September in Temanggung was filled with the smell of tobacco drying along the side of the road and the final coffee cherries being picked off their trees. For ETA Lucy Faust, she spent September welcoming teachers back from Hajj, going to Singapore to get her limited stay visa squared away, getting into an English Club groove, and teaching her students about complimenting and expressing intentions.

One Saturday in early September, Lucy joined nine students and two of her co-teachers on a two-hour journey to Wonosobo for an English Competition. All week, Lucy and her counterpart Kurnia had been helping the students practice in the news reporting, storytelling, and debate categories. At the competition, all the students did a great job, making MAN Temangging proud.

At the end of the long day, the winners were announced and three of her students won! Following the competition, everyone celebrated at a famous warung on the way home, eating chicken, specifically chicken heads for dinner. Naturally, ETA Lucy had to explain the English phrase at work: “Winner winner chicken dinner” to finish out the day.

Lucy Faust is currently teaching at MAN Temanggung, Central Java.