“Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!” was the opening line of the drama I directed for the 5th and 6th grade chapel two weeks ago. Since then it has been grading, reporting, and Christmas celebrating craziness! But, it is now Friday night and the holidays have officially begun!

It is amazing to look back and realize that I have already finished half a year in grade 6 at SPH. Does time fly or what? I have really enjoyed my kids, and there are aspects of grade 6/Jr. School that I enjoy, but I am also excited about next year. This week I signed a contract to stay at SPH for another year. I will be returning to the senior school, specifically the middle school (grade 7 & 8). It is very likely that I will be teaching a combination of Science and Humanities. This is a dream come true for me, to teach in two areas I am passionate about. It is not normal to have this combination, but because there will be vacancies in both of these areas next year, it is an opportunity for me! I am still trying not to get my hopes up too high, in case things change, but it is exciting to see the possibilities.

Today at school we celebrated Christmas by having an all-school Christmas celebration in the gym. All students, teachers, and some parents were in the gym. There had to be close to 1500 people there, all praising God for the blessing of Christmas. The kindy kids sang a beautiful song, there was a nice message, an orchestra, and also a student/staff choir which I participated in. After that, we had rotation activities planned for the 6th graders with stations such as cookie decorating, card making, and scrapbooking. I enjoyed monitoring the cookie decorating station and also sampling some yummy cookies! After the stations we had lunch together, and then we had a gift-stealing game that the kids got really into. We ended the day with a movie: Home Alone.

It was interesting saying goodbye to the students realizing that I won’t see them for 3 weeks. This morning we talked about where we will all be going over the break. Just in my class there will be people going to: Korea, America, Europe, Australia, Israel, New Zealand (me), South-East Asia and other Islands in Indonesia. What an international community I live in!

That being said, I am very excited about my trip to New Zealand! I will be leaving on Sunday night, so I still have a few days to pack and get myself ready for the adventure. The jagged mountains and open space will be a sight for my sore eyes. It will be my first Christmas away from home; so that will be strange and I will definitely miss home and family. At least I am not the first one to be in New Zealand for Christmas. Darren broke the ice for that a few years ago.  Thanks brother!

And so, goodbye work and Indonesia!

New Zealand, here I come!!