Lucas, a traveler from Brazil, spent two weeks volunteering as an English teacher in Lombok. He describes the respect of the local students, the hospitality of Mr. Jumirim’s family, and everyday life in the community, where he felt at home. He shares his challenges and joys—from teaching through games, to eating with his right hand, to unforgettable moments with children by the sea. His experience shows that volunteering in Lombok is not just about teaching, but also about discovering a new culture, openness, and genuine connection with people.

How do you feel about teaching & living in Lombok? How different is it from your country?

It was a whole different experience from what I was having in my travels. The respect they have for the teacher is impressive, everyone would make what they could for make me feel at home, what I did. As the same tame is totally different from Brazil when I think about religion and some other habits, it is really similar the way people treat and receive others. Really friendly and welcoming.

How do you feel as a foreigner in the local community?

They treated me as a really important person, they recognize a lot your effort to be in another country teaching and living with them.

Is teaching difficult? Are you busy? What are kids like?

I would not say that is difficult, but definitely not easy form, hehe. Firstly, English in not my mother tongue, secondly I’m not a professional teacher, so I had to think a lot about how to give the best classes I could. This made me a little bit busy while there, so had to put some more hours than just the in-class ones. The kids were really energetic! It was great to teach with games, because they would pay attention and really focus on the game! Besides that, again, a lot of respect. If I would ask them to write everything that was on the board, they only would leave after showing me everything, and not one single complaint from their side for doing that before the class have ended.

What do you (dis)like about the whole process?

I like the freedom I had to try different things in class, Mr. Jumirim always said to me “Lucas, if it is good for the students, then do it!“. The family that runs the school and received me were amazing, they were always worried if I was ok and if I had everything I needed, felt like home.

The only thing is that sometimes I would finish the day really tired, giving classes morning, afternoon and correcting homework (editor’s note: this was Lucas’ decision to teach all the classes, he definitely could’ve chosen teaching less! :-)). It was not fault from Mr Jumirim or anything like that, I wanted that way, to give everything I could for the project, so I can not say that is a dislike, it was part of the experience :)

Have you experienced anything crazy or different? How did you enjoy the food?

Having dinner almost everyday with the family, eating with the right hand, was really really different from what I was used to (note: you don’t need to do that either! :-)). I love Indonesian food, but staying with Jumirim’s family was different, because almost everything we would eat was planted by themselves! So the food was tasty and healthy!

Also, the opportunity to watch and dance in a weeding was great! U had great moments with them, playing with the kids, going to have lunch at the beach with the students, local activities like fishing and long and good talks with Jumirim.

Have you experienced anything crazy or different? How did you enjoy the food?

Having dinner almost everyday with the family, eating with the right hand, was really really different from what I was used to (note: you don’t need to do that either! :-)). I love Indonesian food, but staying with Jumirim’s family was different, because almost everything we would eat was planted by themselves! So the food was tasty and healthy!  Also, the opportunity to watch and dance in a weeding was great!

Would you recommend people going to teach in Lombok? Why?

Definitely! The person needs to understand that you are gonna have a simple, but good and honest life with them. I don’t know any other way that I could enjoy and getting to know so much their culture and daily life. You need to be curious and they will retribute this sharing different foods, habits and culture.

What motivated you to become a volunteer teacher in Indonesia? How did you get the idea, how did you find us? 🙂

I’m in a long travel and want to be volunteer during this time, when I searched the opportunities in WorldPackers, the one with you caught my attention, because it was helping a true social project, where I could help and luckily make some difference in the students lifes, while I could get to know more and more about the Indonesian culture.

What challenges did you encounter during your teaching experience in Indonesia? How did you adapt to the local culture and educational system while teaching in Lombok?

The challenge was about thinking strategies to teach them the most I could only in 2 weeks. To adapt it was way easier than I was expecting it, mainly because of how Mr Jumirim’s family received me. What I decided to do: doing role plays and active exercises, where they would need to think and not only memorizing. Showing to them how they improve was always good to keep them motivated. I solved language troubles with Google Translate.

Would you like to add anything else?

The daily prayers were something I had to get used to, as they can be quite loud. But living so close to a different culture changed me a lot – I became more open-minded and completely reshaped some of my ideas about Indonesia and Muslim life.

What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a volunteer teacher in Indonesia?

Go! but go with curiosity and be open minded, try and experience everything you can! You are going to meet good people who want to know more about your culture and want to share their ones! Be curious and embrace the experience,