It's hard to believe I'm 1/4 done with my internship and 1/3 done with my time overseas. Things went well at the school this week. We got all the kids re-screened who needed to be, and got reports sent to parents of kids who didn't pass the screening. We had a staff meeting on Tuesday after school, and I got to help the 1st and 2nd grade teachers work on what needs to be assessed in their language arts curriculum, and determine how it can be assessed. The teachers got a tray of goodies on Wednesday during the recess break because it was Mr. Hoving's birthday - his wife Barb is an excellent cook/baker, and we got to enjoy the fruits of her labor. :) At my Indonesian lesson that afternoon I learned the days of the week, and we had Bible study again in the evening. There were 2 more people than last week - woo hoo! We're going through 1 John. Oh, my ears are feeling much better. The antibiotic is working - they don't hurt and they're not plugged. Thanks for praying!
We still haven't heard anything about the 4th grade teacher's visa - the meeting was supposedly last Friday, January 30th, but I guess it's stuck between two offices in Jakarta now, both waiting for the other to do something first. So for now, Alyssa (the E/MS principal) will be teaching 4th grade, and they'll find a sub to cover her math classes. Please be praying for her because in addition to her new teaching responsibilities, she still has to do all the administrative work as the principal. And please keep praying that Scott's visa goes through and that he'll be able to get here quickly! The high school kids are back from their Outdoor Education (OE). They were gone for 2 weeks into the Interior. They did things like pull teeth, put on kids' clubs, help with AIDS clinics and prevention/education, show the JESUS film, and other things. Most of the kids stayed healthy, and we saw several families of OE kids at Papa Ron's Pizza on Friday night when Clare, Joyce, Justine, and I went. (I tried ordering teriyaki chicken pizza for the 3rd time, and they still don't have it.) I enjoyed watching The Princess Bride with the girls on Friday night, too.
Thursday, our day off, I ended up not going to the Efar (General MacArthur hill/museum) because the dorm parents (Garth & Rachel Erickson) invited me to go to Kali Biru with them. Kali Biru (I think it means "blue water") is kinda like a natural water park - there's a small waterfall that creates a current that leads to a shallow pool of cool (not cold like people said it would be) water. There's a "bridge" of 2 logs across the banks of the river, about 15 ft. above the water. The logs shift up and down as you walk across, but when you finally get to the middle, you can jump off! It was a blast!!!! 
I jumped several times, and even jumped off the platform (a narrow piece of wood about 5 inches wide that has nails sticking out of it) which is about 20 ft. above the water. There are some shorter banks to jump off, too, and some rocks to sit on in the water away from the current. With the Ericksons 4 kids and the other friends they brought along, we had a group of 12 of us. We were there from 9:30 til about 2, which was perfect. I managed to get sunburned (I didn't put sunscreen on til about 11 - I guess that's not soon enough when you're right on the equator), but it was worth it! I also have a bruise on my leg from hitting the water. 
Several Indonesians were there, too, and they had no qualms about running across the wobbling bridge or platform, hanging off by their legs, and pushing each other around. They did backflips and dives and all sorts of stuff off the bridge. It was a ton of fun to watch! I got some videos, which are pretty cool. Clare had me over for homemade pizza that night (after a shower and a nap), and we watched the end of Lord of the Rings 3 - it was a great day off! It made it hard to go back to school on Friday. ;)
Saturday I got to explore the mall. Joyce, Justine, Clare, and I went to the Hypermart for our usual Saturday shopping trip. I got some “soft chocolate chip cookies,” which turned out to be a huge disappointment. They’re not very soft, and there’s a chocolate filling in the middle – no chocolate chips. I also got exciting things like soup mixes, an onion, carrots, bananas, some potato chips, and notebooks with humorous covers (the English translations for things here are hilarious!). We put our groceries in the car, then they showed me the mall. I bought a watch for about $9 since my watch died last week. I got a pink skirt ($8) and some Papua t-shirts ($4.50) at the department store that takes up the whole 2nd floor. We also went to the bookstore on the 3rd floor - I got an Indonesian Bible, an Indonesian-English dictionary, a map of Indonesia, and some stationary - all for less than $10. I got a pair of black sandals for $5, too. I like shopping here. :) We ate at "Texas Chicken" before heading back, and I tried the sweet corn sundae. It's really not that bad, but I think it got to my psychologically - after a few bites I picked the corn off and just ate the ice cream.
I got to talk to my parents, Hunter, and Lexi this weekend, which is always nice. I get to talk to Joel almost every day. Skype is a wonderful thing! I'm so grateful for e-mail and other means of communication. I love being able to stay in touch with people back home. Long-distance wedding planning has been a challenge, but I'm grateful that there are so many ways to communicate with people. We did lots of brainstorming for wedding things this weekend. A few things are starting to fall into place.
Today at church the message was given by the speaker from OE. He talked about Matthew 25:14-27, the parable of the talents. His conclusion was that God gives us each different talents in different amounts, but He’s not worried about quantity – he’s concerned about percents. The servant who got 10 talents had a 100% return by getting 10 more talents; the servant who got 5 talents had a 100% return by getting 5 more. The last servant who got 1 talent would have gotten the same response as the first 2 ("Well done, good and faithful servant") if he had earned 1 more talent. Instead he just hoarded it and it didn't do anything.
Tonight was a big night: I made a chocolate cake. My cousin's wife had sent me a recipe for "the best chocolate cake she's ever had," so I thought I'd give it a try. I had to squeeze lemons in order to get lemon juice to make a buttermilk substitution, and I couldn't find any vanilla at the store. But it turned out! Baking it was the trickiest part - the oven does not stay a consistent temperature. The edges got a little over done, but I had a piece and it tastes just fine. :) I'm quite proud of myself. Cooking/baking here has intimidated me, but now I know that I can do it. Next will be to cook a real meal - I have Clare's pimbantu (housekeeper) getting me some chicken breasts from the pasar (market) this week....I'm getting braver! But I also have some packages of Ramen as back-up. ;)
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