Sunday, December 26, 2004

Carlo


In my first year teaching, I had a 'classmate' named Carlo. He was about 3 years old when he step in my class. His parents are accidentaly my friends. It wasn't easy to befriends with Carlo at first. He hide in a corner for 6 weeks until i removed that corner and he made no option for him but join us. Then, we had a fun and wonderful terms together until i had to leave. He refused to give me a goodbye hug in our last day. I knew later from his mom that he cried for no reason all the way home.

As we-adults- do, Carlo had his ups and downs too. Sunny days, rainy days. He worried about manythings as he interested to as many things. Often, I just need to remind my students that they are loved as they are. It calms them down.

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June 7, 2004

Dear Carlo,

When I wrote this letter, you haven’t know yet how to read. The last time we met in the classroom, which was three months ago, you were just started to recognize some letters. Your mother told me, you spelled one whole book before you fall asleep.

Do you know how much we love, you, Carlo?

Do you know how amaze we are looking at you growing up and up? Time seems fly in front of us. Oh, how I would like telling Time to stop. So that I would have enough time to see you jumping here and there, to have your goodbye hugs and kisses, to have you serve us pizza as best as you can, acknowledge your curiosity and happiness, as we deal with your fear and anger.

You were such a lovely child. You surprised us all the time, with your fast growth and changing. I know, it must be a natural one, which every child will encounter in every step of their life. But Carlo, you are not just every child for us. You are the one that most likely change our life forever.

It is a pleasure and honor to be present in your childhood for a while.

You see, Carlo, there will be a stage in your life when you start to ask again about yourself and this world. This time, it won’t be as easy as the first. Questions about our presence, our being, and our place in this world are not easy to answer. And this time, you have to find the answer yourself. We won’t have the right to give you the answer again, Carlo. That time, you will grow up already.

Just remember one thing, when everything seems very difficult to handle, I will still love you like today. I bet your mum and dad will do more than they used to do.

We love you so much.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Courage


I admire my students. Saya punya kelas berisi delapan anak berumur sekitar tujuh tahun. Buat saya, mereka sangat menakjubkan. They have bright ideas and easily get interested to everything around them. They have thousands questions. Bu Tia, betul tidak beruang kutub itu perutnya transparan? Bu Tia, lebih besar mana Hongkong atau Taiwan? Bu Tia, laron itu makannya apa? Bu Tia, dari mana asal usul nama-nama bulan? Siapa itu Anne Frank? Apa itu kamp konsentrasi? Seperti apa huruf braille itu?
Saya tidak mengada-ada.
Those are SOME of the questions I got these last 6 months.

I envy their curiosity and spirit.


Selain itu, mereka senang sekali menyanyi. Kami menyanyi setiap hari. Setiap anak punya giliran memilih lagu apa yang harus kami nyanyikan waktu pulang. Here is the list of our favourites :
Getting to Know You, When You Wish Upon A Star, Tomorrow, My Favourite Things, You’ve Got A Friend, I’ve Been Working On The Railroad.

Most of them are too difficult for seven years olds. Getting to Know You terlalu ‘keriting’ nadanya, When You Wish Upon A star punya lebih dari dua oktaf kisaran nada (kalau tidak terlalu tinggi, mereka mengeluh terlalu rendah). Tapi mereka tidak peduli. Karena mereka suka menyanyi. Karena mereka menikmati tampil di atas pentas dan ditontong banyak orang. Sangat sederhana. Mereka lebih menaruh perhatian pada betapa menyenangkannya menyanyi itu, daripada penilaian orang lain tentang bagus atau tidak suara mereka.

Saya ingin sekali punya keberanian seperti itu. Berani menghadapi tantangan apapun waktu saya harus melakukan sesuatu yang sangat saya suka. Menikmatinya sepenuh hati dengan gembira, dan tidak peduli tentang penilaian orang lain.

By the way, they sing very well.