9/4/2012 Questions
Q. So how are you
paying for everything? Do they work on a
cash base, or credit card? Is the bread
like our bread (yeast) or flat? When is
the election (is that what they hold) for your papa to become governor? Is the election open to everyone, or just
certain people? Does that mean extra visitors to the house? With the election so close here, there are
lots of commercials do they run commercials there? Or is it all speeches? Summed up, how does the political system
work? I'm with you on the "fish
chips" yuck. if it is looking at
me, I'm out. Have a great day at
school.
A. In Indonesia children live with their parents until they
get married and they pay for almost everything until then too. So, when I offer
to pay for things my host family asks "Why would you pay for that?" I
pay for my school lunches and when I hang out with my friends (this hasn't
happened yet because school just started) When I do pay for things I use my allowance
from Rotary 450,000 Rupiah a month which is about 45 US dollars, and I can use
the money that I converted from US dollars. They mainly use cash but, in malls
where things are more expensive they sometimes use credit cards. People buy
almost everything with cash. Bread is treated like a desert here and I do not
get to eat very much of it, but it is like out bread (with yeast).I don't know
when the election is, sorry I might know latter. Everyone can vote in the
election. My host Dad works from home most of the time so he often has
employees over but no one 'really important' yet. I have not seen one political
commercial since I got here but I don't watch the news channels, maybe they
play them only on certain stations. But, they entire city is plastered with
posters and signs for all the candidates. I am still unfamiliar with the
political system and all I know can be found on Google. :)
Q. Are you at a private school or a public school? Do you always have a escort with you for your
safety, tradition, or just so you don't get lost? If you are so rich, will you be sending money
home any time soon? Another question, so
how much did you uniform cost? If $200,
turned into almost 2million, what do they charge for a piece of bread, fruit
(from the market), dinner out?
A. I go to a public vocational school. If you are talking
about my guide at school, he only showed me my classes on the first day of
school and I have only seen/talked to him a couple of times (He does not follow
me around). I have an driver most of the
time so that I do not get lost and so that I will be safe. Many people are
worried that because I am a foreigner people will steal from me and take
advantage of me if I am alone (on the streets, at school I am perfectly safe).
Women can go everywhere by themselves and other than wearing more clothes I
have not seen any discrimination towards women here. I will not be sending
money home, I will spend every penny of it haha. My shirt and skirt for my
uniform cost 130,000 Rupiah together (My hat, tie, belt and socks came separately
and I don't know how much they cost). that is about 13 USD. It really depends
for the prices, when we buy food from a street vendor it cost about 5,000-2,000
Rupiah and a meal at dinner is more expensive anywhere from 42,000-20,000
Rupiah.
9/4/2012
My sister woke me up this morning at a very late 5:30am so
that I could get ready for my real first day of school. When I got to school I
had to hurry to stand in the huge mass of students in the courtyard because the
morning ceremony was about to start. I had no idea what was going on so I just
followed the girl in front of me and did everything she did. When the principal
was done with his morning pep-talk I started to go to my first class. I asked
one of my classmates where my classroom and they sent me to one side of the
school where I talked to a teacher who told me that I was in the wrong place
and that I needed to go somewhere else so they had a student lead me to my real
classroom. When I got to my first period class most of the students were
already inside and all their shoes were outside. So, I took off my shoes and
walked into the class to find my entire class sitting on the floor because they
do not have desks and in Indonesian culture it is very common to sit on the
floor (many indoor restaurants only have low tables and no chairs). My 'guide'
decided to show up and tell me that I was in the right place and have me
introduce myself to the class because the teacher had not showed up yet. I gave
my introduction in Indonesian again and then sat down to the cheers of my
classmates. At that point the teacher came in and had all the other students
introduce themselves. After all of the introductions my teacher called a group
up to the front of the class to give a presentation. It is a music class to I
think that the presentation was on how Brazil has an influence on the music in
Indonesia but, I really have no idea. During the presentation my classmates
seemed not to care and spent the time talking with each other and asking me
questions. The teacher said nothing to this because she was busy playing with
her phone during the presentation. After the group finished the teacher told
everyone to get out a piece of paper for a quiz. I obviously was not going to
pass so the teacher just told me to write what my neighbor put down. I thought
this was a little strange but, not as strange as when the students all decided
on the answer to the question together. During the quiz they were all talking
to each other about the answers. I turned in my test when I was done and I got
a 7/10 not bad for my first test but, not great for the friends I copied off
of. The rest of the class we just sat and talked to each other and I was asked
more questions than I can even remember. Everyone seemed to be excited to talk to
me and know everything about me. I think that Indonesians are more curious and
much friendlier than the average American. After a while in that class I moved
(with some difficulty) to my second class which turned out to be Indonesian
class. It came to no surprise that I did not understand anything despite the
efforts of my classmates and my teacher to translate. I made it through the
class and because it was after fourth period we had a break. After the break I
went to my last class of the day which only lasted four periods or three hours.
Luckily it was digital drawing class so I got to use my computer. I had to take
off my shoes again and sit on the floor while my teacher 'taught' from the
front of the class. He kind of just talked at the class who was obviously not
paying him any attention at all. My classmates helped me download an illegal
version of Corel Draw on my computer (almost all programs in Indonesia are
illegal) and helped my through the lesson. After an hour and a half we had a
second break for lunch. I went across the street with my classmates and we ate
lunch together before returning to the second half of class. Most of the second
half of class was spent asking me question after question about everything
imaginable. School finally ended so I walked out to the front of the school to
find my driver. I could not find him so I waited and a crowd of giggling girls all gathered around
me to ask me more questions until my driver finally walked driver and rescued
me. I got home with just enough time to change and then head off to Karaoke
with my sister Diandra. We went to the mall and to the Karaoke room. Apparently
you rent a room and pay by hour so we sung for two hours straight. It was so
much fun and even though I was exhausted I had a great time. I have never done
anything like that before in America so I was really excited to go to the
famous Asian Karaoke. When we were done we went home where I did a couple of
thing and fell right asleep.
9/4/2012 Highlight
All the students were so nice to me and they kept coming up
to me and shyly asking for me to take a photo with them. When I would agree they
would always get really excited and gather around me . When the photographer
had taken the picture they would shot "lagi, lagi" or" more,
more". It was kind of fun to be popular for one day but, it was also
really exhausting.
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