I must say that I almost forget the taste of chicken.

Me and Francy are halfway there. Halfway through. 5 Pengajar Muda. 5 more to go.

The mission, in my humble opinion, is a success. The only drawbacks are my sprained wrists and Francy’s catching a mild flu.

We get what we came here for. To live among the locals. To eat what the people here are eating, which is *drumroll* … fish! We eat them small and big, poached, fried, stewed, souped, and in any sauce you could imagine.

To slow down and think more about life. What is success? What is it that you’re after? How do you define it? Are you there yet? Y’know the big, tough questions.

But most valuable of all, I am experiencing the children of Indonesia.

I must say, that I am stunned by the children here. We city folks used to see these children on the streets of Jakarta, and if not, on the tourist sites outside Jakarta. We see them cursing, swearing, being mismannered and begging for money. “Sir, could you spare me five thousand sir.” You all know the drill.

Here, it’s a completely different story. They are polite, friendly, curious, well mannered, proactive and… smart! They play with us, ask us questions, make sure we are well taken care of (yes!) and boy do they want to study. You wouldn’t believe how much they love school and learning. “Me Sir! Me Sir!” while a bunch of children raise their hands are not a view staged for a vitamin commercial, it is what you see everyday, everywhere.

A small gesture that I will remember for the rest of my life, was when I stood up after sitting down on the dirt for a shot, a small hand was patting the back of my pants. It was Rido, an 11 year old, dusting dirt off me. It was definetely sweet.

When I couldn’t climbed up from the sea after a swim, they all scurried to get their small boat, rowed it close for me to climb in, so I could get to the dock. “Mari hey, kasi Pa’ Etwar masu’ dulu! Mari Pa’ ayo Pa'”

Those are only two small ones. So many more I don’t think I remember where to start. All I know is that I feel deeply in my heart, that these are great children. Money, or more precisely the lack of money and the right education about money and wealth, also the unfiltered stream of media and society values, have made them to what we used to see now in the big cities.

But for now, I definetely have a restored faith in the future of Indonesian children.

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