It's hard to believe I've been here for nearly 4 months already, and I'm about to make my second trip to Kuching to renew my visa. When I return with the new visa, I shall be halfway through my sojourn in this beautiful land.
I now teach Maths to seven students at Living Waters School. Several come because of learning difficulties. The others come for extra coaching because they are behind in their class. I enjoy the one-on-one teaching, but not being fluent in the language is challenging, and sometimes downright frustrating! But they are mostly learning something, so that is encouraging.
I have several afternoon/evening responsibilities. Every afternoon I have 3 TB boys to dose with medication. Around the same time I give Milo drinks to 3 older boys. They are in their mid to late teens, around 155cms tall, and only weigh around 40kg (5.5 - 6 stone). The Milo drink is to help with weight gain.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, between 7:30 and 8:30pm, I sit at the bottom of the stairs and hand out Picture Bible Story books (in Indonesian) to room leaders, who take them to read to the little kids (anak kecil) in their rooms before they go to sleep. They then return the Bibles to me. The other nights of the week are meeting nights, except Saturday, which is movie night.
On Saturdays I have the responsibility of selecting the movie for movie night, unless it's birthday night, when the entertainment is all organized by other people. Ronny and Kay Heyboer have a collection of dvd's and vcd's, which are sorted into those suitable for all ages (blue sticker), and those suitable for age 10 and above (red sticker). I select a blue sticker movie for everybody to watch, and then two red sticker movies for the older ones to choose from afterwards. The main movie is projected onto the white wall above the stairs (the same place we have the songs for church), while most people sit on the floor to watch it. Everybody comes up from the Asramas for this event. Those who want chairs sit at the back. The later movie is shown on the large TV around the corner, after most people have gone. The young people pull up a chair - or a stack of chairs if they want to see over other heads! - some do sit on the floor, and quite a few will stand at the back for a while. Sometimes they decide to watch Indonesian TV instead, which is okay unless it's an unsuitable movie, which means somebody in charge has to waltz in and make them change channel or watch one of the given movies. I've had to do that once. I hope I don't have to do that often!
On Sunday afternoons I choose another two blue movies, and then after dinner another two red movies in case the older youth want to watch something after the evening service. They rarely see the whole movie at that hour of night, but if there are no Indonesian subtitles, they often skip the non-action sequences, which speeds things along in movies that have a lot of dialogue.
There are a lot of comedies. They like to laugh, and you can laugh in any language.
We also borrow the movies to watch on our laptops - as long as the laptop can play local-region movies. It's nice to share a room with someone whose laptop does that - mine doesn't anymore... hehe.
There are a lot of comedies. They like to laugh, and you can laugh in any language.
We also borrow the movies to watch on our laptops - as long as the laptop can play local-region movies. It's nice to share a room with someone whose laptop does that - mine doesn't anymore... hehe.
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