Internship Underway

Three days of internship under my belt, and I'm doing well! I'm working with students primarily on literacy/spelling, articulation, fluency. I'm in the midst of a fluency evaluation, and I did some oral-mech exams, an artic eval, and a couple hearing screenings, too. I've already learned a ton! Eve is a great supervisor, and she's having me jump right in, which I think is the best way to do it. I'm even in charge of organizing the school-wide hearing screenings. The students and staff here are wonderful. I love that I'm called "Miss Holy" (that's what "Holly" becomes), and that we can talk about Jesus in school! I'm able to order lunch from a local restaurant, and it's pretty inexpensive. Eve and I had lunch/recess duty today, so we were out with the kids on the playground and were trying to teach some of the girls how to do double-dutch.

All the staff here are flexible and willing to jump in wherever they're needed....the elementary/middle school principle is currently teaching jr. high math and 4th grade, the HS Bible teacher is covering some computer classes while the main guy is out, and several of the elementary teachers took turns teaching music until the music teacher got here (yesterday). Eve takes on some of the students who would benefit from special ed services when she feels that her education and training would benefit them because there's no special ed teacher here. The counselor is serving as the acting director of the school while the actual director is in the states getting medical treatment for his wife. The HS social studies teacher will teach 4th grade while the high school students are on Outdoor Education (going to the villages in the interior) for 2 weeks. Whew! So that's something I've learned about missions - you do whatever needs to get done with whatever resources (limited as they may be) you have.

This afternoon I had a short Indonesian lesson from Ibu Elsye ("Elsha"). ("Ibu" is kind of like our "Mrs.") She taught me how to count from 1-10 and the names of some foods. I have 1-5 down pretty well (I can even do it backwards), but the rest I'll need to practice. Nasi is rice, ayam is chicken, selamat pagi is good morning, terimah kasi is thank you. Those are the only ones I really know - the rest I have to look up.

On Monday I had jeruk bali - a fruit that's like a large grapefruit but green on the outside. The peel is almost an inch thick, though, so it took me a while to actually get to the meat of the fruit. The inside is pink, but the skin around each segment is too tough to chew, so you have to peel it off. It takes like grapefruit but is a little sweeter. Eve and Mike also gave me a box of oranges from Nabire that are delicious! I guess they're sweeter than the ones that are available in Sentani.

Please be praying for Scott's visa. He's the 4th grade teacher who still isn't here yet. The news we heard from Jakarta earlier this week wasn't encouraging - they may reject his visa completely. However, there's a lady who is willing to be an advocate for him/the school, and I guess she has a lot of pull. So please pray that she'll attend the next meeting on Jan. 30 (she missed the last one), and that she will desire to get his visa through. Otherwise things could get very interesting around here.....the 4th graders need a teacher! Anyone interested in coming to Sentani?

Tomorrow I get to go to Jayapura to get fingerprinted. I'm going with another couple who's lived her for quite a while, so they'll show me some of their favorite places to go there. I think we get to have lunch at KFC. :) It was a beautiful day today - I think I'm starting to get acclimated to the weather. It's still on the humid side, but the temperature is definitely bearable. Tonight we have a women's Bible study, and tomorrow morning is a staff prayer time before school. I'm definitely keeping busy, and loving every minute of it!