Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bandung'in it up

And the first week of sort-of settling into Surabaya is complete! I am now in Bandung for the next week for the in-country Fellow orientation, and to meet the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) whom we'll be collaborating with on projects. Bandung is kind of a tourist destination for Indonesians; the weather is cooler than a majority of Java, and apparently it's a popular place to go outlet shopping (have yet to do that myself).

Anyway, we are staying at a hotel called the Papandayan, and man, it is basically designed to give us worse culture shock when we go back to our sites. Check out the website! Fancy, huh? Here's a pic of me in my room, taken with the grainy Macbook camera:


You can't see that much, but you can see the window on the left, which is actually a window into the bathroom, which has a big bathtub and a "rainfall" shower head. Is that what's it called? You know what I'm talking about, though, right? It's fancy. Did I mention I like this hotel? 

For dinner last night, about nine of the ELFs went to a local-style restaurant walking distance from the hotel. It was amazing. We didn't really know what a lot of it was, so we just ordered two of about 6 things. It was a FEAST! Delicious, and no one got sick (yet). And the bill came out to about 5 dollars a person. 

After dinner, ALL of the Americans (the 20 other Fellows and 50 ETAs) virtually took over a nearby bar which had a pretty good live band, and served these ridiculous 5+ person pitchers for 3 dollars. The scene was a little crazy, but after not seeing any Bules (foreigners) for a week, I honestly felt pretty thankful to meet a lot of cool people and reconnect with others that I'd met at the pre-departure orientation in Washington, D.C. I know I'm gonna have to get used to being kind of isolated when I back to Surabaya, but I'm enjoying the compatriot company while I can. 

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 this morning to FINALLY get some exercise since coming to Indonesia--I jogged about 20 minutes with some other girls who are training for a triathlon. (Needless to say, they jogged a little farther than me.) It was nice to have the streets sort of to ourselves, despite the ubiquitous roadside bonfires that cause smoke to blow in your face. Then we got back at 6am just in time for the start of breakfast, which was awesome. We could get either American style or Japanese, Chinese, or Indonesian style breakfast. I went for the American, because my hotel in Surabaya only served traditional Indonesian breakfast. I've missed my sugary pancakes, yogurt, chocolate croissants, and fresh fruit for breakfast. (Hey, I was in withdrawal mode, OK?)

Then we had the beginning of our Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) classes, which seem like they'll be a lot of fun--eleven of us are at level 0, so it's fun to just start with phrases like, "My name is..." Other than that, we've just had meeting after meeting after meeting. It was all pretty long. Except for the part where we got to break off into groups based on region; this was the chance for me to meet the five other people who will be relatively near me (and one Fulbright ETA who will actually be in Surabaya!) and brainstorm collaborations we could do in the next nine months. I'm excited because a couple of the other girls are into art/poetry/literature, so we're thinking of doing an art contest/poetry contest/writing workshop thing, which could be really awesome if it comes to any kind of fruition. But all of us are kind of just waiting right now to see how things go when we really start working at our sites, and see what kind of extra time/resources we'll have. 

Other than that--we had a talent show tonight. The ETAs are almost done, so they put on a bunch of pretty good performances (largely involving re-writing words to pop songs to make them about Indonesia), and the ELFs even put together a last-minute coordinated-dance performance to the music of "Call Me Maybe." In our defense, we didn't know there was gonna be a talent show until the day before. 

And now it's 10pm and I am wiped out. I'm going to bed, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in until 6:30 tomorrow. Selamat malam! (Good night!)
---------------
On an unrelated note: I created a fake Facebook page for Indonesia, because I heard that was recommended due to the large amount of students who want to friend you. Fer realz. After informing my counterpart, Wahju, about my account, she recommended a few friends for me, and before I knew it, I logged in today and had 48 friend requests! After one week here!! I just confirmed them all. I think I recognized about four of them.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Surabaya!

*Note: sorry for the lack of photos. I have a weak internet connection, so that's my excuse for now.*

My official first post from within the borders of Indonesia! Or Surabaya, to be more precise. I have now been in this city (the second-largest in Indonesia) for four whole days, and so far, things have been pretty good. I will now attempt to number what I have done since arriving. Bear with me.

1. After a 22+ hour flight from LAX to Hong Kong to Jakarta to Surabaya, I arrived at 8pm local time with another Fellow who will be posted an hour away (nice to have a friend sort of nearby), and both of us were able to successfully meet up with our counterparts in the arrival area. I met Wahju for the first time--she is a fellow English teacher at the university where I'll be working, she has five kids and has lived in Surabaya all her life. And she is extremely friendly, talkative, and open. I don't think I could have asked for a better counterpart.

2. On the first night, Wahju took me to the hotel where I'll be staying for the first week, until we figure out where I'll be staying permanently. It's called the Istana Permata hotel, it's right around the corner from Wahju's house, and it's pretty nice. There's air conditioning! No big bugs! I have seen one gecko/lizard in my room so far, but lizards are cute and I have no problem with them. 

3. I think I know where I'll be staying for the next ten months (once I move out of the hotel)--in the guest lecturer quarters on campus at IAIN Sunan Ampel (the university I'll be teaching at--IAIN stands for Institut Agama Islam Negeri, which means State Institute of Islamic Studies). 

  • The pros of this living arrangement: New stuff (they recently bought a new bed and furniture in anticipation of my arrival), being literally on campus all the time. 
  • Cons: I am the ONLY person living in the building, except for the groundskeeper. Which could make for some creepy/lonely/paranoid nights. Also, there isn't a kitchen. But Wahju said they could get me a refrigerator and a microwave and a rice cooker. :)
but the only other choices for me apparently are: 
  1. Live in the second floor of an all-girls orphanage, which apparently is not the best idea because it's a Muslim orphanage, so I might not be that welcome living above them, because I'm not Muslim. 
  2. Live 30 minutes away in a BEAUTIFUL mansion, but be totally dependent on people to pick me up and take me to classes every day (and pretty much dependent on people to take me anywhere, since it's so far outside of town).
So I think I'm gonna go with the guest lecturer room. Wahju said I don't have to stick with it if I don't like it--it can just be for a kind of trial period. 

4. Wow, I just wrote a lot about housing. Probably no one cares about that topic except me. But oh well. In the days since arriving and today, I have mostly been driving around the city to go to police stations to get myself registered in the city (so much freaking bureaucracy) and to the immigration center (so much more freaking bureaucracy). I have also met many of Wahju's family members (three of which are English teachers!), gone to buy traditional, Muslim-school appropriate clothing (I packed light on clothes), and gone to see The Expendables 2 at the nearby 21-screen multiplex. Why yes, how did you know that wasn't my first choice of film? 

5. Today me, Wahju, her husband, and her two youngest children Didi and Iqbal went on a 5-hour drive (one way) to the city of Malang (normally it's 2 hours, but because it's after Idol Fitri, the Muslim equivalent of Christmas, the streets are super crowded), to attend an engagement ceremony for one of her nephews. 50+ members of Wahju's family bussed in for the occasion (yes, they actually chartered a bus), where there were some speeches given (all in Indonesian, I didn't understand anything really), and then we ate lunch. And then we drove 5 hours back. We stayed at the ceremony for a total of one hour. Le sigh. At least I got to see some of the countryside of Indonesia, albeit through the car's windows. 

OK, that pretty much sums up what has happened in my life from arrival in Indonesia till now. Don't expect such lengthy details in future. This is way too much work. 

Other stray observations:

  • I will NEVER NEVER NEVER be able to drive a car or a motorcycle around this city (the two favored modes of transportation). I will die within 15 minutes tops. Which means I will have to figure out the bus system or something, because everything is too spread out to walk for the most part. How will get to see the Expendables 3 (when it inevitably comes to theaters)?? 
  • The stray cats here are really mangy looking. :( And so far I have seen absolutely zero dogs. Double sad face. 
  • I actually quite enjoy dressing ultra-conservatively so far! Long skirts and long sleeve shirts with high necklines? No problem! 
  • I haven't been treated like  crazy/weirdo foreigner very much (yet). I'd been warned that people would kind of act like I was a monster of some sort, but everyone generally treats me pretty normally so far, other than the few obvious stares everywhere I go. 
  • Bahasa Indonesia (The Indonesian language)! GAAAahhh I need to start studying it for reals. I can't even say the days of the week or colors yet. I am below the level of a kindergartner. Thankfully, there will be some language training at the orientation in Bandung next week. That'll be something to start with. 

That is all! Signing off the for the night before I get too punchy! (It's 9pm here, which has become my new bedtime--I've been getting up at 5:30am every morning!)

Saturday, August 11, 2012

It's 95 degrees out.


And this is the kind of sprawling that happens when it gets that hot.


P.S. I leave for Washington, D.C. tomorrow for my pre-departure orientation. And then back to Monrovia for two days, before flying out at 1:30am on Tuesday the 21st. Yikes!


Thursday, August 02, 2012

I just spent $100 on the most boring stuff imaginable.

Including, but not limited to:

-Pepto-Bismol
-Deet bugspray
-Women's multivitamins
-First aid kit
-Benadryl
-Advil
-Anti-itch gel
-Sunscreen

Yaaaaay Indonesia! If I forgot anything that I shouldn't have...please don't tell me.

*Yes, I realize this is an extremely boring post. But I was kind of amazed at how much money I had spent on things that are absolutely NO FUN to buy. And I wanted to remember this moment.