9/1/2012

9/1/2012

I woke up today and my host Mom told me that we were going to Jakarta latter that day. So I took a shower and packed up everything I thought I might need for the weekend. My host brother goes to school in Jakarta and I was excited about seeing the capital of Indonesia. My maid made pancakes for my breakfast and they were so good. I like Indonesian food but sometimes it is nice to eat what I am used to . My school uniform has patches on it that needed to be sewed on so my host Mom and I walked to my grandmother's house to ask her to sew them. My host Mom says that she does not know how to sew, so whenever anyone in the family needs something they always go to their grandma. My grandma agreed and said that it would be done in time for me to go to school. We talked for a while, until the driver showed up with Diandra, who had finished school early. We drove to the mall and went to do buy Diandra new glasses. Her old ones broke so we had to wait for them to finish them before we could leave. When the glasses were ready we went home to meet my host Dad and brother. It took a while to load up the two cars and head off to Jakarta. My host family said that Jakarta is only two hours away from Bandung but, I think you can add an hour to that time. Luckily we didn't have any traffic so it didn't take too long to get into the city. My family owns two apartments in Jakarta a very small one (the one we went to) and a larger one that they rent out. Instead of going straight to the apartment we stopped at the Zoo. It was only two hours until closing so we didn't get to see everything but it was still fun to walk around with my family. We stopped at a sign and my host Mom asked "what do you want to see?" I said, " I don't really care anything will be good" and then I looked at the sign and said, "Wait, Elephant riding... we can ride an Elephant here???" My host sister replied saying "of course, do you want to do that?" "Yes, Yes I do want to do that!" We walked to the elephant riding area to find that it was closed for the day, so I would not be riding any elephants today :( I was so excited and then.... disappointment. Oh well, I will ride an elephant one day. We continued to walk around the Zoo. In Indonesia street vendors can go everywhere, including inside the Zoo. There was trash everywhere and I felt sorry for some of the animals. One monkey that we saw was surrounded by trash and he was eating it. He was very overweight, huge, I would be surprised if he could even walk very far. One of the elephants had a disfigured trunk that was split at the end. I think that the care for the animals is very bad and that the poor creatures deserve better. I am not an animal rights activist but I do think that the Zoo was very sad. When we had seen everything that we could before the Zoo closed we walked out. Outside the zoo there is a market area. My host family stopped to buy fruit and the vendor gave them a lot extra for me to try and a butterfly bracelet for me. People are so nice to me here because they do not get very many foreign people. We drove to the apartment and on our way my host sister and mom taught me a song to remember the days of the week in Indonesian. We spent the time singing our favorite songs and teasing my brother Kevin, who is very shy and refuses to sing to me. When we got to the apartment I realized how small it really was. It had two bedrooms a bathroom and a tiny kitchen/living room. The entire thing could not have been more than a couple of hundred square feet. My host mom and dad got the 'big' room, Kevin got the short couch and Diandra and I go the small room complete with a twin bed. So we pulled the mattress off the box thingy that goes under the mattress. Diandra slept on the mattress and I slept on the box thingy. It wasn't the most comfortable night sleep every but it was probably better than Kevin's couch. The apartment is attached to a mall which is where we ate dinner and relaxed a little bit. I had to go to the bathroom so I asked my host parents where it was and the pointed me in a direction but, when I got lost I asked a man (In Indonesian) where the bathroom was and he pointed me in the right direction. So I guess he understood me WOOHOOO!!!! A stranger, who did not know what I was trying to say before I said it understood me. This is a huge milestone. Of course when I got to the bathroom the toilet was different from what I was used to. So before I sat down I turned the little knob on the side of the toilet to see what it did and it shot water at me. Luckily, I was standing off to the side so only one leg of my jeans got soaked with water. I had to try really hard not to laugh my head off for soaking myself with water. At least I know now and will never do it again haha.

9/1/2012

I had a lot of great things happen to me today but, my favorite was when I was walking with Diandra in the zoo. A man stopped with his three children and asked if he could take a picture with me. So I said yes, and let him take a picture of me with his kids. Afterwards he thanked me and said that I looked very beautiful. I don't think Indonesia is going to be good for my already huge ego.