What Indonesians know about America

Random:

A couple of days ago my English class was asked to all say something they know about America. I wrote down the entire list. This is what Indonesian students know about America (in the order that they were said in class and exactly how they phrased it)

·         America has four seasons

·         Liberty Statue

·         Hollywood

·         Miami Beach

·         Michael Bolton

·         Kobe Bryan

·         New York

·         Washington (it is unclear if they were talking about D.C or the state)

·         LA Galaxy (I looked it up, it is a soccer team- I didn't even know about this)

·         California

·         Barrack Obama

·         Los Angeles

·         Hawaii

·         White House

·         Las Vegas

·         Donovan (football player)

·         Texas

·         San Francisco

·         US Navy

·         FBI

·         SWAT

·         Yankees

·         Michael Jordan

·         CIA

·         NBA

·         NASA

·         Disney Land

·         Justin Beiber

·         Golden Gate (bridge)

Are you happy with what the world knows about America? I was surprised that McDonald's did not make the list. Just thought you would think it was funny :)

9/21, 9/22, 9/23, 9/24, 9/25, 9/26/2012

9/21/2012

I spent the first 2 hours slowly writing the blogs that I had been putting off. You might ask "but, Alaina, you have school. How did you start your day by writing for 2 hours?" The answer is simple. I had no idea what I should have been doing in my 5 hour long animation class and I refuse to ask questions that I do not want to know the answer to. My classmates were all busy doing something, and none of the teachers had said anything so I made myself busy. When I finished I started drawing tedious patterns to waste time. Eventually a teacher walked over and I opened a blank Photoshop document. He asked me if I was done and I told him that I had no idea what I was doing and that I have no idea how to use Photoshop. He asked "well, if you didn't use Photoshop in America, what did you use?" and I had to explain again that in America we do not have vocational schools and that I went to a high school and learned from books. He talked to me for a little bit and then he returned to the front of the classroom, allowing me to return to drawing aimlessly. At about 11am my class started packing up so I asked one of my classmates and she said that class was over (only one hour early). So, I started walking home. When I got home I made sure that the maid saw me so that she didn't send the driver to get me in an hour. She laughed when I told her that school finished early for what felt like the hundredth time. I had nothing planned for the rest of the night so I just relaxed and waited for my family to come home. All of the people in my family are always really busy. My Dad is running for governor, my Mom works at a large bank my Sister is going to Medical School and my Brother lives in Jakarta. I ate dinner by myself and watched a movie but no one was home yet. I eventually gave up waiting and just went to bed.

9/21/2012 Highlight

It might sound kind of sad but I was in a classroom with really comfortable chairs. They were just basic office chairs (cushion, wheels, and the ability to spin in endless circles). In my other classes we either sit on the floor, on really small school desks or wooden desks with wooden benches for the seats. Needless to say I am rarely comfortable at school and I was very excited to have a good chair. Also I got to get some extra sleep, which is always needed and I finished my blogs.

9/22/2012

It is Saturday, so of course I have school. I woke up at 5, took a shower, got dressed in my uniform and then headed downstairs for breakfast. When I got to the table, there was no food on it yet (which is weird because the maid always had food out on time for breakfast). I went into the kitchen to find our maid and she looked at me like I was crazy and then asked me if I had school today. I say yes, I have school and then she started speaking in rapid Indonesian. I told her that I would go ask Diandra. I went upstairs to find Diandra still in her PJ's (she normally goes to school at the same time as me, so she should have been dressed), and she also looked surprised to see me up and dressed. I asked her if I had school and she said "no, I told you last night, right?" I said "No, I didn't even see you last night." She apologized for forgetting to tell me that I was ditching school today and I went back to my room. I would have loved to go back to sleep but, I had now been up for an hour and I wasn't tired anymore. I turns out we were going on vacation. My Mom, Diandra, the exchange student from Belgium, the exchange student from Brazil and I all loaded in the car. We drove for what seemed like forever. Distance is really hard to determine here because most of the time the traffic is so bad the car barely moves. I am quite certain that I could have walked the parts with lots of traffic faster. We finally got out of Bandung, into the suburbs. We got to one of my Mom's friend's house where we transferred into two jeeps. The jeeps took us even farther out of the city until we got to a small village house. It was made in a traditional style and it was very beautiful. The countryside is so quite compared to the busy city that I have been a permanent resident in for the last month and a half. We ate lunch at the house. The rice was really different, it had these little yellow things in it. They were really crunchy and I thought that they were just vegetables until I saw an eye. They were not vegetables, they were really tiny, yellow fish. (They look like shredded carrot-- very tiny). YUM! I was eating a bunch of tiny fish, I am really glad that my family did not tell me what they were before I started eating. We got back in the car and started driving up the mountain. We kept going up and up, and the air kept getting cooler and cooler. It was so nice to be chilly for the first time since I got here. It is so hot in Indonesia, and it was really nice to cool down.  We were so high up there was fog all around us from clouds and my ears sounded like POP Rocks from the elevation. The mountain was covered in Tea bushes, thousands of tea bushes. It was so nice just to drive around looking at the landscape. Even though we were out of the city there was still trash everywhere. People here are much more likely to throw trash on the ground than they are to hold the trash until they find a trash can. It is really depressing to see such a beautiful mountain covered in trash. My Mom said that we were going to the hot springs and I got really excited. I have always wanted to go to a natural hot spring and this was finally my chance. We got to the hot springs and it was nothing like what I imagined. What the 'hot springs' turned out to be was a series of poorly maintained pools with spring water in them (which means that there are no chemicals in it because it is natural) and tons of people everywhere. It was really gross, and there was no way that I was going to get in that water. Lucky for me my family and friends found it really nasty too and we quickly left without getting in the water. Afterward we drove to a dormant volcano. It was a place where a long time ago a volcano exploded and left Sulfur pools and extremely hot water springs. We stayed for a while looking at everything. Just before we left we read the history of the place. I won't go into it here but it involved a ghost and immediately Laticia and I said that ghosts weren't real. Diandra just looked at us, and explained how in their culture many people believe in ghosts and other mystic things. We agreed to disagree and then we went home. On the way we had some of the best Sate I have ever had. I really like Sate (for my American friends it is basically meat, chicken, beef or lamb, grilled on a stick and covered in sweet sauce and then dipped in peanut sauce). I ended up spending the night over at Laticia's house.

9/22/2012 Highlight

It was a really amazing day but, I am really glad that I did not have to go to school. I loved driving around the mountain too.

9/23/2012

I woke up in Laticia's house on Sunday morning. She Skyped he family and then we just hung out. All day we watched movies, talked and ate a lot. We talked about school in Indonesia, our friends in America, how hard the exchange is and just about everything else you could think of.  Laticia lives in a huge house. Her family is a very wealthy Chinese family who owns a baby supply store in Bandung. The only problem with her house is that it is almost 30 minutes away from my house. I told my family at about 2pm that I wanted to go home but they were unable to get me until 7pm because one of my drivers was out of town and the other was at a wedding. I am learning a lot this year about patience. In America I have had my license for more than a year and I drive myself everywhere. Now that I cannot drive, I have to plan out my activities and wait to be able to borrow the drivers. When I got home, I watched a movie and went to bed. It wasn't a busy day but, because Sunday is my only day off from school, I am always very tired and try to recover from the school week.

9/23/2012 Highlight

I was able to spend tons of time with Laticia, and talk to someone who understands perfectly what I am going through. Thanks for reading :)

9/24/2012

I woke up and went to school. I was talking with my friends in our classroom waiting for the daily ceremony to begin. The ceremony should have started already but, no one was gathering in the courtyard. My friends saw me looking outside to the courtyard and they told me that there would be no ceremony today. I promptly did a huge victory fist pump and screamed "Yes!!!!!" My friends thought it was really funny and for the rest of the day they kept pumping their fists and screaming "Yes!!". I do not think that I can be blamed for getting really excited that I did not have to stand for 30 minutes listening to someone talk about something that I do not understand. Before class started I went to the school store to buy some supplies for my manual drawing class that I had later that day. With some difficulty I told a teacher what I needed and she gave it to me. I asked he how much the supplies cost and she said they were free. I said "no, how much" and she insisted that they were free, so I thanked her and went to class. Digital drawing was my first class of the day and we had a test.  It had two parts, some multiple choice and then we had to recreate something that the teacher had made in the test using Photoshop.  I guessed on all the answers to the Multiple choice questions. My friends were very concerned because they did not want me to fail the test. I told them that my grades do not matter and that failing the test is "no problem." The practical application was a little more difficult. I was able to do a decent job before I called my teacher over to check. He said that it was not perfect and showed me how to use the envelop function to bend and curve my words. I thanked him and then I just talked to my friends for the rest of the class. My next class was Manual Drawing and we also had a test. My teacher gave everyone a page of instructions and a blank sheet of paper. He tried to explain what I should do, but I had no idea what he was trying to say. So on one side of the paper I drew basic 3D shapes. (sphere, cube, cylinder, triangular pyramid, etc.) and on the back I made a pattern very similar to what we had done in class the week before. One of the people in my class told me that I needed to write a list on the first side so I copied their paper and then I turned in my test. I still had to wait until the class ended so I out my head down on my desk, only to wake up to the flash of one of my classmate's cameras. I sat up, and made them give me their phone so I could delete the picture. Given the amount of time that I spend asleep in school I would have expected someone to take a picture earlier. Finally my teacher told us that we could go home and he apologized for not being able to explain the test to me. I told him that it was fine and that he should not worry. I walked home (this is now more common because my school almost always gets out earlier). When I got home my maid told me that the drivers were out of town (so I guess it was good that I assumed that I should walk home) and that I would not be able to go to my Indonesian lesson with Aunt Anita. So, I spent the afternoon in relative boredom. While I was on facebook I got a message that surprised me. My manual drawing teacher is friends with me on facebook and he sent me a message that asked me if I remembered writing on my test. Over the last several weeks, I have developed a habit for venting in messy cursive that I don't think anyone could read. I just like to write (instead of doodling) and most of the time the words do not mean anything. My teacher sent me a message with some of the words that I had written on my test and he said that I should try to write a poem about Indonesia. Well, it is another first. I have never been told something I wrote could be a poem (and it proves that 99% of poetry is complete nonsense).

9/24/2012 Highlight

I had a really great seminary lesson today. It was on the parables in Matthew Chapter 13. Even though I really miss my seminary class in America I am very blessed that I am able to do seminary here in Indonesia.  Thanks for listening

9/25/2012 Question

Q. I thought you graduated High School. Why are you still in school?

A. I am really sorry Grandpa that it has taken so long for me to answer this question. Basically Rotary (the service organization that sponsored and organized  my exchange) says that we must go to school. I do not have a choice. It is also good to go to school because I am able to learn the language faster and meet kids my own age. Without school I would just sit alone at home all day. So even though school is confusing and a little boring it is very beneficial (and it is required). Thanks for the question Grandpa. I love you and Grandma so much!!!! Have a great day :)

9/25/2012

School again... YES!!! I got to school and I was talking to my friends again when they told me good and bad news. Good news: No morning ceremony for the next two weeks. Bad news: We did not have the ceremony for two weeks because we will have end of the semester exams in every class for the next two weeks. Honestly, this 'bad' news was not too bad. I don't care about my grades so I can just wing it and have fun, "no problem". I went to my first class which is Seni Budya (Culture). My friends helped me do the class work so that I could do it correctly. During the class the power went out in the school about four times (about 2-3 minutes each time). The power goes out often here but most of the time I do not notice because all my classrooms use natural light to light the room. But, the classroom I was in this morning is my only class were is does not have any windows (it is the music room and I think they want to protect the wooden instruments from damage). After class I went to my Indonesian class. We had to rewrite a letter from the textbook to practice the structure. It was easy but it still took me a while to complete. My final class of the day was digital drawing. We had another test. I guessed on the questions and then my friends gave me the correct answers. I am proud to say that without understanding more than 5 words I was able to get 4 out of 10 questions right (not to shabby when there are 5 choices for each question--thank you Chinese class for teaching me how to guess). The I moved out to the practical lesson. We had to make a little fish with the word 'drawing' in it. Class ended early but, I could not go home because I had Angklung practice after school. So I talked to my friends and played on my computer until it was time for practice.  I went to Angklung practice and the room smelled very bad (again because it does not have any windows-- same room as earlier) so we moved to another room. The new room meant that I did not have to sit on the floor, which was a welcome relief. I think I finally have the song down. The song we are playing is Mars Bamboo Rucing (it is a nation song for Indonesia). I thought I was doing really well until our director took down the sheet music. I cannot remember when to play. Imagine if you will, that you have just started playing the piano and you are responsible of playing every B note in Beethoven. That is a little dramatic but, it is exactly how I felt. I had no idea when to play and I was lost the majority of the time. I rode home with my driver and relaxed a little until one of the drivers told me that we should go get Diandra. Instead of getting Diandra, everyone in my family met at a restaurant for dinner. The food was really good and talking to my family was even better. I am able to communicate more and more in Indonesian every day. Another cultural difference from Indonesia and America is that Indonesians are rarely in a rush. We sat at the table long after we were done with all of our food, just talking. When we got home, I was able to Skype my mom for an hour and just talk to her. I love telling my family in America about my adventures here and seeing their smiling faces.

9/25/2012 Highlight

Today's highlight was really great. While we were taking our practical test today in Digital Drawing I know how to do the activity without any help. There is one tool that I know how to use on Corel Draw (similar to Photoshop) and that is the freehand tool and then you and edit the freehand. I was able to quickly make my little fishy with almost no difficulty and then I moved on to the words. If you remember, yesterday my teacher showed me how to use the envelop tool on Photoshop. I knew that I needed to use the envelop tool to do the project, so I searched Corel Draw for 'Envelop'. I was able to find it and I started to mess around with the text to get it to fit in my fish. To make my success even sweeter, people started coming over to me and saying "you can do it?" and the asking me to teach them how to do it. Most of them did not even know how to draw the little fish, let alone morph the text. To say that I was overly-pleased with myself would be an understatement. I knew how to do something that most of my classmates did not know how to do and I have never touched Photoshop or Corel draw before. Yaaa me!!!! The teacher still gave me a six, I don't really think that is good but I do not know how my art could have been any better (it looks just like the example).

9/26/2012

Today I woke up really late at 5:45. Which means I had 15 minutes to shower, to get dressed and to get downstairs for breakfast. I did it, luckily for me I have never taken a long time to get ready in the morning. I ate breakfast and then went to school. I started the day with English class. It was very boring, as always, because I already speak English. I can tell that my English is getting worse though. I really feel sorry for everyone who tries to read my blog and they have to guess what I was trying to say because I forgot a word or spelled a word wrong. While we were on break in English class I showed the class picture of me and my family in America. The completely surrounded me, screaming questions at me in a mix of Indonesian, English and Sudanese. I had to shout to explain the photos and to answer some questions. Everyone seems to like looking at pictures of America and my family, to them I am a celebrity. Many of them have never talked to a foreigner before and they are eager to get to know me. When the class was over I moved to my math class to find that math had been switched with physics. My teacher said that we had a test and she read the two questions to us. I had to copy my neighbor's paper because I could not write what the teacher was saying. I took Physics last year in America, but it is nothing compared to trying to answer a physics question in another language. I tried to translate the first question with my dictionary and then I wrote "sorry I do not understand" in Indonesian. I spent the rest of the class studying Indonesian. When the physics class ended (I should not have had to go anyway) I had lunch. I talked to many people in the courtyard while I waited for lunch to end. When it did end I went to class to find that it was Seni Budya again (the same class as yesterday). The teacher told me it was the same lesson so I said that I would ask my guide in the office if I should go to that class. I got to the office and I had to explain to one of my teachers that the classes were the same and she brought me to another administrator. We talked for a while until we decide that I should not have to go to the class and that I can go home early. I walked home, very pleased to get out of another class. I ate lunch, did seminary and then went to Indonesian class. Class was very good. I always enjoy going because I know that it helps me. After two hours of class I waited for my driver and I went home. And now I am finishing my blogs.

9/26/2012 Highlight

I was able to convince an administrator that I should not have to go to school, and he let me go home early. I like my school a lot but it is nice to have more free time. I also got a workbook in Indonesian class that I think will help me learn the language even faster. Thanks for reading :)

9/17, 9/18, 9/19. 9/20/2012

9/17/2012

Well, its Monday again. At least one thing is universal. ...waking up on Monday morning sucks. While I got ready I did one thing different this morning, I started chewing one of my pieces of gum to help me get through the extra-long assembly. For whatever reason the ceremony was shorter, and there was no flag raising (like a normal weekday). I'm not complaining, I was just confused. The assembly was normal, except for a announcement that made everyone cheer a lot. Apparently, my school won some sort of award and it was a big deal. I went to digital drawing and I learned how to do something. Then, I was off to manual drawing (for the first time). The teacher asked me what supplies I had and I told him that I had pens and colored pencils. That was not enough. I didn't know what I needed so I didn't buy anything. Now I know I need a ruler pencils and a thick marker (like a sharpie). He showed me how to make a design and I spent the rest of class drawing 600 1cm X 1cm little boxes and then filling them in with triangles. The rest of the class seemed completely uninterested with what I was told to do. Maybe, they had already done the assignment but my teacher explained to the class how to do it... so I rather doubt it. The teacher left after 10 minutes because he had a meeting. I don't know why teachers have meetings during their classes but, it is really weird. When it was break time for lunch my friends went outside to eat lunch. I wasn't hungry so I just took a short nap instead. Great idea.. I still love naps. Class ended at 1pm which is an hour earlier than it should end so I knew my driver wouldn't be waiting for me. I started walking home, most people are really in awe of the tall (yes Jesse I am tall here) white girl in an Indonesian school uniform so they just stare at me but they don't try to talk to me or stop me. I wasn't really paying attention when a man stood up in my way. When I looked at him it was one of my family's drivers and he seemed concerned that I was walking home because he should have been picking me up in an hour. I explained that school finished and then kept walking home. When I got home I had to explain to the maid that my school ended early again so I just walked, and that I like walking so it is OK.  I did my seminary lesson and then I started to draw. I didn't know I could draw, but I guess I am really good at following instructions because if I use a 'how to draw' lesson my art turns out pretty good. After drawing Po and Master Snake from The Kung Fu Panda, I drew Sully, Mike and Boo from Monsters Inc. I went downstairs ate dinner and then watched The Green Lantern. I was so tired that I fell asleep during the movie (it was only 9pm).

9/17/2012 Highlight

Right after I got home from school I went to my favorite spot in the whole house. It is the balcony that overlooks the street. I sat there eating an Indonesian lollipop and just relaxing. While I was sitting up on the balcony a vendor walked by.  People sell thing in the street all the time in these carts and while they move down the street they make a kind of call to let people know that they are there. The vendor didn't surprise me but what did was the vendor's dread-locks. I haven't seen dread-locks since I got here and I promised my Uncle David that I wouldn't come home with dreads because no one had them here, so I thought it was kind of funny.

9/18/2012

I just have a couple of observations today

1.       If you are not smiling and constantly talking people think you are bored or unhappy.

2.       If you say you are sick, every Indonesian thinks that there are only two ways you could be sick. You either A. Did not eat breakfast or B. You are cold (I am never- ever cold here)

3.       There are always going to be people who make you want to hurt them - Boys in some of my classes spent the entire class time laughing at me and calling my name.

4.       Just because I am an American and I am not Muslim does not mean that I am interested in every boy in the school. So, boy, you  can stop posing every time I walk by.

5.       Most people are nice and they just want to help.

6.       Right now it is 90 degrees outside and I am in my house wearing sweats, a long sleeve t-shirt and socks. Because, if one more mosquito bites me, I am going to have a mental and physical breakdown and the only way to stop them from biting me is to wear lots of clothes.

7.       Mosquitoes are the worst.

8.       Being at school from 6:30am to 4:00pm is the worst.

9.       Angklung practice after school is so much fun and it was worth it to stay at school for an extra two hours.

10.   There is no way to sit comfortably on the floor especially tile floors. You can either sit in a very uncomfortable but dignified way or you can sit in a slightly more comfortable and undignified way. I end up just laying down on the floor most of the time (it is neither comfortable or dignified.)

11.   Hot showers fix everything.

12.   I am so lucky to be at SMK 4 and play with computers all day instead of learning from textbooks.

13.   How I Met Your Mother is possibly the best show ever, and it distracts me from doing other more important things.

14.   My English is getting worse everyday

15.   I put off doing these blogs too long... because I am too lazy :)

9/18/2012 Highlight

I really enjoyed Angklung practice today after school. It is now my favorite class because I get to learn something completely new. The people are so nice and they helped me learn how to read music and taught me that there are two different ways to play the Angklung (by shaking it and playing it in staccato). I wish that the club could replace some of my classes at school so that I could learn more.

9/19/2012

I want to start by saying that having a uniform at school is really great, unless you wear the wrong shirt. I would also like to say that if you took a picture of our school assembly yesterday, I would be the worst Waldo ever. Imagine, if you will, a courtyard filled with people. Everyone is wearing white shirts and had black hair, now add in someone wearing a black and white paisley shirt (one of the other uniform shirts) with brown hair. You now have an idea of about how much I stood out today. I tried to ignore the fact that I had unknowingly made myself stand out even more (if that was possible). At least I am already used to people staring at me or else it would have been really awkward. I started to day with four hours of English class. It is normally really boring but, after the lesson the teacher left and we just talked. I showed the students how to draw Mickey Mouse on the white board and I taught them some English. In return they taught me a lot on Indonesian and talked to me a lot. I had Indonesian class outside of school later that day and the teacher asked me to prepare a conversation for class. So, I started writing and when I told the students what I was doing they got really excited and helped me write the paper. I was really enjoying myself and I was not looking forward to Math. I asked what time it was and someone told me that it was 9:40. According to my schedule my math class started at 10. Everyone kept talking and having fun and I thought... there is no reason to go to math when I am having so much fun here (yes, this girl who has never skipped a class in her life is now skipping whenever it is convenient). I was feeling like such a boss.. missing math class and then another teacher walked into our room. I knew that I didn't want to find out what that teacher taught so I excused myself and headed to my third and last class of the day. I got to the class and when I showed the teacher my schedule she told me that it was too early and that I had to go to math. This confused me because I know that we talked for at least an hour after someone told me it was 9:40, I should have missed a lot of math if not all of it. Apparently my friends watch was wrong, it was now 10am and I still had to go to math... darn. I got to math right before the teacher arrived and I was able to be present for the entire boring lesson. At one point the expo markers stopped working so the teacher sent a student out to get more and he continued talking, about random things that I had no interest in so I ignored him and mode it through the hour and a half long class. When the terror of math was finally over I had a 45minute lunch break. I decided to spend the time sitting on my favorite bench near the courtyard. I just sat there studying Indonesian minding my own business when it seemed like at least twenty people swarmed me and started asking questions, and introducing themselves. It was actually really fun and I enjoyed talking to them. In Indonesia it is really common for someone to tell you that they are handsome or beautiful and then ask of you think they are pretty. Mostly boys do this to me and they ask "do you like me? Am I handsome?" Most of the time I respond by saying "I don't know" or "I don't understand" or "I do not want to answer that question." I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and as an American I am just not used to telling people that I think they are ugly/pretty to their face (that is something we Americans prefer to say behind someone's back).  And then they ask a question that I have been asked at least a hundred times already, "Do you have a boyfriend." I say "No, I do not have a boyfriend." They look shocked and then get really excited and today a boy even did a victory fist pump. Someone should have had the decency to tell me that everyone would want to date me here and that I might want to just say that I have a boyfriend. Well, here comes Astronaut Mike Dexter... just kidding I will just tell them that I am not allowed to have a serious relationship (THANK YOU ROTARY!!). When lunch was over I went to culture class, which turned out to be exactly the same class that I had earlier that week with different students. I really don't care if I take the same class, it is fun and there are only two girls in the class full of guys so I would feel bad to abandon them. I have now officially gone to all of my classes, and I haven't gotten lost in a couple of days. School finished and I walked out to the front of the school, I was waiting for my driver to come and pick me up. I waited at least ten minutes so I thought that he forgot about me and that I should just walk home. I started walking home and I got more than halfway there when my driver pulled over to the side of the side of the road and drove me home the rest of the way. I got home, changed really fast, ate a little and then I was back in the car to go to my class. Before I went to my class we stopped to pick up Diandra at her college. I was already really tired and I slept in the car most of the way. When I got to class, we practiced having conversations  about buying things. Then Aunt Melly showed up. We took pictures, finished our lesson and then Aunt Melly went to take us home. On our way she bought Satay or Sate (spelled both ways) and we drove to one of her friend's house (who happens to be the inbound coordinator for Indonesia). We ate at her house and just talked for a while. The family had a beautiful black and white husky. I miss dogs, here in Indonesia cats are much more popular than dogs and lots of people are irrationally afraid of dogs. We ate lots, talked lots and I played with the dog a lot and then Aunt Melly finally decided to take me home. When we got home Aunt Melly and Laetitia talked to my family. I was so tired when they went home I staggered up the stairs to my room did a game for seminary and went to sleep, all intentions of writing my blog were gone. Sorry again that it took me so long to write this and that my English is getting worse at an alarming rate. Thanks for reading

9/19/2012 Highlight

This morning at the assembly a teacher spoke and I understood every word. Of course that is because she was talking in English not the normal Indonesian but it was still fun to understand what was going on for once. She talked about how every student needs to focus on studying English because no matter how good they are at using technology there will be no place for them in the global economy if they do not know how to communicate. While she was talking all the students stirred nervously because they could not understand everything she was saying. It was nice to have everyone feel close to how I feel everyday (except for the fact that everyone in my school has taken English for at least 5 years and I have only taking Indonesian for a little more than a month).

9/20/2012

For the first time I woke up to my own alarm it was pretty great. I straightened my hair and put on make-up (By The Way girls in my school are not allowed to wear make-up but no one has told me that I can't wear it so I keep on doing whatever I want). Today I had modeling again so I wanted to look pretty for the tons of photos I would be taking. I changed and went to class. This round of modeling was much more fun. Possibly because I mostly took group pictures and I know everyone in the class more so we have more to talk about. All the girl in my class are so pretty but they think I am pretty and that they are no wear near as pretty as I am. In America I am pretty average, I would never describe myself as 'the only super hot babe in school' because I am not but, people here call me Barbie all the time. I wish they would be happy with the way they looked and stop trying to whiten their skin so that they can look like Americans. We played around for a long time, just taking lots and lots of pictures. I also brought my new Indonesian study book to school today, and my friends really like taking it looking through it and then quizzing me. I am learning the language even faster now, and I am able to say more and more things in Indonesian. When class was over I went to English. My class learned about gerunds and how to use them in English. I spent the class studying Indonesian and talking to my friends. Half way through class we had a break for lunch, I got out my computer and started playing music. One of my friends asked me if we could Skype my mom (in Florida, my real mom). In Indonesia it was 1:30 so in America it was 2:30am. I told him that it was 2:30am and he looked confused and then said "Oh, your mom is sleeping?" and I said "Yes, my mom is sleeping it is 2:30 in the morning! I am sorry but we cannot talk to her now." When lunch was over my teacher gave us an assignment from the book to do. At my school the students have to buy the books if they want one or they can just share with their friends. I was not planning on buying any of my books because I wouldn't use them anyway.  My teacher requires that we write out the entire question out if we want full credit. So I started writing and writing and doing boring English. I might actually get another B on the assignment because I thought the sentences were boring so I enhanced them a little bit. When I finally finished one of my friends with a book called me over to ask me what some of the answers were and she started writing in her book. I asked her if she had to write out the whole problem and she said "no, I can just write it in the book." I went over to my teacher and rechecked that if I had a book I could just write the answers she said that was correct and that the book cost 8,000 Rupiah. Sorry Dad but you will be paying for my 80 cent book because I am too lazy to write complete sentences for my English class. After school I had Angklung practice again. Wow, it is way harder than I thought it was. Someone handed me a second Angklung to play and it only took about 10 minutes to give up on that pipe dream. I picked one of the instruments and played with my class. We finished learning an entire song and I had to try really hard to keep up. The music teacher doesn't even teach the class, it is run by students and they had to help me learn how to play faster and better. I still really enjoyed the challenge. By the end of the class the girl next to me, who was playing three Angklungs did the entire song with her eyes shut, that is skill. Maybe after a year I will be able to do that. I got home, had lunch, changed, did seminary and relaxed. Then I started uploading pictures to Facebook, several hours and 303 pictures later I was finally done and it was too late to write my blog :)

9/20/2012 Highlight

I was glad that I was finally able to upload all my pictures to facebook. My mom had been getting on me about putting pictures up. Every time someone puts a picture of me up she says "Thanks for putting this picture up, the only way we see pictures is if someone else puts them up because, Alaina never does." Thanks Mom. Well I finally finished and I feel accomplished, so you are welcome Mom and everyone else who was getting bored with looking at my old photos. Thanks for reading! I love you all :)

9/16/2012

9/16/2012

 

Diandra came knocking on my door at 5am to wake Laticia and me up. I told her that I didn't want to get up yet. Sunday is my only day to sleep in and I was pretty mad that she was waking me up. I knew that we were going to 'Car Free' but I didn't know we had to go that early. Car Free day is held every Sunday on this one street in Bandung. They shut down the street to cars and open it to bikers, walkers and all kind of vendors. I was there to help sell bread and clothes for raise money for the local Interact (Rotary for high school kids) club. I walked the streets selling our bread. It was so much fun just to people watch and walk around. We sold some stuff, I hope that it was enough. While we were there, a flash mob broke out. Several professional dancers all were paid by a local news company to dance and I got a front row  view and I got it all on film. I would put the video up but the internet connection is not good enough... sorry everyone I guess you will see more pictures and videos when I get home. The driver came and got Laticia and me and we drove to her home, there was lots of traffic and I slept almost the entire way, I was so tired. I said good bye to her and then we drove home. It was so nice to finally be out of the car and back at home. I watched TV, took a nap, and have now caught up on all of my blogs. I also got to Skype with Sis. Rodrigues and my family. I love seeing people from home, I would love it if my people emailed me ( AlainaRRoberts@gmail.com) or facebook me. I love it here, I can't believe it has been a month already. Thanks for reading, I love you all!

 

9/16/2012 Highlight

 

Everything about today was really good. But, I really enjoyed the street dancing and talking to my family and friends on Skype.

9/15/2012

9/15/2012

 

I had another very long animation class today, but I was with a group of kids that I knew better. Some of my friends say that I had Skype on my computer and they wanted to know if we could Skype my family. So, I emailed my family to warn them and I was about to Skype them when our teacher walked in and gave an hour long lesson. If only my teacher would choose any other day to teach. So my family waited while I was taught some basic animation. One of my friends asked why it was a big deal if we Skyped my Mom later and I had to explain to him that even though it was 9am in Indonesia it was 10pm in Florida. He seemed to have a difficulty understanding this concept - or maybe I did a really bad job explaining it. I Skyped my family and my whole class gathered around my computer. I was expecting them to go crazy. To all start asking questions and screaming... instead most of them ducked behind desks and tried to see without being seen or heard. We talked a little but the internet connection was really bad and we had a hard time hearing them. I told Jesse to stand up because when I show family pictures, Indonesians always seem in awe of Jesse. He stood up and my entire class started screaming. "He looks like Justin Beiber!!!" " Ahhhh!!!" "He is soo tall (in Indonesian)".  Everyone was so amazed and then the internet cut out. I tried to call back but the internet refused to work. I was kind of fun to Skype my family in the middle of school, even though it didn't last very long. For the rest of class, I discovered that I am OK at drawing. I looked at 'how to draw Disney characters' and just practiced drawing in my notebook. With the drawing and Skyping my family it was one of the best days at school yet. It was fun just to sit in class and talk to my friends. When I got home I ate dinner with my Mom and I found out that she was going to Jakarta with my host Dad to a concert and her high school reunion.  Then, did Seminary, relaxed for a little bit and then when to go pick Diandra up at school. After, the driver and I picked up Diandra we went to Laticia's house again (she was going to spend the night at our house). After we had finally picked up everyone we went to the mall. I got an alarm clock. Finally after one month I have an alarm (I still don't have batteries for the Alarm clock but one thing at a time). Then we went to Giggle Box for dinner. I ordered a cheese burger and fries. It was delicious, a little taste of home. Diandra ordered a 'super' burger that came with a fried egg on it. I asked her why there would be an egg on the hamburger and she just looked at me.. because it is good. "Well," I said "I have never hear of that and I am not ruining a perfect burger with an egg." Indonesians eat everything with their hands, that is except hamburgers. I laughed at Diandra for using a fork and knife to eat her burger, and picked mine up and ate it like a real American. When we were done with dinner we ordered dessert and got the check. For three meals, two desserts and three waters our entire meal cost about 16 US Dollars. I wish non-fast food restaurants were this cheap in America. While we were waiting for the driver to pick us up we talked. In Indonesia a long time ago there was a bike group that turned into a gang and started killed and stealing. Because of this the Indonesian government has outlawed all exclusive groups. At school, kids are not allowed to make small groups or hang out with only a couple of people. This would explain why almost everyone in my school classes seem to talk to each other. Diandra asked if in America we really have small groups and people only talked to certain people. I told her that we do and that there are the popular people, the jocks, and all of the stereotypical groups. I also explained that in High school we do not often fight with the other groups, we just talk to certain people and that it is way worse in Middle School than in High School. It is really hard to explain your way of life to someone else without making it seem really harsh or stereotypical. She asked me why groups where aloud because, they make people feel excluded and other people feel like they are better than others. I told her that outlawing groups in America would be like outlawing illegal movies in Indonesia.. it just wouldn't work. I also told her that Americans are more competitive and that good programs would not be good if everyone could get into them. Maybe I made some sense but, to Indonesians excluding people is a completely foreign thing. Everyone is invited and the over friendliness is normal. If people were this curious and nice in America they would be considered really weird. We drove to the illegal movie store, bought 6 movies for 3 dollars and then went home. We all took showers and did a face mask. Diandra admitted that she is afraid of sleeping in the dark. And then we watched Dark Shadows with John Depp and directed by Tim Burton. I love Tim Burton films but, it was not as funny as we thought it would be. When we finally got to bed it was midnight.

 

9/15/2012 Highlight

 

I taught my class "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes " in English. It was really fun to try to teach them how to pronounce words that I grew up with. Then they tried to teach me it in Indonesian by all trying to scream it at me at the same time. I had to stop them and ask one person to help me. When I finally was good enough one of my friends tried to teach me it in Sudanese. Sudanese is the local language here, and it is very complicated. It you want to talk to a girl, a boy, a old woman, an old man, a young woman or a young man there are different words. I want to learn Indonesian first and then work on Sudanese so I plugged my ears and screamed "I'm not listening" until they stopped. It is good to be a kid again!

 

9/14/2012

9/14/2012

 

Woke up, went to school, stood and waited for the assembly finished. I think it is a little bit of an accomplishment for my schedule to finally get boring. Today, I only had one class, Animation from 7am to 11:45. Maybe I went in with the wrong attitude, I was really tired and I was ready to go home after the first ten minutes. But class kept going on.. and on. My teacher came by a couple times to see how I was doing. I had no idea what I should have been doing so I was just randomly playing with Photo Shop. He told me that I should have some web thingy... I had no idea what he was talking about. So I alternated between taking a nap and randomly playing on my computer. Unfortunately the internet wasn't working so I just messed around. Finally at about 10am a buy came over and tried to help me. He showed me how to make a web page design in Photo Shop and then how to move that file to a different program that they had to download on my computer. Little of his explanation made sense built wasn't because of his English which was fine. It was because he was teaching me something that probably took several weeks to learn how to do in about 30minutes. He helped me finish the required assignment, for which I am really thankful and then I went back to sitting and being bored. When I was about to start nap time again four teachers walked into our room and after a brief explanation they sent us all to the front of the class. Then they started searching our bags to see if we had things we shouldn't have had at school. I didn't know what they were looking for... so I just stood and waited (By the end of the year I might be able to wait for hours without complaining or moving around a lot... that hasn't happened yet). One of the teachers found a pack of Cigarettes in one of the boys bags and quickly took it. After the bag check we sat back down. When I got home I ate lunch and went up to my room. It might have been my worst day at school yet and I was ready to put it behind me. Earlier this week I was invited to go to Laticia Ronconi's house(The exchange student from Brazil) so I asked one of our drivers to take me to her house. On the way we picked up Diandra from her school and together we went to Laticia's house. While we were driving I got in my first every car accident. A motorcycle cut in front of us and we hit them. A Dad was driving and he had his little kid on the bike too. Luckily no one was hurt and it only reminds me that I never want to drive here. Oh and a side note- almost all adults wear helmets on motorcycles but none of the kids wear helmets because, according to Diandra "no one sells kid sized helmets." Driving is really scary here, there are almost no traffic rules. We talked for a little and then went to the mall to see a movie. We bought the tickets- here in Indonesia you buy a specific ticket not just a pass to get into the movie- and then we walked around the mall. We stopped at a game store and played some arcade games. We started with a basketball game... I am an embarrassment to Americans. Even with 3 people shooting we still failed the game. Then we went to a driving game, if you ask my brother Jesse, he would tell you that I am the worst video game player in the world. But, this game had a really steering wheel and a gas petal. I totally rocked that game and got first place in the race. So there is another first, I won a video game (where I wasn't playing by myself). We went to the movie. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the F word isn't a bad word here.  But, it still bothered me that it was used so many times in the movie. After the movie we dropped Laticia off at her house. Oh, I forgot to say that Laticia's family has 3 dogs and Diandra is terrified of dogs. All of the dogs were really good (nothing like Rizzo's dog, Mia) but, every time one of them came near Diandra she screamed and ran to me. Diandra is 20 years old and she is afraid of cute dogs... but, much more people are afraid of dogs here because in Islam they are considered unclean. Anyway, we dropped Laticia off and went home. I went right to sleep because I had to get up early for my first day of Saturday school.

9/14/2012 Highlight :)

 

When I got home I went on facebook right before I went to bed. While I was on there I found out that one of the people who I just met came to my house while I was gone. He messaged me on facebook to tell me. I told him that if he wanted to hang out he should ask me first. People are almost too friendly here haha.

 

9/13/2012

9/13/2012 Questions

 

Q. Wow!  What a day.  I have a few questions.  What assembly do you attend every morning?  Does your host family go to church?  Did your host mom get presents for her birthday? If yes, what did she get?  Can you just tell the driver only to pick you up when it's raining?  Are the teacher's making fun of you?? And can't you just continue your other math class and act like you didn't know your suppose to be in Statistics?  Love ya! Take care of yourself.

Love, Aunt Sarah

 

A. On Mondays the ceremony is a flag raising and I think we go over a brief history of Indonesia and SMK 4 (My school SMK means it is a vocational school and SMA means it is a 'typical' book learning high school). On every other day we just listen to whatever the teacher wants to talk about, again I really have no idea (All of the presentation is in Indonesian is more advanced than my 1 month of Indonesian crash course has prepared me for). My host Mom did not get presents (as far as I know). But, we did make her a cake. My host family likes to have me ride in the car but maybe I will talk to Diandra and work something out.  I don't think the teachers are trying to make fun of me (everyone is really nice), I think they are trying to include me and to see if I understand the material.  I might be able to continue in the easy math course but, all of my classes are easy, one hard class might not be too bad.  Thanks! I love you too.

 

Q. I'm with Sarah...just go to whatever class.  That seems to be the MO anyway.  Do they put cheese on their pizza?  Or Just "fun stuff"?

I love you...Mom

 

A. The pizza is bad, I'm not sure what they put on it but it isn't good. I can't remember if there was cheese on it, but if there was it was only a little. One of the first meals in America... PIZZA.

 

9/13/2012

 

First of all, I want to apologize that I have not been writing lately. I have been super busy and lazy... which has been a problem. Today, I had my Photo/ Video call which meant that it was modeling day. I can honestly say that I never thought I would wake up in the morning and say "I'm going to model today". Well, never say never. I got up even earlier than usual so I could straighten my hair and put on make-up. I picked out on outfit that I wanted to model in from my very limited closet got in my uniform and headed to school. I am going to elaborate on the morning assembly just a little. Every morning all the students in the school gather in the middle of the courtyard. Then a teacher at the front of the courtyard starts yelling and everyone lines up. We line up in a perfect grid, the courtyard does not have any guidelines on it but it only takes a couple of minutes  to get all the students in perfect rows and columns (something that would never be possible in America.. although my school in America was about 4 of 5 times bigger than this school). Then a student at the front of the courtyard starts yelling and we all have to stand in attention, more yelling, we repeat the schools motto (I don't know it yet), we stand in attention again and a teacher talks (sometimes for 10 minutes sometimes for 25 minutes), then we salute the teacher, and then the teacher tells us to pray, after about 20 seconds they call for the praying to stop and we are released to go to class. The people who are late have to go in a different assembly in the basketball court outside of the school (One day I will be late just to see what happens to them).After the assembly a girl behind me asked me if she could touch my hair because it looked like a Barbie's hair. I thanked her and she felt my hair, then her friends started touching my hair and calling me a Barbie. So I became the first plus sized Barbie with brown hair and real breasts (none of that plastic stuff).  When I escaped the hair feeling session I went to first period and sat with my classmates. Our teacher did not show up until 45minutes into class... congrats in America you would have missed the entire first period. Then I got changed in the bathroom and started my modeling career. I do not have a future in the modeling business. I was in the front of the classroom trying my best to not be terrible with at least six different cameras pointing at me and the entire rest of the class watching. Everyone was telling me to do different things and yelling at me to do something else. I really had no idea what to do, I will never doubt that models have hard jobs again. So, I sat posing for the class for several minutes and I was really getting tired of the entire idea of me modeling when, a boy on the side told me to lay down on the ground in some sexy pose. I told him that I would do it if he did it first and with lots of cheers from the class I made him start modeling and I sat down. Luckily, everyone seemed to forget about me for a minute, or at least they realized that my pictures were really bad and they weren't getting anything else out of me. I was relaxing in the room (far away from the cameras) when another girl walked into the class in her casual wear. Before I say what she was wearing, I should remind everyone that Indonesia in 88% Muslim and as far as I know I am the only Christian in the entire school. Muslim women try to cover up most of the time and it is very rare to see short shorts or shoulders. Most of my classmates wear long sleeves and long skirts every day. This girl walked in with a purple sequin dress that had spaghetti straps and the shirt was completely see threw except for a small shift that cut off right after her butt. She came in with her school uniform skirt draped over her shoulders and crying that she wasn't pretty and that the dress was too short. I hate this kind of pointless drama, she knew that the dress was really short but she decided to bring it to school. She should have just modeled in it and get over her body issues or she could have brought a different outfit. I hate girls sometimes (she continued to whine and make people beg her to take pictures with her). When class was almost over I changed back into my uniform and went with my class to English class. I want to remind everyone again that I had not gone to this English class yet because last week we had the American visitors and class was cancelled, instead of class we just did a simple worksheet that I finished in about 5 minutes. At the beginning of class my teacher started by passing our answers from the worksheets back to us. I saw my answers in a different pile and I cannot lie I was thinking that she was going to say "and the only perfect paper.. Alaina" or " Now Alaina will explain her answers" or at least "You should all do your own work and not copy Alaina." but, it was not any of these. Instead she told me that I did not write the entire question so I get a B while the rest of the class gets A's. WOW! Really! I just got a B on an English assignment even thought every other person got an A because they copied off me, and the teacher just made an example of me in front of the entire class. Now, if the teacher had actually showed up to class last week she could have told me to write the entire question, but she didn't want to go to class so I was punished. It really isn't a big deal, and I really don't care about the grade. I care about the principle that I can be wrongfully punished, whatever. We went over the worksheet and a lot of the grammar that the teacher was teaching was really bad, so I muttered under my breath how nothing she was teaching was right. When we were finally done with the worksheet the teacher decided that the class could ask me question in English. So they wrote questions and I spent the next hour in front of the class answering tons of questions. She never asked me if asking questions was OK she just assumed... so annoying. Anyway I love my new English class.. can't wait to spend another 3 whole hours in it next week. Great! School finished early but my driver wasn't coming until 2 so I went to the Angklung room for Angklung club. I introduced myself to everyone and showed them my PowerPoint of all my family pictures until it was finally time to go home. I only had enough time to do Seminary and watch one episode of How I Met Your Mother before I had to go to Indonesian class with Mrs. Anita. I got to class and the exchange student from Brazil and I studied for a while. I liked taking the class with someone else because I got to practice and she was able to ask some good questions. After class we went across the street to a restaurant. We ordered by ourselves. The food was delicious, I got fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken for dinner and a waffle covered in fruit syrup, fruit and strawberry ice-cream for dessert.  When we finished eating I went home and fell asleep after a really busy day.

 

9/13/2012 Highlight

 

I really had fun going to a restaurant and ordering my own food. The food was really, really good to. Way better than Carrabba's. Thanks for reading! I love you all.

9/12/2012

9/12/2012

 

Do you ever wake up one morning and instantly want to leave reality again and go back to sleep? Well that would perfectly describe this morning. I am not really sure what made me upset today, or why I couldn't fake being happy but, I guess today just wasn't my day. It all started with a terrible nightmare, the way I dream throws into question my sanity occasionally and this nightmare was no exception. I woke up in a cold sweat- thirty minutes late because I still don't have an alarm clock and Diandra forgot to wake me up. I got dressed, ate breakfast and rode to school. The bell at my school is Beethoven's Fur Elise (no I didn't know that I had to listen to a bunch of classical music before I found it) and today it sounded louder and more off pitch than ever. I dropped my bag off at my first period and went to the assembly. Maybe it was part fear that I would get dizzy again, part claustrophobia from everyone standing a little too close to me part panic attack but, I felt nauseous again. I had to keep my mind busy, I drew letters on the ground with my foot, anything to keep me from completely panicking. When the ceremony finally ended I went to English class. For today's lesson we had to read an article on hobbies and then answer a lot of questions. I finished in about ten minutes and then spent the rest of the three hour class letting the other students copy my work and doodling. If only I spent more time doodling in America, I might be better at it, right now I just sign different people's names and rewrite the lyrics to my favorite songs. Some of my classmates insisted on looking over my shoulder and staring at my boredom doodles but, when I tried to look at something they were writing they would shy away and cover their paper. I guess I sort of felt like an ant under a magnifying glass, with everyone watching me until I burnt up and died. Class seemed to go on forever. When it finally ended one of my friends took me to buy snacks and then go to my math class. On our way we met some of my other classmates who all waved and asked me if I remembered them. I am sorry! I can't remember the thousand people who have introduced themselves to me in the last month! I am trying to remember a whole new language plus the thousand names that are completely different from American names- which just makes them that much harder to remember. I had to try not to cry in frustration when people kept asking my "do you remember me?" "DO YOU REMEMBER ME!?""DO YOU REMEMBER ME!!!!???!!!" and then looking really disappointed when I did not remember their name, they would tell me their name again and tell me "don't forget ok?!!". I guess last week I was in the wrong math class. Darn, I was too happy about being put in trigonometry. I got to class when the teacher finally showed up (twenty minutes late) I was already feeling apprehensive about the class. He asked me a couple of questions, none of which I knew the answer to and then he started talking in Japanese. When he switched back to Indonesian I still didn't know what was going on. He started writing on the board and my heart sunk... one of those gut wrenching.. oh why me? sort of moments. The word that made me want to give up was not quite English but it was close enough I understood what it was.... Statistics. Well Darn. Darn. Darn. The only math that I haven't taken because I wanted to be a stupid over achiever and take Calculus instead, and the only math that is primarily word problems, which I can't read. I'm sure that it is easier than American math but I have no idea what I even need to learn. It took me at least ten minutes to get over this huge realization and to start taking notes. I didn't know what my teacher was saying or writing but, I figured that I would just translate my notes later. None of the other students were taking notes so, I figured that it must be some sort of review. Later, during the lesson, the teacher stopped and asked me a question about math. I had no idea what he was saying, so I told him I didn't understand to which he made some snide comment that made the class laugh again. Only five minutes later he stopped and asked me another question, mind you there are thirty kids in the class but he can't call on any of them he has to call on me.. the only one who doesn't understand.. great. I thought I might have understood what he wanted me to do so I tried to clarify in English and he totally backed off. So, at least I have a plan of attack, he asks me a question in unbearably fast Indonesian that I can't possibly know the answer too and I talk back in the fastest most confusing English I can muster. True, I probably won't do this but, it had been a long day and I was "pissed off and mad" (Miss Congeniality). I suffered threw the lecture and then he just left. Gone. Just like all Indonesian teachers, they do their lesson and then disappear, leaving the class to have 'free time'.  When he left the other students started copying the notes off the board. And with this action came another realization for the day. Most Indonesians attack life with about the same attitude as my block English class did everything in that class. For those of you who were not in that class let me explain. If something should  take you ten minutes, you drag it out as long as possible to a solid hour. In America we are so conscious about our time and spending it wisely, here I spend more time at school doing nothing than having a teacher teaching (or in the room at all). Luckily, my last class of the day was canceled so I got to go home. As I was walking down the halls I tried to ignore the now familiar jeers, taunts and nervous hellos from all the students. I got outside and waited for my driver. I talked to some other people who were on their lunch break. Everyone is so excited to talk to me and it gets tiring. One of the boys who I have never met before told me that he reads my blog and that he is waiting for my new post so I should start writing. I know that lots of my Indonesian buddies read my blog because many of them are friends with me on Facebook (I except all requests because I can't remember who most of the people are so I just accept them).  I told him that I was really busy and that I would write it when I get around to it. It was really frustrating to have someone come up to me, who I have never talked to before and tell me that he knows me and that he expects something from me. I know he was trying to be nice but it still tweaked my nerves a little. I really don't care who reads my blog, but I don't really want to talk about what I write. I just want to vent, to use this boyfriend as the perfect  surrogate boyfriend, if you will. Anyway I was still waiting and I was starting to worry that my driver had forgotten about me. I would have walked home but, I would feel bad if he came late again and a repeat of yesterday happened. Finally our house maid rode up on her bicycle and told me that the driver was busy and couldn't pick me up. Then she called a bus like thing over, handed me a thousand Rupiah and told me to get on. I did not want to get on, in fact I walked past it but she saw me and made me get on. I was only nervous because I didn't know how much to pay, or where it would take me (the buses have no routes or schedules and you just have to know). The maid told me to get off at the Indomart but I didn't know where that was. At least she said it loud enough that one of the other ladies getting off  told me to get off the bus. I only rode for 45seconds, it was literally down the street, it took my maid more time to make me get on the bus than it would have taken me to walk. Then she rode her bike just ahead of me to make sure I knew the way home. I know the way home, I have done it before and I even know how to cross a street but, she still helped me. The trip home felt longer than usual and I immediately went upstairs changed and laid down on my bed. I wasn't tired but I was stressed and my heart was thumping loudly the way it only does when I am one wrong word away from blowing up. So I sat in my room listening to music until I decided that my blood pressure had returned back to normal. When I emerged from my room there was nothing to do, my host Dad was working in the office with his employees so I returned to my room and watched Dear John- just so I would have an excuse to cry a little. The movie had twenty minutes left and was really getting good when the stupid illegal movie stopped working and refused to play anymore. I guess I was really just one of those days. It was my Host Mom's birthday today so when she got home from work we celebrated. My grandma and cousins brought over a pizza from Pizza Hut. At first I was really excited, but then I tried the Pizza. It was gross, it was covered in chili sauce and other things that should never go on a pizza. I could only eat one piece, it was so weird to eat such a popular American dish and dislike it so much. We got out the cake and....... drum roll please.....it was ok. Not great, and it would not by any stretch of the imagination win any award but, it was edible. It was more of a thick fudgy thing but, it wasn't poisonous so that is good news. I ate a little then excused myself from the table. And now I am sitting in bed feeling better that I got all of this bad day out of me and that I am now able to move past it. I really do not want any messages telling me to hang tough or deal with it, I'm doing just fine, we all have our off days.

 

9/12/2012

 

I'm still alive. Haha (I love you Dad) Oh and I didn't get in a fight with anyone.  Thanks for reading, I love you all! :)

9/11/2012

9/11/2012

 

This morning I go to sleep in for once. Because some of my classes were canceled, I only had to go to school from 8:40- 10:00 for Indonesian class. I did my time and listened to the class. I really wish I could understand but, for the moment I only get the bits that my teacher translates or gestures. We had a test in class (we seem to have a lot of tests in my classes). I still don't know what the point of the test was. The teacher had us write four hobbies then write how many times we had done those hobbies in July and August. Then we made a graph showing the previous data, wrote some conclusions and did a couple of other things that I failed to grasp. When class was over I went outside to wait for my driver. I wasn't really sure if he was coming or if I should walk so I waited for ten minutes and then headed home. By now I have walked home from school several times and I was able to do the trip in no time at all. It takes me less time to walk home than it takes to wait for my driver to pick me up. Maybe I am just impatient- yes, that is probably it- but I also don't see the point of making the driver come pick me up when I am perfectly capable of walking home (unless it is raining in which case I would love a ride). I got home and went into my room, per my usual routine . After about twenty minutes my maid came knocking on my door asking if I was there- when I said that I was there was some hurried speaking in Indonesian on the other side of the door. Apparently, my driver was fixing Diandra's light in her room and lost track of time, when he realized what time it was he drove to the school but, I had already left. I understand why he wasn't there- and I wasn't even upset a little but everyone else seemed really worked up about it. When Diandra finally got home we started making the cake. WOW, it is no wonder at all why baking is not popular here and that my 'talent' in the kitchen is held in some kind of awe. We started measuring and mixing using the converted amounts and everything was going really well until we got to the cocoa powder (the third ingredient). We were weighing out the powder but a whole box did not weigh as much as the conversion said it should. Luckily, because I have a little practice in the kitchen I knew that we did not need at least two cups of cocoa powder in the cake mix. So we got a tea cup and I guesstimated (my computer recognized that as a real word ) the right amount. When we got to ingredients that required to be measured in teaspoons, Diandra handed me a spoon. I had to again explain to her that a teaspoon is a form of measurement and that you cannot just take a random spoon measure out something and it will magically work. So I guesstimated again... and again... and again. When we got to the vanilla extract Diandra handed me a little bag. I asked what it was and she said "one gram of vanilla extract" to which I replied "vanilla extract is a liquid...not a powder" she was surprised again. At this point I was making this cake with hope and faith, so I just threw two of the little packets into the mix. With all the dry ingredients finally measured out we moved on to the wet ingredients. To start we added the margarine. Not in a stick like I am used to but, straight out of the bucket.. meant to be used on a table not in a cake. We added the other stuff and I started stirring. I stirred for a while but the margarine wouldn't mix so Diandra asked if I wanted to use their hand mixer. "Well, that would be nice" I replied "The recipe called for a hand mixer but I didn't bother asking for one because I didn't think you had one." "Of course we have one" (Says the girl who's family does not own a real oven). We got the mixer  out and started mixing but the margarine wouldn't blend and the whole thing looked like throw up. We decided that we had to heat the margarine, so we strained the nasty mixture and put the butter on the stove. We melted all of it and then poured it back into the mix. We added the dry ingredients and everything started looking like it was going to work. I poured the batter into a pan and put the pan into the 'oven'. The oven doesn't have temperature control so I had to guess once more and keep checking the cake. One side of the oven cooked faster so I also had to turn the cake. While we were waiting for the cake to bake we started on the frosting. A lot of stirring latter we ended up with something that looked and tasted like real frosting yaaa!!! Just then my host Dad came home and he brought Satay just for me.. satay is one of my absolute favorite Indonesian foods. It was so good, I ate so much. After dinner I pulled out the cake, let it cool and poured the frosting over it. The left over frosting we dipped oranges in like fondue. Well, at least the frosting was good. We didn't try the cake because my host mom's birthday was the next day so we decided to wait. After all the excitement of the day I fell asleep very quickly.

 

9/11/2012

 

I was really glad that I only had to go to school for an hour and a half and it was really nice sleeping in. Jet lag is long gone but I still always feel exhausted, like everything takes ten times more effort than it does usually. I was also really thankful for my host Dad, because he brought home really good food.

 

PS. I am trying to upload pictures but my comouter won't let me... sorry