Teaching and Other Activities

Though last week passed by in a flash, we did accomplish some actual teaching-type work. We are past the point of being frustrated by the lack of a schedule of workshops (or a schedule of any kind, for that matter) and have sought out our own engagements. For Tuesday through Friday mornings we worked at the STT, the Lutheran Seminary that adjoins the Nommensen campus. The seminary classes for the newest seminarians began on Tuesday, and we have joined three Australians in teaching English language courses each morning. There are a total of 80 new seminarians, split into three groups. We teach for an hour, then the groups rotate, until we have worked on the same lesson with all three. There is no textbook, no syllabus, not even a suggested list of competences to cover. With such complete freedom, we have spent most of the time focused on Bible English, which can be fairly complex. We have also used a great number of songs, which Indonesians in general and Bataks in specific really love.

The seminarians range in age from 17 to mid-30s. Apparently you can join the seminary straight out of high school, or after college, or as a second career. Seminary is a five year academic program, which is followed by a two year apprenticeship. This is a genuine vow of poverty imposed on the seminarians, in a sense of the time required, even worse than our demands on ELCA seminarians in America. Of course I don’t think the tuition here is very steep, nor the room and board.

The seminarians are quite enthusiastic and at least a fifth of them seem to know English at least in a rough sense. There is also a fifth that don’t know any English and try to hide from us during the lessons. The remaining three fifths know a little English and participate with a positive attitude during class. We are told that these students need to work on their English because many academic papers are written in English and if they want to pursue an additional degree then English will be important. Though we greatly support the idea of everyone in Indonesia learning English to increase their upward mobility and future opportunities for decent paying jobs, we don’t fully understand the importance of English for future clergypersons, especially those who will be serving in small town and rural congregations. Granted, if a minister is serving in an international center like Jakarta then it would be important to have a good grasp of English, but in the villages smaller than Siantar I doubt that a single word of English is spoken in a week (other than in the English classes in the public and private schools and English courses).

The spirit in the classes at seminary is quite high and we enjoy teaching there very much. The downside is the starting time: our day there begins at 7:45 with a church service (held in English, including the sermon) and concludes at noon. The early start cuts off some of our early morning ritual of enjoying the cool air on the front porch, completing Bible reading, etc. Ever since Craig visited we have been staying up past our standard 9 pm bedtime. We try our best to sleep in through the prayer call, rooster crowing and other assorted noises. Perhaps when we are completely caught up from our disrupted nights of sleep from the funeral activities then we will return to a good waking up routine. Last year I would get up with the roosters and enjoy the sunrise from our porch. This year there has been so much rain that on at least half the morning there is no clear sunrise.

Last week, with the international seminar completed, we realized clearly that the administration here had no plan of work for us. Many are occupied by the training sessions being held for public school teachers in Medan. When teachers go through the marathon of training (90 hours I think) and pass a test then they get a double salary. Which still isn’t much, far less than a teacher in America, but obviously makes a substantial difference in a family budget. Those training sessions are conducted by several Nommensen teachers. There are also exams wrapping up the semester for Nommensen students, and the many other projects that occupy the time of the administration. Dean Tagor has mentioned the vague concept of working to improve the faculty of the English Department, but until he can define some concrete projects we must wait.

Many students we have spoken with have expressed to us their disappointment that teaching workshops have not been held with them. Last year we held many such workshops, part of a formal schedule created by the administration. So we have now taken it upon ourselves to hold informal sessions with students, give them a chance to ask teaching questions, and discuss ideas to improve their teaching technique. We met for a first time on Friday, with just a Facebook notice, and eleven students participated. On Saturday we held a session at our home and had eight or nine attend. The students even offered their own training for us, in the form of a Batak dance lesson. It’s quite a bit more complicated than it looks, because you are moving your fingers, hands, arms, hips, feet and eyes simultaneously. It was fun to attempt and our student friends were delighted at our lack of skill.

After our Saturday session with the students we were picked up by our friend Marlop who took us to see a new church that he is helping to establish. Their pastor is from Siantar, but spent much time in the US, including several years in Ann Arbor (Michigan), Philadelphia and somewhere in Florida. So he has driven through Knoxville many times. The church is part of a group of affiliated congregations called the ROCK. They are focused on young people, meaning high school and college age, working on helping them develop skills for life, and doing social ministry. During our visit their choir was holding their first formal rehearsal. They had already sung for a big seminar in town and also somehow made a trip to Singapore, but they must have done those activities more or less on the fly.

There are 32 “kids” in the choir, mostly girls, most of them appearing to be around 20 years old. Marlop told us the director, accompanists and a singing leader came from Medan and were volunteering their efforts. The choir sounded beautiful, and with the tile floors and walls in the room the sound had a great reverb. It seemed almost criminal when Marlop and his friend stepped into the rehearsal, introduced us and told them that we would be singing for them. No!!! These were angel voices! But of course the girls were breathless in anticipation of hearing Jacob play his ukulele and sing, so he and Nancy led them in a few songs. It was really funny when we led them in “Father We Adore Thee”, singing in rounds, and Marlop and his friend chimed in with the microphones, singing the parts at the wrong time. But the spirit was very much present and I believe this church will make a difference in many lives in Siantar.   

On Sunday we accompanied Hanna to her church, which is located in a village on the outskirts of Siantar. We were making a return visit, having been there last year, so we had an inkling of what to expect. With Sunday School they keep all ages together, and students range from 2 or 3 to 13 or 14. This year was a bit better in that there were two men there to help out. But there were no real activities, outside of singing songs, and when the Bible passages were read and explained (I assume) there was nothing but the leader talking into the mike and the children listening for a nanosecond and then finding something more interesting to do, like punch each other.

We have been invited to participate in a Sunday School teachers workshop for the GKPS teachers, and we will have to determine when in the schedule to do it. When we held the earlier SS teacher workshops it was just for HKI and HKPB. The S in GKPS stands for Simalungun, while the B in HKPB is for Batak (while the I in HKI is for Indonesia…this church spans the tribes). When these churches were formed over 130 years ago, the tribes each formed their own church so they could preserve worship in their own dialect and also preserve as many of their tribal customs as possible. That said, most of the churches and services are similar here, use the same lectionary series as we do in America, and share the same church architecture, with a big spire in front of each church, containing a bell, and a vaulted ceiling sanctuary complete with a pulpit “in the sky” and rows of wooden pews for the congregation members. Communion is only served a few times a year, a tradition we are told comes from the Calvinist background of the original missionaries.  

After Sunday School it was time for Jacob to learn the songs that he was expected to play during the ensuing church service. Of course we only understood this at the last minute. Hanna recruited five Sunday School children to sing with Jacob, and they played through the two songs several times. Jacob was expected to sing a verse solo in Bahasa Indonesia and he rolled with it. Hanna even tried to arrange the group into various standing groupings, work in a little side step action, hand clapping, etc.

We cannot vouch for the accuracy of Jacob’s Indonesian lyricw, but the two songs went well during the service. The pastor liked it so much that she called Jacob up to the front during her sermon and had him sing a verse again. It’s hard to pay attention during a 42 minute sermon, with the sound at “runway takeoff” volume, even if you know they’re going to call on you at some point. She said several times “Jim Friedrich” and nothing happened (surely she wasn’t calling on me to sing!) but when she said “Jacob Friedrich” then the guy sitting next to me tapped him on the shoulder and told him to go up.

The service concluded and we joined Hanna’s parents and the other church elders in the back room to relax as they counted the collection money, drank sugar tea, and smoked. The sugar tea is a whole lot of sugar and just a hint of tea, and usually one or two sips is enough to line our mouth and throat with a smothering coat of sweetness. Like having a big drink of syrup! The sugar comes pre-mixed in the tea and unless you are in a restaurant it is usually not possible to get a “plain” tea.

Then we loaded into Hanna’s father’s car and drove the short distance to her home. We went behind her house to see the chicken coops and admire the family fowl. They even had a size incubator box with chicks almost big enough to graduate to the big cages. Inside the big coop there was just one little nesting basket for laying eggs, and it was occupied at the moment. I don’t know if hens are good at taking turns, but what if your egg is ready to lay and your buddy won’t budge from the one nesting basket?

I think we were just killing time until lunch was ready, because after a few more minutes we got back in the car (which is a big deal for those climbing in and out of the back seat) and went to Hanna’s uncle’s house for lunch. This doesn’t mean he’s really Hanna’s biological uncle, but “uncle” because he has the same surname (family name) as Hanna’s mother.

The church membership is divided into five sectors (perhaps by location of home?) and these sectors are in essence small groups. Once a month after church each sector gathers at a member’s home where they eat a nice meal and then have a Bible study. The floors were lined with tikirs, the thin woven mats for sitting. Our old bones are not used to sitting for extended periods on hard floors, and I truly felt like an old man when I staggered back to my feet and got my legs loosened up again.

Many of the women sat in the adjoining room where the food was served. All the women put on a sarong, which is a loose skirt they slip on that covers their legs down to their feet. Since they were all wearing long dresses already this was for extra extra modesty. Another Batak tradition. They scurried around and tracked down a sarong for Nancy and she dutifully draped it over her lap, but did not attempt to get up and step into it. We figured the less number of times we hoisted ourselves off the floor the less of a chance to fall over our numb feet into the surrounding plates of lunch.

Lunch was delicious and consisted of rice (surprise!), broth to put over the rice, which included carrots, onion, and something like chives, grilled fish from Lake Toba, fried chicken (our favorite!), sweet and sour something, and a veggie dish which included small shrimp. Of course you could add as much chili sauce as you wanted. It was very good and everyone ate like they might never eat again. One of the older men sitting next to us made a big deal out of going back for seconds. We took this as an invitation to join him, but at that point the table was almost picked clean. We were already full, and had certainly gotten our fill of rice and that was the main leftover (but just a small portion). As a nice dessert, trays of pineapple, papaya and an unidentified fruit the color of yellow peppers were passed around. This added a nice sweet finish to the bountiful meal.