Today is Idul Fitri, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. For the last 30 days, devout cousins have been neither eating nor drinking during daylight hours. Each evening, after the sun sets, they "buka puasa", or open the fast, and eat for the first time in 12 hours. Wow!! I can't even imagine! By the end of this month, most cousins are pretty tired and weak; their bodies have a lot of adjusting to do! To celebrate, they all return to the area where they are from to spend time with their family and to ask forgiveness for anything they may have done over the last year. Again, wow!
What this means for me is... NO SCHOOL!! We actually take the whole week off, so I'm am living in luxury right now- sleeping in, watching tv on laptops, reading, etc. It's been lovely. There has, of course, been some schoolwork as well, and I'll be working in my classroom later this week, but oh well. A break is a break!! Even though we've only been in school for two weeks, I was definitely ready for a break! I hoping to do some changing and revamping in my classroom before the kiddos come back next week. We'll see how that goes :-)
The weather so far has been really nice. Pretty warm, but nothing like dry season usually is!! We had rain here in Kota Baru last night for the first time since I've been here; a very short foretaste of what rainy season will be like.
For all my teacher friends, I hope your school years have begun well!! I'd love to hear all about your classes :-)
Next week, my kids are going to work on writing friendly letters. I'm hoping the concept gets through to them enough to send letters to you and your kiddos. We looked at where Indonesia was on the map, and the kids are fascinated that you have a volcano nearby. Love you and miss you bunches!
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