The month that drove me crazy but paid off with some sweet beats

For the last month, about 50 students have been out of class every day to practice for porseni, a district-wide competition including: volleyball, soccer, badminton, running, ping-pong, English/Arabic speech contest, Arabic recitation of Al Qur'an, chess, dancing (disguised under the name "gymnastics" but come on, let's call it what it is, a dance routine!), and my favorite, Al Banjarian. Unfortunately I can't say that being out of class every day for a month resulted in our school as overall champions (but huzzah, another reason to argue with my principal why it is not a good idea to pull students out of class every day and all day for a month!)

Viki (left) was second-place champion in chess. 

The volleyball boys, our first-place champions and not surprisingly some of the few students who are taller than me! (Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration...but not by much) 

My buddy, Mas Karel, displaying a trophy from porseni. 

Anyways, Al Banjarian. Let's just say that Miss Sarah has become the students' #1 Fan of Al Banjarian. Al Banjarian is a form of Arabic music that is made of a group of about 10 musicians, 5-6 of whom play drums (one bass drum) and 4-5 of whom are singers (each song usually has a lead singer and the rest are back up). 

I'm sad to say that I have no good recording of my students playing (hmm, perhaps a new camera can find its way into Mom and Dad's luggage in May??!), but the following recording from youtube is really clear and very accurate:

Al Banjarian: The filming of this event (I have no idea where, just a random video clip from youtube) is very accurate: people randoming walking around, talking, aka not necessarily focused on the music. As in this clip, the musicians are always seated on the floor. 

Viki and Luluk, 2 of the 4 drummers.

Thyta (r) and Umroh, 2 of the 5 singers. Umroh is the lead singer with the voice of an angel! Aren't my students beautiful?!?

Cowoks (pronounced "Cho-woah") (The boys)

So last night at 5 PM, I was spur-of-the-moment invited to go to the music festival in Jombang City. I was warned we'd get home late, like midnight, so I was ready. I threw on my Muslim dress (aka long to the floor and long-sleeved), grabbed lots of snacks, a book, and headache drugs for what would inevitably be a long night of great music but loud speakers! **As it would happen, didn't need the drugs, thank gosh!

Anyways, I arrived at school, fended off suggestions for Miss Sarah to ride in the back of the pick-up truck with the students, and was ready to go!

Then the torrential downpour and thunderstorm arrived. As fast as you could blink. The screaming girls jumped out of the back of the truck and ran inside. And thus the waiting began. The worst part was, my preparation pack (food and book) were in the front of the car, in the pouring rain, so I had nothing to do!

My friend Karel (school's security guard and resident driver) decided that he'd rig up a cover for the back of the truck. In true Indonesian fashion, he walked around the school grounds in the pouring rain, found some scaffolding that men were using to build the musholla (small mosque) at the school, and popped it up on the back of the truck.

1+ hours later the structure was completed, the rain had slowed to a sprinkle and we'd missed our time to play (which meant we were added on at the END of the night). But my students were still ready to go! Despite me being the only person concerned about the safety of this entire operation, approximately 15 students hopped in the back of a normal-sized pick up truck and we were off.

If this was not a time to begin a car ride with a prayer, "Bismillahirohmanirohim" (in the name of God most gracious and most compassionate...), I don't know when the right time is.

Excuse the politically incorrect way this is phrased, but here is a truck full of my illegal immigrant-esque students! 

My rockstar students performing at 11:30 PM on a school night. The girls played shortly after, at about midnight. 

We arrived home at 1:30 AM after an exciting night of lots of great music. We didn't win the competition by any means (there were 70 groups, the judges had been sitting there for at least 12 hours, and my students were at the very end of the night when everyone was exhausted), but we were happy!

...

This night was marked by my contentedness at being part of the "young" crew. Most of my time here is either spent with adults who are in their 30s+ and married with children, or with students who are, gulp, on average 8 years younger than me. But last night, I hung with the young staff! Karel, Ifa, Riza, and I are the members of what I am calling the 20-something club. We are the only 4 unmarried and youngest people on staff. (Save 3 teachers in their 20s, but they are all married already, 2 with babies). 

Karel, 24 yrs old, security guard and resident driver!

Ifa, our library attendant, 20 yrs old

Riza, 24 yrs old and administrator

Me, rounding out our foursome and appropriating displaying how I look in half the pictures that are taken of me: shining white. The other half of the pictures? Crazy sweaty. 

So we were the chaperones of last night's adventure. When the students were waiting to perform, kita berempat (the four of us) went to get some late-night martabak (fried egg snack) and chat. Mostly about how the guys shouldn't smoke so much. 

...

A real conversation with Riza in the administrative office in front of a handful of male admin/teachers):

Riza: Miss Shara (that is how he pronounces my name), mengapa kamu tidak suka orang yang merokok? Why don't you like people who smoke?

Sarah: Begini Mas, sebenarnya saya masih suka orang yang merokok, tetapi saya pikir kalau merokok, sangat tidak bagus untuk kesehatan. I still like people who smoke, but I think that smoking is really bad for your health.

Riza: Yeah...nanti, gimana kalau pacarmu merokok? Yeah..what about later if your boyfriend smokes?

Sarah: Tidak mungkin! Saya tidak mungkin akan punya pacar yang merokok. Karena itu, kamu sudah gagal dengan saya. Maaf! No way! I will not have a boyfriend that smokes. Because of this, you have no chance of being my boyfriend, sorry! 

Riza and all the male teachers crack up at this. 

Karel (chiming in): Jadi saya harus berhenti merokok! So I have to stop smoking! 

Riza: Terus, kenapa tidak senang sama pacar yang merokok? Okay, so why wouldn't you be happy if your boyfriend smoked?

Sarah: Saya orang jujur, yeah? ...Nanti, siapa mau cium seseorang yang merokok? Itu seperti saya cium rokok aja. I'm an honest person, yeah? (my preface for what's about to come...) Who wants to kiss someone that smokes? It's like kissing a cigarette!

Riza, Karel, and all the men lose it at this point.

Riza: Yeah, kamu jujur sekali! Yes, you are very honest!