School Ties

My third post for today...

So yesterday I spent 11 hours at school. Working for 11 hours at home really wouldn’t be much of a problem, but the only issues I take with it here are 1. I’m not supposed to (easily forgiven) and 2. I am on display when at school – constantly “on”, constantly watching everything I say and do, and the center of attention, even when on “break”. It’s exhausting.

That said, I did notice some interesting things this week.

Wednesday was an important day for SMA 19. The school was being audited by an organization that provides/regulates “international standards”, ISO. What this means exactly, I don’t know. Even though I repeatedly asked, all I got was “It means we are an international school. We are a good school.” These typical answers are enough to convince you that the Indonesian school system needs improvement if only to enable people to give an independent, intelligent answer with meaning.

My Wednesdays usually go like this:

6:30-8 am X-2
8-9:30 am X-1
9:30-10:45 am break
10:45-12:15 pm IX Social 2
12:15-12:45 pm break
12:45-2:15 pm X-3
2:15-3:30 pm English Club

BUT, because ISO was in-house, the entire school spent first period cleaning the rooms. So now I was down to 3 classes (and when you teach each class only once a week, this is a big deal). And when the ISO people did come through, I was paraded in front of them. “Look, we have a native English speaker. Miss C, speak English! Tell them how much you like this school!” Mr. K turned on every electronic device in the room (ie. TV and his personal laptop) and laid out all his language CDs and cassettes. Never once have I seen him using cassettes. I understand this is important to my school, but the kissing of the asses was so transparent. And then, right before the last class of the day, Mr. K told me the teachers wanted to invite me down to lunch with the ISO people. I protested saying, “But I have class. What about the students? And, if all the teachers are having lunch together, who is teaching all the classes?” Mr. K assured me he would “take care” of the class himself saying, “My students are very important to me. The other teachers are not good human resources. I am a good teacher.” Blah blah blah; I went to the lunch and not 20 minutes later did I turn around to see him chatting it up with other teachers. I was engaged in conversation with the ISO people again, so what was I to do? So frustrating. We were discussing how the school had “bad maintenance, bad facilities, bad lay-out and isn’t ‘complete’”. Indonesians seem to be obsessed with this notion of “completeness”. Complete classroom, complete family, complete city. Later, instead of going to English Club, Mr. K had me sit and chat with the teachers who all “wanted to know about my boyfriend.” Oh great. I just smiled and turned my heard, saying nothing. They then asked me why my face got red. They apparently didn’t understand and kept asking. “Tell us about your special man! You must have one! Why is your face red? Our faces don’t do that…” Oh gosh, people, it’s 'cuz I’m a “light-white.” Us light bules, we blush. I didn’t really say that, but come on.

The conversation continued on something like this:

Teachers: Do you have a best friend? A special man?
Me: smile and look down (how many times can I really answer this question with the same people? No answer seems to placate them.)
Teachers: Yes, you do. Of course. It is only normal.
Me: slightly laugh
Teachers: Is it difficult to get boyfriend in America?
Me: No
Teachers: Is it easy? You know, easy?
Me: Um, no…?
Teachers: You are normal girl with pretty face, it must be easy for you.
Me: [my self-esteem does a roller coaster effect…] blushing
Teachers: Yes, so easy. You must have 1, 2, 3, 4 boyfriends.
Me: Haha. Nope
Pak Aziz: Do you sleep alone?
Me: Apa? What? Um….(looking around the room, especially to the other women who are grinning)
Mr. K: His English is bad. He means do you live alone.
Me: Oh. No, with an Indonesian family.
Pak Aziz: When will you get married?
Me: To who? Um…I don’t know.
Teachers: To this boyfriend or the next one. When do you get married? 25? 26? 27?
Mr. K: She will get married in 5 years.
Me: Well, I have no idea, sorry.
Teachers: Want to marry an Indonesian?
Me: No one in particular…
Pak Aziz: How about someone with a mustache? Strong man.
Me: smile…No, thanks. (everything MUST be done with a smile)
Pak Aziz: Do you have birth control in your country?
Me: PANIC
Mr. K: In Indonesia, the government rewards us for only have 2 children instead of more.
Me: Ohhhhhh, no.

Pak Aziz is an Islam teacher with a mustache…Mr. K apologized for him later.

They then proceeded to ask me if I like Michael Bolton, Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears or Madonna. Oh, the music that makes it over here…

I then excused myself to join the end of English club where I listened to the debate team practice. In Indonesia you can actually refuse a question from the opposing team if you think it might “lessen your score” and points are assigned based on how long you talk, not necessarily what you say. Whoa.

After debate practice I explained how Christmas in America can be both religious and cultural. They were pretty interested in Santa…One student then began to ask me if I ate dog. Um, no. What about snake, or horse? No, thanks. Apparently this particular student is from Ambon, an island in the Muluccus which is going through bitter religious war right now. They eat dog and snake and horse. When I later asked Mr. K if eating these animals was common in Indo, he replied, “No. Most Indonesians are Muslim, of course. And Muslims do no eat hot meat – no pig, no dog, no horse, no snake.” “What do you mean, ‘hot’?” “Hot – the meat is hot. We do not eat it. It is not allowed.” Again, indirect answers which are thought to be direct but which really only highlight religious illiteracy.

When I grabbed a taxi home that day (because it was raining and Mr. K had "disappeared"), the driver immediately called his friend on his video-chat cell phone. I mean, if you have a friend that speaks some English, and you have an English speaker in your car, you must have them speak to one another! I gladly obliged.

Today, as I was grading the students’ English notebooks, I happened upon an exercise that their grammar teacher had given them about appearances. One of the prompt questions was, “What features do you like in a boyfriend or girlfriend?” I was so sad to see some of the answers included white skin and a pointy nose.

They were also asked which part of their body they liked best (I was very surprised to see this question…). Most kids said their eyes or lips or cheeks or feet, but one girl wrote, “Part of body which I proud is my heart, because heart is all of them, and then heart is mirror of character.” Aw.