I’m still alive after
one (crazy) year in Indonesia.
Random person: “Sudah
berapa lama di sini?” (How long have you been here?)
Me: “Sudah satu
tahun!” (Already one year!)
I’ve been living in Indonesia, as of April 3rd
ish, for one whole year! This definitely calls for a little self-reflection.
This is just gonna be a mish-mash of information…because that’s sort of what I
feel like living here.
Words/phrases to
describe my experience here:
o Masih hidup- I'm still alive! (My
signature saying until I got yelled at one too many times for saying at
inappropriate times, like visiting my fellow teacher in the hospital. If I have
learned one and only one thing here, it is that Indonesians and Americans do not
exactly have the same sense of humor.
o Oalah- oh my gosh
o Mister! – enough said
o Bule- foreigner
o Angkat tangan- I throw my hands in the
air (aka, “I give up!”)
o Tambah gemuk- You’ve gotten fatter.
o Tuhan Miss berapa? – How many gods do
you have, Miss?
o Bisa makan nasi? – You can eat rice?
o Alhamdulillah- Thanks be to God!
o Cari orang sini aja- Just look for
someone here (to marry).
Kalau satu orang lagi membilang saya harus lebih sabar…
(if one more person tells me that I should be more
patient….)
I’m more sabar
(patient) than I’ve ever been in my life.
One volunteer from ID4 or ID5 said that after we were done
here, we’d be happy to watch paint dry, no problem. I’d probably have to agree.
As long as there was no man smoking in my face while I had
to wait for that paint to dry. And no dangdut
music, either.
My patience is manifest as thus:
o Yes,
you can (usually) take a picture with me like 10 times, as long as you ask
(unless I’m on vacation, then the answer is always no).
o You
are cheating on the test? Whatever. If the Indonesian teacher doesn’t care,
I’ll also slightly reprimand you and then turn away again, too.
o My
patient answers of, “Yes, I can eat rice. Yes, America has rice” countless
times.
o Oh,
the bell rang like 10 minutes ago to go to class? Okay, we can finally go to
class. Not like I was waiting for you or anything…
o “Mungkin.”
A simple “maybe” to the long speeches on why I should get married to an
Indonesian and stay here forever (which is NOT happening, I can promise
everyone that!!) is most easily met by a “maybe.” Which is inevitably followed
by a “gak gelim” (spelling?) “She
doesn’t want to” translated to the nearest person, just in case that person
didn’t speak Indonesian??
o My
simple “How are you doing?” is met by blank stares. Rather than freak out that
they still don’t know this phrase after I’ve used it at least like 30 times, I
just change it to, “How are you?” “I'm fine, Miss!”
o A
class of 28 students has 2 people who did the homework? Okay, we’ll forget the
lesson plan so 26 of you can just do it now instead. We’ll even give you 30
minutes longer than you need to complete the assignment. The 2 who did it, you
can just sit there.
o “You
shouldn’t underestimate our students, Sarah” is what Pak Udin tells me time and
time again. I just smile and nod now, and then the next day when they all fail
the test (after I gave them a study guide) or only 2 of 28 students have done
the homework, I get my satisfaction.
o Go
ahead and talk about me. It’s inevitably gonna happen so I don’t try to stop it
anymore.
o I
wait for the rain to stop. I wait and wait and wait. And then 25% of the time
my plans don't happen because it’s still raining. And I just shrug it off now,
a little upset but what can you do? How could I go anywhere in the rain??
(Unless I had one of those sweet bodysuits of plastic rain pants and coat. But
I’m too cheap to buy that.)
See if you can figure out what these words mystery
compound mean! (answers at the end)
matahari = eye day
orang hutan =
person forest
kacamata hitam=
glass eye black
tempat tidur =
place sleep
bunga api = flower
fire
selai kacang-
jelly peanut
percaya diri-
believe self
My new goal for
this year is to be more humble:
My church group has a bible study/sharing/praise and worship
time each week. When it’s not raining and I’m not feeling lazy to bike 30
minutes there, I go.
Last week I shared with my church that in addition to being
more “sabar” (patient), “Saya lebih rendah hati” after living in
Indonesia.
Which actually means “my liver is lower,” but “hati” is commonly used for heart too.
Thus, I was really saying, “I am more humble-hearted.” This
has come in light of:
o Embarrassing
myself in class by getting too angry about unfair grades and cheating. PC staff
explained to me that the Javanese perceive anger as weakness. Thus, I have to
play it cool in these frustrating situations.
o Realizing
my mistakes and trying to apologize for them. I assumed that no one wanted to
help me prepare a lesson plan for a girls’ camp, but then after finally asking
a few teachers, they agreed to help. And then I called upon my patience
training because some teachers sent me copies of the Wikipedia page rather than
writing a 2-paragraph summary that I asked for.
o Acknowledging
that my Bahasa Indonesia is not perfect. It’s not as clear as I think it is.
When I joke that “tata bahasa saya gila”
(my grammar is crazy), I can’t just joke, I have to actually believe it,
because it basically is. On Thursday I got upset in class after explaining,
“Get in order by your birthday. But no talking.” (a common American ice
breaker) and the students just stared at me. I had to remember that a) my
directions were not clear to them, even though they were in Bahasa Indonesia
and b) despite being 16 years old, they literally
have never been asked to do anything like
this before, so no wonder they are confused.
o My
recent willingness to try to pray aloud at the above-mentioned prayer group,
even though I am very self-conscious that my prayers are quite unclear to
everyone else. The humility really kicks in when I bite my tongue and don’t try
to defend myself that “really, back in the US I can pray quite well. I pray
aloud a lot in groups and my prayers are pretty good!”
o A
gracious thank you to my host mom or host brother that helps me change the
propane tank so I can cook. I have tried various times to do it and always
can’t. And as I am known by the Carleton girls of 4th Nourse dorm as
the girl who said, “I don’t know if I should unplug this microwave because I’m
worried it could like, explode or something,” I am quite humble enough to step
aside for someone to help me change a flammable gas tank.
o A
humble (though still reluctant) acceptance that in Indonesia, I am a large
person. I try not to be offended when people call me fat, assume my size is
XXXL, or whatever. Generally speaking, I just stay away from buying clothes
anywhere that people know me!
Odd relationships
between words that frequently confuse me:
Kelapa- coconut
Kepala- head
Kerasan- to feel
at home
Kekerasan-
violence
Tuhan- God
Tahun- year
Masuk-to enter
Masak- to cook
Makan-to eat
Makam- graveyard
Murah- cheap
Muda- young
Jamur-mushroom
Jamu- tradtional
medicine
Hilights of the
past year:
o Celebrating
Idul Fitri with my host community
o Being
in my friend Indah’s wedding
o Finding
a wonderful church family, namely Since, Pak Agus, Gaby and Evelyne
o Trips
to Sumatra (with PCV Britteney) and Singapore
o Getting
to know the young men and women at my school who care about their education, go
above and beyond to succeed, and are reliable
o Sending
and receiving some of the best emails I have ever sent/read from wonderful
friends and family back home. Though we live in a world where it is so much
easier to send and receive information via the Internet, I find that the
distance still gives way to more heartfelt and sincere emails, reminding me why
I love the people I do.
Answers to the
mystery compound words!
matahari = eye day = sun (eye of the day)
orang hutan = person forest = orangutan (forest person)
kacamata hitam= glass eye black = sun glasses (black
eyeglasses)
tempat tidur = place sleep = bed
bunga api = flower fire = firework
selai kacang= jelly peanut = peanut butter
percaya diri= believe self = self-confidence
