Sorry:
Before I
start I would like to correct something that I wrote in my last post. The word
sister (not the word aunt) and breasts are scarily similar as I have been told
many times this week. I would like to apologize for the mistake. Sudanese is
are very complicated language and I cannot speak it at all. Many of my friends
want me to learn Sudanese but I want to make it clear that I want to learn
Indonesian first. I guess because I come from America I am used to one language
not tons of smaller languages. States don't have their own individual
languages. I do understand that these are traditional languages. Thank you.
11/20/2012
In Indonesia,
the schools are much smaller than our schools in America. When I tell my
classmates in Indonesia that Ponte Vedra High School has about 2,400 students
they are very confused. I think that we have about 600 students at SMK 4.
Because I am at a vocational school everyone has the subject that they study.
My school has 6 different majors including Audio/Video, Multi Media (my
program) and Other things that have to do with programming and computers (I
don't know what all of the classes translate to). High school is only 3 years
long (Elementary school is 6 years long, Middle School is 3 years and High
school is 3 years). Then everyone has a group of classmates that they are with
the entire day. They stay with the same group of 30ish people all day and they
cannot choose any of their classes. People go to the school that they want to
go to regardless of location. In normal high school (not vocational) there are
favorite schools that people try hard to get excepted into. When the school
signed me up for classes, they tried to put me in the easiest classes even if
that meant switching groups (which I am used to in America anyway). I am in 5
different groups. I jump grades, majors and everything else. I like this
because I can make more friends in different classes but it gets confusing
sometimes. I still don't know all of my classmates names, and there are some
classes where I only know one or two of their names. Names are a huge struggle
for me, imagine going to a completely new school and having to learn everyone's
names. But your friends don't have normal names like, Robert, Andrew, Callie
and Katie they have names like Muhammad, Irbil, Naïf, Defy, Dewy (Impossible to
pronounce correctly), Lashefa and other names that are completely foreign to
me.
So anyway, I
was at school, it wasn't too exciting. I was with one my classes. We finished
our lessons and we decided to go to Breaking Dawn II. We got on an Angkot (mode
of public transportation that I will explain later), I thought we were going to
go to Trans Studio (the mall near my house) so I knew that I would be able to
get myself home. But, much to my surprise we went to BIP another mall that was
half-way across town because it was closer to my friend's houses and it is
cheaper. When we got to the mall we went straight for the movie theater and it
was packed, filled to the brim. We stood in line and bought our tickets but
because there were so many people there we had to wait until the 4:45 showing
of the movie (it was 2:00 now). So, we headed to the food court, we ordered
food, ate, took pictures of ourselves (Indonesians love taking pictures) and
waited. The TV in the food court was playing "extreme couponing" and
that stuff is crazy. It probably was just as good with no volume as it is with
words, I am not sure how it is a real show. While we were waiting I texted my
family saying that I would be home late and that I would need the driver to
pick me up. Apparently, the drivers were busy or out of gas and no one could
pick me up so I would have to get home by myself. The movie was OK, amazingly
the books were better but, my friends here thought it was really good. I was
happy to be spending time with them, it didn't really matter what we were
doing. When the movie finished it was 6:45, it was dark and raining and so I
chose to take a Taxi home because I didn't know how to use the Angkot to get
home and I didn't want to get lost. My friends helped me call a cab and I got
in. I never said one word in English. It was o nice to feel like I have made
some progress in Indonesian. The driver asked me what school I went to, how
long I had lived in Bandung, he told me that my Indonesian was very good and
then when I told him that I lived close to Trans Studio he asked why I was at
BIP and not Trans Studio. We got a
little lost and I was able to successfully lead us home in Indonesian. I am
sure that others got to this point a long time ago, but for me it is a big
deal. I am so proud of myself.
11/20/2012
Highlight
Taxi Ride and
knowing that my Indonesian is finally starting to get good. I also recorded all
of my expenses today because I thought it was very funny. This is the most I
have spent in one day since I arrived in Indonesia (except for paying college
fees online- that doesn't count)
COSTS
Snacks at school .30
Fresh Mango juice .30
Public transportation half way across town
.20
Movie 2.60
Lunch (Chicken with a side of rice and a
water) 1.60
Taxi home (half way across town) 2.50
Total= 7.50 you are jealous :)
I hope all the kids in Europe feel bad
about teasing the kids in Asia now.
11/21/2012
School. I talked to my friends, hung out.
Nothing to exciting
I guess I will explain Angots now. Angkots
are a 'system' of vans that dive all around the city in patterns. The inside of
the vans have been gutted and low benches are placed around the sides. There is
no map for the Angkots, you just have to know which one to get on. It doesn't
really matter how long you are in the Angkot you only pay 1,000 - 3,000 Rupiah
( 10-30 cents). Most of my friends either get to school on a motorcycle or on
an Angkot, and most people know how to get anywhere in the city on one of the
vans. I have not really had the opportunity to use them very much because I am
afraid of getting lost (no one has really taught me yet) and because on an
average day I do not go very far from home.
Comment:
Alaina! You are such a rebel!! Skipping classes, getting C?!
What has happened to you and why weren't you this rebellious in America! Miss
you!
Love,
Avery
Dear Avery,
I don't know what
you are talking about. I have always been a rebel. I am also taking full
advantage of getting all of the rebellious things out of my system before I
come home, go to college and go on with my life. Also, I don't really get
grades, or at least I do not think that I do. If your teachers never came to
class and you couldn't understand them if they did you would want to skip
school too. I think you might even be rebellious here, well maybe not you, but defiantly
everyone else. Try having a little fun once in a while :)
11/22/2012
I got to
school today and one of my friends told me that one of my other friend's dad
had died the night before. The class was devastated, they had all been together
for a while and they are all very close friends. We went to the morning
ceremony per the usual and then we talked to our teachers. The teachers let us
go around the school and collect money. I have only been in school for 2.5
months but, I have already seen many people collecting money. I didn't know
that it was because someone died. I think it is very sad that so many of my
friends have had relatives and close family die when they are still in high
school. The average life expectancy in
Indonesia is 68 (compared to the USA's life expectancy of 78 years old). The
Hospitals are very poor here and the emergency response systems are even worse.
Because the roads are poor and the traffic is impossible to get through ambulances
have a difficult time getting to people. The police system is very poor and
even if people can move over on the road they often choose to not get off the
road because they do not feel the need to get out of the ambulance's way. In
America, I always felt that people had a chance and I didn't fear getting hurt
as much because I knew that I would be rescued and taken to a sanitary hospital
with trained professionals and good equipment. Here I am terrified of getting
anything that requires more than Advil, if I get an infection or a broken bone
I will have to travel a long time (possibly a flight to Singapore) before I can
get good help. When we had collected
money from all of the classes we asked our teachers if we could go visit the
family. They said that of course we could go, so we just left school. I should
have had English class that afternoon with the teacher who really things she
can speak better English than me. We haven't had class in several weeks because
she has been too busy to do her job or something like that, so when she told us
that we could go I thought it was an excellent way for her to get out of
teaching another class. How are my friends supposed to learned anything if the
teachers never teach. We got a group together and went out of the school to
catch an Angkot. One of the girls talked to an Angkot driver and paid him to
take all of us straight to the girl's house instead of his normal route and
then she paid for all of us. We crammed as many people as we could in the van
and then we were off. When we got to the house the father was lying on the
floor wrapped completely in blankets (there is no professional to prepare the
body, the family must wash and dress it). We arrived about 10 minutes before a
white van showed up to take the body away. When the body was loaded up we
climbed into the neighbor's car and
joined the funeral procession. I was not expecting any of this, I was thinking
that we were going to say we were sorry, hug a lot and then go back to school,
I guess not. We arrived at the cemetery. Indonesians are very superstitious, and
my friends kept asking if I was scared and they all thought I was crazy when I
said no. They also refused to stand on the graves. I didn't know if these was superstition
our culture so I stayed off them too. It started to rain, which made my first
funeral very clique. We waited a little bit for our turn to have the body buried
(many different families were there with their loved ones). We walked over to a
newer section of the graveyard and I could tell that all of the graves had been
made very recently, some had been filled earlier that day. The body was carried
and placed in the hole without a coffin, just white fabric covering the body.
The workers filled in the hole again while the older people prayed a little and
then it was over. I was not covered in dirt because of the inconvenient raining
and dirt. All around the graveyard there were small children begging for money.
I don't know if their parents had died or why they were in the graveyard but I
felt sorry for them. No child should have to beg at all let alone in a
graveyard. We made our way back to the girl's house. We ended up sitting in the
living room for several hours just talking to each other. It started to be
crowded so I decided that I would go up stairs only to find many more people. I
think there were about 40 students at the girl's house along with her family.
The house is not very big, but no one was leaving. I had Angklung practice so,
I talked to my friends about leaving they told me to "wait a minute".
After snacks, praying for 30 minutes, lunch and long goodbyes we were finally
out of the house. We walked down the road and stopped at a little store, some
of my friends bought snacks and then we headed back to the house. Indonesians
are like teenage boys, they are always hungry and they don't get fat like I
would it I ate 4 meals and snacks a day. An Angkot picked us up again and
dropped us off at the school. It was 2:45, my practice had started at 2:00. I
went to the bathroom and then to the music room. Just listening outside the
door, I could tell that there was no kind of lesson going on and that people
were just having fun. I resized that my shoes were destroyed and my skirt was a
mess so I told my friends that I had to go home and get cleaned up. I took an
extra long shower and cleaned my shoes and then just stayed in my room. Bridget
Johnson, from Wisconsin, who now lives in Cirebon arrived in Bandung earlier
that day and she was planning on spending the night. I watched The Odd Life of
Timothy Green with Diandra and then Bridget showed up with Aunt Melly, Leti and
Pizza Hut. We talked for a long time and then Aunt Melly and Leti left. Bridget
and I talked all night.
11/22/2012
Highlight
Happy
Thanksgiving. Today I didn't have a huge Turkey dinner, or mashed potatoes, or
pumpkin pie or anything that should have been part of my traditional American
holiday. Instead I had rice, soybeans, a slice of bread, a piece of pizza and
some great company. I am more thankful for the little things this year. For my
host family who has lovingly invited me into their home, for my family back
home, who have been incredibly supportive, for my friends all over the world
and for everything else God has blessed me with. I cannot truly express how
lucky I am and how much everyday in Indonesia means to me. Thank you for all of
the support and the love!
11/23/2012
My uniform
was destroyed and Bridget was visiting so I didn't go to school. I still woke
up early so that I could talk to my 'favorite' Aunt and Uncle (they have told
me that they are my favorite it doesn't matter much what I think). It was just
after dinner for them and they had to go in the garage to get good wifi
coverage but, I really loved talking to them. Kennedi lost interest in me after
saying hello and goodbye because she had cousins to play with and she has never
been super attached to me anyway. Aunt Katie and Uncle David were awesome to
talk to. My favorite question has to be "what do you miss the most, other
than food?" I said "Well, it is amazing how much you can miss toilet
paper" My uncle asked if the TP was like thick towels or something and I
informed him that we have a hose. I don't know if I have mentioned this before.
Indonesians use two different kind of toilets, squat potties and western toilets.
The squat potties have a tub of water next to them with a bucket to clean
yourself (I always bring tissue with me) and the western toilets have a hose
attached to the side to spray yourself with. We could only talk for a little
while but I really liked seeing my family. Then I talked to my family in
Florida. I love my family! They are super awesome! When I was done chatting
with everyone I went downstairs for breakfast with Bridget. Bridget has already
had a little breakfast with my host mom, but any goo Indonesian knows that you
can never eat too much. We ate breakfast and then went upstairs to watch TV. A
couple minutes latter my maid brought me second breakfast and Bridget third
breakfast. Neither one of us had anything planned and we didn't know what we
wanted to do but we knew that we didn't want to sit at home all day. We each
threw out a couple suggestions and then I said "Why don't we go to the
theme park at Trans Studio". Bridget agreed and within 20 minutes we were
buying our tickets. It was 15 Dollars each, which is really expensive for
Indonesia but, super cheap for any other theme park. In our hurry to get there
we didn't consider the opening time and quickly realized that we were 25
minutes early. No problem, exchange students never run out of things to talk
about with someone from their country. We talked about everything and when the
gates were open we got in line. Before the theme park let people in, all of the
employees did this dance inviting everyone. Bridget and I were some of the
first people there but because of the disorderly lines it took us a while to
get in the park. People here do not believe in making a line and waiting,
instead they push, shove and skip in line. I had to force our way through the
crowd if we had any hope of getting in sometime today. The man in security
barely looked in anyone's bags but ours. He took my water and sent us in.
Unlike Disney, when all the rides open when the park opens, the rides at Trans
studio open latter. So Bridget and I, being the nerds that we are, headed over
to the science center. We were escorted to all of the little experiments and I
had a lot of fun messing around with stuff. I also learned something, who would have
thought! I already knew that the derivative of a line is a parabola but I
didn't know that if you physically have a pole at an angle and spin it around
an axis it will make a perfect parabola. I love math, especially when it
applies to real life. When we finished playing with all the fun toys almost all
of the rides were open. The first thing we did was a driving ride where we got
in a little go-cart and drove around the track. I let Bridget drive and I took
pictures of us breaking Rotary rules (we are not allowed to drive any motorized
vehicle). I am sure Rotary Indonesia (or Florida) will really care that we rode
around a track with a car that can barely hit 7mph. I felt like a rebel but, I
did wear my seat belt so I guess on the rebel scale I am a 2 out of 10. Theme park is completely indoors and we
explored the entire area. Some rides were for kids, some were closed and many
made us dizzy just looking at them. We decided that we would go on the haunted
house ride. We had high hopes while we were standing in line for something a
little scary. Bridget was standing behind me in the line and the people behind
her kept bumping into her and tapping her and trying to be as close as
possible. It was annoying to watch and we stepped to the end of our little
section so that we could have a little personal space (Something that most
Indonesians do not believe in). When we finally got on the ride we were not
sure what to expect. Our cart held 4 people and we were sitting in the back
with two terrified women in front of us. At the beginning of the ride I
screamed just to see how much it would scare them, I was not disappointed. I
ride was terrible, it was almost less scary than Haunted Mansion in Disney
World. My favorite part was a video clip of a "ghost". As I mentioned
yesterday, when Indonesian people are buried they are wrapped in a white sheet
that is secured over their head and under their feet. The resulting Indonesian ghost
looks like a little bunny hopping around in its white sheet. For Indonesians it
might be scary by for me it was hilarious. The ride was short, nothing jumped
out at us, there were not sudden drops or stops and nothing was scary. I was surprised
that when we got off the two women in front of us were almost in tears they
were so scared... wow. We watched a 4D movie about superheroes who saved
London, it defiantly was not high quality. I barely noticed the problems
because I was so focused on the fact that the Avengers, Spider Man and the
X-men do not work together. For our last ride we went on the fastest ride in
Trans Studio. Bridget is not a huge fan of rollercoasters and she didn't
exactly know what I was getting her into when we got on the ride. When we sat
down, she looked at the track and said "Hey, wait is this a roller
coaster?" I said yes and then she said "Wait does this go upside
down?" I said "Yes, and then it goes backwards." She decided
that she was going to try something new. We were sitting in the front row of
the ride and it shot off. It did a loop and then straight up for a while then
back down and did the track in reverse. It wasn't too scary and Bridget was
glad that she hadn't chickened out. It
was 3pm so we left the theme park and went to lunch. We had an expensive lunch,
it is nice to treat yourself once in a while (when I say expensive I mean it
cost about 6 dollars each). We spent the next several hours in the Grocery
store looking for western food and then we had Blizzards at Dairy Queen. It was
a great day. We did exactly what exchange students should do, we just had fun
and did whatever we wanted to do on the spur of the moment. I lead us home on
an Angkot (the first time I have gotten on one without help.)
11/23/2012
Highlight
Today, was
possibly the best day on my exchange yet. I talked, had fun and did whatever I
wanted to do. I LOVE INDONESIA!
11/24/2012
Today, we had
to go to a Rotary meeting. The Outbounds for 2013 were being tested and the
Rotarians wanted the exchange students to talk to the parents about our
countries. We were late, but when we got there, there was nothing to do. We
wandered, I looked at the English test that all of the kids had to take
(regardless of the country they go to they must know English because people all
around the world know English, they do not know Indonesian). We introduced
ourselves to the parents, which is always a little awkward you never know what
they want to know about you. Afterward we sat down at our little tables and
talked to the parents. Conversations now are very predictable. All the exchange
students know what the person is going to say next because most of our conversations
are the same. There are many cultural differences. People here ask questions
that American would never ask. When Bridget would say that she does not eat
meat and explain that she is a vegetarian people would ask her why, and how
long she had been a veggie (their name not mine), and if they are sick and
tired all the time because they don't eat meat. And every time without fail
when Bridget would say that she lived in Cirebon people would say "Cirebon is so hot!". It feels good
to not be surprised anymore, I now know things that I had no idea about when I
got here. We ate lunch- which was gross (nasty hotel food). We talked some more
with the other exchange students and then Bridget and I went home with Leti. On
the way Leti told me that she had moved to a private Christian school and that
she liked it much better than her old school. She also told me about a game
that she had played in one of her classes. The teacher drew two lines on the
floor and said "If your answer to the question is Yes, stand on this line,
if it is no, stand on this line." Simple rules, simple game. It started
with the usual, easy question "Do you like this class" etc and then
it moved into more fun questions. "Have you had a boyfriend/Girlfriend
?" Almost everyone said yes. "Have you dated one person for a year or
more?", again the majority of the class said yes. "Have you kissed on
the lips?", this time Leti was the only one who said yes. So funny! No one
in the USA would date someone for a year and not kiss. Also if someone has sex
before marriage they will be "exiled from the community" (Direct
quote from one of Bridget's classmates). It is nice to be in a country with
such innocence and I think that they would be really shocked if they went to
High School in America. We went to see a movie which I didn't think was any
good. It was very weird but, Bridget and Leti liked it so I guess I am just
picky. We ate dinner and then went home. If you are keeping track I have spent
way more money in the last week than I have since I arrived in Indonesia, sorry
Dad. I almost never finish my monthly allowance from Rotary even though it is
only about 45 USD. Kids in Europe get about 100 Euros a month and it is not
enough money (haha sucks to be you!).
11/24/2012
Highlight
Spending time
with friends is awesome no matter what we are doing. I love laughing about stereotypes
for any country or place because we all know them and how wrong they are. For
example not everyone in Brazil lives in Rio, and you can't just drink and have
sex whenever you want. Everyone in America is not white. Not all people who
live in Florida live in Miami. Not everyone has been to NYC on New Year's eve.
Plus so many other stereotypes that get even more funny when people judge you
every day with them. :)
11/25/2012
I slept in,
which was very nice. When I woke up I took a shower ate breakfast, finished
"A Christmas Carol" and then went back to bed. I woke up at about
11:30 at Leti's house. We watched a movie, ate breakfast and waited for Bridget
to be picked up by travel. The travel came and we said goodbye. Leti and I then
watched Rio and ate lunch. At 5:30 I got on a motorcycle with one of the
workers at Leti's house and rode to my Angklung concert. It was a hundred times
easier to ride a motorcycle in jeans and with a helmet. I arrived at 6:00 and
none of my friends were there. After much confusion and many phone calls my
friends finally showed up. They told me that the concert would end at 9 so I
called my host family and found out that they could not pick me up, so I asked
if someone else could drive me home. One of my friends quickly volunteered. We
watched the concert, it started with an hour of traditional music and Korean
songs and it was pretty boring because I did not know any of the songs. Then
they finally started playing American songs. The Angklung players were very
good. I could tell what almost all of the songs were and they sounded good.
Most of the songs they did in this mix format where they would play one verse
of the song and then transition into another song. The Angklung is a great
instrument and I wish we played it in America. When the concert was over it was
dark and raining and I didn't have a jacket. We waited a very long time in the
rain for some more friends (which would have never happened in American, we
would have just left). I got on the motorcycle, this time without a helmet and
we made our way home. My friend's English was very good and we talked a lot
throughout the ride. He asked about America and my family but my favorite
question was one that I have not gotten before. "Is it true that your
government in America gives money to people when they do not have a job?"
Here poverty is much worse than almost anything we can imagine, people would
love to have extra money but, the government does not help them. I explained
that it is true that the American government gives out money and that it is a
bad system because many people live off the money and choose not to get a job.
Of course, there are good reasons to give people money too but, the system is
abused by many people. I got home at 10:30 cold and sopping wet. I took a hot
shower and went to sleep.
11/25/2012
Highlight
I love
sleeping in, especially in a country that chooses to wake up before the crack
of dawn just for fun.
11/26/2012
Monday
morning, I went to school. We had another hour long morning ceremony, which are
always so much fun. This meeting had a silver lining because, they announced
that we would not have a meeting for the next several days. I went to Digital
drawing and talked to my friends. Then I went to Manual Drawing, I had already
finished all of the projects. I could have redone the assignments and made them
better but I just didn't want to. The teacher gave us a test where we had to
recreate one of the drawings that we had already done (very boring). When I
finished my test I went home. Nothing too exciting today but, it was still fun.
11/26/2012
Highlight
There is a
little store at my school for snacks and I go almost every day. When I went to
check out the man told me the wrong price and I know he ripped me off. So in
retaliation I paid entirely in coins. HA! I win. Oh and I saw a calendar that
had November spelled "Nopevember" As in, nope I'm just not going to
do anything this month.
11/27/2012
The maid came
in at 6 o'clock and this was our conversation:
Maid: Blaa
blaa blaa.. (Indonesian is hard to understand in the morning)
Me: Uhg
Maid: It is
6, are you going to school today?
Me: Uhg
Maid: It is
6, are you going to school today?
Me: I don't
have school (defiantly not true)
My maid closed
the door and left me alone. I woke up at 10 o'clock. I have always been a
morning person but here, where people all wake up very early, I am an afternoon
and night person. I didn't even know there were afternoon people in the world.
So I didn't go to school and I wasted my day doing nothing because I was not
motivated to get out of bed for school. Because of my new "night
person" thing I couldn't fall asleep until 12:30 am.
11/27/2012
Highlight
I downloaded
a flashcard program on my computer and it is awesome! That sounds really lame
but it isn't. Now I can study vocabulary on my computer. If you Google
"Flash card manager" you should be able to find it if you want it.
11/28/2012
I wasn't
tired this morning, which was completely unexpected. I went to school. I had
English class, and we got a test back. When I went to get my test everyone
cheered and shouted because they knew that I got a hundred. I explained that I
already knew English and it is easy for me. They told me that English is hard.
One of the boys in the class who I have not talked to very much sat next to me
today. He talked to me in Indonesian for a while. I understood almost
everything and was able to answer. I love when my friends talk Indonesian to
me. The teacher wrote another quiz on the board and I had it finished as soon
as she stopped writing. Then the teacher left and I started typing. I really do
have the skill to procrastinate everything. My friends spent 10 minutes watching
me type. Even though I go to a computer school, none of my friends know how to
type. My typing isn't even very good but, it is very good for Indonesia. After
English I went to math and my friends told me that the teacher would not be
coming today. I asked why and they said they didn't know. So, I said goodbye
and went home early. I spent the rest of the day writing blogs, watching
videos, writing my BYU essays and doing other things that I have put off doing.
11/28/2012
Highlight
I finished
school at 10 o'clock. Need I say more?
THANKS FOR
READING! SAYA CINTA KAMU!! ( I love you in Bahasa Indonesian)
