It is hard to believe that Mike and I are already in Unit 4 of language study! Starting Unit 4 brought to us a big change in routine. Instead of going to class 4 hours in the morning 8-12, we now go to class for 2 hours a day in the afternoon 1-3.
In Unit 4 we are given a set of questions, usually about Indonesian culture, and we go out and interview an Indonesian friend (in Bahasa Indonesian of course). When we have enough information we write a one page essay on that topic, we then take turns in class presenting our findings. First, we stand up in the front of class and read our essay, we then answer questions from the teacher and our fellow students. After our presentation our teacher fills the white board up with all of our mistakes! It is actually very helpful, our teachers are helping us dial in our grammar, the theme of Unit 4 is actually called "Tightening the Seams".
I am also working with a tutor three mornings a week for more practice. Mike is able to go out at night and play badminton and soccer with some Indonesian friends, which is fun and great for his language.
Going to school in the afternoon has been good for our family life, now that Mike and I have time to do our homework in the mornings while the kids are in school, we can devote our evenings to family time instead of working on our homework.
It is crazy to think how far we have come with our language skills (and how far we still need to go). It is such a blessing to be able to communicate a little better with our Indonesian friends, don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of moments when we yearn to be able to speak with them on a deeper level.
We are trying as hard as we can to immerse ourselves in the culture here and learn as much as we can. It is funny, my inner-monologue right now is actually 1/2 Indonesian, 1/2 English. I take this as a good sign. :)
