Rain, rain, won't go awaaaay

In Surabaya, the rainy season has officially arrived! That means every afternoon, like clockwork, the sky cracks open and douses us. It's muuuuch more preferable to the snow, ice, and wind in -19C (-2F) Boise.

Sometimes if it rains long enough, the street and artificial ditch/river thing in front of the house floods. Although the water is always gone by morning, for those few hours of late afternoon and night, driving becomes a hassle and splashing around in puddles takes on a whole new meaning...

However, after I played in the water for the first time and then later suffered from a multitude of itchy bug bits on my legs, I think I'll stick to ogling at the water from the front doorway.

On a flood-related note, recently Jakarta has suffered massive flooding. My heart goes out to all the victims. Hopefully the government will take this as a wakeup call and improve their preventative measures so people's lives won't be disrupted again.

You Know You've Gone Native When...

Hey! It's your (not so) loyal blogger here... I am slowly losing my grip on the English language, which is why, despite my New Year's Resolution being to 'write in my blog more', I haven't made a post in like a month. Life just happened to happen, I guess, and writing in my blog has fallen to the wayside. What can I say - my life here feels normal. Ubloggable, if you will. I have a routine, I have friends, I have a basic command over a completely foreign language. It's around the middle of my year and I can't believe I only have about 5 months to go. Craaaazy how time flies!

Along with all my AFS-approved adjustments, I've started to take on the mannerisms of and begun to form myself to better suit Indonesian culture. And I thought that today I might let you guys know what that entails:

You Know You've Gone Native When...

1. The very thought of putting butter in your rice, as you used to joyously do in America, makes you vaguely sick
2. Kalau belum makan nasi, belum makan! (If you haven't yet eaten rice, you haven't yet eaten) - that meaning, you need to eat rice at every meal just as much as the Indonesians do
3. Eating chicken around all the bones isn't a particularly big deal anymore 
4. Bones in chicken doesn't just mean the leg or the thigh, it means ALL of them - even the spine, ribcage, and head
5. Eating with your hands feels completely natural, and you can't even remember why Western culture looks down on it
6. The thought of eating rice with a fork makes you cringe.
7. "Apa?" is your automatic response to everything
8. You can tell the difference between Indonesian and Javanese language - when people speak one, you can understand about 70%, and when they speak the other, you get maybe 10%
9. You know that people who automatically speak simplified Indonesian to you are absolutely the best in the world
10. You see a bule in the city and are just as shocked and amazed as your Indonesian companions, despite technically being bule yourself
11. You marvel at bule when you go to a tourist destination. Their shorts are so short! Their hair is so blonde! Their women are so tall!
12. Using water instead of toilet paper is much more practical, and you even kind of prefer it
13. You breathe a sigh of relief when you see a public toilet is the squat type - it's much more hygenic
14. You feel washing your hands with tap water sans soap is all you really need!
15. You get the questions in English class wrong
16. The thought of not making salim to your parents and teachers in America is just strange, and in Indonesia you make salim without a second thought. Salim being the practice of touching an elder's right hand to your forehead/cheek/nose/etc as a sign of respect
17. You've given up on the idea of ever finding American foods in stores outside of Jakarta, and instead resign yourself to waiting for packages from home to tide over your Pop Tarts and Goldfish cravings
18. Having more than 10 mosquito bites at one time isn't even anything to complain about anymore, you just slather on the minyak kayu putih and get on with your life
19. It's not particularly strange to socialize with teachers like you might with your classmates, and it's normal for teachers to touch students (in a friendly way) too
20. A girl and a guy are sitting together, alone? Ciiiieeeeee~ !! 
21. You don't even have to think about not making much physical contact with the opposite gender, it's just automatic by now
22. You watch a movie about high school in America and cringe at all the PDA
23. You've gone out in public wearing jilbab more than once, and love to do it
24. You respond to 'assalamu'alaikum', even though you're not Muslim, because it's awkward being the only one in the class who doesn't (and you DO wish peace upon other people, right?) 
25. Your English is atrocious and you know that some things are just easier to say in Indonesian, which makes it hard to talk to people who speak English only
26. You get really into it when there's a spontaneous massage train
27. Seeing how much boys freely touch each other doesn't amaze or shock you anymore
28. Gangnam Style is EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE knows how to do the dance!
29. You know that the Chinese malls are the best places to go for a good deal - malls with real brand names are just for walking with your friends or family
30. There's no mall without a grocery store in it
31. Traffic jams. Traffic jams ERRWHERE. 
32. It's completely normal for your car to screech to a stop just a few inches away from the bumper of the next car, and close calls in traffic barely make you blink anymore
33. Everyone has their phone out and are texting furiously while at dinner
34. You know how to operate a Blackberry despite not owning one because you've had to use your friends' so many times
35. Taking pictures everywhere with everyone isn't annoying, it's just a part of life
36. Showering by scooping water out of a basin with a plastic hand-held bucket isn't unusual... it's refreshing and convenient
37. You realize that taking two showers each day isn't just a national quirk, it's really kind of required if you don't want to be stinky and gross
38. You take longer getting ready to go to a wedding reception than you actually spend there
39. You don't have to worry about forgetting someone's name - any young man can be 'mas', any young woman can be 'mbak', and men are 'pak' while women are 'ibu'. Perfect for forgetful exchange students!
40. The thought that you once wore shoes (and anything but pajamas) inside your home is horrifying
41. You no longer have to hold on to anything while riding a motorcycle
42. Four people, one motorbike? No big deal! Small infants and toddlers being loosely held by their parents? Ehh, no biggie!
43. The thought of wearing anything but long pants when out in public is an odd one
44. When not wearing a jacket outside you get a chill, and you can nearly freeze to death when the AC is cranked too high
45. You start to believe that when you're sick, masuk angin may indeed be the cause. You thus avoid winds of any kind
46. Walking anywhere is soooooo kampungan, it's always better to take car or motorbike even if the distance is short
47. Having 5 people smoking within a meter of you at all times is now accepted as a part of daily life
48. Being able to stop a bus at any time is normal! So is the concept of it never stopping while you get off
49. You're much more animated in your speech and freely insert words like loh, dong, kan, lah, kok, and other random ones you pick up from your various Indonesian friends
50. You can't imagine living your life in only a Western country. Indonesia has overwhelmed, broken down, and rebuilt you from the foundations of your being up, and you know you'll never be the same, no matter where you are or where you live. 

(This list was put together with the help of my fabulous friend David, who's blog is right HERE, click click click! )

Hari Natal!

In every other year of my life before and probably every year after this, Christmas has been a quiet but entirely pleasant holiday, full of all the normal rituals and traditions. My family puts up a tree, we take time to decorate it, there's a lot of hurried shopping and gift wrapping, we hang our stockings, my brother and I go to our Grandma's house on Christmas Eve with our dad, just normal little things.

Christmas is a holiday mostly made up of those sorts of traditions, steeped in nostalgia and stubbornly clung to by most Americans. That includes young expats flung halfway across the world, living in a Muslim-majority country where Christmas is nothing more than an unfamiliar, completely commercial holiday recently imported from America with the likes of KFC and short-shorts.

Giant Christmas tree in Jakarta

My Christmas here in Indonesia was completely unique and by far the most memorable I've ever had.

All of us Americans living in Indonesia flew into Bandung the day before Christmas Eve, partly to attend Morgan's memorial (held in Bandung because that's where she lived) and partly so we could celebrate Christmas as a family. Bandung greeted us with a bit of confusion, and massive amounts of rain. The memorial ended up being a few hours after we arrived, when we (Avery and I at least) thought it'd be the next day.

We got dressed and attended the event, which was wonderful in that we got to remember Morgan for her life but also stressful in other ways, mostly due to some large cultural differences. Really, my experience in mourning and dealing with death in Indonesia can be very well described as 'an ordeal'. I really want to write a post about what's been happening, because it offers some cultural insight, but I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet.

After the memorial, we went out to dinner at a super fancy restaurant and slept in the empty house of an AFS volunteer. The next day: Christmas Eve! We all woke up and talked about how strange it was that it was Christmas Eve, because it didn't really feel like it. In a place like this, Christmas cheer is entirely self-produced, you can't just absorb it from commercials and overly decorated stores.

Our day consisted of visiting Hamza's house, seeing the view from their roof (which was perfectly safe, it's actually pretty common to be able to go on Indonesian roofs), and visiting a huge rock nearby where there was another amazing view. We saw the city from ojek (motorcycle public transport), angkot (little public buses) and on our feet walking. Bandung is breathtaking - it even feels a little familiar. The hills and the dense plant life remind me of Idaho and Oregon, both places that I miss immensely while I'm home in flat and normal Surabaya. It was even cold at times, a feeling that's become foreign to me after living here for so long!

We also went shopping for last-minute gifts and supplies for Christmas the next day, afterwards eating chicken porridge at a warung, surrounded by flies and our packages, elated with the joy of giving, and feeling like real Indonesians for a little while.

Christmas began in a bit of an unusual way: we took an hour or two to go by angkot back to Hamza's house. I can't even blame the Indonesians for staring that morning, we were a bit of a strange sight: seven bule, arms loaded with bags, one even carrying a giant stuffed panda wrapped in plastic (Hamza's gift for his younger host brother), sitting on angkot like it was the most normal thing in the world. And in a way, for us, it really is the most normal thing. We're just learning to embrace the odd moments as much as we can.

Naik angkot yaaa

To get all the way up to the house, however, we had to take becak. Avery and I used one, my first experience riding with three to a bike. It's not a big deal, as long as the person on the back holds on tight. But in the middle of the ride it started absolutely pouring rain, soaking us to the bone but completely thrilling us at the same time. We knew this would be something we'd never forget - blinking through streams of water, zipping through crowded Indonesian streets clutching packages to our chests, laughing about how all our friends in America were at home sleeping warm in their beds and we were out doing this. 

When we finally got out of the rain and into the house, we changed into some dry clothes and got to work cooking some American-esque food, like french fries and pancakes, for our fabulous Christmas dinner. Hamza and David ran out to buy paper and styrofoam and extra scissors so we could get to work making a tree and some stockings and other decorations, because the pre-made ones at Hypermart were waaaay too expensive.

Once all the decorations were done, we hung them up, I accidentally fell asleep, David sang for a video of a medley of maybe twenty different Christmas songs, and we all gathered around our unorthodox, but undeniably amazing little tree to exchange gifts. The night petered out a bit, as all Christmases seem to, and we all ended up falling asleep watching movies.

Like I've mentioned, it was a very different experience than all of us are used to, but through sheer willpower we made Christmas happen - with all that we had. It goes to show that you really don't need anything but your own good energy and cheerful spirit to make a holiday happen or a season bright. I thoroughly enjoyed my Indonesian Christmas, random bouts of 'huh-everyone's-probably-opening-presents-now' homesickness aside.

The next day, we had to go to the airport fairly early, but first we visited a large traditional market in Bandung. When we left, the street was busy and damp from the rain and kind of embodied everything I had imagined Indonesia to be before I left. All of Bandung is like that, and it was a little strange stepping into the world I had thought would be mine.

Finally sitting in the plane next to Avery, with my blanket over our laps reading a book of Indonesian slang I bought at the airport, I got the feeling that I wasn't just going back to Surabaya. I was going home. But, more than that - I was heading for the rest of my exchange, and I was/am ready to tackle the challenges head-on. Bandung was an amazing weekend and a welcome refresher, and now it's time to get back to real life.

Oh, Bureaucracy

My host family and I are planning on taking a vacation to Thailand soon, but seeing as I'm here on a single-entry visa, we have to find a way to allow me to legally exit and re-enter Indonesia. That basically means having to wrangle up documents, photocopies, letters, copies of IDs, and best of all, $100 US (how much of that is official and how much is a bribe I have no idea) in order to get me an exit permit.

If Indonesian bureacracy isn't world famous for it's incredible complexity, then it really should be. It's been a huge headache trying to figure out what they want, who from, original or not, by what day, and etc. Especially since I don't understand all of what people say to me in Indonesian - I usually understand a little over half, enough to get the gist, but not enough for me to feel completely confident when I'm trusted to relay information and remember what to get and where to bring it and to whom it should go. I'm happy that I'm being given responsibility and kept somewhat in the loop though. Yay independence, right?

I'm extremely excited to go to Thailand (I'll be visiting Bangkok and Pattaya) but I think after this I'll be fine not leaving the country again. Bureacracy is just toooooo much work! I've also decided that I just cannot become a diplomat or ambassador like I wanted to before I came here. Being on the opposite side of the counter when it comes to mountains of paperwork just doesn't appeal to me, and neither does the idea of sitting in long meetings for hours every day.

I'll find another way to travel! Lately everyone's been telling me to become an English teacher here, to go to Jakarta and become a model, or to get married to an Indonesian so I can stay. I'll just say that I'm considering all my options equally...

After, this a post about my Christmas in Indonesia! Stay tuned, dear ones.