This past month, ETA Lindsay Smith has been busy cheering her students on as they prepare for their end-of-semester testing and enjoying some downtime at her site before the next semester starts up again!

She has also had a chance to travel around the holidays. One of her favorite parts of this past month was going on a five-day jungle trek near Bukit Lawang and Gunung-Leuser National Park, which is one of the last places to see Sumatran orangutans in the wild. Every morning, the trekking team woke up early to prepare for the challenging terrain ahead, journeying through dense forests, rivers, and up (very) tall hills.

Every night, the team would gather around a campfire, tell stories, and eat wonderful traditional dinners made with ingredients found in the jungle.

In addition to orangutans, she also got the opportunity to see Sumatran peacocks, siamangs, baboons, Thomas Leaf monkeys, snakes, and monitor lizards in the wild. It was a wonderful way to conclude 2019, and Lindsay is looking forward to beginning teaching again in the new year!

Lindsay Smith is currently teaching at SMK Muhammadiyah 7 Gondanglegi near Malang, East Java.