Mister! Mister! October 22, 2008

At some point, every bule should have a blog posting with this title. I know we all have our stories of Mister! Mister!  Today could be summed up in those two words.  I really enjoy Indonesia. Things that bother me, when I am bothered, (other than the overall homesickness I feel) are a result of my own insecurities.  I mean, of course they requested a volunteer so they could talk smack about her in her prescence in their native language!!  Its silly really, so I just try to remind myself of that. But occasionally, being the center of attention really annoys me.  Today is a prime example of this.

I wake up to see that the driver is already here and Mas Hambali is pacing outside.  I am very aggitated. It is only about 7am, nowhere near our normal time to leave. I throw on some clothes with full coverage and run across the street to see what is going on.  Luckily, Pita eases my worries. She is sitting on the floor slicing shallots. She looks up at me and I can tell that she can tell that I am in my semi-maniac panic that I typically get in when no one tells me we are leaving way earlier than normal. She assures me we aren’t leaving until 9am (YAY!) and goes back to her veggies.

This is great. I have plenty of time to do some Taebo, shower, relax, drink some tea, make one for the road, makan pagi (eat breakfast) and make my peanut butter and jam sandwich.  Promptly at 8:30, I head over to eat some grub.   Today Ibu was making soto ayam, so I had to pass on my usual cornflakes.  Typically I pass on the Indonesian food first thing in the morning. Something about jackfruit curries and fried salted fish at 8am doesn’t sit well with me. But soto ayam is as harmless as it is delicious. A simple soup, yellow in color, with green onion and noodles, chicken (ayam), fried shallots, sprouts, and other things that I don’t know what they are.  Nice way to remind yourself you are IN FACT living in Indonesian without feeling funky first thing in the morning.

Anyway, we leave at nine. We stop in the city to pick Nila up and go on our merry way. Little did I know that today was a shopping day.  We park the car and off we go…looking to buy what I believe was an automatic  coconut grater.  I listened as they bargained with the man. I love watching the market exchanges, so polite, but not really.  It took several shops before we found one that had just what we were looking for.  So of course, all this walking around attracted alot of attention to me. It is really weird to talk about, but it was sort of like (and I am in no way making a comparison..well…you decide) Madonna going to buy deotorant at 7-11 with her bodyguard and maybe her female manager or something. Everyone staring, maybe shouting, whispering. Thats what its like.  I always smile and say simple Indonesian phrases, to be polite and give off positive energy that translates into, “I am a nice, modest American girl, and no, I don’t think that just because you are Muslim you are a terrorist, and yes, I support Obama, and no, I don’t support George W”.  Not sure if they get my message fully, but I try.  But all the staring feels a little weird, especially because it is so hot out, that I am always sweating. I mean, I sport a sweat stash probably 85% of the time.  So I don’t exactly want to be looked at when I feel gross.  Plus, its just strange. But it was fine, tidak apa-apa right??

Our next stop was at another store. I am not sure how you would classify a store like this. It was set up like an outlet store for plates and flatware, glasses and corningware type stuff.  We spent quite a long time there!  They also had some gorgeous hand blown colorful glass vases, for about $6 each.

After this, we arrive at out destination, Mitra Aksi.  Today there we were hosting a training so there were many people there.  Also, because there was a training, we had no fan. AND IT WAS HOT!!!!!!!!!! So I decided to embark on an Indonesian pastime, the good old afternoon rest. Properly done, by laying on the couch in the office and taking a nap.  I have never done this before, but I thought, why not. They are always trying to get my to “take rest”, and today I really felt like I needed to “take rest”.  Nila left the room to have lunch and close the door. After she left I could hear all the participants asking her about me.  She gave them the quick rundown…from America, not married, 2 brothers, 1 sister…blah, blah.  She also told them I was resting and to not disturb me. Well, of course the minute she walked away they all came in. They couldn’t wait to speak with a native english speaking person. At first it was really fun, I was able to practice my Indonesian and give them a chance to practice their english. There was an English teacher (Indonesian) who wanted me to tell him how his English was. It was really good actually, I mean grammatically and everything.

This was fun for the first 2 hours.  After the first round of picture taking, I have to say I felt a little worn out.  But again, I really want to change the impression that Indonesians have of Americans. Many of them really thing that we think that they are terrorists.  And they are right.  Not Indonesians particularly, but Muslims.  Anyway…thats a conversation for another post.  The one woman, Annie was her name, continued to repeat to me that Indonesian men are not romantic and they have no money. Bitter???? She assured me American men are romantic and have lots of money. She then proceeded to tell some of the men around that I SAID Indonesian men are not romantic!!!! What!!!!!  I repeated, “Thats what she said!” and we all had a good laugh, but what a weird interaction.  Several invited me to come to their house, all wanted my phone number. Nila intercepted this one, thank god. You see, in Indonesia, at least in my experience, everyone wants your phone number.  Your ‘hp’ number (handphone). Its really strange at first to say no, I mean how often to do you tell otherwise very nice people that No, you don’t want them calling you??  But if I do, and I have, they will SMS you non-stop!! I mean, sweet older ladies, SMSing you goodnight, goodmorning…how was your day…what are you doing…etc. You get the idea. Its super weird so I usually act like I don’t have one.  But Nila bursted in and told them that SHE did not have the authority to give out my hp number, that was at the discretion of the director of the organization, and that no, he would not be giving anyone my number.  YAY!!!  The one lady tried to explain to Nila that her (Annie) and I are now very close dear friends.  So weird!! But all the while, I tried to remain sweet, smiling constantly.  Before I knew it, it was time to leave and I had gotten maybe 1 hour of work completed. Oh well.

The whole point in titling this post Mister! mister! was because in the morning,as I was walking down the street, that was shouted at me many times. In Indonesia, that is quite common, to call a woman Mister. Nila laughed as she heard it and made a joke about it to me.

Insight into a typical Indonesian situation. October 19, 2008

Today we have another event.  As is typical with these sorts of things, I am expected to participate (I think?) but have no clue as to who/what/when/where of it all.  Over breakfast, I ask Pita what is going on, what is the plan, etc. She tells me we leave at noon or eleven. I confirm that I should be ready to leave at eleven and she says yes. At five to eleven, I reconfirm that we are still in fact leaving at eleven. She says maybe.

:::::::I didn’t even make it to yesterday’s event for similar reasons:::::::::::::

Just how they roll in Indo…

In case you are overweight (meaning over 90 pounds) and want to either visit Indonesia for an extended period of time/live here. October 18, 2008

Well, as some of you may or may not know, I have been working out again. Yup, me and Billy Blanks rekindled are hot and steamy romance and things are going well.  I really enjoy it and I feel alot better. I was turning into quite the fatty while in school.  In addition to being good for my body, I find it is a great outlet for stress. Really great for my mental health, if ya know what I mean.  So I have shed a few pounds. It feels nice, I look better, etc.  So naturally, my pants have gotten bigger, therefore I need some new digs.  Today, Pita and I went to Mitra, a department store in Jambi City.  I think there were about 8 pairs of pants, total, in the store that even looked like they MIGHT fit. And then there were the 2 pairs that actually did fit. And then there were 2 that were too big. Now, lets not be ridiculous. I am not counting the Plus size (which are abt the equivalent to a US size 12) polyester. 70′s style pants that come up to right under your boobs that come in every color of the rainbow, most with some amount of elastic in the waist. I am not that desperate.  I even perused the men’s section. Just as depressing.  I really felt like shit after that.  Here I am thinking…wow…this working out stuff is great! And now all I want to do is drink a milkshake!! haha! However, I know that this is not indicative of anything substantial. Had I been born in Indonesia I would welcome the polyester!! So just a head up, if you are thinking about coming here for a while, and your waist is larger than about a 24, I would consider another country, or coming well stocked. So April…you are all set.

Durian party (Uncle Tom you are going to love this) October 18, 2008

So after the event, we went back to Bung Didi’s family’s house, which was walking distance from the event.  This was his family’s village.  Apparently, every Friday night, durian is free. I don’t know much about this tradition, other than that. So we had been at this event ALL DAY. I was covered in layers of sweat and the heat makes me SOOOO tired.  We were all about to leave, when Mas hambali noticed a couple people were missing from our group. He called them and found out they went to get some durian.  The whole group, as exhausted as everyone was, seemed to get excited about this news.  They all proceeded to ask me if I like durian, which at this point, I did not. If you don’t know what durian is, it is a big fruit, with prickly looking things on it. And it smells. I have been in places that actually have signs saying it is not permitted. Thats how bad it smells. I mean, it REALLY smells.

Soon they arrived with the durian. I was not able to try any at first because I was involved in a hardcore photo shoot with the local kids. I guess they heard that there was a bule on the premises, so I spent about 30-45mins posing for them. All with their camera phones. Kids as young as probably 3 taking pictures.  Sometimes they would pose with me.  It got kind of annoying after a while but I figured that it will probably be a while before they see one again, so I just went with the flow, laughing and posing and speaking my broken Indonesian, which kind of freaked them out.  I have included a picture of the kids below. And  yes, they were all taking pictures. Even the tiny ones.

After my photo shoot, it was durian time. It smelled so terrible, but I knew that refusing it would be a mortal sin. And not only that, I wanted to participate in this ritual.  I mean, thats why I am here right. So I tried it. The first piece wasn’t so good. It smelled and tasted as bad as it smelled. I was honest about this, and Mas Hambali found one he was sure I would enjoy, that was a better quality durian. He was right. It was sweet and mushy, and had a really weird aftertaste. But I jsut went with this flow too, and had a great time. Below are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Next time you see durian…just do it.  Take a deep breath and (insert British accent) GET IN!!

Bule Masuk Kamping (foreigner in the village!!) October 18, 2008

It has been a long time since my last post.  Well, lets see, I took a holiday for about 9 days in that time, and have since been back to work for about a week.

I have had some revelations over the past 3 weeks since I have last written.

The first is that I am NEVER going to knowingly ingest artificial sweetner for as long as I live. I have been Splenda-free since leaving the states, and after using it again I could feel all the ‘side effects’ they warn you about. Strange muscle pains, diarrhea, the feeling like growling rodents are running around inside my stomach. I am happy to make the move back to sugar.

The second is that I ABSOLUTELY love Philadelphia.  Yes, I am in the midst of the most extreme homesickness one could ever imagine. The upside is that I actually have a home, a place, family and friends that I miss dearly and am excited to go back to.  Although it sucks to feel homesick, it has made me appreciate all that is Philadelphia and has given me a break from my usual plotting around how to change my environment.

The third is that a year is a LONG ASS TIME!  Before I left, I think somehow I managed to tell myself that a year isn’t that long. Yeah, when you compare one single year to the 28 other years (yup, I will 29 when this is all over) it is not that long. But while you are in it, well thats an entirely different story.  I don’t want to sound like I am complaining or whining. All of the things I am feeling and thinking are incredible learning opportunities for myself.   I am fairly confident that this is part of the journey.

So lets see, what’s new?? Well, as I mentioned I have been homesick.  This week I was for real sick, completely due to the fact that I used Splenda, I mean the sweet chlorine substance they market as Splenda.  I missed a day of work and I think it was exactly what I needed to get through the really low part of my sadness. I stayed in bed all day and started watching the show Weeds (I think it is from Showtime??). Very funny, highly recommend it (unless you are prone to drug dealing-this show makes it look really easy).  Ibu was really sweet and took care of me, giving me specific instructions about what to eat and drink, even made her son go to the pharmacy and buy me medicine.  This made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which I think I needed.

The work aspect of my week was interesting. I have been repeatedly told that after Ramadam I will be given work and my schedule, etc.  This was not the case, so I had to initiate the talk. All that really got figured out was that I will be in one place M and T, and another W,Th, and F, and will be teaching six times per week. Not the news I was looking for, but I will make it work.  I have a feeling alot of my duties with involve sitting at a desk, writing and whatnot, so I think the teaching will break things up a bit-add a lil spice to my wee

Here are some pictures from an event I attended yesterday. It was a MDG event, with 20 doctors available to treat the poor community members for free, provide them with free meds, etc. It was great.  There was a live band, playing Islamic music (i forget what its called… i should have written it down). the one woman kept trying to get me to dance in a sexy way, it was really weird. She was sort of shaking her boobs around at me, trying to motion to me that I should dance like that. It was really freaking me out, so I just sort of acted like I didn’t understand what she wanted from me.  But the event overall was a huge success.  I met many people, including the doctors. It was really funny, these people had really NEVER seen a foreigner. I mean, when I say I was being stared at, I mean blatant, full on staring.

There was a point when the Vice-Mayor of the village was giving a little speech. He was thanking people and acknowledging different contributors to the event. Well, I guess he announced me, because all of my friends were telling me to stand. So, I stand. I didn’t think I was standing that long, but I guess I was because he (in English!!) said, Please sit down.  It was so embarrassing and fun at the same time.  This also attracted even more attention to me, for anyone who had not yet seen the bule (literally  means albino…from colonial days. now it means foreigner, a white foreigner). 

the first picture is me with my friends/co-workers in the car on our way to the event. I had no cllue it was a 2 hour ride, I thought it was 15 minutes away. So of course I drank tons of water before and some sweet tea on the way. (Yes, sweet tea. Its my new fave.) We are showing off our new bracelets…in honor of ridding the world of poverty. The rest are just random shots from where I was sitting.  You will notice one picture where the sky is evenly divided, dark clouds and regular sky. Yes, it is rainy season, and yes, I was wearing cashmere. Every day at abt 3 it rains, usually pretty heavily. So I could add to my ‘learning’ in the past week that both my cashmere sweater and my leather moccasins are inappropriate for this season. As I mentioned, I was like a superstar at this event. You will notice there is a picture with me and a bunch of men. This is quite common for people to want either their picture with me or just of me.  I like to get some shots of these as well, when they happen. Its funny, too, that I was being photgraphed so much and had so much attention on me. It was sooo hot, I was wearing cashmere and I was covered in sweat. Hardly looking like a superstar.  Fun times, nonethless.