As things started to wind down at MAN 2 Bukittinggi, ETA Ammarah Rehman had an idea to visit her students’ homes during the semester holiday. Almost 90% of the students at MAN 2 come from local villages and live several hours away from home. Majority of the students live on the same street as Ammarah in boarding houses. Some of Ammarah’s students travel four to five hours to Bukittinggi and live away from their parents for months at a time.

During December break, Ammarah travel with her students to their hometowns. Ammarah visited closed to 10 different villages and cities and saw several students and their families along the way.

In some areas, Ammarah was the first foreigner to ever visit and was welcomed with an ample bout of generosity and hospitality. Everywhere Ammarah went people wanted to practice their English or ask questions about America. Ammarah stayed with her students and saw how Indonesia families live. Ammarah was so happy to see her students interact with their family and see them outside of their role as students in the classroom.

The best part for Ammarah was seeing how proud family and community members would get when a student would speak fluently in English with Ammarah. Ammarah would visit different relatives during the week and was fed at least five times a day. The students were incredible hosts and showed Ammarah several tourist destinations and always made sure Ammarah was enjoying every minute.

Ammarah would like to thank all of the students and their families for hosting her during the week! Thank you to Intan, Lulu, Fauzan, Fadhly, Aisyah, Jay, Milla, Ferdy and Rafly for everything!

Ammarah Rehman is currently teaching at MAN 2 Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.