Elizabeth played in Cat and Riddle

Elizabeth played Egyptologist in Cats and Riddle, a musical that involved almost all kids from Grade 2 to Grade 3 at school. This was her first performance in a musical/drama and she showed great enthusiasm. Here're a few pictures from the show.

Taman Safari

Last Saturday morning, we left Jakarta early in the morning for Taman Safari, on the hillfoot of Puncak. After driving 60-70 miles/hour for a while, we exited the highway and immediately got into heavy traffic. The 2-lane road was filled with vehicles on both direction. On the other side, hundreds of mini-vans carried campaign workers and volunteers passed by us, while we were sitting in traffic watching. We didn't understand whom the group represented, and our driver didn't know either.

Closer to Taman Safari, we saw many carrots stalls. Women and children were selling fresh carrots and we got a few bunches - for ourselves, thinking we couldn't get that kind in the city. Until we reached the safari park, we saw other people feed animals with carrots. Then we realized we made a mistake. But we happily fed zebras and lamas carrots that we bought.

Taman Safari is a great place for both children and adults. The drive-through was great and we could see animals from close range. There were free animals shows and a miniature amusement park that you need to pay for each ride. We took a trolley up the hill and went to the waterfall, which was another highlight of the day. The kids played in the water for a long time. If we have guests, this is definitely a place we want to bring them to.

PEL Olympics

Pattimura Elementary School (PEL) is holding PEL Olympics this week. From Grade 1 to 5, each grade is assigned a color - red, green blue, black and yellow. Grade 3 is red. Kindergarteners are assigned to wear white. At the opening ceremony on Monday, kids formed 5 rings, representing the 5 colors of the Olympics flag. Kindergarteners carried a huge Olympics flag. Unfortunately, Blogspot.com has problems uploading pictures so I'm not able to share pictures with everyone. But it was a really nice ceremony with class parade, athelet pledge, torch relay, music, etc.

The third graders had their events yesterday and I was a parent volunteer to keep scores. I was really proud that Elizabeth was the only girl in her class to jump over 0.80 m. in high jump, although she is the 2nd shortest. She also had the highest long jump score among the girls, and ranked 2nd in 800 meters. Kindergarteners won't have their own events, and I'm not sure how Eddy will react by end of this week. At least, he'll have swimming class this afternoon.

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.

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!

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.