2/1/2013
I still didn't have school today so I got together with
Leti. We met at the movie store, bought lots of movies. Then went to Indomart
and bought snacks. When we got back to my house we watched Hotel Transylvania.
I loved it, the movie was so cute and I really enjoyed watching it. After the
movie we made brownies, I had an instant Brownie mix sent to me from Mrs.
Crocker and I hadn't used it yet. The brownies we super good. We watched Pitch
Perfect and ate brownies and watched TV until Leti had to go home. It was fun
to spend the day baking and relaxing with another exchange student.
2/2/2013
Today, I woke up and ate breakfast. The other day my dad
told me that we were going Kayaking so, I put my bathing suit on and I got ready.
When I finished, I told my maid that I was ready. She looked at me and then
told me that we weren't swimming today we were hiking. So close - and yet so
far away. I changed and got ready for the activity we were actually doing, not
the one I made up in my head. My sister, my dad and I drove for about an hour
and then we went hiking. It was raining a little when we got there but we
decided to hike regardless. For those of you who do not know, I am from Florida
and Florida is flat. Completely flat. We don't have hills or mountains, when we
go over a bridge we always say that we just went over the highest point in
Florida. Anyway, we went hiking in mountains. I was dying. I think the whole
thing was under a mile and a half but it was torture. The first leg was down
stairs and the worst part was knowing that we would have to turn around and
climb up to finish. It was very pretty but, I felt like Gimli from the Lord of the Rings "Just keep breathing that's the key - breath."
At the bottom of the path were a bunch of hot springs cause by a collapsed
volcano. The water is so hot that you
can boil an egg in the water, which is exactly what we did. My family brought 3
eggs from home and we all tried our best. The hardest part was trying to weave
grass baskets for the eggs so that we could get them out of the water. While we
were waiting for the eggs to cook I met two foreigners, one from Australia and
one from Germany. We talked for a while, it is funny how being the only 3 white
people in 20 miles united us. When we thought our eggs we done we ate them.
They were extra salty from the water but they were good. I think mine was
cooked the best but, there was no skill involved just guessing. The walk up was
terrible. I am defiantly out of shape. My family kept stopping and resting but,
I would just stop long enough to catch my breath and then start off again. I
knew that if I sat down I would never ever get back up. When we finally got
back to the car, I felt like I had actually accomplished something... yaaa. We
stopped at a traditional Sudanese restaurant and we ate lots of food to
celebrate burning a couple of calories.
2/2/2013 Highlight
I loved spending time with my host family. Even though it
was hard, I really enjoyed the work out.
2/3/2013
When I woke up, I didn't think we were doing anything today.
As it turns out we were going Kayaking. So, I did NOT completely make up a
kayaking trip, I just got the day wrong. I have very little experience
Kayaking.
Once my Mom (in Florida, my real mom) decided that it would
be a really good idea to go on a kayaking tour of a National Park near our
house in Florida. I was in a two person kayak with Jesse, who had broken his
finger and could barely paddle and my kayak had a broken rudder so it was very
hard to steer. The guide kept pointing out Alligators and other Florida animals
and I kept getting more frustrated. After she pointed out what felt like the hundredth
Alligator, I snapped "We live in Florida there are Alligators everywhere!
Who cares!" She responded by telling me that we were in the "real
wild" and that we had to be careful. Because, I obviously was not
responsible enough she tied me to the back of her Kayak, putting me in
"time-out" for the first time since I was a toddler. The same lady
later dropped my Mom's camera in the water.
Anyway, I have not had a good experience with kayaks but I
was willing to try again. One of my Dad's friends came to our house with his
wife and their 14 month old son. We all had to wait for a while until my sister
came home from a friend's house and we
left around 10. It took 2 hours to get there. When we were almost there we
stopped at a dam. It was pretty cool and I even saw a big lizard. My family
claims that it is "exactly like an Alligator" but, this thing was
only about 3 feet long, which is a very tiny Alligator. We got to the lake at
about noon and unloaded the kayaks. It was really hot outside and I was
wondering why we weren't getting in the water. My dad said that we were waiting
for the sun. This only caused more questions, why would we wait for the sun? My
dad said that we were waiting for it to be cooler. Whatever. We finally did get
in the water. The wife of my dad's friend was complaining about the heat while
wearing a jacket because she didn't want her skin to be black and she was very
nervous about going out on the lake. This caused the baby (who was also wearing
way too much clothes) to cry and cry. The other family ended up sitting out and
not being able to get on the water because the baby wouldn't calm down. I could
not paddle straight. It was nearly impossible. We ate lunch on some rocks on
the other side of the lake. The tuna sandwiches were really good. On the way
back, I was already tired of trying to control the stupid boat. And I was
literally spinning in circles. This wouldn't be super embarrassing if it was
just in front of my family but all the locals were also watching me. When I go
to small towns many people have never seen a white person before and they all
look and stare and yell at me even more that what happens at school and in the
city. We were in a small fishing village and I know that even the youngest
could steer a little boat and they were probably laughing at the 'white girl
who can't do anything'. When we finally got back, I never wanted to try
kayaking again. The ride home was long and wet because I could not change my
clothes. I took a well deserved shower and relaxed for the rest of the day.
2/3/2013 Highlight
Eating lunch on a rock on the edge of a huge rice field in a
small town somewhere in Indonesia and thinking - never in a thousand years
would I think that I would be doing this.
2/4/2013
I had to finally give in and go back to school today, since
I hadn't been in quite a while. Luckily,
last night my Dad suggested that I text one of my friends to see what time
school started. Surprise.... Class didn't start until 1pm and it ended at 2:30.
I spent more time in the car trying to get to school (I now live 45 minutes
away from my school) than I actually spent in school. The driver had to wait
for me because it would be completely impractical to drive back and forth. When
I did get to school, I said hi to my friends and played on my computer. I never
thought an hour and a half class would feel short.. but I guess when that is
also the entire school day it isn't that bad. When class was over I had to run
to the car because it was raining really hard. My driver then drove me to Trans
Studio Mall so that I could shop a little while we tried to wait for the rain
to stop. The roads here are not very good and they are even worse in the rain
and it causes really bad traffic. I bought a really good dictionary, I have
been working out of a tiny one and I feel like I finally know enough words to
need a larger dictionary. I also want to read an Indonesian book before I leave
and I hope the bigger dictionary will help me more.
2/4/2013
It was a nice relaxing day :)
2/5/2013 - 2/7/2013
School again. Nothing too exciting, after the semester break
at the end of December all my classes seem to have changed and moved and I
never know where my classes are or what time I should go to school. It is now
habit to ask a friend what time I should come to school the next day.
2/8/2013
So, a couple days back my Dad asked me if I wanted to go to
a kayak camp for three days. I decide to do the 'good exchange student' thing
and say yes. Last night I went to a meeting for the camp and realized that the
other participants include 10 men and one other girl. They are all working or
seniors in College which means that they are at least 5 years older than me and
I would most likely never see them again. The meeting lasted forever. When the
speaker stared comparing every single type of kayak, I zoned out and wanted to
go home. So, I woke up this morning very
scarred of what I had committed to. The driver picked me up early in the
morning and we picked up the other lady, who needed a ride to the camp. It took
about two and a half hours to get there,
which wasn't a big deal because I slept the whole way. When we arrived at the
'camp' I discovered that we were in a tiny town outside of Bandung and that we
would be sleeping in a gutted out house that was really old and not very clean.
Because there were only two girls we got a mattress and a separate room - not
that the mattress was much better than the floor. People were already gathering
behind the councilors' house (which was much nicer than ours) so I changed and
went to meet everyone. Turn out we were learning how to roll a kayak and we
were practicing in the pool behind the house. Because we were learning how to
be serious kayakers we had to wear a rubber skirt (cover that keeps the water
out) a helmet and a life jacket. I start having a hard time breathing with just
a life jacket on so, wearing all of the equipment was not fun. Then I had help
adjusting a kayak so I could sit in it. After I was all comfortable (not) I got
in the pool with all of my gear. We had to learn to hip check the boat into an
upright position while being trapped in the boat underwater, as super fun as
that sounds. I am very comfortable underwater but it took me a couple times to
not panic underwater because I felt like I was trapped in the boat. After I
learned how to successfully wet exit (pull off the skirt and slip out of the
boat while underwater) I felt much more comfortable. We took an afternoon break
because it was Friday and the men needed to go to the Mosque. After lunch and
break time we got back in the water. I did much better than I had done in the
morning and I was able to hip check the boat up correctly without a paddle.
Then they added the darn paddle. I could not get it. The coaches kept telling
me random body parts that I wasn't moving correctly and couldn't figure it out.
The best part was that hip checking a carbon fiber kayak repeatedly eventually
leads to bruises. Everyone took turns practicing (1/2 in the pool at a time)
for about 2 hours. Rolling is not as easy as it sounds. I did feel better
because no one else was doing much better than I was but, I was really tired
when we called it a night. We relaxed and ate dinner, which was not very good.
All of the men smoked a lot and I isolated myself trying to stay away from the
smoke. Before we went to bed we had a meeting where we looked at pictures and
discussed what we were doing wrong. I don't know why everyone had so many
questions. Most of the instruction in the pool was given to me in Indonesian
and I still knew what to do (in theory) . I was in a snarky (fun word right)
mood and so I asked "Why do we need to learn how to roll?" Everyone
just stared at me, maybe they didn't know I could speak Indonesian that well
and apparently the question was absurd. I just wanted to learn how to row a
kayak straight but, they wanted me to be able to recover after capsizing while
on a river. The meeting was really long and it was late and I was tired so I
completely zoned out of the discussion and tried to look not miserable.
2/8/2013 Highlight
I had no expectations. None. Point one Alaina, you cannot
possibly disappoint me.
2/9/2013
I woke up in the middle of the night to my roommate really
close to me. Apparently she rolls in her sleep and she had me on the edge. Then
one of the boys in the next room started snoring (or sawing wood, not quite
sure which) and then the roster decided to be another annoying thing and last
of all my roommate's alarm went off at the loudest volume possible and she took
forever to wake up and turn it off. The
only thing I don't think I woke up for was the pray calls at least I was used
to that. When we finally did get out of bed, I was exhausted. We ate breakfast
which was ok but I wasn't hungry because of all the cigarette smoke. We got
back in the water again and I let the other person sharing my kayak to go
first. When his turn was done it was my turn. I was panicky all over again and
I was really hurting from the bruises that I got from the day before. My hip
kept falling out of position, meaning that I could not keep my body in the
frame of the kayak. I practiced for a little while until I realized that there
was a frog in the bottom of my kayak. The frog was my ticket out. I had to exit
the kayak to retrieve the frog and then I showed him to everyone. Indonesians
are not very fond of frogs and other little critters. After that I napped and
refused to get back in the water. I was tired and sore and I didn't really want
to learn how to roll a kayak so, I just relaxed. Sometime in the afternoon I
was sleeping in our room and my dad woke me up. I knew that he was planning on
joining the camp that day but, he caught me off-guard. I do not remember all of
the conversation we had but I am sure that I was not completely awake. I think
I told him (in slurred Indonesian) that I do not like kayaking at all and that
I wasn't having any fun, which is a little more honest than I would have been
if I was actually awake. When I did wake up, I found my dad in the practice
pool. He tried to find a kayak that I fit into but my body is just not meant to
squeeze into a kayak. After a while my dad gave up and went back to practicing.
Dinner was fine but not great and I left the night meeting after an hour and a
half of idle chatter.
2/9/2013 Highlight
I got into a 30 minute conversation with the head
instructor. I really like it when I can communicate with people especially in
Indonesian.
2/10/2013
I woke up, ate breakfast, changed and put on a thick layer
of sunscreen. Today we were going to an actual river. I helped my dad tie out
kayaks to the roof and together we rode to the river. We got to the location
and untied the boats. We had to walk a while because there were rapids that
were defiantly passable but none of us had experience. So I helped Kaca (the
other girl) carry a kayak. It was really hard because we were walking on a dirt
mount that marked the edge of a rice field and it was only about 7 inches wide.
I was at the back and because I couldn't see where we were going, I fell off
several times (just fell about a foot into mud - not a big deal). We had to get
around trees and other obstacles. When we got to the water everyone took turns.
We had to go through a tiny rapid and then we were in mostly flat water. I was
one of the last people to go because I could only use one of the boats. I got
threw the current with no problem and practiced for a while. My dad wanted me
to learn how to eddy which is when you paddle upstream using eddies as resting
points. I tried several times unsuccessfully but, I was determined. I was
aiming for the nearest eddy and I got over eager with my paddling and I hit a
current so I capsized. I did not even try to roll the boat back up, I just wet
exited. My helmet fell off, I lost my paddle and I did not grab my boat. The
guides had a lot of things to retrieve, at least I was able to swim back by
myself. I let the other person who was sharing my boat have a turn and I
waited. While I was waiting I saw a foot long worm crawling around. Naturally,
I leaned down and picked it up. The Indonesian were disgusted, and asked me why
I was playing with it. It was a cute worm and worms don't bite or sting or do
anything dangerous except eat and poop dirt. After a while I put the worm on
Kaca's arm to see what she would do, she screamed and panicked and the worm
ended up into the water. When it was my turn again I was having much more fun.
I eddied with my dad almost to our starting point up the river but the last big
current flipped me and I had to wet exit. This time my helmet stayed on (which
was good because I was very close to big boulders) and I caught my paddle and
my boat. We got back to the beach downstream we were using as a base and I got
back in the boat. I got all the way up the river much faster this time but I
flipped again at the same point and had to swim back to the start. After that
we walked upstream a little, we had a pep talk that I ignored and then some
people walked further upstream to go down bigger rapids (still small). I was
tired and I was considering sitting it out but my dad made me go on the grounds
that I would need to send a picture home to America. I trudged upstream,
dragging my boat behind me. When it was my turn to go down the rapids I had to
listen to my Indonesian instructions. I wasn't sure that I was catching
everything so I just asked "Is this easy or hard?" the guide said it
was easy so I let go of the rock and paddled out into the rapid. I made it
successfully downstream and I am sure the picture was very funny (not that I
will ever get it because it was on so random person's camera). Our time was up
and we all had to go home so we had to cross the river. I got a ride on one of
the guide's rafts and smiled and waved to everyone who had to paddle across the
current. It took a while to get everyone on the right side of the river and get
all of the kayaks out of the water. I ended up having to carry a kayak by
myself. I followed the instructions I was given and carried it on my head using
the back brace of the kayak. I made it the whole way alone and I had to pose
for a picture at the end with the kayak still on my head. We ate lunch and said
goodbye and then we drove home. There was no traffic until we got into Bandung
so, we got home faster than we thought we would. We dropped Kaca off and then
went home. I helped unload the kayaks and then I took a hot shower. My legs
were already black and blue from the kayaks and my muscles were sore but I felt
like I learned how to do something.
2/10/2013 Highlight
For the first time, I enjoyed kayaking. Maybe kayaking is an
acquired taste that you have to work for. In the beginning of the day, while I
was trying and failing to get to the first eddy my dad told me that there were
two things I had to learn: using eddies to go upstream and eddy turning. I congratulated myself on correctly eddy
turning several times (My boat kept turning before I got the eddy). My dad said
that I should be doing it on purpose and I said that I was just one step ahead.
I had fun with my dad and the camp, even though the first two days were not
fun.
2/11/2013
I had to go to school today. I got to school around 9 and I
planned on staying until noon. I knew I didn't have class so I headed straight
to the library. Before I got there I was stopped by a bunch of friends. We
talked for over an hour before they had to go to class. After school I went
home and relaxed. Aunt Melly picked me up at 3 so that we could pick up Leti
and then go to the Rotary meeting. Leti isn't in my club but she was asked to
give a presentation and then my Rotary cancelled on her but, she still wanted
to come. The meeting started at 5 and we had two hours dedicated to traffic
because Leti lives on the other side of the city. We did not pick up Leti until
5 and we got to the meeting at 5:30. The meeting should have been an hour long
but it didn't finish until 6:30. I told Aunt Melly earlier that I was trying to
buy something so after the meeting we went to a store and I was able to find
what I needed. I was also able to order a gift that I had been trying to find
for a while. I can't tell you what I bought because I want it to be a surprise
for the people back home. Leti was feeling sick so I had to cut my shopping
spree short and we took her home. After we took her home we went to dinner with
my Rotary club because it was the president's birthday and she wanted to treat
us all to dinner. I was so hungry and eat everything on my plate very fast. I
also talked to the Said family (my 4th host family). Their son wanted to go on
exchange next year and he just found out that Rotary wanted him to go to Poland,
which was not on his top six. He declined and decided that he didn't want to
go. I talked a lot, to everyone. After dinner, Aunt Melly took me home. I then
gave my presentation to my host family. They seemed to like it and had many
questions for me. I love my new host family!
2/11/2013 Highlight
Holding a conversation for 30 minutes is like having your
brain run a mile. I talked for about 9 hours today. So my brain ran about 18
miles. I have been training for 6 months now and this is the longest I have
ever spent talking to people. My Indonesian is finally good. I am not
completely fluent, but I am doing really well. YA! Progress! It was a highly
successful day.
2/12/2013
Today, I skipped school and played hooky with Aunt Melly.
She picked me up at 11 and we went to her Mom's work. I met Aunt Melly's mom
for the first time today. We had to take her to the bank and then she joined us
for lunch. She is really funny and reminds me of my GG (Great Grandma), she
gets what she want. Aunt Melly and her Mom made me eat so much for lunch. I had
an ear infection from the kayaking camp and I was in pain for most of the
afternoon. We had a lot of fun but we were all tired from staying out the night
before so after lunch, Aunt Melly took me home. I caught up on a lot of things
and relaxed at home. I ate dinner with my mom and we talked a lot. Later, I
remember writing my blog on my computer and I stopped for one minute. I woke up
to the prayer calls. I thought "Oh, good it is 7 and it is time for
dinner.... no, I already ate... I fell asleep at 10 and the next prayer call
isn't until.. 4:30... nice it is 4:30" So good morning, I guess.
2/12/2013 Highlight
I liked getting to know Aunt Melly's Mom and hanging out
with Aunt Melly.
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