it's midnight.
leaving for bali at 4.
AM.
time for bed.

in the aftermath

finally, here are my pictures from the two villages i’ve been to in the past 2 weeks, both of which have never seen white people before and both of which are within 4 km of the peak of merapi. praise God, both these villages are on the side that received the least damage. the only victims were animals, fields, and some houses. but even so, all the residents were in evacuation camps for 3 – 4 weeks, and as they all move back into the villages and start to rebuild their lives, they’re facing a lot of trauma and loss.

(new growth pushing up through the ash)

(this area didn’t receive as much ash as some, but when it mixes with rain, it is like 3 inches of cement over the top of everything, effectively killing all vegetation. these mountain villages are comprised solely of farmers – they lost everything.)

(what merapi looks like now. black and sooty.)

(the still smoking peak)

(some of the thousands of plant starts we took to one village to help them start replanting.)

(the village toilet! in the field!!)

(a very timid puppy with his fur burnt off.)

(i wonder how many major eruptions this lady has lived through.)

(rolling and smoking.)

(“how to roll a cigarette” lessons! i think this was like step 3. this guy was so excited that i wanted to take his picture!)

(quite possibly the first car this kid has ever seen)

(“take our picture with the plants!”)

(the women in these villages get married after middle school – or elementary school for some – and start having kids. lots of young mothers.)

(three of the oldest ladies in the village)

(us – a group from school – with the village women and children!)

(we taught them to say cheese. some of them were really into it.)

(posko = command post for the distribution of supplies and aid)

(looking up one village’s only street towards their mosque and the peak of merapi hidden in the clouds)

(this is lady 2 from the conversation i posted a few days ago)

(the village leader on the left and some friends who went to this village)

the food groups

me: what else do you want to eat (for christmas dinner)? we need some fruit or vegetables.
aswan: yeah... ice cream.

in the desa

i went back to the desa yesterday - the desa i went to wednesday where i was the first white person they'd ever seen. i talked with a different group of ladies this time.

lady 1: do you think she speaks indonesian?
lady 2: maybe. ask.
lady 1: i don't think she does. she doesn't understand us.
lady 2: i think she does. look at her.
lady 1: hey! do you speak indonesian?
me: yeah.
lady 2: do you speak javanese?
me: not much.
lady 1: ooooooh... but you speak indonesian.
me: yeah.
lady 3: where are you from?
me: america.
lady 3: but you live in salatiga?
me: yeah.
lady 2: (to lady 3) she knows a lot.
lady 2: how long have you been in indonesia?
me: two and a half years.
lady 2: oh. so you're fluent.
me: not quite...
lady 3: but you know a lot.
me: thanks!
*awkward pause*
me: (to lady 1) is this your kid?
lady 1: yeah.
me: so handsome! (seriously, the kid was adorable) how old is he?
lady 1: it's a boy.
me: mmhmm.....?
lady 1: he's 2.
me: he's really cute!
lady 1: *laughs*
me: so i'm wondering... what is the religion here?
lady 2: muslim. all of us.
me: 100%?
lady 3: yeah! *excitedly* but in the next village, there's FIVE *holds up 4 fingers* catholics!
me: oh. wow.
lady 2: yeah, that's our mosque *points down the village's one street*
me: ok, i see it. so when we were driving here, i saw an elementary school. do you have a middle or high school the kids can go to or do they start working after elementary school?
lady 3: we're all farmers!
lady 2: there's a middle school. but it's brand new. they just built it in the next village.
me: what year? is it too far to go?
lady 2: 2007, and no, it's not far. most of the kids go there.
me: what about high school?
lady 2: there's 2 high schools in selo.
me: that's too far!
lady 2: yeah. those who are able send their kids there.
lady 3: but now *motioning with her hand to the piles of ash everywhere* nobody is able.
me: how far are we from the peak of merapi?
lady 1: 4 kilometers.
me: what about the kids who don't go to high school in selo? what do they do?
lady 1: we get married and work in the fields.
me: how old are girls when they get married?
lady 2: 15 or 16 or 17 or 18.
me: wow! i'm 24 and i'm not married! old, huh?
lady 1: if you lived here, you'd have 2 kids by now.
me: how old are you? *said to lady 1 with the 2 year old son*
lady 1: 18.
me: aish.... wow. do you want more kids?
lady 1: *laughs a beautiful laugh* i don't know. this one is a lot of work!
me: for american culture, you're really young to have kids. we normally get married around 24 or 25 maybe then have kids even later than that.
all exclaim: really? so old!!
*a man, who i assume to be lady 1's husband comes over*
man: where are you from?
ladies: america!
me: right!
man: do you want to teach us english?
me: uhhhhh.....
man: all we know is one, two, three (numbers said in english) because that's all we learn in school. one until ten.
me: uhhhhh......
man: come teach us english! are you a teacher? a professor?
me: a teacher. at the international school.
man: so come teach us!
me: if i taught you english, where would you use it? in your fields? with your cows?
man: hmmmm.... maybe!
me: well, i can't now because of my job, and it's too far to drive here a lot. two hours. but maybe in the future?
man: ok.
me: *trying to get the attention off me* (to lady 2) how old is your baby?
lady 2: one month.
me: wow! so new! boy or girl?
lady 2: girl.
man: she was born in the refugee camp.
me: which one?
man: magelang.
me: wow..... how long have you guys been back?
man: 24 days.
me: was anyone in your village killed?
man: no, praise Allah.
me: homes destroyed?
man: a few, but not many.
me: good...
man: you should go inside and wait. *points to the village leader's house behind me* i'll make you tea.
me: *not knowing where anybody else in my group was at this point* maybe i'll just wait here.
ladies: no! go inside! it's getting cold out here!
me: uhmm..... ok.
*i went in the house and didn't see any of them again. but i did get tea.*

where no (white) man has gone before...

yesterday after school i found myself in a random village on the slopes of merapi. my church has set up a posko there... which is a... umm.... i’m not really sure what it is in english. like a command post? because my church is in this for the long haul. these people have months – if not years – of recovery ahead of them. they’re back in their villages, but many of them are without homes, family members, crops, livestock, and access to food and water. and many are dealing with trauma and living in fear. i've now been to 3 of the villages closest to the peak and heard some of the stories there... and i can't blame them.

a friend of mine from church smsed yesterday afternoon saying that he was heading over to a village to drop off some supplies, but everyone else who was supposed to go backed out. so, having nothing to do all evening and not wanting him to be alone on the 2 hour drive, i volunteered to keep him company. so off we went, me still in my teacher clothes.

i brought my laptop with high hopes of getting some finals written in the car. bad choice. the roads were so rough that i was going crosseyed trying to see the screen. oh well.

we came up over merbabu, the mountain that we live on, and just drove straight toward the peak of merapi, which is still smoking and completely blackened with layer upon layer of ash. it was one of the clearest views of merapi i’ve seen lately and totally awe inspiring. just a month ago, the ground there was shaking and fire was shooting out of that mountain!

anyways, as we got closer and closer, i started to notice rocks EVERYWHERE... some the size of my fist, some the size of my head. when it was erupting, i heard stories of “hujan batu” (raining rocks). these were the rocks they spoke of. lots of houses had rocks piled up on their roofs and many had caved in under the weight. there was hardly a tree left standing, and those that were had their branches stripped because of the raining rocks and the weight of the ash. and speaking of ash, it was piled up along all the roads as if someone had come through with a snowplow to scrape it all up. hills and hills and hills of ash.

what shocked me the most though was the shock of the people! the suv we took didn’t have tinted windows, so everyone had a very clear view of me riding along in the front seat. jaws dropped. literally dropped. kids abandoned whatever they were playing with and ran to the roadside to just stare as we drove by. i got an awesome view of a middle aged guy bathing in his front yard in his skivvies. i think he was so in shock at seeing ME that he didn’t realize how shocked i was to see HIM!

when we got out of the car, my friend went to unload the car, and the village ladies just swarmed around me. they wanted to touch me and talk to me. so i had lots of hands holding my hands, my arms, feeling my hair. and they just kept coming and coming and coming. every time i turned around, there were 5 more women with babies on their hips, all gaping at me in wonder.

lady 1: salam alaikum! (muslim greeting)
me: walaikum salam, bu! (the correct response)
*we shake hands, then about 5 other ladies come over and i shake their hands too*
me: aw, how old is she? (referring to a baby in a sling)
lady 2: 5 months.
lady 1: she's 6 months.
lady 2: 6 months.
me: wow! she's tall! and so pretty!
lady 2: thank you!
lady 1: *to lady 2* wow. she knows so much indonesian!
me: haha... but not yet fluent!
all ladies: FLUUUUUENT!
lady 3: where are you from?
me: america, but i live in salatiga.
lady 4: why are you here?
me: i came with my friend over there. we brought supplies.
lady 2: how long since you left germamy?
me: um... germany?
lady 5: america.
lady 2: america. or whatever.
me: oh, i've lived here two and a half years.
lady 1: so THAT'S why you know indonesian.
me: right!
lady 1: can you speak javanese? *asked in javanese*
me: not yet *answered in javanese*
all ladies: SEE?! YOU CAN!!!
me: i have to focus on becoming fluent in indonesian first!
lady 2: are you a student in salatiga?
me: actually, i'm a teacher at the international school.
all ladies: wooowwwwwww.
lady 1: why can't you speak javanese? you've lived here 2.5 years.
me: well, it's hard to find time to learn. we only use english at school.
lady 1: well, if you want to live on java, you have to learn javanese.
me: oh, believe me, i want to! i'm learning... little by little. what's the baby's name?
lady 6: rati.
me: *turn around and see like 30 kids hiding behind a wall staring at me* so.... i guess you guys don't get many white people around here, huh?
lady 7, 8, 9: ooooh, miss..... NEVER!
lady 2: only you.
me: really? there's never been a londo (whitey) here before??
lady 1: we've never seen a white person.
*my friend finishes unloading supplies and calls for me to go*
me: sorry, i have to go...
lady 1: come back, ok? please come back?
me: i'll try. *shake hands with everyone and leave with lots of waving from the car*

Silence

I haven’t written in too long.... As a comeback, how bout these apples?

i love the weather this week. (btw, it’s about 10 – 15 degrees cooler in salatiga than it is in semarang on average since we live halfway up a mountain. but i can’t find online weather info for salatiga.)

in other news, we’re currently in the home stretch before exams. this is dead week, and finals come next week. then.... BREAK! the sheer hecticness of the past 2 weeks accounts for my silence as of late. also, not much worth sharing has been happening.

when it rains....

thing one - there is a guest from america coming to stay at my house with me until monday or tuesday. i have never met said person, but her son is a good friend of mine. she's in town for the wedding of her son's good friend.

thing two - tomorrow tiff will also be joining us in my house and staying for the remainder of the weekend. three people in my 20' x 20' apartment. it will be... cozy?

thing three - the electricity is scheduled to be off from 8:30 - 14:00 today. oh, good heavens.

thing four - following the sudden death of her nephew on tuesday, my house helper has been given indefinite time off to be with family.

thing five - so far this week, the longest amount of time i have spent in my house after school and before sleep (which has been no earlier than 11:30) is 45 minutes. and i do not anticipate that changing in the near future.

this means: i have no clean towels. i have only one set of clean sheets (though i did manage to procure a second bed and wedge it in my bedroom). i have no food. i have no ingredients with which to make food (unless thanksgiving leftovers count). aaaaaand... i have 2 guests coming. aish.....