2/26/2013
I woke up feeling terrible. It was just a cold
and in America I would have gone to school but in Indonesia the worst thing you
can have at school is a headache. People see weakness and the pounce. If you
don't respond fast enough they talk louder and faster and more people join in
until you really can't understand anything. So, I stayed home. Last night my
maid told me to ask for medicine and I told her that I would be fine in the
morning and that I didn't need medicine. Today, I got a look for my maid that
clearly said "I told you so." I broke down and asked for medicine and
then the day was spent sleeping and watching TV. I took two naps and didn't do
much of anything. At 6pm Kara came home because we were planning on going to a
play together. I was excited to go and spend time with my host sister and I
wasn't about to let a flu get in my way. I felt sick on the way there. I felt
sick during the play and I felt sick coming home. Unfortunately, when I am sick
Indonesian becomes even harder to understand and the actors all spoke in weird
voices. I didn't understand anything. The play was very weird and it was very
abstract. There was not much talking just a lot of very loud music (didn't help
my head ache). At one point there were a dozen people dressed up in hotel
uniforms with fish heads on. The fish head people ran around the stage for about
ten minutes with no explanation. It was bizarre and it was two hours long. When
it was over I was physically and emotionally drained. I went home with my host
sister and finally got to eat at 10. I went to bed felling even sicker.
2/26/2013
The drive home with my sister was funny. We
talked about how weird the play was and how even she didn't understand
everything. I love my new family!
2/27/2013
Stayed home again. Being sick is the worst and
I hate it. If I wasn't so tired I would be mad about being sick all of the
time. I was able to finish a project I have been working on for a while. So at
least I accomplished something!
2/28/2013
I decided to be a man today and go to school.
I wasn't getting any better at home so I might as well go to school. So I went
to the library and talked to some of my newer friends. We talked for a while
and then they wanted me to join their class. I packed up my stuff and together
we went to the school's mosque. My friends had to finish homework but, that did
not stop them from talking to me. We talked about Indonesia and America and how
they are different and the same and other random questions. My head still hurts
and my voice sounds nasty, so communication was more difficult than normal. Someone
would ask me a question from across the room and of course I could not hear so
I would ask them to say it again. Then they would say it again, at the same
time another person closer to me would say it louder, another person would say
it is partial English even louder and then I would have to guess what they were
asking or the situation would escalate further. It was very hot in the room and
I am sick so I was bright red. I was forced to explain to my friends that
"white people" spend a lot of time being red, if we are hot, cold, embarrassed,
or sick. Then they told me to take out my lenses. They thought that my eye
color was fake. I told them that I don't wear lenses and explained that
American have many different colors of eyes (brown, blue, green, hazel, etc.).
Much to their confusion people do not have red eyes and there are not vampires
everywhere. Thank you Twilight. I never thought I would have to try to convince
people that vampires do not exist. Then they told me my hair was fake and they
I had dyed it and the explanations started over again. At some point in the
conversation they wanted me to teach them English. This is what happened.
Me (Indonesian) : You want to learn English?
Friends : YES!
Me (English) : Ok. Do you want to go to
America?
Friends (English) :What?
Me (English) : Do you want to go to America?
Friends (Indonesian) : What?
Me (Indonesian) : Do you want to go to
America?
Friends (English?) : Yes, Want but no money-money.
Me (English) : Repeat after me... I want to go
to America but I do not have money.
Friends: *try to repeat
Friends (Indonesian): More
Me: I go to high school in America, You go to
Vocational school. What do you learn in Vocational school?
Friends (Indonesian) : What?
Me (Indonesian) :*Repeats the question again
Friends (English): Oh.. Java
*Several minutes followed where I tried to
teach my friends English
Friends (Indonesian) : You must speak slowly
so we can understand.
Me (Indonesian) : But, you do not speak slowly
for me. You speak very fast and not one at a time. How long have you been
learning English?
Friends (Indonesian) : Since Elementary school
(more than 6 years)
Me (Indonesian) : I have been learning
Indonesian for 6 months.
Friends (Indonesian): Oh... You are very smart
Me (Indonesian): You must learn English
faster.
I guess I am not a good teacher. I have little
patience teaching people who do not understand that it is as hard for me to
talk to them in Indonesian as it is for them to talk to me in English and I
have had much less formal teaching. I guess I am just a terrible person but at
least I try.
After school I went to the Post Office with my
driver. I was able to get my 'project" in the mail. I was super excited to
finally be done.
FUN FACT: In Indonesia you have to glue the
stamps on. They aren't stickers. The man asked gave me stamps and a bottle of
glue and I just looked at him in shock and he said "Well, go on." I
am such a spoiled American, why would I ever have to glue on my own stamps.
Anyway, after the stamps I sent off my
project. YEA for accomplishment! Then I went home and did not do anything.
Funnies:
While going through a Power point that has
pictures of me and my family in America my friends stopped me at a picture of
Mt Rushmore.
Friends: Where is that?
Me: Mt Rushmore
Friends: OH... National treasure
Me: No. There is no secret treasure.
Friends: Who are those people?
Me: Presidents of the USA. There is Theodore
Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln ... *picture was cut off and I
couldn't remember the last president so I paused to think for a minute
Friends: Obama!
Me: No, that is a white rock. (Honestly the
first thing that came out of my mouth)
Friends: *Disappointed that America has had
more Presidents than Obama and 3 random white guys.
------
While at church, I was sitting alone on a
bench and a man came up to me.
Man: "Hello, are you lonely?"
Me: "no"
Man: " Are you sick?"
Me: "no"
Man: "You look thinner."
Me: "Thank you?"
Why do I have the most random conversations.
---
People keep coming up to me and asking me if I
have lost weight. While this is very flattering, I have not. I have not gained
or lost any weight since I left America. Actually in the last few days I have
had a cold and I gained a Kilogram. Which leads us to another discovery. I do
not lose weight when I am sick. Life is not fair. Right after I came out of the
hospital in December people kept asking me how much weight I lost. None. I was
in the hospital for two days with dehydration, diarrhea and a fever and nothing
changed. People actually looked disappointed that my body refuses to change. At
least I am not gaining weight.
---
A while ago I added Seblak to my list of
favorite foods. You might remember me trying the food at my school and
discovering that one dish in particular was very good. Seblak is a type of soup
that has macaroni noodles, instant noodles, egg, some type of chips and chili
sauce in it. People think it is very funny that I like this food. Apparently it
is the "lowest of the low" and it is terrible for you. People laugh
at me when I say that I like it and my friends at school always want to buy it
with me because they think it is so funny. I am not sure why it is super funny
and latter I might find out that it has a lot of very gross ingredients but, I
don't care. It is good and I like it.
----
I randomly join other classes and I never
follow my schedule anymore - Not that my schedule every helped me that much.
----
While I was in English class a week ago a
random teacher came up to me with my English teacher. They told me about an
English test that I could take if I paid 15 dollars so that I would have an
official test saying that I know English. They told me about the top scores and
how I would get a certificate and they tried to make me want to take the test.
I told them no.
Teachers: Blaa blaa take an extra test in
Indonesia to prove you can speak English blaa
blaa
Me: No
Teachers: Why, not?
Me: I have already taken tests in America that
prove I know English.
Teachers: But.
Me: The SAT and the ACT and much harder than
this test
Teachers: Yes, this test is easier, you can
get the top score and get a certificate.
Me: But, I have to take a test and I don't
want to.
Teachers: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I am not paying to take a test.
Teachers: Oh
*I had to leave anyway, so I walked away
before they could keep talking to me about this ridiculous notion.
Only now did I realize that they probably wanted
me to get the top score so they could brag that the English program at their
school is really good. If this is the case, I would defiantly not take the
test. The English at this school is terrible. The teacher obviously never
learned English in a English speaking country and they constantly teach the
wrong things. I will not reward them for not doing their job and torturing me
for the last 6 months.
----
February is over. My exchange is winding down
to the end. I now have plane tickets and I will be home on the 20th of June. I
have very mix emotions and I don't know whether to be excited or sad. Exchange
isn't easy. Thanks for reading!
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