School | Indonesian Independence Day 2013

Independence Day came right at the beginning of the school year this year. As usual, we donned clothing to represent the Indonesian flag (red on top, white on bottom). Because we hadn't been in school very long, we had our own special celebration down in kindy, apart from the rest of the school. We sang Indonesia Raya (which you can listen to here), learned about freedom and celebrated that freedom with a round of games!

School | The First Day

It's a whole new world this year! At SPH, students have three options for kindergarten, which we call kindy: K1 (3 yrs), K2 (4 yrs), and K3 (5 yrs). I am teaching one of two K3 classes this year and I absolutely love these kiddos!  I also have some siblings from my grade 3 class last year so it's fun to see how similar and yet different they are. Here are some shots from our photo booth on the first day of school! Some students were a wee bit camera shy, but as always, I'll clear that up real fast :)

Gunung Kawi | Bali | Indonesia

Gunung Kawi is a temple situated in the mountains just outside of Ubud. As we discovered on our drive, Google Maps hasn't quite figured out the area and by pure luck, we stumbled upon this as we were about to give up our hunt. One of three temples of the same name, this complex was not the one we were originally in search of but beautiful and majestic nonetheless. Situated at the foot of a cliff, visitors come from far and wide to bathe for ritualistic purification in one of the numerous pools.

Monkey Forest | Ubud | Bali | Indonesia

On the island of Bali, the town of Ubud is famous for art and monkeys. They might look cute and cuddly but appearances can be decieving! These particular monkeys are notorious for agressive behavior and theft. Have a bunch of bananas? They'll run up your leg or open your bag to snag them. Wearing sunglasses on your head? Good luck getting out of the forest with them in tact! Despite these flaws, monkeys are still monkeys and adorable nonetheless. Many of them were even sporting natural mohawks, particularly the babies!