Popcorn

Just finished cooking an entire kilo (that's 2.2 pounds, people) of popcorn.

AND.I.DON'T.OWN.A.MICROWAVE.

I used coconut oil - a little sweeter and a little healthier, my ghetto aluminum rice cooker, and a gas burner.

With no major oil spills or second degree burns!!

And that's pretty much all it takes to make me feel like I am the next Julia Child.

Berhasil.

The Body

In light of the news we received regarding our friend Ellie this morning, we as a school have been very flexible throughout the day. We ended up spending almost the entire hour in chapel praying for Ellie's dad and brothers, who we gathered around and laid hands on. So so so many students prayed out loud over them as well as many teachers and other community members. Two things that really struck me as awesome in this are:

1. Ellie's whole family used to live here. They moved here about a year ago. Ellie had just graduated from high school and stayed here for a semester working as a volunteer at our school before heading back to the States to work and go to college. In recent months, her mom has been having a lot of health problems, and due to that, went back to the States to receive treatment while Ellie's dad and two younger brothers (in 8th and 7th grade) stayed here to continue studying language, coaching soccer, and attending school. So thing number one that is good: Ellie was not alone after her accident and through the amputation. Her mother was there with her. We didn't understand why her mom had to leave the family and go back to the States when they were doing so much good here. But God knew what the future held. (Also, since their mom has been so healthy in America, the family was planning on letting the boys finish out the semester here, then moving back to the States to decide what their next steps should be - that has now been moved up. To tomorrow. They were able to get tickets back to America for tomorrow morning. So those boys and all their classmates just found out that this is their last day at our school.)

2. It took so long for both our principal and assistant superintendent to explain to the student body what had happened because they were both so emotional. This ended up being a bad thing in the short run because everyone was sure that Ellie was dead. At first all they managed to get out was that she'd been in a horrible accident, and they were both crying! By the time they managed to get to the part about her being stable, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but everyone was in tears. I have never seen high school boys cry like they did today as they took in the news, as they prayed over Bill and the boys, and as they gathered together in groups to continue praying well into their lunch break. And what is beautiful in this is that I see the Body. When one of us rejoices, we all rejoice. And when one of us hurts, we all hurt. I had teenage boys coming through the lunch line today still shaking with silent sobs. And one boy, who generally likes to pick on other kids, came up to me and asked, "Teacher, can I take some extra napkins to share? The people are crying." In fact, he walked right up to one other boy - who is often the target of his angst - took off the other boy's glasses, handed him a napkin, and said, "Here. Clean up your crying". English isn't his strong suit, but I almost lost it as I watched him hold the other boy's glasses for him while he wiped his eyes and nose. What a sweet moment! And what an awesome community I get to live in!

Please pray for Bill and the boys as they deal with being far from their daughter/sister at this time, and as they pack up everything and say all their goodbyes in the next 18 hours or so.

On a somewhat lighter note, immediately after lunch, I have Algebra 2, which is a 9th grade class. Many of them are close to the two boys, and so several of them had approached me at lunch, teary-eyed, and said they didn't know if they could take their test scheduled for today. That had already crossed my mind, so I told them we'd talk about it during class. As we talked through our options, they ended up deciding that since they had already studied and prepared for the test, they would rather just take it today, but they asked if we could all pray together first. I said sure, and I asked if one of them would like to pray, expecting that none of them would. But alas, one boy in the middle of the room raised his hand and said that he would pray for the class. This was his prayer:

"Dear God, thank You that we get to take an algebra test again. We know that this has been a sad day, but we know that You are a God of awesome power. And we know that You will share that power with us so that we can get 100 on our algebra test. Mostly especially the smart people. But then everyone else too. And even US. And we want to pray for Ellie. Amen."

A Roller Coaster Week

Monday - The grandmother of three of our students died in Costa Rica while her son (the father of the students) was en route back to Indonesia after spending the last several weeks at her side. We knew she had passed away before he did.

Tuesday - One of the horses at the stable Aswan works at died. He was my favorite horse there. One of my students took riding lessons on that horse. I still haven't told him his horse died.

Wednesday - While at Bible study, one of the ladies there got the call that her nephew had just died. He was five days old.

Thursday - We received word that a girl who worked here last year was in a serious car wreck yesterday and had to have her arm amputated. No other word on her condition. Her family is here but will be leaving ASAP to go be with her.

Oh, Friday, what will you bring?

PS - We would appreciate prayers for all of the situations above. Except for maybe the horse. You probably don't need to pray for that.

Got Asked

To model for a photography contest.
To banquet in April.
To play guitar for student worship tomorrow.
To teach English to a girl from church that I've been wanting to get to know.
To pray with and for a struggling student.

It's been a pretty good day.

Excuses

I had a parent send their child to school today with an excuse letter (more of an apology and explanation, really) for a missing assignment. It was nearly one full page typed on official FAMILY letterhead and signed by both parents.

They have their own letterhead!
Suddenly I feel intimidated by these people I have never met.

Algebra 2 - Ninth Grade

Student: Hey, let's make a deal.
Me: About what?
Student: If we win our soccer game today... You have to do Gangnam Style.
Me: Where?
Student: At lunch. On top of a table.
Me: I don't think this school condones teachers dancing on tables...
Student: OK, then in the breezeway [the open air hallway connecting the secondary building with the auditorium].
Me: Maybe not.


Other student: Let's take a field trip.
Me: To where?
Student: Hmmm... I have an idea. We can go gather some leaves over there *points out the window*, then bring a sweet potato and burn it.
Me: Ummm.... Maybe not.

Good Friends

Look what I got today!

It’s a get well box. From this person:

Obviously, it wasn’t her fault that I got sick. But she was sick two weeks ago, then I got her disease last week. We’re all over it now, so I feel like I can’t use the contents of the get well box... So now I’m kind of looking forward to the next time I get sick! I might even stop taking my vitamins until I do.

The contents are:

1. Get well card (seen above).

2. A bottle of orange flavored Vitamin C supplement drink.

3. A bottle of lemon flavored Vitamin C supplement drink.

4. A bottle of eucalyptus oil (it’s an Indonesian thing).

5. A bar of dark Javanese chocolate.

6. A 10 pack of Panadol (Indonesian Ibuprofin).

7. A box of Ricola lozenges.

8. A bag of herbal cough tea.

9. A package of tissues.

Yay! Thanks for being so thoughtful, Melanie!!

An Addendum

I feel like after writing my last post, I should add a couple of things. First of all, in the same way that only a small portion of Americans were involved in the production of "The Innocence of Muslims", I recognize that only a small portion of Indonesians have been involved in the violent protests in response to it. As a whole, Indonesia remains the most peaceful Muslim nation.

Most of the protests and riots have been in major cities far, far away. The only incident I have heard of in Central Java took place over the weekend when protesters stormed KFC and McDonalds in Solo (an hour from my house), forcing them to close. They are trying to demand a boycott of American goods.

That being said, if I'm being 100% honest, I don't feel entirely safe. We are hosting a few events at our school this week that are open to the public, and that makes me a little nervous. I have been receiving emails from the US Embassy multiple times per day keeping me updated on the situation as well as from school officials reminding us to be vigilant and cautious. I've also had Indonesian friends SMSing me throughout the week asking how I'm doing and reminding me to be careful and stay close to home for awhile. Tonight was the first time I've left my neighborhood this week - I went to Bible study across town. And it was business as usual, not that I was expecting it not to be. Double negative - see what I did there?

I talked to one of the guards about it last night, and he told me not to worry about anything because he is here to protect me. Haha... My hero.

My Response

Often when I go for a few days without posting, it's because there's something on my mind, but I'm not actually sure if I should write about it or not because sometimes I care too much what other people think. Not in a self conscious way. It's more like this: I know that people around the world - including many right here in Indonesia - read my blog. And talking to someone face-to-face is different from reading their blog. And I worry about unintentionally misrepresenting myself through my words. And I carry the much bigger weight of being a Westerner living in a Muslim country. In many ways, I feel like I have the reputation of not only America but the entire first world to protect. And so most of the time I try to keep my blog pretty light. I don't want anything I say to be misconstrued in a way that would reflect negatively on my faith, my country, or my part of the world. I know that sometimes I shoot my mouth off when I shouldn't and I could word things better than I do at times. But I'm trying, I really am.

This one time though, I'm going out on a limb and writing about what's bothering me. And before people go misconstruing my words, believe me when I say this: it has nothing to do with race or education or third world status or poverty or even religion. No, what is bothering me is a simple matter of right and wrong.

I am saddened and disappointed by Indonesian response to the movie "The Innocence of Muslims".

Two nights ago, I mentioned my disappointment regarding the recent behavior of protesters at the US Embassy in Jakarta in a Facebook status. In response, I was called a finger pointer and asked why I'm not expressing disappointment that the inciting film was even made and why I'm blaming the protesters for their anger instead of blaming the director for his blasphemous work. Other people began to comment in response to THAT response, and by the time I woke up the next morning, I had 17 comments written by several different people - all Facebook friends of mine, but few of whom actually knew each other - full of frustration and judgement without any understanding of who they were talking to or the other people's worldviews. That disappointed me too. I deleted the entire thread.

Let me be clear. I DO NOT in any way agree with, condone, or support a single second of the content of that video. Yes, I've watched it. It has been blocked in Indonesia, but I am roughly 19% tech savvy and I found a way to watch it anyways. Not because I had any personal interest in watching it, but because I wanted to be aware and knowledgeable. It was awful and horrific and blasphemous and hurtful and I cringed through most of it. I am embarrassed that it came from America. And I do blame the director. In part, I blame him for the deaths of the people who have been killed in retaliation to the film that he created with intent to incite. He may not have killed them with his own hands, but he knew what he was doing when he made that movie, and he knew there would be uprisings. I wish that someone would hold him accountable for what he did under the protective guise of free speech.

But let me be clear again. NONE of the people who are currently being targeted in Indonesia and in other countries around the world had anything to do with the making of that film, nor do they have any control over its spread. In fact, I would bet that the vast majority of them feel much as I do - that the movie is garbage.

At this point, we even have Indonesians hurting other Indonesians. Over what? A 14 minute movie that they don't like, that's what.

I realize that I don't fully grasp the importance of the sacredness of the prophet. But I DO understand the anger. Even I was angry when I watched the film. I understand the protests. If that is what it takes to get your voice heard on a topic you feel passionate about, then by all means, I ENCOURAGE you to protest.

But there are two things my mom taught me as a child that I believe are truth.
1. It's OK to be angry - it's what you do in your anger that you have to be careful of.
2. Two wrongs never make a right.

Throwing rocks at the US Embassy, lighting the flag on fire, beating policemen with bamboo sticks, burning cars, egging Americans, storming KFC, wishing death to all Americans - none of these things can right the wrong that was done.

Well into my fifth year of living here, I sometimes feel like I have my foot in two worlds. I was possibly even more thrilled that Triyatno won a silver medal in weightlifting than I was when the US women's gymnastic team took gold.

Right now, I am saddened that this movie came from my home country. But I am equally as saddened by the response of THIS country.

Indonesia, bukalah matamu untuk melihat.

The Progression

Last night, 2 hours after receiving treatment.

  

This morning, 11 hours after receiving treatment.

  

Tonight, 26 hours after receiving treatment.

  

Did it work? It’s hard to give a scientific answer. I’ve been particularly sickish in the mornings every morning since Wednesday of this week. I’ve been waking up far before my alarm with splitting headaches, body aches, sneezing, stuffiness, inability to breathe, diarrhea, crusty eyes, snot running everywhere, and various other nastinesses. And every day since Wednesday, I’ve been generally achy and mildly feverish and very sneezy and feeling exhausted and popping pills pretty much all day long.

Today is the first day since Wednesday that I slept all the way until my alarm. And it is the first day that I have had energy. And it is the first day that I haven’t wanted to go to bed at 8 PM. And it is the first day that I have gone medicine free.

Did the sickness just run its course? Did being dikerokan work? We may never know.

What I do know is that I’ve been told at least 5 times today by people who have seen the red marks trailing up my neck, “Wow! You are Javanese!” I don’t care if it made me healthy or not – it was worth the pain if only for that.

(PS – It doesn’t hurt at all today except for a little bit on my ribcage under my arms which feels like a cross between a bruise and a mild sunburn if I rub it or carry a backpack. That was also the part that caused the most pain when Dewi was actually doing it last night.)

Kerokan

This is what I currently look like.

          

Why?

Valid question.

I wasn’t in a terrible accident.

I wasn’t attacked by wild animals.

I didn’t participate in any vicious athletic activities.

I wasn’t thrown to the lions.

No, I look like this by choice.

It is a method of traditional Javanese healing.

It’s called kerok.

Yohanes and I have both had the same flu like sickness for a few days now. So at hangout time at Atik’s house tonight, Dewi decided that  Yo needed some kerok to make him better. Basically, you just take eucalyptus oil and a coin and rub it all over the person's back repeatedly to get the illness out.  When I first moved to this country, I was pretty skeptical about the healing properties of kerok.  But then someone told me that only sick people turn red. If you are perfectly healthy and receive this treatment, your skin does not change color. And that made me very curious. 

Until tonight though, I've never had a chance to have it done.

It doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as it looks. The coin isn’t digging into your skin at all, and you don’t bleed. The Javanese say your skin turns red because of the bad air being released from your body. The scientific explanation for the redness is that the coin is actually bursting some kind of small blood vessel near the surface of the skin as it passes over.

Yo, unfortunately is very ticklish and has zero pain tolerance, so I took the following pictures while Dewi was kerok-ing him. Don’t mind the poor quality snapshots. That’s what my blog has become.

I made him smile for that next-to-last one. It was a very pained smile.

I realize that this looks like some form of torture, and watching Yo, you'd think it really was. However, I know Yo well enough to believe that it probably didn't hurt as much as his low pain threshold would seem to suggest, and after Dewi’s hand rested, I asked if she’d do me.  And of course, she said yes!

I'm not sure who took these pictures, but I'm glad that someone did so that I can have documentation of my first kerok experience!

I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt. It definitely does – mostly when the coin rubs over your bones. I was gritting my teeth pretty hard the whole time. But I definitely beat Yo who screamed like a little girl and wriggled all over the living room floor while Dewi was trying to help him.

The past three days, I’ve been the most sick in the mornings, so I’m waiting until tomorrow morning to give my final decision as to if it works or not. All I can say with certainty now is that I had a headache building before I had this done, and it’s gone now.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt at all right now. My back actually feels kind of numb. We'll see how long that lasts...

PORK

Remember two days ago where I briefly contemplated going home with a strange man just so that I could eat the pork his mom cooked for dinner? Well, my good decision making skills were rewarded.

I did NOT go home with a strange man two nights ago, but one night ago, I was at the birthday party of another man I don’t know and who wasn’t even there*, and the theme was… PORK! Like, who DOES that? I’m not complaining though. The man’s wife cooked FOUR different pork based dishes: pork rib soup (sup iga babi), pork fried noodles (mie goreng babi), spicy lemongrass pork (rica2 babi), and marinated grilled pork on a stick (sate babi). That pork on a stick was like candy for me. I had fifths. And I woke up with a sick stomach today, but it was soooo worth it!

This was my second or third plate. I forget which… On top is the spicy lemongrass pork and the bottom is obviously the pork on a stick.

If there is food in Heaven, I hope it is this exact pork on a stick.

 

*The birthday boy was my friend’s brother. He’s in the Indonesian Navy and is currently out at sea and so was unable to attend his own birthday party. So his two siblings invited their friends over to his house for dinner. It was weird. But… PORK!

Things I Have Done Tonight

1. I briefly considered going home with a guy I met at a soccer game after school. But only because he told me his mom was cooking pork for dinner. It had nothing to do with the guy and everything to do with the possibility of pork. Don’t judge me. You try living in a country where pork is forbidden for 4 years, and then you’ll know what I mean.
2. I made 4 dozen cookies for Bible study tomorrow. This is one of my hybrid recipes. They started out as normal oatmeal cookies. Then I reduced the amount of butter and sugar and added dried coconut, walnuts, homemade vanilla, butterscotch chips, etc. And I haven’t eaten a SINGLE one yet! Go, me!

3. I made a candle! The Ace Hardware here used to sell these most delicious candles, but they all went on sale several months ago and I was afraid that meant they wouldn’t be available any more. So naturally, I bought like a hundred. I mean, they were on sale, so that’s like saving money, right? Anyways, I’ve burnt most of them down as far as they’ll go. But I saved the melted bits and the bottoms that didn’t quite burn. And it turns out I had enough to make a whole new candle! This one will last me quite awhile I hope.

4. I spent THREE hours not only re-learning a section of calculus but also figuring out how to teach it very clearly (that’s the hope anyways) to my 5 AP students first thing tomorrow morning.  It will be their first ever look at derivatives. That’s pretty foundational stuff.

5. I took this dress that I don’t know why I bought last summer in America since it’s too short to even wear here, and I made it into a semi decent skirt that I CAN wear – even to school to teach in!

             

It has been a productive night. And my house smells delicious. Who wants to come visit?

*EDIT* I would like to add to this list that I have now also killed a centipede and four cockroaches. That is all.

Lost

Earlier this summer, our school did English training for a group of science and math teachers from Indonesian schools up to 5 hours away. Since I was here all summer, I ended up helping, and several of the visiting teachers walked away with photos of me and/or my Facebook name (this is my compromise when I don't want to give them all my phone number). One nice gentleman has been very diligent in writing me, but he tries to use English as much as possible, and sometimes I just don't understand him.

Just a few minutes ago, I got this message from him: Miss, how his brother, does so to Indonesia?

I just didn't know what to make of it. Then I got an idea. I put it into Google translate and translated it from English back to Indonesian.

This is the Indonesian translation: Nona, bagaimana saudaranya, tidak jadi ke Indonesia?

AHA! What he is ACTUALLY saying is: Miss, what about your relative, did he/she end up coming to Indonesia?

I must have mentioned to that group of teachers that my sister would be coming this summer.

And now I have the key to understanding Indonenglish. Back translation.

Summer Lovin

I realize that summer has been gone for over a month now. But I found lots of pictures of it on my camera this weekend! Previously un-posted pictures. So I decided to un-un-post them!

1. I found lots of pictures of my cat sleeping in my wardrobe thingy. He figured out how to open the door to it, and most afternoons this summer, he would be curled up sleeping on top of the give away pile of clothes on the bottom. I don’t like cats all that much, but I do have to admit that sometimes they do cute things.

2. I went to a Bible study from my church regularly, starting not long before summer break. I love this group of people, and I’m thankful for all the memories we’ve made together and for how I can see God using them to impact Indonesia. Also, that is a sleeping child in the foreground, NOT a dead body.

3. Some random things I found in my classroom.

Exhibit a) A very strange looking dead bug being eaten by ants.

Exhibit b) This drawing on the floor by my desk.

Exhibit c) This student who insisted his outfit did NOT look Amish from the back even after I took this picture and showed him.

4. That jungle fire behind my house. Of course, I thought to take a picture when it was almost burned out, so the picture doesn’t really do it justice, but here it is anyways. My house is to the left of where I was standing when I took this picture.

5. I learned to plant rice! I took a few friends over to Pak Kur’s house and helped him plant his sawah (rice field). He let us plant an entire petak (terraced section).

The petak we planted is the one just above where the men are working.

The young rice waiting to be planted, and the rows we did in one afternoon. We came back the next day to finish the right side.

Walking back into the village, we ended up following this guy, another rice farmer. You can’t really tell from this photo, but the guy is wearing a black ski mask with a baseball cap on over the top of it and carrying a hoe over his shoulder. It was both a little scary and a little funny as well. The lengths people will go to in order to keep “cool”… I don’t understand it.

I love the colors of these little plants that grow on the surface of the already harvested petak.

6. Sister times! I didn’t post many pictures from when she was here, so here they are!!

Soto. I promised dad I’d take sister to HIS favorite soto (chicken and rice soup) restaurant, so here is the proof!

I also took her to MY favorite little Indonesian coffee shop. She begged to go back, so that’s a good sign!

And now for the most photographed thing we did together – the animal market in Ambarawa! This is a scary place for white girls, so I asked my good friend Hotjaga to accompany us. He and his son kindly did, and basically all of the pictures below were taken by one of them. Also, I realize that both of us look real rough and not at all put together in these pictures – that was intentional. The nicer you look, the more unwanted attention you get in this almost entirely male crowd. I don’t get called “sweetheart” anywhere else as many times as I do when I go to this place.

First stop – the cock fights! That’s what that group of men up ahead are all watching. We didn’t take pictures of the fight though since cock fighting is technically illegal and us taking pictures would make everyone involved really uncomfortable and nervous.

Next, the black magic man.

Explaining his palm reading charts. And oh, that cloth bag is full of snakes. We didn’t stick around long enough to see what he did with them though.

Next stop – the poultry barn! All those baskets are full of baby ducks, turkeys, geese, chickens, etc.

On to the goats. This guy really liked me.

And then… The ummm… shoes? Good luck finding a matching pair!

Off to the cattle barns. It amazes me how big of a demand for cattle there is given that most people don’t eat beef (too expensive) and that a full grown cow costs about the same as an average Indonesian’s yearly salary! But there are more cattle at the animal market than any other type of animal.

You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but this guy really REALLY wanted me to take a picture of him with his two cows. He was laughing and talking to me, then as soon as I finally pulled my camera out, he got SUPER serious.

This right here is the record holder for biggest bull I’ve EVER seen on Java. This day was also the first time I’ve seen Herefords here (which I’m assuming these are somehow crossed with).

The random caged animals section. This is where people bring in pretty much whatever they can catch in the jungle and try to sell it.

1. Porcupine. Didn’t even know we had those here.

2. Civet? Maybe?

3. All kinds of birds.

4. Puppies, flying squirrels, jungle cats, and chickens. What a combo.

5. The dumbest looking chickens I have ever seen in my life. The looks on our faces say it all. I love that Hotjaga captured this moment.

6. And my favorite part of the animal market – cobra guy! Basically he sets up a tarp and sits under it with a bag of cobras waiting for a paying customer. The customer pays $2.50 to drink the cobra’s blood. The Javanese have a whole list of ailments that cobra blood will cure. It’s also supposed to make men better in bed, if you know what I mean. So here is the process.

1. Wait patiently for someone to say they want a drink. And he kind of just lets the cobra go wherever. I wonder how many times he’s been bitten.

2. AH! Someone from the crowd shouts that they want it. Put the snake’s head in a vise and cut it off with a meat cleaver.

3. Drain the blood into a plastic cup, add some energy drink, lime, honey, and ginger.

4. Turn the snake’s skin inside out and pull it all off.

5. Slice the snake’s body open and snip out some very important internal part and throw it in the cup o blood.

6. Throw the snake meat into another bag (not the one with the live snakes), stir up the cup and hand it to the customer who takes it like a shot – one gulp – then returns the cup to be used again for the next customer. And repeat…

Here we are watching. Question – who is holding that chicken in the bottom left corner? I have stared at this picture for minutes on end, and I cannot figure it out.  Frankly, it is a little creepy.

Oh, good! Cobra man has a pamphlet!

If you ever come visit me in Indonesia, I promise to take you to the animal market. It is always an adventure!

7. How much stuff can an Asian carry on a motorbike? Here is a win. I don’t even know what he is carrying, but it is a lot of it.

8. Wedding times. This past weekend (I know, not summer times, but oh well), a group of friends went to the wedding reception of another one of our friends. It was the most Western wedding I’ve been to so far in Indonesia. At one point, they made all the single people come stand by the stage, and the bride and groom threw two plush basketballs into the crowd. Our new German friend caught one of them and had to go on stage with the MCs. They asked him several times where he is from, but joke’s on them because HE DOESN’T SPEAK INDONESIAN!

They finally realized this, and the lady MC asked him in English, “Where do you come from?” So after that, they just referred to him as “The German basketball player”. One for two. That’s OK. They were giving away a new cell phone, and the girl ended up winning, but Yona was a good sport about it anyways.

After it got so hot we couldn’t stand it anymore, we all went back to our friend Atik’s house. This is usually where you can find us hanging out on Saturday nights, drinking hot tea and talking together.

One of the best parts of the whole night was when some street musicians came up to the house and started playing, hoping for a few coins, and we took the opportunity to have a spontaneous dance party on the front porch. The pengamen (street musicians) thought it was hilarious and even took a request! Ah, I love my friends!

 

Posting all these pictures has been good for my heart. I have such an amazing life here, and even on the days when I just want to shop at Target or eat a steak, I wouldn’t trade living here for the world!