teacher

i thought that i can offer my time and talents to the mountain school once a week, rather than making a monetary donation, so i called up dirga and asked if i could again join him on saturday morning at school. "sure". and off we went up the mountain again, and i tried to imagine how these little kids walk this 6 days a week, during the 4 months of monsoon,  when we arrived at the path to the school a pick up truck was parked on the path with some men who were trying to convince a cow to climb into the truck. it was touching to be greeted by the young boys suddenly standing erect and blessing us as we entered the school grounds. they were sincere. 

dirga turned to me as we walked into the school asking me what i would like to teach today? i was surprised because i didn't know i would be teaching, but thought it might be an option, i suggested qigong and an english song (that had suddenly come to my mind during meditation that morning). he said fine, and we peeked into a few classrooms until he found one without a teacher, and figured that that is where we will be. the kids were 10 year olds, and in the 4th grade, all sitting happily and quietly in pairs in rows of tables. he asked them in indonesian if they would like me to teach them today. an enthusiastic chorus of a loud yes resounded from all of them. with a reception like that, i already felt comfortable and at ease with them even though we had never met before. 

he told me he would stay to translate, but in the end he left after a while since my indonesian and sign language was enough to make myself understood. since i started doing qigong a year ago, i have seen the dramatic positive effects of it on my health and am happy to share it with whoever wants to feel healthy and connected with their body and a universal energy source. so it was only natural for me that we should all begin with 10-15 minutes of fun qigong exercises, that hopefully will become a daily routine for them, and can aid in developing a healthy lifestyle. they were great. all happy to be going along with the exercises.

when we finished i invited them all to continue standing and make a big circle. it just seemed the thing to do...no frontal sitting at desks for these energetic spirited kids! i then broke into "head shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes" with accompanying body movements...and the loud voices of 30 happy children joined me. i had no idea whether they knew the song or not, i just thought we would have fun, standing up, moving our bodies, singing, and speaking english. earlier in the week when i had consulted with a friend who has taught english as a second language in elementary schools, what she suggests, her answer was "follow your heart"...so my heart said "do it", so i did. and she was right, if i was enthusiastic and happy, they were too. 

they tried to teach me the same song with the indonesian words!  total failure! we all laughed as i tried to imitate 30 kids all yelling out the word in indonesian, and then trying to remember it a minute later. children from the other classrooms were filling up the open doorways and chiming in with us as we sang faster and faster. and then suddenly dirga came back in and motioned that i have to finish in 5 minutes! so i instantly decided to have groups of 6 sing together in front of the rest of the class, and ended up laughing as the groups of 6 quickly organized, but everyone sang along with them, happily. no stage fright for anyone here. 

suddenly a teacher brought in a big bag of folded paper triangular packets filled with a hot chicken and rice carry out lunch for each of them. dirga had them passing them to each of the children. some smelled the packets, some quietly placed them on the table in front of them. once they had all said a communal prayer they picked up their packets and went to sit outside together for their lunch break, one sweet boy stayed in the room. i asked dirga why. he thought the child might be allergic to the food, so he went over to talk with him, the boy politely placed the folded triangle on the table and sweetly explained that in his village they are not allowed to eat meat for 10 days prior to the big ceremony they will be celebrating, so he would not be eating this food today. it was so touching seeing him simply accept his conditions. i wondered what he would do with the food packet later?  maybe feed it to their pig? 

next dirga explained that we would be leaving soon since school was ending early today because the teachers were going to a wedding. oh! it made me laugh. now i understood why the beautiful balinese teacher in the other classroom was wearing white high heel shoes and a beige mini skirt and looked like Miss World Beauty Pageant. she was going to a wedding after teaching the 6th graders how to crochet with the tiniest crochet hook i ever saw, and balls of thin yarn....poor children! i assumed it had been donated by some good soul, but wondered if this was really a skill suitable for young children.

 as i waited for dirga to pick me up to leave, i could hear students from other classes that were on their break, singing loudly the song i had just taught! i looked around at the simple old classroom, which resembled the way my elementary school looked 50 years ago in america. a few colored pencil drawings had been tacked on a bulletin board drawn. my mind filled with ideas of how to open up their creativity with water colors, colorful crayons, drawing mandalas, origami, big pieces of drawing paper, brushes, paints...i tried to figure out how i could get donations from people or companies in israel to contribute supplies for these poor children that barely have food and clothing let alone arts and crafts supplies! my mind raced to the waldorf elementary schools and i wondered whether i could blend the two worlds? 

then dirga called me to join him on the motorbike ride back down the steep dirt road, which for some reason was no longer smooth, and made it even more difficult to walk and drive on. how would they manage next month once the monsoons began?  such poverty, and together with that, such happiness and enthusiasm. i asked dirga if the children knew the song i taught? "yes, we sing it also in indonesian, and yes, i taught it to them in the past." i laughed. what difference did it make? we had so much fun...the whole school had fun joining in the loud singing and laughter. teacher...