Moving in to Jambi

The differences started rolling in as my plane arrived in Jambi two nights ago. Through the dark, I could only see a couple dispersed lights until we were practically at the airport- it really feels like Sumatra is all forest and villages. The Jambi airport had one baggage claim and half of the flight seemed to be made up of a large pious Muslim group with matching suitcases. My new boss met me at the airport and led Carolyn and I through the crowd of wide-eyed Indonesians surprised at seeing the rare foreigners in this part of the country.

That night I moved in with one of my co-workers, Sumi. Both of her parents live with her and her brother and sister each live in nearby parts of the village. It really is a village too; I am officially living on a dirt road. Upon arrival my bedroom consisted of a mattress on the floor, a fan, and a desk with a plastic stool- thank god for the fan.

It is now my second day at the PKBI office and while everyone is extremely friendly they also give me a lot of space. That leaves me not really knowing what I should do or start working on but since it is Ramadan there are no programs going on and the work schedule has slackened (from the already relaxed work ethic). Nonetheless, these first few days Carolyn and I are getting an “orientation” to the city that has so far included a trip to the tourist office, major shopping center, and today a trip to check in with the local police and immigration offices. The bureaucracy began last night though when Sumi took me to check me in with the village head. That could get me on a tangent describing the seven or so levels of government that stifles and controls Indonesia but I will save that for later. For now it is time to just awkwardly pretend like I am doing something worthwile.

Indonesia during Ramadan

The daily visibility of Islam has increased dramatically with the start of Ramadan. The television is constantly showing advertisements with motifs that attempt to encourage piety, such as women in jilbabs, banners have sprouted up along the streets of Yogya promoting a variety of Muslim events, the Quranic classes held near my homestay are audible even at night now, there are daily berbeka puasa (breaking fast) get togethers with friends, and even the call to prayer seems to be playing a little more frequently. This is all despite the fact that I am living with a devoutly Catholic woman. Most of my language teachers, however, are fasting and I can see their fatigue by our afternoon classes and am careful not to snack in front of them. I am enjoying how Ramadan already seems to be bringing out a general good will in the community, drawing people together over their shared faith and the challenging but extremely meaningful act of fasting.

Preparing for NGO work

I just found this really interesting article that illustrates one of the troubling issues facing women's health in Indonesia that I will be working on this year: http://sexgenderbody.com/content/indonesia-safe-abortion-could-put-brake-womens-mortality-rates. The statistics describe a disturbing reality for Indonesian women and really lay out the work that NGOs such as PKBI have ahead of them.

Now that my regular language classes have finished here we are moving on to learning language skills that will be useful to my work in the ngo, such as grant and report writing and translation. It is definitely challenging to try reading articles on Indonesian social issues but much more useful to the work I will be doing. This last week we unearthed the actually challenging part of Bahasa Indonesian: prefixes and suffixes. A simple noun can be changed many times by changing the affix so that you can create whole sentences out of one root word: pekebun itu berkebun di kebun. The basics of it aren't too difficult but this is where the nuances of sophisticated speech seem to come in...

Yogyakarta and excursions

Making Batik in Solo

With our language training wrapping up, I decided to make a weekend trip to nearby Solo city, just an hour train ride from Yogya and considered the second "cultural capital" of Java. Since the city is famous for its batik fabric (a claim every other city likes to make, but this one actually is), I thought it would be a good time to learn how to make it myself. The morning after our arrival, our homestay in the city led us to a batik shop that offered batik making courses in addition to tours of its own batik making process. I quickly developed a new appreciation for this traditional craft as it took 4 hours and frequently cramped hands to complete just a 15" x 15" square print! The series of steps begins with first using a pencil to trace the pattern onto the plain fabric and then going over the design with a tool that traces hot wax onto the fabric. After completing the intricate design of your choice you then apply paint in the colors and places where you want them to show up. After that is all done the little piece of fabric was dipped in some mystery liquid, then a boiling hot cauldron of water and finally cold water before being hung in the sun to dry. Because of the colors options, mine looks a little tropical but still interesting despite the mistakes where the color bled or wax got spilled accidently. I was happy to leave the shop when we were finished and was amazed by the women who evidently worked there all day applying waz designs on reams of fabric.

After trying our hand at making batik we headed over to Pasar Klewer, described by Lonely Planet as the largest batik market in Indonesia. It was a bit overwhelming but after a bit of bargaining I left with a cute three dollar batik shirt. Our wanderings of the city also led us to the most sacred mosque that had a sign clearly stating non-Muslims were not allowed to enter. After spending a month admiring the beautiful and intricately decorated Buddhist temples in Thailand, the mosques in Indonesia appear extremely sparse and just provide room for prayer without adornments. Saturday being the first day of Ramadan the city was also emptied of most of the normal food stalls. We didn't have much difficulty finding food but in the evening the whole city came alive with people happy and relieved to eat. Unfortunately during the train ride back, the oleh-oleh (souvenir one is expected to bring back from a trip) I had bought for my Ibu was squashed and when I presented her with the package of distorted pastries she accepted while chuckling at my embarrassment.

Climbing Mt. Merapi

This Monday, August 17th was Indonesia's Independence Day and a few of us decided to celebrate the local way by climbing the nearby mountain, Mt. Merapi (2,911 meters). We did a night climb so we would reach the top just for the sunrise. This meant we started to climb on zero sleep at 1am, reaching the top just before the sunrise started and finished the descent around 9am completely exhausted. The sunrise was trully magical with tons of Indonesians waving the flag and celebrating and cheering loudly. Being one of the few Westerners (and girls among hundreds of Indonesian men), we were asked to pose in at least 30 photos with strangers. Eventually we had to start turning them down so we could just enjoy the view! Mt Merapi is actually a very active volcano and there was tons of smoke spewing out of holes in the top and parts of the rock had turned yellow from sulfur. It was a really nice surprise when the top of the mountain wasn't cold like most but you could feel the heat from the volcanic activity in the rocks! When we finally got home around noon I passed out for the rest of the day and am a little sore today.

Adapting...

So the past few days have held the normal array of surprises that come with adapting to a new country and culture. Mealtime with Ibu has been quite a learning experience in itself. On one hand I have finally gotten across the message that I don’t need a feast for every meal, but just as I learned to use chopsticks in Japan, Ibu is teaching me to use my hands to eat. The other day when I was trying to use my fork to dissect the whole fish she served me, Ibu instructed me to eat it with my hands so it would be “more delicious.” This involved peeling the skin back and removing the edible parts of the fish with my sticky fingers. They next day when I went to show off my eating-whole-fish-with-my-fingers skills, she chastised me for not eating the bones too! I guess I will be learning for a while and while I may try to avoid fish for a while, the food on a whole still is truly delicious.

Besides adjusting to the food we have also begun our language training and I am trying to just jump right in and learn as much as possible since we only have three weeks of class! It really is a pretty simple language until you get to the special nuances that come with more advanced skills. I keep practicing with Ibu and the other Indonesians I meet, just telling myself that when they laugh at me it is because they are surprised I can speak and they think it’s cute. Everyone here is incredibly friendly and in addition to the stares I probably get 10-15 “hello’s” and “where are you from?” everyday, it is almost exhausting!

Another issue that has been plaguing me recently is the overly relaxed atmosphere here. No one is ever in a rush to go anywhere, do anything, or sense that you feel otherwise. Bureaucracy retards even every semi-official matter extending all the way down to the series of steps it took before I could set up my internet or cell phone. And no one cares! People are happy to stay working in the office until 8pm so they can chat away half the day with their coworkers. Knowing my need for control and impatience with inefficiency this will be an area with serious need for adaptation as I get ready to start in the work place.

Evening with Ibu Susanto

Last night I had one of those perfectly peaceful evenings. I think I really bonded with my host mom when she acted on my mention that I like pisang goreng (fried bananas) and made a huge plateful for me, and also promised to make them again tomorrow and everyday… Not sure what I got myself into with that. She still thinks I am crazy because she can’t understand how I drink tea and coffee without sugar and comments on this fact several times a day. She ended up showing me her entire batik collection, the fabric colors and designs are absolutely beautiful and I think I will return home with a suitcase full of it. After our tea session I took my Bahasa Indonesia book out to the veranda to study a bit. The sunset was beautiful over the quiet neighborhood and around 5pm the azan (Muslim call to prayer) began its meditative chant. Ibu came out and joined me for a bit and we continued our broken conversation until a street vender biked up with her selection of open Fanta bottles filled with traditional medicines. Ibu got me to try one of the mysterious liquids and I really can’t place the taste of it but it did taste like it could have been made from a medicinal herb.

Orientation in Yogyakarta

Even just these first few days in Yogyakarta have given me a lot of uniquely Indonesian experiences. I have learned how to eat complete meals with rice using my fingers, bath using a ladle to scoop cold water over my head, I have been asked if I am married, how many kids I have/want to have, how much I weigh and am constantly stared at. So far the orientation before language classes begin has consisted of a few seminars about Indonesian culture and history, information about getting our visas, a trip to buy cell phones, and a trip to visit a pesantren (Islamic boarding school).

That experience proved to be extremely interesting as we got to learn a lot about Islam and its role in the students' educational curriculum as well as their daily life. It was especially fascinating for me because after a year of reading about pesantren and American academics doing research about the role of religious education in Indonesian society and Islam, I got to visit one myself and talk to teachers of Sharia (Islamic law) and the Koran. They even threw each of us into a class of students for part of the day. That experience was quite memorable because when I was practically pushed into a classroom I realized there was no other teacher, just me and about 40 fifteen year old girls. They knew a little English but were incredibly shy and giggly so I spent the time telling them a bit about myself and life in America. I even got them to sing their national anthem for me and pose for a picture.

During our stay in Yogya we are living with host families and mine is a funny old woman who lives by herself. I was immediately instructed to call her Ibu, which means mother. It seems that I am just there for her entertainment as she doesn't seem to have much going on besides her church (She is a Catholic which surprised me at first). She insists on washing my clothes everyday and making me tea and coffee in addition to meals. The language barrier is kind of entertaining and we watch tv together and try to discuss what is going by using just a few words in either Indonesian or English and lots of hand gestures. Who knows what other adventures will come up in the next days but I am loving it here so far and am excited for the upcoming year.

Arrival in Jakarta

After eight hours of transit from Chiang Mai, due to our flight being delayed in Kuala Lumpur, my group arrived in Jakarta last night exhausted but excited to finally be beginning our adventure here. We are staying at Rumah VIA, the organization's office in Jakarta for a couple nights and then taking a ten hour train ride to Yogyakarta where we will be staying in home stays and studying Bahasa Indonesia. After three weeks of language studies I will be heading to my post just in time for some orientation before the end of Ramadan celebrations begin.

As for Jakarta, it is an immense and crazy jungle of a city. While we have only seen a tiny segment so far, it is dirty, hot, and the people love to stare at us. Still, it is fun to walk around, explore, and try to read the signs as we pick up bits of the language. The housekeeper where we are staying is an amazing cook and every meal has been a buffet of new and delicious foods accompanied by fresh fruit. This morning I even had my first taste of Sumatran coffee! I will have to get used to the style they drink it: beans ground finely but just mixed with hot water so the texture is a little like dirt. Nevertheless, it is delicious and much better than the Nescafe that was so popular in Thailand! We are about to start an impromptu language lesson so I am going to go join!