Putting the Equator in the Rearview Mirror

After dinner on Thursday night, I had the boys pack up and place their suitcases on the dock outside of their cabin. They couldn’t understand why I was going to have them leave their suitcases outside on the last night. But, once I’d inspected the room to make sure it was packed up and clean, I had them haul their suitcases back inside.

Only then would I let them go down to the beach to join the girls at the bonfire. We spent our last evening in Indonesia around the fire sharing what we had seen and learned. Everyone agreed, our week spent a half a degree from the equator had been a memorable one.

We had to get up at 5:30 the next morning so it was lights out at 9:00. Despite the long day –despite the long week- the boys were a little energetic. I finally got them into their bunks and settled down. As we all lay in bed, David –Mr. Shrimping himself- broke into song. It was an original, stream-of-conscience summary of our week. David may be a goof, but he’s incredibly musical. In addition to touching on the highlights from the week, he sprinkled the song with Indonesian words we had learned over the week. He had us all laughing instead of sleeping. It was a great way to finish our week. Finally, I had to flip on my teacher voice and tell him that was enough and for everybody to go to sleep.

In the morning, we didn’t have time for a sit-down breakfast, so the staff from Telunas Beach gave us all a sack breakfast to eat on the two-hour boat ride back to the Batam where we would catch the ferry to Singapore. From there it would be a short flight back to Hong Kong.

Thank heavens for individual in-flight movies and video games to keep the kids busy. I was exhausted.

Back in Hong Kong, several parents met us at the airport. We dismissed most of the remaining kids who would find their own way home from the airport. My colleagues and I had to escort two of our students all the back to Shatin.

Preparing to take eighteen eighth graders on a week-long trip to Indo had been more stressful and nerve-racking that I could have anticipated. Leading up to the trip –overburdened with passport numbers and packing lists and parent meetings- there were several moments when I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it. But I survived, it was an amazing, memorable week, and we brought all eighteen students back safe and sound as promised.

And, as a bonus, my very pregnant colleague did not go into labor.

The kids were outstanding, the villages unbelievable, and the beach was amazing.

But I was exhausted and ready to crawl into my own bed where hopefully I could sleep through the night without any critters gnawing on my thumb.

-Jack