Juxtapositions.

So this weekend I stayed in Surabaya because it has finally begun to cool off (well, it's in the mid 90s, but cooler none-the-less). On Friday we were invited by Lieke to, as we were told, work with the orphans. So I expected going to an orphanage or community center and playing with the kids. Wrong. TII. After being told we should just wear "whatever", we showed up at this fancy dinner (luckily, I wore a dress) where 30 kids had been invited to watch some rather unsavory karaoke and a clown who relished the "American presence". I got invited up on stage to hand out presents. It was actually really nice. Except for the photographer documenting our every move.

Saturday we went to Yuvi and Nia's school bazaar (Lieke's granddaughters). They go to a wonderfully funded international school on the other side of the city. I mean, cars were for sale at their bazaar. A bazaar at my school would be lucky to sell a used bicycle. Afterwards Lieke took us to the mother of all souvenir shops. This place literally sells anything and everything you could ever possibly buy on Java. And then, after Lieke left us there to do some damage, our taxi driver decided to take us for a scenic tour of the city, which I got pretty angry with him about because our 11,000 rp ride turned into a 55,000 rp one. BS.

Anyway, I thought I'd illustrate my life a little better by posting videos I took while on the back of Mr. K's motorbike. The first is my neighborhood which serves as a stark juxtaposition to the second video - an area 5 minutes by bike from my school. You will notice food laid out on the side of the road to dry and the sanitation conditions, but keep in mind (and I apologize for this) that we're probably going 20 mph. The filming is not perfect and you might want to turn on your favorite music instead of listening to the wind, but hopefully this gives you a better idea of the country and the daily paradox I live in.