the fun never ends

i have an indonesian friend. her name is aya. she is 18 and finishing up high school. she is girlie and boy crazy. her english is equivalent to my indonesian. we really have very little in common. but she likes to hang out with me. probably because i am white. so sometimes we do.

we hung out this weekend, in fact. she wanted to go to a photographer to take our pictures. but i nixed that idea - too expensive. so she suggested we go somewhere and take our own. that's called compromise. she said she was bringing some friends. she also told me to bring my helmet. so she showed up saturday afternoon with 2 high school boys. aya pointed to one bike and told me to get on. i did, and we took off.

so there i was. on the back of some indonesian high school boy's ghetto motorbike. it only had one foot peg for the passenger. balance? rough. and it was tiny, so i was squished up against him the whole time. he spoke no english. indonesian and japanese only. we drove for 45 minutes. i hurt so bad by the time we got there. but the fact that we had taken country back roads with nice views helped. then i burned my leg real bad on his exhaust pipe.

[at this point i need to interject a side note about exhaust pipe burns. they have FINALLY started to put plastic guards on the exhaust pipes of the newer bikes. but on most bikes, the metal exhaust pipe runs exposed along the side of the bike, right where passenger's leg goes. most indonesian girls have a permanent scar on the inside of their right calf from so many burns. i now have two. so imagine putting your hand right on the exhaust pipe of a running car. it burns like heck, right? the nice thing about using your hand is that 1. you can see what you're doing, and 2. the impulse travels pretty quickly to your brain to tell you that something is hurting. when it's your lower leg though, that impulse has to travel so far that by the time it reaches your brain, you are also wondering where that nasty burning flesh smell is coming from. it actually COOKS YOUR FLESH and turns it brown. this is NOT my new hobby.]

back to the story. the place we went to was quite nice. like golf course nice. it was called gua maria (mary's cave). it was apparently some sacred catholic place up the mountain. there were prayer rooms, burial grounds, hanging gardens... and my favorite part - the actual cave in which we found a "replica" of Jesus' tomb. it was so creepy.

the boys were quite charming. they bought us drinks and mostly just left us alone to walk and chat. one boy, bani, is aya's boyfriend. he talked to us a little bit. but atchonk, the boy i rode with, would come nowhere near us. no matter how many times we told him "jangan malu-malu" (don't be shy).

after about an hour, we headed home. but instead of taking the nice, calm back roads, we took the main road. at rush hour. in indonesia. we actually almost died. twice. and our faces were black from bus exhaust by the time we got home.

then aya taught me javanese. i'm learning. little by little.
my repertoire now includes:
thank you
you're welcome
my name is...
whitey
you are very beautiful
i don't want to
who?
what?
tuesday

some useful stuff right there.

and speaking of learning...
i practiced driving a motorbike yesterday.
i'm much better now.
i didn't drive off the road a single time!
and with a passenger too!
i have an appointment with the police to get my license (SIM) tomorrow.

i also made nasi goreng (fried rice) for dinner.
that's gonna need some practice.
it came out a bit on the greasy side.
as in i had to strain the oil off before i could eat it without gagging.
i'll be working on that....

i'm also reading the new testament in indonesian. i've been doing a chapter a day, following these steps.
1. read the whole chapter out loud first, to practice pronunciation and reading speed.
2. read the the chapter again for understanding, writing down any words i don't know.
3. look up all the words i don't know.
4. read the chapter again, translating it aloud into english.

it is really hard.
but i am learning a lot of new words.
some of them are not so useful.
but good to know, nonetheless.

now the cleaning lady is mopping around me.
time to go home.