Learning a Javanese Dance
Preparing Donuts for a Circumcision Party
The Junrejo Kids at our Local 'Starbucks'
Luke, Scott, Teguh, Oma Colleen, the shopkeeper and her daughter, Me, Andy
Truong in Front of Borobudur Temple
Bantengan Festival
Women Praying at the Largest Mosque in Jakarta
It’s only taken me 6 months (plus the help of an IT friend and the incentive of being partnered with an elementary school in
#1 March 22, 2010
It’s been nonstop since we arrived in
One week in
Yesterday we went to downtown
It was insane to see the poverty gap between the area we're staying in and walking the streets downtown. In
Here’s a link to the flicker account that my friend Truong (pronounced chung) set up. Not a lot of pics, and none of them mine, but at least you can catch a glimpse of some of what we’ve seen :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48510959@N07/
#2 march 29, 2010
Things have been pretty great since leaving
I live with a mother, father, and sister Eni, as well as their granddaughter Naili. In the attached house lives the great-grandma. The other grandkids stop by frequently. The youngest, Inas, is 3 and makes me miss my nieces, Ella and ivy, back home. They are very family oriented, so I think I was matched up with the perfect homestay. Naili and Eni both want to learn English, so we help each other when studying languages. Bahasa Indonesia is a pretty simple language as far as grammar goes: no past/present/future tenses; conjugation of verbs for different pronouns; or definite/indefinite articles. But I struggle with the pronunciation. Most of the people in my village speak Javanese, so it's been difficult to improve by listening.
Yesterday I went to an aerobics class with Eni, and it totally wore me out. But it was so cool to be in a place where the women could be more open. Although Junrejo is not overwhelmingly conservative, I definitely notice the difference in the role of women here versus in
Our teacher Teguh is great. He’s the only male 'guru', and speaks exceptional English. He teaches us a lot about the culture as well as bahasa. I’ve finally become comfortable with taking cold showers and using a squat toilet. Not sure that I’ll ever really get used to it, but it's getting easier. The food is ok, and my family is constantly telling me to eat more. I’ve tried a lot of foods I never thought I would: fish with the heads and tails still attached, lard, shrimp with shells and eyes looking at me, lots of tofu and tempeh. Even though I’m not starving, I still crave a nice hamburger occasionally. The drinks are warm here, even milk, because they boil everything to sterilize. The coffee is so sweet! Here, it's crazy to think anyone would drink black coffee. There’s still a lot of uncertainty about what will happen over the next three months, and even the next 2 years, because this is a brand new program, but for now I’m embracing this experience full-heartedly.
#3 April 17, 2010
It’s been nonstop. By the time our day is over, I’m completely exhausted. I’m usually in bed by 8:30, wake up around 3:30 or 4 to the call to prayer then go back to sleep until around 6 am. We have bahasa (language) class in the morning and then technical training in the afternoon. I don't feel like I’m gaining the knowledge I need to be a teacher in two months. We are partnered with a high school in
After we get back (usually around 6) I go home and spend time with my host family. Now that I speak a bit of the language, we're able to communicate a lot better. They love to laugh, so I have no problem making countless mistakes while speaking- it usually turns into the entertainment for the night! Things I’ve learned from my ibu (host mom): how to wash my clothes by hand; the social norms for women including not drinking directly from the bottle (rather using a straw); how to make fried rice and a variety of other fried foods; always inviting my friends in for tea, and always accepting when others invite me. I just found out that my nenek (grandma) only speaks Javanese, and even though we can't communicate with words, we constantly laugh together.
We went to a beach last weekend- Sendangbiru- which was a nice getaway and it was good to see the volunteers from other clusters. It's a little fishing village and not very touristy. We stayed overnight after spending the day on a private island. We saw dolphins while swimming- they were so close to us!! Everyone we've talked to said that it's not very common to see them there, so I’m taking it as a good omen for my future time here in
Other good news: I’m no longer sick!! For about 5 miserable days I could barely eat white rice, let alone fish with heads, but I’m back to my hungry self again and have learned what foods to avoid. Ibu has reduced the spice she puts in my food because I’m not quite accustomed yet. My family here is taking really good care of me and wants to learn about me as much as I want to learn about them. They're amazed that I could have a younger brother as tall as 6"4. Even I tower above most of the people here.
I wish I had brought my laptop. I debated until the last minute, but decided to leave it. We’ll be getting all of our teaching materials on a flash drive and wireless internet is fairly easy to find in
#4 April 29, 2010
So much has happened over the last week! I got my first letter- from the best and most amazing sister in the world! A package from mom with photos. And a phone call from mom and dad which totally made my week :)
We were invited to Batu to watch traditional dancing...some of the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen. It was more of a parade with representatives from each surrounding village. The men eat a flower (I think) that puts them in a trance, so it's as if they're possessed by the spirit of an animal they channel- bulls, tigers, and monkeys. It was a little scary. They dressed up as the animal and are totally unaware of reality. They had sober men restraining them with ropes, and a couple of "possessed" went into seizures. I can't really put it into words, but it was amazing and terrifying all at the same time. We were invited to sit with the mayor's wife up on a platform, where the announcers singled me out to interview- in bahasa Indonesia- in front of the crowd. I have stage fright when speaking in English, so I was absolutely mortified by the end of it all. Luckily it was broadcast on the nightly news...
On Thursday we were invited to the mayor's house again-to an event where everyone dressed in traditional clothes. The university we're partnered with arranged for us to get 'glamorized'. Hair-Makeup-Clothes. I looked like a completely different person. They teased and hair sprayed the front of our hair then attached a black bun to the back of our heads. I looked a bit ridiculous, so they spray painted my red hair to "match". Still ridiculous looking. It was fun getting ready together, and the guys looked great too- they even got to carry traditional Javanese knives. The only drawback was that we started getting ready at 9 in the morning, the event didn't start until 3 and we didn't get home until 9 that night. Then it took an extra hour (with an absurd amount of help from my host sister) to wash my hair and get all the makeup off. Ibu kept telling me that I looked like a Javanese bride and was convinced that this day was all I needed to find a Javanese husband. At the mayor's house we had an elaborate feast and watched wayang kulit (traditional Javanese shadow puppets). Unfortunately we had no clue what was going on because it was in the highest level of Javanese- not even our teacher could translate for us. Even with all of this great cultural exposure, some days I feel really overwhelmed by the language and not really fitting in culturally.
In different, non-cultural news, we learned how to prick our finger so we can test if we think we may have malaria. And we’re waiting for approval from the Indonesian government for the sites Peace Corps has chosen for us.
#5 May 7, 2010
Last weekend we took a cultural trip to
The following day we went to see how batik (the traditional patterned material of Java) is made. We practiced hand painting it then took a short tour of some of the amazing artwork done by local artists. There was also this really remarkable underground mosque which can be difficult to find, but totally worth the extra effort. The inner part is outdoors, but you can't see it from anywhere in the city. I’m not a huge fan of big cities, so I was ready to leave after a few days, especially after experiencing the craziness of the Malioboro market. It was a long trip home, but my host family was so excited to see me and it felt good to be in my own bed again.
We were supposed to find out our new site assignments this week, but the government still hasn't approved them. Now I’m in
Last week the five volunteers from junrejo went to my host niece's middle school. Yesterday she came home with a bunch of hand written letters from her class which asked for responses so they could practice their English. It’s the first time that I’ve felt like I’ve done anything Peace Corps worthy as far as integrating with the community and improving someone's English.
#6 May 15, 2010
Selamat siang!
I’ll start with the most exciting news: I bought a new netbook (mini laptop)!! Wifi is more accessible here than I was expecting. Definitely not the Peace Corps from 20 years ago, even 10. We’re still waiting to hear from the Indonesian government before we can do pre-visits/assessments at our new sites. We’re also waiting to hear whether President Obama will be at our swearing in ceremony on June 3- I can't believe it's less than a month away! It’s bittersweet thinking about leaving my current family and teacher, but I know this experience will continue to be equally amazing and unpredictable.
I also took part in the rice harvest at my bapak (host dad)'s rice fields. I beat the rice against the crate- that's the best way I know how to describe it. My family had a picnic breakfast there and watched other people harvest. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Lots of language class and getting our teaching portfolios together. Oh, I did try durian for the first time. It’s this really smelly fruit that is supposedly really delicious, but I was not impressed. It seemed like a lot of work for not a lot of fruit. It’s about the size of a pineapple and covered in spikes. You use a machete to open it and it's really messy. It's legendary here.
After returning from
#7 May 17, 2010
I just found out where my new site will be!!!! I’ll be living in Mojokerto (name of the region). It’s about an hour away from
Yesterday the 5 of us in Junrejo helped with a construction project. Andy’s bapak was demolishing part of his house to rebuild it a bit bigger for his grandson. Of course the girls didn’t help with any of the hard labor, rather with the cooking and dishes. I was happy to feel like part of the community, even if I didn’t get to do any of the dirty work.
Our medical officer asked me to give a presentation about rape and sexual assault because of my background with RAAP. I felt really good about the info I presented, but was shaken by the Indonesian side of the presentation. Apparently when a woman is raped she is dissuaded from reporting the crime and encouraged to marry the perpetrator because she is considered spoiled since she no longer has her virginity. She’s faced with the choice of being an outcast in society, or marrying the man responsible for (what I consider) a serious crime. Quite a cultural wakeup call.
#8 May 29, 2010
This month is a special, or lucky, month in the Javanese calendar, so there are countless weddings almost every night. I wish I could better describe a Javanese wedding. It’s an all day preparation the day before: all the women from the family and surrounding community come together to bake, cook and prepare food, both for the reception snack boxes the following night as well as meals for the families of the women who are helping since they can’t be home to cook. The men are outside together building the structures and decorating the area where all of the invitees will gather throughout the following day. These preparations last from about 6 in the morning until 11 or 12 at night and there is ridiculously loud music playing the entire time. So if the preparations happen to be taking place next door, getting a solid night’s sleep is pretty much out of the question. But I absolutely loved helping with the preparations!
One afternoon I thought I was helping prepare for a wedding, but it seemed different than the others I had seen. It was more elaborate: there was a huge stage and they were setting up a gamelan orchestra; there were little horse-and-buggies to take kids around; there were way more tables and food than usual. I kept trying to figure out who was getting married, but with my limited language skills, I couldn’t decipher what the women were trying to tell me. After an entire day of shredding coconut and wrapping snacks in banana leaves (and still not understanding who was getting married) I asked Eni to clarify. That’s when I realized that we weren’t preparing for a wedding. We were getting ready to celebrate the circumcision of the first grandson (who is traditionally the most favored grandchild) which is why this particular party was so extravagant. All of my prior conversations with various women started to make sense. The 11-year old boy who I kept getting introduced to was the star of the event. That’s right: it’s a right of passage to be circumcised after the age of 8/9 in Indonesian as well as Muslim culture. My family was perplexed as to why it usually happens as a baby in
The celebration was across the street and the speakers literally right outside my bedroom window- needless to say, I didn’t sleep. Earlier my neighbors beckoned me to watch the traditional dancers. I was definitely not prepared to be thrust on stage to dance with them. I was completely embarrassed, but my neighbors were wildly impressed that a “bule” was willing to try their traditional dance. Afterwards I raced off stage and back home to try to process what had just happened before having to return later that night. I went back later with Eni, prepared to avoid any similar situations. I should have known better. After thinking I was in the clear (I had made the rounds, taken my picture with almost everyone at the party, sat with the honored grandma in a privileged seat, and helped out a little in the kitchen) I decided to hide out in the background to watch the new set of dancers with Ibu before the wayang puppet show started. But, by word of mouth, the kepala desa (head of the village) tracked me down, and practically dragged me up on stage. Although I repeatedly politely declined and told him that I was too shy, Eni encouraged me by saying that he’s the most important person at the party and it’s a privilege to have this opportunity. So she took my picture as I was mortified in front of at least 70 men sitting at the tables set up in front of the stage. I put on a smile and made it through the whole dance. I could tell that everyone was impressed that I gave it another shot, even though I was utterly awful. I really feel like part of this community though, and since being involved with the preparations for these events, everyone says hello to me by name. The kids even call me Mbak. It will be really hard to leave everyone next week.
As one of our community projects we taught English to a women’s family group who was really excited to practice basic phrases with us. It was cute: their kids, who are studying English in school, were able to help the moms. They were so proud to share their knowledge. It’s amazing to see how much everyone wants to learn English, “the international language”, and how they look at it as the key to a better life for their children. I hope over the next 24 months I can continue to encourage people of all ages to learn English and teach about the reality of American ‘culture’ and life- it’s not always like it appears in movies…
In other news, it doesn’t look like Mr. Obama will be making it to our swearing-in ceremony, but it’ll still be a really special day for all of us. I’m currently reading a book called “Rainbow Troops” by Andrea Hirata about the struggles an underprivileged school faces on an island in
#9 June 10, 2010
For the first time since I’ve been in
Swearing In was surprisingly uneventful. Our farewell lunch was extremely emotional. when Ibu was being interviewed by a local news station, she started to tear up when she told them how I taught her the English words ‘spoon’, ‘take a bath’, and ‘scissors’. It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone in Junrejo/Malang. Even my neighbors were in the street crying their farewells. I felt like part of the community there: I knew the people and the traditions of small village life, I had a routine, I knew where/who to go to if I needed anything. I knew how much things should cost, and what form of public transportation to take in order to get where I was going.
I’m finally at my new site near Mojokerto. I was so excited to start the next chapter of my Peace Corps experience that I didn’t take into consideration how different my life here would be. I feel like I’m starting at ground zero again. New people. New routine. New food. New bathroom. I met the rest of the teachers at my madrasah the other day. There are over 900 students at the school for only three grades, 10-12. They’re all excited to have a native speaker, but there is this unspoken expectation that all of the kids will instantaneously become fluent just because I teach a few classes a week. I will be wearing the uniform(s) (khaki mon-tues, pink wed, and batik thurs-sat) so hopefully I’ll be seen more as one of the teachers by the students. But I will not be wearing a jilbab…as of right now. It’s significantly hotter here than in
Each day that I’m here it gets easier and easier- I think the first day is always the most difficult. Eni and Teguh drove up last night for a surprise visit. It’s nice to know that I have a support network not only in
#10 June 21, 2010 "And then there were 18"
I want to share a little bit more about my new living situation. I live with Bu H (mother), Pak S (father), Mas Pam (10-year old brother) and Yuwan (16- year old cousin). We practice English and Indonesian every night together. Bu H is a chemistry teacher at a vocational school and Pak S works in
This family and living situation are definitely different than in Junrejo, and at times I feel like I’m starting over again- that all of the culture and language progress I’ve made is completely useless here. Almost everyone speaks Javanese, so it can be frustrating when I’m trying to communicate in Indonesian and they respond in a “foreign” language. It’s been difficult to find a tutor, but I keep reminding myself that it’s only week one. Every night we eat on the floor and the TV is usually on, watching Indonesian Idol or an Indonesian soap opera. Sunday morning at 5 we go walking to the traditional market while it’s still cool out. I feel like I stand out more here than in Junrejo. This is a much larger town, so there are always new people pointing and gawking. News of where I live has spread, and there have been random people who just stop by to practice their English.
I live back off of a main street in the middle of rice paddies and corn fields. The local farmers have their goats, cows and oxen rest/graze in front of our house, literally 5 feet away from our front door. There’s a small path that goes in front of our house and every day there are women carrying bundles of sticks on top of their heads, barefoot and missing most of their teeth, who call out “mongo!” as a local Javanese greeting. It’s a 5 minute walk to school which is nice, and oftentimes there are one or two students who wait around to walk with me and practice their English. There are two mountains looking off of our front porch, which I still can’t remember the names for, but it’s like having a little taste of Colorado any time I’m missing home.
But I am struggling with my lack of independence. I “take a bath” 2-3 times a day because it’s so hot here. The mosquitoes are awful. People are constantly commenting on how I would be more beautiful if I were fatter or wore lipstick. They might start a national campaign soon to try to find me a husband, because it’s completely unheard of for a 25-year old, educated woman to still be unmarried.
Each of the 19 of us is in very different living and teaching situations, but all of us are struggling a little bit to readapt to a new life. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in missing the comforts of
This week is still testing at our school, so I’ve just been proctoring tests. The students exchange papers, talk, or use their cell phones and most of the teachers allow or even encourage it. I’m trying to figure out the best way to broach the topic and discourage cheating in my classes. I was finally granted permission to go to
Things are different, but ok here. I’m still trying to work out a routine, but I have a lot of support both from my new family in
#11 July 27, 2010
Even though I’ve been here for almost two months it doesn’t seem like much has happened…yet simultaneously I haven’t had any free time. Seems to happen quite frequently in
I’m still trying to settle into my new environment. New town. New host family. New school. New culture. New food. New to teaching. It’s not quite what I was expecting Peace Corps to be like. I’ll give a brief synopsis of how the school year has progressed so far, starting with the ambiguous start date. No one could give me a definite date of when my first day of teaching would be. Or what classes I would be teaching. Or who I would be teaching with…which makes planning a bit difficult. After getting back from
I was told that the first day of school would be on Monday the 12th, and even though I didn’t have a schedule yet I was excited to start teaching. On the 12th, I came to school to find new student orientation taking place and only about 20 of the teachers there. But I enjoyed the time. I was able to meet OSIS, the student council here, who are a bunch of really great kids and who were able to explain what was going on. I saw my first flag ceremony where they sang “Indonesia Raya” (the Indonesian national anthem) and repeated the Pancasila (the 5 principles of Indonesia: belief in only one God, a united Indonesia, internationalism, democracy, and social welfare) All of the students were very obedient, standing at attention the whole time, responding to orders directed at them, and not smiling. For 3 days the new students had to dress up in silly outfits and go through a variety of military drills, program orientation and bonding exercises. On Thursday we got our teaching schedules! I’m co teaching 9 different classes with 3 different teachers each once a week. English classes meet twice a week, which means that I only participate in lessons half the time, and don’t know where the class left off the previous period. Again, this makes planning kind of difficult. Conveniently, however, Indonesians usually aren’t too keen on planning. They think I’m uptight because I like to be prepared for what I will be teaching, and writing lesson plans is unnecessary work. They laugh at the time I spend preparing different activities, but the kids love them, so my humility is a small price to pay. I also found out that 2 of my co teachers would be at teacher training for the first week of class. Convenient timing…I taught the first week by myself. IT WAS AWESOME!! But not really what Peace Corps wants from us as far as sustainable teaching is concerned. But I spoke almost 100% in English, slowly, and the kids were able to understand most of it. And we worked together to figure out what they didn’t understand. The kids were motivated to listen, participate in the activities and practice speaking. They were stoked that they could understand an American. It was great! I wasn’t sure exactly how to teach to the curriculum, but I figured we would discuss that when they got back from training. I figured wrong. They were tired from their week in
Team teaching is a learning experience for all parties involved, so I’m embracing this first semester as a trial-and-error period. Finding out what methods work, and what the English teachers want from having a “native speaker” here. Although this first week-and-a-half hasn’t been the most ideal introduction to teaching, here are some of my successes: 1) I started an English Club! I made a rockin’ poster advertising the time and place, and there were enough kids who came so that we can meet twice a week. 2) the teachers feel more comfortable speaking English with me.3) the students feel more comfortable practicing their English with me!! I love it! From the first day when they were too nervous to say ‘good morning’ until now when they ask me all sorts of random questions just to practice talking has been amazing! 4) the 16-year old that I live with has become more comfortable talking to me too, and we’ve bonded over each of us being so far away from our families 5) I’m learning how to be a good teacher: setting classroom rules the first day of class doesn’t make me a mean teacher, it means the students know what’s expected of them and the learning environment is better for everyone. We can still have fun even with a set of rules!
It’s little successes like this that make me realize why I joined Peace Corps- to make a difference in at least one person’s life. When I think about the students, it makes the 2 years seem like a doable commitment. When I think about the lack of motivation from the teachers or the constant cultural reminders that I’m different and will never fit in, I want to give up and fly home tomorrow. Luckily the students are too amazing, so I think I’ll stay ;)
#12 August 16, 2010
Happy Indonesian Independence Day! (August 17, 1945)
I’ve stopped dwelling on the idea that this is not the Peace Corps experience I imagined when I applied. I don’t live in a grass hut, or have to slaughter my own chickens. I don’t live in isolation and have to travel miles by foot to school every day. I don’t live in a primitive community without modern conveniences like clean water and electricity. All of my students have access to books, even if they aren’t the most grammatically correct. But there’s something appealing about being a Peace Corps Volunteer in an area where I can find some comforts of home while still being exposed to a variety of new cultures. I still face my fair share of frustrations and challenges, just not in the form I had anticipated
As most of you know
The other day I was able to go to a friend’s mosque to observe prayer. The men and women are separated by a large screen and the women cover themselves in large white robes. I feel like I snuck in and was watching some secret ritual, but everyone was so welcoming and invited me to sit in the back and watch. I covered my head with a jilbab and wore long sleeves and long pants…so hot. But, the more conservatively you dress here, the more ‘beautiful’ you’re considered. It’s interesting to experience first hand what another culture considers beautiful. I felt somewhat uncomfortable in the attire, because I’m not Muslim, but again most were appreciative of my respectful efforts and willing to share about (not convert me to) Islam. Every day I experience something new. Fasting is not my favorite activity, but it does get easier day by day, and I am more aware of the distress that those less fortunate go through- obviously not on the same scale. So that’s my Indonesian carita (story) for now. I’ll leave with some final random thoughts:
Top 5 things that I’m not so thrilled about in
- Some teachers complaining that there’s not enough time to teach the entire curriculum, yet still showing up late to class, unprepared to teach then blaming it on the students.
- The two roosters that hang out under my window and crow for about 22 of the 24 hours of any given day…at ten-second intervals.
- When my 10 year old host brother is being naughty.
- Lack of support from a certain member of my host family.
- Missing out on the family trip to the
The top 5 things I love about
- I’ve made two new friends: Bu S who is a 26-year old (single) English teacher at a different school. She’s offered a friendly hand in becoming more integrated into the community and likes to go on bike rides; and Mas A, a friend from school who is willing to open-mindedly share about his culture and religion- he was the friend who invited me to go to the mosque a few days ago. He’s only 22 yet always has a smile and is willing to learn as well as teach. He’s one of few Indonesians who are taller than me, and I like to think of him as my Indonesian little brother. It’s nice to have somewhat of a social life again!
- I was able to change my teaching schedule. Now I’ll only teach 5 classes, each twice a week, which has made planning infinitely easier and teaching much more effective.
- Watching the sunset and listening to the call to prayer for Maghrib- the 4th of 5 daily Islamic prayers. It’s so peaceful and spiritual after a day of chaos and ambiguity.
- My students are awesome.
- I found a store that sells peanut butter.
- I’m going to
I think it’s always better that the positives should outnumber the negatives in any given situation, so I added number 6.
