Banyuwangi

For my last workshop in Indonesia (last one!!), I was asked by my two counterparts, Bu Wahju and Pak Milal, to travel all the way to Banyuwangi.

Ordinarily, I would have said no. This is because it was my last weekend in Surabaya, and the trip to Banyuwangi involves a 6.5-hour train ride either way, just to do a 2-hour workshop. BUT because it was my two wonderful counterparts asking, and because they've hardly ever asked anything of me the whole time I've been here (while I've asked THEM for a lot), I felt like I had to say yes.

Best map I could find showing where Banyuwangi is in relation to Surabaya. ALL the way to the east. 

So we left at 7am on Saturday, May 8, to catch the 9am train to Banyuwangi. The train ride was fine; I mostly just read my book and snacked on the PB & J that I'd brought along. There were some annoying train employees who were sitting behind me and half attempting to talk to me in English, but thankfully I was able to move seats and get away from them and travel the rest of the trip in peace.

We arrived about half an hour early to Banyuwangi, and therefore had a few minutes to wait till our host picked us up. Consequently, I had some time to take a couple shots of the rather picturesque train stop.

We were giving the training at a pesantren (Muslim boarding school) in Banyuwangi, and staying at the house of the Kiai (sp?), which is the man who is essentially the leader of the community and the dean of the schools--yes, there were actually several schools and even a university on the compound. Needless to say, he had a pretty nice house, although I still shared the bedroom with two other ladies, Bu Wahju and Mbak Etik, the assistant at the language center back at my site. 

After getting picked up at the train station by one of the Kiai's relatives, we were taken to the coast, where we got to take some pictures of the water with Bali in the background, and also eat some grilled corn and young coconut. 

That's Bali! Just a 2-hour boat ride away. 

That's...not Bali. Some other island, I suppose. 

Mbak Etik, me, Bu Wahju, Pak Hakim, and Pak Milal

Cool (yet probably really unhappy) horses on the beach. 

Pak Milal, me, a sad horse, Bu Wahju, and Etik.

Eating grilled corn. 

This lady hacked some juicy coconuts for us. 

Etik and Bu Wahju enjoying the flesh. Ew, flesh. 

After walking a bit, we drove to the house and basically just chatted amongs ourselves and with the few guests that randomly came by. It turned out the owner of the house (the kiai) wasn't available to talk to us that night, because his infant son (less than a month old) was in the hospital, so he was at the hospital. We did meet two or three other relatives (nieces, cousins, etc.) before going to sleep.

Oh yes, this was also the night that the bomb was dropped about when we'd be returning to Surabaya. I had already planned to give up basically my whole weekend for this workshop. Travel all day Saturday, workshop Sunday morning, then train all the way back to arrive home Sunday night. Nope. Turns out the train only leaves at two times to get back to Surabaya: 9am and 10pm. So we were catching the 10pm train back on Sunday night, to arrive in Surabaya at 4:30am. HOORAY. I had trouble keeping in my annoyance at that schedule when I figured out that's what we were doing. Oh well. Lots of time to enjoy Banyuwangi, since our workshop would be finished by noon! 

The next morning, we got up at 6am. The plan was to start our workshop at 8am and finish by 12pm. We were all ready to go at about 7, so we kind of just sat around and chatted until about 7:45am, when the owner of the house finally arrived to greet us. So we went downstairs to meet with him, where he talked for a while. Then he served us breakfast! By this point, it was about 8:30am. I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that we were supposed to start at 8am. Finally, the man asked what time we were planning to start our workshop, and Pak Milal had to inform him that we had intended to start a 8. The kiai seemed surprised, and mentioned that he didn't know any of the plans for the workshop because he turns off his phone all the time. Huh? So it goes in Indonesia.

So we got to the school around 8:45 (it was a short walk from the house we were staying at), only to be ushered into some kind of reception room and then just...sit there. And wait for someone to tell us where to go. Finally, by 9:15, someone takes to another room where all the teachers and students are ready for us. We have an opening ceremony (introductory remarks by the rector, short prayer, etc.), and by the time I actually get to start MY part of the workshop, it's 9:45. Hooray! My job was actually just to play English games with the students, which turned out to be a group of 25 girls and 4 boys who had just graduated from the high school there. They were very sweet and seemed to enjoy the games. Especially when I had exciting prizes like DICTIONARIES and PENCILS with a map of CALIFORNIA! 

Trying to organize a game of telephone. 

There were some unexpected issues with girls having to whisper into boys' ears. But we got through it. 

So we finished the workshop around 12:30pm, took the requisite photos, and headed back to the house to each lunch and hang out for an hour. I was seriously pretty worried that we'd just hang out at the house for another 7 hours until our trip to train station, but thankfully, our hosts offered to take us to one of the scenic spots in Banyuwangi: Red Island. Yes, it's actually called by the English name. Why? Who knows? I asked a few people, but no one could really say. 

Anyway, I am really glad we got to go to this beach. Because it was really beautiful. 

The eponymous "Red Island" behind me. The rocks are a reddish color. 

The ladies walk in the water.

Bu Wahju

A jumping shrimp Pak Hakim found in the tide pools.

Pak Milal

We walked around the beach for about an hour and a half, and got back to the house by around 6pm. Still another three hours to kill before our drive to the station! I went out on the front porch to read my book, since I wanted some fresh air (and some privacy), but instead was greeted with lots of curious questions from the girls who attended the local university. They were quite sweet and friendly, so I didn't mind. We of course had multiple photo shoots to document our meeting.

After about half an hour, however, Bu Wahju came out to tell me that the son of the kiai had died, and they were going to go over to another house to pay their respects to him and his wife. They thought I should come along, so I did. As we were walking over there, we saw all of the men in the community walking in a group, with the first man in the group carrying the baby in his arms who had died. Pak Hakim and Pak Milal joined the men, while I stayed with Bu Wahju and Mbak Etik, who went to a kind of meeting house to sit with the other local women. When we walked into the house, we were greeted by the father, who strangely (to me, at least) didn't seem sad at all. He was smiling and friendly and thanked us for our condolences, and then proceeded to ask us about what we'd done during the day, and how we liked Banyuwangi. It struck me as weird, but it's not the first time I've met an Indonesian person who appears to treat death as something lighthearted or at least not a big deal. 

His wife, on the other hand, didn't seem quite as happy as him. She wasn't crying, but she was quietly sitting in a small circle of women in a separate, smaller room. She was also fairly young; only 30 years old, and in fact, she was his second wife (since Muslims are allowed to have up to four wives). I don't know how many other children she had, but maybe it affected her more than him because he already had a lot of children with his first wife? I don't know. I'm just speculating. It was an interesting experience. 

After returning from giving our condolences, we were driven to the train station, which we arrived at about 9:45. The train wasn't actually expected until about 10:45, so we had another hour or so to kill. Despite the beautiful beach and the enjoyment I got from spending time with my coworkers (I truly like my coworkers here), I was so ready to be back in Surabaya. FINALLY the train came, and we boarded it, and pretty much fell asleep until we arrived home at 4:20 on Monday morning. Then a taxi back to my room, and sleep!