Lemons Away!: 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...