I was so busy this past week I did not have time to write a post. So I am catching up this week. Last week I was on Bangka Island completing the U.S. Embassy grant work. We had a great time. My colleagues/friends Deb from Australia, Riska from Bengkulu (I lived with her family while interviewing healers. She was my translator. AND she is completing her teaching certificate), and Yoga (cowrote the grant and is a teacher on Bangka) were the support team this week. They did an amazing job teaching workshops!

Because this is an Embassy grant representatives from the Embassy attended the teacher workshop on Monday. Mary Trechock is the Assistant Cultural Attache from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. She is the green scarf. We had a grand ceremony for them upon arrival. Numerous officials attended and the governor of the area was there (in black).

I have attended numerous opening ceremonies in Indonesia, but never seen men perform. We had a great treat watching the young men. I am not sure what to call this. I would not say a dance. Maybe my Trinity neighbor Elisabeth (from Indonesia) can provide some information. This is a short video, so you can see the their moves.

The Bangka Island teachers are an amazing group. They worked really hard this week. We spent some time outside collecting data about the habitat around the school. So much fun!!

Considering this was their first full week of Ramadan, they were extremely attentive. Ramadan is a month of fasting, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. They do not eat during the day only at night. “Islam preaches equality and Allah (SWT) made fasting during Ramadan to make the rich and the poor equal in terms of asking for forgiveness for their past sins.” “The idea is to ensure we are not led astray by materialistic desires and to be able to control urges that can cloud judgement.”