One day with a native speaker

Here are just a couple pictures from a special program my high school students created called "One Day with a Native Speaker" They were really proud of it. Basically it was like a talk show with me and I gave a little powerpoint presentation on teens in America using a lot of photos of Missy and her friends.


My name is spelled wrong on the banner, haha


Students came from various high schools in the area


After my interview they played a bunch of games, some in English, some Indonesian.

Drum Parade

A few weeks ago I was woken up in the morning by people screaming my name and laughing hysterically to find out I was still sleeping at the hideously late hour of 7 AM. Turns out there was a little parade going on outside my house. Local pre-school students in drum bands were showing off their skills. The whole neighborhood was gathered outside my house to watch. There were like ten different ice cream carts and kids running around everywhere. It was an....interesting way to wake up.

student fashion show

A few weeks ago my elementary school students had a coloring, singing and fashion show competition. As usual, they were pretty darn cute.


Boys coloring and hamming for the camera


Singing the national anthem




The fashion show participants


The fashion show MC (the dance teacher)


There was only one boy in the fashion show but he LOVED the attention


Girls wore everything from princess dresses like this to stylish modern fashions


This is Talitha. She has autism and it's kind of beautiful how her class loves her and totally includes her in all the activities




The girl on the right showed up totally decked out. She had on full make and had her hair done.

My co-worker friends

My roommate Enny has just uploaded a bunch of photos from her mobile phone to facebook, so of course I stole them and am reposting them here! These are the people I hang out with the most. Most are teachers at the high school and about my age and also unmarried, so they like to get together and hang out. Enny definitely my closest friend in Ponorogo. Her English is great even though she's not an English teacher, she's biology. She learned just from listening to music and watching movies. She helps me out so much by driving me around and explaining cultural stuff that leaves me confused or frustrated.


This is Enny and Hana. Hana works in the office at my school all day. She works like 12 hour or more days. It's crazy. But she seems to love her job and she's one of my closest friends here. In between classes I usually sit in her office and chat or drink tea with her.



All teachers at the high school or middle school. That's Enny in the middle looking fierce.


More teacher friends. The girl in the red shirt is Agnes, the christian friend who takes me to Church sometimes.


Me, Enny and Hana


Indonesians love taking random photos of themselves and their friends. They call it being "Narciss"


My two roommates, Enny and Dewi. Dewi is quiet, maybe because she doesn't speak that much English but she's really friendly and a great cook!



In a little park area near the town square.


The girl on the left in the navy is Arina. I team teach the high school with her and her English is great. One of the best speakers I've met here. She's married are quite busy so I don't get to hang out with her as much as I'd like.

More Sumatra Photos

Here are some photos from my recent trip to Medan that actually have me in them. Ben took them.


In a cafe waiting to have some TST which is Tea with milk and raw egg. The egg is beaten and kind of cooks when it's added to the tea. You can't really taste it, the tea just seems thicker than usual. It wasn't bad, but I don't know if I'd go out of my way to have more.



In the grand mosque. It's small but maybe you can see the very stylish headscarf I'm wearing.



Near the lake on an island in a lake. It was sort of a boring place but there was this buffalo and I demonstrated that cows won't hurt you, just slobber on you, much to the amusement of the woman who owned the cow.


Also near the lake with Dave and Ivan


At our hotel, waiting for something.


And at the hotel again