Somehow autumn has passed Cerme without a single pumpkin spice latte in sight. Notwithstanding, November has been full of joy and fulfillment for ETA Gabriel “Gabe” Umland, but has also been bittersweet as he wraps up his first semester of teaching.

As one of the last lesson plans for four of Gabe’s 12 classes, students were tasked with creating travel brochures for a country of their choice. Students had to choose five tourist attractions to highlight within their brochure focusing on the use of adjectives to describe the different places.

True to form, the students of SMAN 1C went above and beyond the requirements of the activity and blew Gabe away with their incredible artistic talent. Across the four classes, more than 15 countries were represented, each with incredible artwork and interesting facts, many of which Gabe had not known before.

In addition to finishing classes, the month of November wrapped up with Thanksgiving, which happened to also fall on Gabe’s 22nd birthday. For Gabe, Thanksgiving is about togetherness as much as it is about being thankful for everything one has. With that in mind, Gabe invited a few students over to cook a Thanksgiving meal with traditional Thanksgiving dishes like steamed carrots, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes, plus chicken in substitute for turkey. While 14 students may be too many cooks in the kitchen, Gabe wouldn’t have it any other way and feels blessed to call these students his family.

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