February passed in a flurry of activity as, inside the classroom, ETA Gabriel “Gabe” Umland, celebrated Black History Month, and outside the classroom celebrated his school’s 36th birthday with a week-long event, attended the EducationUSA college fair in Surabaya with over 40 students from SMAN 1 Cerme, and attended several local WORDS Storybook & Storytelling competitions in addition to hosting his own.

Gabe’s WORDS journey began with a trip to Gresik where he attended ETA Nathan “Nate” Kumar’s WORDS competition at SMA NU 1 along with two teachers from Gabe’s school. Gabe was blown away by the talent at Nate’s school and seeing SMA NU’s competition got Gabe’s co-teachers excited for their very own competition at SMAN 1 Cerme.

The following weekend Gabe and Nate made their way down to SMK Muhammadiyah 7 Gondanglegi to join ETA Lindsay Smith’s WORDS competition. Lindsay’s competition was smooth sailing and the students impressed Gabe, along with the other judges, Nate and ETA Shannon Pinzón. Gondanglegi was a wonderful town to visit and reminded Gabe of his very own town of Cerme. A highlight of his visit to Gondanglegi was meeting Lindsay’s cat, lovingly named “Tikus,” which translates to “mouse.”

Finally, Gabe was blessed to spend leap-day with Nate, Shannon, and Lindsay who all attend his very own WORDS competition at SMAN 1 Cerme. Gabe couldn’t be more thankful for the hard work of his co-teachers and the presence of other ETAs. He is endlessly proud of his students and the hard work they put into their WORDS storybooks and performances. Next stop, Jakarta!

Gabriel “Gabe” Umland is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Cerme, East Java.