First Days In indonesia

Hey, so welcome to the first entry of my blog. I was thinking about making a video blog, but it seems my camera isn't working all too well....hopefully I'll get that taken care of so I can take pictures and what not. Anyway, This is my first week in Indonesia. Earlier this week I flew into Jakarta via Taipei and Kuala Lumpur (or Lumpy Koala as dad calls it). While I was still technically in the US, I had my first taste of the Asia I've come to know in the Los Angeles Airport: all around me people were speaking in languages I couldn't understand, and after waiting a while, I realized I was one of only a few non-asians waiting in the terminal. My flight ended up being extremely long, including an unexpected three hour wait in Taipei, complete with Harajuku girls and public showers. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a shower because I forgot to bring a towel in my carry-on. I should have listened to Ford Prefect's advice: Never forget your Towel! I saw an entertainingly cheesy safety video on Malaysia Airlines: It had a stewardess dressed in traditional Malaysian clothes. The actress must have been speaking Bahasa Melayu, but to make the video more international, her voice was dubbed over with over thickly-accented British English . Malaysia Airlines may have cheesy videos, but it is that it has GREAT FOOD!!! With every flight (even short ones like Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta) they give you Malaysian TV-dinners that are quite good. It's a welcome change from paying three dollars for a "fun-sized" box of Pringles on US Airways.


Eventually, I made it to Jakarta...my back hurt, I was overwhelmed and I accidentally paid for an uneeded visa on arrival which I then had to get refunded. On the way out, the customs officials were all crowded around (apparently talking about me). "Do you have a boyfriend?" One asked me, "because if you don't, he thinks your pretty, and needs a girlfriend." Great. My first day in the country and I get hit on. Finally, I grabbed my bags and squeezed into the van that would take me to the Bina Antarbudaya (the Indonesian AFS affiliate) office. As the driver whipped her way through traffic, I kept thinking “Wow, Indonesia is a lot like Mexico!” The buildings, the plants, the heat, the people and the way they dressed, even the language reminded me of Mexico. Obviously, there were plenty of differences, like the jilbabs (Islamic head scarves) you see many women wearing on the street, and the traffic--traffic here is so heavy that Jakartans have to learn an aggressive, near-accident-enducing driving-style. Did I mention they don't wear seat belts either? After that ride, it was clear why AFS students are not allowed to drive and have extensive health insurance.

At the office, I was shown how to shower the Indonesian way...by filling a a bucket with water and pouring it over yourself. It's a bit bracing, but I think I should get used to it, especially since my host family has hot water (Bandung has a reputation for being "cold"). That night, I was invited to a fast-breaking celebration, which was a bit overwhelming since many people wanted to talk to me, and most of the time I didn't know what to do, since I have a pretty poor command of Bahasa Indonesia at this point. I ended up at a mall after sleeping through the ride back from the party. It was fairly similar to the ones in the US except much bigger. However, we left fairly early because I was dozing off while sitting up at a restaurant. As we left, the power went out--something that apparently has never happened to the Indonesian volunteers before.

A day later my host family and my host brother's former host family (he went to the Netherlands and his host family was visiting at that point). We went to a Padang restaurant and I promptly fell asleep once we got home in Bandung.

I'm starting to notice cultural differences, one of which is dry vs. wet clean: In the USA, people like to be dry, dry is clean. We try to keep our bathrooms as dry as possible, we wipe our hands with napkins and use toilet paper. In Indonesia, wet is clean. You'll find sinks and finger bowls at restaurants to clean your hands, bathrooms are always wet, and toilets have bidets, hoses or buckets to clean yourself off. Another cultural difference is waking time. Indonesians wake up early, especially now, during Ramadan. Prayers are recited over megaphone at the local mosques make it hard to stay asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

I am worried about a few things: that it will be hard for me to learn Bahasa Indonesia since most people in my host family speak English and they are very busy during the week, leaving me with a lot of alone time. Because of this, I am also a little worried about getting homesick, or rather, boyfriend-sick. Every time I end up with time to think to myself, I end up thinking about my boyfriend, Macsen, and how I won't be able to see him for a year. I get more upset over this than over missing my family because I always know my family will be there when I get back. I will end up spending time with them throughout my life even if I don't see them now. I am worried Macsen will not always be in my life and that this year will cause us to grow apart. I have the same concerns about many of my great friends that I have made in the US. I will end on light note: my mom has just made some delicious fries for me to eat :).