Sekolah 3

Taking a few morning whacks on our sturdy tree.  It does not complain when hit.  

     On Fridays the boys wear their red uniforms.  My friend saw the pictures and said "They look like kilts!"  Uniforms come in all colors here and each school has their own "motif."  I've seen one school whose uniforms are all white -- perhaps appropriate for a nursing school but this was a preschool!  I've also seen some little boys running around in all pink plaid uniforms.

     I noticed that when we got to school, Jonathan had a lot of nervous energy and struggled to keep his hands to himself.  So my new strategy is to get the boys out into our yard 15 minutes earlier than usual to get out some little boy aggression and wiggles.  We start out by taking turns banging on one of our giant trees and then have races around the house.  The boys love the races and it does help us to get out the gate with smiles on our faces.  The morning exercises do help the boys to settle down for circle time at the beginning of the school day.

Morning races around the house help get the blood flowing and the wiggles out before school.

This day we worked on motor skills with lacing cards.  

Jonathan adores this school friend, but they haven't figured out how to BE friends without hurting each other.

     As the Lord leads you, please pray for Jonathan's interactions with his school friends.  He especially loves one little boy in the class, pictured above.  They always find each other at the beginning of the day and greet each other with a hug.  It's sweet to see, but sad when said friend comes up to Jonathan later and pinches him hard on the leg or punches him, literally, in the face.  Since they can't communicate with each other in the same language, they struggle to find other ways -- pinching, punching, bumping.  Sometimes they do play peacefully together -- looking at books or playing "mirror" but more often than not they have to be separated by the teachers.   It starts out innocent, but then it escalates when one will actually hurt the other, who hits back hard in revenge. Jonathan is confused about what friendship is all about and I am working hard with him at sekolah to help him navigate these hard waters of cross-cultural friendship.   He does have some ex-pat friends he plays with well at the Mountainview playground so I'm thankful he is having some positive play experiences.  Whether or not this improves is one big factor in whether we will decide to continue at this sekolah next school year.

Locked out....

     At every national school in this country on Monday mornings, all of the students participate in a very formal patriotic flag ceremony.  It last about 15 minutes and includes standing at attention like soldiers, saluting the flag at multiple, specific times, reciting in unison the 5 national virtues and singing the national anthem and other patriotic songs.  It starts exactly on time and those who are tardy are LOCKED OUT until the ceremony is over!  Here's a picture of the late crowd (including us) a few Mondays ago!  I've since decided that we will not attend the flag ceremony until the boys know more language and are more mature.  It's just too hard for them to stand still at attention for so long and they disrupt it for everyone else.

Pet therapy on the walk home after sekolah.

      The walk home after school is full of fun.  This nice dog lives just a few doors down from the sekolah and we always stop to say hello to her.  We don't usually mix with random dogs, but we've met the owners and "Sheri" is well cared for.    The boys also enjoy putting their hands in gravel, looking in the waste-water ditches, poking sticks in the mud, collecting ladybugs to bring home to our yard, watching the neighbors chickens, banging on lightpoles to disrupt the ant nests inside and pointing out ripe fruit in the trees or butterflies passing by.

Loving the gritty feel of gravel on the way home from sekolah.....