School's Out!

We can't believe that an entire school year has passed while we've been in Indonesia.  I don't mean to sound cliche when I say that "it went by way too fast."  As the kids have been saying for the last week "Yeah! School's Out! It's Summer! Now what...?"  In fact I think Jeff and I joined right in with their chant.  We have found that during the summer the community here around the school tends to clear out.  Most of the Korean families have returned to Korea for the summer and all of the families that were going on furlough for the coming year have left, along with those families who were only here for language school.  This year the school has had 10 teachers decide that their time was over here at MICS plus 3 teachers leave for the states on furlough.  The remaining staff is in the process of regrouping and getting prepared to welcome new teachers to Indonesia and to MICS beginning the middle of July.  Our family will be bridgers for one of the new families that is coming.  Being a bridger includes welcoming them at the airport and helping them get settled into their new home.  As well as showing them around the campus and the town.  We will be available for their questions and to help in anyway possible.  We are very thankful for those people who were bridgers for us when we first arrived in this "strange and new land."

Now you may be wondering what is going to keep us busy for the rest of the summer...  Jeff and I are required to work for one month during the summer, so we will be spending the month of June working on curriculum for our classes.  We are also continuing to study Bahasa Indonesian with private tutors.  Quintin is working at the school as a counselor for the MICS Day Camp.  Abby and Zach are attending the Day Camp as well.  So for the month of June you can find the entire Selzer family still at school, but only for the mornings.  We are planning to do a little more exploring here in Salatiga and who knows what we'll discover.  On June 30, Jeff's parents (Gerry & Jean Selzer) will be arriving from Hesston, Kansas, and will be here for two weeks.  We will then be hosting a young girl from Holland who will be visiting friends of ours.  She is coming to Indonesia to work on her English.  I know that this sounds strange, but we do have a large American population here in Salatiga.  She will live with our family for one week and help at the Day Camp.  Then on July 24, my mom (Lynn), sister (Betty), and nieces (London & Sydney) will be arriving for a two week visit.  We can't wait to see everyone and have been saving some of the many beautiful sights here in Indonesia to enjoy with family.  Then suddenly the summer is over and we will begin our second year here at MICS.  But summer is not over yet... in fact we're just getting started!

P.S.  Please forgive us for not blogging during the month of May.  Between the many school functions we attended as teachers and then the programs we attended as parents we had little extra time as bloggers.