Teaching Other Cultures

China, Taiwan, Germany, Thailand, Canada, the United States, Singapore, Japan, Australia, South Korea, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia are all countries that I have had kids in my class from. I may be missing a few, but the point is these kids come from all over the place. Ten years ago I could not even fathom getting to teach kids from multiple cultures. I definitely did not have the background, having grown up in rural Oregon. Regardless of my background, this is where God has brought me and I have learned much from it. I hope this glimpse of the things I have learned is helpful.

There are two areas that I have developed a better an understanding about: First, what culture I have learned about culture. Second, how to teach kids coming from different cultures in a culture I am not even from.

Culture is often defined by food, language, dance, traditional clothes, art, history, and customs. However, as I have had the opportunity to observe these things, I can see that those items are like the outside of the pyramids. Everybody can easily look and see the walls that hold up the pyramid, but it takes a little bit of digging to find the treasures and bones hidden inside. Some of the cultural things may seem to an outsider like nasty bones, while other parts are more like treasures. No matter if they are bones or treasure, each bit found creates that person's cultural background.

The bones and treasures of culture that I have found digging through my time here in Inodesia are many. This is just list of what I have come to see that have differed in different cultures: thoughts of modesty, learning styles, what beauty is, spatial awareness, family living, etiquette, religious beliefs, time, age. I am sure there are more, but they are slipping my mind currently.

Having considered this continuously growing list, has caused me to stop and think how am I doing as a teacher? Am I holding my own cultural bones and treasures above their needs? In order to love my kids best and put their needs above my own, I need to learn about their culture. I need to find out how God has designed their background.

Just a small representation of culture

Not everybody has the opportunity to interact with as many cultures. However, everybody does have the opportunity to learn things about new people and find out more about them to put others first.

Teaching: My Idol

This is a long overdue post and a bit different than normal, but what is on my heart.

How often have I sat in church and listened to a sermon about idols? Or, how many times have I taught a lesson at school or church about idolatry? I can tell you, it was more than I can count on my fingers and toes combined! Most of the time, I think to myself, “Meh, there are not many things that are idols in my life. I don't worship one of those tiny statues that say made in_______ on the bottom of it. The things that do come to mind are friendships, television, and books.”

I think those three items come to mind because they are tangible. They are things that I can touch. Up until this last week, if somebody had asked if work, teaching, was my idol, my answer would have been no. I wasn't staying late at work; papers were not being brought home to grade; and my weekends were a work free zone. So, in my head, teaching was not an idol.

This mindset began to change, when discussing with a friend why we constantly complain about different things at school. I realized that my time with my friends was constantly filled with talk about school things. That weekend, I was taking an evangelism course. The leader brought up some of the reasons Christians don't evangelize. The reasons were broken down into two categories: skill issues and heart issues. One of the heart issues was, God is not at the forefront of our conversations. The things we discuss most are what we put first, AKA idols.

A firework show began to go off in my head. Neon lit arrows were pointing it out. Yikes, I had made teaching my idol! This is idolatry and all idolatry is destructive

Here is what I saw and how I knew it had become my idol:

1.     Talking About It My conversations were clearly defined by what I do and enjoy. It had become my identity. I should, however, find my identity in Christ. I felt like I had to talk about school and also felt that complaining about certain things wasn’t to bad. Now don’t get me wrong, teaching is not just a job. It truly is a calling and sometimes requires a whole truckload of time. I sometimes get so wrapped up in talking about it because I want to make sure it is always being improved. But if I’m not careful, it will continue to be my idol factory.

2.     Money Spent I recently was doing my taxes and checking how much I spent on a great website with teacher resources. I wasn’t even phased. Now, churches here don’t give a giving statement at the end of the year, so I can’t say whether I gave more than I spent. The amount I spent isn’t actually my problem though. It is my willingness to spend it. Timothy Keller, in his introduction of the book Counterfeit gods, paints a clear picture of my dilemma, “An idol has such controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought.” The key is “without a second thought.” When I purchase the teaching resource online I easily justify the purchase. However, when giving at church I find myself questioning how much I should be putting in. This spending has become an idol.

3.     Easy Frustration The final thing that made it evident was the frustration I was feeling when I wasn’t seeing things formed the way I thought was best. God’s word calls us to put off our old self. In Ephesians 4:25-32 we are given many examples of what not to do, followed up by things that we should do. Verse 29 and 31-32 are what really got me, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace for all who hear.”²⁹ “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.³¹ Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.^32” I know the things in my heart were not following this example. My frustration was taking over.

Sometime, during the last couple years, teaching had taken over my life. The time that I used to spend thinking, talking and loving (probably a better way of stating it) about Jesus was now filled with talking, spending and frustrating constantly (again probably not the correct use of the words) about teaching. My idolatry of teaching has crumbled it cannot hold under the weight of worship that solely belongs to God. It can be easy for me to let teaching become that idol again, but for now Romans 1:18-32 is sobering reminder why I should seek to put God first and worship Him alone.

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.³² Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

So please pray as I seek to follow God's command to worship Him, and Him alone. I encourage you also to examine your life and see what has become your idol factory.

The City with it All

Have you ever heard the slogan "Ace the helpful Place?" Or maybe you are from the northwest and have heard the jingle from Fred Meyer, "What's on your list today? You'll find it at Fred Meyer. One stop and your on your way home." These two things are saying that anything you need will be there at the store. Ace is more of a hardware store while Fred Meyer has a range from food to lumber, clothes to plumbing.  Neither kind of store can be found in this country, granted we do have an Ace, but "helpful place" ahhh.... not so much.

As somebody who is not from here and struggles through speaking simple sentences in bahaha Indonesia, it is hard to work on any projects. It can often be heard by many expats if only there was a ___________ (fill in the blank with their home country hardware store) to pop into and browse the aisles. For myself I can easily ask a people around school for help order, but sometimes it's just that I am unable to verbalize my plan and just need to get the things myself. So again it comes back to if only Jakarta had a convenient place to find it. 

Last week was spring break and it was a relaxing time. During my time off I made the decision to go out on a motorbike ride. (no I wasn't driving) There are many reasons to enjoy motorbike rides price, speed, and different roads. The place that I was headed was over 25 kilometers away, so I had to have a midway point before continuing on to the next. The trip was a culmination of 32.7 kilometers and lasted an hour and eighteen minutes.

My Route.

If you look at the photo you will see my beginning at the green dot, the midway point is where the orange toll roads intersect, and finished at the red point. What you cannot see from this quick glance and zoomed out map is everything I saw. If you were able to zoom in on the map you would see the little old lady selling potted plants along Jalan Panjang Areti. Continue that road to find lumber for sale. Or move backwards to Jalan Kebayoran Baru and find more power tools than you can find in Ace. As I was riding through these roads it was in the streets of Jakarta that I was finding what "was on my list." Jakarta had it all the things that I needed, but I just hadn't taken the time to look for it. I had the excuses that I wouldn't understand, that somebody else could do it for me, and that it would be uncomfortable, but as stated those were just excuses.  Was the motorbike ride comfortable? Absolutely not, I mean you're riding behind some stranger on a under stuffed seat all while wearing a helmet that hundreds of others have worn. Oh and motorbikes don't get the easy route. Sometimes they have to take side roads with speed bumps every 15 feet OR detour through the rocky alley. So it is not comfortable but it is worth the ride being able to see all the sites above and even more so being able to know the city better.

Actually while walking

Old softball field

Bricks for sale

As I was riding it gave me time to think. These last couple of weeks I have been reading a book by Tim Challis about spiritual discernment. The bigger points that I had come across by the time of this ride were about knowing God's word and that you can't be discerning unless you know His word. It began to sink in, just like in Jakarta finding the things you need isn't easy, but you have to go through it to know it. Just like Jakarta it would be easy to have somebody else find the supplies for you, but you need to know His word. Just like Jakarta things can get uncomfortable, but we need to know all of it, not just the coffee mug verses even those that point out our sin. Just like Jakarta you might not understand the language, but you need to learn it.

I am thankful that there are not items all in one place, so that I could see it all.

Foxes with no legs

As always (although it has been months) please forgive the spelling/grammar errors.

Other updates:

Next year I have the opportunity to expand my experience to a new grade.

I will be finishing my 4th year here and begin my 5th in July.

Random things I made:

Eggplant parmesan (I didn't do so well)

Prayer: finishing the year strong while planning for the new grade.

Continually for the relationships with those around

Hudson Taylor Style...Learning the language

During my many summers of CYIA and 5 day clubs we always had the opportunity of telling missionary stories. Stories of Mary Slessor, missionary to Nigeria, John Paton, missionary to New Hebrides Islands, as well as Ringu, the little boy from India, and Ti-Fam from Haiti who both hear from missionaries about God constantly ran through my head. The story that sticks with me the most is the story of Hudson Taylor. 

Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the 1800's. When I say that his story sticks with me the most, it is not that I actually remember much about him. His story sticks with me the most because he was one of the first, modern day, missionaries to meet the people where they were at. Instead of trying to get the people of China to dress and talk like Englishmen, Taylor chose to dress and learn the language of the area. He even went as far as adopting the hairstyle, queue (not sure if that is spelled correctly). This is the style where the front of the head is shaved and you have a long braided ponytail in the back. He did this so that he could engage the culture God had placed him in.

I am now coming up on the end of three years in Jakarta. I have been to many cultural sights. I have made the national fabric, Batik. (At least tried anyway) I have been to almost all of the hub cities: Jakarta, Bandung, Jogja, Palembang, and Bali. I have taken almost all means of transportation: boat, airplane, train, taxi, bus, bajaj,  and ojek. I have climbed mountains and volcanoes, crossed rivers, trekked through jungles, and swam in different parts of the ocean. Yet, I have not engaged the culture.

To engage in a culture you need to understand the backstories, the quirks, the traditions, the religious beliefs, the food, the holidays, the school systems, and the celebrations. I am sure there are more that I could list but I think you get the picture. Who better to get a better understanding of these things from than from the local people. Unfortunately I am unable to communicate with them and that it is why I have yet to engage with the culture. 

I was thinking those exact thoughts when I was invited, by one of the security guards at my school, for kopi (coffee). I sat there as my new found friends tried to engage in conversation with me in their broken English and my not even close to broken Bahasa Indonesian. Needless to say we sat there awkwardly most of the time. After that night I realized the mistake I made by not learning the language 3 years ago. I could blame this on the people who said oh you don't need to you live in an expat community, unfortunately I cannot. I can only blame myself because many of my friends have taken the opportunity to go to language school, and because of that they can do more than give directions and say good morning. 

That night when I got home I started looking up how to learn the Indonesian language. The biggest thing that I found was saturate yourself with the language. So I bought a few more Indonesian movies to add to my collection. I looked up youtube videos of songs. Doing this allowed me to constantly hear how the words are built. I also began using an app that taught me meaningful phrases that continues to build and test my vocabulary everyday. I started going to a reading group on Saturday and Sunday to listen to a kids book being read. I started hanging out with the security even more. Now, I am nowhere near fluent, not by a long shot, but with the words I have learned and google translate (which has been very helpful) I have begun to engage.

I have been able to sit with kids at reading club at 6 AM and follow along with the story about Harun and the Sea of Stories. There have now been to many late nights hanging out with the security. Getting to hear their life stories, finding out about loss of loved ones, new marriages, hunting and fishing stories, and stories of their families. 

Why would I care to do this? It is not easy, but God has called me to engage the culture that I live in. So that is what I am working on doing.  I am learning the language so that I can continue these conversations without Google Translate in between. 

One last thing as I wrap up this long post, as I was thinking about Hudson Taylor and saturating myself in the language. It was a good reminder to be saturated in God's word. Because just as I need to be listening to Bahasa to better understand it, I need to also constantly be in His word to better understand Him and how to serve him.

So if you ever move to a place with a different language please learn from my mistake and learn to be like Hudson Taylor and engage early.

Big City Living- Is it an advantage?

I think back to my time teaching and coaching in rural Lebanon, Oregon (15,930). Many of the students that I coached and some people that I was acquainted with had aspirations to live in a "Big City." For some that meant areas like Portland (632,309) or Seattle (684,451).  While others there goals are Los Angeles (4,030,904), Chicago (2,720,546)  or New York City (8,550,405). They want to move to these places because small towns don't have things to do. They don't have malls, movie theaters, sports venues, or many restaurants.  

Living in a Jakarta (9,607,787) has taught me the importance of those things. They mean diddly squat if you don't have the people to actually do them with. Jakarta alone has  about 173 malls, not all high quality but still malls. As many of you know I am a very social person. I enjoy meeting people and getting to know people. Many conversations that I have had with people have pointed to the fact that although these cities continue to fill with people, the meaningful interactions tends to decrease. The biggest contributor is that with populous cities comes traffic. The new people that I have met within the last few weeks feel alone in this big city, mainly because getting anywhere in the traffic takes forever. Something that is 10 miles away, quite possibly could take 2 hours to reach. This deters so many people from going and hanging out. For awhile I could not figure out why so many of our students would just stay and hang out in our lobby or the Starbucks next door. I now realize it is because once they head home, interactions with their friends is limited not for lack of transportation, but because of the time it would require in the car. 

I bring this up not because I am lonely, on the contrary, it is to point out the blessing that God has given me. I live in the school I teach at, and while it has its disadvantages it also has its advantages. I live amongst people who are my colleagues, friends, and family in Christ. We may not always see eye to eye on everything and we may tire of each other occasionally, but we have a built in social group. And while these people will occasionally drive us crazy, it is important to remember that God uses this community to grow us and keep us sane. The other great thing is that wherever I move, if there is Gospel preaching church, then I have community there. We may have different cultural backgrounds, but we are united as one with Christ. 

So, if you plan to move to the "Big City" and want meaningful relationships, get plugged into a local church and be involved.

*All these stats are taken from each cities Wikipedia page. So take it with a grain of salt. I do not condone this as a source of research. :) 

Basketball-Teachers and Staff

Teacher and Staff Appreciation day

Small Group

The Red Cup of Yuletide Greetings

Sometimes living as an expat the things that are missed just seem silly. If I were back home I wouldn't miss them. In fact I would rarely even care about them. But, for some reason those "silly" things are big reminders of home.

Some silly things I miss in no order of missing: Mountain Dew (barely drink it at home), drinking fountains, window screens, parking lots (not parking garages), elementary sports(maybe not as silly) I miss seeing my students play, and american chinese food (I can see some people shaking their heads).

The other day on a friend's status update they were laughing at the fact that people get so excited about the red cups at Starbucks. I to would be one of those people laughing at how funny that is, especially because I could care less about Starbucks in Oregon. The only reason I ever went there was when friends were working (right Heide?).  But here when they say that those holiday drinks are coming, with the possibility of that red cup, many of us get excited. We get excited because we can have that piece of home across the ocean. At the moment we may not get to be with our family, but we can warm our hands (not much warming needed) and warm our hearts as we recall those memories God has given us.

So as you get your Starbucks red cup, or better yet a red, blue, or green Dutch Bros cup think about how silly it is that people get excited about them. Then think of your friends that are somewhere overseas and drop them a message.

Here are some fun things that I have gotten to do the last few weeks:

Fun graph projects

The kids came up with their own question
 and ways to collect data.

Its great to have a great friend
for friendly rivalry.

Technology PD, obviously the focus was not on
 "How to take good non-blurry selfies"

Mr. Randall and Captain Zeb

Friends came to visit

Prayers: 

My parents are in the Philippines at the time, but in 5 weeks they get to come and visit for Christmas, pray for safety and health as they share the Gospel.

Pray for my church as we continue to search for a worship/associate pastor

Leaving Grade 1

As I prepare for the end of another year, I am sad but excited.

There are a few reasons to be sad but excited:

People moving- means not seeing them on a daily or weekly basis, but God has new great things in store.

Moving students up- they are no longer my kids, but they get an opportunity to learn in new ways.

Although those two are big in being a teacher in an international setting, they are not what weighs heaviest.

The item that weighs heaviest is moving grade levels. Those people who have never done this may not understand. Maybe this chart will help you understand.

Sad... No longer helping to tie shoes. No longer pretending I can do hair. No longer looking like superman. No longer teaching basic math. No longer having a co-teacher.

Excited... I no longer have to tie shoes! My shaky hands won’t fumble with hair clips I won’t have to move the desks alone! I get to relearn harder things! Getting to have my own class back!

The dependence that 1^st grade students have is something to be cherished. This age I am sad to leave. Those toothless grins cannot be replaced. Those comments from the passing Kindy students about how loud I am will not be forgotten.

I look forward to the 4^th grade independence. I look forward to the conversations that go beyond the student. I look forward to seeing old students up in their new hall.

So yes I am sad to leave the primary grades, but I am excited to see what is in store.

Kids are still kids no matter the age. They will still have quirks. They will still need some help. They will still need a teacher that shows them God’s love everyday.

I may have six weeks this summer, but I sure have a lot to prepare for.
Please pray for:
safe travels
preparation for the new year and grade
rest

As always I apologize for the non-fluidity of this, and spelling/grammar mistakes.

Who wouldn't miss these kids?