1/17/2013 and 1/18/2013
Honestly don't remember what I did... probably
nothing important.
I do remember packing and unpacking
1/19/2013
Moving to house # 3
I woke up in the morning and ate breakfast. I
finished packing. My stomach hurt a I was not feeling well. I had never met my
3rd host family and I was hours away from moving into their house and my nerves
were not helping my stomach. My awesome 2nd host mom set me up in my room with
two hot water bottles and some hot milk. My family was running late so I took Advil
and fell asleep. I woke up to the arrival of my 3rd host family. They were very
nice and we talked for a while before I put all of my stuff in their car and
said goodbye to my 2nd host family. By late afternoon I was completely unpacked
and settled into my new home. A little info about my new family: Mom and Dad
are both doctors at a hospital and they also run a clinic for children with
learning disabilities and a daycare. They have two daughters one is 21 and she
lives at home while going to college and the other is my age , 17, and she is
on exchange in New York (not NYC a small town outside of Albany). My family
served as missionaries ( medical - not preaching a religion) in Papua New
Guinea where they lived for 3 years. They moved to Papua when their oldest was
3 months old. My host dad loves the outdoors and especially loves hiking and
water sports. I was still feeling sick
but, I was trying to act like everything was ok. We went to dinner at Pepper
Lunch. It is this cool restaurant where they give you food and a hot plate and
you have to cook you own food. The food is always really good. To cook it you
have to stir everything up - For those of you who do not know my Dad teases me
because I eat one type of food at a time and refuse to mix my meals together
(All of the veggies first, then the pasta then the meat etc.) Well Dad, I am a
changed person. I now eat all of my food mixed up or at least Indonesian food.
No Mom, this change does not mean that I will eat meatloaf... meatloaf is
gross. I got home and went to bed, it was already really late.
1/19/2013 Highlight
I had the best 2nd host family ever. I am so
sad that I was not able to live there longer. I loved talking to my sister
Izzati. I will miss seeing my other sisters and Misha. My host Mom really
treated me like her daughter, making sure that I ate and that I pushed myself.
I know that I have become a better person after living with them for a month.
My Indonesian is much better and I am learning to love this country even more.
Thank you for everything that you have done and I hope that you know that I
will always remember what you have done for me.
1/20/2013
I went to church today. I always love being
able to go to church even if I cannot understand everything that they are
saying. When I got home from church and then I got really sick. Let us just
leave it at that. It was not pleasant and I don't want to revisit it. I ended
up staying in my room for the rest of the day.
1/20/2013 Highlight
Both my parents are doctors so I didn't have
to go to the hospital they just got me medicine. They also have very good
English. Even though I try to speak in Indonesian, I panic when I get sick and
all attempts to use Indonesian go out the window.
1/21/2013
Stayed home sick... skipping school is not as
nice when you can't really do anything
1/22/2013
Another sick day
1/23/2013
When back to school. It was the first time in
my 3rd house. I had to leave the house at 5:45 to get to school on time because
it is 40 minutes away. School getting farther away is not making me want to go
more but, I was a good girl and I went to school. Nothing to exciting.
1/24/2013
I had to take a shower this morning, at 4:30,
with freezing cold water. I went to school today. On Wednesdays I have an
English class that I have not been able to find since winter vacation.
Normally, I wait it out in the library. Today the library was closed so I found
a group of my friends and I followed them. We had class, there was actually a
teacher. I have no idea what I should have been doing but at least I was with a
class. I found out that my Math class was cancelled so I texted my driver to
pick me up ( about 10 am). The library was open so I went there to wait, the driver
did not come until 1pm. He wasn't expecting to take me home that early and he
had to get the car and the traffic was really bad. Traffic is the #1 thing that
I will not miss from Indonesia.
1/24/2013 Highlight
I was bored of waiting so I packed up my stuff
and went to wait at the front of the school. Some of my friends were playing
American football in the courtyard. I stopped to talk to them. They wanted me
to play but, I was in my uniform (long skirt that is impossible to run in) so I
just watched. The following is the translated version of a conversation I had
with my friends :
Me: Hello!
Friend : Hey Alaina, How are you?
Me: I'm good.
Friends: You look (obviously cannot think of
the word in English and they don't want to say it in Indonesian - Waved their
arms in a 'skinny' way)
Me: Skinny?
Friends: No not skinny... less fat
Me: I am sexy and I know it
Friends: No not sexy
Me: Well, thank you...
Friends: By the end of the year you will be
skinny and look like Taylor Swift and you will be able to go home and get a
boyfriend and live happily ever after.
Me: OK, sure
Friends: *Smiling at their super sincere
compliment*
Me: *a little confused
I love my friends, the best part is that they
don't understand that they would be considered rude in America. Maybe we need
more honest people in America. I feel super great when I receive super rude
comments from random strangers (or friends).
- · You have a terrible singing voice
- · You could never be a model, you are too big
- · You must be heartbroken because you don't have a boyfriend
- · Being called "Mr." all the time (translation error I hope)
- · Calling me really boring
- · etc.
1/25/2013
Today, went on an optional Rotary trip to
Pangandaran. All of the exchange students who were going met in Bandung at a
house that is really close to mine. We waited until everyone arrived (never on
time) and then we got on a bus. For those of you who don't remember, I have
already been to Pangandaran. I went with my first host family right after I
arrived in Indonesia for Lebrun (Muslim holiday celebrating the end of
Ramadan). It was a very long drive and I was really hoping that we were not
going to drive for this trip. We got onto the bus and drove to the train
station - Again still holding out hope that we will not be driving. We waited
at the train station for at least an hour because Meredith was arriving by
train and it had run late. I found out later that she had to take a 15 hour
train from the south of Java to Bandung and he Rotary club booked it so that
she did not have a night to rest in Bandung before she got on a bus for a 7
hour trip. We set off, finally. By the time we got out of Bandung we were all a
little depressed. We had already been in the bus for 2 hours and we were not
even close. I spent hours talking to everyone on the bus. Most of the time I
talked to Sam, Luke and Oguzhan. I miss talking to real boys. The boys at my
school are more interested in playing with my hair and Justin Beiber than I
think is normal. My stomach was really hurting because of my bladder infection
and I couldn't sit comfortably. So, I stood most of the trip. As you will
quickly learn, this trip became a collection of Near Death experiences (or Serious
injury). At some point on the trip we stopped at a gas station and some people
bought Pop Mie (Instant noodles in a cup). When the finished they didn't want
to drink all of broth and there was no way to prevent it from spilling so they
asked me to dump the broth out of the window. I was standing in front of a door
and I opened the little window above it to pour out the soup. I poured out one
girl's and then I went for the second girl's. I don't know why I did it,
possibly because I hadn't slept well and I had been standing for about 5 hours
but, I did it. I poured out the broth and then put my head out of the window to
wave to the car behind us. The lock on the door was broken and the door opened
with my head still inside the window. Luckily my feet didn't move and I was
able to swing the door shut. I sat down after that. After hours and hours of
driving on terrible Indonesian roads through the mountains we finally saw the
ocean. We checked into the hotel got changed and then rode on the back of some men's
motorcycles to a pier. We found out that we were going to be doing water sports.
They passed out lifejackets but I didn't take one. I didn't want one, I hate
lifejackets and there were no waves so I was pretty confident that I would be
OK. We took turns riding a banana boat a 5 person tube and a 3 person tube (all
towed behind a boat). After the first couple rides other people started taking
their lifejackets off to.. I started a trend. I went on the 5 person one and
sat in the back with Sam and Luke. We e decided that it was a good idea to hold
on to the handles and let our bodies drag behind the boat to see who could hold
on the longest. We all got into position and hung on. It was so much fun. I was
doing pretty good until we 'raised the stakes' by moving our stomach off the
tube. I was still holding on until we hit a bump and I jumped up and when I
fell down there was an air tube that jabbed me in my stomach. I was surprised and let do out of shock. The
boat went a little bit farther before Luke also let go and then the boat
stopped. Apparently Luke's shorts were falling down so he was forced to go one
handed until he fell off. I wasn't hurt at all and it was really fun. Then I
went on the 3 person. I got the seat with only one handle and I had to really
hold on. At the end of the ride I could barely move my fingers. We went back to
the hotel via motorcycle (no helmets, thanks Rotary), and jumped into the pool.
We talked for even longer. The Rotarians finally called us to dinner, we got
dressed and walked to the restaurant. Our guide had no idea where he was going.
We walked for a really long time for Indonesia. But, it didn't bother any of
the exchange students, most of us like walking. We got most of the way there
until we stopped and asked for directions. Then the Rotarians paid two random
men to take us by motorcycle the rest of the way because they didn't want to
walk. We ate dinner. I decided that I wanted to eat some fish and I choked on a
bone. It wasn't that big but it wouldn't go down and it wouldn't come up and I
was left gagging. There was only tea on the table so I had to call for water.
They took their time getting my water. When I finally did get the bone out I
couldn't eat any more. I waited for everyone to finish eating. The Rotarians didn't
want to walk back so we went by Bacak (Rickshaw). I rode with Meredith. Everyone
was so tired we just went to our rooms. I watched most of a movie that was on
TV and then went to bed.
1/25/2013 Highlight
I love talking to the other exchange students.
We are already such good friends.
1/26/2013
We ate breakfast at the hotel and then got on
the bus. We were told that we going to drive 20 minutes up the river and go
"body rafting" in Green Canyon. I have never heard of body rafting
before and I assumed that it meant we were floating down the river. This
exchange has given me 5 months of
anecdotal evidence that if you have expectations you will be wrong or
disappointed. We were on the bus for more than an hour and we got to a building
with supplies to go body rafting. We put on lifejackets, boots, shin guards and
helmets. I thought this was a tad bit excessive for floating down a river but I
went with it. We took smiling pictures in all our gear and then we got
'instruction'. They told us that we were going to ride in the backs of trucks
for about an hour before we would get to the location and then we prayed.
Praying is not unusual in Indonesia and we thought it was like praying at
school - tradition. What we didn't know was that they were being serious. We
got in the trucks in all of our gear. It was not comfortable and it was really
hot but it only took about 40 minutes. We had to walk down a steep area to get
to the river. The boots were not very good and it hurt to walk because the
bottoms were as thin as socks. I also don't enjoy hiking, I like walking on
flat surfaces. We got to the water and I was already tired. I was looking
forward to calmly floating down the river. I was one of the first people to
start down the river. One of the guides was in front of me and he kept telling
me to go to the left, under the trees and stuff. I have always been taught to
stay in the middle, snakes and dangerous animals live on the sides and the
trees are dangerous if you get stuck in them. I followed the guide but I was
not happy about it. We had been in the water for a grand total of 1 minute when
I was about to go under a branch and one of the guides behind me told me there
was a snake on the tree. I panicked it was not graceful and I am not proud of
it but I didn't understand why I was under the trees in the first place.
Shortly after the snake incident the guides told us to stop and I went to stand
by the edge. I went to stand up but there was water in my boots. When I stepped
on the rock the water in my boot moved and bubbled and it felt like I had just
tried to stand up on an Alligator. In
Florida, you never, never ever swim in rivers or lakes or marshes because there
are huge alligators that will eat you. I screamed. One of the guides had to
stop me farther down the river. We got out of the river and had to walk on the
very steep bank (we crossed the river so now we were on the opposite side from
where we started). I could barely walk I was shaking so bad. My legs and arms
and everything was shaking. I was so mad and I was still recovering from the
snake and the fake alligator. I shall only give you some of the highlights of
our 4 hour death march.
- · We stopped and crossed the river countless times
- · The green water that Green Canyon is famous for was brown because it had rained the day before
- · At some points the rapids were so bad the guides had ropes that we had to hang on to (remember that my arms and hands were already tired from the day before)
- · I let go of a rope and had to *pardon my language* haul ass to get to the guide.
- · We climbed around a class 5 rapid (might have been impassible)
- · If we fell into the water at some points we would have died and there would be nothing anyone could do but watch.
- · We jumped off a 3 meter rock into the raging river below
- · I got out of jumping off another 2 meter rock by going through the rapids.
- · We were forced to dive into the water from the side several time
- · We were constantly being beaten with rocks
- · The 'extra protection' just weighted us down, made it harder to swim and harder to climb
- · We had to climb up and down a cliff face (straight up a wall) with no ropes, only Indonesian guides.
- · We had to climb backwards down the cliff face and had to trust the guide to place our feet (I hugged my guide when I got down safely)
- · Climb slippery rocks while we were soaking wet with no grip on our shoes.
- · Several people came close to being lost
- · The guides learned several choice swear words in at least 5 different languages
- · We took smiling pictures and pretended nothing was wrong
- · The view was beautiful
- · I was in fear of my life the entire time- Not in a "If I fail this test my mom is going to kill me" in a " There is no chance of survival if I fall"
- · I would never ever in a thousand years do that again
- · No one died and no one was seriously injured. We all had cuts and bruises but we were alive.
I consider this a miracle. We got on the bus
and drove to lunch. Meredith and I did not leave the bus. We just rested and
tried to recover. After lunch we went to another beach where we watched the Sun
set. It was so beautiful. We took pictures and watched the sea. After the sun
set we went back to the hotel, I took a shower and got dressed in dry clothes.
We ate dinner really late on the beach. We had more fish and I talked to
everyone. After an hour of talking, I wasn't making any since and I went to
bed.
1/26/2013 Highlight
At no point did I sign or see a waiver. I am
defiantly not in America anymore.
1/27/2013
I woke up at 4:30 and went to see the sun rise
with a couple of other people. I have always wanted to watch the sunrise and
set in the same 24 hours. There were too many clouds but it was still very
peaceful. We just sat in silence, all taking in the sunrise and thinking. Aunt
Melly was with us and she spent the time on her phone ( Indonesians love their
phones more than anything and they spend a huge amount of time on them). After
we went back to the hotel and I was able to get another hour of sleep before
the day's activities started. Today, we got an a boat and toured around the
national park. We didn't land we just looked at the shore from the boat. We
also went to the beach in the national park to go snorkiling. I was really
tired and I didn't want to get sunburn go I didn't join and I sat in the shade
with Aunt Melly and Mas Indra (also a Rotarian). I talked to the adults and
helped watch our stuff. We had a tough job guarding out stuff from the monkeys.
We got back on the boat and headed back to our beach. We were leaving so I
packed up all my stuff. We had 2 hours of down time so I went shopping with
Meredith. We bought stuff from little stands on the street. We had to bargain
for our prices and Meredith didn't want to so I got to argue. It was so much
fun. I bought two pairs of Batik pants for 4 dollars each and Meredith bought a
dress and two pairs of pants for 4 dollars each. I might not have been very
good at arguing price but it was still fun and 4 dollars is really cheap in
America so I was happy with the price. We also bought key chains for 50 cents.
We returned to the hotel triumphant. Everyone was ready and we got on the bus
and headed off. We stopped at lunch and ate more fish and rice. Yum (not
really). I asked how far we were driving today. None of us really knew where we
were going and I wanted to know how long we were going to be on the bus. The
answer 7 hours. We were going to hot springs just outside of Bandung. Aunt
Melly was handing out pills that she said would make us sleep and I was not
about to stay away for another 7 hours so I took one. Luke was feeling sick and
I told him to take one of the pills too. Within five minutes both of us were
asleep and we slept for about 5 hours. The best part was that when we did wake
up because we hit a huge bump in the road we would be asleep again in seconds.
So good call Alaina, for taking some mystery pill, I don't know what it was and
I don't really care; it was magic. We were in the bus FOREVER. We were all
hungry so we stopped for Sate. there were 16 of us on the trip and we ate 140
sticks of sate. When exchange students get together... we go crazy. We ended up
on the bus for 10 hours before we got to the hotel. All of the girls were in
one house and the boys were in another. Girls are smart, when we realized that
we would have to sleep 3 to a Queen bed we started complaining. We complained
enough to get extra beds sent to our room. Everyone changed into bathing suits
and we went to a hot spring. It was so nice. We spent a while at the hot spring
before we went back to the houses. The boys then realized that they would have
to sleep 3 to a bed but it was too late to get extra beds (about 1 am).
1/27/2013 Highlight
The hot springs were like a natural hot tube
that smelled of sulfur. So much fun and defiantly worth staying up really late.
1/28/2013
We had breakfast at the hotel and it was delicious.
I love staying at international resorts because the breakfasts are really good.
They have lots of bread and eggs and fruit and Indonesian food... yum. After
breakfast we got in off-roading vehicles and headed off to the tea plantations.
I enjoyed riding around on the mountain. The tea is planted in spiral rows
which make it look like something out of a Doctor Seuss book. It is also nice
and cool on the mountain. After touring the plantation we went to a tea factory
to see how they make tea. Even though I don't drink tea I thought it was pretty
cool. After the tour we went back to the hotel and ate lunch. Chicken, rice and
tofu. I got a piece of chicken with barely any meat on it but the other food
was good. After lunch it started raining. Amazingly in Indonesia, everything
shuts down when it rains. We have a rainy season it rains almost every day for
about 5 months. Indonesians believe that if rain hits your head you will get
dizzy (also believe that you get a stomach ache when wind enters your stomach).
We sat in the restaurant for a while waiting for it to stop raining. While we
were waiting Rotarians made us put on traditional Sudanese clothing so that we
could take a picture. I do not like wearing the traditional clothes, they are
not comfortable or attractive and most of my wardrobe is at least one or the
other. Anyway, we took the picture and then got tired of waiting so we walked
to our house, which was really close by. When we got to the house we realized
that aunt Melly had locked the door and taken the key and she refused to walk
in the rain so we were stuck standing outside of the house until she got there.
Aunt Melly thought it was really funny that she didn't give us the key and we
had to wait outside. We were told that we could play paintball but then they
told us that because it was raining we couldn't play and we would have to wait
until the next day. Meanwhile we waited in our new larger houses (we were able
to move so that we had more room). I was watching a very poorly made movie on TV
when the Brazilian girls walked in the house with several cans of condensed
milk. I got really excited. There is only one thing I know that uses that much
condensed milk and it is Brazilian Brigadeiros. The Brazilian girls were super
surprised that I knew what they were going to make and they said we were going
to have a party later. We then headed to another hot spring at the resort and
talked. It was still raining and a couple Indonesian people had shower caps on
their heads to keep the rain off. We talk about the most fun things, we never
run out of things to talk about. After our swim we changed and went to dinner.
When we got to dinner they told us that we were going to sing Karaoke. I have
already sung too much Karaoke, I like doing it with friends but I don't like it
when I have to stand in front of tons of people and sing. Meredith, Luke, Oguzhan
and I did not want to sing (pretty sure no one else wanted to sing either). We
ate our food as fast as we could and then Luke volunteered to find Sam and Tommy
(Brazil) who had not shown up to dinner yet. He stood up to leave and Oguzhan
said "Everyone, this is what being thrown under a bus feels like".
Aunt Melly told Oguzhan that he should sing next and he said that he was
waiting to do a duet with Luke. Aunt Melly was going to ask Meredith and me
next so we quickly ran off to the bathroom. I caught up with Luke and we found
Sam and Tommy together. The boys were still playing chess and had lost track of
time. We then went to the boys room because we didn't want to sing. We talked,
they drank tea and we otherwise occupied ourselves. After a while we got a call
from Aunt Melly asking where we were. We said that we had just found the boy
and that Sam was still in the shower... not really. We sat and talked more
until I told everyone that Sam had now been "taking" a 20 minute
shower so we better get going. We walked to the restaurant to find everyone
else leaving (perfect timing no Karaoke) The boys were still hungry because
they had just skipped dinner so we bought some Pop Mie and went back to my room
for the Brigadeiro party. Normally, Brigadeiros are rolled into balls but we
just wanted to eat them. There was a whole bowl of Brigadeiros for the
Americans and the one Canadian. There were 6 of us and we had 1 real fork and
to plastic forks from the Pop Mie. When we finished the bowl (not long after
being given the bowl) we had all used the real spoon. Hygiene just isn't as
important as eating dessert.
1/28/2013 Highlight
While we were talking at the party I found out
that Oguzhan did not know how to braid (not even rope) so I took it upon myself
to teach him. We didn't have rope so he used a little bit of my hair. It was
really funny watching him and he was able to figure it out pretty fast. After
teaching him I asked Luke if he knew how to braid. Luke told me to sit down. I
want everyone to know that I did not ask him to braid my hair, I asked him if
he could. Luke gave a valiant effort but he couldn't do it. Luke, self
confessed playboy, also told me that trying to braid my hair was the
"weirdest thing [he] had ever done with a girl". Kind of fun to watch
boys struggle with something that every girl knows how to do.
1/29/2013
We were allowed to wake up late (8 am) and we
ate breakfast at the hotel again. Today was filled with fun activities. We
started off with paintball. Every person only had 20 bullets and we split into
two teams (teams somewhat resembled WWII). The game started with tons of
confusion, the rules were unclear and we all just did our best. I was still
hiding out after we had been playing for a while and the monitor said that my
team won. I stood up took off my mask and got several yards before the man said
that there was still one person left on their team. I ran back under cover and
started shooting at them. I got really close to their head but, I couldn't get
a clear shot. So, I waved to Leti (only person left alive with me and told her
to go around the side) I kept shooting and distracting him and she went around
and shot him in the side. I won paintball. I never hit anyone and I didn't get
hit but I out lasted the other team. I wish the game was more intense and I
defiantly want to play when I go back to America. After paintball we went to "Flying
Fox", the Indonesian term for Zip-lining. It was really short and it
didn't go nearly fast enough but it was OK. After Flying Fox we rented paddle
boats and paddled around a little lake. You would think that paddle boats are
pretty chill but, some of the boys jumped from boat to boat and tried to splash
people. Amazingly, no one fell in the water. Then we went rode ATVs. There were
too many of us so we went in two rounds. I was in the second round and Meredith
shared an ATV with me. I was ready to go and I made the mistake of pulling to
the front of the group. Within the first 5 minutes I had gone off the path
twice. My steering kept locking up and the guide kept stopping in front of me
at the bottom of hills. The steering was crazy, I might not be the best driver
but, I am not retarded. At one point I was stuck going up a hill and Luke, who
was behind me, had to get out and pick up the front of the ATV to get me back
on the road. The whole ride was stressful and not very fun. I wish the steering
was better. When I got back the boy who had used my ATV before me confirmed
with me that the steering was broken. We
went back to our rooms, packed up and got ready to go back to Bandung. Before
we left we took a drive to this campground for no reason. When we finally left
we realized that our big bus had been swapped for a little one. The ride home
was much more cramped but at least it was less than 2 hours. During the trip we
sang songs and Luke bought raspberries for everyone to eat. We finished out
trip at a Hotel in Bandung, where we all waited for our rides. I will miss all
of my new friends and I can't wait to see everyone again. I got home took a
shower and went to bed.
1/29/2013 Highlight
Exchange students are the most interesting
people in the world. We are all a little crazy and we all are very different.
And no judging, we are all going through the same stuff and appreciate a little
humor.
1/30/2013
Just before I left for Pangandaran my friends
told me the whole school was going to Jogja and that they would be leaving on
the 29th. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be home in time to go with them. This also
meant that no one would be at school for the next couple of days. So, I got to
sleep in and recover from my crazy vacation. I just watched movies and TV.
1/31/2013
No school again! I did have a Rotexs meeting
(Rotary for youth that have already been on exchange) so I talked to my host
family and got the driver to take me to a fashion outlet close to the meeting.
I shopped for several hours and bought dinner before I went to the meeting. In
the meeting, Leti gave a presentation about her exchange and we talked a little
about upcoming projects. I went home with Herly (Aunt Melly's son who went on
exchange to Florida a couple of years ago).
1/31/2013 Highlight
I bought a pair of coral jeggings (Jean
leggings) that are super cute and different. I don't own anything like it and
because I bought it at a factory outlet it was cheap.
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