Cats

Last night girl cat somehow got locked in my house when I closed up for the night. She prowled around quietly for the first few hours, her presence unbeknownst to me. This lasted until 2:20 when she decided she REALLY needed to go outside. I'm glad she didn't take a dump in my kitchen or pee on the couch and all. But still, there might have been subtler ways to get out.

She is smart enough to know that I am the only creature tall enough to reach the door knobs, so obviously, she had to wake me up. This involved her climbing up on my desk (which is immediately beside my bed), crawling as close to the edge as she could, which placed her basically right beside my head, and HOWLING in a very panicked manner.

There is nothing in the world like being jolted awake by a car alarm going off in your bedroom at 2 AM. Better yet though is being jolted awake in such a manner and finding a pair of eyes gazing into yours, just inches from your face.

Mas Bowo

Last night I got home after fellowship and one of our 3 single guards opened the gate for me. I'd heard a rumor going around that he was getting married soon, but I also know that in the not too distant past, he had been "close" with another (different) girl who I am friends with. So as he checked my bag and opened the gate for me, we had the following conversation.

Me: So I heard you're getting married. Is it true?
Him: *reduced to shy giggles, which was really cute* Yeaaaaah……
Me: Congratulations! Shake my hand!
*Handshake*
Him: Thanks.
Me: So when's the wedding?
Him: Maybe July. (Indonesians usually set the date about 2 weeks before the wedding)
Me: Wow! How long have you guys been dating?
Him: About 3 months.
Me: Three months?! You move fast!
Him: Yeah, this is from my parents. (It took me awhile to decipher that comment. Like they are paying for the wedding? Or SHE came from his parents - he's marrying his sister? Finally, I realized that he was saying it's an arranged marriage. Or at least a pressured one.)
Me: Ooooooh….. So how do YOU feel about it?
Him: Huh?
Me: I mean is it only your parents who want you to marry her, or do you want to too?
Him: Oh, yeah! I really like her. I'm happy.
Me: OK. Good.
Him: Actually, she was Muslim, but since we started dating, praise God, she became a Christian!
Me: (Knowing that lots of people "change" their religion just to please in-laws, spouses, etc) Do you think she's truly changed in her heart?
Him: I believe she has really changed. She reads her Bible every day and asks me questions about it so I can explain it to her. She's really seeking to know God more and more every day.
Me: That's awesome! I'm glad that God is using you in her life!
Him: Yeah, her whole family is Muslim still though. They live about 4 hours away. Her sister runs a Muslim community there.
Me: How do they feel about her conversion? Do they still accept her?
Him: Yeah, they're OK with it. Maybe they will know God too.
Me: That would be great! I hope so…
Him: Yeah.
Me: Well, congratulations again!
Him: *Twitterpated grin* Thanks!!

9th Grade. First Period.

"Good morning, Miss. How do you do?" - SoonHyung. Kind of made my day.

Fantastic...

Boyfriend is supposed to come home from his trip today. I don't really know what time. And I have all the keys to his house. And his cell phone died at 7 this morning because he forgot to pack his charger.

And just now I read in the news that there were 2 earthquakes in the town he was in. The first was a 6.3 on the Richter at 1:40. The second was a 5.0 at 2:30. They were supposed to head out of town at 1, but given the total disregard Indonesians have for doing anything on time, chances are slim that they actually left at 1.

Also, did I mention HIS CELL PHONE IS DEAD?!!

Hoping this is not a panic-worthy moment.

*edit* After posting the above, I remembered that like 4 days ago, Aswan used my phone to call someone. And that someone happens to be on the same trip with him. And the number was still in my phone. So I was able to sms them. They were still there when the first quake hit, but somehow they never felt it. Currently, they're about 3 hours from home. All good news! Puji Tuhan.

An Odd Sighting

Earlier today, I was driving to pay my internet bill. And as I was leaving, I pulled out into traffic behind a pickup truck. Nothing unusual about that. Except for the FULL GROWN HORSE standing in the back.

Oh, Ibu

Even though we're on holiday today, we had Ibu Sri come in to work (she's the "helper" for my apartment building - all 3 of us share her!). I didn't care so much about getting dishes done or floors cleaned since I'd been keeping up with that on my own over the weekend (I try not to let myself get TOO spoiled by her that I forget how to clean up after myself). I wanted her to come so I could learn to cook Indonesian. Yeah, yeah, I've been here 3 years and I cannot make a good Indonesian meal. I've gotten pretty good at making American food with Indonesian ingredients and other invented foods that are a blend (or maybe a clash) of cultures. But a straight up 100% Indonesian meal? I can't. But I want to be able to when I'm home this summer.

So I wrote down some ideas last week of foods that I could probably hunt down ingredients for in America. Some of these are my favorite foods, some are Aswan's favorites, and others are just traditional Indonesian foods that I'd like to be able to cook for my family! I had 6 or 7 foods on my list, and Ibu and I hit 2 of them today. I can now successfully cook fried rice and 4 kinds of sambal (Indonesian hot sauce made with a pestle and mortar). I really love getting to spend time with Ibu Sri. She is truly an amazing woman. She was born into Islam, but converted to Christianity when she was younger. She has shared her life story with me before, sometimes tearfully. It hasn't been easy. But through it all, her faith is SO strong!

It's always funny to hear what she thinks of Americans. Here are some misconceptions she had that came up.
1. All Americans are Christians.
2. Americans don't get sick. They die of old age.
3. Americans are in general very healthy because they eat such good food and exercise a lot.
4. American children never have birth defects or mental handicaps.

So we talked about all these things. Now she knows... It's amazing what a limited view TV can give of things. It's a good reminder to all of us not to believe everything we see!

HOLIDAY!

I lovelovelove having holidays. I am extremely productive and I love it. For example, Saturday I rented a car and went to Jogja with my lovely driver, Aswan, to buy all my gifts for coming home. And if you’re reading this, there’s probably something for you. In spite of getting a flat tire, rain most of the day, and everyone and their cousin being in Jogja for the long weekend, I got basically ALL my shopping done! Everything I bought fills up one entire suitcase!

Aswan left yesterday for Cilacap. The Alcatraz of Indonesia is there. There are just under 1000 prisoners there (from estimates I’ve heard) from 20 different countries – most are in on charges of drug trafficking which is punishable by death here. So if they’re in prison, they got off easy. Through various prison ministries, about 600 of the prisoners are Christian, and so about 18 people from 4 churches are going there to have Easter with them, boyfriend included. He left yesterday after church and will be gone until late Tuesday night.

Anyways, that’s not why I’m writing this. I found a bunch of old pictures on my phone, so time to upload them!

These first 4 pictures are from a day a few weeks ago when I realized that an Indonesian friend who goes to college here in town has NEVER in two years been up the mountain. So a few of us went for a drive to get some fresh air, sunshine, and to take Liz on a new adventure!

(Looking down on the valley. The small mountain in the middle is named Elephant Hill. I don’t see it.)

(PERFECT weather for a motorbike trip!!)

(Some clouds moving in over the pine forests at the top of Mount Merbabu)

(A restaurant I ate at that serves a Cappucino Keju Float – That’s a cappuccino with ice cream and CHEESE on top! Indonesians love it. I doooooon’t.)

(I found a whole stack of Miley Cyrus clothes in a store nearby. I was cracking up to see it here!)

(I have not yet been able to bring myself to try this one... It’s at Pizza Hut!!)

(Close, but no cigar. “I would give my right arm to be ampidextrious”)

(Is anyone else disturbed by the brand name “Homy Ped”? For children’s shoes?)

I love not going to work.

Wake up @9:30.
Eat some homemade granola and milk.
Online for an hour or so.
Take a shower for 45 minutes.
Eat lunch @12:10 - Toasted poptarts and a raspberry and honey milkshake.
Work on TESOL for an hour.
Take a nap @1:30 because it has started raining.
Wake up when it stops raining @4:30.
Work on TESOL for another hour.
Watch the first half of Mulan after finding it online while organizing all my paperwork (note to self - I NEED a filing cabinet) and my crafts rack.
Go out to dinner with boyfriend (after not seeing each other for 2 days) at our new favorite place @6. We each ate a chicken breast, a plate of rice, the BEST sambal (hot sauce) I've ever had, tempe, tofu, and drinks. Just under $4 total.
Back home @7.
Work on TESOL for a couple more hours while boyfriend works on translating and editing various things. I like working with our laptops side by side at the kitchen table.
Boyfriend goes home @9-something.
Watch the rest of Mulan while knitting the best scarf so far.

It’s Been Too Long

So here’s a newsy post. First of all, my birthday was on Saturday. I’m now 25. Yes, yes, getting old, I know. A quarter of a century and all that. I have some lovely friends who made my day extra special. First of all, Aswan drove an hour both ways in the pouring rain on a motorbike to bring me a birthday pizza from Pizza Hut. The pizza made it home in perfect condition, miraculously. (On the topic of boyfriend, I have decided that he is MacGyver. I broke my laptop last week. And he fixed it. With only a pair of nail clippers. I still have no idea how he did that.) Yohanes came over and baked me a pecan pie with the last of a bag of pecans someone from America had sent him. Aswan and I baked strawberry shortcake. And Sylva came over to help us eat it all!

They HAD to light the candle on my table and make me pose while they sang Happy Birthday about 5 times.

Yes, yes, I love my friends. I am blessed.

Yesterday I got home from work and found a note from Ibu Sri informing me that there was a snake behind my house earlier in the day and she was scared so she made the guard come kill it for her. All she said was that it was a green snake that wanted to come in my house. I get visions of a snake knocking on the door asking, “Ibu? Can I come in?” Anyways, I asked the guard about it later, and he confirmed that yup, there was a 5 foot long green snake and he killed it. Ever the hero. But seriously – FIVE FEET? Yikes.

Besides murdering random animals and/or small children in my house while I am out, my cats have also taken to sleeping in very weird places/positions. I really don’t know what is up with them.

Girl cat curled up with my pants.

Boy cat asleep in my bed.

He woke up and we had to have a talk about the fact that I am allergic to him and he is not allowed to sleep in my bed.

We FINALLY finished the visa application process, and Aswan will travel to the embassy on May 11th to have his interview with the consulate. Please pray that this will go well!

My TESOL class started up again this week. The final week for that happens to be the final week of classes at school. Which also happens to be the week I will be packing up to go home. Ugh. In order to organize my life a little bit for the upcoming 6 weeks of crazy hectic madness, I resorted to making a giant calendar and hanging it on my living room wall to keep myself to a schedule. Normally I just remember dates and times in my head. But there’s way too much in the next 6 weeks. I’m gonna fail at life if I don’t have this stuff written down somewhere!

If you ever feel like you need a little ice cream, head on over to my place. I ordered 2 liters (half a gallon) for my birthday, to go with the strawberry shortcake. The store was sold out, but said they could deliver 5 liters for only a little more money. I was reluctant, but my desire for ice cream won out and I agreed. They showed up 30 minutes later with an 8 LITER TUB of ice cream. That’s 2 gallons. It was an act of God that the thing even fit in my freezer, and half my freezer tenants have taken up residence one floor down in my fridge.

On the topic of food though, Ibu made granola from scratch today. Nothing better... I ate it for dinner with some fresh milk I bought and the leftover strawberries from the shortcake (which, as you can see, were less than appetizing four days later).

Once more on the topic of food, I wrote some recommendation letters for a certain student awhile back. She gave me a surprise thank you present today in the form of a whole bag of Kopi Luwak beans! If you don’t know what luwak coffee is, watch Bucket List. It is supposedly the most expensive coffee in the world, which is ridiculous since it’s made from poop. I’ve never tried it though. Looking forward to it!

Sadly, I’ve caught 4 students cheating this week. Mostly just copying homework, which isn’t as huge of a deal as like cheating on an exam. But cheating is cheating, and so there have been some rough consequences. Two students have been very forthcoming and honest about what they’ve done, accepted their consequences and moved on. One I will be confronting tomorrow. And one is flat out refusing to accept the proof that we have against him – but his story has changed 5 times now which makes it seem less than legitimate. He is harboring a LOT of anger toward me, because he sees me as the instigator of this whole incident. He asked me after school yesterday how long I will continue to victimize him before I am satisfied. (I caught him plagiarizing a paper 2 weeks ago) I am so not prepared to deal with this level of anger. It’s been rough. He did come in after school today to apologize for some things that he had said to me. But he still maintains that he did nothing wrong and will not confess to anything. We (the principal, superintendent and I) are the bad guys for not trusting him. I used to have a very good relationship with this student, and it’s been really hard on me to realize that he no longer wants anything to do with me. Please pray that God will work in this student’s heart over the coming days and weeks!

One more thing before I go. Local elections are coming up, and every year I marvel at the ridiculousness of Indonesian campaign posters. But this year, I’ve found the one that beats them all. Who wouldn’t vote for this guy? Just look at how moist his lips are.

“The time is prosperous. Striving together for Salatiga.”

Death and Dying and Such

I've never been a fan of funerals. I'm eternally grateful that I was 18 before I even had to attend one. As much as I hate funerals, viewings are worse. Especially when it's someone in your family. I remember my Grampa's viewing. We all stood beside our Grampa's dead body and smiled and shook hands with about elleventyjillion people attempting to offer consolation of some kind, though everyone knows that's not really possible.

My dad explained to me that viewings are a way to say goodbye. I don't get it. Who wants to remember someone they love as cold, dead and in a box? And let's not even mention all the makeup. The funeral service is sometimes a little better. You get to hear lots of people say nice things about the person who died. I remember hearing people tell great stories of my Grampa that I'd never even heard. But still. Grieving is bad enough. But having to do it in front of everyone you've ever known? 100 times worse. And THEN you have people who come to your house, so everything has to be clean, and you have to have food, and you have to be polite, when you just want everyone to go home so you can take a nap and cry some more.

I dislike Indonesian funerals even more. I understand the necessity of most of it, but still... For Muslims, the body should be in the ground within 24 hours of death. So when someone dies, the family has to clean, cook and rearrange their entire house (for seating space) because everyone and their cousin will be there within minutes. The body usually never leaves the house (until burial, of course). The family prepares it and sets it out for display somewhere in the house. The street gets shut down, because chairs and awnings are set up there for all the guests. At the designated time, the body will get put into a simple wooden box (if it hasn't been already) and carried to the closest graveyard.

One of my good friends lost her mom this morning. She'd been sick for about 6 months now. Really sick. So I went to their house this afternoon. The small house was packed with family and mourners, though her mom had only died a few hours before. After greeting the ENTIRE family, the first thing they asked me was if I wanted to go see the body. I politely declined, as this tends to really weird me out. I mean, what are you supposed to do upon seeing a dead body? Say something to it? Remark about how it looks? Nod solemnly?

Anyways, I stayed in the front room and talked to people for about an hour before I had to head back to school, glad that I had avoided having to see/touch her dead mother (normally they put the body in the front room, like as a centerpiece). My luck quickly ran out. A guy I marginally know sat down next to me and was showing pictures he had taken. Of the dead body. Yes, Indonesians tend to take LOTS of pictures at funerals. I didn't even know how to respond to him. And then when I was leaving, I was looking for my friend to say goodbye and happened to poke my head into the room where the body was. And guess what? Mom was laid out ON THE KITCHEN TABLE. I really hope I didn't make a face of any kind, because everyone in the room was looking at me at that point and asking who I was looking for.

When I die, I don't want to be cremated. But I don't want people to have to sit through a funeral service on my account either. Just donate my organs, throw the rest of me in a box, and bury me. Put up a simple headstone so someday my great-great-grandkids can come to that place and sit in the grass that grows over my bones and wonder about what kind of life I lived so many years ago.

What Do Korean Rednecks Say?

Somehow, all the stars and planets aligned today and for the first time EVER, all my classes have a test on the same day. Which means it’s a pretty lazy day for me. Just monitoring tests all day. Of course, I’ll have a lot of grading to do later, but so far, it’s good. I actually just got done grading 9th grade Algebra 2 tests. This chapter was over statistics and surveying methods. We spent a few days learning about flaws in surveys that can cause them to be biased and about how and why you can’t trust every statistic/survey you see. For 3 questions on their test, they had to label survey questions as biased or unbiased, and if the question was biased, they had to explain why and offer a better solution. On the test of one of my VERY Korean students, I found this gem:

Number 7. It’s biased because it’s a pastor asking people and they might be influenced to lie and say yes. So the offered solution is, “A redneck at a pizza place asks, ‘Y’all read your Bibles ‘veryday?’”

While I was grading this test, others were still finishing theirs. I had to try very hard not to laugh out loud. In fact, I had to clap both hands over my face, which luckily only drew attention from one student trying to beat the bell.

This one is a winner. Where does he even come up with this stuff? Do they have rednecks in Korea? And do they say “y’all”?

Ignorance Isn't Always Bliss

I know I've jokingly referred to smoking as the national sport of Indonesia - but this news article I recently read REALLY puts into perspective how widespread smoking really is here.

JAKARTA: An Indonesian woman exhales cigarette smoke into the mouth of a gaunt, naked patient at a Jakarta clinic, where tobacco is openly touted as a cancer cure.

The Western patient is suffering from emphysema, a condition she developed from decades of smoking. Along with cancer and autism, it’s just one of the ailments the Griya Balur clinic claims it can cure with cigarettes.

“I missed this,” says the woman, a regular customer, with an American accent, as Phil Collins’s “I Can Feel It” blares in the background.

Griya Balur would be shut down in many parts of the world, but not in Indonesia, one of the developing-country new frontiers for big tobacco as it seeks to replace its dwindling profits in the health-conscious West.

Long traditions of tobacco use combined with poor regulation and the billions of dollars that flow into government coffers from the tobacco industry mean places like Griya Balur go unchallenged.

The “treatment” for the emphysema sufferer includes the blowing of smoke from “divine cigarettes” infused with “nanotechnology” to remove their cancer-causing “free radicals”, through a tube into her diseased lungs.

Smoke is also blown into her ears and nose, while she holds a cup of aspirin over her right eye. The Phil Collins music, it seems, has no curative properties.

Griya Balur founder Dr. Gretha Zahar told AFP she had treated 60,000 people with tobacco smoke over the past decade.

With a PhD in nanochemistry from Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java, Zahar believes that by manipulating the mercury in tobacco smoking can cure all diseases including cancer, and even reverse the ageing process.

“Mercury is the cause of all illnesses. In my cigarettes — we call them Divine Cigarettes — there are scavengers that extract the mercury from the body,” she said.

On her website she says she does not need to subject her theories to clinical tests or publish them in peer-reviewed journals, nor does she have the money to “fight” with “Western medical scientists”.

Zahar’s claims were recently presented to the Constitutional Court where farmers and legislators from the tobacco-growing hub of Central Java are challenging a law that recognises the leaf as addictive.

Aris Widodo, a pharmacology professor at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, told the court that he had never heard of anyone dying from smoking.

On the contrary, he said, smoking was good for you.

“Smoking can eliminate anxiety, sharpen concentration and calm the nerves.

It’s a good cheap alternative to other expensive drugs, like Valium,” he said.

Tobacco is addictive and harmful to health, but Indonesians are taking up the habit in ever larger — and younger — numbers, cheered on by the tobacco industry’s aggressive marketing.

Addicts puff everywhere from beauty salons to dentist’s waiting rooms.

Parents give cigarettes to toddlers to keep them quiet. Cigarettes are handed out to teenagers along with concert tickets. Laws banning public smoking are rarely if ever enforced, and tobacco advertising is ubiquitous on the country’s roadsides and television screens.

Cigarettes cost about one dollar for a pack of 20, yet they are often the second biggest item of household expenditure after food for the Southeast Asian country’s poorest families.

According to the World Health Organisation, smoking rates have risen six-fold in Indonesia over the last 40 years. Smoking kills at least 400,000 people every year and another 25,000 die from passive smoking.

Yet Indonesia is the only country in Asia not to have ratified the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which sets policy recommendations and benchmarks for countries concerned about the health impacts of smoking.

Indonesia’s biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International. British American Tobacco bought Indonesia’s fourth largest cigarette maker, PT Bentoel, for US$494 million in 2009.

The government reaps about seven billion dollars a year in excise taxes from the industry, which employs scores of thousands of people around Temanggung in Central Java.

Anti-smoking activists say industry players are dusting off their old marketing playbook to obscure the science and paint smoking as cool, masculine, glamorous and even healthy, especially to women and children.

During deliberations of smoking regulations in 2009, a clause stating tobacco’s addictiveness went missing from the final draft. The government said the omission was a mere oversight and later reinserted the clause.

Health ministry official Budi Sampurno was questioned but he maintains that tobacco companies had nothing to do with it.

“Never. Is there any proof? We have never been approached by tobacco companies. That is not legal practice,” he said.

Dr. Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, a Democratic Party legislator who helped draft the Health Law, said there was no doubt big tobacco was behind the shenanigans.

“They did the same thing in 1992. Tobacco companies successfully had the same clause omitted from the law,” he said.

-AFP/ck

Via http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/lifestylenews/view/1122255/1/.html

What Do I Make of THIS?

Well, I just got home. It's about 10:20 PM.
I smelled something weird when I walked through the door.
As I walked to the lightswitch on the far wall, I tripped over several shoes/sandals. Odd that they would be strewn across the floor.
Got the light turned on and instantly noticed two things.

1) The blood all over the kitchen floor.
2) The two cats sleeping very contentedly on the couch.

Have my cats committed a crime while I was out??

Today Was A Good Day

Today started off with church, as any typical Sunday does for me. I walked in and ducked into the middle section, back row with Oma Ayu, because Pak Filemon was already doing the opening prayer. When he was done, he decided that today, all the kids should sit in the middle section, so the rest of us had to move to other seats. The other people scrambled and secured seats in the left and right sections, so that by the time I grabbed my Bible and stood up, Pak Filemon was smiling at me and saying, "Up here! Right in front! Sit here!" So I was the ONLY person sitting in the front row. I felt especially conspicious, because they project the song words on the front wall, and I was now effectively blocking the view of like 4 village ladies sitting behind me. Great - let's put the tallest person in front.

Indonesian churches are odd in that the pastor doesn't always preach. In fact, in my church, the pastor only preaches about once a month. There are so many pastor-less churches and home churches in the area that our pastor spreads himself pretty thin. This is both a good and a bad thing. Anyways, today, Ko SiuSiu was preaching. I am typically anti Ko SiuSiu when it comes to preaching. He has this habit where he has his sermon, which lasts about 15 minutes. Then he decides he hasn't talked long enough, so he just stands there and talks for 30 - 45 minutes longer. Last time, he was preaching on fasting. And then he spent a solid 30 minutes talking about how much porn street kids in Semarang see, according to recent studies. Today was really good though. It was about expressing our love for God in our praise. Which is funny, because Indonesians are like 10 times more expressive than Americans anyways, IMHO. But he had some really good points that hit home, and after he preached, we continued singing, putting into practice what we had just heard. It was awesome and very well done!

Anyways, after church, Aswan and I met up with some friends for a breakfast of Chinese noodles. Later, we came to my house and decided to go for a walk. We ended up walking to the outskirts of town, through rice fields with all the inhabitants of the shacks there standing outside and grinning toothless grins at us as we walked by. Pretty sure they don't get many white people in those rice fields. We slipped and slid in the mud and chased lots of lizards! Eventually we came to a pretty wide river and thought we'd have to turn back, but we followed it through a forest and ended up at a tofu factory! By then, we had our bearings and knew the way back home, but right then it started raining! I didn't mind, but Aswan was feeling self conscious, because Javanese people don't go in the rain like ever. It will make you sick and you will die. They don't let kids play in the rain either, which is kinda sad. Anyways, Aswan was sure that people thought he was crazy. "You can play in the rain because you're white. They all think I'm crazy though, because I'm Javanese!" Haha... We eventually made it back to my house where the guard at the gate had a good laugh at us, and we hosed the mud and grit off behind my house.

After that ordeal, Aswan was really tired, so he decided to take a nap on the couch since it was still raining outside and he didn't want to drive home. But after about 5 minutes of tossing and turning, he looked at me with big eyes and said, "I don't feel good. Can I sleep on your mattress?" How could I resist that? He ended up crashing in my bed for 3 hours while I worked on making a photo album for my gramma and read Hunger Games, which is an addicting trilogy, by the way. When he woke up and stumbled back out to the front room, all he could talk about was how "nyaman" (comfortable) my mattress is. Indonesians use thin foam pads to sleep on which eventually they get squished down super thin and are not comfortable at all. I spent a month sleeping on one in Sumatra, and it was so bad that after about a week, I started sleeping on the floor instead. I don't think Aswan had ever slept on a spring bed before. Seriously, he brought it up at least 5 times over the next hour with comments like, "Wow, my back feels so strong now" and "I like how it pushes on my butt" (He meant that he didn't just sink into/through the mattress... It supported his weight. Haha!).

I made him (and he wanted to) watch a documentary I'd recently found about the Westboro Baptist Church (you know, the ones who picket soldier's funerals), "The Most Hated Family in America". It was done by the BBC, and it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I had to explain a lot of the culture/language to him, but overall, he got the gist of what these people are about. He was just as amazed as I was. Crazy people! And it makes me sad that right now, they are the loudest voice of "Christianity".

Anyways, after that, we were super hungry. The only thing we'd eaten in the past 26 hours was the noodles earlier. So we cooked dinner together (which is code for "we heated up leftovers") and ate a menagerie of foods - chili, white rice, chicken with spicy sauce, chicken pot pie, eggrolls, etc. Then we read for awhile. BTW, I really love having a boyfriend that I can just sit on the couch and read with. He actually owns more books than me. It's great.

The rain let up while we were eating, so after reading for a little bit, he decided to head home. Of course, as soon as he was walking out the door, it started pouring again. Good thing he brought a rain jacket!

Anyways, that was my day. And I just realized that it's all about my boyfriend... But I don't really post much about him usually. And today, he was the reason that my day was so good. So I'm posting this anyways. Just don't think I'm obsessed.

*+%$*#@%@#$%&!!!

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I feel today.

Boyfriend left at 8 this morning to drive an hour and a half to Solo to the Permata bank to pay his ridiculously expensive visa application fee. Two hours after he left, I got an email stating that the US Embassy in Indonesia as of today is no longer operating until further notice.

I did some further research (AKA - I Skyped my dad and asked him what the blazes is happening) and found that apparently there is no budget plan for 2011. It is due tomorrow. And until one gets approved, embassies, national parks, and the Smithsonian have no funding.

You would think that massive amounts of stupid would prevent people from being eligible to hold a government office, but apparently not.

God is still in control. He is bigger than the embassy. He is bigger than Obama. But I am still incredibly aggravated.

And luckily, the person boyfriend was supposed to go with was 2 hours late, so I caught him before he even left. Oh, and the US government WILL help me if I a) die, b) get arrested, or c) if my child is kidnapped. But that is all they will make themselves available for.

Students are kind of nervous. Most of our students end up going to college in America, but this year, most of them are not American. They have all been accepted into American colleges (one to Columbia even!), but they currently can't apply for student visas.

Here are some quotes I found on cnn.com regarding this issue.

"'While nothing will be decided until everything is decided, the largest issue is still spending cuts,' Michael Steel said." (Genius quote of the day. "...nothing will be decided until everything is decided...")

"The president noted the mechanism of shutting down government operations have started in case a deal proves elusive, which he said would hurt federal workers, people who rely on government services and the nation's economic recovery." (So an elusive deal would hurt those who rely on government services... And shutting down every US embassy in the world accomplishes what?)

"'For us to go backwards because Washington couldn't get its act together is unacceptable,' Obama said." (Finally! Something I agree with!)

A Spiritual Day (But Not the Good Kind)

The title of this post describes my yesterday. Nothing necessarily happened to me, but the day was a good reminder that Satan is alive and well in this country. I had three main reminders of this.

1. I went to Aswan's house after school to pick some stuff up from him. I could tell he'd had a bad day, and he started to tell me about it. The night before, he'd had a bad dream, so he woke up feeling out of sorts. Shortly after waking up, he got a call from his older sister saying that their mom had a sum of money stolen from her. I won't tell you how much, because it will probably seem insignificant to you. But calculate how much money you make in a month. And that's proportionally how much she had stolen. His mom is not well off. She runs a little warung (kind of like a mini restaurant) with only one table on the sidewalk selling nasi pecel, a rice, tofu, and vegetable dish. So losing a month's wages - which she had been saving for a LONG time - is a huge blow.

But here's the part that gets me. Three men came in a car and ordered pecel. After they ate, one of the men asked if she had a cigarette. She told them that she doesn't sell cigarettes. So one of the men replied, "No problem. I can take you to the market to buy some." One of the men must have had some kind of dark power, because at this point, Aswan's mom says she was hypnotized. She vaguely remembers getting in the car with one of the men. Apparently, he drove her to the market where she bought 4 cartons of cigarettes (something she would NEVER do). Once she bought the cigarettes, the man left her there and drove away. At that point, she snapped out of whatever spell she was under and realized she was standing in the middle of the market holding boxes of cigarettes. So she had to walk back to her warung which, luckily, wasn't far. Once she got there, she realized that all her money (which had been in a hidden place) had been stolen by the other two men. The men were nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, this kind of stuff happens all the time. People invite Satan into their lives so that they can have power like this over other people. Theft is never ok, but what especially irks me is that these guys came in a car - which usually means they are pretty well off - and stole a month's wages from an amazing woman, struggling to put food on the table.

2. Last night, I went to Solafide (English language fellowship). At the end, we were sharing praises and prayer requests and GT (did I mention that my good friend GT moved back to Salatiga from Sumatra?!) asked for prayer for his mother in law. She had a stroke several years back and has been bedridden ever since, but she's been getting a lot worse lately - part of the reason he and his wife (and their new baby - CUTEST THING EVER!) moved back. A lot of older Javanese people will invite "spirits" to live in them to give them a long life, beauty, strength, etc. But this becomes a huge problem when the person is ready to die - the spirit often won't let them. They die long, slow, painful deaths as the spirit slowly releases its grip on them. I've seen it happen twice already. We believe this is what is happening to GT's mother in law. Every time people come to pray for her, she goes into fits, to the point of where they have to stop praying because they are afraid for her. The spirits need to be cast out of her so she can die, but how can they cast the spirits out if they can't pray for her or declare the name of Jesus in her presence?

3. After all that, I got home last night, and one of my favorite guards was at the gate. He opened up the gate with his usual goofy grin and asked, "Are you scared of ghosts?" I said no, but he didn't believe me. So I explained that I don't really believe in ghosts, which - in the American definition - are people who died then came back to life as evil spirits (that was the best way I could explain it in Indonesian), but that I DO believe in Satan. But I don't have to be afraid of Satan because I have Jesus and He's bigger. So the guard finally believed me and was telling me that the night before, there had been a demon at the gate. Right outside my house. I was like, "Oh, great...." We actually did have a really good conversation about it though. And then we started talking about helmets. I don't really know why.

So yeah. Today, boyfriend was on his way to Solo to pay his visa application fee - because you have to do it at one specific bank - when I got an email notifying me that the US Embassy is closed until further notice. Thank you, U.S. government for finding it more beneficial to beat dead horses than to actually make some real decisions. Visa process at a standstill until further notice (which hopefully comes soon enough that we can still apply). And I can only get American assistance if I die, get arrested, or my child is kidnapped. Perfect. *rolls eyes*

The Sun Stayed Out!

Yesterday, the sun was out ALL DAY. So after work, I smsed boyfriend, “Does this mean we get pizza?” to which he replied, “Ayo!” (Come on! Let’s go!) So I changed my clothes, grabbed some moneys, and we set out.

A perfect evening for a motorbike trip! If anything, the sun was TOO bright.... I tried to take a picture of the coffee plantation we drove past, and this is how it turned out!

We didn’t take into account that we’d make it there in under an hour and that neither of us would be hungry at, oh, 4:45. So we decided to head to Carrefour (Indonesian Wal-Mart) across the street first. I saw bins of clothes on clearance and started digging through them to see if there was anything that would fit. And much to my amusement, I think I found the entire Miley Cyrus winter line. But then under THAT, I discovered..... OLD NAVY TANKTOPS! For $3 each. Cheaper here than they are in America. Things only got better from there. In the toy section, I found plastic dishes with lock on lids for 60 cents. The funny thing is that until now, I never questioned why they were in the toy section... Then in the kitchen section, I found a REAL cutting board! No more of this moldy slab of tree I’ve been using for 3 years! They also had CHEESE. Wow. So yeah, Carrefour before pizza was a good time.

Before I forget, I have to interject here – this particular Pizza Hut has VALET PARKING. We are talking fancy dinner here, people. The funny thing is that the entire parking lot only holds about 4 – 5 cars and all the parking spaces are approximately 2 car lengths from the valet dropoff.

So anyways, I spent $22 at Carrefour and got: 4 Old Navy tanktops (blue, white, purple and pink), baby wipes (because our faces felt nasty from driving in rush hour bus/truck traffic), 3 nice plastic dishes for leftovers, a bag of mini cheese wheels, a 3 pack of sponges with built-in brillo pads on one side, and an awesome looking wooden cutting board.

Then we had a delicious dinner of meat lovers pizza and came back home just in time for Aswan to be able to visit with some friends who used to live here but now live on Papua. (They’re back in town for a conference).

Oya – two other highlights (or humorous moments) of the evening...

1. My house helper left me a note yesterday, and I wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to get at. Sometimes it’s hard to see through the culture and know what people are REALLY trying to say. So I brought the note with me and showed it to Aswan at dinner to ask his opinion on how I should reply. He explained what she meant and gave me some advice on how to respond to her. I was like, “Well, if she means that, then why doesn’t she just SAY that?” And he replied, “It’s OK, babe. She just doesn’t understand our culture.” Hahaha... I think that dating an American is making him forget – HE’S JAVANESE TOO!

2. A friend from church who is still in college SMSed both of us while we were at dinner last night to advertise a fundraiser she’s doing for something for her university. They are selling brownies. According to the message, flavors include: red rice, cheese, durian, chocolate, jackfruit, strawberry, pineapple, fruity taste, jambu, mango, passion fruit, soursop, apple, corn, peanut, tiramisu, orange, banana, mint, red bean, tape (it’s a fermented Indonesian food), lychee, blueberry, caramel, and special. After all those flavors, I can’t imagine what could be so special about special. So what do you say? Anybody want some brownies? Red bean flavor, maybe?

April!

This past weekend was the Jr/Sr Banquet, our version of prom. Each year, the Junior class plans and throws the event in honor of the Seniors. The Sophomores also attend to (hopefully) learn what to do/not do next year when it’s their turn to plan! I am the Junior class advisor this year, but this class is AMAZING and I did virtually nothing in the planning of this event. They did an awesome job... Hats off to the juniors!! During the entire 3 hour event, I managed to take about 6 pictures. Highlights include....

The horrifying “artwork” on the main floor of the hotel where the event was held. When you first enter, you are met by two BRIGHT red naked butts. Come around the front, and they’re STILL buck naked! According to the plaque, this apparently represents cold, greed, and power. On the left, you have a Dalmation dog leading its owner on a leash. I have no clue what this one represents. Also, on the right, you can see frames with large rocks hung in them. Fascinating.

This is JooHyun, one of the Seniors (and my TA!) explaining to us at dinner why cow’s milk is dangerous. Apparently, “when you milk a cow with the machine and you put those sucky things on, it gives the cows blisters on their parts, and then those blisters pop and cow milk that you buy in the store has PUS IN IT!”

Eventually she had herself so worked up that she was laughing hysterically, crying, and gasping for breath all at once, much to the amusement of the rest of us trying to eat our dinner. Aaaaand everyone at the surrounding tables.

The winners of the “Cutest Couple” award. They’re not dating, but we’re all hoping.... Haha....

Sunday was spent in a near coma state. Except for that one part of church where they decided to start celebrating birthdays... During the month that my birthday is in. So in an unprecedented move, me and 5 other people had to stand at the front of the sanctuary while the congregation sang “Happy Birthday” in English EIGHT times. Then Pastor Sam prayed over us individually and that was nice.

Yesterday, I saw a picture of some REALLY delicious looking pizza on the internet on accident. And I realized that I haven’t had pizza for 2 months. So I made a deal with Aswan that if it isn’t raining one day this week after school (chances are slim), we are taking the motorbike to Semarang to get pizza (1.5 hours away!) at PIZZA HUT! It tastes just like American pizza if you avoid the stranger flavors.... Corn Flakes, Potatoes and Mayonnaise, Sardines, etc.

Today is Monday... Back to school. Normally it’s raining by lunch time. Today it wasn’t. At about 2 o’clock, I looked out the window and noticed the sun was still out! I can’t remember the last time that happened!

I got excited. Until I walked back to my desk and happened to look out the windows on the other side of the room....

Oh, man..... Right now, it’s 3. I can hear thunder, but I also see lots of blue sky. So we’ll see how things are looking around 4ish.

After snapping those pictures, I sat down to grade homework. On a geometry test, I found this gem:

Have to say that one made me laugh. Then, in a stack of papers (yes, I make my math students write papers), I found this...

In case you can’t read it, it says, “I forgot about the paper. I hope this cat lightens the mood.” Well, if nothing else, they make me laugh! : ) 

Golly.

Today I am teaching 7 periods.
We have a 6 period day.
I am a superhero.

Just kidding.
One teacher went to the embassy to (hopefully) obtain a visa for his (Indonesian) wife and their daughter to go to America this summer.
So I'm teaching my classes plus 2 of his. Twice today, I'll be teaching 2 classes at the same time.
I so could have done the one room schoolhouse thing.

Nature Update

Last night in my house, I killed only normal things, you'll be glad to hear (but not as glad as I was). I came home at about 10 and thoroughly inspected everything. I found an inchworm and a spider the size of my thumbnail. Normally I would just let them go, but as I told them, "Sorry, wrong place at the wrong time. But mostly just the wrong time." And squish they went. Not taking any chances.

When I first got home (after English language fellowship) and pulled in the gate, Hotjaga mused about what I would find in my house when I went in. He also felt the need to inform me that they released the python earlier that afternoon - the one that was caught a few weeks back. It wasn't doing well in captivity, so they set it free near the river that runs behind my house. Hotjaga told me the snake was probably in my house, waiting for me. Thanks, friend.