Updates from the Rainy City

Hi everyone! A quick update on J from her very rainy city! As they are heading into the “dry” season, J says that it is raining almost every day.  J has been pretty busy with teaching her class at the English Center, but she has a good update to give everyone!  Her first class has now ended, and she is beginning to teach Public Speaking to the students who come.  She seems pretty excited about the opportunity to teach the class.  As a bonus, this past month was the first full month that she hasn’t been sick at all and had to miss days at work, so that is very encouraging.  She thinks she is pretty much past the getting sick stage and has acclimated to the area and living in her city finally.  All in all, J says she thinks she has found her place there; she is at the point where she’s really comfortable and familiar with the city and her job there.  Because of that, she has been able to continue to have really great opportunities to talk with the people she has become friends with in the city and has had some very exciting conversations with some of them. She is really enjoying the friendships she is building with the people there.

J says that the team working at the English Center is all finally together now, and she has really been encouraged by how well they are working together and getting along at the center.  She’s really happy with the group of people she works with and how smoothly they have been able to work together now that they are all there and back from various vacations and trips away from the city.

Aside from working at the English Center these past few weeks, J was able to go to her friend’s college graduation, which she really enjoyed.  Her language classes are going very well, and J says her teacher told her J is doing very well and improving a lot. Her teacher is really proud of the progress J has made in learning the language.  J also said she had a great Easter, but also an eventful one! On her way to a Good Friday service nearby in the city, she was almost hit by a car! Thankfully, she is completely fine, but she said it was a near miss!

J also said this summer, different groups will be coming to the English Center to volunteer, starting in May.  While she said it will be very chaotic getting the volunteers acclimated and shown what needs to be done, she and the people she’s working with are really looking forward to the groups coming because there will be more people to teach English to the students who come.  It will hopefully give J’s team a chance to breathe and make their job a lot less tiring for the time the volunteers are there.  More to come on that from J soon, though, so keep her and her co-workers in your thoughts!

Quick Updates...

Hello everyone! Just a quick update from J for this week. She has been really busy with teaching at the Center the past couple of weeks, and just spending time with the people she works with and the people who come to the Center. She also was sick a couple weeks ago but is thankfully over that now and back into the swing of things. The special class she was planning to start teaching on relationships for women is supposed to start this week. However, J has not had anyone sign up for the class yet, so there is a possibility that she will not teach it right now. She said she might try again in the future to see if there is any more interest in it.




Aside from teaching at the English Center, J’s roommate is back for good and her second roommate has gone back home for good, so things are settling back down to normal. Also, J is really enjoying her new pet bunny, Pancake, who she has nicknamed Flapjack. He is very cute and she likes having him, but she says he is prone to doing flips in his cage sometimes. She thinks he might have broken his ear as a result of the flipping because one of his ears is lopsided and will not stand up like the other one; however, he doesn’t seem to be in pain so she isn’t sure if it’s just a genetic thing!




Remember to keep J in your thoughts as she gets close to halfway through her first year in her city. She also really enjoys being able to Skype with you all, so keep up the encouragement and communication! Lastly, be looking for a newsletter update from J in the next few weeks as she plans to send it out through her support team soon.

Vacation, New Pets, and New Classes

Here’s another update on J and what she is up to in her city-it has been a while! J has been super busy with teaching and taking trips with her roommates, but she wanted to catch all of you up on the things that have been going on in her life lately, both hilarious and serious. She has had a couple of pretty crazy things happen in the last few weeks!



First off, J and one of her roommates were able to go on a short trip to some islands in South East Asia a couple of weeks ago just to get away from work and so her roommate could do some sight-seeing before she goes back home for good. While they were on the islands, the two stayed with a family there and do things such as snorkeling, surfing, and visiting a nearby village. J said she really enjoyed surfing—and she was able to get up on the board and stay up to actually ride
some waves. Since there are coral reefs around the islands they were visiting, the girls were able to do some snorkeling. J said seeing the coral reef was fantastic and they were able to see some really beautiful things while they were snorkeling. Aside from surfing and snorkeling, J said they went to visit a nearby village. It was her first time visiting a village since she has been in her city, and J said it was a neat experience. She is also getting much better at bargaining in the markets as well, as she found out during their visit. When she first arrived in her new city, J said the markets and bargaining was completely overwhelming for her and she had a couple of bad experiences. However, this time, she had a great time and thinks she has figured out how to bargain and be able to buy the things she wants without getting taken advantage of—she bargained and was able to buy something for the equivalent of $3.00 when the original price was
the equivalent of $48.00. Needless to say, she was pretty proud of herself—and she should be-that is an accomplishment no matter where you are!



While on her trip to the islands, J and the people with her rode in a bemo for the first time, which is some type of vehicle but really bumpy. She asked to ride up front since she gets carsick easily, and as a result was able to have a really great conversation with their driver during the hour ride. While she said the conversation was great and very serious, and she was able to share a lot with the driver, J said the ride ended with the driver proposing marriage to her! No holding your breath necessary—she said no!



While the snorkeling and surfing and visiting the village were great experiences for J, she said the part of the trip that was most memorable took place at the house they were staying in. The family J and her roommate were staying with owned a pet rabbit, which went missing a couple of days after the girls arrived. One day, the room they were staying in started to smell very bad, but the girls brushed it off because they were not sure what the smell was. Of course the smell only got worse as the days went on. After a few days, the smell became so bad that the husband came to them and asked them to search their room. J said he told them the room “smells reallybad and the rabbit has been missing for three days.” At the point, neither of the girls wanted to go in their room and look for a dead rabbit. After some searching through their suitcases, J’s roommate went to look under the mattress they had been sleeping on. J didn’t think they needed to look under the mattress because themattress was sitting on the floor and there would have been no room for anything to crawl under it. However, her roommate picked up the mattress anyway and sure enough, underneath was the couple’s pet rabbit—very flat pet rabbit. Of course, a lot of screaming ensued! They think it must have crawled under the mattress a few days before when one of the couple’s daughters had lifted it up to change the sheets and blankets on the
mattress.



J said it was terrible to find the couple’s dead rabbit at the time, but the story is really funny now. In fact, she and her roommate decided to buy a new pet—a rabbit—once they got back from their trip in honor of what happened while they were staying with the family on the islands. In honor of the poor rabbit under their mattress, they named their new pet rabbit Sarabi, which in English means “pancake!”



On a more serious note, J started teaching a new English class last week and she says it is going well; she is getting a lot more comfortable in her teaching role. Also, in April J will start teaching a class just for women and girls that will be similar to a True Love Waits class. She is going to open up the class for any women in the city who want to come, whether they come to the English center, work at the English center, or do not come at all. She is really excited about the class and getting to talk and lead discussions with the women who come to the class. If the class goes well, she plans on leading a class similar to this every other month or so, so be keeping her and the women who come to the class in your thoughts.



Be sure to look at J’s pictures from her trip when she puts them up and send her an encouraging note if you think about it. Have a good week!

Updates...

To all of you who are keeping J in your thoughts—continue to encourage her! She is really excited as the past few weeks she has been able to have several good, deep conversations with people she is meeting in the city and at the English Center. Now that she has been in her city for a few months, she has had the chance to grow relationships with these people and they are opening up and listening to what she has to say in a big way! J has continued to have several opportunities to share, and as she gets closer to people, she continues to have more opportunities.



On a less serious, less important note, J wanted to let you all know that she finally got her motorcycle license! She has had a bike for a while, but has not been able to ride it without a license. Now that she has the license, however, she hasn’t gone out riding on her motorcycle on the roads—she’s still a little nervous to venture out. I am sure that will change soon and she will
be whizzing around the city on her motorcycle!



J went to her first wedding in her new city, and she also went to her first traditional dancing show where locals perform traditional dances—J said it was really different and neat because they wear masks while dancing. She said she really enjoyed it and is planning to go again the next time. She also said she took a lot of pictures, so be sure to look at those when she posts them online!



J is going travelling around the country in a few weeks as well for vacation with the family next door and her new roommate while she is still there. They are planning on going snorkeling, scuba diving possibly, hiking, taking pictures, and sightseeing.



J’s pet Gus Gus died this past week; she thinks it was because there was a drastic weather change where it went from hot to cold quickly within the span of two days. She also suspects that he was might have been getting old—he was about a year old, which is old for those types of animals in domestic situations.




The Center has a lot of new people coming in, so J has been meeting a lot of new girls that she’s been able to get to know and start relationships with. They spend a lot of time with the people who come to the Center outside of class time, so there are plenty of opportunities for J to share with these new girls she is meeting!



That’s all for now—look for another update on what J has
been doing soon!

Late Christmas and the Broncos

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far! I had a chance to talk with J this week and catch up on what her past week has included. Since she just started back teaching at the English Center this week, she hasn’t been very busy, but she did want to share with you all what she has
been doing. First of all, she finally (finally!) received her Christmas packages and wanted to say thank you to the NBC girls and her family for the sweet things they sent! She especially enjoyed the Crystal Light packs and reading the Christmas cards that were sent.



J said so far this week of working at the Center has been a bit of a roller coaster; some good things have happened, and she’s also had a couple of not so good days. She really appreciates everyone keeping her in their thoughts! J’s roommate is still back home visiting family and friends, but J has a new roommate that will be there for a couple months. The new roommate
just arrived this week, but J really likes her so far and says it is nice to have someone else with her again. Her new roommate will also be teaching at the English Center.



J wanted me to make sure that I told you all she was able to watch the Broncos game with her family last week through Skype and was extremely thrilled that the Broncos (read: Tim Tebow) won. Extremely thrilled! She said it was really neat to be able to be watching the game with her family and to be able to talk to them at the same time like she would if she were back home. The wonders of Skype!



Again, be keeping her in your thoughts this next week, especially that she will continue to have opportunities to share with the people she meets at the Center and in her city. Also, she will be starting her language lessons up again with a new tutor, so she will be having more opportunities to learn the language.

New Year's Motivation

Hello all! This post will be pretty short, as J is still on a break before she starts teaching again at the English Center. J spent her New Year’s Eve with a group of people she’s been getting to know from her city. Since she doesn’t speak the language yet, she said that the night was pretty lonely.
Most of the people at the party were not speaking English and so it was hard for her to be able to talk to anyone. However, she was pretty positive about the night because it gave her a lot of motivation going into the new year to learn the new language faster so she can communicate with the people in their language. She also said that the night ended well in that she and another girl spent some time talking and getting to know one another—J even was able to share a little bit with the other girl. And, as a bonus, J said they talked on the porch and she got to see some fireworks that night!



J still hasn’t received her packages from home yet, so she has decided to leave her Christmas tree up until they come so that she can celebrate with her gifts once they arrive. She was also able to spend some time in the city with a couple of girls and a friend from the English Center, and during their day in the city shopping and spending time together, J and her friend were able to share with the girls. The girls were really open to talking, and J and her friend were able to have a really good conversation with them. Keep J in your thoughts as she goes into the New Year and
starts back up with her language lessons and teaching at the English Center. Also, be keeping the people she comes into contact with in your thoughts as well—J is really excited about how
open a lot of the people have been so far!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! It’s been a while, but J wanted to let everyone know how her Christmas went. Obviously, since this was her first Christmas away from home, this Christmas was a little different than any before. J invited a group of people come over to her house and eat dinner together to celebrate, and she said it was so much fun! She cooked chicken and rice with cream of chicken soup for everyone, and her new neighbors brought side dishes to go along with her food. She said everyone had a great time eating together, reading the Christmas story, and opening presents from each other. And, since J’s packages from home haven’t arrived yet, her neighbors brought some Christmas presents for her to open as well. Since they’ve been here, she has become really close to them and they knew just what she would want! She said her neighbors know how much she loves Disney and Disney princesses, so they got her some really cute little Disney-themed gifts. She was really excited about that and their thoughtfulness!




Even though it was her first Christmas away from her parents and family, J said that she was able to have a really good time making new traditions and getting to better know some of the people she’s met so far. She was also able to Skype with her parents and family on Christmas Eve for a while, so that helped as well.




Aside from celebrating Christmas and making new traditions, J had the chance to visit a nearby zoo recently. She said it was extremely different from zoos back home! For instance, instead of the animals being in cages and separated from people visiting the zoo, J said that the animals are able to walk right up to visitors’ cars—even the lions and tigers. Obviously, people keep their windows closed and are not allowed to feed the lions, but because there aren’t as many safety standards, there aren’t fences separating the animals. J got the chance to take a picture with an orangutan and hug a lion! She said that it was one of the best experiences she’s had, but she said the best part of the trip to the zoo was when she got the chance to take a ride on an elephant. She said it was an awesome experience and completely different from any zoo experience back at home!




That’s all for this blog entry, but please continue to keep J and the people she comes in contact with at the English Center in your thoughts as she continues to get more acclimated to her city. She said she is becoming really comfortable and at home there and can hardly believe that she’s been there for as long as she has. She hopes everyone had a good Christmas and has a happy New Year!