School Days!

Emilie had her first day of school yesterday!  She is now officially a middle schooler!  She is in 6th grade at an amazing school - Jakarta International School.  We can literally see the campus from our temporary apartment.  25% of the students are from the United States (this is the highest percentage from any county).  They currently have students enrolled from over 60 countries - and the teachers are from all over the world as well!  Her favorite part is probably the one to one technology program - EVERY student in middle school and high school is given their own MacBook Air!  Judging from the speed at which she spent the evening telling us EVERYTHING about her first day, I would say it was a success!

To get on campus, everyone is required to have a badge (students & parents).  Cars are required to have the proper sticker.  This is the main entrance. It is a five minute walk from our house, but the traffic is crazy and the "sidewalk" is more like a shoulder on the side of the road.  Emilie will walk to school occasionally, but will catch a ride most days.

Dustin can't wait to go to school, but at college tuition prices, we have decided to wait one more year before enrolling him.  For now, he is able to use all of the facilities, including the swimming pools, libraries and play grounds!

My pictures of the campus do not do it justice.

There are plants and trees from all over the world; Each one has a placard telling the type of plant and where it can be found around the world.

There are a million places for kids to sit or hang out during lunch or one of their 20 minute breaks thru-out the day!

These covered walkways run through the entire school.  Although, they don't protect from the humidity or the nyamuk (mosquitoes), which both run rampant in Indonesia, the coverings do protect from the sun - and soon - the rain as we head into the rainy season (October - June).

The Basketball Courts where 6th graders gathered on the first day to get their teacher assignments!

The "Small" Gym!  

The "Big" Gym was being used when we had our tour so we weren't able to see it, but according to Emilie, it is 3 levels with a level for locker rooms, a level for volleyball courts and a level for basketball courts.

The Track and Field

Emilie's Math & Science Building from our house!

The Cafeteria is 2 stories! You name it, they offer it. They have every type of food imaginable from Indonesia, Western (American), Chinese, Sushi, Italian...everything except Mexican :-(

The cafeteria is all electronic.  We add money to Emilie's account thru an ATM type machine.  She pays for lunch by scanning either her ID Card or her ID bracelet.  The average lunch costs approximately 30,000 Rupiah (or $3 - in the U.S.).

The "Little Theater" rivals the auditorium at Desert Vista! The school also does live streaming of performances whenever possible.  So you should be able to watch Emilie as she performs on this stage!

The Olympic sized swimming pool is where Emilie will be training for  Rio 2016!

The Tennis Courts are covered from the sun and rain.

                                                                               

The Bali Stage is the center of the Middle School.

This is the Middle School Library.  We also have access to the Elementary and High School Libraries as well as, my favorite, all of their E-Books!

Recycling is not very big in Indonesia, but is HUGE at JIS.  We have been told that we can even bring our recycling in from home and they will recycle it for us.

Matti and Maci are Emilie's newest friends.  They moved to Indonesia from Florida this summer and are currently staying a couple of floors below us.  We were lucky enough to meet them before the first day of school and Emilie has been walking to and from school with them!

Until next time!