Rosa Parks

During my second student teaching in Perry-Lecompton, one of my spunkier 6^th grade students used to always say, “Mr. P, how come you are going to teach in Indonesia? Shouldn’t you be teaching in the Philippines? Get it? Huh, doyougetit?!” I got it. I had it the first 16 times, too. But the weird thing is that I might as well have gone to the Philippines. I would guess that 80% of our teaching staff at the Primary School is Filipino (I give them a hard time for swapping “Ph” for “F”. They give me a hard time for being…well, me). I guess I just didn’t notice during my first 3 weeks on staff, but I looked around this week and, hey, what do you know, I’m the only white male here. I guess I just never noticed. Mr Eduardo (there is no “full-stop” – their term for period – after Mr, Dr, Ms, etc.) is from Milwaukee, but he is of Puerto Rican decent and has a darker skin complexion*. The Filipinos, as a whole, are a very conservative group. They are very soft-spoken, but they are a lot of fun to be around. They are very friendly, if you are outgoing, and that has helped make my transition fairly smooth. I cannot say enough about the staff at the Primary School at BBS and how welcome they have made me feel this past month. I am very blessed to be where I am today. It’s almost as if someone is looking out for me and watching over me. #sarcasm #ofcoursethereishisnameisGod

*Speaking of skin complexion: funny conversation happened the other night. I was talking with one of the Filipino teachers and they commented on how much they would love to have a skin color like mine (no, seriously). I laughed and said, “but you have a beautiful, dark tan and mine is a nasty, pale white.” I realized that this is another example of people wanting what they don’t have.

To get around Jakarta, we have started taking the public bus system more and more. A few weeks ago I saw this guy across the street from my bus stop (pictured below).

Chiefs Nation be everywhere doe !! The bus is not nearly as sketch as everyone says. On some select buses, the front of the bus is sectioned off for women. My good friend Levi had the line of July last Sunday when he turned to me and said, “One of these days I’m gonna go all Rosa Parks on these people...” I died laughing. I am proud to say I have stolen that line multiple times already when traveling with other friends. One way that public transportation is similar to America’s is that you never know what to expect. Check out the freakishly, and I mean freakishly, long thumb fingernail on this homie.

Straight croipy (our word for creepy in college). Anyway, Levi made the comment sometime after church on Sunday when we were bouncing around the city. This last Sunday we made it to the Museum Nasional. The museum was…a museum. Some cool stuff. Some boring stuff. And some stuff that makes you say, “why would anyone want to look at this?” Below I have posted some cool pictures, in my opinion, from the museum. One of the coolest parts was the section on jewelry – unfortunately that is the one area where photography is prohibited.

 (outside of the Museum Nasional)

(I see Kansas !!)

(they had several fat elephants - I can dig it)

(this guy just looked sweet; some of the different sculptures were estimated to be from the 9th and 10th C)

(natives believe that the use of the dragon symbol helps keep evil spirits away)

(there was a very cool section of museum dedicated to traditional home architecture in Indonesia)

(map showing the different native groups of Indonesia)

(the one pic of jewelry I got before being shown the sign that blatantly said, "No photography")

The sense of humor for people here is just like back in America: varies person to person. Some of the Filipinos really don’t get my sarcasm at all and others love it. Taking a page from the “Awful Comparisons that Should Never Be Made” book that was authored by my father, Mr Samso (the lovely gentleman who runs our copies for us) compared me to “that guy who drives the yellow car in Transformers.” I pulled up a picture of Shia LaBeouf and he said I look just like him. I’ll let you be the judge.

Tomorrow morning I am off to Bali with 6 fellow Bina Bangsa rookies. We plan to spend 3 days in Bali and the other 6 in the Gili Islands/Lombok. I think. I didn’t have much to do with putting this trip together, but I am very excited to tag along. This also means that I am going to be reunited with my good friends Eli and Bardley (his name is Bradley, but the school spelled his name wrong on his nametag the first day so, naturally, he will never be called “Bradley” by me or Eli ever again). I look forward to seeing the more aesthetically pleasing part of Indonesia.

The students start every morning with this prayer:

“Dear God,

I offer you this day

All I think or do or say

Teach me to share
My things with others

And help me
Not to fuss and fight

Please help me
When I am wrong

To find my way
Back to You

In Jesus’ name I pray

Amen.”

I know the students treat it like I did the “Pledge of Allegiance” in America, but I try to take it to heart. It is a great way to get focused on my real mission in life before the craziness that is a school day begins.

Love all of you and I cannot thank you enough for the thoughts/prayers. If you ever want to get a hold of me: mattsphillips@cox.net. I love hearing from all of you !!