highlight of the week

1. gong xi fa cai! and happy chinese new year!

2. last week, i found a bunch of stickers i got when i was in korea. so i brought them to school with every intention of using them. and now i am! and conveniently, the top 3 scorers on today’s precal test were all korean! so they’ll actually be able to read the “you rock!” message on their sticker intended for little kids. this is making me happy today.

aren’t they so cute?!?

3. here’s a series of shots i took in class yesterday when one of the korean  boys found an article of clothing (a vest, unbeknownst to him) laying on the floor under his desk and he decided to try and figure out what it is and how to wear it. the first picture starts after about 4 minutes of him trying to figure out which way it goes.

 

 

yes, it did finally take a girl to help him get it on. and yes, the whole class did clap for him because it took him at least 5 minutes to get the thing figured out. and yes, he did proceed to wear it for the rest of the day.

4. while i was getting the above pictures off my camera, i found the following. it’s a moth i found on the wall outside one of our classrooms about a month ago! i had forgotten about these!

5. the weather has been VERY cloudy, cold and rainy the last few days. we haven’t had any sun for awhile, which is really unusual. and the constant drizzly-ness is getting to my mood and my attitude, though i’m trying hard not to let it.  so the above highlights of my day/week have been extra special to me!

brothers

[11:06:59 AM] me: brother.
[11:16:02 AM] brother: yes
[11:17:32 AM] me: be careful if you drive home.
[11:17:46 AM] brother: yeah, we're not sure if we're going yet
[11:18:58 AM] me: you going with roman/xander if you go?
[11:19:08 AM] brother: yeah. and a random black guy adam's making us take.
[11:19:57 AM] me: "a random black guy". can you be any more specific? like what shade of black, perhaps?
[11:20:10 AM] brother: his name is dwayne
[11:20:52 AM] me: hmm. wow. will he be pallbearing as well? or does he have a different agenda?
[11:21:09 AM] brother: no, just going
[11:21:23 AM] me: to the funeral? or to indiana?
[11:21:33 AM] brother: to the funeral
[11:22:11 AM] me: uhm. ok. didn't know josiah was popular with the african american community of urban tulsa.

Oh, my dear heavens....

Foods that I have cooked in the last week or that I plan to cook in the next week due to my mother sending me 2 blocks of cheddar cheese in the mail that I have not cooked for the past 2.5 years

1. Quesadillas. Seriously, I have made at LEAST 20 of these in the last week.

2. Barbecue chicken and cheddar sandwich. THREE times.

3. Grilled cheese sandwich. Not yet.

4. Garlic cheesy bread. Last night. With pesto.

5. Macaroni and cheese. Tonight’s dinner.

6. Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese in them. Not yet.

7. Heck, I’ve just been coming home from work and taking bites out of the blocks of cheese. No sense keeping that a secret.

8. Cheese and crackers.

9. Nachos. Because I still have some of that shredded, canned beef and pork saved that mom mailed me for Christmas last year. Haha.... I just need to find some time to make the chips.

10. Burnt cheese stuck to a pan. So that was a byproduct of the garlic cheese bread, but I love it so much that I contemplated actually making a whole pan of burnt cheese stuck to a pan. It’s still a possibility.

*edit* I am currently eating the macaroni and cheese. I don't wanna brag or anything, but it's basically amazing. That might have something to do with the fact that for some reason, I cannot find fresh milk anywhere lately, so I used thick cream and a bunch of cheddar mixed with mozarella. I think this is the richest mac and cheese I've ever had... Or maybe I just haven't had it for so long that I've forgotten what it's supposed to taste like.

My plate

I always, always, always feel as if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. But by the grace of God, I always manage to make it. Here’s what my plate looks like so far this year.

1. School, of course, is first and foremost. I teach 23 classes a week in a 30 class per week schedule. I also stay after school for at least an hour on Mondays and Wednesdays to tutor. We’re working on preparing for the upcoming visit of our accreditation organization, so that keeps all us teachers extra busy as well.

2. And now, I’m a student again! I’ll be working towards getting my TESOL certification throughout this year. Online classes started last week, and that is taking up a LOT of my time. About 2 hours a day are devoted to that.

3. I lead worship for an English language fellowship that meets once a week. So this means at least 2 practices a week plus the fellowship itself.

4. Aswan and I are heading up a sponsor a child program that some students here at school started for a nearby village that I am affiliated with. So every month, I get to collect money from lots of people and go shopping for 29 kids!

5. I am helping one of the seniors here plan a charity event (tentatively in March) to support orphans in North Korea.

6. I’m also the point person for the juniors who are planning the entire senior banquet (prom). Luckily, they are a great group of kids who have really run with it! I haven’t had to do too much with this besides give input and approve things...

7. Yearbook! I still have no idea how to teach this class, but somehow, it’s coming together. Print time (aka stress time) is coming up fast!

8. I was asked to help with a once a week English club at the local university. Still haven’t heard details on that, but as of now, I’ve agreed to help out on a semi-regular basis.

9. Two Bible studies a week. One with Muslim and Christian Indonesians and one with the single white ladies. Gotta maintain some balance in my social life. : )

10. Fridays after school, I work at Koinonia, our local coffeeshop. It is insanely busy there since it’s only open on Fridays. And since the owner, Marie, is one of my closest friends and she sometimes gives me free drinks, I jumped at the chance to help out!

11. Memorizing parts of the Bible in Indonesian! Aaaaaah! The Lord’s Prayer – almost done!

12. Helping Aswan write his 70 page thesis paper. Part of it has to be in English, so I’m translating that part for him. And sometimes he gets tired of typing, so he dictates and I try to type. (It is really hard to be dictated to in a foreign language! Yeah, I speak Indonesian, but I don’t understand all the formal and technical language in his paper. Thank goodness Indonesian is so phonetic!)

13. Organizing all my school files, curriculum, and materials. I don’t know if next year will be my last or not, but if it is, I sure as heck don’t want to spend the year frantically trying to organize 4 years worth of teaching materials.

14. AMERICAN IDOL! Friday nights after coffeeshop. This is my one chance to spend some quality time with Marie and her family. And it’s also some quality time with my own culture!

15. Boyfriends take time too. Especially cross cultural ones. And it can be hard to balance that with maintaining other cross cultural friendships as well. Especially with everything else going on...

16. Knitting scarves. Aswan wants to start selling them. So now I have some motivation for knitting other than just keeping my hands from being idle. Extra money for America trip!

17. Head teacher for the student activities committee. We plan the school events. Well, mostly the students do. I just have to be there.

Well, I think that’s at least the majority of it. There’s always little things that come up like dormsitting or babysitting for someone or preparing random school projects... It seems like a LOT, but it’s really not any more than anybody else. And as always, I love every minute of my hectic schedule!

old wives tales or true remedies?

remedies for my recurring headache suggested to me over the past week by some very helpful javanese friends (though the "very helpful" part is yet to be determined, i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt).

1. pinch the end of your thumb really hard. the nerves there are connected to your head and this will relieve the pressure.
2. look up, like to the sky, more frequently. looking down all day will give you a headache.
3. massage your hands. more specifically, really work out the kinks in that sensitive area between your thumb and forefinger bones.
4. stand on your head for 5 minutes. this is also apparently a good remedy for when your bladder "moves south".
5. go get a cream bath at the salon (conditioning hair treatment + 30 minute shoulder/head massage that costs $2).
6. go visit pak dumeri (the previously blogged about nerve masseuse).
7. relax more. take naps. and don't be mad at anyone. i like this one.
8. crush up ginger root and hot peppers and put it on your head.

i think i'm gonna try that last one first. or not?

speaking indonesian is good times

this week, my good friend, hotjaga, has been posted at the gate outside my house in the evenings. today, he smsed me to inform me that he feels like i've been paying too much attention to my boyfriend and ignoring him. the poor thing. truth is, i've ended up with a headache every day for the last week, so i haven't been going anywhere in the evenings, therefore not passing through the gate where he's posted, therefore not giving us a chance to chat regularly like we used to.

so today, i didn't feel like eating the fried rice my helper cooked for dinner (since i already ate it for lunch and - based on the quantity i found in my fridge - will apparently be eating for lunch for the next several days as well), so i made quesadillas with the cheddar cheese my mom mailed me (SUCCESS! - you CAN mail cheese overseas in a box). i smsed pak hot to ask if he wanted to try some mexican-ish food, and he said yes. so i took him some quesadilla and salsa, skeptical as to whether he would like it or not. there are so few dairy based products around here that indonesians think kraft singles are the bottom line as far as cheese is concerned. they don't believe me when i try to tell them IT'S NOT REAL CHEESE. KRAFT SINGLES ARE IMPOSTERS MASQUERADING AS CHEESE. and they're like, "maskaWHATing?" siiiiiigh....

back to the story. pak hot is an introvert, but put us two introverts together, and we could talk all night long. he's a good one to talk to for me, because he works hard to speak in a language that he knows i'll understand (he understands some english but doesn't speak it). sometimes he has to dumb it down. and he knows what words are beyond my vocabulary, and when he can't avoid using one of those words, he'll ask me, "understand?" and more often than not, i don't. so he'll explain it.

i'm getting away from the story again though. so yeah, i took him a quesadilla and we chatted for awhile. we talked about cheese and how much he likes it and how kraft singles are imposters masquerading as cheese. and he totally agreed. finally! someone javanese agrees with me about what is and is not real cheese! he spent awhile reliving his glory days as one of the most famous soccer goalies in central java before his accident. and like always, i pretended to be fascinated. we swapped childhood stories, scar stories, almost drowning stories, and the like. then somehow we started talking about terrorists. two were just arrested this week about an hour from here.

i've had this confusion for a long time. see, as i understand it, most terrorists/muslim radicals tend to be anti-western culture (that's kind of a sweeping generalization, but bear with me). in indonesia, if there's an attack, it's where there are lots of white people. jakarta. bali. hotels. nightclubs. but these terrorists, many of them, are recruited, trained, and live with two hours of me. the headquarters of the indonesian branch of al-quada are in the next city, or so i've heard. so i asked pak hot, a muslim, why do they go so far away to blow things up and wreak havoc?

and i finally got my answer. in indonesia, it isn't about islam vs the west. they can live in peace with white people. i mean, indonesia is all about living in peace and unity. this brand of terrorism is political. they want to hurt indonesia. they don't agree with the way this country is run, and they're making a statement about it. they're not after the white people. they're out to cripple tourism in one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. they're out to make a statement to president SBY in jakarta. it has nothing to do with skin color. it has everything to do with making their voice heard.

obviously, there are better, less destructive ways to make a point. but i live in what is reportedly the area most densely populated with white people in all of indonesia. and finally having this answer, knowing that their sights aren't set on the western community as a whole, well... it's reassuring in some small way.

and as always, it was good talking to my old friend, the hotjaga.

moments that shouldn't be forgotten

i was just looking over my blog, and i had a sudden memory come back to me, something that happened a few months ago that i never wrote about. but i don't want to forget it. so here it is.

it happened when i went to one of the villages at merapi - the one that we took all the plant starts to. before we came back down off the mountain, we were all invited into the village leader's house for tea (this is normal for the culture) and at least 50 of the villagers crowded in as well. while we were eating snacks and drinking our tea, someone from the village asked if we would pray for them.

i'm not one to stand up and speak in front of a crowd, but i really felt like i should, so i did. i asked if i could pray in english, and they all wholeheartedly agreed. so i prayed. i thanked God for the protection over that village. i prayed for their future, which was looking pretty bleak at that point with everything destroyed. i prayed blessings over those people. and as i was praying, even though not a single one of them understood a word i was saying, the room was filled with agreement. i almost couldn't hear myself praying over the Javanese choruses of "nggih" (yes) and "oh, Gusti" (oh, Lord). after i finished praying, an indonesian who had come with us repeated as much of the prayer as he could remember in javanese and the noise level went up even more as everyone simultaneously added to the prayer. a chorus of saints.

it wasn't until after we had left that i found out that village is 100% muslim.

FACTS

the spanish teacher when the class got him distracted by asking why there is such a range of skin tones here in indonesia -

“well, you had the dutch rulers giving their... ahem... seeds and that’s where the lighter people come from, then you have the african-centrics living on papua, so there’s the dark skin.”

african-centrics? really?

and again....
student: can i go to the bathroom?
teacher: i certainly hope you can.

and yet again....

student: have you ever been to jail?
teacher: yes.
student: for reals?
teacher: what?
student: reals. for reals. you’ve been to jail? like locked up because you did something bad?
*loooooooooooong pause in which you could have heard a butterfly blink*
teacher: let’s do exercise b.

the little things

so here’s a brief list of things that i anticipate will shock me when i come home this summer. if i anticipate them enough, then will i not be shocked? here’s the first 20 things that come to mind. i’m sure there are many, many more.

1. the toilets are gonna look funny. even the “western” toilets here are shaped differently. and you push a button to flush! and there will be bathtubs in america. and an abundance of toilet paper.

2. table manners. completely different. i mean, what is rude in one culture is polite in the other. and vice versa. sorry mom, you’re gonna think i’m a barbarian for the first couple weeks.

4. driving on the left side of the vehicle on the right side of the road. that’s gonna be a hard one. but highway driving will be GREAT. no traffic jams, cruising speeds, no helmet hair.

5. shopping will be way less of a challenge, thanks to stores like wal-mart and target.

6. non deep fried foods. and no rice. not sure if i’ll survive. because here, even if i’m throwing up sick, i still eat rice.

7. you can’t just walk up to total strangers and start a conversation in america. and i won’t be the center of attention. because in dekalb county, if you’re not mexican, you’re white.

8. in america, you don’t have to turn keys clockwise 720 degrees to lock the door. and in america, you actually have to lock the door.

9. no crushed chiles to eat with absolutely everything. food there is gonna be so bland.

10. if boyfriend gets to come to america with me, i can actually hold his hand in public and not labeled a errrmmm... loose woman.

11. things will be in english! i’ll have to reprogram my brain NOT to translate everything i hear/read. and i might actually have to use good grammar when i speak.

12. everything will be WAAAAY more expensive. i’m gonna think the dollar menu at mcdonalds is outrageous. not that i’m planning to eat at mcdonalds. i can do that here.

13. the silence is gonna be overwhelming.

14. sunset after 6 pm? weird.

15. in america, I CAN DRINK WATER STRAIGHT FROM THE SINK!!!

16. i shouldn’t touch my hand to my chest after shaking someone’s hand in america. also, i won’t have to shake the hand of everyone in the room when i come or go. that’ll be nice.

17. i can look people in the eye and stand with my hands on my hips in america and people won’t think i’m lookin to start a fight.

18. POOOOOOOORK!

19. i can say what i think and expect others to do the same. none of this beating around the bush and avoiding conflict.

20. everybody is gonna think my boyfriend is mexican.

berhasil!!

so our last night in bali, there were 4 of us remaining (the other 2 had to go home a day early), and we decided that our new years "project" of sorts would be to work on memorizing bible verses in indonesian. and to keep us accountable, we decided to make a bit of a game out of it. whoever didn't memorize the verses in the set amount of time would have to buy a gift for everyone who did memorize them. and add to that the fact that two of us live on java and two of us live on sulawesi... so any gifts would have to be shipped. that's some motivation.

anyways, our first passage was (ambitiously) colossians 3:1-17, chosen by me, as we had read that passage together on new years eve in our villa. it kind of became our theme passage, specifically verse 14. and (even more ambitiously) we decided to memorize it in 10 days. now, if you're doing the math, yes, it has been more than 10 days since we got back from bali. the problem was that one of our friends on sulawesi was riding her motorbike when two guys decided to try and steal her bag, which resulted with her bike in the ditch, her laying in the road, 12 stitches in her head, 10 more in her elbow, lots of lost blood, and lots of pain meds. which, in turn, caused an inability to retain short term information. or so she says... so we granted a 1 week extension. oh, and they didn't get her bag.

today was the new deadline. we all skyped together at precisely 7:30 JK (jam karet (rubber time), which could also stand for "just kidding", which would be fitting). and now, just to show off, here is what i spent the last 17 days memorizing, from memory.

"karena itu, kalau kamu dibangkitkan bersama dengan Kristus, carilah perkara yang di atas, di mana Kristus ada, duduk di sebelah kanan Allah. pikirkanlah perkara yang di atas, bukan yang di bumi. sebab kamu telah mati dan hidupmu tersembunyi bersama dengan Kristus di dalam Allah. apabila Kristus, yang adalah hidup kita, menyatakan diri kelak, kamu pun akan menyatakan diri bersama dengan Dia dalam kemuliaan. karena itu, matikanlah dalam dirimu segala sesuatu yang duniawi, yaitu percabulan, kenajisan, hawa nafsu, nafsu jahat, dan juga keserakahan, yang sama dengan penyembahan berhala. semuanya itu mendatangkan murka Allah [atas orang orang durhaka]. dahulu kamu juga melakukan hal hal itu ketika kamu hidup di dalamnya, tetapi sekarang buanglah semuanya ini, yaitu marah, geram, kejahatan, fitnah, dan kata kata kotor yang keluar dari mulutmu. jangan lagi kamu saling mendustai karena kamu telah menanggalkan manusia lama serta kelakuannya, dan telah mengenakan manusia baru yang terus menerus diperbaharui untuk memperoleh pengetahuan yang benar menurut gambar Khaliknya. dalam hal ini tiada lagi orang yunani atau orang yahudi, orang bersunat atau orang tak bersunat, orang barbar atau orang skit, budak atau orang merdeka, tetapi Kristus adalah semua dan di dalam segala sesuatu. karena itu, sebagai orang orang pilihan Allah yang dikuduskan dan dikasihiNya, kenakanlah belas kasihan, kemurahan, kerendahan hati, kelemahlembutan, dan kesabaran. sabarlah kamu seorang terhadap yang lain dan ampunilah seorang akan yang lain apabila yang seorang menaruh dendam terhadap yang lain, sama seperti Tuhan telah mengampuni kamu, kamu perbuat jugalah demikian. Dan di atas semuanya itu, kenakanlah kasih, sebagai pengikat, yang mempersatukan dan menyempurnakan. hendaklah damai sejahtera Kristus memerintah dalam hatimu, karena untuk itulah kamu telah dipanggil menjadi satu tubuh. dan bersyukurlah. hendaklah perkataan Kristus diam dengan segala kekayaannya di antara kamu, sehingga kamu, dengan segala hikmat, mengajar dan menegur seorang akan yang lain, dan sambil menyanyikan mazmur dan puji pujian dan nyanyian rohani, kamu mengucap syukur kepada Allah di dalam hatimu. dan segala sesuatu yang kamu lakukan dengan perbuatan atau perkataan, lakukanlah semuanya itu dalam nama Tuhan Yesus, sambil mengucap syukur oleh Dia kepada Allah, Bapa kita."

can i just say, "WHEW!".... that was a lot to memorize and a lot to recite. it was a good experience though, as i now know many words i didn't before. words like harlotry, slander, and lust. helpful words, obviously. but i do have to say, that in many cases, i prefer the indonesian version over the english one. just the way things are worded... for example, my favorite part of that above passage is in verse 11. My english version (NCV) says, "But Christ is in all believers, and Christ is all that is important." the indo version says, "tetapi Kristus adalah semua dan di dalam segala sesuatu". roughly translated, "but Christ IS all and IN all." i like it.

two people didn't memorize it completely, so i get two presents! maybe... if they actually hold up their end of the bargain. i suggested we do something a bit shorter and a bit more useful next. so we have until the 6th of february to memorize the Lord's prayer. 4 verses in 2 weeks sounds a lot more reasonable than 17 verses in 10 days. and for the record, i DID have it all memorized by day 10.

in other news, THIS is randomly making me really happy today. i want some.

and PS - just for kicks, here is the google translation of the verses above. the part about putting on the new man gets me every time....

Therefore, if you raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. think about things which are above, not on earth. because you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. when Christ, who is our life, declare themselves someday, you too will manifest themselves with Him in glory. therefore, turn it off in you all things earthly, namely fornication, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, the same as idolatry. it was wrath of God [for people of disobedience]. formerly you also do it when you live in it, but now throw all of this, the angry, furious, evil, slander, and dirty words coming out of your mouth. again you do not lie to each other because you have the old man and his behavior, and have put on the new man who continuously updated to obtain the right knowledge in the image Khaliknya. in this case no longer Greek or Jew, circumcised men or men uncircumcised, barbarian or Skit, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all things. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. be patient ye one another and forgive one another if the one holding a grudge against another, just as God has forgiven you, you do too, so. And above all, put on love, as a binder, a unifying and perfecting. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell with all his wealth among you, so that you, with all wisdom, teach and admonish one another, and singing psalms and hymns of praise and glory, you give thanks to God in your heart. and everything you do with the deeds or words, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, as he gave thanks through him to God, our Father.

lately, lately

so here are some random things that have made me smile or gaze in wonder recently that i managed to catch on my awesome (i’m being facetious) camera phone due to SOMEONE’S boyfriend being out of town with her real camera.

1. i was reading a magazine in a cafe in bali, and i found a recipe for hardtack! now, if you are my mom, you might recall that when i was in elementary/middle school, i was obsessed with reading historical fiction books from the pioneer era. if you are not my mom... well, now you know about my childhood love of reading books from the pioneer era. i was also extremely into oregon trail. my brother and sister and i even had an area in our woods designated as our “homestead”, and we would spend hours out there gathering berries and catching fish in the creek to “survive”. so anyways, needless to say, finding a recipe for one of the staple foods of the pioneers made my heart happy. and yes, i am absolutely planning to make it. i have been baking like none other lately. this is next on the list.

2. bus musicians are nothing new. they jump on the bus at one stop, play a few songs, pass around an empty snack size chip bag for coins, then jump off the back of the bus at the next stop. sometimes i pretend i’m asleep so i don’t have to give money to the guy with the cigarette hanging out his mouth or the one who sounds like 15 screeching cats (all in different keys!). but on the last leg of our trip home from bali, the bus from jogja to salatiga, this guy jumped on. and it was love at first sight. it was the cowboy hat. and you can’t see it, but he’s wearing lime green jeans. AND this was the first time i’d ever seen one play a harmonica! oddly enough, since then, i’ve seen like three. and coincidentally, i was sitting next to a really old muslim man, trying my best not to be halfway on his lap AND not trying to block the aisle in the seat made for one WHILE holding all my bali luggage. anyways, we got to talking. and i asked about the scorpion tattoo on his forearm captioned “lion boy”. “oh”, he said, “i got that back in ‘57 in the congo. i bet you weren’t even born yet in ‘57, were ya?” i very somberly replied, “sir, my parents weren’t born in ‘57”. he laughed.

 

3. this was the sky in the afternoon the other day. and it made me happy. because in the background, it was stormy blue. but right above me, there were pretty white and gray poofy clouds. that’s all.

4. i went out to dinner with some friends the other night, and a few of them weren’t feeling 100%, so they decided to get massages. typical in indonesia. it costs like 2 bucks for an hour. but they wanted to go to this special masseuse, mbah dumeri. he is an ancient nerve masseuse. and by ancient, i mean he is ancient, not his art, though it probably is too. apparently, he’s really well known and respected around here, mostly as a horse masseuse, of all things. if a horse injures its leg, he treats it. he can heal it. he knows where the nerves are in the body and how it all interconnects and where to push to make what feel better. crazy. so anyways, we show up at this guy’s house, just down the street from my own, and there’s a giant sign on the front door that says “center for koran education”. ok. so we go into the front room, and a lady says she’ll go get mbah dumeri. so we wait until he finally shuffles in the room and we all greet him with great respect. hotjaga went first. he messed up his back playing soccer last week and missed 3 days of work. i wasn’t really prepared for what was gonna happen. keep in mind that hotjaga is one of the toughest, least expressive men i know here. first, mbah pinched hotjaga’s middle finger. hotjaga almost fell off the couch onto the floor.  then mbah laid his hand on hotjaga’s neck. hotjaga squinched his eyes shut and opened his mouth wide, but no sound came out. this went on for less than 2 minutes, until mbah came back to the middle finger. this time, no reaction. “ah”, said mbah, “you are better, no?” hotjaga said he felt fine. next up.... yohanes. lower back ache. middle finger again. yo screamed everything short of profanities.

mbah was so nonchalant, just gently jamming his fingers into various nerves. and watching the tv in the corner. yo was nearly crying.

next up was atik. headache. mbah grabbed her foot and pinched the middle toe. atik actually kicked him and decided that was enough, it was to painful and she couldn’t take any more. mbah answered with a calmness reminiscent of Master Shifu in Kung Fu Panda, “ready or not ready? the choice is yours.” after a minute, atik finally nodded and he continued, getting kicked a couple more times. he did the nerves in her toes, calves, and forearms, then returned again to the middle toe. he got kicked again, so he knew she wasn’t finished. back to the arms. back to the middle toe. no reaction. “ah, you are healed.”

and afterwards, though they had spent two minutes in “sheer hell”, all three of them said they felt perfectly fine. no more headaches, no more backaches.

5. Yesterday was one of the junior girls’ birthdays. Usually, when someone at our school has a birthday, one of their friends will jump up at lunch, scream, “HEY! it’s so-and-so’s birthday, so let’s sing!” and we’ll all sing. yesterday was a little bit different. and you have to understand bree (the birthday girl) a little bit for this to make sense. she is the sweetest, most giving and generous, whimsical girl you will ever meet. she likes old fashioned things and has an adorable style all her own. anyways, at lunch yesterday, one of her friends jumped up and said, “HEY! it’s bree’s birthday, and we have a special song for her!” after that, about a dozen other girls jumped up on the picnic tables and began singing, “i am 16, going on 17...” and sang the WHOLE song. one of the senior boys came over and asked bree to dance, so dance they did! in the pavilion, on the picnic tables, running along the benches, spins, and dips. it was absolutely adorable! and oh, so bree. and it kinda made my day.

ok. that’s all!

facets of creation

there is a chameleon in my classroom currently.
you know, just hangin out.
we chased him out once, but he came back.
sooo.... whatever.

in case you don't know, chameleons are the ones who change color.
when it came in, it was waltzing (more like slipping) across the white tile floor. and its color was very pale green.
then we chased it under the bookshelf where it hid for awhile. and when it came back out, it was black.
now he's sitting by the dark green algebra 2 textbooks on the shelf. and guess what? he's dark green!

so cool.

things that make me happy today

i just went to the bathroom to wash my hands. i happen to be wearing my hair down today.

student: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY!
me: wow, kar. you're exuberant... how are you?
student: GREEEEAAAAAATTTTTT! i've never seen your hair down!
me: what? yes, you have!
student: i know. but not this year.
me: hmm... that is probably true given that the school year started 2 days ago.
student: you wore your hair down last year at graduation.
me: yup. i did.
student: with a white dress.
me: yes....
student: and a striped shawl.
me: now you're scaring me.
student: wanna know why i memorized your outfit?
me: sure. why?
student: because i have a picture of you from that day, and i show it to people thousands of times.
me: that's kind of creepy, kar....
student: no, it's not!!
me: why do you show people my picture?
student: to prove to my friends that there's actually pretty people at my school.
me: oh.... well, i'm happy to be your example..... i guess?
student: i always ask people what grade they think you're in. they almost always say 11th grade...
me: ...fantastic...
student: ...but then i tell them you're a teacher, and they all want to transfer to here and take a math class with you.
me: oh, dear....

*we walk out of the bathroom*

and on the way out of the bathroom, i happened to see this, freshly taped to the teacher's lounge door:

back into it....

teachers started back to school with an in-service on tuesday.
students returned on wednesday.
yesterday, after a particularly umm... engrossing.... precalculus lesson on deriving trigonometric sum and difference formulas, one student raised her hand.

me: yes, vartika?
vartika: just to check, will you be using ENGLISH in class tomorrow, or should we expect more of...... this?

oooooh, how my students amuse me.

things that happen at night around here

it is rather disconcerting to come home after dark and to have to drive AROUND the man literally sitting ON the road near your house. it gets even more disconcerting when you realize that the thing he's holding is a gun.

good thing i live in a country where firearms are illegal and it's at least 99% sure that he was holding was a bb gun. probably bat or squirrel hunting. bringing home the bacon.

in other news, i have felt lately like it's finally time to put down some roots here. so i've actually bought some stuff for my house! never one to invest too much in something i consider temporary, i went to town yesterday and bought plastic dishes to store leftover food in! because up til now, i've only had what i found in the house when i moved in - most of which have broken/cracked lids if they have lids at all. AND i found some sweet glass cannisters for storing things like flour and sugar in! and the best part is that ants can't get in! i usually just keep those things in the plastic bags they sell them in at market (i'm talking about the flour and sugar, not the ants - i don't buy bags of ants at market). ants floating in tea and coffee and being baked into cookies and breads have just been a fact of life for the past two and a half years in my house. well.... NO MORE, MY FRIEND! i have roots.

and oh yeah - school starts tomorrow.

Like wildfire...

so the word is out. and you might have already heard. but in case you haven’t, let me be the first to tell you...

i have a boyfriend.

and that’s all i’ll say. for now. : )

ps: we are not very photogenic. like, ever.

vacation, vacation...

and thus ends my third consecutive new years spent on the lovely island of bali. this year was different from the rest. first of all, it rained every single day. i am the same shade of white i was when i left, which is mildly depressing. i mean... come on.... 10 days in bali and no change? that’s borderline embarrassing. but it did mean i got a lot of sleeping, reading, and eating done. sleeping 16 hours a day never killed anyone, right? but i’m sure that had i spent more time with my eyes open, i could have devoured more than the 5 books that i did.  and speaking of devouring things... i LOVE all the eating opportunities on bali. we had traditional balinese suckling pig, turkish kebabs, $20 burgers from hard rock cafe, italian pizza and gelato, french salads, and just about everything in between. it was a good reprieve from salatiga food, which i had been getting sick of (the most international restaurant we have here is kfc. they serve fried chicken.... with rice). but by the end of our time in bali, i was ready for some nasi and tempe goreng!

something else different about this trip was the group. now, after two years here, i’m used to people coming and going. it’s a pretty transient community that i live in. the size of the bali new years group fluctuates every year (15 my first year, 8 my second year, and 6 this year), but this year we had the added element of two strangers on the trip. see, yohanes and i were the only ones from salatiga. but our two very, very dear friends, peco and tiff, who live on sulawesi now, came as well. and they brought two friends with them – faith and sam. strangers to me at first... but not for long. i’ve never gone on vacation with total strangers before, and it was interesting to see how quickly we all bonded. we clicked instantly, and it was absolutely amazing to spend 10 days with some amazing friends from my own culture. we held nothing back in our conversations, and we UNDERSTOOD each other. and i’m not just talking language.... but the ability to relate to each other’s fears, ambitions, life experiences, and the like.... sometimes i spend so much time with indonesians (whom i love equally as dearly) that i forget what that’s like - the feeling of knowing that someone fully understands and even FEELS what i’m saying without me having to explain it in minute detail. it made for some good times, some hilarious jokes, some deep discussions, even some tears. and lots of refreshment.

though the group always changes, there have been three constants throughout the past 3 balinese new years. yohanes, peco, and me. the three musketeers. i miss the days when all three of us lived in the same city and spent just about every free minute together. but God has called us all to different things. and He is using each of us in different ways. but boy, it is awesome to get to spend time with the two of them every year in bali! i think that no matter where life takes us, these two will always and forever be two of my dearest friends.

(the three of us on new year’s eve, 2008)

(and the three of us on new year’s eve, 2010. not much has changed. and we didn’t even plan to stand in the same position!)

so all in all (and rain and all), it was a great vacation. we all shook hands and agreed to meet back in bali in 2015. this year is a year of uncertainty for almost all of the six of us. so we decided not to commit to TOO much for new years eve 2011.

i love holidays.

i really do. and not even the american definition of it where you have to celebrate something that you don't even remember the original reason for. but the european definition. holiday. a day when you don't have to go to work. in fact, in my christmas holiday (american), i have 5 days of holiday (european) left. and oooooh, the things i accomplish when i don't get the life sucked out of me after being at work for 9 hours. take the last 24 hours, give or take, for example.

1. i got home from bali yesterday at 2 pm.
2. went directly to lunch with yo. tempe, nasi, and sambal.
3. went to aswan's house to deliver some oleh-oleh (souveniers from bali) and pick up my motorbike (which he had taken to get serviced while i was gone).
4. came back home and did 2 loads of laundry. but stopped on the way to buy a toothbrush, toilet paper, and facewash.
5. checked email for the first time in 10 days and replied to almost all of them.
6. unpacked everything and cleaned my house.
7. took a nap for 2 hours (i'd been up since 4:40).
8. watched bourne supremacy while skyping with dad.
9. cooked and ate dinner.
10. walked 2 miles while calling amber in america.
11. researched mauritania where i might end up living someday.
12. slept a full 8 hours.
13. woke up at 7:30, devotions.
14. edited and uploaded bali pictures.
15. took a shower.
16. gave my helper a list of things to buy at market.
17. distributed various sets of christmas photos taken with my camera to their rightful owners.
18. cooked breakfast and ate it outside in the sun while reading.
19. went out to lunch with yohanes.
20. took yohanes to drop his bike off at the garage to get serviced.
21. looked for ingredients to make my own vanilla, since it can't be bought in indonesia. (i found vanilla beans in bali! now i just need one more ingredient...)
22. took apart and fixed the washing machine. i noticed it wasn't working right yesterday. not even remotely. it took me like 5 hours to do my laundry.
23. went to my indonesian gramma's house to take gifts from bali and check on her health - she was in the hospital while i was gone. spent an hour chatting.
24. took yohanes back to the garage to pick up his motorbike.
25. went to school to pick up my paycheck.
26. helped a friend try to find work as a house helper.
27. blogged this. probably the biggest waste of time in the past 24 hours. but oh well. reading it makes me feel accomplished.

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.....

in an unprecedented move....

i.
just.
cooked.
a.
TURKEY!

just another day in indonesia...

1. wake up, no thanks to my alarm clock that didn't go off.
2. go to church. hold hands across the aisles, and sing together, tears running down our faces:
kuucapkan berkat (i speak blessings)
atas indonesia (over indonesia)
biar kemuliaan Tuhan (so the glory of the Lord)
akan nyata (will be obvious)
bagi bangsa ini (for these people)
kami berdiri (we stand)
dan membawa doa kami kepadaMu (and bring our prayer to You)
sesuatu yang besar (something big)
pasti terjadi (WILL happen)
mengubahkan negeri kami (change our country)
hanya namaMu Tuhan (only Your name, God)
ditinggikan (is raised)
atas seluruh bumi. (over the entire earth)
i was the only white person there.
3. come home and change clothes.
3.5. go back to church and help unload a semi filled with boxes of food, school supplies, bags of rice, and bottled water for the refugees.
4. go to the atm pavilion because i am down to 60 cents in my pocket. find that EVERY SINGLE atm is broken.
5. go into town to find another atm.
6. eat mie pangsit (boiled noodles and meat dumplings) for breakfast.
7. go to pasar hewan (livestock market) in ambarawa.
8. find the ONLY turkey in the entire 5 acre lot packed with animals and people trying to sell them, and try to convince the owner this scrawny bird is NOT worth rp300.000.
9. decide not to buy a live turkey for thanksgiving after all. it's not worth it.
10. watch a cock fight.
11. go hang out with all the guys selling goats.
12. walk through the cattle barns.
13. watch aswan be absolutely thrilled by the cow that can lick its own butt. he made me take a picture.
14. stop at an old dutch train station abandoned in the 70s. sit on the rails and contemplate life.
15. take the long way through the rice fields/coffee plantations/rubber forests/random villages back to salatiga.
16. come home. change clothes.
17. realize that there is really loud music playing. and it is reog (horse dance).
18. take ben (new teacher and photographer by trade) to photograph said horse dance.
19. get bit by a demon possessed man.
20. walk home over a river gorge 3 hours later in the pouring rain.
21. fall asleep watching the office.
22. get woken up 5 minutes later by my neighbor.
23. take my neighbor to get the hole in her arm taped shut after her elephant altercation.
24. chicken sandwich and a really lame movie.
25. write this blog.
26. bedtime.

out of all the people in the entire world, i'm so glad that God called ME to live in salatiga, indonesia.

quotes of the day

guy 1: so are you a model?
me: no.
guy 1: no? tell me you used to be a model.
me: no.
guy 1: really!?!
guy 2: he's trying to flirt on you. it doesn't work well for him.
guy 1: i'm straight.
me: ok.....?
guy 1: so did you ever want to be a model.
me: uh... no.
guy 1: oh. well, what do you teach?
me: math.
guy 1: wow.
guy 2: ya, pintar nih. (ya, this one is smart)
me: *laughs*
guy 1: you speak indonesian?!?
me: ya.
guy 1: why am i trying to flirt on you in english?! this isn't working...


student: wanna go to the christmas party with me?
me: only if you buy me flowers.
student: ok.
me: what??!


student: maybe she got a caucasian and forgot who she is.
me: a concussion?
student: oh yeah....


a junior: i think right now larissa is our valedictorian and jimin is our salutatorian.
me: wow...
same junior: and i think that the valedictorian and salutatorian should be people who represent our class well.
me: well, right now your valedictorian thinks a caucasian is a medical condition...


guy 1: i always said i will marry a woman with blue eyes and blonde hair.
guy 2: her hair isn't blonde.
guy 1: i always said i will marry a woman with blue eyes who is black.
me: who is black? what?
guy 1: i mean brunette.
me: i think you're making it up.

concentration camps, food poisoning, and everything in between

this week has kind of been a blur... here are some highlights.

1. concentration camps. ok, so not really, but for some reason, that's what i keep calling the evacuee/refugee camps. i went to 4 different camps on saturday and sunday. one of them was a camp i went to the week before, and it did my heart good to see far fewer people there this time. after asking around, i learned that the first time i was there, about 500 refugees were living in this indoor badminton court. but several of them had already moved back home. sunday, there were only 120 people still living there. awesome! this means the volcano is quieting down and rebuilding is about to start. rebuilding homes and rebuilding lives. i met some pretty cool people in my time there, even one friend that i still keep in contact with. i also discovered that i am really, really overly sensitive to ash. i kinda learned that the hard way when merapi decided to erupt while i was INSIDE the evac zone. awesome. but hey, i have now seen a volcano erupt, so that's something. five days later, my lungs are still clearing themselves out. oh, and i also learned that when ash gets wet, it makes a kind of cement mixture. that day it erupted, it also rained... and we were outdoors. guess how long it took me to wash the ash/rain mixture out of my hair? ugh.

2. food poisoning. ya, that's right. third time in two years. i'm really not sure what i got in to as the day before i started erupting, i ate every single meal as part of a group and nobody else got sick. the nice thing was that tuesday was when it was just coming on, so it mostly only meant a panicked jog to the bathroom every 45 minutes or so. disruptive to class, but manageable. and we're not shy about things like that here, so "sorry guys, i've gotta run to the toilet. again" is an acceptable reason to dash out in the middle of class. it wasn't until that night that all hell broke loose, and then we had school off on wednesday, so i had plenty of time to rest and use my OWN toilet. i'm thinking it's a sign of growing up when you're thankful that you're sick on your day off so that you don't have to miss work... thursday i was feeling nauseous, but the worst was over, and today (friday) i'm back to 100% again!

3. the reason we had school off wednesday was because it was idul adha, the muslim day of sacrifice. tuesday night, i drove by the mosque down the street and noticed 2 live cows standing on the porch. weird sight. the next morning, i drove by the same mosque, and the same 2 cows were still there, but in much smaller pieces. idul adha is like a huge party where all the men gather at the mosque to slaughter the cows, sheep, and goats, then they share the meat with the poor, with their neighbors, and with their families. everyone eats heartily on this day. and the cool thing is that a LOT of the sacrificial animals were bought from the merapi area as a means of supporting those people. buy their cow so they have enough money to rebuild their home.

4. a pastor from kalimantan came to visit this week, and i got to spend some time with him. pretty neat guy. he went to the refugee camps with us. and he commented that this disaster in many ways has been good for indonesia, especially in that it has caused the people of this nation to pull together as one and take care of its own. not much help is coming from the government, though many promises have been made. it's neighbor taking care of neighbor. and that's been awesome to see.

5. while on the way to one refugee camp, we passed a big military truck. and clearly stencilled on the sides was "U.S. ARMY"... is our military here? or was this the indo army using an old US truck? hmm... it was cool to see though.

6. i got asked to the christmas party by a 10th grader. i said, "sure, if you bring me flowers." i thought he was joking. but now he's telling everyone i'm going with him. then at lunch, a 10th grade girl came to me, kinda upset, because SHE wanted to go with him. oops. gotta rectify this. though i secretly suspect he asked me so that she couldn't ask him first. oh, high school...

7. tomorrow i'm doing photography work for a really nice resort in town. they need shots for their future promos. i'm a little nervous. i was also invited to have dinner with the owner (an american, actually) and the investors afterwards. i declined. partly because that sounds horrific, but also partly because i'm hoping to finish early so i can go to semarang.

8. today at lunch, a junior came up to me and said, "i noticed you seem like something is wrong lately. is there anything i can pray for you for?" aaah... i love this community. and that wasn't even a student i teach this year! amazing.

9. ok. that's all for now. the final bell of friday's school day just rang. hello, weekend!

you know you live in a third world country when...

... after working for 3 hours in a merapi refugee camp, and being completely covered head to toe in ash, you drive into jogja to a mall for lunch and one of the indonesian people in your group asks if she can wash her feet off in the fountain inside the mall.

oh, but it gets better.

i told her that probably wouldn't be very polite... later we had to go to the bathroom before making the 2 hour drive back home, so we went together. i finished first, and when she came out, i noticed that her feet were soaking wet and very clean. i peered curiously in the stall she had just come out of to see if there was a bucket of water (often used for flushing toilets) or a sprayer (because indonesians don't use TP, they hose themselves down). there were neither... so, already dreading her answer, i asked, "uhm.. where did you wash your feet at?" to which she cheerfully replied, "in the toilet! ok, let's go now!"

oh, dear...

oh, blessed cellphone

so for the first time in my life, i have a cell phone that is actually nice. it takes decent pictures, and it holds 2 GB of music, which is nice since my ipod recently broke and even hotjaga couldn’t fix it for me. anyways, the point is that i just now dumped all the pictures from my phone camera to my computer. even i am amazed at the things i choose to take pictures of. and i decided to share them all with you.

indonesian bacon. at lunch one day. yum. or not.

BANCI! a crossdresser in jogja. dancing for money in traffic at a stoplight.

yup. those are all dudes.

bayang. shadow.

a really weird bug outside my house that i apparently thought was cool.

ASH CLOUD! i actually took this picture YESTERDAY. you can see an ash plume going up into the air on the left by the trees. this was on my walk to school. merapi, the erupting volcano, is behind merbabu, the mountain in the foreground.

my helper had some extra grocery money and bought me MILK this week! i have had at least one glass of fresh milk EVERY DAY this week! so yum. this is a rare treat.

opor ayam – one of my favorite meals – and milk. so enak.

boy cat is so snuggly. sometimes i feel guilty for being allergic to him. because he used to be wild. i made him snuggly. and now i don’t even let him in the house.

in an indonesian geography book i found. “washington” appears to be located in.... ohio? and there’s a chance LA has relocated to mexico.

in the same book. each red dot represents an active volcano. or a place where tectonic plates meet. i forget. either way, oh, hey, look – THAT’S WHERE I LIVE!

a book on famous philosophers. his real name – karl popper. i laughed pretty hard over this one.

i needed notebooks to give to some kids in this one village. the bookstore tried to sell me these. i just couldn’t do it. the small letters say “Pissy 2 (indicating plurality) baby is having fun.... they are starring at the rainbow.... it looks beautiful.... wanna join them?” i’ll pass....

oh, pirated movies.... it’s A. definitely A.

oh, wow.

i just got a piece of mail addresed to the "head of mathematics" of my school. i hadn't thought about it. i AM the head of mathematics. at the most prestigious international school in indonesia, or so i've heard.

that's right.
i am 24.
and i dominate.
: )

refreshing nights

last night, i had to dormsit until 9 pm. after i got home, i felt really restless, so i decided to go for a drive.

there's this spot i know of. it's just a little ways up the mountain. from this one spot, i can sit in perfect solitude and darkness and see the lights of my town pulsating in the valley below me. perfect solitude is hard to find on the most densely populated island in the world. but that's the one place i've been able to find it. and sometimes i just need it. i love being able to hear myself breathe. i love watching the lights. i love being alone.

so i went there. but for some reason, the lights didn't captivate me like they normally do. so i laid down flat on my back. and i saw the stars. i had forgotten about those. i so rarely see them.

and those stars.... they spoke to me. they told me how big my God is. big enough to hang every single one of them over my head and hold them in their place. but they also told me, in spite of His bigness, how much He loves me. and not that distant kind of love, but that He'll never ever leave my side kind of love. and yesterday, i really needed reminded of that.

and i laid there, flat on my back, halfway up a mountain in indonesia, listening to the frogs, the crickets, and the gentle pinging of my motorbike engine cooling down, completely alone for the first time in months.... and i cried. tears of sheer joy.

He loves ME!



i laid there for awhile, lost in my thoughts, talking to God, praying for friends, praying for this nation. and eventually, i started to get paranoid about tiger attacks. so i sat up. and all the tears that had collected in my ears (since i was laying on my back) now ran down my neck. bizarre feeling. my ears were crying. so i wiped my neck off with my sleeve and came home. it's about a 15 minute drive back down the mountain.

i pulled up to the gate and one of my favorite jagas already had the gate open for me because he knows the sound of my bike coming down the road. we had this conversation, more or less:

him: hey!
me: hi!
him: *leaning in closer to scrutinize my face in the dark* feeling pretty tired, ya?
me: what? no, not yet. it's still early!
him: *squinting his eyes and looking even closer* well, your eyes are pretty red.
me: oh....?
him: maybe you've been crying? hahaha....
me: oh... um.... actually.... yeah.
him: WHAT? why?!? *with an "i'm gonna kill the guy who did this to you" attitude*
me: well, when i left, i didn't know where i wanted to go. i was just bored. so i went to this spot (explained the spot to him). do you know it?
him: yeah....
me: and i just laid down and looked at the stars. and there's so many. and they're so beautiful. and God made them. and our God is just so..... big.
him: yeah.... *visibly relaxing a bit*
me: and i was just thinking about how He's big enough to make the stars, but at the same time, He loves us and cares about all of us. and i guess i just.... cried.
him: that's strange. *completely relaxed but now confused*
me: ya, for me... i don't cry that much! but it felt good. i'm HAPPY. God loves us.
him: *smiling broadly* yes, he does!

so i came in the gate and parked my bike. and as i was walking to my house, i glanced over at the guard shack, but noticed it was empty. when my eyes adjusted to the darkness, i saw him standing in the yard, just staring up at the night sky. did he see what i saw?

what is this?

i just got home from school. i'm here in my house. i have an hour before i have to be anywhere. and i have no idea what to do... this sitting down thing, it feels strange.