Annoying Questions

I know its been a very long time since I last posted, so I thought I'd start off with a funny post about the most annoying questions Indonesians ask.

1. Can I take a photo with you?
If you are white and live in Indonesia, you hear this a lot. Indonesians love to take photos. Indonesians love to interact with exotic, white foreigners. Naturally Indonesians want combine these two loves by documenting every close encounter of the Bule kind with their cameras. Imagine all the harassment of celebrity without all that pesky fame. Some days you just feel like pretending you don't speak English or Indonesian. Next time I think I will try "je ne comprend pas."

2. Where have you been in Bandung?
This question is annoyingly open-ended. I've lived in Indonesia for other six months, do they really expect me to rattle off every place I've been? Usually I just answer banyak tempat (many places) or say I've been to Tangkuban Perahu (Bandung's nearest active volcano, one of the main tourist attractions) and all of Bandung's many malls.

3. What is your favorite food in Indonesia?/What Indonesian food have you tried?
The main reason I find these questions annoying is just because I hear them whenever I meet someone knew and in every interview. It doesn't matter what setting or occasion, someone will ask that. Its usually the third question an Indonesian asks you when you meet them (right after "Where are you from?" and "How long have you been here?"). The latter question especially bothers me because its also extremely open-ended and even a little insulting: after 6 months do they assume I've only had enough Indonesian food to put on short list? I eat it everyday >:(

4. How about.....?
I've discovered a big flaw in the way Indonesians are taught English: Teachers don't distinguish that "how about...." is a follow up question and not a leading one. As a result, I'm stuck puzzling the meanings of like "How about the USA?" or "How about your mother?" HELP ME! WHAT ABOUT THEM?! I REALLY DON'T KNOW!

5. Why do like Indonesia?
Indonesians are generally up-beat, optimistic people, but occasionally you'll get a pessimistic one. These are the people who ask me this rare follow up question to "why did you choose to come to Indonesia?" There is a lot to love about this country and its frustrating to have to explain it all to someone who has experienced it all their life. Indonesia may be crowded, dirty and smelly (and a bit corrupt), but its still beautiful, has great weather, tons to do, and low crime. I wish I could say the same for Detroit...

6. Aren't you afraid of terrorists?
Ugh. Just ugh. This question, along with its buddy, "What do you think of Muslims in Indonesia," just pisses me off (sorry, that's very unprofessional for me to say). The reason Indonesians ask is because the Indian movie, My Name is Khan, is very popular here. Its a good movie, but causes some problems for an Indonesian audience made up mostly of people who haven't lived the US. Indonesians often ask me if the US is "really like My Name is Khan" and I think thats where they get the stereotype that Americans are anti-muslim. Anyway, NOT ALL AMERICANS HATE MUSLIMS! I will admit there are a few who do, but they represent a small segment of Americans, not the majority. I'd also just like to say that thinking all/most Americans hate Muslims because a small portion do is just as bad as thinking that all Muslims are terrorists because a small portion of them are.


7. Are you going to Church on Sunday?
I'm not Christian. I'm not Muslim. I'm not atheist. I'm agnostic. This one is not so much annoying as it is awkward and confusing. Indonesia is a deeply religious country, and to many Indonesians, not having a religion is just not in their paradigm*. Usually this question leads to a frustrating, broken conversation about how I don't pray, I'm not looking for a religion and neither believe in a God nor believe God doesn't exist. I just don't have the vocabulary yet to explain these things in my second language.

8. Are there beggars in the US?
Unfortunately, the US does not have all the answers and its not the pristine country its sometimes made out to be. There are people just as poor in the US as the beggars of Indonesia. I guess the only reason this question bothers me is because it shows how much Indonesians put the US on a pedestal. I wish they could see the US in a more realistic light.

9. Do you have a boyfriend?
You know this question doesn't lead anywhere nice. One of the "joys" of being a white girl in Indonesia is this question on a twice-weekly basis.

Do you have a boyfriend in Indonesia?
*facepalms* Why should this matter? I have a boyfriend and even though he lives in the US, I refuse to cheat on him in Indonesia.

Anyway. After my rant, I figure I should lighten the mood a little with some a question I wish more people would ask:

What is your favorite word in Indonesian?
Instead of the open-ended "What do you know in Bahasa," I'd love to hear this alternative.. My favorite word means "butterflies." The word for "butterfly" (singular) in Indonesian is kupu-kupu. The way you pluralize words in Indonesian is to repeat them. Can you see where this is going? The word for "butterflies" (plural) is Kupu-kupu-kupu-kupu. can you say that word 5 times without loosing count?

*Sometimes when I tell people I don't have a religion they ask me "then how do you pray?"

Types of Angkot Drivers

Now that I have gained quite a bit of experience with indonesia's own public transit system(angkutan kota), I have noticed some peculiar things about the people who drive them.

1. The Musicians: These are angkot drivers who honk every few seconds. i'm not sure if they are impatient, want to attract riders, or just like to toot their own horn (pardon the pun)
2. The Mafia Escapees: These drivers drive as if they were given cement shoes, but some how managed to go on with life. Every time they stop or start you feel as if you are going to fall on to the person next to you.
3. The Racers: These drivers are in such a hurry to get to the end of the route, that you sometimes miss your stop. If not, when you say "kiri" to stop them they overshoot your stop buy a lot
4. The Chimneys: As you sit next to these drivers you find chain smoking is their on-the-road hobby, not necessarily bad drivers, but I try to avoid sitting next to them.
5. The mothers: These are my favorite. These guys look out for the little white girl traveling alone in Indonesia at night. Usually, they are kind of chatty, which helps me practice my bahasa.
6. The Deaf Ones: These are the ones that don't stop unless you scream "kiri" multiple times. Very frustrating.

Indonesians: if you have anything more to add go ahead :)

Eliza Gets Lost: The Sequel

My oh my. Yesterday certainly was something. If you don't already know this about me, I love to crochet, so much so that while crocheting at school yesterday, I ran out of yarn. So, I planned a trip to a cafe (Reading Lights) that sells yarn and, in general, has a relaxing atmosphere. At school, I consulted my Angkot-expert friends as to correct route to take. This happened to be the place I got lost trying to get to before by angkot, so I was extra viligilant and even had some schoolmates tell the angkot driver where I was going. Guess what? I still got lost haha. This time I wasn't as far away though, so I just retraced my steps, asked people for the street I was looking for, and I found it. That did me no good because Reading Lights turns out to be closed on Mondays. You can imagine after a 3 or 4 block walk, a sweaty angkot ride, and hours of school, did not want to find out that instead of collapsing into a cushy couch with a drink and a ball of yarn, I had to take another sweaty angkot back to somewhere I knew. None the less, I took a trip to McDonalds (not my favorite place, but I knew where it was haha) and met Ricarda after I ordered two huge pieces of chicken, fries, an ice cream sundae, and a Teh Botol (this means bottled tea, and ironically came in a box that day haha). We ended up taking ojek to a local mall, bought maps, found out 30 minute massages cost about $2 and ate at J. Co (OMG, I LOOOVE THAT PLACE). However, if our way back was a movie, it would be named “Eliza Gets Lost the Sequal: Eliza and Ricarda Get Lost together.” We decide to take the Angkot back to Ricarda's house first, then send me on my angkot. We climb on Ricarda's white angkot and ride for about a half an hour until I think this is taking way too long, this can't be a very direct route. I tell Ricarda and she assures me, it just takes a long time to get to her house from the mall. About ten or twenty minutes later I start seeing landmarks on my route home. “um, Ricarda, I think we're on the wrong angkot because we're closer to my house now than yours.” I tell her. “Oh my god are you sure?! We must have taken the wrong direction!” Ricarda replies. We stop the bus and start walking hoping to find an Ojeg station. It was a good thing that we got lost on this bus and not another because it was already dark and while we eventually found someone who directed Ricarda to the right place, I didn't need directions, since I was close enough I could just hop on my regular bus. On the way home I chatted with another SMAN 3 student almost entirely in Bahasa Indonesia, I was quite proud haha.