March 1-5, 2013

MARCH JOURNAL

3/1/2013

No school today. First of all, I need to explain that I had dinner plans for tonight near my school. The problem with this is that my school is on the exact opposite side of the city and it can take an hour to get there. So, I didn't want to go to school and then come home and then have to go to dinner and I defiantly did not want to stay at school that long, especially because I don't know when it closes. I decided to solve this problem by not going to school and instead calling Aunt Melly and hanging out with her for the day. I called Aunt Melly and after some very confusing text messages (I was still asleep and Indonesian text in slang and it sometimes impossible for me to understand - they really like cutting all of the vowels out of words), I  found out that Melly was out of town doing something and Ibu Rina could drive me around. I didn't have anything to do until dinner so I said I would go with Ibu Rina. She picked me up at about 11 and we hit the road. She said that she wanted to eat before she took me to the store I wanted to go to. I said that was fine, I had no idea what was going on. We drove an hour outside of Bandung to go to this random place to test food that wasn't any good because she was planning a party. I was still feeling sick from the flu and I was getting really dizzy. On the way back into the city, I was starting to panic. It was Friday for those of you who don't know, Friday is the Muslim holy day and men need to do to the Mosque for the midday prayers. And people from out of Bandung are coming into the city for the weekend. Basically, Friday is the worst traffic nightmare ever and we were stuck an hour outside of Bandung and I had a dinner appointment. We stopped for lunch. I like sate and the meal was good but, I hate it when people tell me I need to eat more. Even though most of the time Indonesian people are the nicest people ever, sometimes they can be so annoying. They complain that I am fat and then they tell me I need to eat more, when I say that I am full and I don't want any more they try to force more on my plate and I have to tell them "NO" about a hundred times before they finally give up. Even when they do give up they look at me with this super disappointed look like - I just failed a major test and was pronounced clinically stupid. I really do not enjoy explaining to people why my eating habits are different and why I do not want to eat more. When lunch was finally over, it started raining, which only adds to traffic. I tried to sleep in the backseat of the car just to calm down a little bit. We had to stop at an Indomart because I had to go to the bathroom and I was offered more snacks. When we finally go into town and to the store I wanted to go to I was exhausted. I had order something at the store a couple of weeks back and I was going to pick it up and pay for it. It was nothing like I expected. It was terrible and I refused to buy it, much to the confusion of the shop owner and Ibu Rina. Afterwards Ibu Rina took me to other stores but we could not find what I was looking for. We got to Trans Studio at 5, exactly 1 hour before my dinner. I told Ibu Rina that she could drop me at the gate and I was surprised again. She told me that she couldn't leave me alone and that she was going to take me home at the end of the night too. I told her that I was planning on taking a taxi and that it was going to be fine. There was no convincing her. We wandered around the mall for a while and settled at JCO, a coffee shop. I got hot chocolate and we waited for the person I was meeting. I was meeting someone that I had been emailing for about a week. The church sent me her information because she was going to be living in Bandung for the next 2 months and she needed some help. I really didn't know anything about her but I don't get worried meeting strangers anymore. Her name is Amy. When she got to the coffee shop I introduced her to Ibu Rina and Ibu Rina's friend (that has been here the whole time and I forgot to mention). I finally convinced Rina that I would be fine and that I could get home alone. Amy and I ate dinner together. She is very nice and we talked about a lot of the challenges of being a white person in Indonesia. After dinner I showed her the grocery store under the mall and introduced her to Mangis, a local fruit that is my absolute favorite. We talked about tons of things and then we split a taxi home. After she got dropped off I successfully got home alone. I knew I could. The funniest part is that I came home at 9 and I was the first one in my family home, I had completely forgotten to tell my host family that I was coming home late (I did tell my maid so, it wasn't too big of a deal) and I was worried that they would be waiting for me. Nope. I came home to an empty house. I went upstairs and did some work before going to bed very late at night because I couldn't sleep.

3/2/2013

I woke up at 7:30 in a panic because my family and I were going to Jakarta today and they said we would be leaving at 6:30 - 7:00am. I got dressed and packed in about 5 minutes and then I ran downstairs and ate a supper fast breakfast. When I finished my mad scramble I realized that my family was even farther behind than I was and that no one was ready yet, except for me. It was 9am before we left. I slept the whole way there. People say that Jakarta is two hours away from Bandung, this is a lie. It has never taken me less than 2.5 hours and that was with a travel service and the driver was crazy. Most times it takes 3 hours and this trip was no different. We got to Jakarta and we went to my Mom's dad and older sister's house. We talked with them for a while and my Mom gave them presents from her recent trip to Mecca. Many Muslims believe that if you drink water from Mecca you will be healed. My Mom brought a 1.5 liter water bottle full of water and gave it to her family. I have no idea how she got that on the plane. There is no way that it would have made it into the USA but, Indonesia has almost no security. We stayed for an hour and a half and then we were back on the road again in the height of traffic. I love traffic, it is so much fun especially when you feel sick. I dozed through most of it. I was painfully hungry by thy time we made it to the mall. Kara wanted to go to this "cook it yourself" place and I did not argue. It was buffet style and you had your own stove to cook all of your food. I got a salad and then grabbed meat. The stove wasn't working very well but, I was hungry. I felt sick after the meal. I grabbed a lot of free mints from the cash register and those made me feel a little better. We drove to the apartment that my host parents own in Jakarta and picked up my Dad, who had been working. Then we drove to an old port and looked at traditional boats and things. After that we went to dinner at a super fancy place near a famous building from colonial times. Jakarta is full of white people, it is just very weird. ( I  am going to be very awkward when I get home, I won't know how to talk to white people in large groups). Now I felt really sick. I just ate a salad for dinner because I wasn't that hungry. After dinner we went home and I was feeling even worse. The apartment was really nice. It was small, one bedroom and one bathroom with a little kitchen/living room. Kara and I got the bedroom because my parents have a habit of going to bed late and watching TV. So my Mom slept on the couch and my Dad slept on a mattress on the floor. I took a shower and then tried to go to sleep. The whole night was terrible. I would tell you what happened but, I think actually people read this and I will have to face you eventually. So, I will just tell you the super sad thing that happened. At midnight-ish I woke up and barely made it to the toilet before I threw up. As soon as I got to the toilet everything came up. I have made it six and a half months being sick all of the time and I haven't thrown up yet. Tonight, my record was broken. The apartment is small and my rather spectacular display woke up my Mom. She got me medicine and told me to drink more water. When I did get back to sleep I felt much better. I think it was still raw chicken for lunch or just bad meat or a bad salad or a combo of everything that gave me nasty food poisoning.

2/3/2013

My family let me sleep in until 9, they are the best. After I woke up my host dad and my sister went swimming in the pool. I decided that I didn't want to go and I just wanted to relax a little. I watched TV with my Mom. I did go look at the pool, it was awesome. It was on the roof and was clean. At about noon we went out to lunch. I got lamb that was a little spicy. It was delicious but, I couldn't finish it because my stomach was hurting again. We went to the national museum and it was very interesting. I went with Rotary but we just ran through and took pictures so, I couldn't really look at anything. I loved looking at the textiles and the masks. I don't know why I am in love with Indonesian masks but, I am. I was feeling my better and I enjoyed walking around the museum. It only cost 40 cents to park and 50 cents per adult to get in and there was barely anyone inside. If museums were that cheap in America they would be flooded with people. Talking with my host families is easily one of my favorite things, it helps my Indonesian and I learn so many fun things. Today, I learned that people in Papua still practice cannibalism and that the last "recorded" Missionary eaten was in 1968. (After further research I learned that many there was a reported killing of a Priest and 12 followers in 1976 and as isolated as Papua is there might have been more recent accounts). I also told my family that I wanted to learn how to do a traditional dance before I went home and maybe I could supplement dance lessons for school since, I don't do anything at school anyway. After the museum we went to a mall and then walked across the street to another mall. My mom loves to shop. I hung out with my Dad since neither of us wanted to shop. While we were waiting we ate at "MR. PUFF'S" you buy a puff and then they fill it with your choice of pudding filling. Yum! I could easily eat those all day long, and get very fat in the process. We got Chinese take-away food for dinner and then walked back to the first mall. We ended up walking around forever. I don't like shopping, I really don't so I just tagged along. When we finally escaped the mall we went back to the apartment. We were planning on going home that night but, we decided to sleep in Jakarta for another night and leave first thing in the morning. We got home and ate. I had Mie Ayam with Baso (noodles with chicken - Asian style and a soup with meatballs in it). The food was good and I wasn't feeling sick at all. I took a shower watched a little TV and then headed to bed early.

3/4/2013

 I woke up at 4:30am to the sound of roosters. Surely, Jakarta has to be one of the only major cities in the world with 10 Million people where you can still wake up to roosters. I don't like them and if I had a gun I would shoot the little devils for waking me up and even without a gun I am contemplating ringing their necks just to shut them up. Why can't we train chickens like we can train dogs, crow at 4:30 am and I will kill you, too bad chickens are too stupid to understand threats. We left by 5 and we dropped my Dad off at the train station so that he could go work in Bogor for a while. I couldn't go back to sleep until we were already half way to Bandung. I slept more when we arrived. I didn't go to school and the day was fairly boring. I don't really have anything to do.

3/5/2013

Went to school today and only half of the regular motorcycles were in the parking lot. There was no one in the halls and everyone was being very quite. I think they must be taking that English test that I was told that I needed to take. I have been sitting in the library typing and the school has been very quite. It is weird. I still don't have anything to do.  Before I left school I talked to some of my friends because it was Yoga's birthday. I wished him a happy birthday. One of my other friends pinched my arm really had and told me I was fat - I have awesome friends. After school I went home and I don't think I am doing anything else for the rest of the day. Whatever.