October 11-19th

10/24/2012

I have not written in forever, I would like to blame this on how busy I have been but it really comes down to laziness. So, here goes the last 13 days of my life that I have failed to record.

I showed up to school, it started like any other normal day. Then I saw something very unexpected - a tall, white boy in the morning assembly. My readers need to remind themselves that seeing a white person here is 100 times more rare than seeing a black person at Ponte Vedra High School (my old high school- we have a 98% white population and most of the 2% consists of our Spanish teachers) Anyway, seeing a white person is very rare. So, I was very confused when I saw a white boy at my school. The boy saw me and came to talk to me after the ceremony, we only said a couple of words. "Hi, my name is Jason, do you want to talk at lunch?" "Hi, My name is Alaina, sorry I can't I don't have classes in the afternoon, so I will just go home." "Ok we can talk later, bye" "Bye" I recorded the entire conversation to emphasize how ridiculous what happened next was. For the next several hours my friends teased me saying "You are in love with Jason!!" I tried to explain to them that I do not love Jason, I had only met him a couple of minutes ago. They failed to understand what I was trying to explain. How could I not love the only other white person in the school? I have now endured endless teasing from every direction (It is not making me like Jason anymore). I went home and decided that I should find out a little more about my soul mate. Apparently, his parents got divorced when he was 2 and he moved to Indonesia with his mom. He has been living in Indonesia since. His English is as good as the rest of my classmates, and he will be going to my school for 3 months for training for Trans Studio (Mall- Theme Park- Hotel by my house). A couple of days later, I was sitting alone and he asked to talk to me for a minute. His English was very bad (but I was also talking faster because I kept forgetting that he couldn't speak English), he seemed very nice but, he also sounded like he was going to take full advantage of the fact that both of us are white and 'soul mates'. I will not be dating anyone here- regardless of skin color. I haven't seen Jason in about a week because I went out of town and I am really hoping all of the drama will die down (it won't).

People in Indonesia are always on Facebook. I have probably had more than 100 friend requests in the last month. When I go on Facebook, I go for about 2 minutes. I make sure there is no one trying to contact me and that nothing terrible has happened and then I log off. Unfortunately, my Indonesian Facebook friends insist on chatting with me while I am on Facebook. I do not like talking to people on Facebook; I never have, I never will. It is for this reason that I turn my chat off on Facebook. Despite my efforts to avoid people, someone always breaks through. So, one person got through and started talking to me. I didn't really think anything of it. We talked about Jason and what I was doing that weekend and a ton of other things that I do not remember. I had at least three different conversations with this same person. Then at school, I was waiting for Angklung practice and a couple of girls called me over to talk to them. I went over to the small group and everyone introduced themselves (I do not remember a single one of their names). Then, one boy shook my hand and refused to let go, he asked "Do you remember me?"(When people say this to my face they want me to tell them what their name is) I calmly responded "No, I am very sorry I meet lots of people every day" He finally let go of my hand and looked disappointed. I soon found out that he was the boy that I had been talking with on Facebook. When I chat with people on Facebook, I don't go to their home page, I don't even look at their profile picture or read their name; unless I know who they are, I don't really care about them and their Facebook. He told me that I always looked lonely and that I should socialize more. He went on to tell me that I will adjust better if I talk to people, and he accused me for looking confused when I am in a large group and everyone is talking in Indonesian. He has no idea what he is talking about. Any exchange student can tell you that having to talk to one person at a time is hard enough. If you add the fact that no one talks to me here one-on-one and that they wait to surround me with a group of at least five people, you would understand why I look confused. I try, and when people who do not have any idea what I am going through tell me to try harder I want to kill them (many people I know do know what they are talking about and I welcome their advice). He then asked me to teach him perfect English, borrowed my dictionary and didn't talk to me until I asked for my dictionary back 20 minutes later. The next day I was on Facebook and I got a message from the same boy: The following is our conversation that I copied directly from Facebook: 

Boy: can I talk to you tomorrow?

I really need you

Me: I will not be at school I am traveling to Jakarta

why do you need me?

Boy: really?

Me: yes

Boy: I need your explanation!

Me: on what?

Boy: I remember yesterday you've been asking me "am I having a plan to visit America?"

and I've been telling you I have a plan to extension my education in German.... right?

but I was think twice... and I decide to comparing your question with my plan...

Me: oh, so now you want to go to America instead of Germany

Boy: and I have on conclusion that America will be my optional chosen if I cannot continuing my education(college) in German....

so can you explain about "how is education in America?"

please help Alaina! I am just the last grade in SMK4, no!

Me: when students finish high school they have the option of going to college. To get into a college you need to apply to the colleges you want to go. The application includes a lot of paperwork, essays and test scores (we have national tests called the ACT and the SAT)

Boy: and I very-very need your explanation!

Me: the college can then choose to except you, if it does not you cannot go to that school

college is very expensive in America and good schools are difficult to get into

what kind of school do you want to go to?

Boy: you know that I'm taking AUDIO-VIDEO program in SMK4 and I've learn too much about "electrical engineering"... so I'm so interesting to Technology

then I've been hearing "America is the good country" for learning technology

*I have been browsing on internet!

Me: ok, so are you looking at MIT ?

Boy: MIT? what is that mean?

Me: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). United States

it is a really good school

Boy: oooh Alaina I don't feel good to talking this thing on facebook

I prefer to talking with you in the school!

ME: I will not be back until Tuesday

Boy: just you and me! *face to face

what? :-o

so you will be back to school at October 24th?

Me: yes

Boy: :-( I'm just disappointed! but it is ok

Me: well, I'm sorry that I have greatly disappointed you

Boy: I don't wanna be a person who annoying U!

Me: you are not annoying me but, I will not be back until Tuesday... it has nothing to do with you

Boy: I WILL BE WAITING for U!

:-)

and I suggest you to prioritize your important business (exactly the "RYE" )

Me: I am doing that.

Boy: but I'm not sure that you are remember me! aren't you?

Me: what?

I'm sorry but you are less important than Rotary; I must go to the rotary meeting

I remember you

Boy: really? we are just having many conversation on facebook! but when we were in school we were just like the two person who they are not knowing themselves each other!

:-P

Me: yes, because we do not know each other in real life; I cannot remember everyone's names... I have met hundreds of people in the last 2 months. I do not remember all of their names

We will talk at school

Boy: promise?

Me: you come up and talk to me and I promise that we will talk about your future and college

Boy: I hope we can be a good friends! and that is my expectation!

I remember this morning you looks so cavalier...

I believe that you were looking at me! but you were just not "to say hi!"

Me:

I will see you on Tuesday. goodbye

Boy: bye

Conclusion: I hate needy boys.

"Mystery of the Lost Peanut Butter" - a short story: I was having a hard day and I wanted to celebrate with a little Peanut Butter. I had not opened my jar of peanut butter yet and I was really looking forward to it. When opened the jar I found that the quality seal was gone as was about 1/3 of the bottle (only a small bottle). I quickly emailed Mrs. Crocker, the sender of the PB. I asked her if she had scooped some of the peanut butter out to reduce the weight of the package. She didn't and it defiantly had a safety seal when she mailed it. This year I have eaten a lot of 'exotic' food. I am no longer of germs so I still had some Peanut butter- it still tasted good.

"Never Trust what is in a soup". My maid knocked on my door and spoke to me in Indonesian. What I understood was that my host mom wanted me and that I should bring the chili sauce. I mistranslate things all the time, but I trusted what I heard and I went downstairs to talk to my mom and get her the chili sauce. Turns out my mom did want the chili sauce. She had a visitor and she wanted me to eat lunch with them. Lunch was a mysterious looking soup. My mom told me that I needed to try some and then she would tell me later what I ate. I couldn't say no because, my mom's friend was sitting there and I didn't want to make a scene so I took a couple of spoonfuls of soup. The soup had some veggies in it but it was clear that what my mom wanted me to try were the two meat-ish looking items in the bowl. One was a 1-inch by 1-inch little square that looked like leather. I tried this first. I put it in my mouth, tried not to gag and started chewing. I chewed for what felt like forever- it tasted like rubber and it was almost impossible to chew. I finally swallowed the piece with a little pride- one down, one to go. It turns out the second 'meat' item was the greater of two evils. It looked like a ball of goop it was about 1-inch in diameter. I tried to cut it in half with my spoon but I couldn't so I put it all in my mouth (huge mistake). I chewed and tried not to gag and chewed some more. No matter how much I chomped down the thing would not dissolve, so I used my teeth to rip it into small parts and then swallow it piece by piece. It tasted like pure nastiness or concentrated boogers; I can now eat anything. When I finished I told my host mom that I did not like it and that I could not eat any more. She laughed and said that this was her friend's favorite- no way anyone could like this. I asked her what it was and she said it was........ Cow Hoof. Yes, that is right I ate the inside of a cow hoof and I would not suggest it to my worst enemy. Moral of the story: Do not trust soup.

Cultural- My friends like to comment on my pictures on Facebook and tell me not to eat all the food or I will get fatter. Nice. I love being called fat! I just wish they would comment something nice like, wow cute picture. Or better yet if they have nothing nice to say, I wish they would say nothing at all.

I am writing more now, I promise I will get up to speed :)