Tropical Perm!

Merry Christmas, all! Before I forget, for those of who that are signed up for automatic blog updates from me via your email, I want to let you know that there are no hard feelings if you don't want my updates anymore. I don't know if you can unsubscribe yourself or if you need me to do it for you. Just let me know and I will. I recognize that I'm not in the Peace Corps anymore, so the subjects of my blog posts may not appeal to you anymore. 

Anyways, for my Christmas present to myself, I got my hair permed yesterday. I feel that I just have to blog about this because a) I have never gotten a perm before and b) I don't know the process in the USA, but my experience was just too funky not to share!

Step 1: wash your hair and start to roll. She pulled out a piece and spread a gel on it, which you can see to the far, far left. Then you roll it up. 

You get these awesome felt pieces so that when the hair is heated up later, you will not get burned. 

That one little curl on top, haha! 

Then, the little curl on top got its own shower cap!

Next, you plug each individual curler in with its own black electrical cord, which leads to a sci-fi movie look! You wait for your hair to heat up to 248 degrees F, about 30 minutes, and then the machine shuts off. 

Clearly, I thought this whole thing was pretty funny. After the curls cool down, about another 20 minutes, she takes them out and dabs more chemicals on the rollers.  I got to wear this fashionable purple towel! 

Then you hang out while the chemicals dry.  Finally, you take out the curlers and wash your hair again. The final step is leaning back in a regular chair in a most uncomfortable neck position while the hairdresser squats down behind you to blow dry your hair over the back of the chair. 

The woman behind the magic! 

Not sure if the color looks lighter because I'm outside, or because of the chemicals??? 

Miss Mela is my coworker who got a perm a few months ago and it was so beautiful on her that I was inspired to try it! 

Total process: 600,000 Rp ($43) and 3 hours!

Letters to Tom Sawyer

10th grade students were asked to write letters to Tom (or another character) from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Here are some of their responses, edited for grammar!

My favorite one, for its wildly unexpected turn of events! From Huck to Tom:

Dear Tom,

I am writing this to you for there may be a possibility that I may not be able to see, speak, or write to you again, well not with this God-forsaken war dragging out.

Due to a particular series of events, I am now part of the Southern states, the Confederate, fighting for them. As I am about to leave, I remember the moments we had together. Remember that moment in the graveyard how we saw the murder of Dr. Robinson and how scared we were? I admired you when you were at court. Standing up for Muff Potter, despite the fact that Injun Joe was actually there. Or you remember when we found that treasure Injun Joe left behind in the cave, how happy we were? Remember the time you persuaded me to come back to Widow Douglas? You said you would make me a part of your gang. Those were the days, weren’t they?

Well, let me tell you what’s happening right now. I changed my name to somethin’ more formal, John Wilkes Booth is the name. Well, this is the end I reckon, so farewell my dear friend.

John W. Booth

Dear Tom,

I really hate that you are my big brother. You’re such a bad example and I still remember when you splashed that white paint on my face and then you threw the whole bucket on my head. I really wanted Aunt Polly to kick you out of the house and I wanted her to lick you in the face very hard. I hope I can also punch you till you cry (evil laughing). I also hate your friend Huck and when you’re gone, I'm so happy because I don’t need to see your ugly face. I wish you never return. I have one question; why did you come back!?!

Sid

Your lil bro

P.S I’ll be happy if you die.

I won’t be sad; I will have a party.

Another excerpt from Sid:

I still can’t forgive you after pouring white paint on my face: you ruined my shirt, my FAVORITE shirt!! What will I wear on Sundays? Oh, and that time where you stole my tickets to get a Bible just to impress Becky? I was so close to earning a Bible and you ruined my chances. Thank God you embarrassed yourself in front of everyone. But you owe me a lot, Tom!

 Dear Tom,

It’s been a while since we’ve been together. Our very last exciting, yet important and scary moment, was when we were lost in the cave. I know, right? It was a dangerous yet important moment in our lives. We were there together for many days, went through our struggles together, experienced days starving and living in a cave without light, or maybe just a little light. We’re also gone through happiness together, which was when we escaped from the cave together. You really showed me a manly side of yours the whole time, though I knew that you were also scared to death when you were in the cave.

I also remembered the time when we were in class. I used to draw Mr. Walters with his weird face. He found the drawing and you came up instead of me. You’ve sacrificed your butt for me. And I’m thankful for that.

I, for some reason, think that we are really meant to be together. Thanks for everything Tom. And…I have something to tell you.

I like you!

Love,

Becky

Another excerpt from a love note:

Do you remember the first time we met? You really attracted my heart and to be honest, I already fell in love with you at first sight. The way you picked up the straw and began to balance it on our nose, with your head tilted far back. It made me laugh.

(From the time Tom went missing)

Tom,

Now, I know how the pastors say writing to ghosts isn’t appropriate, but I don't quite care. I know you’re not dead yet, Tom. You’re going to regret this prank of yours.

Aunt Polly’s been as still as a statue, and as pale as a cadaver, while you have been away. I don’t know if you brought Becky with you (I reckon you have; you’re a parasite, in that way) but Mrs. Thatcher has it worse – she’s been crying hard enough to flood the Mississippi.

I mean, it ain’t like I miss you or anything. I don’t care much for you. You selfish, confounded, inconceivable pig! You think I fancy losing the last of my family? Come back. You pig, come back.

Sid

Dear Tom,

Hi Tom! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. You know, I’ve missed you an awful lot. Ever since I got those darn chicken pox, after we got engaged, I haven’t seen you. It was an awfully lonely week; I’ve been thinking about you a lot in my room. My heart was heavy just thinking about how lonely you were.

The last time I saw you, when you found another spot on my face, I introduced you to that nasty little Becky. I went home and made sure I had no more chicken pox, and when I came back, you were so frightened of getting the chicken pox, you ran away. Although, I understand you were heroically trying to protect yourself from the horrid chicken pox, I couldn’t help but notice that Becky was looking at you. Uh, she is a miserable little thing, and you are such a brave soul for sitting next to her in class to protect her status quo. I could’ve sworn you dumped me and decided to sweep her up. Ha! But how silly of me, of course you wouldn’t! We’re engaged!

Ha, ha, ha, ha…wait a minute. We’re still engaged, right? Oh my goodness. You did dump me for her! Didn’t you? Uhh, the next time I see you on the sidewalk, I'm gonna lick you so hard, you’ll see stars around your head.

I cannot believe it, I loved you! I swear, When I see you, I’ll take a real swing at you. Mark my words, this is a warning from your new EX-FIANCEE!

Love,

Amy

To Tom,

Hi, Tom. Come and walk around my house. I’ll be in the garden every afternoon at 3 o’clock. It’s been a long day not seeing your fancy actions. I want to talk about how I feel. I feel happy when I see you. Even though you’re not handsome and fancy, your actions make me fall in love with you. I love you to the moon and back. Come play with me. Walk around my house. I will give you something. Make sure no one knows!

From: Becky

A view from the top

I haven't yet shared more detailed pictures of where I live, so here you go! 

Starting from the outside. 19th floor view

Then here's a little porch view! Where I hang my never-ending loads of laundry. I've also attempted to plant some pepper seeds, but the soil doesn't appear to have any fertilizer, because the sprouts shot up and now they've been that height for 4 weeks...

Pulling back a little farther, you can see the world's tiniest kitchen, and my water dispenser on the right there.

Then you get the bed view... the huge mirrors are the doors to my closet. You catch a glimpse of my TV (which only Vallen uses) on the left wall there. 

Rest of bed, fridge

The last little corner of my room, tucked in between the bed and fridge! 

A nice early morning shot. Very cloudy that day...rainy season is coming, but is still not here yet! 

Our First Vacation

Vallen and I finally went on our first vacation together 2 weeks ago! Paige and Daniel are two Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who stayed in Indonesia after finishing PC. They lived in Solo, where I visited them for Halloween in 2013, and now, 2 years later, we visited them in their new home in Semarang. We also got to meet their cute baby girl who is almost 1 year old. Vallen fell in love with her right away! 

Train is Kereta Api in Indonesian, which literally means car of fire. 

As you can see, Semarang is in North Central Java.

We chose to ride the train to Semarang for $5/person one way on the 4 1/2 hour economy train rather than suffer the swerving on the 7-8 hour bus ride for the same price. The experience on the way there was nice enough (air conditioning is supposedly a new thing in the economy cars...), though the leg room left something to be desired. Economy is set up so that one padded bench who seats three people faces another padded bench that seats three. The legroom for these seats is about 1 foot! Additionally, the 6 AM train would have been a nice place to snooze, save a super chatty group of about 10 ibus (middle-aged ladies) leaving on vacation together, thus being noisy enough to keep the whole train car awake!

This is the first time I saw these cool haystacks. Usually the slash and burn agriculture involved burning it all, but the Central Javanese must find a better use for the hay. 

On the way home, we fared even worse. Same seating situation, but the AC didn't work and instead of a group of 10 ibus, there was a group of about 25 Chinese Indonesian couples on vacation together...also noisy. Overall, however, we were just happy to be together. 

As soon as we arrived, Daniel and Paige picked us up and we went right to Lawang Sewu, which means "one thousand doors" in Javanese. Semarang is located in Central Java. It was a major port during the colonial Dutch times, and Lawang Sewu was the office headquarters for the Dutch train company. For years it was just an abandoned building, but within the last 8 years, it has been opened for tourists. However, it basically remains an empty building for people to walk through and take pictures in. 

Daniel, Paige, their daughter and us

Usually people take pictures in the actual doors, but I could not get a shot without
other people in it, so Paige suggested this! 

By taxi

The next day, we explored the downtown area, starting at Sam Poo Kong, the oldest Chinese temple in Semarang. The location is actually a huge temple complex. 

Seemingly the world's biggest candles!

By angkot, bus, bus
Next, we headed over to the Old Town area. This area has dilapidated, neglected old Dutch buildings. Unfortunately, I was feeling dehydrated and feverish at the time, so it was more of a stumble around Old Town than a walk.

By bus, angkot, angkot, and ojek (motorcycle taxi)
After wandering around Old Town, we headed up into the mountains where we'd be hiking and spending a day or two. It took 3+ hours to get there, many forms of transportation, a near fainting spell by me, and a lot of Vallen's patience to get us there...only to find out that my information was incorrect. We could not begin the hike at Gedong Songo, the temples we'd just spent a lot of time and money getting to.

By ojek and angkot
After walking sadly through the temples, we backtracked about 20 minutes by a motorcycle and an angkot again. We checked into a place and I crashed. Vallen went to find food while I took medicine and rested immediately.

The next morning, however, I felt back to normal and we woke up to this view:

The view from where we stayed in Bandungan

Merapi and Merbabu in the distance. Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia. It last erupted in 2006, and it is already overdue to erupt again. 

We hopped on another angkot to the real start of the trail.

A passenger in the angkot hanging out the door. His chickens sit nearby, at my feet. 

Unfortunately, the car dropped us off at the bottom of a 3 km hill that we had to walk up just to get to the base camp of the hike. Despite the heat, a bathroom emergency that lasted 1 hour, and not enough water, we made it to the camp 1.5 hours later. Vallen insisted that we rest and chat.

Vallen's favorite hobby is chatting to ibus (middle-aged ladies). 

2 hours later than planned, we finally began hiking up Mount Ungaran (2,050 meters), a 3 hour hike one way.

Walking in the woods again felt just like being home in Wisconsin. : )

Hiking felt like being in Colorado again!

After hiking about 1.5 hours, I felt a little sick again, and we were at least another 1.5 hours from the top. As the hike got harder, steeper, and dustier, Vallen decided it was best for us to just stop while we were still happy. Best decision! 

The hike took us through a huge tea plantation.

We headed all the way back down, where it felt like the hike to base camp was far enough for that day. We wanted to try to catch a ride back down the 3 km hill. Unfortunately, our timing was not good, as it was jumatan,  the time for all men to go to the mosque on Friday at noon. So Vallen encouraged me to keep walking...and walking...and walking. Finally, after a sore 45 minutes down the hill (which was through very fresh gardens, so one can't entirely complain), a car passed us and let us go with them the rest of the way down the hill. 

Vallen had his own bout of sickness for about 30 minutes, masuk angin. I can't really explain what it is because I don't understand it. Masuk angin translates to "the wind enters" one's body. You can get it from sitting by the AC or a fan too long, from riding a motorcycle at night without a jacket, through your bellybutton, through riding a bus, etc. Basically from anything. Which makes it a mystery to me. Anyways, we hurried to Alphamart (the local Walgreens) and bought some tolak angin (which translates to "refuse the wind"). It is a packet of thick syrup of ginger and mint. You can mix it with water or tea or just drink it. Vallen sucked it right down, and within 20 minutes, was back to normal! Miracle drug! 

By angkot, angkot, bus, bus

We packed up and rode back into Semarang. We got off at the alun-alun. 

The huge open space in the center of town, called an alun-alun, is called Simpang Lima ("Five intersections")  in Semarang because 5 main roads all lead to this open space.

I learned about warung kucing. It is a food tent on the side of the road that has small portions (kucing means cat). You can try various types of dishes that way, instead of being stuck with one. Ingenious! This type of food is special to Central Java's three main cities: Jogja, Solo and Semarang. 

Vallen really loves Semarang! He worked there from 2006-2008, but hadn't been back at all since. 

Daniel invited us to a restaurant that you have to take a small little elevator to get to. The downstairs is a carwash by day, and then you ride the elevator up, and it's a restaurant by night! Excellent milkshakes! 

Muslims are not allowed to touch the spit of a dog; it's unclean and then they'd have to shower 8 times. So here Vallen is, being protected from their tiny, tiny dog by the baby's playpen area. I kept making him stay in "his cage" so the dog could roam free!

We saw Masjid Agung (the biggest mosque in Central Java) from afar, as I was not dressed to get any closer than this. 

Es buah is a mixture of water, sweetened condensed milk (a drink staple in Southeast Asia), fruit and jello chunks. 

We also went to a hash run with our excellent hosts. If you don't know what that is, it's easier to just google it than for me to explain! 

This was an overall fun trip that was a learning experience for us as a couple. As we plan to come back to the USA via 30+ hours of travel one way, it's best to learn our travelling strengths and weaknesses now!