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.