Things I've learned in my first week...

Week summary: Everything is new.

I can hardly believe it's already the first week.  And what a week it's been!  

- Learned over 100 Indonesian words.  

- Learned the Indonesian alphabet (only after I learned all of those words!).

- Learned that my language teacher, Stephen and I all have the same birthday.  

- Learning about rupiahs.

- Thursday I went to the Flower Market.  They also sell mini turtles!

- Learned how to play Dutch Blitz with Katie.  

- Friday, I learned the pain of slamming the car door on your thumb, only to be followed by having my fingers pressed for fingerprints at the immigration office!

- I learned how to ride the ankots around town. 

- and I learned to play Nertz at Juliana's birthday party.  

- Saturday, we went out twice so that I could learn and practice how to ride the motorcycle - an automatic scooter, as opposed to a manual motorcycle.  (But it still felt heavy to me!)

- And finally, learning how to treat a burn.  The BEST story for my first weeks has to be that I burnt my leg on the muffler!  Definitely NOT fun!  But I could actually ride it for a few yards by the end of our first practice.

If you ever want to learn, here are three words I discovered in my attempt to ride. 

1. Control.  You must always be in control of the bike - acceleration, brakes, balance...  

2. Centered - Not only to sit up straight and find the center of your body aligned with the bike for balance, but also to stay focused.

3.  Courage.  I thought I was learning this while I was riding.  But, I think my greatest lesson today was to be courageous to get on again after getting burned!  It was scary enough having to get on the back to come home.  Though they say that everyone has had their accidents and stories of learning, I was still shocked.  After a few hours, the stinging and burning sensations have finally subsided.

Next week, I add 2 hours of language study with Juliana. SO much is new; it's a bit overwhelming and exhausting.  I miss everyone at home.  But, I have to say I'm surrounded by great encouragement.   It's mentally uncomfortable here, stretching.  But one day at a time.  And each one is unique...  So good night and we'll see what happens tomorrow!