A Little Message From William

    Hello everyone!  I just finished 5th grade and now I am going into 6th. My 5th grade year was pretty fun we had a field trip to a huge telescope up in the mountains we saw jupiter, mars, and so many stars. We learned about different ecosystems. We also had a lock in with s'mores and a fun game called cops and smugglers. Basically all lights are off and there are 4 cops with flash lights and the rest are smugglers with no light. The smugglers have to get stuff to a room without the cops finding out but the cops can arrest smugglers.  
    We also had a team-building day.  We had to stand on a really teeny-tiny mat. We also had to get people across wooden planks and the person in the back had to pass it to the front so they could get across. I learned that people that work together are better than people who work alone.

     I'm so exited for 6th grade, I can have junk food for snack and sit anywhere I want for lunch! But I am a bit nervous as well because of homework and all that junk.  I will have new friends and classes are harder. Also, that summer is when we come home!!  I cant wait to see everyone again.
I miss a lot about America.  I miss my family.  I am excited to go home for the first time in FIVE years next summer.  I don't remember Taco Bell - but everyone talks about it.  So that is what I want to eat first.

Becoming Home

                   Hi. My name is Rebekah LaRue Newell. I have lived here, in Indonesia, for about 4 years now with my family. Since being here there has been a lot of ups and downs for me personally. I came here in 2010, my first year of middle school. During this year, I felt out of place and was missing home. However, by the end of this year I felt like I was getting used to the place even though my brother had graduated and left country. That year was definitely a year of transition. I hardly remember the events, but I do remember the emotions.
                  My seventh grade year was the year that everything was getting really good. Even though my brother had left, as I said before, and I missed him terribly, I finally felt like this place was becoming home. BAIS was no longer just a school by the end of that year. My class was no longer just classmates. They became my family. They filled the spot of my big Italian and Irish family back home. They didn't replace them; they never could, but they gave me the feeling only a family could give - the feeling of being loved.
                  My eighth grade year was hard. It was the final year of middle school and I was going through a lot of stuff within my class and with others. I was also playing soccer in the beginning of the year and went to IISSAC. (IISSAC stands for Indonesian International Small School Activities Conference. IISSAC is where we go to different schools that participate and we play sports. We go three times a year for soccer, basketball, and swimming/cross country/badminton.) When I went to soccer IISSAC I learned about being a part of a team and I got to know other people in my school well, who are outside of my class. After soccer IISSAC, I was on a spiritual high. But then it went low. This started my now constant of sprirtual high and lows. Which of course, means I need to get in the Word more because I know I don't get into it nearly enough. At the end of this year we had the eighth grade banquet which meant the end of my time in middle school.
                 I am now in the ninth grade, my first year of high school. Being in high school isn't as hard as I thought it would be, although I have struggled more so far this year than any other year, I know that BAIS and Indonesia is still my home even though I miss the States. Honestly, I don't miss it as much as I used to. I would love to go back and see my friends and family and I can't wait to. This is my home. I finally feel comfortable in it even though it sometimes is hard to be here. It has finally become home and the people have finally become family. Happy new years 2014! :)