It's About Time!

We have been living in Indonesia for two months now and are finally getting around to setting up a blogspot to keep family and friends updated on how this new move is going.

It's going about the way we expected and about the way we hoped. We expected there to be many adjustments and challenges. After seven very satisfying and rewarding years in Kenya, new opportunities and experiences were welcome. So, we are adjusting to a new culture, new school, new church, new climate, new daily schedule (classes begin at 7:00 am!), new foods, new neighbors, new friends...well, you get the idea.

My new school is quite different than all the other schools in which I've worked. Actually, every school has been quite unique and I like to think that each one has been just the right place at just the right time in my life. So far that has included schools in Midland, Michigan; Santiago, Dominican Republic; La Paz, Bolivia; Tampa, Florida; Nairobi, Kenya; and now Jakarta, Indonesia.

What's different about this place? It's bigger than all my other schools. We have over 1,000 students. It follows the International Baccalaureate program. Almost all of the students are Indonesian. Uniforms for students and uniforms for teachers. Very steep tuition fees. Half of my staff are Indonesian.

Our new home is quite different than all the other homes in which we've lived. The neighborhood actually looks like a little gated community that you'd find somewhere in South Florida. Hopefully in the next week I can get some pictures uploaded. We're heading to the beach tomorrow as the school heads into a 2-week holiday, courtesy of Ramadan and starting the school year in mid-July. So, we are just finishing nearly 2 months of school and the Eid (Muslim holiday) begins early next week.

Pictures and updates will be forthcoming. Thanks for reading.