HELLO AGAIN!!

I've been away for a very long time. And I've been home for a few days now, too. So I will try to wrap-up the past 3 weeks as concisely as possible.

PART 1: Jan 7-11 in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi (again!)
I had gone to Tana Toraja (Tator) with 5 other ETAs in early December, and I loved it so much I decided to return in January with...16 other ETAs. Quite the different experience! We again were able to go to a funeral. This time we saw the buffalo being slaughtered and butchered (ew!), and we joined in the receiving line process for the family. For this we made sex-segregated lines and filed into a special tent structure where we were given coffee, tea, cookies and cigarettes (well, those were for the men only). The next day, we went white water rafting. I was very pleased because there were class IV rapids - very fun. And we got to do a little rock/cliff jumping, too. Always a good time. While on the river we saw a ton of iguanas that, swear to god, could walk on water. Craziness. And we also visited some more grave sites, including a cave with the biggest spiders I've ever seen in my life! They were the size of my hand! At one site we saw a bule bull, which we found hilarious and definitely all got in a picture with. It was a great couple of days filled with stories, cuddling (you never know how much you need physical attention until you are denied it for weeks at a time...), singing, palm reading (my future looks good to me!), games, and a heavy discussion about marriage and commitment. Tator is so beautiful. When I went to buy the famous coffee, the seller simply poured some into a bag, folded the plastic over, and put his lit cigarette to it to seal it up. How simple! (Side note, how crazy is it that the coffee beans grown and sold on Sulawesi by Starbucks have to be roasted in America - grow, roast, sell. I sure hope there's something I'm missing in that equation...).


Part 2: Jan 12-15 in Kalimantan
And then I was off to Kalimantan (the Indo side of Borneo) with a few other ETAs. We spent the first few days in Banjarbaru at a pesantren. Pesantren life is oh-so different than life at an SMA. First off, I had to wear a jilbab ("so beautiful, so Muslim"). It felt a little weird at first, but you get over that quick. It is decidedly more hot under there, too. Second, all the students live on campus for 11 out of 12 months a year and hardly ever leave campus - talk about sequestering a population. Your classmates become your family. In fact, as is the case with most other pesantrens, students share one large room for sleeping, taking mattresses out on the floor at night. No wonder so many people find it so hard to believe we Americans like our alone time and out privacy. When we visited this particular girls' pesantren, we heard the story of how, when the ETA's brother came to visit her, he walked on campus only to find all the girls storming to the windows of the buildings screaming. 500 girls screaming. And they broke the glass, too - no joke. I think he ran away. Poor guy. We spent some time at the market, too, so we could make dinner together, which was so-very-awesome. I can't tell you how normal and good it felt to turn on some music and make dinner together. We also went shopping for sasiangan, the traditional fabric of the area. It's kind of like the batik version of tie-dye.

From there we headed over to Loksado for more of a jungle experience. On the first afternoon we went on a short hike to see a Dayak village complete with a traditional long house. These buildings are the focus of most villages; it's essentially a huge room with small stall-type areas along the borders. Each family gets a "stall" and all cooking, socializing and ceremonies occur in the middle room. We also saw rubber trees (it's like a sap - didn't know that before) and cinnamon trees. We also happened upon 2 waterfalls which were interesting for two reasons: 1. Following the lead of some local kids, we scaled the rock face next to the first waterfall and jumped directly into it. It was probably about 15 feet tall and super scary, but totally worth it. The worst past for me was the climb up the wet, muddy slope. This was the reason for the short hike - wet clothes. 2. After we were done jumping, some kids decided to climb up vines at the second, smaller waterfall. I've never seen stronger kids in my life - or ones who looked more like Tarzan.

The second day we went down a river on bamboo rafts. We told our guides we wanted to go rafting, so they gathered some bamboo shoots and banana leaves and constructed a raft that morning. The experience was, in a way, like doing a gondola ride in Venice, only in the jungle, on bamboo through rapids, and a lot wetter. Whenever we went through a rapid, the entire raft went under water. It was a lot of fun. It also highlighted one of my favorite parts about living in a developing country. In the mad dash to "catch-up" with the technology of the developed world, developing countries have bypassed the days of, well, technological development. Skipping straight from no phones to universal cell phones, cell towers are a constant in any skyline. And people aren't just using your dinky cell - they're taking 4 mega pixel color pictures and videos; they have over 500 contacts, enabling a steady stream of SMS' (side note: an example of a oh-so-typical experience - some "Tony" character got my number and has been SMSing me, asking for a new friend to practice English with). Why bring this up here? Well, as we floated down the river we'd come across what would otherwise be termed as shack after shack in the jungle, complete with solar power panels and satellite dishes twice the size of a normal dinner table. Afterwards, we took a great motorbike ride back to town through the mountains with wonderful views and steep twists and turns...and a motorbike without a passenger bar - hello ab exercise.


Part 3: Jan 16-18 in Jakarta
After a quick over-night in Surabaya (don't want to break that dreaded travel policy!), all the ETAs headed to Jakarta for our mid-year conference. It was a quick weekend with really good food and very little sleep. We spent most of our time at the hotel either in meetings or hanging out in hotel rooms. The second night was particularly special as we had an "open mike" night; people shared songs, poems, games and stories. There was also a pro-Palestine convention at the hotel complete with famous Indonesian bands and the vice-president. Kinda surreal. There have been a lot of protests concerning Gaza lately. I don't think I need to tell you which side most people are on...

Part 4: Jan 19-24 in Majene and Makassar, Sulawesi
And then I went back to Sulawesi! Let me tell you, I love the Makassar airport. It is the most hygienic, western-familiar building in Indonesia. Love it. Straight from here we boarded a night bus to Majene with the two ETAs who live there (the most remote of all placements), which is 9 hours away. The area had recently experienced a lot of flooding, so there was a lot of destruction. One of the ETAs had a student die in the 7-foot swells. Pretty serious stuff. While in Majene, we went to the market, visited some beaches (with the most beautiful sunsets), watched a Mandar dance rehearsal, ate flying fish, participated in a funeral party (RE foodfoodfood), watched a soccer game, ate lots of bananas (fried and pressed with sugar), visited with headmasters (such nice guys), made friends with some kittens, and visited both high schools (one public and one vocational). The school visits were great and I really feel like I'm getting a sense of the Indonesian education system. Two notes about Majene: 1. Most people have never heard of Starbucks (YES! FINALLY!). 2. I've never been stared at more in my life. It was border-line uncomfortable (not that I'm ever comfortable with it in the normal doses I get on a daily basis, but this was out of control!). For example, when we went to the soccer game, I think it's safe to say that half of the spectators (easily 45 people) came over to where we were, ignored the game, and stared. And this is not your "normal" staring where people might try to hide it and do it on the sly. Nope - flagrant blank stares. I mean, it was mostly the kids doing this (by the way, where are all the women? All men and boys. All.), but it was so weird. They literally had their backs to the game. We each deal with it in different ways. Some sit right down and start chatting in bahasa Indonesia (which gets crazy reactions). Some ignore it. I prefer to stare back:) And then point to the soccer game. If someone shouts "bule" at me (say, while I'm inside a car...or walking, or shopping, or whatever), I like to retort "orang Indonesia!" (Indonesian!). That seems to at least make me laugh and feel less like an alien-animal-object. Oh, Indonesia.

Back in Makassar (my third visit there in 6 weeks), I went on yet another school visit, this time to a boys' pesantren - another fabulous experience. I had a great time with the class I taught, answering all their questions about my life and America. And I got to ask them some questions, too. After class we went to the shore for lunch and an afternoon drink. I made dinner for my hosts (SALAD!!) and we played a board game. The next morning I made French toast - so not the same without syrup - and then we went to the mall (hey, what else is there to do in Indo?). Afterwards we headed out to the pier to share cigars and snacks. The picture below is from that great spot. We decided to cut loose for the rest of the night - a dice game, going to the Mexican restaurant that had only Indo food (of course), heading out to a new club, dancing around with the "models", being dragged out of the bathroom line for a drinking contest (I sooo should have won! The other guy poured his drink all over his shirt! Cheater!), a mohawk wearing, bottle-juggling bartender/new friend, being invited to the DJ booth, meeting the owners and managers (more new friends!), yours truly being unknowingly encircled by fire (that is, until they actually lit it on fire...then I figured it out) and being the last ones out of the place (which I did not notice until we were asked to leave...tells you how much fun we were having). Top night. The next day one of those new friends took us out for lunch. It was a good couple of days.


And then I flew home only to find out I didn't have school for another 3 days. Again, Oh, Indonesia.