’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here a week. In many ways it feels like at least a month! The number of extraordinary and diverse experiences I’ve had has my head spinning! I am finally starting to settle into a routine, and today was my first day with students. My entire schedule consisted of one class of nine 2nd/3rd graders, and they were wonderful! It was truly a miniature United Nations in my classroom, and I just love that. At the end of class they didn’t want to leave (and they were going to recess!), so I guess it was a good start. I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what I’m doing. Tomorrow I have the older students, so we’ll see how that goes. Mondays are my lightest days, and it is expected that my schedule will gradually fill up. At today’s staff meeting, the teachers agreed to allow me to schedule two chorus classes each week…one for grades K-3 and another for grades 4-8. This will become increasingly helpful as I am in charge of producing the spring program: Seussical, Jr.

I left for school this morning at 7:20…it was cloudy but not raining, and I just had to stop on the way to take photos of the mountains…I love to look at all of the waterfalls cascading down on so many different levels…really spectacular! At the end of the day, when I left at 5:30, I couldn’t even see the mountains! In fact, I could barely see the buildings nearby…such is life in the cloud forest!

I decided to eat in the mess hall tonight…if I wanted to, I could eat there every meal. I can cook in my BQ, but tonight I just felt like having someone else take care of that. When I returned home, I discovered that my ‘houseboy’ had washed my dishes, left my laundry in a neatly folded (and ironed) pile, and had mopped my kitchen and bathroom tile areas. This is one of the benefits of living in a BQ…someone else takes care of the chores! Not too bad! :-)

A rather large moth is dive-bombing me at the moment, but thank goodness I really haven’t seen too many bizarre bugs. Off to capture this intruder! Cheers!

22

Jan. '12

Random Observations from the First Week

All employees who live in the BQs are entitled to some special perks. We are each assigned a houseboy to take care of chores. Mine is named Superman (no, not Clark Kent! It’s pronouced Soo-per-mahn with the accent on ‘per’) Each day Mon-Sat, he picks up my laundry, and it mysteriously reappears in my BQ washed, ironed, and folded! He also mops, does dishes, and makes the bed if needed. I have the use of a washer and dryer if I prefer…not! The ex-pats up here have a lovely dining facility called the Lupa Lelah Club. It houses a restaurant and a pub. The photo here shows the restaurant decked out for Chinese New Year brunch. The last photo gives you an idea of the steep grade up here. Walking is not for the faint of heart!