These Things

I have a good friend here named Melanie. One of Melanie's good friends from America came for a visit this week! I like it when new people come, because I like seeing Indonesia through their eyes. I'm so interested in what shocks them, what they marvel over, what is totally new to them, what they have questions about, and what breaks their hearts. So many things become so normal for me that I forget what it's like to see this country and these people with new eyes. I forget what it's like to have to take everything in for the first time - the sights, the sounds, the language, the foods, the smells. It feels like everything is moving at a million miles an hour all around you all the time.

But now that's just my everyday, ordinary life. I don't hear the mosques anymore. I'm not surprised when I see people sleeping on the sidewalk. The spicy food doesn't burn my tongue. Weaving through traffic on a motorbike is fun for me. I don't miss a beat in my conversation as I drop some coins into the hand of the guy standing next to my table in the restaurant loudly playing a ukulele and singing obnoxiously. I don't even check to see if the car HAS seat belts anymore. I can switch back and forth between formal language and slang language - depending on who I'm talking to - without thinking about it. Power out is no problem. Wildlife in my house is to be expected.

But there are still a few things that surprise me every time. One thing is how little stuff costs. I went out to dinner tonight with seven friends. We all ate until we were full, and then some more. We all drank tea and fresh fruit juice. And when we were done, I wrote down everything we ate and gave the list to the owner so that she would know how much to charge us. (Usually, we pay one at a time with each person listing off in turn what he or she ate for the owner who then adds up the cost in her head. Tonight, I was paying for everyone, so rather than having each person say individually what they ate, we wrote it all down and had her add it up all at once.)

Once she had added it up, she told me the total. I made her add it up again because I thought that surely she was wrong. She added it up again and got the same number. So I had her show me what each item on the list cost, and I went through and added it all up myself. Same number. It was correct.

Eight people ate dinner.
For $5.