An Exciting Time

Selamat Sore, Everyone!

I have been saying these past few weeks that the time has been flying by, but this week has dragged at a glacial pace that has made me seriously doubt that time actually moves at the same speed all the time. As I was looking over my last blog post, I realized that at the top of the post, it said "Tuesday" and yet I referred to Wednesday as "today." Sorry if that threw you off! I try hard to write so that it makes sense to those living in a different time zone, but sometimes those things slip by me!

Anyways, I left off on Wednesday, which, as I previously mentioned, was a busy day, filled with TK, PPA, and Gloria Patri Learning Centre. I continued my lessons about weather that I have been teaching my PPA kids. I was semi-successful in turning "rindy" into "rainy" and "windy" again- some kids caught on faster than others in a game of "rainy, rainy, windy" ("duck, duck, goose" with different words). My next challenge is to get the TK-A class to learn the appropriate time to say "Good Morning." They've picked it up from me saying it to them every morning, and eagerly use it every chance they get. This includes when I leave the room and when I enter the room at a time that is not morning. 

Thursday was another busy day- TK, Ichthus FM, PPA, and Angklong practise. On Friday, for some reason or another, I woke up feeling less than fantastic. In typical Penner fashion, I told myself, "It's all in your head, and you'll feel better if you get up and out" and so off I went to TK. When I got home, I decided that whether or not it was in my head, I would be taking an "istirahat" (break) for the afternoon. This proved to be a good call, because at about 3PM- the time that I would have been at PPA- my non-puking streak came to an end (though I'd say 4 months in a foreign country without getting sick once is a pretty good streak). Details spared, it was not the most pleasant experience, and made me quite homesick on top of feeling physically ill (there's really no place one would rather be than home when they're feeling ill). Another challenge of being sick here is a cultural difference in how to care for the sick. The number one thing that people here push (very strongly) when you have a stomach ache is food. This has consistently been the method of choice in every single case of illness that I have seen here. When one of my friends was sick, she was brought burgers and KFC. (I would guess that these food choices were attempts at making her feel at home, with familiar foods, and the gesture is a very thoughtful one.) When another friend was in the hospital, I can't even count the number of times I heard the word "makan" (eat). I think I can say that I gave the method a fair shot, but after the mashed potato consumption led to the only (violent) vomit session I had, I decided to go back to my own way of resting and just drinking tons of water. I am curious as to weather people here really find that eating makes them feel better? It could well be that this tactic works for those who have used it since they were young. I think we always lean toward what is most familiar when we are sick.

I woke up on Saturday morning still feeling a bit iffy, but I was bound and determined that I would be well; Debora and her friend Utami had invited us (Laura and I) to spend the weekend at Utami's house, making Western food, playing games, and just hanging out. Laura and I met them at the Synod office at 1PM, and the four of us headed to the mall to shop for groceries. It was my first time going out to buy Western ingredients with an Indonesian, and it was one of those cool opportunities to learn about each other. Utami was absolutely baffled as to what we could possibly be making with cream, cheese, pasta, chicken, veggies, and spices, saying over and over, "I'm just so curious about what this could possibly be!" She was horrified when she learned that breakfast would be muffins and strawberries. ("No rice?" she asked.) I told her that this is how I feel every time I go shopping for Indonesian ingredients. I'm often confused about what things are, and what is going with what, and how to eat this or that. I also realized that the people I spend time with on a regular basis (namely my host parents) grant me a lot of grace and patience in the food department. They patiently explain what everything is, and just laugh when I find I don't like it. They've also adapted their habits to meet some of my comfort levels when it comes to food. That's a really huge blessing.

After eating lunch at Pizza Hut, we brought all of the ingredients home and, after a nice break, we began preparing the food. Cooking in the kitchen there reminded me of the game we used to play at camp where we had to close our eyes, pick a random utensil, and use only that utensil to eat a meal. You had to be creative and adaptive. In this case, we had one burner, 2 pots, and a wok. We had decided that we would be making pasta with chicken and peppers in a cream sauce, as well as mashed potatoes (which, surprisingly, still appealed to me despite Friday's little episode). We planned in advance how we would prepare everything, and then set out to put our plan into action. There were a few stumbling blocks that we came upon, namely the discovery that the cheese (or rather, cheese product) we bought wouldn't melt at any temperature, and that a slip of a hand led to all of our noodles winding up down the drain. Despite these minor mishaps, 2 hours and 45 minutes later, we sat down to a dinner of garlic mashed potatoes and penne in cream sauce with chicken and red peppers- all piping hot- made from ONE element. I felt like a professional. Debor and Utami liked the meal (it was Utami's first time trying Western food) and their reaction was worth the challenge of buying the ingredients (and that WAS a challenge!) and cooking the food.

Cooking here, I've discovered, requires a lot of flexibility and adaptation. Parmesan cheese was nowhere to be found, and even anything other than cheese product cost over $10 CAN, so cheese product was substituted for the real thing. A brand of non-refrigerated Indonesian milk was subbed in for half-and-half, and yellow peppers were subbed in for green peppers. It was so interesting to me that the most common ingredients in Canada were so difficult to find in the biggest grocery store in Semarang. Debora said she felt the same way in America when she would try to cook Indonesian food. She had to substitute peanut butter to make peanut sauce (they use much more legit ingredients for their peanut sauce here), and she mentioned that someone she knew could only find a particular ingredient in a pet food store in America! It reminded me yet again of the concept of "normal." My tendency is to think that my way is "normal", and is therefore the best. My shopping endeavor- where my way proved to be the much more difficult and foreign way- reminded me that there really is no such thing as "normal."

We had plans to go to a church that played traditional Javanese music, going out for lunch, and then to a popular tourist attraction in Semarang (the House of 1000 Doors) but I woke up feeling pretty lousy again, and so we ended up ordering food in, and spending the day playing Dutch Blitz and just resting. It was probably the most relaxing day I've had in Indonesia, and I cannot thank Utami and Debora enough for their invitation and their flexibility in changing plans around. It was exactly what I needed.

Laura slept over last night, and then we headed to Salatiga this morning by bus. I only stayed long enough to have lunch with Karen and Major, and swing by the office, but it was one of my best visits yet to Salatiga. An absolutely amazing Christmas package arrived from my grandparents, containing Christmas cookies, Christmas ornaments, Kraft Dinner, and a beautiful card. I shared the cookies with the very grateful MCC staff (though I did end up hoarding a lot of them!). A letter from Andrew was also awaiting me, as well as a Christmas card from MCC Ontario. I felt very loved today especially!

As I wrote this blog (and for hours and hours after I post it) my dad has been flying from Toronto, getting closer and closer to Semarang! If all goes according to plan, he should be arriving tomorrow evening around dinner time. I don't think I've ever anticipated something with such a mix of worry and excitement (really! You may think that I would have felt that way in August when I came here, but at that point, I was in denial!!), and I have been praying nonstop for safe, smooth, and healthy travels. Your thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Hope to post again soon! Thinking especially of you SALTers, IVEPers, and YAMENers, who are likely now well into Christmas festivities and planning. I hope that you're all doing ok despite the challenge that being away from home at Christmas can be!

Lots of love,
Ellery