Indonesia's Independence Day!

(I took this picture while in Ubud yesterday....I'll explain more in my next post!)

 Today, August 17th is Indonesia's Independence Day. This year marks the 70th anniversary of their independence from the Dutch. I learned that the colors of the flag have special significance for the history and people of Indonesia. The red represents courage and the white represents purity. 

Our school chose to celebrate on Friday since we are off today for the holiday.

 Students and teachers were encouraged to dress in red and white or traditional Balinese dress. Of course I opted for the traditional dress. Last week I ordered the traditional dress for one of the very friendly cleaning staff members at school. The traditional dress has 3 parts to it: sarong (the skirt which was traditional batik print), the scarf, and the kebaya (which is the lace shirt). I had no idea how to put all of this together. Luckily my Indonesian teaching partner, Mitha, helped me out! She even brought me a small corset like piece to wrap around my sarong to hold it in place without tying in. She did it so quickly!

 Here we all after a long, hot, but fun day!



Here is Mary and I! Mary is another newbie at our school and she is also from the US. :) 


 The day started with a flag ceremony and Indonesia's national anthem followed by a morning of games for the kids. There were traditional games such as tug-of-war, sack races, and pencil in a bottle. The kids had lots of fun! The day ended with a beautiful assembly filled with traditional Balinese dances and singing. You could truly feel the sense of our school's small community/family feel.



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