The Retreat, The Modeling, and Other Little Musings

Hello Hello, Family and Friends!

Finally, after two very busy weeks, I have a free afternoon, which I am dedicating primarily to providing you, my loyal readers, with a tremendous (in length, if nothing else) account of what these past two weeks held for me here in Java. Brace yourselves... ;)

In all honesty, I have nearly no recollection of the day-to-day activities that took place in the week prior to the MCC Annual Retreat, with the exception of the birthday party and a pancake-making extravaganza at PPA. (This is a prime example of why one is encouraged to keep a journal on their travels! It's amazing how quickly the events of day-to-day life are forgotten.)

The birthday party is a difficult one to forget on account of it being dramatically different from any birthday party I have ever been to before. The plan was that I was going to be picked up at 2:30 by motorbike, and we would meet everyone at the place where we were going to be fishing, presumably for our dinner. Feeling well-experienced in Indonesian culture, I only started getting ready at 2:30, and still found myself waiting around for my ride at 3:10 (though to give them credit, I did receive a text to let me know that they were running behind.) It was only after I was picked up that my illusions of finally grasping the Indonesian culture were shattered, for punctuality is not the only cultural difference, surprising as this may sound. Of course we weren't heading straight to the restaurant; we were stopping at a "hostel" to meet everyone first, and then heading out. At the hostel, I was ushered into the bedroom of the boyfriend of one of the youth, and invited to sit down on his bed, a mattress on the floor (I'm guessing that this place was more of a student budget-friendly accommodation). I'm not sure if this kind of thing sounds weird to those of you living in the West or to you SALTers out there, because as I've mentioned before, my concept of "normal" has taken some dramatic shifts. This, along with the fourteen power surges over the course of 45 minutes, didn't phase me nearly as much as it would have back in September. Nor did it phase me that, when we finally got on the road to get to the fishing place, it was after 4PM. By this time, the sky had taken on an ominous tinge, and I foolishly had forgotten to bring any sort of rain jacket. About five minutes into the journey, the clouds opened, and a true monsoon swept over the city. My friend made valiant efforts to keep me dry during the twenty minute journey, but it was hopeless, and by the time we arrived, I was soaked from shoulder to toe (my head was protected by my helmet), and for the first time, I experienced the sensation of feeling cold in Semarang. Because people here have a very strong (and perhaps sometimes justified) belief that rainwater will make a person ill, everyone was very concerned about my situation. It took a lot of convincing to assure everyone that I was fine and that no one would be angry at them for allowing me to get wet.

We spent the next 15 minutes deciding on where to sit in the empty restaurant, and then finally sat down. Our food- fish- arrived 10 minutes later, at which point I discovered that we would not be fishing for food. I was eager to dig in while the fish were still hot, but the birthday boy was MIA, and so we waited for another 20 minutes before commencing with the eating. (But room temperature food is preferred among most people I've met here anyways.) We ate quickly, chatting a little, and watching one lone person halfheartedly cast his fishing rod into the water. There was one person there who I had not yet met, and I just didn't connect with her very well (namely because she mocked every Indonesian word that came out of my mouth, and made jokes about me in front of me in Bahasa Indonesia, thinking that I wouldn't understand... it's a wee bit challenging to really enjoy that kind of company). Once we ate, everyone packed up and headed home, but not before egging the birthday boy, a prank that I was told is "sangat lucu" ("very funny"), but that ended on a bit of an awkward note as it was not as well received by the birthday boy as was originally anticipated. Still, despite its unexpected components, I was glad I was invited, and glad that I went. Everything that happens here, good or bad, fun or boring, stressful or carefree, adds to the repertoire of new life experiences!

I went to Salatiga on Monday where I found an AWESOME package from my sister waiting for me! The package included so many treats, including Herb, a stuffed sheep, who has made his home base in Kopeng, with Laura. Besides the package, everything else about my Salatiga day was standard, and enjoyable, as always.

On Wednesday evening, in place of Gloria Patri, I was picked up by the makeup artist to try the dress that she had selected for me to wear at the makeup competition. All the way to the designer's studio, she was telling me how pretty it was, and how the designer is one of the best in Semarang. Once again, I imposed my Western mentality on a non-Western situation, creating a vision of the dress that I would be wearing. As it would be, the reality of the dress was just a titch different than my vision, for in my vision, the dress extended beyond my thigh, and was void of a plunging neckline. In my vision, the dress also fit like a glove, which wasn't exactly the case. After a tearing sound occurred as I was trying to put it on, the women at the studio pulled out a pair of scissors and cut every seam out of the side of the dress. The whole scene was about as classy as it sounds. After a few minutes, I decided I should probably break the news to the crew that I am here representing a church organization, and how it really wouldn't reflect well on me or on MCC to have me walk down the catwalk (there was a catwalk!) in a glorified bathing suit. The designer took this quite personally, and when all was said and done, she said that she simply could not modify it to suit my needs, and took us off of her list of projects. The makeup artist felt so bad that I had not liked the dress (and I too felt bad, since she had put time and effort into choosing it), and assured me that the next one would better suit my needs. Since I was leaving on Friday for the retreat, she asked me to send her my measurements, and said she would find a dress for me while I was on retreat. A good chunk of my Thursday evening was then spent with Nanek (my host grandma) and Ibu Vonny, trying to get all of the measurements together.

Three weeks ago, the staff at PPA Sendang Guwo asked me if I would be willing to cook a Canadian snack with the kids there, and so on the Thursday afternoon prior to retreat, I arrived at PPA with homemade pancake batter, chocolate chips, strawberries, bananas, and- the Canadian component- maple syrup! The PPA staff, knowing that I was going to make pancakes, had also made what they called the "Semarang Pancake", so that we could do a taste comparison. Their pancake was actually a crepe with chocolate and cheese inside, a combination that I have slowly been growing accustomed to here. It was actually really delicious! Cooking with the kids and staff at PPA was SO much fun! People especially loved the Hershey's chocolate chips, and I am now on the hook to provide a bag to each of the staff members before I head home. (Andrew, how much room do you think you'll have in that suitcase?? :P) I don't know if they ate out of politeness or not, but every drop of pancake batter and syrup was consumed, along with the strawberries and bananas. I was really happy that it was so successful.

On Friday, after teaching at the TK in the morning, I headed to Salatiga for the MCC Annual Regional Retreat. This meant that everyone serving with MCC Indonesia, along with the families of the team members, were invited on this 6 day getaway. And oh, what a getaway it was! The adventure started off on Friday, with my first (and likely only) hair cut in Indonesia. After that, I joined Laura in conquering the task of baking enough cookies/brownies/muffins to cover the evening snacks for 30+ people for 5 nights. Luckily, Laura had things well underway when I arrived, so my involvement was deduced to making a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins. The Jantzi's ordered chicken from Bu Wati (a warung in Salatiga), and we enjoyed that for dinner. After dinner, Paul (Dan and Jeanne's son) took a bunch of us to the International school to climb the rock wall there. We also played some tag and some basketball, and then concluded the evening with strawberry juice and deep fried ice cream at Yege's, a local "restaurant." Mike and Nancy were there too, which meant that all the YALTers were united once more (the only time we will all be together again before we head home), and being together made me feel so happy and content.

I slept at Dan and Jeanne's, and awoke in time to snag a bagel (WITH CREAM CHEESE!!) before we headed out to the office, where everyone was meeting. MCC rented a coach bus to get us to Pangandaran, a beach area in South West Java, about 10 hours away. The bus ride went smoothly (or rather, flawlessly- "smooth" is not the word I would use to describe the roads that we took to get to Pangandaran), and we arrived in time for a late supper at "Pantai Indah", the hotel that we would be staying at for the week. Since we arrived later than expected, our evening was free. Most of us went to bed pretty early that night. It's funny how exhausting it can be to sit and do nothing in a vehicle for 10 hours!!

We were in Pangandaran from Saturday to Thursday, and each day was set up in the same manner. Worship started at 9, and breakfast was served before that. Breakfasts were a nice balance of Indonesian food (fried rice, noodles, etc.) and Western food (white bread, pancakes, omlettes), and some in-between food (fried bananas and fried cassava). At 9, we would all meet in the meeting room for an hour-long worship service, led each day by a different component of the MCC team (YALTers, MCC National crew, MCC International crew, etc.). We had a coffee break from 10-10:30, and then guest speaker sessions (which this year, were presented by each and every one of the people on the MCC team) from 10:30 until noon. The theme for these sessions this year was "Kingdom Tales: In Indonesia as it is in Heaven." The topic was a tough one, and I went the honest route in my presentation, sharing about the struggle that I have experienced this year in the faith department. Other people presented some really insightful and interesting stories that served the intended purpose of providing encouraging stories about seeing God's kingdom at work here in Indonesia. One story that was particularly interesting was Jason's. After I posted a just a few weeks ago about how supportive I am of the Compassion International Program, Jason did a presentation that included reasons for why he is not pro child sponsorship. I was intrigued by the words he spoke, and also found a lot of what he said to make sense. His presentation is on his blog (http://jasoninjava.blogspot.com/), and he and I also had a really interesting follow-up conversation about it that made me realize the significance of doing a lot of research and gaining a good understanding about the concept of  missions such as child sponsorship, and organizations that support it. It was definitely a thought-provoking discussion.

The afternoons and evenings on the retreat were free for us to do as we please, and man, did we ever use that time wisely. We went to the beach every day, renting boogie boards and surf boards, and playing in the giant waves. On our first day, we took catamarans (Indonesianized ones- wipe those yacht-esque pictures from your minds) to a little beach just a ways away from the main beach. We were told that the waves were smaller there, and while this was true, they were replaced by a strong current and a rocky bottom rather than that smooth sand bottom that we were expecting. At least three of us cut our feet and ankles while swimming in that water! The beach also had monkeys, which at first I thought was a cool bonus, until I discovered that monkeys are not very nice creatures. These ones, while wild, were completely brazen, having grown accustomed to people being around. Apparently they were also accustomed to being fed and watered, and if the food and drinks were not volunteered, the monkeys would seek other means (ie: ripping the bottle from your hand) to acquire the goods they desired. Poor Riki lost her water bottle under these circumstances, and Jason would have too, if he hadn't engaged in a tug-of-war that ended badly for the monkey. The most memorable monkey-human interaction that I witnessed was between Mike and a little gray monkey that Mike had sought to fool. Mike thought it might be funny to fill a water bottle with salt water from the ocean, and see how the monkey would respond. Once the bottle was filled, Mike walked along the beach with the bottle in hand, past a group of monkeys who were fighting a ways back in the bushes (likely over Riki's bottle). When he saw them, he changed his mind about the prank, but by then it was too late, for one of the monkeys had spotted the bottle from way in the distance, and came racing toward an oblivious Mike, who turned around at the last second, and threw the bottle at the monkey to avoid an encounter like Riki and Jason. The monkey scurried up a tree, and we all watched as it gnawed a hole in the bottom corner to get at the liquid inside. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but as we watched, the monkey, clearly disgusted, cast the bottle aside, and looked Mike square in the eye with his beady little yellow eyes. Its ears went back, and it leaped from the tree, sending Mike sprinting toward the ocean, in hopes of escaping the wrath of the little gray monkey. Thankfully the monkey chose not to pursue Mike, but the prank had totally backfired, and for the rest of the week, Mike was leery of any monkey we came in contact with.

On Monday afternoon, we had the option to go to Green Canyon, an absolutely beautiful canyon in Pangandaran. We took catamarans up a river, and then partway into the canyon. The boats waited as those of us who wanted to, swam against the current, to a place farther up, where we could jump from rocks, right into the rapids, and get carried back down the river. It was so SO beautiful, and such a unique experience, to be swimming in that kind of water, in a stunningly beautiful environment!

On Wednesday we embarked on a "Jungle Trek", but being tough and frugal Mennonites, we decided to ignore the warnings about a group of Russian hikers that went missing, and forgo the tourguide, certain that we could find the beautiful waterfalls- our intended destination- all by ourselves. We did not get lost, but we also never found the waterfalls, and I immediately regretted going on a hike through bushland wearing flip flops, as the ground was wet and slippery. I wound up taking my flip flops off and walking barefoot, but this meant watching the ground carefully to avoid stepping on those giant red poisonous millipedes or the thorns from fallen branches, and so the amount of "jungle" that I saw was limited to two red poisonous millipedes and one black monkey. But, another adventure! That evening, we rented bicycles built for 3, and, after mastering the deceptively tricky knack of riding them, we took off to do some souvenir shopping and riding around. It was a really fun little endeavour that concluded with an evening on the beach (which we had all to ourselves).

All of our meals throughout the week were provided by the hotel. Lunches were usually chicken or another meat, and rice. Dinner was always shrimp and/or squid, and fish. In Canada, an all-you-can-eat seafood dinner like that would cost a small fortune, but here, I've grown accustomed to finding seafood just about everywhere. It was delicious, and I think that the vast amounts of seafood will be something that I will really miss when I go back to Canada. I just won't be able to afford it on that darned student budget! ;)

We headed home on Thursday morning, arriving back in Salatiga around 7:30 PM. Us YALTers went out for dinner together, and then spent the night at Dan and Jeanne's or Karen and Major's. We all went our separate ways on Friday morning, with Riki and Mike accompanying me back to Semarang. We took Mike to the airport to say good-bye for another month (he'll be back on the 15th, three days before Andrew and his girlfriend Ellen arrive), and Riki stayed the night.

Saturday began my immersion into the world of modeling, beginning with a dress fitting on Saturday afternoon. Riki accompanied me on this endeavour. The dress was muuuuch more suitable this time around (and turned out to be much more in keeping with the rest of the dresses worn by the other models). It was gold, mermaid style, with lots of black lace and flowy gold tulle. It was also still much too small, but the people at the studio were awesome, and they took my measurements again, and immediately set to work on making it fit. The makeup artist (the girl who asked me to be her model) took Riki and I out for an incredible Japanese lunch as a thank-you. It was just unbelievable!

Riki went home in the late afternoon, and my host parents and I stopped at a souvenir store on our way home from dropping her off at the bus terminal. It's a really cool little place, with lots of authentic Javanese souvenirs. I've made a mental note to head back there in the next four months (less than, as of today!) In the evening, I played keyboard in the youth worship band for the first time. It was nice to get involved in that way, and great to brush up on my keyboarding skills!

After a rather fitful night sleep, I awoke on Sunday morning... the BIG DAY!! First though, I headed to church, and then joined in "Morning Tea" after the service. My host parents then took me out for lunch at Mbok De, a really great Javanese restaurant/warung, that serves some of the best Indonesian food that I've tried. I got picked up almost immediately after getting back to the house, and I was taken for lunch AGAIN. I didn't know that lunch was included in this modeling deal! While I was quite full after Mbok De, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to try Ox nose, a texture that is pretty much exactly what you would picture nose to be like. The taste wasn't too bad though!

From there, we headed over to the studio, and so began the transformation. My hair took an hour and a half, and the final result was a 1920's look that I have never personally sported. It was fun though! Then on went the dress, which was still being sewn right up until 45 minutes before the show. They were cutting the tulle off of it even after it was on me. I slipped into the gold heels that I had practiced walking in the night before, and hobbled on out to the car, where the driver kindly gathered my dress for me, and patiently waited as I contorted my body in new and exciting ways to try to get myself into the car without tearing the (very form fitting) dress. (The grace of a model is not yet a gift that I possess.)

We arrived at the mall, and I wish someone could have been there to laugh over the spectacle of me, a white woman, traipsing through the Java Mall in an excessive gown and stilettos. Every single person stopped and turned their heads, and I noticed people whispering to each other and glancing back at me. I think I must have a vague idea of how a celebrity feels. Perhaps fun for an evening, but definitely not my lifestyle of choice.

Karen, Major, and Laura came to support me, and they arrived just a few minutes after me. We watched the Javanese wedding makeup show that was on before the "Evening Gown Makeup Contest", of which I was a part. Karen and Major bought me french fries from McDonald's, and for awhile, I thought I had to be the only model consuming McDonald's before a show. Then I spotted another model scarfing down a hamburger, and I didn't feel quite so bad. The Javanese wedding show ran late, and we waited for forever until we finally got started. During that waiting time, I got a chance to talk to some of the other models. Most of them were really friendly, but one of them, a girl who must have a better sense of the magnitude of these competitions than I do, tossed her head and informed me that "You're the only bule (foreigner) in this competition, and it's actually really unfair." I couldn't help but chuckle at that, and responded, "well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never modeled before, and have never walked the catwalk." She seemed to calm down a bit after that. This same girl also told me that her native language was English, and it was difficult to take her seriously after that. (Who tries to convince a true native English speaker that their native tongue is English!? I know I can't judge based on an accent, but the grammar gave her away.)

The contest finally began an hour and a half behind schedule. We all walked out to chairs that were set up on the stage, and for 45 minutes, sat perfectly still while our makeup artists worked their magic. The time went fast, and before I knew it, my face had been completely transformed, right down to fake eyelashes. Next came the part that I was a bit apprehensive about- the walk down the runway. Thankfully I did not completely wipe out, but the darned dress got stuck on my shoe, and it was also too tight to go up and down stairs, which I had to do. I made up for the blunder with a little laugh and a curtsy, and everyone laughed pretty hard at that (with me, rather than at me, I hope...) The whole experience was just wildly out of my element, and something that I would never dare try at home, but I made that commitment to myself to say yes to every new experience that this year presented, and I'm doing my best to follow through on that.  While we did not win (the make-up was too "minimalist" for the judges, who prefer that caked on look over subtlety), it was definitely an AWESOME experience, and just too ridiculous to not enjoy!

Well, I have been working on this post for over three hours now, and I think it's time to give your (and my) sore eyes a break!Thank you so much for bearing with the lag in posts, and even more so for plodding through the essays that follow!

Have a great day!
Lots of love,
Ellery

PS- The two pictures below mean that I have FINALLY figured out how to resize my photos so that they do not take so long to load. This means that my posts should once again include pictures! I'm excited to be able to give you a better glimpse into my life here now that I have this option, but I'll leave that for the next post.

With my proud host parents, post-modeling gig! They filmed the whole thing for future viewing pleasure.

 

Catamarans line the edge of the river. (Green Canyon Adventure!)