Gym Class: or as I like to call it Public Humiliation

Since I started school here, I've been forced to participate in the torture known as Indonesian Gym Class. Gym Class has always been known for its ability to make its students into fools, but some think Indonesian gym class takes it a step further. It's set up like your elementary school gym class: once a week, in a small gym or field, group stretches, etc. (I haven't had to climb a rope yet though haha). We start off doing high impact "jerk" stretches (the kind you were taught not to do in your American, 1990s, high school PE textbook) Then we move on to some sort of aerobic activity...usually involving running in some embarrassing fashion while little kids from outside the gym watch. Next we do either something relating to volleyball or gymnastics. When you screw up, you not only carry the shame of screwing up, but you also do 5 push ups--the funny-looking girl-push ups that hurt your knees. All in all, gym class makes me want to curse most days, and on the few days I am good at what I do, it still manages to make my back and neck sore. Like Elementary School, you also have to take a fitness test once in a while. I had to do this on my first gym class. I failed miserably. Hmm, If you have anymore questions about gym class let me know.

Theft! in Bandung

It was Thursday, which meant gym class, which meant changing into a different uniform and leaving the normal one in the classroom with the rest of our stuff. Before I left, I placed my backpack and badminton racquet next to my table and slipped the old, worn cell phone my host family had given me into the breast pocket of my uniform that sat folded on my desk. As I left, I remembered to slip my wallet into my pocket. Bandung may be safe, but I'm not taking chances with my money and ID cards.
Later, while I am in gym class, a classmate, Lidya, hurriedly drops off her backpack since she is running late. When you are late to gym class, you have to do extra exercises.
We get back to gym class and I check the clock. Ugh, still broken. I reach for my cell phone to check the time and its not there. I check in my backpack, around the desk, after all I am prone to loose things—still not there. People start asking me what I am looking for and I tell them “I can't find my cell phone, I thought I left it in my pocket. Students look shocked and start rifling through their bags. Lidya can't find her wallet or her cell phone either. Now everyone whispers about theft and how surprising it is, they all thought SMAN 3 was safe!
Theft in Indonesian high schools is not as common as in high schools in the US, and as a result, they are treated differently. When school officials heard we had things stolen from our room, even though the total value was probably less than $100 USD, math class was cancelled, and school officials asked us questions. That day and the next, almost every teacher and many students apologized for the theft. I actually found the situation kind of funny, because I never expected that horrible phone would ever be stolen, after all, the LCD screen was a little broken and it was not a nice phone in any sense.
Later, my Indonesian teacher gets a text message from my phone saying “I need help, please send more pulsas (the equivalent of minutes for US phones)”...except it was in texting-bahasa, something a newbie exchange student would not know yet. Proof it had been stolen.
I eventually bought a new phone and Lidya got her wallet back (the thief had taken the money and thrown the rest in the trash) so I guess we are back to normal now. Oh well. haha.

Once, I went to school very tired and I didn't want to do work, then I remembered that was everyday of my 5 years of high school

Well I think now that I have been to school for 7 days I should talk about my school in Indonesia. I go to SMAN 3 Bandung (Public Senior High School 3 in Bandung. pronounced es-em-ah TEE-guh). Its located in Old Bandung in a building built by the Dutch, which it shares with a different high school, SMAN 5 Bandung. Everyday, Students put on (in my oppinion) ugly and uncomfortable uniforms consisting on a white collared shirt embroidered with your name and school, and an ankle length bluish skirt (bluish pants for boys). Recently, I got my skirt caught in the door of the Ankot on the way home from school. By the time I got off, it was wet from puddles the ankot had driven through. On fridays, you where a shirt patterned with your schools batik. Hopefully, I will be able to post some photos of this. I've been told this is the best high school in Bandung and that if you want to study, you go to SMAN 3 and if you want to have fun, you go to SMAN 5. Getting into high school in Indonesia is more like getting into college in the US: you get into high school based on the grades you had in middle school, not based on where you live. This means I have a long way to drive to school everyday haha. As classes start, the school plays a little western folk tune. I kind of wonder if the school realizes what they are playing since fiercely anti-alcohol SMAN 3 plays “Little Brown jug” on a daily basis. Also, instead of going from one teachers class to another, you stay put on wildly uncomfortable wooden chairs (I've been taking a cushion to school to sit on) and the teachers come to you! Sounds nice since there is less walking, but it means you can't really choose your classes beyond picking a major in science or social studies. I'm majoring in Social studies at our schools only tiny 11th grade social studies class.
Now I'd like to introduce you to the controversy; the reason why my class is so much smaller than all the others: If you major in Science in high school, you can major in whatever you want in college, but if you major in Social Studies, you can only major in a field of Social Studies in college. As a result, students have to take tests to get into a pure science class, and if they fail, they are placed in social science. Also, students are encouraged by parents and teachers to take science even if their interest is in social studies, and those who taking social science anyway are labeled as slackers. This was strange to me coming from PCEP, where most of our best teachers are in social studies, and it seems a lot of kids are pushed the other direction. This school system was set up by the Dutch and my schoolmates postulate that it was to keep Indonesians from fully understanding government, making them less politically powerful and easy to govern. If you haven't already figured this out, the reason my class is so small and that it is the only social studies class in the 11th grade is because SMAN 3 has a reputation to uphold. Not only are the parents of students at SMAN 3 more likely to push their kids into Science, but the school does as well, because the more engineers from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB for short. Its the Indonesian equivalent of MIT), the better the reputation of the school. At this point, I drew a parallel: I remembered how Mrs. Caldwell, my 10th grade bio teacher, used to tell us she was preparing us to get into the University of Michigan and our school counselors telling us the school requirements were based on those to get into the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. It seems Indonesia is in a frustrating educational position that many students want to change. Good luck to them!
I'll end on a good note telling you about some of features of my school. Our school has really good, cheap, food which you seem to be allowed to eat in class. SMAN 3 has a very nice cafeteria, and (to the annoyance of 3's students) students from SMAN 5 will come to each there causing it to get a little crowded (but not PCEP crowded haha). My school also has two fountains, a garden, and wifi so I find it very pretty to go there. I'm liking my teachers, although I have no idea what most of them are saying, except my German teacher who teaches part of her lesson in English (I think because English is closer to German) and my civics teacher who I think made her lesson partly in English for me.hmm...if theres anything else you'd like to know about my school, shoot me a comment.