Graduation

They had told me I had to do an American song or dance for graduation. But this all changed a few days before...when they told me I would need to give a speech instead. And this speech would be in Indonesian! I had Ocha help me out with the translation, so three days before appearing before the families of 85 children, I started memorizing. Memorizing a speech in your own language can be hard, but it is even more so when you don't know what any of the words mean! And to pronounce them! I practiced all the time, and I had all the words down. Of course my accent was terrible, and there was one word in particular- mengajar. Mba Ikha, one of the sisters, was trying to help me with the pronunciation. She was apparently saying two words, but I couldn't tell the difference. If I said mengajar one way, I was saying "to teach." But most of the time I ended up saying the other, which meant "to chase after someone." So yes, I messed it up in the speech. I said I was glad to be chasing after the kids. I also completely forgot part of the speech once I got up on stage, had to take out my scribbled notes. I hope I at least brought some smiles to their faces. I am sure I sounded pretty bad. The rest of the ceremony went well. All the kids came in their cute Indonesian attire- elaborate costumes with gold and shiny fabric, a ton of make up, fancy headdresses, and decorated hair. Everyone was served the white box with cakes like all other formal occasions. Afterwards, the teachers all had lunch together. They are a great group and I will miss working with them.