Some Gossip

Hey! I have not dropped off the face of the planet but I have since come down from my brush with fame as per my previous post. A lot, has happened in the last couple of weeks that I have not mentioned at all.

First off, my house mate and colleague, Girl J only gone and got herself a job working at an international school where she will be tripling her salary and she will start in April. This also means she would have to move out of the teachers' house and find her own place with Scottish J (forgot to mention that they are a couple). I am so happy for her as she is a great teacher and she will do well, but I will miss our wee chats and her being my Yoda (re: wise beyond her years and not small and green with pointy ears) since I moved here as a teacher. So J,congratulations on your new job and BIG UP YOURSELF! Speaking of teachers' leaving, my housemate L is going to be finishing up in about a fortnight and my friend D from Traveler Writer Filmmaker (check out her great blog) had her last class on Tuesday and will be leaving Jakarta to Bali for some R&R this weekend. I will be catching up with her tonight.

Secondly, I've been going out like nobody's business since I landed in Jakarta. Clubs, bars and hotels hosting free drink for the fairer sex. I will have to do dedicated posts about my experiences in each place. In a city like Jakarta, there are some decent drinking spots but I would love to find a place where I could hear some Urban tunes and pop my booty with reckless abandon as the clubs I've been to mainly play House music. So stayed tuned for posts on Jakarta's night life.

Thirdly, I've been Skyping my significant other on numerous occasions and weirdly enough I have not cried or been overly upset about not seeing him. This is the longest time I have not seen my darling Doc. I miss him terribly but he has been my biggest supporter in my endeavour and for that I am SO grateful to have him in my life. Truth be told, long distance relationships are a pain in the ass but absence makes the heart grow fonder!

Stay tuned for further posts about Jakarta transport and traffic!

Starstruck

So today, something rather peculiar happened. I have an Elementary-level Saturday class that lasts 3 hours. After that was finished, I packed up and took the bus home. Did I mention that I had my camera with me? I don't usually take my camera with me but I wanted to take some pictures of Jakarta traffic for my next post. Anyway, after I got off my stop I walked along Plaza Indonesia as I was craving for some lunch and then I saw him...

I saw the figure of a impish-looking man dressed in brown knee-length shorts and a white T-shirt strolling like he owned the place with a Starbucks coffee in his hand. I thought to myself  'I know this geezer' and then it hit me like a brick 'HOLY SHIT, THAT'S IAN BROWN!!!' For those who are not aware of The Stone Roses here's their most famous song Fool's Gold:

I turned to him and asked 'Excuse me, are you Ian Brown?' To which he replied 'Yeah, mate you alright?'  I asked for a picture and he graciously obliged. I asked him how Jakarta is treating him and he said he likes it and it is second time over. So in the midst of this pleasant chit-chat, he asked me if I was going to his show tonight. I said no as I had plans and then he then he said 'I could get you free ticket'. My mind started turning, Ian Brown is OFFERING me a FREE TICKET. Now, while I like music and I do like a few tunes from The Stone Roses and Mr. Brown's solo stuff. I would not say that I am enamoured with the band to go and see them live. But a free ticket is a free ticket. So what did this girl genius did? I passed on the gig. 

After I parted from Mr.Brown and wished him well for his gig, I skipped home and shouted to my house mates 'I MET IAN BLOODY BROWN!!!!' After regaling them with the tale of my encounter, I realized I could have seen The Stone Roses FOR FREE! My house mates were not impressed and on further reflection, I am SO not impressed with myself. So why did I turn him down? Simples, I was starstruck! I was so starstruck that I lost all sense and rationale to turn down a free gig because who in their right mind would do that?

With Ian Brown

My First Lesson

For those who've read my last couple of posts, I am a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher at a language school in Jakarta, Indonesia. Teaching was something that I never really thought of as a career option. Truth be told, I did not think I could teach a soul anything because I was a very average student. My averageness (if that's word) followed me to university where I got my average BA in an average subject and continued living a very average existence until I had an epiphany. I wanted more out of my life. I wanted to stop being average and try something new and completely out of my comfort zone. So I figured teaching abroad would be the way forward as the benefits are two-fold. First, I get to experience a culture that is so vastly different to my own and secondly, I can put on my CV that I did something other than admin jobs and had graduated from university so maybe I can get a decent enough job when I get back to the UK (I hope so at least).

But I digress, what I really want to rant talk about was my first lesson.This happened over two weeks ago on Saturday the 10th of February at 10 in the morning with elementary learners between the ages of 16-36. I had never taught before so I was nervous REALLY NERVOUS! I was nervous despite the fact that I had observed lessons all week and had gotten some great advice and tips for my lesson from my colleagues, I was still nervous! I was given less than a week to come up with a lesson plan which is plenty of time, right?! WRONG as I am a master procrastinator and only planned half of a 3 hour lesson. Not good.

Friday came and went, it was now Saturday morning. I woke up in my usual pool of sweat (Jakarta is hella hot!), turned on the room's AC, got out of bed and scuttled off to the shower. I then got dressed and waited for my ride to school. It was during my ride over that I figured if it does not go to plan, it isn't the end of the world. So I did just that, I went with the flow!

I got to my classroom early to set up my 'getting to know you' and warmer activities. Then, they came in! Six students (four guys and two girls) sat down looking at me possibly sensing fear and trepidation on my part behind my smile and laugh. I introduced myself a little too quickly to my students, so quick that their faces said 'Apa?' (Bahasa for what). I took a step back and had a breather. I then wrote my name on the board and elicited the pronunciation. After that, I introduced the game 'Lie Detector', I had written statements about myself on the board some were true, some were false and the students had to figure which ones were what. The statements were:

1. I am from England.
2. I drive a car.
3. I am married with two kids.
4. I support Manchester United.
5. My favourite colour is yellow. 

To my shock and horror, they thought I could drive, LOL! We also played a ball toss memory game, where they had to say their name and something they like and toss the ball to the next person who said their name and something they like and repeat what the previous person had said and continues to the last student who has to remember everything what everyone had said. This enabled me to assess their speaking and listening. It was awesome to see them smiling and laughing and equally awesome that there are a few Manchester United fans in the class too, hehe! I warmed up the class with an game that was based on the grammar point they worked on with their previous teacher, which went down quite well.

As the class wore on, I grew in confidence despite my half-assed lesson plan. I knew who were the weak and strong students and most importantly got to know my students and what made them tick. After finishing my lesson, I sent the students to the computer lab to do some on-line work for the course for the remainder of the class.This allowed me time to breath and say to myself:

 'I could get the hang of this, if I write a decent lesson plan!' 

I have now taught six classes and each one is different to the other. I've written decent lesson plans for some and winged it other times, oh well! But getting my first lesson out of the way is like going to the dentist get a tooth pulled. Once it's done, your fine! Of course, there is room for improvement because I am new to this teaching thing so I can only give myself time.

What was teaching your first lesson like?

The First Seven Days...in fragments

Since I have now been in Jakarta for two weeks, I think it is fair that I give a run-down of what my first seven days were like so here goes:

 THURSDAY 31ST OF JAN - Arrived at Jakarta International Airport in the afternoon where I was picked up by my colleague - who I will refer to from now on as Irish C - who took me to my humble abode and gave me the low-down on Jakarta and school life. As soon as he left me to go back to work, I had a much needed nap in my room. When I woke up, I was greeted by one of my six house mates, Scottish J . Since I was still in a bit of a sleep induced haze and not to  mention the fact that I did not know much about my surroundings, J took me to get some money changed and got some beers. By the time we got back, a few more house mates turned up ( two Canadians girls, Girl J (who I will be working with at the same school) and Little C and another Brit dude, Big P) after their long day at work. We promptly went out for dinner with other teachers which  included my other two other house mates (English J, a dude and another British girl L) from other schools and two which was cool but then, the jet lag kicked in around Midnight. Got back home where I slept with my eyes open (I can't sleep in a new place) but drifted off eventually.

Indonesian Rupiah - Still trying to get my head around this currency

FRIDAY 1ST OF FEB - Woke up at 3 (yes 3 in the afternoon, jet lag claimed me!) and realized much of the day was gone ; regardless, I went out and got myself a cheap phone at a shopping mall called Thamrin City (cheap bazaar type plaza). I also got dinner with Little C at Grand Indonesia Mall (grand as it is hella dear). Spoke to my boyfriend via Skype to say I am good (I updated on Facebook the day before that I was OK) and people are cool. Did I mention, that I was woken by the Call to Prayer at 4:30 in the morning?! I think that was why I spent the whole day in bed.

SATURDAY 2ND OF FEB - Found my way back to Thamrin City to a supermarket to get some toiletries food, hangers and the like to set up home and finally unpack my bags. I also got my phone registered and got credit on it thanks to a Indonesian girl who spoke good English and two cheeky boys who spoke no English.

SUNDAY 3RD OF FEB - Went to a buffet with my house mates and other teachers. I ate and drank my weight in seafood, fish ,cheese, cakes and red wine. This will probably be the last time I eat this will in Jakarta. More on that in another post. I also found myself at a party with a few Jamaicans living in Jakarta, thanks to a couple of acquaintances -Jamaican D and American M- I made before coming to Jakarta (gotta love social media). The party was great with Jamaican food and music I was getting down to some old school Dancehall tunes like no one's business, why not?!

Buffet Food

MONDAY 4TH OF FEB - First day at school I was picked  up from my house and taken to school by a driver; who will all also drop me home (this is just for two weeks though *sad face*). I was introduced the school's Director of Studies Big J, an Englishwoman who just came back from compassionate leave. The electricity also went out at the school for a LONG time, but in that time I became acquainted with the local staff and a warung (Indonesian eateries) where I got my lunch. But regardless, I got to meet my fellow teachers and observed a couple of classes. One with pre-schoolers and the other high level teenagers (taught by Girl J). This showed me the stark differences between teaching kids and older kids.

TUESDAY 5TH OF FEB - Spent another day at the school observing a couple of lessons taught by time with senior teacher, London boy T and Irish C.

WEDNESDAY 6TH OF FEB -A day of firsts - Indonesian rain and Indonesian traffic. The latter is something that will irk me on no end. I also co-taught a class of intermediate girls. I planned the lesson with one of the local teachers -there are three at my school- and added a Taylor Swift tune to the lesson to teach the 3rd Conditional because pop music in English lessons always translate well. This class will be mine to teach for the coming weeks so it was nice to get to know the girls.

Jakarta Traffic

THURSDAY 7TH OF FEB - Finished work early.One observation and going over lesson ideas with Big J because I teach my first class on Saturday *biting nails* *silent scream*. I also did another observation of a lesson with Brighton A , a dude from Brighton.

FRIDAY 8TH OF FEB - Day of rest (no school!) but planned my 3 hour class for Saturday and went to another part of Jakarta known as Kelapa Gading and met my acquaintance from the Jamaican party. I got there by taxi in Jakarta traffic at a tune of 50,000rph ( £3) which made my soul cry as it is pretty steep. Kelapa Gading reminds me so much of Croydon near South London, a city within a city because it was PROPER busy! I also tried Nasi Goreng- the Indonesian national dish- for the first time at a restaurant there and it was DELICIOUS!

One of the many shopping malls in Indonesia. This one is in Kelapa Gading

Roundabout in Kelapa Gading

Yummy Nasi Goreng and Chicken Satay 

So there you have it my first few days. Stay tuned to find out how my first class went.

Are you an expat living or had lived  in Jakarta? How did you find it?

Hi, I'm New Here

Hi my name is Chanelle - like the fashion house but spelt differently - and I am a first time teacher of English living and working in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. How the hell did I get here? Simples, I did a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in my 'home' country of Great Britain and looked for opportunities to teach. I knew that my level of qualification was not good enough to teach in England or Europe for that matter, so I decided to look further a field into Asia.

As a continent, Asia has always fascinated because of the diversity of its people, history,multitude of cultures and warm weather. I figured if I was going to start my TEFL career somewhere why not in an Asian country?!

So I began looking and doing research on a couple of Asian countries that interested me namely China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. After crossing off Thailand and China of my list, I decided to apply for the EPIK programme in Korea and also apply for a couple of jobs in Indonesia (one in Jakarta and the other in Cirebon). To cut a long story short, I did not meet certain criteria for EPIK thus my application was rejected *smh* but, I had an interview with a Jakarta school and will here I am!

                                                 No I did not take this photo

It's nearly been two weeks since I got off the plane from Soekerno- Hatta International Airport, cranky from lack of sleep after flying for over 15 hours and also for not having a shower since I left London that Wednesday afternoon (I arrived on a hot ass Thursday afternoon). I am still adjusting myself to this new life in a culture that is as strange to me as I am as strange to the locals, LOL! But I digress, I have now thrown myself into my new role and loving my colleagues and the people I have surrounded myself with since arriving in Jakarta, if this is a path that is right for me then I will surely know sooner rather than later.

So join me as I natter on about my triumphs and tribulations of teaching and living as a bule* in Indonesia.

* Bule - Indonesian for foreigner but normally for those of the fair skinned persuasion.