Selamat Malam!
After all the excitement of last week and last weekend, it was about time for my Indonesian life to resume some normalcy, and that's just how it has been these last few days.
Since I had that week off for the retreat, it didn't make sense for me to head right back to Salatiga on Monday, so I stuck around Semarang, and helped at the TK in the morning. I spent the afternoon writing that enormous blog post that you may or may not have had time to plod through (and believe me, I don't blame you if you didn't make it to the end!)
On Tuesday, I went to the TK in the morning, and then headed off to the orthodontist in the afternoon to remedy a little mishap that occurred about two weeks ago, involving a pebble in the nasi (rice). It is not uncommon to find small stones in the rice we eat here, as the rice is often dried along the side of the roads, where it is exposed to such things as gravel. It's a rather unpleasant discovery, given that the texture of small stones (which often crumble if bitten) is... well, unpleasant. This time, however, the stone positioned itself just right so that when I took my first bite of nasi, the stone popped the glue off the upper wire in my mouth. (I debated the feasibility of instigating a personal rice boycott after this occurrence as rice is not my absolute favourite food, but in a country where people believe that you cannot be full if you haven't eaten rice, I've decided to postpone the boycott until my return to the homeland). Anyways, so it was off to the orthodontist to re-glue the wire. It feels funny to do things like go to the orthodontist when I think about where I am, but these are the experiences that remind me of the similarities between our cultures. I have learned, much to my dismay, that I really have held Canada in higher regard than any other country. This has extended so far as to believe that no one outside of my home country can do things as well as people in my home country can. I was so leery of going to the orthodontist here, thinking that they wouldn't know what the problem was, wouldn't have the equipment to fix it (I'm not sure why I believed glue to be unique to Canada...), that the facility wouldn't be clean, and so on. Well, of course, they knew exactly what the problem was, had exactly what they needed to fix it, and even charged through the nose for it, just like they would in Canada! And yes, it was spotlessly clean. The only notable difference was that, instead of one person fixing it, four or five people stood around me. I felt like I was going into some sort of serious surgery of sorts! So even something as small as a broken wire has provided an opportunity to learn and to grow here in the Indo! On Tuesday night, I went to the brand new photo print shop that just opened up around the corner, to make some hard copies of my pictures. They had a promo on, and 134 pictures came to about $9. It was amazing!
I taught English to the TK-A class on Wednesday. I usually teach them on Fridays, but this Friday is a national holiday (an opportunity to sleep in!!), so we moved class around. My kiddies in the TK have really taken to playing a game where I pick them up one at a time, and spin them really fast. They have asked if we can play that, along with tag, every single day, and so lately, I have been coming home from TK a sweaty mess, but leaving behind some very happy little kids! I am definitely not the world's most effective teacher, so I am thankful for other little ways to leave a positive impact on the school. Those kids are probably my favourite part about living in Indonesia, and I think that they are my biggest source of learning opportunities here. Those little four and five year olds just pour out love and patience on me every single day. They explain and re-explain something if I am not understanding, and if they cannot explain it, they'll often call another friend over to try to explain it. They never laugh at my language blunders, and they often seem to just magically understand something even when my instructions have been unbelievably weak. Almost always, when I arrive at the school, I am greeted by shouts of "Bu Ellery! Bu Ellery!", and hugs (that usually turn into clings, which require me prying them from my torso). They're so excited for stories and games, and they pour their little hearts into everything they do. And they don't just show love to me- they are so kind to each other too (usually). I see it most often in they way that they treat a physically challenged boy in my TK-B class. From what it looks like, Diaz has a mild case of cerebral palsy, which affects only his ability to walk. (it certainly doesn't affect his singing voice, which he uses enthusiastically during our singing times. "A Pizza Hut" is his favourite.) He's much slower, and more unstable than the rest of the kids, but he participates wholeheartedly in every game and activity- and he is wholeheartedly included. When he falls, the kids stop to help him up. When we play Duck, Duck, Goose, someone will always choose him, and then play at a speed that he can play with, but somehow make it look like they were playing for real. And it comes second nature to them. It's like they are blind to his differences. In fact, one day I asked the teacher if the kids every treat Diaz any differently. She looked at me like I was crazy, and responded, "No, not at all!" That answer speaks volumes to me about the hearts of these beautiful little children. I feel unbelievably blessed to get to spend every day with these kids. (Oh man, my eyes are welling up!)
Pak Har's cousin was here for just one night, Tuesday night, and we went to a warung for Mie Titee (pork and noodles in a sweet garlic broth), and sate babi (pork satay).Since my host parents go allll out when they host people, we also headed to a grilled corn stand that was super busy (despite its locations in a factory outlet parking lot), and served delicious grilled corn in many different flavours. This place also makes grilled sandwiches, which they stick in between two metal grills, and grill over a fire pit.
On Wednesday, I also led PPA at Sola Gratia, where I tried out a bunch of new group games on the kids. Man, they were difficult to please! I had like 5 games lined up, which I thought would be more than enough to fill the hour, and yet I found myself struggling immensely to fill the time after 30 minutes. We got through it though, and then I was off to Gloria Patri to help out at the learning centre there. Debora and I went out for dinner afterwards, to a warung/snack bar, and had a chance to catch up and talk about MCC Indonesia-related stuff. (Debora was an IVEPer a few years ago.) It was a really great evening!
This morning, I followed the typical Thursday routine, teaching Play Group at TK. We moved on to learning numbers today, and 1-3 went over quite successfully! In the afternoon, I spoke on Ichthus FM by myself, as my co-host was unable to attend. It is much more fun to do that with someone else! But I felt accomplished, sitting in the studio all by myself, knowing how to work everything (and praying that there wouldn't be a power outage, because then I'd really be stuck)! I went to PPA Sendang Guwo after that, and we played some games there. The kids at Sendang Guwo are another really awesome little group!
Tonight, we went to a restaurant called "Alcatraz" for dinner (this week provided several opportunities for mealtime excursions). The restaurant is decorated to look like the Alcatraz prison, and there are pictures of Alcatraz everywhere. It was pretty great! We went for a drive through the really upscale part of Semarang, where I laid eyes on the biggest, most elaborate homes that I have ever seen in my life! They rival Hollywood in their size and grandeur!
Tomorrow is a National Holiday, which means an opportunity to sleep in! We'll see what the afternoon holds.
Have a great day!
Love,
Ellery
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
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.
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.
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| With my proud host parents, post-modeling gig! They filmed the whole thing for future viewing pleasure. |
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| Catamarans line the edge of the river. (Green Canyon Adventure!) |
Saturday, March 17, 2012
A Quick Word to Assure You/Remind You of My Presence ;)
Hey Everyone!
And now suddenly we find ourselves in mid-March, and I'm getting word of 20+ degree weather in Southern Ontario, and realizing that I've now been away for half of a Summer, a Fall, and a Winter in Canada. Insane!
I have been trying to find the time to sit down and get a really good blog post written, but between the MCC Annual Team Retreat, and lots of activities going on in my host community, I have just not been able to write a blog post that is worthy of being posted.
This tiny little post is just to let you all know that there will be an update in the next few days- don't give up on me! The retreat provided a few stories worth sharing, and tomorrow is supposed to be my modeling gig, so I am positive that there will be something fun to tell you about in regards to that!
In the meantime, I am thinking about you and sending out my love and gratitude for your support and your interest in the goings-on of my life here in Java!
Have a great day! Enjoy that heat!
Love,
Ellery
And now suddenly we find ourselves in mid-March, and I'm getting word of 20+ degree weather in Southern Ontario, and realizing that I've now been away for half of a Summer, a Fall, and a Winter in Canada. Insane!
I have been trying to find the time to sit down and get a really good blog post written, but between the MCC Annual Team Retreat, and lots of activities going on in my host community, I have just not been able to write a blog post that is worthy of being posted.
This tiny little post is just to let you all know that there will be an update in the next few days- don't give up on me! The retreat provided a few stories worth sharing, and tomorrow is supposed to be my modeling gig, so I am positive that there will be something fun to tell you about in regards to that!
In the meantime, I am thinking about you and sending out my love and gratitude for your support and your interest in the goings-on of my life here in Java!
Have a great day! Enjoy that heat!
Love,
Ellery
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Hello, March!
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to you, wherever you may be!
Whenever I blog, I realize just how fast time is going. It feels like I just posted, and here we are, over a week later- and into March! We leave on Friday for the MCC annual retreat, and before that I have a few fun things coming up, namely a birthday party this afternoon (we're going fishing- wish me luck!) and my weekly trip to Salatiga on Monday (which didn't happen last week, so I'm especially looking forward to this week's visit). The retreat will take us into mid-March, and then Mike and I are in serious countdown mode for our pacars' (boyfriend/girlfriend's) visit in April!
I last posted on Saturday, leaving off with uncertainty about the evening's activities. I had completely forgotten about youth, which happens every Saturday night from 6-8PM. It was a more low-key night on Saturday- no drums, no keyboard; just an acoustic guitar. We all sat on mats on the floor in one of the classrooms, rather than in the pews in the sanctuary. There were a few power outages, as there tends to often be here, but we persevered! I was invited out for dinner and mall-wandering with a few of the youth afterward, and my acceptance of this invitation opened the door to the birthday invite. It's really awesome to get some invites out with people my age. I've felt much more grounded in the community here as things like this have started popping up.
Sunday morning was THE SERMON. I have been asked how it went, and my response has been, "Think King George VI, pre-speech lessons" (those of you who know your history or watched The King's Speech will know what I'm talking about). Oh what a mess that sermon was! But the youth were patient as patient can be, and my host parents (who came specially, just to show their support) said that it wasn't bad for my first sermon (though my host mom did toss me a sympathetic smile halfway through). Laura, who also came for moral support, provided me with a nice and honest response when I asked how she thought it went: "Well you know", she said (after a hesitation), "they're just thrilled that you got up there and did it." Sigh. Well, there's truth to that; 7 months ago, I didn't know a word in Bahasa Indonesia. Going from that to a 45 minute sermon (which I admittedly did not translate by myself) is still a noteworthy accomplishment, I think. Besides, the church community that I have found myself in is comprised of the most understanding and loving individuals who truly do value the effort far above the quality. The knowledge of this is what enables me to go out on a whim and make a fool of myself as I did for this sermon. (Not but 5 minutes after writing this, I received a call from a lady at church with a question for me that will take "making a fool of myself" to a whole new level... read on!)
Laura came back to my house and spent the night on Sunday. We were rewarded for our efforts (my speaking efforts and her listening efforts) with dinner out, at a restaurant that served Indonesian and Western cuisine, and that had a bakery and chocolate shop in the front. I have to say, while Indonesians have mastered the art of beautiful fabrics and ridiculously delicious fruit drinks, their chocolates leave much to be desired. Think dollar store chocolate Christmas calendars- those waxy little squares with minimal taste and a strange texture. Apparently it's to keep the chocolate from melting in this climate, but my thinking is why even bother? Nonetheless, Laura and I each chose a truffle of sorts, and ate them for dessert later in the evening.
Rather than heading to Salatiga on Monday, Laura and I stuck around Semarang. The plan was to get some photos developed at the new photo shop that opened up nearby, but we ended up sleeping rather late, and decided to just grab lunch instead. We parted ways in the mid-afternoon, and I headed home for a quiet afternoon and evening.
Tuesday, normally a slow day, was busied up when I ran into my host mom pulling out of the driveway on my way home from school. She was heading out to do errands, and asked me if I'd like to join. I said sure, and we were off to the bank, to the insurance office, and to the traditional Chinese medicine store. It felt very much like the Indonesian version of a morning with my mom at home, and it was kind of fun! Afterward, I got the chance to try Rendang. Rendang is a traditional Indonesian dish made from meat, coconut milk, lemon grass, and a bunch of different spices. "In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods' list" (thank you, Wikipedia,), although it shows up as number 11 on the official list, and I'm hesitant to trust a list that includes ketchup and marzipan as top foods in the world... Nonetheless, I have been eager to try this since hearing about its status, and it was pretty darn delicious! And now I can tick that off the list of things to do before I leave Indonesia. In the evening, I accompanied my host parents to ACE Hardware, where there was supposedly a big sale happening. ACE is 5 levels, and very Westernized, and every time we go, I find myself transported back to Canada in my mind, shopping for home decor with my parents (a beloved pastime for us). It was a fun little outing!
Wednesday is normally a busy day from beginning to end, but the cancellation of classes at the Gloria Patri Learning Centre made for a free evening that I spent trying to prepare for another presentation in Bahasa Indonesia that I was to give on Thursday morning for the school board (about 25 teachers). I'm not sure if it was the overconsumption of Rendang or the stress of another presentation, but I slept so poorly that night that I gave myself a sick day on Thursday morning, and tried to catch at least a few hours of sleep prior to the presentation. This plan (kindly supported by my principal) proved very successful, and the presentation, while not perfect, flowed much more smoothly than that little sermon blunder on Sunday. I had been asked to present a mock English lesson that I would give to a TK class. I felt a bit intimidated by the topic, given that I've taught for all of 5 months and these teachers have been teaching for years, but I gave it my best shot, and the teachers were good sports about going along with "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and playing "Duck, Duck, Goose." It was certainly a relief to get that second presentation out of the way. The presentation took the place of my usual Thursday afternoon at Ichthus FM, and I went from school to PPA, where we made bookmarks to send to sponsor families. It is SO COOL to be on this side of a big aid organization like Compassion International (the program that sponsors the kids who attend PPA). I get a really unique opportunity to see- not just one or two times, but over and over again- where people's money is going, and how it is helping families. From what I've seen and read so far, Compassion seems to have a really great system in place to provide children with health care, education, and other basic needs, and they pledge that they will never allow less than 80% of any financial support to go directly to the children that people sponsor. I'm sure that every Compassion site in every part of the world is run differently, but the two that I get to interact with on a weekly basis really make me believe in their mission. The leaders are dedicated, and I've seen the kids demonstrate their gratitude for support through their commitment to attending the after-school program. If you're interested in learning more about Compassion International, their website is: http://www.compassion.com/.
I taught TK-A on Friday morning, and then headed to Sendang Guwo in the late afternoon for PPA. Fridays at PPA are often quite casual, and I frequently get the opportunity to just sit and chat with people, particularly the handicraft leader, Bu Elise. Bu Elise loves talking about marriage and skin colour, and we've had some very interesting little chats about both of these things. The skin colour discussions always baffle me, and Friday's was no exception. Bu Elise talked about how her kids were born more white, but have become darker, and she crinkled her nose and shook her head as she said that. She is so confused as to why people in North America would want to have darker skin. When I asked why people here want white skin, she said, "because it's clean." I wanted to explain to her that people in North America (or the people in the circles that I'm connected with anyways) don't have the same views towards skin colour as people do here, but I couldn't find the words to make it make sense. There are some cultural differences that are just really hard to sort through and understand.
Yesterday, Saturday, I gave out a listening test to my little kindergartens to see how they're coming on learning their numbers from 1-10 (they can count them no problem, but they've never actually learned to identify which number is which). Three of them got perfect, and one of those three was entirely unexpected. I was so excited, thinking man, I'm really reaching those unreachable children, and I proudly informed the teacher, Bu Ratih, of the student's (and my) accomplishment. Bu Ratih was quick to knock me off my high horse: "Oh, that's because she copied off of Jessy." Ah. Well that's too bad. I confronted the girl (her name is Angel, ironically) about the little cheating situation, asking straight up, "Angel, did you copy off of Jessy for the test today?" Angel looked confused for a second as she tried to remember what test I was talking about (After all, at least 20 minutes of intensive play time has gone down between then and now) and then a light dawned and she nodded eagerly. Her response was so honest that I had to laugh, though I did my best to cover it up as I informed her of the seriousness of this action. I suppose cheating on a kindergarten numbers test is a little less serious than those university papers I've been immersed in in the last three years.
I spent Saturday afternoon working on some stuff for MCC, and then headed to youth in the evening. Apparently the sub-par presentations I've given have not been a deterrent for the people at church, and I was asked to give an impromptu speech ("just 10 minutes this time") on an experience that has been difficult in my life (surprisingly, I did not choose Indonesia!). This presentation was the best of the three I did this week, and it was actually fun to give. It was nice because there were enough people there who could fill in the blanks for words I didn't know in Bahasa Indonesia, and the spontaneity of this meant that I didn't have time to stress about it. I was invited out to eat again with some friends, but my host family already had plans to take me up to Ungaran for dinner (at a restaurant that boasts two live tigers as an exhibit!). The food was delicious- seafood, something I'm really going to miss when I go home. We got home super late, and I headed to bed shortly thereafter.
My outings this week were yet again filled with confessions of love ("Mr! I love you!" The gender thing is a lost concept, it would seem), and professions of how beautiful I am being called to me from the street. One of those occurred on the afternoon of running errands, and my host mom looked absolutely disgusted when the parking guy seized the opportunity to peer through the open window and inform me that "kamu cantik!" ("You're beautiful!"). She asked me if that happens in Canada. No, sadly, it does not. My favourite little student shaved his head bald this week, presumably as a means to save the cost of frequent hair cuts, and it is just so cute! I've been rubbing his head all week- it feels so funny!
We are on Day 2 of Javanese wedding music being played in the area, and while I'm a pretty big music fan, traditional Javanese just is not my style. If you're interested in hearing it, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqvI6NiGP0
The first 20 seconds are just ads, and the strange skeleton video has nothing to do with Javanese culture as far as I am aware- puppets are more their thing- but if you just listen, that will give you a good idea of the sound that drifts into my bedroom whenever a wedding or other significant Javanese event is going on nearby (though this video lacks the heavy bass sound that I've found in most of the Javanese music here- sometimes that's all I can hear, and it is mildly irritating to listen to.)
The excitement for today (besides the upcoming fishing party, which I am anticipating eagerly and with only a hint of trepidation) involved a young aspiring makeup artist who has asked me if I would be willing to model for a makeup competition. She said she likes working on Western faces because they have a different bone structure. Well of course I said yes (who would turn down such a flattering invitation?) and she came by today to meet me and discuss the details. If all goes according to plan, I will be sitting on a stage in the Java Mall two weeks from today, being made over (one of those live transformation type things), and yes, walking the catwalk in high heels and the fanciest dress I'll likely ever wear. The heels are being dropped off tomorrow so that I can start practicing the walk. (For those of you who have watched too many crime shows, this makeup artist is the sister of a woman from church, and my host family will be accompanying me on this endeavour. The only questionable element in this gig is my personal ability to strike a model pose at the end of that catwalk. I'm hoping for lots of pictures.)
Anyways, there's this week's essay! ;) Hope you're all keeping well!
Have a great day!
Love,
Ellery
Whenever I blog, I realize just how fast time is going. It feels like I just posted, and here we are, over a week later- and into March! We leave on Friday for the MCC annual retreat, and before that I have a few fun things coming up, namely a birthday party this afternoon (we're going fishing- wish me luck!) and my weekly trip to Salatiga on Monday (which didn't happen last week, so I'm especially looking forward to this week's visit). The retreat will take us into mid-March, and then Mike and I are in serious countdown mode for our pacars' (boyfriend/girlfriend's) visit in April!
I last posted on Saturday, leaving off with uncertainty about the evening's activities. I had completely forgotten about youth, which happens every Saturday night from 6-8PM. It was a more low-key night on Saturday- no drums, no keyboard; just an acoustic guitar. We all sat on mats on the floor in one of the classrooms, rather than in the pews in the sanctuary. There were a few power outages, as there tends to often be here, but we persevered! I was invited out for dinner and mall-wandering with a few of the youth afterward, and my acceptance of this invitation opened the door to the birthday invite. It's really awesome to get some invites out with people my age. I've felt much more grounded in the community here as things like this have started popping up.
Sunday morning was THE SERMON. I have been asked how it went, and my response has been, "Think King George VI, pre-speech lessons" (those of you who know your history or watched The King's Speech will know what I'm talking about). Oh what a mess that sermon was! But the youth were patient as patient can be, and my host parents (who came specially, just to show their support) said that it wasn't bad for my first sermon (though my host mom did toss me a sympathetic smile halfway through). Laura, who also came for moral support, provided me with a nice and honest response when I asked how she thought it went: "Well you know", she said (after a hesitation), "they're just thrilled that you got up there and did it." Sigh. Well, there's truth to that; 7 months ago, I didn't know a word in Bahasa Indonesia. Going from that to a 45 minute sermon (which I admittedly did not translate by myself) is still a noteworthy accomplishment, I think. Besides, the church community that I have found myself in is comprised of the most understanding and loving individuals who truly do value the effort far above the quality. The knowledge of this is what enables me to go out on a whim and make a fool of myself as I did for this sermon. (Not but 5 minutes after writing this, I received a call from a lady at church with a question for me that will take "making a fool of myself" to a whole new level... read on!)
Laura came back to my house and spent the night on Sunday. We were rewarded for our efforts (my speaking efforts and her listening efforts) with dinner out, at a restaurant that served Indonesian and Western cuisine, and that had a bakery and chocolate shop in the front. I have to say, while Indonesians have mastered the art of beautiful fabrics and ridiculously delicious fruit drinks, their chocolates leave much to be desired. Think dollar store chocolate Christmas calendars- those waxy little squares with minimal taste and a strange texture. Apparently it's to keep the chocolate from melting in this climate, but my thinking is why even bother? Nonetheless, Laura and I each chose a truffle of sorts, and ate them for dessert later in the evening.
Rather than heading to Salatiga on Monday, Laura and I stuck around Semarang. The plan was to get some photos developed at the new photo shop that opened up nearby, but we ended up sleeping rather late, and decided to just grab lunch instead. We parted ways in the mid-afternoon, and I headed home for a quiet afternoon and evening.
Tuesday, normally a slow day, was busied up when I ran into my host mom pulling out of the driveway on my way home from school. She was heading out to do errands, and asked me if I'd like to join. I said sure, and we were off to the bank, to the insurance office, and to the traditional Chinese medicine store. It felt very much like the Indonesian version of a morning with my mom at home, and it was kind of fun! Afterward, I got the chance to try Rendang. Rendang is a traditional Indonesian dish made from meat, coconut milk, lemon grass, and a bunch of different spices. "In 2011 an online poll by 35,000 people held by CNN International chose Rendang as the number one dish of their 'World’s 50 Most Delicious Foods' list" (thank you, Wikipedia,), although it shows up as number 11 on the official list, and I'm hesitant to trust a list that includes ketchup and marzipan as top foods in the world... Nonetheless, I have been eager to try this since hearing about its status, and it was pretty darn delicious! And now I can tick that off the list of things to do before I leave Indonesia. In the evening, I accompanied my host parents to ACE Hardware, where there was supposedly a big sale happening. ACE is 5 levels, and very Westernized, and every time we go, I find myself transported back to Canada in my mind, shopping for home decor with my parents (a beloved pastime for us). It was a fun little outing!
Wednesday is normally a busy day from beginning to end, but the cancellation of classes at the Gloria Patri Learning Centre made for a free evening that I spent trying to prepare for another presentation in Bahasa Indonesia that I was to give on Thursday morning for the school board (about 25 teachers). I'm not sure if it was the overconsumption of Rendang or the stress of another presentation, but I slept so poorly that night that I gave myself a sick day on Thursday morning, and tried to catch at least a few hours of sleep prior to the presentation. This plan (kindly supported by my principal) proved very successful, and the presentation, while not perfect, flowed much more smoothly than that little sermon blunder on Sunday. I had been asked to present a mock English lesson that I would give to a TK class. I felt a bit intimidated by the topic, given that I've taught for all of 5 months and these teachers have been teaching for years, but I gave it my best shot, and the teachers were good sports about going along with "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and playing "Duck, Duck, Goose." It was certainly a relief to get that second presentation out of the way. The presentation took the place of my usual Thursday afternoon at Ichthus FM, and I went from school to PPA, where we made bookmarks to send to sponsor families. It is SO COOL to be on this side of a big aid organization like Compassion International (the program that sponsors the kids who attend PPA). I get a really unique opportunity to see- not just one or two times, but over and over again- where people's money is going, and how it is helping families. From what I've seen and read so far, Compassion seems to have a really great system in place to provide children with health care, education, and other basic needs, and they pledge that they will never allow less than 80% of any financial support to go directly to the children that people sponsor. I'm sure that every Compassion site in every part of the world is run differently, but the two that I get to interact with on a weekly basis really make me believe in their mission. The leaders are dedicated, and I've seen the kids demonstrate their gratitude for support through their commitment to attending the after-school program. If you're interested in learning more about Compassion International, their website is: http://www.compassion.com/.
I taught TK-A on Friday morning, and then headed to Sendang Guwo in the late afternoon for PPA. Fridays at PPA are often quite casual, and I frequently get the opportunity to just sit and chat with people, particularly the handicraft leader, Bu Elise. Bu Elise loves talking about marriage and skin colour, and we've had some very interesting little chats about both of these things. The skin colour discussions always baffle me, and Friday's was no exception. Bu Elise talked about how her kids were born more white, but have become darker, and she crinkled her nose and shook her head as she said that. She is so confused as to why people in North America would want to have darker skin. When I asked why people here want white skin, she said, "because it's clean." I wanted to explain to her that people in North America (or the people in the circles that I'm connected with anyways) don't have the same views towards skin colour as people do here, but I couldn't find the words to make it make sense. There are some cultural differences that are just really hard to sort through and understand.
Yesterday, Saturday, I gave out a listening test to my little kindergartens to see how they're coming on learning their numbers from 1-10 (they can count them no problem, but they've never actually learned to identify which number is which). Three of them got perfect, and one of those three was entirely unexpected. I was so excited, thinking man, I'm really reaching those unreachable children, and I proudly informed the teacher, Bu Ratih, of the student's (and my) accomplishment. Bu Ratih was quick to knock me off my high horse: "Oh, that's because she copied off of Jessy." Ah. Well that's too bad. I confronted the girl (her name is Angel, ironically) about the little cheating situation, asking straight up, "Angel, did you copy off of Jessy for the test today?" Angel looked confused for a second as she tried to remember what test I was talking about (After all, at least 20 minutes of intensive play time has gone down between then and now) and then a light dawned and she nodded eagerly. Her response was so honest that I had to laugh, though I did my best to cover it up as I informed her of the seriousness of this action. I suppose cheating on a kindergarten numbers test is a little less serious than those university papers I've been immersed in in the last three years.
I spent Saturday afternoon working on some stuff for MCC, and then headed to youth in the evening. Apparently the sub-par presentations I've given have not been a deterrent for the people at church, and I was asked to give an impromptu speech ("just 10 minutes this time") on an experience that has been difficult in my life (surprisingly, I did not choose Indonesia!). This presentation was the best of the three I did this week, and it was actually fun to give. It was nice because there were enough people there who could fill in the blanks for words I didn't know in Bahasa Indonesia, and the spontaneity of this meant that I didn't have time to stress about it. I was invited out to eat again with some friends, but my host family already had plans to take me up to Ungaran for dinner (at a restaurant that boasts two live tigers as an exhibit!). The food was delicious- seafood, something I'm really going to miss when I go home. We got home super late, and I headed to bed shortly thereafter.
My outings this week were yet again filled with confessions of love ("Mr! I love you!" The gender thing is a lost concept, it would seem), and professions of how beautiful I am being called to me from the street. One of those occurred on the afternoon of running errands, and my host mom looked absolutely disgusted when the parking guy seized the opportunity to peer through the open window and inform me that "kamu cantik!" ("You're beautiful!"). She asked me if that happens in Canada. No, sadly, it does not. My favourite little student shaved his head bald this week, presumably as a means to save the cost of frequent hair cuts, and it is just so cute! I've been rubbing his head all week- it feels so funny!
We are on Day 2 of Javanese wedding music being played in the area, and while I'm a pretty big music fan, traditional Javanese just is not my style. If you're interested in hearing it, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqvI6NiGP0
The first 20 seconds are just ads, and the strange skeleton video has nothing to do with Javanese culture as far as I am aware- puppets are more their thing- but if you just listen, that will give you a good idea of the sound that drifts into my bedroom whenever a wedding or other significant Javanese event is going on nearby (though this video lacks the heavy bass sound that I've found in most of the Javanese music here- sometimes that's all I can hear, and it is mildly irritating to listen to.)
The excitement for today (besides the upcoming fishing party, which I am anticipating eagerly and with only a hint of trepidation) involved a young aspiring makeup artist who has asked me if I would be willing to model for a makeup competition. She said she likes working on Western faces because they have a different bone structure. Well of course I said yes (who would turn down such a flattering invitation?) and she came by today to meet me and discuss the details. If all goes according to plan, I will be sitting on a stage in the Java Mall two weeks from today, being made over (one of those live transformation type things), and yes, walking the catwalk in high heels and the fanciest dress I'll likely ever wear. The heels are being dropped off tomorrow so that I can start practicing the walk. (For those of you who have watched too many crime shows, this makeup artist is the sister of a woman from church, and my host family will be accompanying me on this endeavour. The only questionable element in this gig is my personal ability to strike a model pose at the end of that catwalk. I'm hoping for lots of pictures.)
Anyways, there's this week's essay! ;) Hope you're all keeping well!
Have a great day!
Love,
Ellery
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Beautiful Days
Why Helloooo!
This week has been a series of really beautiful days, even though nothing terribly out-of-the-ordinary occurred. It's still nice to have a record of such days- the ones that would be completely forgotten, but that deserve to be remembered...
Tuesday was back to my usual activities, with TK in the morning, and a free afternoon and evening. A little curve ball was thrown my way when my youth pastor asked me if I would be willing to lead the sermon for the youth on Sunday morning- in Bahasa Indonesia. ("45 minutes, but no problem if it's only 30 minutes", he said. "Only" is an interesting word choice...) I anticipated spending the afternoon and evening preparing for this, and then ended up watching Harry Potter instead. (I felt a bit paralyzed at the idea of giving a sermon. That is something I've never done before!)
I got down to writing that sermon on Wednesday. I was given the topic, "Show Your Love For Jesus: Putting Jesus Number One" (ironically one of my biggest struggles), and I felt like I was back at university, writing a three point paper to illustrate the ways that we can show our love for Jesus. It was a good chance for me to reflect on my faith journey a bit, though I definitely threw in many examples of how much I struggle with this. It's all written now, and just needs to be practiced a few more times before tomorrow. I have never spoken for any length of time in Bahasa Indonesia (and admittedly, I sent it to a friend to get it translated- people wouldn't have had any clue what I was talking about if I tried to translate it alone/using google translate) so I'm pretty nervous for it, but Laura is coming to show her support (and she's assured me that there will be at least one person there who isn't devastated if it's a bit on the shorter side), and I'm really glad for this opportunity to stretch my comfort zones. I have already benefited from it; When I went in to talk to the youth pastor about it today, it just so happened that there was pizza in the office! Usually the giveaway foods are something floating in broth or wrapped in rice (those ones are generally appreciated more for the kind gesture of the offer than for the taste itself), so I figured that this must truly be a reward for my agreeing to speak on Sunday ;)
I taught at Gloria Patri on Wednesday night. It was my "All About Canada" night, and I was assured that there would be an LCD to show pictures. When we got there, however, there was no LCD to be had- they had forgotten to set it up. Luckily, Indonesians tend to be extremely patient, and between that and the fluid concept of time here, an hour and three different LCD projectors later (the first two wouldn't work), we were ready to go! After class, we headed out for dinner, to the DP Mall this time, where I got sushi and iced tea (both being new favourites of mine). We also stopped at an Indonesian souvenir kiosk where I got some really awesome souvenirs that I have been wanting for awhile, but haven't been able to find. It was a really great evening.
I woke up on Thursday morning and prepared for teaching Play Group. We learned the word "cow", and we've now created a big enough animal vocabulary- 4 words- to have some fun! We walked/crawled around like cats, dogs, horses, and cows (and dinosaurs, just for the heck of it), and then played some "race to the animal", my own little invention where the pictures of the animals are taped to the pillars in the church basement, and I shout the animal and they all scream with excitement and race around like the little minions in the movie Despicable Me (they even make the minion noises), trying to find it. I'll admit that this game is more for my amusement than theirs.
TK ends at 10:30 on Thursdays, and that gives me two hours between class and Ichthus FM. This is also often a really great time to talk to people back in Canada, since it's around 10:30PM on a weeknight there, and people are often on skype. I got to talk to my sister, who was sitting in the rec room of our house, which I hadn't seen since August! Skype is truly a remarkable invention. I felt like I spent some time in my cozy basement!
I began 'Relaxing Afternoon" (the radio show) on my own, my co-host arriving an hour in. It's a bit pathetic how hard-core I feel when I get to take control of the radio system (what's it actually called? I don't even know the name!), but choosing a topic is always difficult, so I floundered around for an hour, discussing this, that, and the other thing (and playing a lot more songs than normal), until Chris finally arrived. The show was salvaged, and we wrapped up, and then I headed to PPA. I had planned an activity with them, using the English phrases that I've taught them ("My name is...", "I am __ years old", etc.), and I was so impressed with the results! They all did such a great job, and I felt like I had accomplished at least a tiny little something teaching-wise. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. There is a group of ladies there who always prepare dinner to eat, and who always want me to eat a big portion of whatever it is. The trouble is that my host mom then wants me to eat dinner after that (people just love it when I eat eat eat eat), and so I usually compromise by asking them if I can "bungkus" the food (take it to go- many kids do that there), and I have found that to be a method that pleases everyone. However, the meal on Thursday was quite difficult to bungkus, and they were particularly insistent upon my eating it. I pondered for a minute about whether to put up a fight over it, and then just gave in and accepted the food, and man, was I ever glad I did! The meal was called gado-gado, which is lontong (rice that has been packed and cooked in a banana leaf), a ton of fresh veggies, and peanut sauce. It was delicious! I think it was the first time that I completely finished a meal there, and the ladies were absolutely thrilled. I also tried Dragon Fruit and some tiny little green fruit that looked completely innocent, but that made lemons taste downright sweet compared to their sourness.
Tangguh, one of my students, lives at the PPA location, and their family raises chickens. I watched him balance a chicken on his shoulder, parrot-style (parrots are much better at this than chickens are, and the poor thing fell off and attempted to run away multiple times, but Tangguh was quicker), and then he came running over to me with one of the seven new chicks, and stuck it in my hand. We ended up hanging out in the chicken coop for awhile after dinner, and I learned about the different types of chickens, and watched as Tangguh and his two year old sister Felda ran after the chickens and swung them around by the leg, and tossed them in the air. It was a rough day for the chickens. Tangguh brought me a KitKat bar afterward, and I was quite touched by the gesture. KitKat bars are a bit more of an expensive chocolate here, and I know that he didn't have too many of them left. Kids are just beautiful. My host parents wanted to go to the mall to pick up some stuff for a package that they wanted to send to our church branch in Kalimantan on Thursday night, and I joined them. I can now tell you exactly where every mall is in Semarang, and can likely list off the stores in each one, and most of the products available in those stores. Ah, the unexpected things you learn when you go overseas for a year...
Friday was a big day for my TK-B class, as well as for three other TK classes in the area. We were all heading off on a big field trip to three different places of worship- a mosque, a Hindu Temple, and a Buddhist Temple. I was very curious as to how this was going to pan out- three places in one day with 200 five year olds is quite ambitious. I had forgotten that the typical focus of any outing here is more on the photo-taking, and much less on the experience of being in that place.It seems much more important to get that photo (or 10), and much less important to take in the sites and learn about the place being visited. I have experienced this several times now, and it still confuses me (I don't understand the value of the photo if you don't know very much about the context in which it is taken), but nonetheless, it provided an explanation as to how we would be able to squeeze in three different places in less than six hours (including a break for lunch, and time to get on and off the bus, and organize the kiddies into lines, and to actually get from point A to point B to point C to point A again). I counted eight separate group photo ops for our class alone, and then we also waited for the rest of the kids to get their pictures taken in the various locations. I have to say, it was impressive just how patient and cooperative those kids were. Organizing 28 kindergarten kids into one photo is nearly impossible at home, and this happened eight times! EIGHT!!! Even I wasn't smiling in the last ones. The trip was a really great chance to see some places that I hadn't yet seen though, and they were really beautiful, even if our time there was brief. Another perk was that my principal canceled class for TK-B on Saturday (the joys of running a private school!), and since my main focus on Saturdays is teaching TK-B, I was given a holiday. This meant a chance to sleep in this morning, and I took full advantage of the opportunity.
I got up and got ready for my meeting at church this morning at 11, where I sorted out some of the final details surrounding tomorrow's sermon. I've spent the afternoon practicing that (ohhhh man, the youth are going to have to grant me a LOT of grace and patience), catching up with a friend from home, and writing this blog post! I have no idea what the plans are for the evening, but it has been nice to have some time today to just catch up on my blog, and I'm sure that the evening will be enjoyable no matter what it brings.
Before I close this, I just wanted to thank you all yet again for your messages from home, despite my slow responses, and sometimes no response. Being overseas, one is constantly trying to find the line between using their time to connect with individuals at home and to immerse ourselves in life here. (In fact, during orientation, there was a whole workshop dedicated to this topic, which concluded with a warning to not allow yourself to spend too much time "in your home country", and the suggestion of connecting to home just once a week.) To alleviate unnecessary guilt and stress on my end (related to both not keeping in touch enough, and to being in touch too much), the compromise that I have come to is to read and enjoy those messages from home entirely guilt-free, and then use my blog as a means of updating everyone about life here. This allows me to put some quality time and effort into my blog updates, which gives everyone a much more detailed account of what I'm doing and how things are going for me. If the lack of individual responses has been interpreted as my not receiving or not caring about your messages, I am very sorry! I do not want anyone to think that they've been snubbed, because I deeply value each and every bit of news that I receive from home. I am all the more grateful for it when it is accompanied with an understanding that balancing time invested in home and here can be a challenge, and is one that I really do try my best to manage while I am here.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Love,
Ellery
This week has been a series of really beautiful days, even though nothing terribly out-of-the-ordinary occurred. It's still nice to have a record of such days- the ones that would be completely forgotten, but that deserve to be remembered...
Tuesday was back to my usual activities, with TK in the morning, and a free afternoon and evening. A little curve ball was thrown my way when my youth pastor asked me if I would be willing to lead the sermon for the youth on Sunday morning- in Bahasa Indonesia. ("45 minutes, but no problem if it's only 30 minutes", he said. "Only" is an interesting word choice...) I anticipated spending the afternoon and evening preparing for this, and then ended up watching Harry Potter instead. (I felt a bit paralyzed at the idea of giving a sermon. That is something I've never done before!)
I got down to writing that sermon on Wednesday. I was given the topic, "Show Your Love For Jesus: Putting Jesus Number One" (ironically one of my biggest struggles), and I felt like I was back at university, writing a three point paper to illustrate the ways that we can show our love for Jesus. It was a good chance for me to reflect on my faith journey a bit, though I definitely threw in many examples of how much I struggle with this. It's all written now, and just needs to be practiced a few more times before tomorrow. I have never spoken for any length of time in Bahasa Indonesia (and admittedly, I sent it to a friend to get it translated- people wouldn't have had any clue what I was talking about if I tried to translate it alone/using google translate) so I'm pretty nervous for it, but Laura is coming to show her support (and she's assured me that there will be at least one person there who isn't devastated if it's a bit on the shorter side), and I'm really glad for this opportunity to stretch my comfort zones. I have already benefited from it; When I went in to talk to the youth pastor about it today, it just so happened that there was pizza in the office! Usually the giveaway foods are something floating in broth or wrapped in rice (those ones are generally appreciated more for the kind gesture of the offer than for the taste itself), so I figured that this must truly be a reward for my agreeing to speak on Sunday ;)
I taught at Gloria Patri on Wednesday night. It was my "All About Canada" night, and I was assured that there would be an LCD to show pictures. When we got there, however, there was no LCD to be had- they had forgotten to set it up. Luckily, Indonesians tend to be extremely patient, and between that and the fluid concept of time here, an hour and three different LCD projectors later (the first two wouldn't work), we were ready to go! After class, we headed out for dinner, to the DP Mall this time, where I got sushi and iced tea (both being new favourites of mine). We also stopped at an Indonesian souvenir kiosk where I got some really awesome souvenirs that I have been wanting for awhile, but haven't been able to find. It was a really great evening.
I woke up on Thursday morning and prepared for teaching Play Group. We learned the word "cow", and we've now created a big enough animal vocabulary- 4 words- to have some fun! We walked/crawled around like cats, dogs, horses, and cows (and dinosaurs, just for the heck of it), and then played some "race to the animal", my own little invention where the pictures of the animals are taped to the pillars in the church basement, and I shout the animal and they all scream with excitement and race around like the little minions in the movie Despicable Me (they even make the minion noises), trying to find it. I'll admit that this game is more for my amusement than theirs.
TK ends at 10:30 on Thursdays, and that gives me two hours between class and Ichthus FM. This is also often a really great time to talk to people back in Canada, since it's around 10:30PM on a weeknight there, and people are often on skype. I got to talk to my sister, who was sitting in the rec room of our house, which I hadn't seen since August! Skype is truly a remarkable invention. I felt like I spent some time in my cozy basement!
I began 'Relaxing Afternoon" (the radio show) on my own, my co-host arriving an hour in. It's a bit pathetic how hard-core I feel when I get to take control of the radio system (what's it actually called? I don't even know the name!), but choosing a topic is always difficult, so I floundered around for an hour, discussing this, that, and the other thing (and playing a lot more songs than normal), until Chris finally arrived. The show was salvaged, and we wrapped up, and then I headed to PPA. I had planned an activity with them, using the English phrases that I've taught them ("My name is...", "I am __ years old", etc.), and I was so impressed with the results! They all did such a great job, and I felt like I had accomplished at least a tiny little something teaching-wise. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. There is a group of ladies there who always prepare dinner to eat, and who always want me to eat a big portion of whatever it is. The trouble is that my host mom then wants me to eat dinner after that (people just love it when I eat eat eat eat), and so I usually compromise by asking them if I can "bungkus" the food (take it to go- many kids do that there), and I have found that to be a method that pleases everyone. However, the meal on Thursday was quite difficult to bungkus, and they were particularly insistent upon my eating it. I pondered for a minute about whether to put up a fight over it, and then just gave in and accepted the food, and man, was I ever glad I did! The meal was called gado-gado, which is lontong (rice that has been packed and cooked in a banana leaf), a ton of fresh veggies, and peanut sauce. It was delicious! I think it was the first time that I completely finished a meal there, and the ladies were absolutely thrilled. I also tried Dragon Fruit and some tiny little green fruit that looked completely innocent, but that made lemons taste downright sweet compared to their sourness.
Tangguh, one of my students, lives at the PPA location, and their family raises chickens. I watched him balance a chicken on his shoulder, parrot-style (parrots are much better at this than chickens are, and the poor thing fell off and attempted to run away multiple times, but Tangguh was quicker), and then he came running over to me with one of the seven new chicks, and stuck it in my hand. We ended up hanging out in the chicken coop for awhile after dinner, and I learned about the different types of chickens, and watched as Tangguh and his two year old sister Felda ran after the chickens and swung them around by the leg, and tossed them in the air. It was a rough day for the chickens. Tangguh brought me a KitKat bar afterward, and I was quite touched by the gesture. KitKat bars are a bit more of an expensive chocolate here, and I know that he didn't have too many of them left. Kids are just beautiful. My host parents wanted to go to the mall to pick up some stuff for a package that they wanted to send to our church branch in Kalimantan on Thursday night, and I joined them. I can now tell you exactly where every mall is in Semarang, and can likely list off the stores in each one, and most of the products available in those stores. Ah, the unexpected things you learn when you go overseas for a year...
Friday was a big day for my TK-B class, as well as for three other TK classes in the area. We were all heading off on a big field trip to three different places of worship- a mosque, a Hindu Temple, and a Buddhist Temple. I was very curious as to how this was going to pan out- three places in one day with 200 five year olds is quite ambitious. I had forgotten that the typical focus of any outing here is more on the photo-taking, and much less on the experience of being in that place.It seems much more important to get that photo (or 10), and much less important to take in the sites and learn about the place being visited. I have experienced this several times now, and it still confuses me (I don't understand the value of the photo if you don't know very much about the context in which it is taken), but nonetheless, it provided an explanation as to how we would be able to squeeze in three different places in less than six hours (including a break for lunch, and time to get on and off the bus, and organize the kiddies into lines, and to actually get from point A to point B to point C to point A again). I counted eight separate group photo ops for our class alone, and then we also waited for the rest of the kids to get their pictures taken in the various locations. I have to say, it was impressive just how patient and cooperative those kids were. Organizing 28 kindergarten kids into one photo is nearly impossible at home, and this happened eight times! EIGHT!!! Even I wasn't smiling in the last ones. The trip was a really great chance to see some places that I hadn't yet seen though, and they were really beautiful, even if our time there was brief. Another perk was that my principal canceled class for TK-B on Saturday (the joys of running a private school!), and since my main focus on Saturdays is teaching TK-B, I was given a holiday. This meant a chance to sleep in this morning, and I took full advantage of the opportunity.
I got up and got ready for my meeting at church this morning at 11, where I sorted out some of the final details surrounding tomorrow's sermon. I've spent the afternoon practicing that (ohhhh man, the youth are going to have to grant me a LOT of grace and patience), catching up with a friend from home, and writing this blog post! I have no idea what the plans are for the evening, but it has been nice to have some time today to just catch up on my blog, and I'm sure that the evening will be enjoyable no matter what it brings.
Before I close this, I just wanted to thank you all yet again for your messages from home, despite my slow responses, and sometimes no response. Being overseas, one is constantly trying to find the line between using their time to connect with individuals at home and to immerse ourselves in life here. (In fact, during orientation, there was a whole workshop dedicated to this topic, which concluded with a warning to not allow yourself to spend too much time "in your home country", and the suggestion of connecting to home just once a week.) To alleviate unnecessary guilt and stress on my end (related to both not keeping in touch enough, and to being in touch too much), the compromise that I have come to is to read and enjoy those messages from home entirely guilt-free, and then use my blog as a means of updating everyone about life here. This allows me to put some quality time and effort into my blog updates, which gives everyone a much more detailed account of what I'm doing and how things are going for me. If the lack of individual responses has been interpreted as my not receiving or not caring about your messages, I am very sorry! I do not want anyone to think that they've been snubbed, because I deeply value each and every bit of news that I receive from home. I am all the more grateful for it when it is accompanied with an understanding that balancing time invested in home and here can be a challenge, and is one that I really do try my best to manage while I am here.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Love,
Ellery
Monday, February 20, 2012
A Detailed Account of A Typical Monday
Gooood Morning!
Today, after a little interaction on the bus, I reflected upon how normal the most unusual experiences have become to me. If for nothing other than my own records, I thought today might be a good day to jot down a few of those experiences. I'm curious as to just how abnormal these things are in the eyes of those of you back in the homeland, as my perception has become a bit skewed!
Before that, however, I'll give you a brief overview of my day yesterday, Sunday. I arrived at church at 7:30AM as per usual. Church here usually goes from 8-10, and we always arrive half an hour early, for a total of two and a half hours on the pew. We are also among the last to leave on most Sundays, as my host parents are heavily involved in church activities. Normally, we sit downstairs in the cafe area until about 10:45, and then head out for lunch from there. Yesterday however, there was a special youth service- a drama of sorts, titled "How Do I find My Soulmate?" The title was in English, but the rest was in Bahasa Indonesia, and while I can hold my own in a one-on-one conversation on most occasions, I am incapable of following any type of presentation or sermon. Still I thought, Well, it's a drama, so I'm sure I can follow along. This "drama" was to begin at 11AM and run until 1PM, the length of a regular church sermon. The church service came and went, and we headed on down to the cafe, where I sipped on a coconut milk beverage with pieces of coconut floating about in it (a very common and very delicious drink, I must say), and waited out the hour in between the two church events. I was offered food, but turned it down, thinking the coconut drink would tide me over until 1:00. 11:00 arrived, and upstairs I went to watch this eye-opening drama. 11:10 passed by, then 11:20... Things finally got underway at 11:30. I felt a bit uneasy, realizing that the service would now likely be going until 1:30 instead of 1, but at least this is a drama, I thought. Well, the word "drama" turned out to be very misleading. The event was in fact an "interactive sermon" (complete with in-depth personality quizzes to determine your ideal soulmate) in Bahasa Indonesia (which makes sense, of course). I will give it to them that the couch and chairs set up on stage gave the illusion of a dramatic component, and when the speaker sat down on said couch, I did feel like we were on the cusp of a drama of sorts. Had it ended at the 1:00 mark, or even at 1:30, I would have reflected upon the experience with near-fond memories. However, when I found myself still sitting on that pew at 2:30PM with nothing but that coconut drink in my stomach, I couldn't help but feel a trifle irritated. 6 hours on a pew listening to a language that one cannot comprehend, with only that hour break in between, does not bode well for one's sanity (or rear end... a more uncomfortable pew surely cannot exist). My host family finally came to my rescue, and I was whisked away for an incredibly delicious Indonesian lunch. My host dad says I only enjoyed it so much since I was so hungry, but it was hands down the best nasi goreng I've eaten here- served on a banana leaf! I will likely be asked several times in the upcoming week why on earth I would have left early (and the shocked and confused looks that I got as I made my swift and premature exit from the "drama" will forever stick in my mind), but I do not regret heading out. It may have been really interesting- the title was intriguing- but if you can't understand it, then it really doesn't matter if the content is really great, does it? My sanity was on the line!
I headed to Salatiga this morning around 8AM, arriving in Salatiga just after 9:30. My host sister and I were driven there by the driver of my host dad's company, and it was a pretty typical drive. One of my favourite things to observe was a guy giving his rooster a bath. There are tons of chickens and roosters that run around here, or that are kept under a bamboo "lid", as was the one in this case. The guy had lifted the one side, and was spraying the rooster down with a hose. The rooster looked thrilled, as one could imagine.
I stopped in at the office, which turned out to be empty today, as everyone was at a conference. I talked to the office helper, Pak Pri, for a few minutes, and checked my mail, and then headed towards the salon for a cream bath. The lady who gave me my cream bath just loved my hair, and seemed quite disappointed when I told her I didn't want it blow dried. She asked if I would like her to "pakai foam" (use mousse), and she looked so hopeful that I said of course she could. She painstakingly divided my hair into five sections, curled each section with her fingers (all the while talking about how pretty it is, though "terlalu panjang"- too long; people never seem to hesitate in telling you how they feel about your appearances), and then brought the mirror over for me to take a look. Five big curls isn't really my style, but she seemed quite proud of her work, and I wholeheartedly appreciated her efforts.
From there, I made my way over to Pak Lilik and Ibu Christin's house, as Ibu Christin had invited Laura and I for lunch. I enjoyed the walk, stopping to take a picture of a GIANT slug and to admire the newly painted neon green and orange mosque in the city centre (I suppose the calls to prayer weren't drawing in the masses, and an alternative attention-grabbing tactic was sought out). I also found a chameleon on my travels, which was cool! I rarely see chameleons. I took a few pictures of those roosters in cages, as well as a guy cutting down a tree. The safety requirements here evidently aren't too specific, because this guy had merely a rope tied around his stomach, and I don't think that he was even wearing shoes. Sometimes I'm just in awe of what human beings are capable of- this guy was scurrying around that tree like a monkey, hacking down branches with his little axe, left and right. It was crazy!
I caught an ankota the rest of the way to Pak Lilik and Ibu Christin's, and arrived just before noon. Their helper, Ibu Rini, was waiting for me, along with Steven, who greeted me with his usual heart-melting smile. There truly is not a child alive that could possibly exceed Steven in cuteness. He produced the Canada puzzle that my family had given him and Peter for Christmas, and we worked on that until Ibu Christin came home with Peter. Ibu Rini had made Jus sirsak (juice made from a fruit that tastes a bit like a jolly rancher), and I enjoyed that and an appetizer of french fries while Ibu Rini and Ibu Christin worked on a homemade pizza. Laura arrived, and we all finished the puzzle together (amazingly, only one piece has gone missing!), and then sat down to the most delicious pizza found in Indonesia- Pizza A La Bu Rini. Ibu Rini used to work in a restaurant, and I've yet to encounter fluffier dough or tastier sauce than that found in her pizza. There were even fresh bell peppers at the market today, so the pizza was better than ever! Ibu Rini said that she would teach me how to make the dough and the sauce the next time I'm there. I'm planning a sleepover to Pak Lilik's and Ibu Christin's sometime after the retreat. Pak Lilik came home for lunch too, and we all ate together. Afterward, Pak Lilik headed back to the conference, and Laura and I stuck around to watch Shaun the Sheep, a very popular kids show here that is quite entertaining for adults as well. We headed out around 2:30, in the rain that is typical of an afternoon during the rainy season in Central Java. We hopped on the number 9 angkota, and headed to the main corner to catch our buses home.
While we were waiting for our buses, a man beckoned us to an overhang to wait in a more sheltered area. He greeted me enthusiastically, and then asked me what my name was. He also asked for my cell phone number (I took the "don't have one" route this time... is that really awful of me?), and then asked me to write down my name for him. I truly did not have a pen or paper, but this did not stop my new friend! He asked if I was catching a bus to Semarang, which was conveniently pulling around the corner as I responded "Yes I am." He ushered me on the bus, and followed me up the bus steps (I left Laura standing at the corner, waiting for her own bus to take her in the opposite direction). I got the sense that the man would sit down beside me if I provided the opportunity, and to avoid an awkward situation, I sat down next to someone rather than finding two seats to myself, as I normally do. The guy disappeared to the back of the bus, and I put in my headphones. About two minutes later, there was a tap on my shoulder, and the guy handed me a piece of newspaper with his name and address written on it. "Don't forget to write me!" he called, and then hopped off the bus again. The funny thing is, this is by no means the first time that such an interaction has taken place. They happen to all of us "bules" (white people) on a daily basis. Not all interactions go to the point of being followed onto the bus, but it's definitely not completely strange to have that happen here. On Saturday, on my way back from visiting my student's house, a guy (presumably the father of the three kids on his motorcycle) blew me kisses from the other side of the road. I am often asked if I have a boyfriend (it's so nice to not have to make something up in response to that question! Thank you, Andrew!!), and the looks of dismay upon hearing my response are quite comical at times. (I can't even communicate with you boys! Do you really think I would go for it even if I was single?? That said, there was a girl a few years ago who married a guy she met here, so I suppose it's not completely out of the question.)
I got off the bus in Banyumanik, and switched to the angkota, which is normally the more unpredictable leg of the journey. It didn't disappoint me today! The driver was an unusually friendly one, and I don't think he'd ever seen a white person before, let alone one who could (kind of) speak Bahasa Indonesia. I thought he was going to pee his pants, he was laughing so hard at every word that came out of my mouth. The angkota was also filled with the chattiest group of women, who seemed to be best friends, although they all got off in different places. They asked me a million questions, and told me a bunch of times just how beautiful I am (it's the nose- people here have a thing for noses), and attempted to help me find my destination, unaware that I know the route quite well, having done it every week for over 4 months now. It was probably the most fun angkota ride I've had, and the driver didn't even try to rip me off, which is quite rare! I walked home, waving at the people who called out to me (one of them being one of my students- I heard "BU ELLERY!" from across the street), and finally arrived at my house, safe and sound, and eager to blog about the events of the day.
These last few days have been really good ones- Singapore worked miracles on my mental health! Nonetheless, I am still so grateful for your messages, letters, and emails- they continue to be one of my greatest sources of strength in this experience. The time is picking up rapidly now (February 20th! WHAT!?), and Pak Lilik said that everyone seems to feel that way after the visa renewal trip. He said that next year, the plan is to switch visa types so that people do not have to leave the country in order to renew their visas. He acknowledged the downside to that as well, and I must say, I'm thankful I slipped in this year, because I don't know what I would have done without that trip. That said, it has also had the opposite effect on a few people in the group, and they are struggling now to get back into the groove of their positions after getting a taste of the independence and Westernization that we've been craving. Thoughts and prayers for the team are always greatly appreciated!
Less than three weeks until team retreat, and there are some fun things happening in between now and then. I'll save those for another blog post ;)
Have a wonderful day!
Lots of love,
Ellery
Today, after a little interaction on the bus, I reflected upon how normal the most unusual experiences have become to me. If for nothing other than my own records, I thought today might be a good day to jot down a few of those experiences. I'm curious as to just how abnormal these things are in the eyes of those of you back in the homeland, as my perception has become a bit skewed!
Before that, however, I'll give you a brief overview of my day yesterday, Sunday. I arrived at church at 7:30AM as per usual. Church here usually goes from 8-10, and we always arrive half an hour early, for a total of two and a half hours on the pew. We are also among the last to leave on most Sundays, as my host parents are heavily involved in church activities. Normally, we sit downstairs in the cafe area until about 10:45, and then head out for lunch from there. Yesterday however, there was a special youth service- a drama of sorts, titled "How Do I find My Soulmate?" The title was in English, but the rest was in Bahasa Indonesia, and while I can hold my own in a one-on-one conversation on most occasions, I am incapable of following any type of presentation or sermon. Still I thought, Well, it's a drama, so I'm sure I can follow along. This "drama" was to begin at 11AM and run until 1PM, the length of a regular church sermon. The church service came and went, and we headed on down to the cafe, where I sipped on a coconut milk beverage with pieces of coconut floating about in it (a very common and very delicious drink, I must say), and waited out the hour in between the two church events. I was offered food, but turned it down, thinking the coconut drink would tide me over until 1:00. 11:00 arrived, and upstairs I went to watch this eye-opening drama. 11:10 passed by, then 11:20... Things finally got underway at 11:30. I felt a bit uneasy, realizing that the service would now likely be going until 1:30 instead of 1, but at least this is a drama, I thought. Well, the word "drama" turned out to be very misleading. The event was in fact an "interactive sermon" (complete with in-depth personality quizzes to determine your ideal soulmate) in Bahasa Indonesia (which makes sense, of course). I will give it to them that the couch and chairs set up on stage gave the illusion of a dramatic component, and when the speaker sat down on said couch, I did feel like we were on the cusp of a drama of sorts. Had it ended at the 1:00 mark, or even at 1:30, I would have reflected upon the experience with near-fond memories. However, when I found myself still sitting on that pew at 2:30PM with nothing but that coconut drink in my stomach, I couldn't help but feel a trifle irritated. 6 hours on a pew listening to a language that one cannot comprehend, with only that hour break in between, does not bode well for one's sanity (or rear end... a more uncomfortable pew surely cannot exist). My host family finally came to my rescue, and I was whisked away for an incredibly delicious Indonesian lunch. My host dad says I only enjoyed it so much since I was so hungry, but it was hands down the best nasi goreng I've eaten here- served on a banana leaf! I will likely be asked several times in the upcoming week why on earth I would have left early (and the shocked and confused looks that I got as I made my swift and premature exit from the "drama" will forever stick in my mind), but I do not regret heading out. It may have been really interesting- the title was intriguing- but if you can't understand it, then it really doesn't matter if the content is really great, does it? My sanity was on the line!
I headed to Salatiga this morning around 8AM, arriving in Salatiga just after 9:30. My host sister and I were driven there by the driver of my host dad's company, and it was a pretty typical drive. One of my favourite things to observe was a guy giving his rooster a bath. There are tons of chickens and roosters that run around here, or that are kept under a bamboo "lid", as was the one in this case. The guy had lifted the one side, and was spraying the rooster down with a hose. The rooster looked thrilled, as one could imagine.
I stopped in at the office, which turned out to be empty today, as everyone was at a conference. I talked to the office helper, Pak Pri, for a few minutes, and checked my mail, and then headed towards the salon for a cream bath. The lady who gave me my cream bath just loved my hair, and seemed quite disappointed when I told her I didn't want it blow dried. She asked if I would like her to "pakai foam" (use mousse), and she looked so hopeful that I said of course she could. She painstakingly divided my hair into five sections, curled each section with her fingers (all the while talking about how pretty it is, though "terlalu panjang"- too long; people never seem to hesitate in telling you how they feel about your appearances), and then brought the mirror over for me to take a look. Five big curls isn't really my style, but she seemed quite proud of her work, and I wholeheartedly appreciated her efforts.
From there, I made my way over to Pak Lilik and Ibu Christin's house, as Ibu Christin had invited Laura and I for lunch. I enjoyed the walk, stopping to take a picture of a GIANT slug and to admire the newly painted neon green and orange mosque in the city centre (I suppose the calls to prayer weren't drawing in the masses, and an alternative attention-grabbing tactic was sought out). I also found a chameleon on my travels, which was cool! I rarely see chameleons. I took a few pictures of those roosters in cages, as well as a guy cutting down a tree. The safety requirements here evidently aren't too specific, because this guy had merely a rope tied around his stomach, and I don't think that he was even wearing shoes. Sometimes I'm just in awe of what human beings are capable of- this guy was scurrying around that tree like a monkey, hacking down branches with his little axe, left and right. It was crazy!
I caught an ankota the rest of the way to Pak Lilik and Ibu Christin's, and arrived just before noon. Their helper, Ibu Rini, was waiting for me, along with Steven, who greeted me with his usual heart-melting smile. There truly is not a child alive that could possibly exceed Steven in cuteness. He produced the Canada puzzle that my family had given him and Peter for Christmas, and we worked on that until Ibu Christin came home with Peter. Ibu Rini had made Jus sirsak (juice made from a fruit that tastes a bit like a jolly rancher), and I enjoyed that and an appetizer of french fries while Ibu Rini and Ibu Christin worked on a homemade pizza. Laura arrived, and we all finished the puzzle together (amazingly, only one piece has gone missing!), and then sat down to the most delicious pizza found in Indonesia- Pizza A La Bu Rini. Ibu Rini used to work in a restaurant, and I've yet to encounter fluffier dough or tastier sauce than that found in her pizza. There were even fresh bell peppers at the market today, so the pizza was better than ever! Ibu Rini said that she would teach me how to make the dough and the sauce the next time I'm there. I'm planning a sleepover to Pak Lilik's and Ibu Christin's sometime after the retreat. Pak Lilik came home for lunch too, and we all ate together. Afterward, Pak Lilik headed back to the conference, and Laura and I stuck around to watch Shaun the Sheep, a very popular kids show here that is quite entertaining for adults as well. We headed out around 2:30, in the rain that is typical of an afternoon during the rainy season in Central Java. We hopped on the number 9 angkota, and headed to the main corner to catch our buses home.
While we were waiting for our buses, a man beckoned us to an overhang to wait in a more sheltered area. He greeted me enthusiastically, and then asked me what my name was. He also asked for my cell phone number (I took the "don't have one" route this time... is that really awful of me?), and then asked me to write down my name for him. I truly did not have a pen or paper, but this did not stop my new friend! He asked if I was catching a bus to Semarang, which was conveniently pulling around the corner as I responded "Yes I am." He ushered me on the bus, and followed me up the bus steps (I left Laura standing at the corner, waiting for her own bus to take her in the opposite direction). I got the sense that the man would sit down beside me if I provided the opportunity, and to avoid an awkward situation, I sat down next to someone rather than finding two seats to myself, as I normally do. The guy disappeared to the back of the bus, and I put in my headphones. About two minutes later, there was a tap on my shoulder, and the guy handed me a piece of newspaper with his name and address written on it. "Don't forget to write me!" he called, and then hopped off the bus again. The funny thing is, this is by no means the first time that such an interaction has taken place. They happen to all of us "bules" (white people) on a daily basis. Not all interactions go to the point of being followed onto the bus, but it's definitely not completely strange to have that happen here. On Saturday, on my way back from visiting my student's house, a guy (presumably the father of the three kids on his motorcycle) blew me kisses from the other side of the road. I am often asked if I have a boyfriend (it's so nice to not have to make something up in response to that question! Thank you, Andrew!!), and the looks of dismay upon hearing my response are quite comical at times. (I can't even communicate with you boys! Do you really think I would go for it even if I was single?? That said, there was a girl a few years ago who married a guy she met here, so I suppose it's not completely out of the question.)
I got off the bus in Banyumanik, and switched to the angkota, which is normally the more unpredictable leg of the journey. It didn't disappoint me today! The driver was an unusually friendly one, and I don't think he'd ever seen a white person before, let alone one who could (kind of) speak Bahasa Indonesia. I thought he was going to pee his pants, he was laughing so hard at every word that came out of my mouth. The angkota was also filled with the chattiest group of women, who seemed to be best friends, although they all got off in different places. They asked me a million questions, and told me a bunch of times just how beautiful I am (it's the nose- people here have a thing for noses), and attempted to help me find my destination, unaware that I know the route quite well, having done it every week for over 4 months now. It was probably the most fun angkota ride I've had, and the driver didn't even try to rip me off, which is quite rare! I walked home, waving at the people who called out to me (one of them being one of my students- I heard "BU ELLERY!" from across the street), and finally arrived at my house, safe and sound, and eager to blog about the events of the day.
These last few days have been really good ones- Singapore worked miracles on my mental health! Nonetheless, I am still so grateful for your messages, letters, and emails- they continue to be one of my greatest sources of strength in this experience. The time is picking up rapidly now (February 20th! WHAT!?), and Pak Lilik said that everyone seems to feel that way after the visa renewal trip. He said that next year, the plan is to switch visa types so that people do not have to leave the country in order to renew their visas. He acknowledged the downside to that as well, and I must say, I'm thankful I slipped in this year, because I don't know what I would have done without that trip. That said, it has also had the opposite effect on a few people in the group, and they are struggling now to get back into the groove of their positions after getting a taste of the independence and Westernization that we've been craving. Thoughts and prayers for the team are always greatly appreciated!
Less than three weeks until team retreat, and there are some fun things happening in between now and then. I'll save those for another blog post ;)
Have a wonderful day!
Lots of love,
Ellery
Saturday, February 18, 2012
...And Two Weeks Later...
Hello Hello, my lovely friends and family!
Once again, I apologize for the severe lag in posts, and for the mammoth essay that I am now writing to compensate for that lag. On the upside, however, this gap can be taken as a good sign; the last two weeks have been busy busy busy, and absolutely chalk FULL of fun things! I'll waste no time in sharing those things with you...
Last Tuesday and Wednesday passed by at a snail's pace, as the days leading up to something exciting seem to do, though Wednesday night was a highlight as we (my friend Debora and I) went out for an awesome dinner with Ibu Linda and Pak Heri, to celebrate Pak Heri's birthday. In this case, the excitement was Mike's arrival on Thursday night. Mike is a fellow Indonesia SALTer, but his placement is one of the two that are not on Java. Because of the distance and the flight costs, Mike has not been back to Java since we left Salatiga back in October. I anticipated his arrival with almost as much excitement as I did my dad's (though I managed to hold back the tears of joy this time...) After TK and a shortened session at Ichthus FM, my host parents and I headed to the airport. Mike's flight was on time, and it was a great little reunion with what felt like a long-lost member of our Indo Fam. My host parents treated Mike (and myself) like royalty, with activities and adventures every night. We enjoyed some AWESOME food, did some mall-hopping (malls are by far the most common hangout spot for youth and young adults in Semarang- I suppose some things are just universal!), and satisfied Mike's cravings for McDonalds, which cannot be found where he is serving. Laura joined us on Saturday night, and we went to a movie on Sunday night (more for the experience than for the actual film- "Chronicle" was among the most scarring movies I have ever seen. If it's playing in North America or wherever you are, I discourage you from seeing it.) Having Mike and Laura here was a huuuuge spirit-booster for myself, and it was especially exciting because our trip to Singapore (SINGAPORE!!!!) was on the horizon!
On Monday morning, after a little incident involving a bottle of blue nail polish that fell off my desk (and predictably shattered on the tile floor, flinging nail polish everywhere- it took me over two hours clean up today), Laura, Mike, and I headed off to Salatiga. We arrived in the late morning, and went straight to MCC, where, on top off all the good things that were going on, I found a package from my friend Rachael that arrived four months after she shipped it!! After checking week after week to see if it had arrived, I had given up on it, so it was such an awesome surprise! I opened my package, and then we headed for lunch to Cosmo cafe. Riki and Jason arrived in the early afternoon, and the five of us took a bis kecil (small bus) up to Kopeng to hang out at Laura's. A feeling of absolute contentment swept over me there, as I thought about how incredibly lucky I am to have these people in my life here. Being here has not always been easy (as you may well know), but my life has been SO enriched for meeting these people, and this experience has been worth it for that alone.
We returned from Kopeng in time for dinner at Karen and Major's, where Nicole met us. The eight of us talked about the logistics surrounding our trip to Singapore, and then we baked cookies (well, I ate freshly baked cookies) and played some Settlers of Catan (I lost miserably) before heading to Dan and Jeanne's for the night. I had the best night sleep that I have had since arriving in Indonesia (complete with good dreams!), and awoke to something that is next to impossible to find here- bagels! It was my first one in over six months, and those and the fresh banana milkshakes that Jeanne made, assured me that the day was going to be an amazing one.
Karen and Major and the boys (who had slept at Karen and Major's) arrived just before 8AM, and we were driven to the Semarang airport. Our two and a half days of pure bliss began the second we got through security, with Riki's purchase of fried cheese pockets that she generously shared with all of us.We boarded our plane just before 11AM, and flew to Jakarta (about an hour-long flight). Minus Mike, it was everyone's first time back in the Jakarta airport, and we were amazed at how beautiful it was. We certainly didn't remember it that way when we were coming from North America! Karen and Major had appointed Nicole as the person in charge of all money and passports, so I felt like I was traveling with my mom, who normally deals with paperwork; I could completely relax! From Jakarta, we flew to the Singapore airport, arriving around 4PM on Tuesday afternoon. I wish I could put into words the feeling of arriving there. The Singapore airport has been ranked number one in the world (though it is in stiff competition with the Hong Kong International Airport), and once you've seen it, you'll understand why. Besides being spotlessly clean (you could almost lick the floors), there are waterfalls, gardens, playgrounds, a pool, and a mini-forest growing inside. It's just ridiculous!! And coming from a place that doesn't rank number one in cleanliness (likely doesn't make the top 10 list either...), our jaws dropped at the sight of this place. I would have been perfectly content to spend our two days in the airport, but we had more to do than just hang out there, and so we went through immigration, grabbed a burger at McDonalds, and hopped on the (spotless, air-conditioned, punctual) SkyTrain which would take us to Philip and Iris' flat in Queenstown. Philip and Iris are friends of Karen and Major's, and they have past connections to MCC Indonesia. Philip is from New Zealand, and Iris is from Malaysia, and they have an adorable two year old son named Jeffrey. After a bit of confusion and disagreement in directions, we arrived at their flat on the third floor of a 30-floor apartment building, the most common living accommodation to be found in Singapore. Once the introductions were made, Philip and Iris spoke the magic words: "Here's a key. Come and go as you please." WHAT!? I wish I could convey to you just how much joy that brought me and everyone else on the team, all of whom are coming from six months of the opposite. We had almost forgotten what that kind of independence felt like like, and I will be forever grateful to Philip and Iris for allowing us to fulfill our craving for that.
We took full advantage of the chance to do just as we please, beginning about 10 minutes after we arrived in Queenstown. After dropping off our things, we hopped back on the SkyTrain to Holland Village, where we were told we could find a Mexican restaurant (yes, in Holland Village- odd, I know). Sure enough, Cha Cha Cha's was waiting for us (or rather, we waited for it, as it was Valentines Day, and every restaurant in that area was overflowing with people). We walked around for a bit beforehand, eating doritoes and marveling at the cleanliness (Singapore has very strict laws about litter, spitting, and gum chewing, and I wholeheartedly support these laws), and by 9:30PM, I found myself staring at a massive quesadilla and a dish of refried beans. We had been expecting mediocre Mexican cuisine, and our lowered expectations once again worked to our advantage. I don't even really eat Mexican food at home, but this meal was likely the new number one meal I've eaten in 6 months. (I'll acknowledge now that this blog post will be absolutely filled with references to food, as that was our top focus in Singapore.) It was also by far the most expensive meal I've eaten in 6 months (I gasp in horror when a food bill in Indonesia hits 30,000 rupiah, or about $4 CAN, just to give you an indication of what I've become accustomed to here), but it was worth every penny. We sat around chatting for awhile, and then headed back to the flat for a decent night's sleep.
On Saturday morning, we awoke around 7AM and had a quick breakfast at the flat, before heading to Pak Wahab's "visa office" to deal with visa renewal things. This visit- the sole purpose of our trip to Singapore- took place on a McDonalds patio on Orchard Road (the top shopping strip in Singapore), and consumed about 4 minutes of our time. It is a bit unnerving to hand all our personal documents and $1000 USD to a man who works out of a McDonalds, but these were our instructions by MCC, and they've done this more than once, so we trusted the system in place, and didn't give it a second thought.
From then until 4PM, the time was ours, and we used it as wisely as we possibly could. We began our day at an import grocery store, where I anticipated purchasing enough snacks to see me through until Andrew's visit in April. I eagerly grabbed a basket, and began exploring the options. After about 45 minutes, I went to the checkout line with my goods- one bag of chips and a box of Voortman's cookies. Turns out that reverse culture shock is entirely legitimate, and I was completely overwhelmed by the selection (and the prices) of the goods available to me. It was the oddest sensation to struggle so much with a grocery shopping trip, and I found it enough to just look at everything. It also struck me that part of the anticipation of going back to Canada is the food. I've already been sent packages that contain Western goodies like Kraft Dinner and Crispers, and I just didn't feel the desperate need to satisfy any more of my Western cravings; there's something exciting about the anticipation of waiting to fulfill them in July! No one else seemed to have any issues however, and purchases included Tostitos, salsa, Nature Valley bars, and Aero chocolate. Just outside the entrance to the grocery store, I stumbled across a very VERY beautiful invention- bacon wrapped sausage. The debate over whether or not to invest in a stick was short-lived, and within 30 seconds, I found myself savouring the taste of salty bacon. What a treat that was!
The six of us headed to a bookstore after that, and then to a really nice souvenir store. We then walked to a Subway to get subs, and then headed back to the flat to drop off our purchases. Nicole stayed behind for the day as she wasn't feeling the greatest, and we all took a few minutes to rest before continuing on our adventures. The five of us headed back out around 1:30, to Marina Bay Sands, a REALLY upscale hotel and shopping area right on the water. The shopping complex had a canal running through it, where one could ride boats if they so desired- inside! Bizarre. Since the prices were a mite out of our league ($6 for a cupcake...), we just looked around and took in the cleanliness, and then headed back to the Orchard Park area in time to pick up our passports. Jason ran ahead to do this, and by the time the rest of us caught up with him, Pak Wahab had come and gone, and all of our visa stuff was taken care of! We were free to do what we wanted for the rest of the time in Singapore!
We stopped for a beverage at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and then took the SkyTrain to Little India, to satisfy a craving for Indian food. Little India was a really cool part of the city, with lots of little shops and restaurants. We went to a vegetarian restaurant that proved to be delicious (though I passed on the food item that was labeled "Mango Milk Barfi"), and then went to a little souvenir shop to pick up a few things. We had planned to do the Singapore Zoo Night Safari that evening, and conveniently, there is a bus stop specifically for the Night Safari in Little India. We were picked up around 7:30, and driven a ways away to the zoo. The Singapore Zoo is supposedly the best zoo in the world, and after the night safari, I can understand why! The zoo is designed in such a way that it looks like the animals are roaming freely. They use trenches and hidden fences to give the zoo a natural look, as well as tons of trees and lots of space. The result is spectacular- it feels like the hyenas could just leap across the road and consume the water buffalo that live on the other side. (Man, it must be torture for the hyenas to look at those water buffalo all day, without any way to get to them). A night safari is such a cool thing, because the night life of many of these animals is so rarely seen. We took a tram that we could hop on and off of, and saw animals from all parts of the world (as well as a ton of deer, who, I believe, are the equivalent to pretzels in party mix- the item that no one wants, but that beefs up the content.) We went right into the bat cage, and watched as Jason flinched and flailed every time a bat flew by (Aunt Debbie, you would have loved this exhibit!). We hung around the zoo until 11PM, and then took the same bus back, and caught the last SkyTrain ride of the day, back to the flat. We were absolutely exhausted, but blissfully content after our day of sightseeing and eating.
We decided to go out for breakfast on Thursday morning, and found a place in the mall that served the traditional bacon/eggs/hashbrowns/toast. This was another first for me here on this side of the world- it was delicious! From there, we headed back the The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to have another drink and sit on their beautiful patio. Finally, around 10:45, we begrudgingly tore ourselves away from the streets of Singapore, to pack up and head back to the airport. Our flight left at 3:30, and we left enough time to grab lunch (Subway) at the airport. Our flight was delayed, giving us a bit of extra time to sit and chat, and then before we knew it, we were back on the plane to Jakarta. We had to say good-bye to Mike there, as he had to head back to his placement, and the rest of us boarded our flight to Semarang.
My host parents met us at the airport, and took Riki, Jason, and I back to our place (Laura and Nicole took a taxi back to Salatiga). They eased us back into life in Indonesia with a stop at KFC, and Jason and Riki slept over at my house. Jason left yesterday morning, and Riki stuck around until this morning, which I was really grateful for. It's really hard to go from having so many people around to being alone again, but the transition was made much smoother with the staggered departures of my dear Indo Fam. We had our expectations set quite low for our return to Java, and the good thing about that was that being back hasn't been as hard as I was expecting. I know we were only gone for two nights, but I was worried that after getting a taste of familiarity (Singapore is a VERY Westernized city), I would really struggle with my return. However, thus far, I've found that that trip had the opposite (and much more positive) effect on me. Besides being refreshing and fun, Singapore reminded me of what I felt like back before arriving for this year away. I had become really worn out prior to Singapore, and had forgotten what it felt like to feel just carefree and lighthearted. I forgot what that feeling of independence was like. It was such a relief to discover that my struggles here are not a permanent personality change. I was becoming really worried that this experience was making me a worse person rather than a better one, and that thought was beginning to consume me, and really paralyze me. It took just that one day of stepping outside of my circumstances to realize that that is not the case, and that knowledge has actually taken away a lot of my stress, even in being back here. I feel like the rest of this year will be substantially easier now that the weight of that belief that I was becoming a worse person has been lifted. In fact, I'm feeling downright excited about these upcoming months! Three weeks from now we have the MCC team retreat, which includes everyone serving with MCC. That means that Mike, Nancy, Allan, and Catherine will be there as well! Another month after that, Andrew and Mike's girlfriend Ellen are arriving, and we have some really exciting travel plans in the works. Mike and I are REALLY looking forward to their visit! Besides that, there is a potential missions trip that I will be going on in May, and then we're into June and July! I only have these few short months left to live my Indonesian life. I am really going to try my best to enjoy it to its fullest (even the food struggles!!), since this experience is a one-time deal! Life is just easier when you're able to enjoy it.
Anyways, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing before you stopped to read this! Thanks so much for reading!
Have a great day!
Love,
Ellery
Once again, I apologize for the severe lag in posts, and for the mammoth essay that I am now writing to compensate for that lag. On the upside, however, this gap can be taken as a good sign; the last two weeks have been busy busy busy, and absolutely chalk FULL of fun things! I'll waste no time in sharing those things with you...
Last Tuesday and Wednesday passed by at a snail's pace, as the days leading up to something exciting seem to do, though Wednesday night was a highlight as we (my friend Debora and I) went out for an awesome dinner with Ibu Linda and Pak Heri, to celebrate Pak Heri's birthday. In this case, the excitement was Mike's arrival on Thursday night. Mike is a fellow Indonesia SALTer, but his placement is one of the two that are not on Java. Because of the distance and the flight costs, Mike has not been back to Java since we left Salatiga back in October. I anticipated his arrival with almost as much excitement as I did my dad's (though I managed to hold back the tears of joy this time...) After TK and a shortened session at Ichthus FM, my host parents and I headed to the airport. Mike's flight was on time, and it was a great little reunion with what felt like a long-lost member of our Indo Fam. My host parents treated Mike (and myself) like royalty, with activities and adventures every night. We enjoyed some AWESOME food, did some mall-hopping (malls are by far the most common hangout spot for youth and young adults in Semarang- I suppose some things are just universal!), and satisfied Mike's cravings for McDonalds, which cannot be found where he is serving. Laura joined us on Saturday night, and we went to a movie on Sunday night (more for the experience than for the actual film- "Chronicle" was among the most scarring movies I have ever seen. If it's playing in North America or wherever you are, I discourage you from seeing it.) Having Mike and Laura here was a huuuuge spirit-booster for myself, and it was especially exciting because our trip to Singapore (SINGAPORE!!!!) was on the horizon!
On Monday morning, after a little incident involving a bottle of blue nail polish that fell off my desk (and predictably shattered on the tile floor, flinging nail polish everywhere- it took me over two hours clean up today), Laura, Mike, and I headed off to Salatiga. We arrived in the late morning, and went straight to MCC, where, on top off all the good things that were going on, I found a package from my friend Rachael that arrived four months after she shipped it!! After checking week after week to see if it had arrived, I had given up on it, so it was such an awesome surprise! I opened my package, and then we headed for lunch to Cosmo cafe. Riki and Jason arrived in the early afternoon, and the five of us took a bis kecil (small bus) up to Kopeng to hang out at Laura's. A feeling of absolute contentment swept over me there, as I thought about how incredibly lucky I am to have these people in my life here. Being here has not always been easy (as you may well know), but my life has been SO enriched for meeting these people, and this experience has been worth it for that alone.
We returned from Kopeng in time for dinner at Karen and Major's, where Nicole met us. The eight of us talked about the logistics surrounding our trip to Singapore, and then we baked cookies (well, I ate freshly baked cookies) and played some Settlers of Catan (I lost miserably) before heading to Dan and Jeanne's for the night. I had the best night sleep that I have had since arriving in Indonesia (complete with good dreams!), and awoke to something that is next to impossible to find here- bagels! It was my first one in over six months, and those and the fresh banana milkshakes that Jeanne made, assured me that the day was going to be an amazing one.
Karen and Major and the boys (who had slept at Karen and Major's) arrived just before 8AM, and we were driven to the Semarang airport. Our two and a half days of pure bliss began the second we got through security, with Riki's purchase of fried cheese pockets that she generously shared with all of us.We boarded our plane just before 11AM, and flew to Jakarta (about an hour-long flight). Minus Mike, it was everyone's first time back in the Jakarta airport, and we were amazed at how beautiful it was. We certainly didn't remember it that way when we were coming from North America! Karen and Major had appointed Nicole as the person in charge of all money and passports, so I felt like I was traveling with my mom, who normally deals with paperwork; I could completely relax! From Jakarta, we flew to the Singapore airport, arriving around 4PM on Tuesday afternoon. I wish I could put into words the feeling of arriving there. The Singapore airport has been ranked number one in the world (though it is in stiff competition with the Hong Kong International Airport), and once you've seen it, you'll understand why. Besides being spotlessly clean (you could almost lick the floors), there are waterfalls, gardens, playgrounds, a pool, and a mini-forest growing inside. It's just ridiculous!! And coming from a place that doesn't rank number one in cleanliness (likely doesn't make the top 10 list either...), our jaws dropped at the sight of this place. I would have been perfectly content to spend our two days in the airport, but we had more to do than just hang out there, and so we went through immigration, grabbed a burger at McDonalds, and hopped on the (spotless, air-conditioned, punctual) SkyTrain which would take us to Philip and Iris' flat in Queenstown. Philip and Iris are friends of Karen and Major's, and they have past connections to MCC Indonesia. Philip is from New Zealand, and Iris is from Malaysia, and they have an adorable two year old son named Jeffrey. After a bit of confusion and disagreement in directions, we arrived at their flat on the third floor of a 30-floor apartment building, the most common living accommodation to be found in Singapore. Once the introductions were made, Philip and Iris spoke the magic words: "Here's a key. Come and go as you please." WHAT!? I wish I could convey to you just how much joy that brought me and everyone else on the team, all of whom are coming from six months of the opposite. We had almost forgotten what that kind of independence felt like like, and I will be forever grateful to Philip and Iris for allowing us to fulfill our craving for that.
We took full advantage of the chance to do just as we please, beginning about 10 minutes after we arrived in Queenstown. After dropping off our things, we hopped back on the SkyTrain to Holland Village, where we were told we could find a Mexican restaurant (yes, in Holland Village- odd, I know). Sure enough, Cha Cha Cha's was waiting for us (or rather, we waited for it, as it was Valentines Day, and every restaurant in that area was overflowing with people). We walked around for a bit beforehand, eating doritoes and marveling at the cleanliness (Singapore has very strict laws about litter, spitting, and gum chewing, and I wholeheartedly support these laws), and by 9:30PM, I found myself staring at a massive quesadilla and a dish of refried beans. We had been expecting mediocre Mexican cuisine, and our lowered expectations once again worked to our advantage. I don't even really eat Mexican food at home, but this meal was likely the new number one meal I've eaten in 6 months. (I'll acknowledge now that this blog post will be absolutely filled with references to food, as that was our top focus in Singapore.) It was also by far the most expensive meal I've eaten in 6 months (I gasp in horror when a food bill in Indonesia hits 30,000 rupiah, or about $4 CAN, just to give you an indication of what I've become accustomed to here), but it was worth every penny. We sat around chatting for awhile, and then headed back to the flat for a decent night's sleep.
On Saturday morning, we awoke around 7AM and had a quick breakfast at the flat, before heading to Pak Wahab's "visa office" to deal with visa renewal things. This visit- the sole purpose of our trip to Singapore- took place on a McDonalds patio on Orchard Road (the top shopping strip in Singapore), and consumed about 4 minutes of our time. It is a bit unnerving to hand all our personal documents and $1000 USD to a man who works out of a McDonalds, but these were our instructions by MCC, and they've done this more than once, so we trusted the system in place, and didn't give it a second thought.
From then until 4PM, the time was ours, and we used it as wisely as we possibly could. We began our day at an import grocery store, where I anticipated purchasing enough snacks to see me through until Andrew's visit in April. I eagerly grabbed a basket, and began exploring the options. After about 45 minutes, I went to the checkout line with my goods- one bag of chips and a box of Voortman's cookies. Turns out that reverse culture shock is entirely legitimate, and I was completely overwhelmed by the selection (and the prices) of the goods available to me. It was the oddest sensation to struggle so much with a grocery shopping trip, and I found it enough to just look at everything. It also struck me that part of the anticipation of going back to Canada is the food. I've already been sent packages that contain Western goodies like Kraft Dinner and Crispers, and I just didn't feel the desperate need to satisfy any more of my Western cravings; there's something exciting about the anticipation of waiting to fulfill them in July! No one else seemed to have any issues however, and purchases included Tostitos, salsa, Nature Valley bars, and Aero chocolate. Just outside the entrance to the grocery store, I stumbled across a very VERY beautiful invention- bacon wrapped sausage. The debate over whether or not to invest in a stick was short-lived, and within 30 seconds, I found myself savouring the taste of salty bacon. What a treat that was!
The six of us headed to a bookstore after that, and then to a really nice souvenir store. We then walked to a Subway to get subs, and then headed back to the flat to drop off our purchases. Nicole stayed behind for the day as she wasn't feeling the greatest, and we all took a few minutes to rest before continuing on our adventures. The five of us headed back out around 1:30, to Marina Bay Sands, a REALLY upscale hotel and shopping area right on the water. The shopping complex had a canal running through it, where one could ride boats if they so desired- inside! Bizarre. Since the prices were a mite out of our league ($6 for a cupcake...), we just looked around and took in the cleanliness, and then headed back to the Orchard Park area in time to pick up our passports. Jason ran ahead to do this, and by the time the rest of us caught up with him, Pak Wahab had come and gone, and all of our visa stuff was taken care of! We were free to do what we wanted for the rest of the time in Singapore!
We stopped for a beverage at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and then took the SkyTrain to Little India, to satisfy a craving for Indian food. Little India was a really cool part of the city, with lots of little shops and restaurants. We went to a vegetarian restaurant that proved to be delicious (though I passed on the food item that was labeled "Mango Milk Barfi"), and then went to a little souvenir shop to pick up a few things. We had planned to do the Singapore Zoo Night Safari that evening, and conveniently, there is a bus stop specifically for the Night Safari in Little India. We were picked up around 7:30, and driven a ways away to the zoo. The Singapore Zoo is supposedly the best zoo in the world, and after the night safari, I can understand why! The zoo is designed in such a way that it looks like the animals are roaming freely. They use trenches and hidden fences to give the zoo a natural look, as well as tons of trees and lots of space. The result is spectacular- it feels like the hyenas could just leap across the road and consume the water buffalo that live on the other side. (Man, it must be torture for the hyenas to look at those water buffalo all day, without any way to get to them). A night safari is such a cool thing, because the night life of many of these animals is so rarely seen. We took a tram that we could hop on and off of, and saw animals from all parts of the world (as well as a ton of deer, who, I believe, are the equivalent to pretzels in party mix- the item that no one wants, but that beefs up the content.) We went right into the bat cage, and watched as Jason flinched and flailed every time a bat flew by (Aunt Debbie, you would have loved this exhibit!). We hung around the zoo until 11PM, and then took the same bus back, and caught the last SkyTrain ride of the day, back to the flat. We were absolutely exhausted, but blissfully content after our day of sightseeing and eating.
We decided to go out for breakfast on Thursday morning, and found a place in the mall that served the traditional bacon/eggs/hashbrowns/toast. This was another first for me here on this side of the world- it was delicious! From there, we headed back the The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to have another drink and sit on their beautiful patio. Finally, around 10:45, we begrudgingly tore ourselves away from the streets of Singapore, to pack up and head back to the airport. Our flight left at 3:30, and we left enough time to grab lunch (Subway) at the airport. Our flight was delayed, giving us a bit of extra time to sit and chat, and then before we knew it, we were back on the plane to Jakarta. We had to say good-bye to Mike there, as he had to head back to his placement, and the rest of us boarded our flight to Semarang.
My host parents met us at the airport, and took Riki, Jason, and I back to our place (Laura and Nicole took a taxi back to Salatiga). They eased us back into life in Indonesia with a stop at KFC, and Jason and Riki slept over at my house. Jason left yesterday morning, and Riki stuck around until this morning, which I was really grateful for. It's really hard to go from having so many people around to being alone again, but the transition was made much smoother with the staggered departures of my dear Indo Fam. We had our expectations set quite low for our return to Java, and the good thing about that was that being back hasn't been as hard as I was expecting. I know we were only gone for two nights, but I was worried that after getting a taste of familiarity (Singapore is a VERY Westernized city), I would really struggle with my return. However, thus far, I've found that that trip had the opposite (and much more positive) effect on me. Besides being refreshing and fun, Singapore reminded me of what I felt like back before arriving for this year away. I had become really worn out prior to Singapore, and had forgotten what it felt like to feel just carefree and lighthearted. I forgot what that feeling of independence was like. It was such a relief to discover that my struggles here are not a permanent personality change. I was becoming really worried that this experience was making me a worse person rather than a better one, and that thought was beginning to consume me, and really paralyze me. It took just that one day of stepping outside of my circumstances to realize that that is not the case, and that knowledge has actually taken away a lot of my stress, even in being back here. I feel like the rest of this year will be substantially easier now that the weight of that belief that I was becoming a worse person has been lifted. In fact, I'm feeling downright excited about these upcoming months! Three weeks from now we have the MCC team retreat, which includes everyone serving with MCC. That means that Mike, Nancy, Allan, and Catherine will be there as well! Another month after that, Andrew and Mike's girlfriend Ellen are arriving, and we have some really exciting travel plans in the works. Mike and I are REALLY looking forward to their visit! Besides that, there is a potential missions trip that I will be going on in May, and then we're into June and July! I only have these few short months left to live my Indonesian life. I am really going to try my best to enjoy it to its fullest (even the food struggles!!), since this experience is a one-time deal! Life is just easier when you're able to enjoy it.
Anyways, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing before you stopped to read this! Thanks so much for reading!
Have a great day!
Love,
Ellery
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