November 20-28 2012

Sorry:

Before I start I would like to correct something that I wrote in my last post. The word sister (not the word aunt) and breasts are scarily similar as I have been told many times this week. I would like to apologize for the mistake. Sudanese is are very complicated language and I cannot speak it at all. Many of my friends want me to learn Sudanese but I want to make it clear that I want to learn Indonesian first. I guess because I come from America I am used to one language not tons of smaller languages. States don't have their own individual languages. I do understand that these are traditional languages. Thank you.

11/20/2012

In Indonesia, the schools are much smaller than our schools in America. When I tell my classmates in Indonesia that Ponte Vedra High School has about 2,400 students they are very confused. I think that we have about 600 students at SMK 4. Because I am at a vocational school everyone has the subject that they study. My school has 6 different majors including Audio/Video, Multi Media (my program) and Other things that have to do with programming and computers (I don't know what all of the classes translate to). High school is only 3 years long (Elementary school is 6 years long, Middle School is 3 years and High school is 3 years). Then everyone has a group of classmates that they are with the entire day. They stay with the same group of 30ish people all day and they cannot choose any of their classes. People go to the school that they want to go to regardless of location. In normal high school (not vocational) there are favorite schools that people try hard to get excepted into. When the school signed me up for classes, they tried to put me in the easiest classes even if that meant switching groups (which I am used to in America anyway). I am in 5 different groups. I jump grades, majors and everything else. I like this because I can make more friends in different classes but it gets confusing sometimes. I still don't know all of my classmates names, and there are some classes where I only know one or two of their names. Names are a huge struggle for me, imagine going to a completely new school and having to learn everyone's names. But your friends don't have normal names like, Robert, Andrew, Callie and Katie they have names like Muhammad, Irbil, Naïf, Defy, Dewy (Impossible to pronounce correctly), Lashefa and other names that are completely foreign to me.

So anyway, I was at school, it wasn't too exciting. I was with one my classes. We finished our lessons and we decided to go to Breaking Dawn II. We got on an Angkot (mode of public transportation that I will explain later), I thought we were going to go to Trans Studio (the mall near my house) so I knew that I would be able to get myself home. But, much to my surprise we went to BIP another mall that was half-way across town because it was closer to my friend's houses and it is cheaper. When we got to the mall we went straight for the movie theater and it was packed, filled to the brim. We stood in line and bought our tickets but because there were so many people there we had to wait until the 4:45 showing of the movie (it was 2:00 now). So, we headed to the food court, we ordered food, ate, took pictures of ourselves (Indonesians love taking pictures) and waited. The TV in the food court was playing "extreme couponing" and that stuff is crazy. It probably was just as good with no volume as it is with words, I am not sure how it is a real show. While we were waiting I texted my family saying that I would be home late and that I would need the driver to pick me up. Apparently, the drivers were busy or out of gas and no one could pick me up so I would have to get home by myself. The movie was OK, amazingly the books were better but, my friends here thought it was really good. I was happy to be spending time with them, it didn't really matter what we were doing. When the movie finished it was 6:45, it was dark and raining and so I chose to take a Taxi home because I didn't know how to use the Angkot to get home and I didn't want to get lost. My friends helped me call a cab and I got in. I never said one word in English. It was o nice to feel like I have made some progress in Indonesian. The driver asked me what school I went to, how long I had lived in Bandung, he told me that my Indonesian was very good and then when I told him that I lived close to Trans Studio he asked why I was at BIP and not Trans Studio.  We got a little lost and I was able to successfully lead us home in Indonesian. I am sure that others got to this point a long time ago, but for me it is a big deal. I am so proud of myself.

11/20/2012 Highlight

Taxi Ride and knowing that my Indonesian is finally starting to get good. I also recorded all of my expenses today because I thought it was very funny. This is the most I have spent in one day since I arrived in Indonesia (except for paying college fees online- that doesn't count)

COSTS

Snacks at school .30

Fresh Mango juice .30

Public transportation half way across town .20

Movie 2.60

Lunch (Chicken with a side of rice and a water) 1.60

Taxi home (half way across town) 2.50

Total= 7.50 you are jealous :)

I hope all the kids in Europe feel bad about teasing the kids in Asia now.

11/21/2012

School. I talked to my friends, hung out. Nothing to exciting

I guess I will explain Angots now. Angkots are a 'system' of vans that dive all around the city in patterns. The inside of the vans have been gutted and low benches are placed around the sides. There is no map for the Angkots, you just have to know which one to get on. It doesn't really matter how long you are in the Angkot you only pay 1,000 - 3,000 Rupiah ( 10-30 cents). Most of my friends either get to school on a motorcycle or on an Angkot, and most people know how to get anywhere in the city on one of the vans. I have not really had the opportunity to use them very much because I am afraid of getting lost (no one has really taught me yet) and because on an average day I do not go very far from home. 

Comment:

Alaina! You are such a rebel!! Skipping classes, getting C?! What has happened to you and why weren't you this rebellious in America! Miss you!
Love,
Avery 

Dear Avery,

      I don't know what you are talking about. I have always been a rebel. I am also taking full advantage of getting all of the rebellious things out of my system before I come home, go to college and go on with my life. Also, I don't really get grades, or at least I do not think that I do. If your teachers never came to class and you couldn't understand them if they did you would want to skip school too. I think you might even be rebellious here, well maybe not you, but defiantly everyone else. Try having a little fun once in a while :)

11/22/2012

I got to school today and one of my friends told me that one of my other friend's dad had died the night before. The class was devastated, they had all been together for a while and they are all very close friends. We went to the morning ceremony per the usual and then we talked to our teachers. The teachers let us go around the school and collect money. I have only been in school for 2.5 months but, I have already seen many people collecting money. I didn't know that it was because someone died. I think it is very sad that so many of my friends have had relatives and close family die when they are still in high school.  The average life expectancy in Indonesia is 68 (compared to the USA's life expectancy of 78 years old). The Hospitals are very poor here and the emergency response systems are even worse. Because the roads are poor and the traffic is impossible to get through ambulances have a difficult time getting to people. The police system is very poor and even if people can move over on the road they often choose to not get off the road because they do not feel the need to get out of the ambulance's way. In America, I always felt that people had a chance and I didn't fear getting hurt as much because I knew that I would be rescued and taken to a sanitary hospital with trained professionals and good equipment. Here I am terrified of getting anything that requires more than Advil, if I get an infection or a broken bone I will have to travel a long time (possibly a flight to Singapore) before I can get good help.  When we had collected money from all of the classes we asked our teachers if we could go visit the family. They said that of course we could go, so we just left school. I should have had English class that afternoon with the teacher who really things she can speak better English than me. We haven't had class in several weeks because she has been too busy to do her job or something like that, so when she told us that we could go I thought it was an excellent way for her to get out of teaching another class. How are my friends supposed to learned anything if the teachers never teach. We got a group together and went out of the school to catch an Angkot. One of the girls talked to an Angkot driver and paid him to take all of us straight to the girl's house instead of his normal route and then she paid for all of us. We crammed as many people as we could in the van and then we were off. When we got to the house the father was lying on the floor wrapped completely in blankets (there is no professional to prepare the body, the family must wash and dress it). We arrived about 10 minutes before a white van showed up to take the body away. When the body was loaded up we climbed into the neighbor's  car and joined the funeral procession. I was not expecting any of this, I was thinking that we were going to say we were sorry, hug a lot and then go back to school, I guess not. We arrived at the cemetery. Indonesians are very superstitious, and my friends kept asking if I was scared and they all thought I was crazy when I said no. They also refused to stand on the graves. I didn't know if these was superstition our culture so I stayed off them too. It started to rain, which made my first funeral very clique. We waited a little bit for our turn to have the body buried (many different families were there with their loved ones). We walked over to a newer section of the graveyard and I could tell that all of the graves had been made very recently, some had been filled earlier that day. The body was carried and placed in the hole without a coffin, just white fabric covering the body. The workers filled in the hole again while the older people prayed a little and then it was over. I was not covered in dirt because of the inconvenient raining and dirt. All around the graveyard there were small children begging for money. I don't know if their parents had died or why they were in the graveyard but I felt sorry for them. No child should have to beg at all let alone in a graveyard. We made our way back to the girl's house. We ended up sitting in the living room for several hours just talking to each other. It started to be crowded so I decided that I would go up stairs only to find many more people. I think there were about 40 students at the girl's house along with her family. The house is not very big, but no one was leaving. I had Angklung practice so, I talked to my friends about leaving they told me to "wait a minute". After snacks, praying for 30 minutes, lunch and long goodbyes we were finally out of the house. We walked down the road and stopped at a little store, some of my friends bought snacks and then we headed back to the house. Indonesians are like teenage boys, they are always hungry and they don't get fat like I would it I ate 4 meals and snacks a day. An Angkot picked us up again and dropped us off at the school. It was 2:45, my practice had started at 2:00. I went to the bathroom and then to the music room. Just listening outside the door, I could tell that there was no kind of lesson going on and that people were just having fun. I resized that my shoes were destroyed and my skirt was a mess so I told my friends that I had to go home and get cleaned up. I took an extra long shower and cleaned my shoes and then just stayed in my room. Bridget Johnson, from Wisconsin, who now lives in Cirebon arrived in Bandung earlier that day and she was planning on spending the night. I watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green with Diandra and then Bridget showed up with Aunt Melly, Leti and Pizza Hut. We talked for a long time and then Aunt Melly and Leti left. Bridget and I talked all night.

11/22/2012 Highlight

Happy Thanksgiving. Today I didn't have a huge Turkey dinner, or mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie or anything that should have been part of my traditional American holiday. Instead I had rice, soybeans, a slice of bread, a piece of pizza and some great company. I am more thankful for the little things this year. For my host family who has lovingly invited me into their home, for my family back home, who have been incredibly supportive, for my friends all over the world and for everything else God has blessed me with. I cannot truly express how lucky I am and how much everyday in Indonesia means to me. Thank you for all of the support and the love!

11/23/2012

My uniform was destroyed and Bridget was visiting so I didn't go to school. I still woke up early so that I could talk to my 'favorite' Aunt and Uncle (they have told me that they are my favorite it doesn't matter much what I think). It was just after dinner for them and they had to go in the garage to get good wifi coverage but, I really loved talking to them. Kennedi lost interest in me after saying hello and goodbye because she had cousins to play with and she has never been super attached to me anyway. Aunt Katie and Uncle David were awesome to talk to. My favorite question has to be "what do you miss the most, other than food?" I said "Well, it is amazing how much you can miss toilet paper" My uncle asked if the TP was like thick towels or something and I informed him that we have a hose. I don't know if I have mentioned this before. Indonesians use two different kind of toilets, squat potties and western toilets. The squat potties have a tub of water next to them with a bucket to clean yourself (I always bring tissue with me) and the western toilets have a hose attached to the side to spray yourself with. We could only talk for a little while but I really liked seeing my family. Then I talked to my family in Florida. I love my family! They are super awesome! When I was done chatting with everyone I went downstairs for breakfast with Bridget. Bridget has already had a little breakfast with my host mom, but any goo Indonesian knows that you can never eat too much. We ate breakfast and then went upstairs to watch TV. A couple minutes latter my maid brought me second breakfast and Bridget third breakfast. Neither one of us had anything planned and we didn't know what we wanted to do but we knew that we didn't want to sit at home all day. We each threw out a couple suggestions and then I said "Why don't we go to the theme park at Trans Studio". Bridget agreed and within 20 minutes we were buying our tickets. It was 15 Dollars each, which is really expensive for Indonesia but, super cheap for any other theme park. In our hurry to get there we didn't consider the opening time and quickly realized that we were 25 minutes early. No problem, exchange students never run out of things to talk about with someone from their country. We talked about everything and when the gates were open we got in line. Before the theme park let people in, all of the employees did this dance inviting everyone. Bridget and I were some of the first people there but because of the disorderly lines it took us a while to get in the park. People here do not believe in making a line and waiting, instead they push, shove and skip in line. I had to force our way through the crowd if we had any hope of getting in sometime today. The man in security barely looked in anyone's bags but ours. He took my water and sent us in. Unlike Disney, when all the rides open when the park opens, the rides at Trans studio open latter. So Bridget and I, being the nerds that we are, headed over to the science center. We were escorted to all of the little experiments and I had a lot of fun messing around with stuff.  I also learned something, who would have thought! I already knew that the derivative of a line is a parabola but I didn't know that if you physically have a pole at an angle and spin it around an axis it will make a perfect parabola. I love math, especially when it applies to real life. When we finished playing with all the fun toys almost all of the rides were open. The first thing we did was a driving ride where we got in a little go-cart and drove around the track. I let Bridget drive and I took pictures of us breaking Rotary rules (we are not allowed to drive any motorized vehicle). I am sure Rotary Indonesia (or Florida) will really care that we rode around a track with a car that can barely hit 7mph. I felt like a rebel but, I did wear my seat belt so I guess on the rebel scale I am a 2 out of 10.  Theme park is completely indoors and we explored the entire area. Some rides were for kids, some were closed and many made us dizzy just looking at them. We decided that we would go on the haunted house ride. We had high hopes while we were standing in line for something a little scary. Bridget was standing behind me in the line and the people behind her kept bumping into her and tapping her and trying to be as close as possible. It was annoying to watch and we stepped to the end of our little section so that we could have a little personal space (Something that most Indonesians do not believe in). When we finally got on the ride we were not sure what to expect. Our cart held 4 people and we were sitting in the back with two terrified women in front of us. At the beginning of the ride I screamed just to see how much it would scare them, I was not disappointed. I ride was terrible, it was almost less scary than Haunted Mansion in Disney World. My favorite part was a video clip of a "ghost". As I mentioned yesterday, when Indonesian people are buried they are wrapped in a white sheet that is secured over their head and under their feet. The resulting Indonesian ghost looks like a little bunny hopping around in its white sheet. For Indonesians it might be scary by for me it was hilarious. The ride was short, nothing jumped out at us, there were not sudden drops or stops and nothing was scary. I was surprised that when we got off the two women in front of us were almost in tears they were so scared... wow. We watched a 4D movie about superheroes who saved London, it defiantly was not high quality. I barely noticed the problems because I was so focused on the fact that the Avengers, Spider Man and the X-men do not work together. For our last ride we went on the fastest ride in Trans Studio. Bridget is not a huge fan of rollercoasters and she didn't exactly know what I was getting her into when we got on the ride. When we sat down, she looked at the track and said "Hey, wait is this a roller coaster?" I said yes and then she said "Wait does this go upside down?" I said "Yes, and then it goes backwards." She decided that she was going to try something new. We were sitting in the front row of the ride and it shot off. It did a loop and then straight up for a while then back down and did the track in reverse. It wasn't too scary and Bridget was glad that she hadn't chickened out.  It was 3pm so we left the theme park and went to lunch. We had an expensive lunch, it is nice to treat yourself once in a while (when I say expensive I mean it cost about 6 dollars each). We spent the next several hours in the Grocery store looking for western food and then we had Blizzards at Dairy Queen. It was a great day. We did exactly what exchange students should do, we just had fun and did whatever we wanted to do on the spur of the moment. I lead us home on an Angkot (the first time I have gotten on one without help.)

11/23/2012 Highlight

Today, was possibly the best day on my exchange yet. I talked, had fun and did whatever I wanted to do. I LOVE INDONESIA!

11/24/2012

Today, we had to go to a Rotary meeting. The Outbounds for 2013 were being tested and the Rotarians wanted the exchange students to talk to the parents about our countries. We were late, but when we got there, there was nothing to do. We wandered, I looked at the English test that all of the kids had to take (regardless of the country they go to they must know English because people all around the world know English, they do not know Indonesian). We introduced ourselves to the parents, which is always a little awkward you never know what they want to know about you. Afterward we sat down at our little tables and talked to the parents. Conversations now are very predictable. All the exchange students know what the person is going to say next because most of our conversations are the same. There are many cultural differences. People here ask questions that American would never ask. When Bridget would say that she does not eat meat and explain that she is a vegetarian people would ask her why, and how long she had been a veggie (their name not mine), and if they are sick and tired all the time because they don't eat meat. And every time without fail when Bridget would say that she lived in Cirebon people would say  "Cirebon is so hot!". It feels good to not be surprised anymore, I now know things that I had no idea about when I got here. We ate lunch- which was gross (nasty hotel food). We talked some more with the other exchange students and then Bridget and I went home with Leti. On the way Leti told me that she had moved to a private Christian school and that she liked it much better than her old school. She also told me about a game that she had played in one of her classes. The teacher drew two lines on the floor and said "If your answer to the question is Yes, stand on this line, if it is no, stand on this line." Simple rules, simple game. It started with the usual, easy question "Do you like this class" etc and then it moved into more fun questions. "Have you had a boyfriend/Girlfriend ?" Almost everyone said yes. "Have you dated one person for a year or more?", again the majority of the class said yes. "Have you kissed on the lips?", this time Leti was the only one who said yes. So funny! No one in the USA would date someone for a year and not kiss. Also if someone has sex before marriage they will be "exiled from the community" (Direct quote from one of Bridget's classmates). It is nice to be in a country with such innocence and I think that they would be really shocked if they went to High School in America. We went to see a movie which I didn't think was any good. It was very weird but, Bridget and Leti liked it so I guess I am just picky. We ate dinner and then went home. If you are keeping track I have spent way more money in the last week than I have since I arrived in Indonesia, sorry Dad. I almost never finish my monthly allowance from Rotary even though it is only about 45 USD. Kids in Europe get about 100 Euros a month and it is not enough money (haha sucks to be you!).

11/24/2012 Highlight

Spending time with friends is awesome no matter what we are doing. I love laughing about stereotypes for any country or place because we all know them and how wrong they are. For example not everyone in Brazil lives in Rio, and you can't just drink and have sex whenever you want. Everyone in America is not white. Not all people who live in Florida live in Miami. Not everyone has been to NYC on New Year's eve. Plus so many other stereotypes that get even more funny when people judge you every day with them. :)

11/25/2012

I slept in, which was very nice. When I woke up I took a shower ate breakfast, finished "A Christmas Carol" and then went back to bed. I woke up at about 11:30 at Leti's house. We watched a movie, ate breakfast and waited for Bridget to be picked up by travel. The travel came and we said goodbye. Leti and I then watched Rio and ate lunch. At 5:30 I got on a motorcycle with one of the workers at Leti's house and rode to my Angklung concert. It was a hundred times easier to ride a motorcycle in jeans and with a helmet. I arrived at 6:00 and none of my friends were there. After much confusion and many phone calls my friends finally showed up. They told me that the concert would end at 9 so I called my host family and found out that they could not pick me up, so I asked if someone else could drive me home. One of my friends quickly volunteered. We watched the concert, it started with an hour of traditional music and Korean songs and it was pretty boring because I did not know any of the songs. Then they finally started playing American songs. The Angklung players were very good. I could tell what almost all of the songs were and they sounded good. Most of the songs they did in this mix format where they would play one verse of the song and then transition into another song. The Angklung is a great instrument and I wish we played it in America. When the concert was over it was dark and raining and I didn't have a jacket. We waited a very long time in the rain for some more friends (which would have never happened in American, we would have just left). I got on the motorcycle, this time without a helmet and we made our way home. My friend's English was very good and we talked a lot throughout the ride. He asked about America and my family but my favorite question was one that I have not gotten before. "Is it true that your government in America gives money to people when they do not have a job?" Here poverty is much worse than almost anything we can imagine, people would love to have extra money but, the government does not help them. I explained that it is true that the American government gives out money and that it is a bad system because many people live off the money and choose not to get a job. Of course, there are good reasons to give people money too but, the system is abused by many people. I got home at 10:30 cold and sopping wet. I took a hot shower and went to sleep.

11/25/2012 Highlight

I love sleeping in, especially in a country that chooses to wake up before the crack of dawn just for fun.

11/26/2012

Monday morning, I went to school. We had another hour long morning ceremony, which are always so much fun. This meeting had a silver lining because, they announced that we would not have a meeting for the next several days. I went to Digital drawing and talked to my friends. Then I went to Manual Drawing, I had already finished all of the projects. I could have redone the assignments and made them better but I just didn't want to. The teacher gave us a test where we had to recreate one of the drawings that we had already done (very boring). When I finished my test I went home. Nothing too exciting today but, it was still fun.

11/26/2012 Highlight

There is a little store at my school for snacks and I go almost every day. When I went to check out the man told me the wrong price and I know he ripped me off. So in retaliation I paid entirely in coins. HA! I win. Oh and I saw a calendar that had November spelled "Nopevember" As in, nope I'm just not going to do anything this month.

11/27/2012

The maid came in at 6 o'clock and this was our conversation:

Maid: Blaa blaa blaa.. (Indonesian is hard to understand in the morning)

Me: Uhg

Maid: It is 6, are you going to school today?

Me: Uhg

Maid: It is 6, are you going to school today?

Me: I don't have school (defiantly not true)

My maid closed the door and left me alone. I woke up at 10 o'clock. I have always been a morning person but here, where people all wake up very early, I am an afternoon and night person. I didn't even know there were afternoon people in the world. So I didn't go to school and I wasted my day doing nothing because I was not motivated to get out of bed for school. Because of my new "night person" thing I couldn't fall asleep until 12:30 am.

11/27/2012 Highlight

I downloaded a flashcard program on my computer and it is awesome! That sounds really lame but it isn't. Now I can study vocabulary on my computer. If you Google "Flash card manager" you should be able to find it if you want it.

11/28/2012

I wasn't tired this morning, which was completely unexpected. I went to school. I had English class, and we got a test back. When I went to get my test everyone cheered and shouted because they knew that I got a hundred. I explained that I already knew English and it is easy for me. They told me that English is hard. One of the boys in the class who I have not talked to very much sat next to me today. He talked to me in Indonesian for a while. I understood almost everything and was able to answer. I love when my friends talk Indonesian to me. The teacher wrote another quiz on the board and I had it finished as soon as she stopped writing. Then the teacher left and I started typing. I really do have the skill to procrastinate everything. My friends spent 10 minutes watching me type. Even though I go to a computer school, none of my friends know how to type. My typing isn't even very good but, it is very good for Indonesia. After English I went to math and my friends told me that the teacher would not be coming today. I asked why and they said they didn't know. So, I said goodbye and went home early. I spent the rest of the day writing blogs, watching videos, writing my BYU essays and doing other things that I have put off doing.

11/28/2012 Highlight

I finished school at 10 o'clock. Need I say more?

THANKS FOR READING! SAYA CINTA KAMU!! ( I love you in Bahasa Indonesian)