8/24/2012

Indonesia is so diverse, even more than America is. Only a couple of days ago I was participating in traditional activities in a couple of small towns and yesterday I visited Trans Studio. Trans Studio is a hotel, mall, and theme park combo and it is huge. It is only a couple of miles from my house and it is a popular place to go with friends. Complete with a full size movie theater on it's top floor the mall is significantly better than the town center mall in Ponte Vedra. My host father made a point to tell me that Trans Studio is only one of several large malls in Bandung and wanted me to point out a modern Indonesia... not the wild jungle that so many of my friends still think it is. We also visited my host father's family in the local graveyard. My host father's Mother, father and brother have all died and we went to pay our respects. The Indonesian graveyard was like nothing I have ever seen in America. It was huge but, more than that, it was crowded. The graves included a headstone and then a rectangular area marked with stone or tile. The graves were so close to one another that we were forced to walk on the graves to get to my host father's family. We found the graves and just sat there for a minute then my family spread flowers and water over the grave. Afterwards in the car they asked me how often I went to my families graves in Florida and I have to tell them that I have never been to one of my ancestor's graves because only my family lives in Florida. Family is very important here in Indonesia. For Idul Fitri they all meet up, no matter how far, to talk to each other. When they were explaining the tradition to me they kept saying "like Christmas, all of your family gets together for Christmas". I had to explain that my family is too far away and that I rarely see them. I see my grandparents in Virginia the most, but that is only a couple of times a year. Don't get me wrong my imitate family is very close. We play together, talk with each other do everything together but, I have never been close with my extended family. Sometimes I wonder if I really want to get to know my extended family better, according to all the stories, most of them are completely crazy. I don't know maybe everyone's family is crazy. Well, anyway my family here in Indonesia is doing pretty well, I have no complaints.

8/25/12

Today, I was privy to a huge culture shock. Apparently it is completely normal to just show up at a relatives house with no prior notice. At about 6pm we had about ten people knocking at our door. Now, maybe they did call ahead and my family just didn't tell me but, I rather doubt it.We watched TV, ate snacks and talked. They were all really nice, and seemed happy to meet me when I introduced myself. My Rotary introduction was all wrong.. so my host sister helped me fix it. They don't identify themselves the same way we do. My introduction now includes my name, what they should call me, my age and my birthday.  After about two hours of casual conversation everyone said goodbye and left. When everyone was gone I ate dinner with my family. We had a great conversation about the faults in both our countries educational systems. In Indonesia, school is mandatory through the ninth grade. But, in the suburbs and small towns there often are not schools, or if there are schools they don't have teachers, or supplies. Children are often unable to go to school because they cannot walk to a school, and the government cannot force them to go to school and they do not have to resources to make schools and hire good teachers. So, many people stay uneducated, and they are forced to work in manual labor jobs of become a beggar, living on the street. In America we have our own problems, as you all know. We have great schools and terrible schools, inspiring teachers and teachers that make you want to slit their throat. As a family we talked about these problems and how they really hurt the people that need them the most. I really wish that government officials would stop looking at numbers from stupid tests that I am sure that I could pass with my eyes closed and start looking at how their decisions affect their country. I know that it can't be easy, that nothing will make everyone happy but, I hope that one day school systems will benefit more people around the world.

 8/26/2012

Today was the last day of the holiday for my sister, so my family just stayed at the house and relaxed while she prepared for her classes. So, I don't have any interesting stories to tell today. Instead I want to talk about the roads here in Indonesia. Let me start by saying that the "basic" rule is to stay on the left side of the road. Most people here drive motorcycles, they are cheaper, easier to move in traffic and they can fit up to four people. They are just normal motorcycles not extra long or anything but, I have seen entire families ride on one bike. Indonesia driving is kind of like driving in New York. For those of you who have been you know that there are rarely lines dividing a two lane road and if there are lines drivers do not try very hard to stay between them. There are always cars zooming everywhere. In Indonesia, the infrastructure is very bad. Most roads are much narrower than what any American would deem fit for two cars to ride side by side. One particularly bad road has one direction of traffic riding six inches lower than the other side. The higher side had lots of ups and downs it kind of looked like this     (----____------_---___-----) I'm not even sure how our car made it through. Because the road is so bad, it takes cars a long time to travel especially at night which is when I was on the road, so the less patient motorcycles ride on the right side of the road just so they can go a little faster. Let me tell you it is one of the scariest things in the world, to be driving minding your own business and then to have a motorcycle coming right at you. Almost every day in Bandung there is traffic and when my driver is behind someone that is going too slow for his liking he just zips around them. It doesn't matter if there is a car in the other lane coming right at us. I would think that my driver was just trying to kill me but I see other people drive that way to, so I know it is just the norm. Motorcycles drive between cars, cars do what every they want and buses play "my car is bigger than yours so get out of my way". I am glad every time that I get in a car that I am not allowed to drive here. Thank you Rotary for saying me from driving a horrible tragic death. Although, I am sure that even given the choice I would never want to drive here. I am going to start doing something that I did in America with my family every night. We would go around the table at dinner and all tell our  "highlight" of the day- the best thing or the funniest thing that happened to us that day. I plan on posting one every night just before I go to sleep (or at least I will try).

8/26/2012 Highlight

Today I spent some time with my sister at the local park which is right behind our house. A bunch of her friends were getting together before most of them go back to work or school. We just sat in the park, eating snacks  while some of the guys played soccer. It was fun in an unplanned sort of way. It is really obvious that they are really good friends and love hanging out with each other and I am just glad that I was allowed to tag along. I would also really like it if any of you people reading this would message me questions you want to know. I will answer all of them on the blog... no question is stupid. I have been asked all sorts of ridiculous questions about America by my family here so I am sure that I can answer some weird questions about Indonesia too. :)