Monday, August 25, 2008

Homework, Extracurriculum Activities, etc.







Homework starts to kick in. Elizabeth brings home every Friday a letter to us, telling us what she did during the week. We're supposed to write a letter back so she can read on Monday. Eddy made a book, titled "When I Was A Baby". So I was scrambling to find his baby pictures - our desktop that has all the pictures will be delivered tomorrow. Here're a few that I found from other sources.

There're a lot of after-school activities, but it seems that our kids are only interested in swimming. The school offers free music and string classes, but Elizabeth shows no interest in them. I'm wondering where she got that gene from.

Finally, I got kids accepted to Blue Dolphin, a parent-run swimming school on JIS Pattimura Campus. Both kids are in the intermediate class. Their first lesson is August 28. I'll take some pictures and upload them. These swimming classes are an addition to what is required by the school for PE class, which has a swimming component. I can't see our kids will become starts like Michael Phelps, but at least they'll learn styles.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

More School & Kids Pictures

The Campus
Ball Field
Ball Field & Playground
Elizabeth can't wait to go to school.
Eddy feels empowered and ready to make a great shot at school.

First Day at School






August 7 was the kids' first day at school. At 5:45am, Eddy was all changed and wanted to get going. I had no idea when they woke up that day. From Eddy's dark eyebags, I figured they probably got up at 5:30am. At 6:15am, the kids put on their schoolbags, although the school bus wouldn't come until 7:05am. They were really excited about going to school, particularly after visiting the campus the day before.

Although the school is 100 yards away, it took the schoolbus 15 minutes to arrive. Ted and I walked over and waited them at the gate. Eddy was surprised that how we could arrived ahead of the bus. He didn't seem to remember how to get to his classroom, so we walked him over. Elizabeth took off immediately.
Later that day, Elizabeth sent me an email, claiming that she had lots of fun at school. Apparently, her classroom is equipped with the ONLY comfy couch in the entire school. Her teacher, Mr. Kerr, is a very popular teacher. He brings cookies for kids every Friday. Eddy told me the day was too long and he wanted to sleep. If I get up at 5:30am, I would want a nap at 2pm, too.
The kids would have several special classes. Elizabeth has art, PE, music, library research, Bahasa Indonesia and computer. Eddy has the same special classes except Bahasa. But he will start Bahasa next school year as a First Grader. Go, kids, go!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

the school

We just came back from an open house at JIS Pattimura campus, which is literally steps away from our house. PTA volunteers gave us a tour to the campus and we met with Elizabeth's teacher, Mr. Kerr. He is a really fun and energetic teacher, and he assured Elizabeth that she'll have the best year ever in his class. Eddy will be in Mrs. Sunny's kindergartener class.

Both kids loved the campus, and were very excited to visit all the special classrooms, and the facilities. There's a theater, an large indoor gym, an outdoor 6-lane swimming pool, a bright cafeteria, a huge grassy playground, a music room for grades 1-5, an art room (G1-5), a library with good selection of books, and a computer lab. The school also offers language/speech therapy, psychological assistance and ESL services to students whose first language is not English. Eddy will have his art and music classes in his classroom. Kindergarteners also have their OWN playground at the back of their classrooms. As part of the PE curriculum, all students are required to take swimming class unless they're sick. This is the best news for our kids! As they can already swim, there're extra-curriculum swimming classes for them to take.

I should especially mention how well the kids behaved during the open house. They have been so bored at home this summer. This morning was such an eye-opening and exciting 'field trip' for them. Elizabeth kept saying, "I'm so excited. This is really awesome." Eddy just wanted to jump in the pool right away. Tomorrow is the first day of school. We'll see how the kids will do in their new school.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

friends from afar




Last week, Hailey and Ashley came to visit. They now live in Japan. Elizabeth and Hailey spent their first 2 years in Korea together, and just saw each other once after we left Korea. It seems that they picked up their friendship where they left, and they clicked as soon as Hailey stepped in. The girls staged a fashion show and a talent show -- see Hailey and Ashley in Elizabeth's clothes :) Eddy didn't want to be left out so he followed Ashley's instruction to change his clothes and wear a pair of sunglasses. Hailey is the perfect organizer and she got EVERYONE in the house to watch their shows. It's amazing how long the kids could entertain us, even with repeated programs. The big girls made up wrote songs themselves (yeah, lyrics and music), and Eddy did, "Ninja, Ninja, why can you fight" (he also wrote the lyrics). Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to make video from my Nikon D40x so there're only still pictures.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Oh, mango, mango






After our discovery of the mango tree, my parents couldn't sit tight for 10 minutes at a time. They kept opening the backdoor to check out the tree, hoping that mangos will parachute one night (see the mango pictures above). In order to prevent unforseeable neck injury from looking up the tall mango tree, yesterday I asked Ibu Tinah to plant some papaya seeds in the backyard so my parents can watch them grow from the GROUND. When Ibu Tinah was digging in the backyard, a gardener saw her and took over the mission. He planted the papaya seeds in 4 different spots and told me that the seeds will germinate in 2 weeks, and the tree will bear fruit in 3 months!!! Of course, I only understood the dua minggu (2 weeks) and tiga bulan (3 months) part. He also said that I could ask him to plant anything I want because it's my backyard. Well, not really mine forever, but for the next 3 years.

What's surprising me was that Ibu Tinah walked in 15 minutes later with 6 beautiful mangos from the tree (see the 3rd picture above, minus the sweet potatoes in the back). The gardener climbed up the tree and picked them for my parents so I don't have to pay hospital bills for their potential neck injury. To thank the gardener, I asked Ibu Tinah to buy some cigarette and coffee for the gardener. Well, the real intention is that I have bigger projects in mind since the gardener said I could ask him to help any time. I want to have the pebble stones removed from my front yard and grow some herbs. Those pebble stones are there because the previous occupant of the house that we live in wanted those compound cats (cats with no owners) to have a decent place to release themselves, hence adding stones and sand. Can't blame him since those cats are really cute. But since we could barely feed ourselves during the first week in Jakarta, those cats no longer hang around our house, and probably have found a better 'bathroom' with more sand. I think it's time to remove their previous 'bathroom'. Don't know if they have left plenty organic fertilizer in our front yard. We will know the answer after we have some seeds planted.

On a separate note, Eddy has become such a good swimmer that he wants to show off his skill of holding breath in the bathtub. He has also developed a new hobby - photography. He couldn't wait to take pictures of me. Of course, I can't let my age show in his photos so I edited it before posting. Hope he'll become a good photographer soon.