New setting, new experiences

The advent of my moving into a place has brought with it many more outings with Indonesian friends and more time enjoying the simple pleasures of Jambi life.  The past few days- while not updating my blog- I visited my friend’s local salon (i.e. down the rutted village road with just a thin and intermittent strip of asphalt) for a 90 cent haircut and was told my “gold” hair looks like the hairs inside corn husks; made my first clothing purchase in the six months I have been here (it was a basic $4 shirt); posed with the bride and groom and got a free lunch at a friend of a friends wedding; and went to a real art exhibit at Jambi’s own “Culture Park.” 

While the first three were pretty run-of-the-mill, the art exhibit was a welcomed sign that Jambi does indeed have an art scene, no matter how small or amateur, outside of traditional craft-making.  This was my first trip to Taman Budaya and I was pleasantly surprised to find a small photography exhibit displaying images of Indonesian life and a joint exhibit between young artists from Jambi and Padang that filled up the main art hall.  Even though my friend and I were the only visitors it was interesting to chat with the curator and one of the young artists present, we even met a man who teaches rattan weaving to villagers in the area so that can develop a useful skill and begin a home industry that will help them towards economic empowerment.  He even gave me a bracelet example of the weaving and invited us to come see the process in his village some time.  Another thing to add to the list but this weekend I hope to go to the Batik center across the river.

Obama and Indonesia

My current bedside companion is President Obama's The Audacity of Hope (I know, I am a little late) and I have finally gotten to the section describing his time spent in Indonesia.  For one thing it is helping me get my facts straight after having had Indonesians spout all sorts of outlandish and entertaining claims about Obama's Indonesian father, the many places he lived, and how they are his cousin/friend/neighbor.  Obama’s description of Indonesia starts with the basic facts and statistics and then points out the ugly truth: “Most Americans can’t locate Indonesia on a map.”  I am all too well aware of this but there was another quote that I can even more relate to, “Our family was not well off in those early years… We lived in a modest house on the outskirts of town, without air-conditioning, refrigeration, or flush toilets.”  That is exactly how I and most other Indonesians still live! and what makes it more outstanding is that this is 40 years later from the time he lived in Jakarta.  With President Obama scheduled to come to Indonesia March 20-22 it will be interesting to see how the Indonesian public feels about his visit and how he reconnects to the city he spent part of his childhood.  I am hopeful that the new Comprehensive Partnership will help elevate Indonesia on the world stage to position its oft-touted population statistics could give it.

A “New Experience”

This is how I explained my desire to move out of Sumi’s house and into a smaller but quieter place with an Indonesian friend unconnected to PKBI.  I finally moved all my stuff yesterday and spent my first night of freedom watching movies and chatting with my new roommate Povi and a couple new friends.  It is hard to describe how relieving this move is for me, but maybe you caught on to how constricted I felt in my previous home.  While Sumi’s family is still incredibly warm and caring towards me and I am thankful for their patience with my strange ways over the past five months, I had to eventually come to terms with the fact that no matter how valuable the experience of living in a small village community is, I am an American woman.  I need the freedom to wear what I want (at least in the privacy of my own home), go where and when I want, eat when and what I want and not feel bad for choosing bread over rice one meal a day.  Even though the size of my new living space is smaller, it felt so much more liberating last night as I sat in a tank top and shorts sprawled out on the living room floor watching a movie with girls who were...gasp...smoking cigarettes!  This morning I was the first one to wake up at 7am to the birds chirping and it was such a contrast to the sound of heavy sweeping and feeling like I was the last person in the world to wake up if I didn’t get up with everyone at the 5am call to prayer.  It is also much cooler here than Sumi’s, a condition attributed to all the trees surrounding our building.  The trees are so rejuvenating, create a beautiful view outside my window, and give a sense of privacy that I desperately need in this city where I get unending attention from strangers.

My first couple days taking the public transportation to and from this new home, have opened my eyes to another side of Jambi.  After hearing the troubling story of a previous female volunteer’s unpleasant experience riding one of city’s angkots, color-coded VW buses that prowl the streets in search of passengers, I had at least unconsciously avoided them my first few months.  But this sense of warning quickly melted away as I got on the aqua blue one that goes right near by my office and chatted with some friendly women who paid my fare at the end of the trip.

So I am free and mobile.  Work is starting afresh with the New Year and my return from traveling.  I am excited for the next five months but I have a strong suspicion they will fly by.  Here's a few photos of the new place:

 

The walk in to the front of my building, my apartment is the second door on the right and there is an environmental NGO up on the second floor.

Our living room area with the tiny kitchen and bathroom in the back to the right and Povi's door on the left.

  

Catching Povi off guard this morning.

My new room, small but my own space and with this nice little view...

 

My third ‘New Years’ of my year in Indonesia…

…And it has only been six months!  Chinese New Year fell on Valentines Day this year and with it came a plethora of red lanterns and banners around the city proclaiming Gong Xi Fa Cai.  Being the provincial capital and main city (i.e. only city, and that is using the term lightly) of Jambi province, the Chinese population densely compacted here.  My usual reliable source, Sumi, informed me that Chinese make up more than 50% of the city population, which is considerable since the whole of Jambi Province is 96% Muslim. 

The most visible change that came with this new holiday consisted of a prolific selling of long bamboo poles, boxes of oranges, and… beer!  When I first saw the rising stacks of Bintang six-packs in Jambi’s chain grocery store Hypermart I was a little taken aback at the unusual sight.  What could have motivated this one store in Jambi to sell beer in such a prominent display, let alone with it packed in amounts that could get you tipsy from?  Then the upcoming holiday dawned on me.  I just have to say, thank you to the Jambi Chinese, this is now my favorite new years celebration.

The actual holiday arrived with another surprising repercussion.  It is no secret that Chinese hold the economic power in Indonesia while Indonesians hold the political power.  This has, and continues to, create some tension and resentment between the two groups.  Despite this, I admit I felt unusual displeasure for the slight reason that an economic Chinese monopoly means that a large numbers of shops are closed on Chinese New Years.  Now I hold no grudges about the fact that I was not able to find a place open to use wireless this particular day, but I found it interesting that none of these shops were closed on the Islamic New Year back in December or the normal January 1^st New Years.

TSA vs Indonesian airport security

I know I have been back in Jambi for almost a week with out posting but I guess I will still just pick up where I left it for now as I am still sorting out my feelings about returning, thoughts about the next six months here, and what comes next.

Though my past posts may have leaned towards the Jambi immigration officials, if I had to choose my favorite favorite public workers it would probably have to be be Jambi airport officials.  And I swear this is not just because the local Lion Air office recognize it’s me when I make a reservation through PKBI’s regular travel agent.  As people in America and around the world are facing stricter flight security resulting in longer waits, people flying within Indonesia are still able to breeze through check-in and security.  For instance, my last flight from Jambi to Jakarta had just about as much security as the entrance to the high-end shopping mall I went to in downtown Jakarta. 

This notorious process follows that after a quick check-in, with no photo ID needed, passengers do indeed put their bags through a scanner.  However, this fails to provide even a reassuring facade of safety when you notice the lackadaisical behavior of the supposed security officials who are “watching” the scanner screen, and the fact that every single bag makes it through without a double check.  This included mine, which had a full water bottle attached, a laptop, and enough liquid toiletries inside to bring fury to the eyes of TSA official.  On another occasion flying home from Jakarta I never actually physically checked-in since a friend had already collected my plane ticket, so I just grabbed it in the entrance way and proceeded through “security” and on to the gate, never showing ID to anyone.

Recently on my way back from KL to Jambi, AirAsia did feign to provide a little more security by posting the ‘No Liquids’ sign in front of its scanning machines.  I took a chance with this one and submitted my bag a la usual.  The security worker here did pause, look at my bag, and say “liquid?”  Without leading on to the numerous liquids inside my bag, I consoled him by promising I would finish the water bottle before getting on the plane.  A security official in the US would not even let me get in the line to go through security with the liter full of water!

On a more friendly side of things, due to the close community of my town, and the paucity of foreigners, I can also be fairly sure I will run into someone I know, or at least someone who knows me, or knows a friend that knows me, while waiting at the airport.  This last time it happened to be a teacher at a Jambi high school where SIKOK has its sex-ed program, DAKU.  We ended having seats next to each other on the plane and she insisted on driving me home from the airport upon arrival.

Masala dosa and a mango lassi

Passing time in a foreign capital isn’t so bad when it is paid for, you can speak the language and it turns out to be a vibrant place with lots of Indian food.  Kuala Lumpur actually reminds me of America because of its sheer diversity.  I came here with the curiosity of finding out more about Malays and how they compare to Indonesians, instead I quickly found out that the many religions and ethnicities comprising the capital’s population, have created quite a melting pot and true Malays have been difficult to pick out in my few days here.  A well appreciated result of this diversity is the wide range of cuisines available that I can only dream about in Jambi.  And who could dislike a city where the Discovery Channel is played in English at almost every little whole in the wall restaurant?

As to the purpose of my visit to KL, acquiring a new Social Budaya Visa that will allow me to stay another six months in Jambi and complete my year at PKBI, that has been an equally surprising but less pleasant experience.  With my arrival last Saturday night and a surprise public holiday that kept the Indonesian Embassy closed through Monday, I could not submit my visa application until Tuesday, and only then after waiting for four hours clutching the paper slip number 8051 that would eventually beckon me to the promising glass window.  As if trying to create an Indonesian atmosphere even around the embassy and beckon me back to Sumatra, there was a Bakso restaurant next door serving the endemic noodle soup with grey processed fish balls that have been sitting out in the heat all day… yum, local Indonesian cuisine at last.

The next day I went to pick up my visa only to find out that the bureaucratic and legally inconsistent tendencies of Indonesian immigration officials have also migrated to Indonesian embassies.  The official from West Sumatra who had been so friendly just the day before informed me that I would only be given a 30 day visa, even after I reminded him that the visa I was applying for is a two month visa, at least according to the government website.  When I asked why they were not giving me the full amount of time, his reason was that I had already renewed my previous visa many times.  I asked if at least I will be able to renew this visa up the total six months that is stipulated online.  He replied, that depends on the Jambi immigration office; different immigration offices have different rules.  What?!  I thought there was a reason for government’s to have consistent immigration policies, but I guess the freedom for officials in Indonesia to make up policies depending on how they feel that day allows for a little extra padding in the wallet.

Finished with the adventure and with a new visa in hand I fly back to Jambi tomorrow.  While a trip to KL will always beat a trip down to Jambi’s immigration office, I really miss the “city” and my office now.  It will really nice to reconnect with my goofy coworkers and sleep in my own bed, its just a mattress on the floor but with old ibu and bapak it is almost like home these days.