Catch up - real time!

Today was a nothing day.  I did hardly anything.  John texted to see if I slept ok, and if I had hot water for coffee.  Smiles.  It's nice of him to check up on me. 

Water.  Oh no.  I have no water at all.  In the bathroom, flush, and no telltale sound of the loud pump.  Ooops, they unplugged it again.  I asked Nihta if I need to unplug it at night, because it sounds like it might die at any minute, but she said no.  Maybe Om Deni just usually does it.  No problem.  I go outside, and look at the plugged in pump.  Oh shit.  No water.  No water at all again.  I run inside and turn on a faucet.  Nothing.  Nobody to help.  It's Sunday, and everyone is at church.  I go back out and unplug the pump and hope that it works like a wireless connection or computer and if I just unplug it, it will "restart".  I plug it back in.  Nothing (ok, I did know it was stupid of me to think that would work).  I re-unplug it so it doesn't overheat or something, and burn down my entirely wooden house.  I run back inside, into my room, and jump (after carefully checking that no spiders have taken up residence in these 3 minutes - I have a problem, I know) back into bed.  I'm definitely not ready to start the day.  I still don't let the pink blanket touch me though, eww, ick...it is sandwiched between my sheet and blanket, because it is blissfully chilly here at night.

I restart the day a couple of hours later, and it's wet wipes and bottled water to the rescue.  I'm immensely glad I've brought a bandana.  I have some orange flavored extra sweet sugar water (it's called orange juice here - it's nothing of the kind) from a carton, and break into my stash of granola bars from home.  I don't want to break out the cereal yet, because as I eye the ants crawling on the counter, I realize I have no airtight container to put it in after I open it. 

I putz around on the computer...talk to some students who are still up on Sat night at home, and clean a little more.  I write the 4 page long version of my first day here to add to my blog.  I read a little, write a little, look at the scenery.  

Hey look, it's one of my many neighborhood cows.

One of the volcanoes right by my house.
It looks pretty far, but it isn't.
 Obviously this is NOT the volcano that erupted today.

Hey look, there's a storm cloud...and my absolutely gynormous gazebo.
Mid year conference under the stars, George?

It looked much darker in real life.

The skies were brooding, so Imelda and I agreed to meet tomorrow instead.  She didn't want to get stuck in the rain, with the possibility that no bus would take me back home (yes, I live that far away).  Don't I need to go to school tomorrow?  Yes, but it hasn't started yet (I did know that) so we'll stop by and then have lunch and run errands.  Okie dokie.  I will do another Indonesian tape.    I write more blog (hence 5 posts in one day....complete with pictures).  I skype. 

I plug back in the water pump.  It's making a noise now, but not the same noise.  Still no water.

I go out to look around in my cottage again, and Tanta Yeti comes out of her house onto her porch.  I use my broken Indonesian, and Om Deni comes to fix the pump.  Tank was empty.  That's all.  Yippie.

I make some rice (badly - it overflows while I'm not looking, and starch water burns onto the hot plate.  Ooops.  I use the wok.  It's not well made.  It starts to smoke the second I put it on the burner, and it smells like burnt rubber.  I try to re-wash it, and add oil immediately.  I do this several times until it no longer smells like a tire fire.  I cut up some red pepper, scramble some eggs, and throw back in the rice with some spices and what turns out is not exactly soy sauce.  It's kinda sweet.  I don't like it, but I didn't add a lot, so my dinner still tasted pretty good.

My second attempt at cooking, or first really,
since yesterday was just
"add contents to boiling water and cook for 3 minutes."

I relax outside on the porch until I notice the spider web hanging from the porch roof.  There's a tiny little spider in it.  Aww, my next hairs only stand up a little at the sight of it.  Then I notice the 4 inch spider that's heading my way and about to most likely come eat my tiny new friend and I get the hell out of there.  I run in to get my flashlight.  It's not dark, but dusky, and the crevices of the roof are in shadow.  I come back with light, and see lots of spiders.  Lots of scary National Geographic type spiders.  One in almost every corner of the squares that made up by the rafters of the roof.  I call over Om Deni and show him the spiders, and ask him if they are bad.  Yes.  Poison.  Oh, so that's a word you know in English?  Poison?  Great.  Kiki, his son agrees.  I promptly freak out and scramble off the porch.  They will knock them all down and clean everything out tomorrow.  This kinda scares me though.  I hope they kill them too, because at least now I know where they are and can stay the hell off the porch.  I don't want them crawling around looking for a new place to make a home, say in my bedroom window, with all the cracks in the screen...which is about 3 feet away.

I make some more nature type friends.   Cicaks are all over my kitchen every day.  Geckos.  They are cute, and eat things I hate, so the mores the better.  Later on in the evening, I even saw one near a ceiling corner in my room.  Hello roomie!

There's water everywhere are here.  Those fields were the cow is, are actually rice fields.  Not my usual mental picture, but ok.  Water brings froggies.  Here's a big old toady looking one on the side of my house.

Then of course are my rabbits.  Seems that one of my household rabbits has taken to nibbling on my soap.  I first noticed earlier today, when the sides of the soap felt scratchy.   Hmmm, "ARE THOSE TEETH MARKS?"  Holy crap.  Nah....rabbits don't like soap.  I skyped Michael at this point, and he totally agreed that I have cute bunnies running around my house.  I need to throw away that soap is the consensus.  Too bad I have no garbage can.  I have a box sitting under the kitchen table, but I think the bunny might follow the soap out into my kitchen, and I don't seriously think I could handle that right now.  I chat with Michael and Noreen about all sorts of things.  It is nice to know that with Skype I always have someone around to listen and sympathize.  I find out there's been and eruption on Sumatera, near Medan, where Jonthon is, but I immediately find out that he's OK. Ah Facebook....where would I be without you?  After chatting with Michael for awhile (an hour or 2) I head back to the bathroom, and realize that the soap is on the other side of the sink, and there are fresh teeth marks.  So, my rabbit is a repeat customer.  Lovely.

Here's a cool picture of my bitten soap.  My my...those rabbits sure do have teeny tiny teeth.

I can't really get a great picture of it, because my camera seems to be on the fritz, and it wouldn't focus any closer than that.  This would be very bad.  How can I lose my camera, just when I'm so busy taking pictures of all the lovely creatures that are keeping me company inside my home?

Michael has suggested that I ask Om Deni and Tanta Yeti for some "lem tikus" which is "rat glue" .

Now why on Earth would he want me to get rat glue for a rabbit infestation?  Curious.

Better? Yes, Better.

New day.  Has to be better than yesterday.

Imelda will be over at 10 so we can take a walk, and maybe go to find a place to do laundry.  I e-mail and talk to some people at home.  I am happier today.  The internet will keep me sane.  The internet will keep me sane.  I have gotten a message from John the Expat inviting me to lunch along with his friends, a Swiss guy and his Indo wife.  John likes to cook a la Julia Childs.  I'm in!  I text Imelda, and she promises to help me find his house.  I don't really have any idea where I am.  I need a map of how things are connected around here.  Check out Google Maps, and look for Lake Tondano.  I can see it from my house.  Unfortunately, Google maps doesn't get close enough for roads around here.

Imelda texts she'll be here at 11 instead of 10.  No problem.  She arrives at 11:50.  Very Indonesian.  No problem, anyone who knows me will tell you I am always late for everything myself.  But now we are not hanging out, she is just taking me to John's.  I get my first experience with the little Microlets.  They are teeny tiny blue buses that cost anywhere from 1000 to 5000 depending on how far you're going.  I have a feeling, as a Bole (white foreigner) I will never only pay 1000.  That's 11 cents by the way.  You just hop on and off.  There's school kids in the back of this one, and they are excited by me.  Lots of shouting, but mostly because they are a group of 8 year old boys.  There's a couple of older kids, and they just smile a little.  No celebrity here!

We take 3 different buses, and arrive at John's.  

Imelda is worried about how I will get home, but I'll manage.  She writes down my exact address, and the easiest instructions to get there.  I can take a combo of Microlets and ojeks (motorcycle taxis) to get home.  I'm not worried.  It will be a good adventure. 

John is awesome.  He came as a Fulbright Scholar from Boston 35 years ago and stayed.  He still teaches at the largest University in the area (I'm at the second largest).  The house is up on the side of a hill, with Mt. Lokon behind, and another off in the distance, which makes a wonderful view from the front of the house.  

Wonderful but menacing....both are active volcanoes.  Not gonna worry about that though...can't ever spend time dwelling on things like that.  What, like I'm never gonna go back to Hawaii?

Lunch was fabulous.  The company was great, and the grounds were beautiful.  

There were lots of beautiful flowers, 

and Blacky his dog, and Hello the kitty cat.  Plus, Blacky had 8 puppies less than 2 months ago.  

John will be a friend here, I know.  He has told me I am always welcome, and the house is never locked. Plus, he cooks like a dream.

John's (Julia's) delicious cinnamon apple tart.  Yes, that is homemade whipped cream on the table.

Sleeps extra people too, so maybe when visitors come, I'll take advantage of that.  :)  I know my dad will like him if he comes all the way here to Tondano.  Boston and Chicago Irish unite.  Freddy and his wife offered to drive me to the Microlet terminal so I could get to Tataarann easier.  This is the closest "town" to me...and I should be able to take an ojek from there.  No problem.  Their driver takes back roads, and the houses are beautiful.  We get to the terminal, but then discover that there are no busses running.  They take me home.  So very nice.  They all get out of the car to see my cottage.  Freddy talks to the workers.  I am amazed at the transformation.  It has been swept out, and treated with a burnt yellow termite repellant.  It looks bigger than yesterday.  Freddy asks about a kitchen, and they tell him that they are building me one.  Excellent.  There's some tile started in the bathroom.  I notice that there is a small pipe about 2 feet up on the wall (where the wet stain is in the photo).  I hope this is not to be my shower.

I text Dian, and ask her to call me when it's convenient.  We talk a little about everything.  She tells me that she can make them move me to somewhere better, but I say no.  I don't want to rock the boat.  Things are just different here.  Their version of something being clean is very different than mine.  I cleaned off the "clean" white table in the kitchen, and the paper towels were filthy when I was done.  Here, if it looks clean, than it is clean.  There are lots of things I don't think look clean either, but I digress.  I was kinda basing my expectations on what Julianne's house looked like last year, which was also in N. Sulawesi.  

I think a big part of it was that what they took as rules of the contract was more suggestions or guidelines that they might follow.

She doesn't need air conditioning here, it's cold (it's not).

She doesn't need a kitchen, Tanta Yeti will take care of her.

She doesn't need hot water, no one here uses it.

She doesn't need a stand up shower, no one here has one.

Things like that.  I don't know which one to hope for now...for them to finish my cottage, or for me to stay in the big house.  At least here there's some space, and a TV. 

I hung out in the yard for a bit with Tanta Yeti's family.  Om (Uncle) Deni, and their 2 sons, Kiki who's 23, and Miracle, who's turning 2 next month.  Kiki re-taught me how to ride his moto.  Seems Nihta asked him too, because I'm in the middle of nowhere and will need to buy a bike if I want to get anywhere.  Like even to class, which would be at least a half hour-45 minute walk uphill, and I mean UPHILL.  She seemed really happy that I already knew how to use one.  I think they're happy they won't have to find a car & driver for me now for the whole year.  Although how I'll get to class while it's raining, I don't want to think about yet.  Sorry Dad, I know this terrifies you.  To be honest, it kinda terrifies me too...but what else is there to do.  It was very silly, and I felt so uncoordinated, but I know I'll get better again quickly.  Plus, it's really only 1st and maybe 2nd gear here anyway.  There's no highways, so even if I get a scooter I'll be fine.

I made soup on my mini hot plate, and then dropped the only bowl on the floor, shattering it, and spilling soup everywhere.  At least I had left most of the noodles in the pan to eat later.  I found a cup, and ate while watching some bahasa indonesia TV.  I also have the feeling I will watch a lot of Premier League Soccer and the like while I'm here.  There's only a couple of channels.  I did get to watch the last X-Men movie last night though, while I listened to the rabbits that live in my roof scurry around eating carrots.  Yes, rabbits.  A girl can dream, can't she?

Today was not a good day

Up and at them.  Overall today was not a good day.

We went shopping this morning.  I got a lot of staples for the house.  I felt like going off to college, or when I first moved in with Lidia.  It's amazing the cost of the little things that add up that you need to function in a new place...

Nihta said that I don't have to be there to pick up all my cards and stuff.  She'll take care of that for me, and get them to later.  No worries, but I do feel weird not having my passport available while in a foreign country.  I have a copy though, so that's ok.  We also bought a USB connector modem for my internet access.  Woo Hoo.  I am happy about this.  Lost in translation though....or lack of communication...when Imelda and I went the previous day, I had asked her how much it would cost, and she told me not to worry about it...that it is their responsibility to pay.  No such luck today.  Oh well.  It's a very small price to pay to stay sane while I'm over here, and to be able to talk to friends in the morning and at night (12 or 13 hour difference here depending on the time of year....now it's 13 ahead).

Back to the hotel, a quick note to John (an expat in Tomohon) giving him my indo number, check out, and away we went!

Up up and up into the hills/mountains surrounding Manado.  The views were beautiful.  Then it started to pour, which was still beautiful.  Dangerous driving, but I trust Nihta's brother.  Motorcycles are all pulled over to the sides of the road under palm trees for cover, and sitting in roadside stands.  If these places sell stuff, them must be happy when it rains, and hundreds of people stop wherever they are along the road.

We stopped for lunch.  Rice cooked in banana leaves...satay, ginger pork (really, can you tell I'm in a Christian area?) red bean soup, a kind of bbq chicken, pickled pepper slaw, and a yellow curry.  Everything was great...except for the bowl of pieces of fat (which I thought was chunks of beef...that's what it looked like).  Now, I'm all for trying new things, but what exactly is the point of eating just fat.  Jelly type fat....crispy fat on bacon is of course a totally different story. :)  Nothing was fried though, and that made me really happy.  I delicately hid my uneaten chunks of fat in my empty banana leaf.

We get to the University, where I meet the Head of the International Department.  I wish now that I had taken either French, Japanese or German, because I would be able to speak with a lot more people.  Oh well.  It was just a quick visit to say hi.

On to the house just outside the back gate of the university property, and the beginnings of my nervous breakdown.

So, they are building me a cottage on the property of the summer home of the Dean of the University.  Sounds pretty cool, huh?  I thought so too.  The cottage is above on the left, Dean's house on the right.  It is, however, nowhere near being completed.  There are 4 walls and a concrete floor, and a absolutely beautiful wooden inlaid ceiling.  

And there's a pipe in the middle of the floor of a tiny room off that, which will be my toilet I'm sure.  It is small, which is ok, but I don't know where anything would go at this point.  Maybe a studio type apartment?  Nihta said there will be a wall to divide for the bedroom.  OK.... Shower? (as I look back into the super tiny side room with the pipe sticking out of it) Of course is the answer.  Ok.  Deep breath Megan.  

I will stay in the Dean's home until the cottage is done.  2 weeks to a month.  It's been hard to find workers, I'm told.  I politely say , "Oh, I see."  But inside I'm a wreck,  "Why did you tell Dian the house was almost finished?"  I got the distinct impression this was gonna be a couple of days only.  I'm pretty sure I got this impression because that was the impression that Dian had.  Ok, so on to the house...it's 15 feet away.  Literally.  My front door will face the side of the Dean's house.  Then there's a huge gazebo about 6 from the back side of my house.  Used for school parties evidently.  Then also there's another house on the property, where the family lives that takes care of the house while the Dean's not there.

There will be no such thing as privacy, I'm guessing.  Here's a pict of Tanta Yeti and Om Deni's house from the back of the Dean's place.  The black dirt to the left is just the back edge of my cottage, and the gazebo is just behind that.  the wooden structure behind Tanta Yeti's house is an open style storage shed.

Ok, again...on to the house.  I'm told I'll have access to it whenever I want.  I say OK, but I don't really know what this means.  Maybe my house will really be only a room, and I'm supposed to use the kitchen at the main house?  Not happy not happy...hold it together...

So, into the Dean's house we go.  I'm still doing ok at this point.  It is hot and musty.  Very musty.  The pictures they sent me were beautiful, but in them you couldn't see the layer of grime that was covering everything.  Everything.  Sweeping and cobweb cleaning ensued.  This entailed just knocking them out of corners.  My bedroom was opened, to air it out.  It needed it.  Think about what it is....a summer home, that I guess was being opened for the season, after 9 months of disuse.  I'm still doing ok....trying to hold it together...I don't want to lose it in front of Nihta and Imelda.  I just don't want to touch anything because it's dirty.  Everywhere.  Their response to this, was to wipe with a paper towel or with stick brooms to get rid of crumbs and dead insects (and live ones too).  This is not cleaning.  All the glass surfaces are covered in grit.  Still holding it together.....I will not cry...I will not cry....It is hot and smells.  I can't even imagine what the bed will smell like.  Ok...airing it out...airing it out....deep breaths, Megan  deep breaths.

We walk to the kitchen.  There's a big table covered in plates and cutlery and the not so occasional bug, and curtains that are littered with dead bugs.  There's a tiny little college size fridge which is covered in a sticky looking (wait yup, it is sticky) substance, and inside are more dead bugs, a cantaloupe, and a can of strawberry Fanta.  Wait a minute.  Where is the stove?  No stove.  Um, where's the stove?  Don't I have a stove?  Oh, the woman will cook for me.  What?  This isn't supposed to be...I mean sure, Julianne's neighbor brought over breakfast sometimes, and she got a cook a couple of days a week, and I thought this would be a great idea too...but no access to cooking at all? Nothing?  No late night snacks (well that's probably a good thing), but I can't even boil water...I'm totally dependent on strangers I can't talk to?...starting to lose it....hold it together Megan....

Imelda leans over to turn on the sink (hopefully to help me to start cleaning)...and nothing happens.  No sputtering, no nothing.  No water.  That's it.  I officially cannot hold it together anymore.  I lost it.  No water?  I start bawling in the middle of the "kitchen".  I feel like a guilty MORON though.  Who am I to complain?  We're supposed to be FAT ELF's.  Flexible, Adaptable, and Tolerant.  I don't feel like I'm being very adaptable.  Imelda and Nihta kinda look at me and go with the slightly condescending idea that I am just tired and miss home.  I want to yell at them that it's not that at all....it's that I'm in a dirty smelly house with tons of bugs, no stove, and no running water.  I don't know.  I try to smile, and tell them I am sorry for crying.

Text messages go out to other ELF's.  Sympathy comes in, along with Julianne's saying I should immediately let Dian know.  This is not right she tells me.  I feel better, but I want to wait...first of all, I don't want to call with my counterparts there.  Secondly, I have now kinda stopped crying, and I don't want to start again. 

The caretakers come in there's a flurry of activity.  More sweeping out of bugs, more killing of the cocoons peppering the walls in my room.  They just kinda knock them onto the floor and my bed though, which isn't exactly making me happier.  Joy of joys, a pump was unplugged.  Instant water.  Presto.  Yay.  It's mentioned that they'll be buying me a stove.  They bring me in a water cooler that has a hot tap setting.  Ok.  Things are looking up a little.  More text messages go out...including one to Dian.  "Yay, I have water.  There's still no stove, but I have water!"  I ask about the shower.  There's a bucket in the bathroom, plus a garden hose type sprayer that is attacher only a couple of feet off the ground on the wall.  It's in our contract that we're supposed to have a stand up shower.  I hope they understand for the new cottage that "stand up" means that I get to stand UNDER the water, not stand while spraying myself with a hose.  Um, there's just a turn handle, just like an outside hose.  Um, hot water?  Warm water?  Anything other than cold?  Nihta looks at me with this totally incredulous surprised look on her face and askes, "You need hot water?"  Um...yes?  You shower with cold?  Of course is her response.  It's hot here.  I cry a little more.  More feeling like an idiot...

Then we head back to the bedroom... I throw back the covers of the bed that has been cleaned for me before I got there, and find a plethora of both live and dead bugs.  That's it.  I lose it again.  More bawling ensues.  How the hell am I EVER going to sleep.  I hate bugs at home.  At home where my beautiful bed smells like downy, and I am religious about looking for creepy crawlies on the ceiling before I go to sleep.  Seriously, my hair brushing against my face because of the fan in my bedroom will occasionally give me a heart attack.  All spiders irrationally terrify me.  This was just too much to bear.  Tanta Yeti (the helper woman) comes in a wipes them off.  Nope.  I am still crying.  I'm not a Peace Corps volunteer.  I'm supposed to have running water, and a bed without things crawling over me.  This is not my version of clean.  There is no amount of Febreeze on the planet that will fix this now.

Dian responds that she is very upset.  She will call immediately and get things straightened out.  I beg her not to.  They are still with me.  I'm totally sure my "complaints" will not go over well.  Plus, they don't seem to think anything is wrong.  I don't want to start out on the wrong foot.  However, I now feel like I already have.  I'm walking back and forth in the house, texting away on my phone, and periodically wiping tears away from my face.   I seriously do not handle confrontation well.  What I wanted to do say calmly say that there were things that were agreed to in the contract, and that the house was breaking some of those things, and how could we fix this?  Instead I was standing there crying like an idiot.  Anyone else who is "a crier" will agree with me.  I 100% did not want to be standing there crying.  I just couldn't do anything about it.  If the tears want to come, they just come, and dwelling on the fact that crying made me look like a stupid ungrateful American, just made me want to cry more.

Ok.  I'm doing better now.  There's a hot spring somewhere underneath the property, and they have connected it to my water tank.  I now only have hot water.  I have absolutely no problem with that.  Sheets are changed, and the mattress underneath looks pretty new.  I now have clean pillowcases, and a fitted sheet.  Then there is a absolutely gross looking twin size Whinny the Pooh comforter that has stains on it.  I'm going to go with the fact that they are coffee stains.  Just give me that, will you?  I have never been happier in my life that I brought a full size sheet with me and my own pillow case from home.  Plus, I have my airplane travel blanket.  I will not have that pink thing touch my skin.  Hold it together.....

We're going to go shopping for some more things (like industrial strength cleaning supplies and air fresheners - not to mention the strongest bug killer I can find).  I buy some more groceries.  I forgot rice before.  I get some spices and salt and pepper.  I head to the upper level, and try to find some tupperware.  Kinda found some stuff.  It's so humid, I think crackers and such will need them, as well as airtight containers for sugar.  There's enough ants in my kitchen already.  :)  I buy a fan.  It makes noise.  I am happy.  Nihta buys me a tiny hand towel for the bathroom, which is more the size of a washcloth, 2 kitchen towels, a hot plate electric stove with one burner, a small pot with a lid, a tiny wok style pan, and 2 metal spatula/spoon type things.  She doesn't seem to happy with me.  I find out later that maybe this is because Dian has already texted her that she's kinda pissed about the whole situation.  I spend over 100 dollars again.

We head across the street.  Internet connection ensues.  We practice in the store, because I want to make sure it will really work when I get home, and surprise, Nicola video Skypes me from Ireland.  I can see and hear her great.  Everyone cheers and we head home.

Some more cleaning, and spraying of bug killer, and then Nihta offers to have Imelda keep me company by sleeping upstairs.  I decline.  I just want to be alone, so I can go back to crying and get it out of my system.  Plus, it's now nighttime, so I might catch some people at home in the US.  I Skype Nicola and she sympathizes with me.  I e-mail my dad that I've had a horrible day, but that I'm not ready to talk about it.  I watch some TV (yes, there's a TV, and I watch a Jet-Li movie...the one with Bridget Fonda).  Then I go into my bedroom...spray some more, and climb into bed praying that nothing will bite me during the night, and that when my head is actually resting on it, that it doesn't smell too awful.  It doesn't.

I pass out.

My home for who knows how long.  So pretty from the outside.  :)

Maybe you want a little order?

So, I have been pretty much all over the place here.  From now on I'll try to go in a time order.

So, Wed. night we got to Manado.  3 hour flight from Jakarta.  It wasn't bad at all.  Still, no staring at me.  Nihta's husband and son came to pick me us up from the airport, and we drove through the city to my hotel...the Quality Hotel Manado.  There's both a Koran and a Bible in the desk drawer.  Pretty cool.

My room was beautiful.  I can see a corner of the bay from my window.  

The staff was so friendly.  Everyone called me Ms. Megan when they passed me.  After breakfast in the lobby, I met up with Nihta and Imelda.  Off we went to Imigrasi!  Mihta has a friend from Jr. High who works there, so I know things went faster than usual.  We left for a break to go eat lunch at a little restaurant area of the city.  A kind of porridge/stew with pumpkin, corn (dad would be so excited!) spinach, grilled onions and noodles.  It was fantastic.  

Everything else was a little bit less fantastic.  Manado cooking is typically fried.  Everything is fried. 

Fried bananas

Fried bread fritter type things with corn in them

And last but not least, fried fish cakes. 

I took a close up.  Those little back dots arranged in pairs?  Yeah, not pepper...more like eyes.  They are super tiny fish.  They tasted pretty ok though.  Just greasy.

Then it was back to Imigrasi.  Pictures, fingerprints...the whole shebang.  Then we went on a mini adventure.  Off to the mall to try and find me a hair dryer.  Success.  We went to the internet office too, but no such luck today.  Imelda told me I needed my Kitas (foreigner card) before I buy it.  Naptime, and then Nihta and her family came to pick me up for dinner.

We dove a little ways down the road running along the coast of the island.  We ate in an open air restaurant and had wonderful seafood.  Fish soup with a lime ginger base...fern leaves and spinach, calamari, fried tofu stuffed with shrimp and mushrooms, and some smoked grilled fish.  It was all very good. 

We were right on the edge of the bay, and in the moonlight, the water was so clear, I could see down to the bottom...probably about 7 feet.  We could see fish, and there were crabs running along the rocks.  Very very different to the gross polluted waters running through Jakarta.

Tomorrow I leave for my new house.  It's not ready, but I am excited (and a little scared).

A Nice Little Recap

So.  Well, here I am at my new home for the next 10 months.

Let's back track a little though....

I arrived in Jakarta on Sat.  We had a day of rest once we drove the hour from the airport to our gorgeous hotel, the Alila.  I am on the 15th floor, which is the women's floor.  Funny enough though, Cary is also on the 15th floor.  We're pretty sure they just went by his real first name, Marion...and assumed.

A bunch of us met up for lunch in the hotel restaurant.  It was nice.  I had a Lime Squash, which gave me fond rememberences of my first trips to Ireland as a child.  So yummy.  I had a salmon sandwich.  There were some in our group all about Indo food already, but Julianne explained that we'll have 10 months of that to go.... She ordered a veggie burger (but ended up getting a burger bun with grilled veggies in it - still yummy) and Mark, the other returning Fellow had pizza.  

The following days, (Sun, Mon, and Tues) were a blur of meetings and mini adventures.  We went to buy cell phones at a huge mall.  There were hundreds of shops for them it seemed.  Why in a country where everyone and their brother already has at least 1 or 2 phones, were there all those stores, and long lines at a lot of them.  Interesting to me.  Then I went and bought 96 DVD's for just under 60 dollars.  This was more than my phone, which was 40, even with 100,000 rp of credit on it.  I am sure that Paramount, Fox and HBO have all fully agreed to let their DVD's be sold so cheaply to the Indonesian people.  They're just so nice that way.  I figure I'll be able to watch all these programs that I never saw in the States, like Glee and Dexter.  :)  You know, in between grading and learning the language.

We also had 2 cultural orientations with a wonderful woman named Ibu Irid.  Ibu is like Mrs. here....  We talked about misconceptions and stereotypes....and how to let things go.  Going with the flow, and realizing that we are mini celebrities here is the main point.  Everyone will want to know all about us.  Later on we also were invited into her home to witness her family and friends breaking the Ramadan fast.  On the living room floor, mat face Mecca.  The women traditionally don a long white skirt, and a hooded poncho like garment with no sleeves, but only an opening for their face.  The men are in front.  Ibu Irid's husband lead the group through 3 sets of prayers, and then we all had sweet tea (to bring up the faster's blood sugar).  Then it was on to the food.  EXCELLENT!  I was adventurous and tried as much as I could.  I was proud (Debbie you'd be too!) that the things they said were "very hot" were definitely spicy, and my lips were on fire, but I managed, and went back for seconds.  Afterwards we climbed a spiral staircase and entered a private rooftop garden where we could enjoy the breeze and listen to the call to prayer of the surrounding mosques.  It reminded me so much of Jerusalem.  

Over these couple of days we also met the ETA's.  English Teaching Assistants.  They are actually affiliated with the Fulbright program, and they go help teachers in high schools, sometimes in pretty remote places.  I met Melina, a PR girl who will be in Tomohon.  I have no idea how close or far away we will be.  I also met Brandon and Rick who will be even farther from Java than me in the Malukus.  I am excited about that, and these may be the first ETA's I try to collaborate with, outside of Melina.  Plus, they are excited about diving too.

The ETA's made me tired.  So energetic...so idealistic.  Is is wrong that I don't want to change the world anymore?  I just want to do my job and make a little difference in some people's lives.  After meeting them all, I felt guilty and unmotivated.  :(

Dinners, lunches, meetings, important people.  Everything was a blur.  We had another culture session, and I finally met Nihta.  She is so cute and awesome.  Her English is impeccable.  What the heck am I supposed to do here again?

Wed was the day of goodbyes.  Goodbye to my new friends.  Goodbye to comfort.  Goodbye to familiarity.  Hello to the unknown.  Hello, unknown.

Here's some pictures...

Everybody hanging in the lounge in Singapore.  5 people, 5 computers.  :)

Some views from the hotel...the first couple from my room, then the other side of the hotel from Noreen's room.

The girl herself, Noreen...

The day of goodbyes....

Jackie and Jonthon goofing around

Jonthon and our saving grace, Dian

Michaela, Noreen, Dian, and some a couple of our Indonesian counterparts.

More goofing around, this time with Mark.

And this is it....Wed morning at breakfast, and time to say goodbye...

Julianne, Michaela and Noreen

My Goals For This Year

So, here are some of the things that I hope to accomplish while I'm here.  They are in no particular order, and some are program related, some some are purely personal.  Some I have already stolen from other people because they seemed like good ideas.

Here goes:
Find a way to get reliable internet access
Make friends - native and not
Do a workshop
Visit some ETA's
Visit some other ELF's
Learn Bahasa Indonesia
Don't forget my Spanish
SCUBA dive a snorkel as much as possible
Don't get Malaria or Dengue Fever from mosquitoes
Exercise a lot - get in shape - stop being so fat (you get the idea)
Keep up with this blog and my journal
Get a bike
Keep on top of my lesson planning and grading as much as possible
Play as much pool as possible with some locals (gotta make it to Vegas again next year!)
Visit some local high schools
Read some Indonesian authors like Kartina and Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Try not to sweat the little stuff
Try not to be too much of a hermit in my house in the middle of nowhere

So, that's all I can think of right now.  I'm on my way in a few hours to Manado, where I'll be in another hotel for a couple of days (this means internet access, yay!).  I have to register with the local police and file lots of paperwork.  This can't be done in my town, so Manado it is.  This would be like having to stay in Chicago, because Naperville (where the school is) doesn't have the facilities.  This is a good analogy actually, space wise, for where I'll be.  It's like calling a school the University of Chicago, but the campus in actually in Naperville.  But Naperville isn't connected with Chicago by all those other suburbs.  And the road between them isn't exactly the greatest.

I'll be posting some pictures soone, but to be honest, I haven't take all that many yet.  Mostly sharing of cameras, and pictures of the other awesome people in the program.  We all separated today.  I'm sure I'm gonna be really lonely tonight.

Ciao!
Megan

Crazy busy/Tired

Crazy crazy times already.  Too much to post at the moment, and not enough down time.  A very lame posting, I know...but I hope you'll forgive me.  I am still alive.  :)

I hope my team rocked Vegas.  I miss you guys.

Things on the way....my list of goals for the year,
my first (second) impressions of Indonesia,
my first impressions of my school (when I get there).

That being said, I met my counterpart yesterday, and she is awesome.  I'm already looking forward to a great year.  :)

Kisses and hugs for now.  My I have to go finish packing my bags for my journey out to Sulawesi.  I hope I don't have to pay tooooooooooooooo much for extra baggage fees.  :)

Megan

The Adventure Begins

12 hours from Chicago to Tokyo with Jackie and Michaela.  Met up with the rest of the group, and then a 6 hours flight to Singapore.  Now we are here, and we don't have our rooms for the night.  Evidently they weren't "confirmed" so they gave them away, and all 10 of us are on the waitlist.  So instead, we all paid to sit in a lounge with access to drinks, the internet, and SHOWERS!  Yay for showers!  So, we have some quality bonding time until our flight at 7:50 tomorrow morning.

Argh!

Wasn't I supposed to be all set, so that I could relax today?

Hmm.  Not so much.

2 Days to go

I have only 2 days left before I leave for the year, and so much to do...mostly involving doing things to my computer, and packing up my 3 suitcases.

In case you didn't know, I am an ELF.  That's an English Language Fellow.  It's kinda like a State Department job (but not really - see the disclaimer at the bottom of the page) that's administered through Georgetown University (although I'm not a part of the University either).

So, this year, I will be teaching English at Universitas Negeri Manado (UNIMA) in northern Sulawesi.

I have never blogged before, and right now it's 3:19, so I don't think I'm going to spend too much time figuring out how to make it pretty, or being very verbose.  Mostly, this is just a tester post.

Testing 1,2,3...