tidbits..

so last week I sat around and watched some youtube videos with my host fam and shared some music that we both like. It was a pretty interesting cultural exchange I must say..

I also ran across a video of this police office who made a music dance video to an Indian song. He became pretty famous around the time that I came to Indo and all they showed on TV were little clips.. I finally watched it (not all 6 minutes) and i have to say it was pretty funny.. Now my idea of funny may have changed since coming here.. But most of the video (about 4 minutes) is pretty good.. Luckily I was surrounded by my host sisters as I was laughing -  side note -  laughing while by yourself makes you look crazy.. I found this out when I was reading something online and I started laughing. My friend and my host mother stopped in my doorway and started calling me crazy.. I explained I was reading some funny stories and they just couldnt understand why I was laughing.. by myself.. at my computer.. Sometimes I really dont get what they think here.. I mean I know its not normal to sit and laugh at a computer screen.. all the time.. but at least I was doing something and not starring blankly at the screen.. I dunno..

it was an interesting week of computer tech/ culture exchange..

SO! The videos..

First: Briptu Norman singing Chaiya Chaiya (Which is from India..)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-m4SxEvnXA

This second one is one most people have already seen BUT its totally worth watching again. In the beginning of January some people got married and then the husband did a dance for his wife.. yeah yeah.. Crazy thing is.. this couple is friends with one of the volunteers here, no other than Daniel (from my training village) PRETTTTTYYY crazy.. and such a small small world..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF9XBYHrwtk

Third: Two weeks ago I went to a woman's prayer group at the musholla by my house (small mosque). There I got to sit for maybe an hour and listen to the women pray and honestly it was one of the most relaxing things.. Ever.. It was kinda like listening to chant music which sometimes is really soothing. I probably could have fallen asleep to them singing. Next time I will have to bring my camera and video it. Trying to find an example on youtube is surprisingly hard..
(yeah totally impossible.. ill try again soon..)

Finally a little video of one of the most popular tv shows in Indo: Sean the Sheep. Pretty sure this comes from England or somewhere around there. Anyways its pretty amusing and one of the easiest shows to watch - no indonesian :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RMn-9_3Hg

Seemingly Out of Body

So before queuing this blog entry, I notice that I have reached over 90 blog entries in my time here.. some fellow volunteers haven't even pushed over 50.. so you all should be grateful that I have no life and take the time to spill my soul on these, uhm, pages..

If you couldn't already tell I am in a queer mood. It hit me today, almost literally, that I am in fact in another country. I was riding my bike back from visiting my first host family and i was kinda zoning, which is NOT a good thing to do. And I was thinking, "Wow.. I'm in the Peace Corps (uh duh..) and I am in another country which is awesome.." and then a car starts driving in my lane to make a right hand turn (which is like a left turn in the US). And it really hit me.. I'm in another country. I could be hit and I am not entirely sure that this car would stop.. Better watch the road.. Wise eh?

Its weird. Ive been here for almost a year yet it STILL hits me that I am not home. I know I get homesick and at times am so frustrated with everything that I want to punch something, I still manage to forget that I am where I am. Being around my new family, and maybe the fact that last week I only left my house once, made me forget where I am.. Which is odd because 90% of what comes out of my mouth is another language. Strangely enough I find myself occasionally thinking in Indonesian. As soon as my mind figures out whats going on I pause, a little confused, shake my head and continue on thinking in another language.. I am going to come home and lo, wah allah, iki lo, and maaf are going to become a permanent part of my vocabulary.. So hear me out before you think I am making up a new language. I am running on too many languages.

so yes this is my rambling of the week heck maybe of the year. I still cant wrap my head around where I am at and what I am doing.. Kinda makes you wonder what goes on in my classes doesn't it.. Hehe..

love you all :)

love the crazy little me

Birthday Parties..

so this past weekend was my little host bros 2nd birthday. It was pretty different from the way we celebrate. They had a "party" kids just came, prayed, ate some food and then left. Made me wish for more chaos.. I wasnt really expecting anything but when they said party i thought there would at least be some games..

eh well.. Here are some pics enjoy :)

 all done!

 my friend holding the cake..

 eating the cookies we made the day before..

 getting ready to blow out the candles..

 ibu and bapak helping blow out the candles..

yum! :)

handing out the cake to all the guests.. i was the first one.. of course..

 opening the presents.. getting a little crazy..

 playing with the new noisemaker.. cannot wait until the batteries die..

i had to wait 20 minutes to get this laugh.. every time i turn the camera on him he just shuts down and looks confused.. he is the best when he is laughing.. so taking him back to america with me..


love you all :)

Monkeys and Sunburn Don't mix (AKA Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

so two weeks ago i finally had my first vacation. it started on the 21st with a lovely travel day starting with a bus and ending with a train. The train left around 930 at night and unlike the last overnight train i was on, this one wasnt all that fun. We were in business class which is really just economy class but it has fans and you arent packed in like sardines. i was up for pretty much the entire train ride which lasted about 8 hours.

We finally got off at our stop and started to look around for transportation which didnt really work out because i got the instructions from my friend wrong. We ended up getting off two stops before we were supposed to and had to figure out where to go at like 5 in the morning.. some guys wanted to charge us a ridiculous amount to make the thirty minute ride to the right area. there was also this guy who kept harassing us “do you speak indonesian, do you speak indonesian.. blah blah blah” we first said no but he kept going and so we just started to ignore him. Then when we started to walk away he started following us in his car, not a public transport vehicle but normal car and finally my sister was like we dont need a ride thanks leave us alone.. and while that probably wasnt the best thing to do since he started saying something really fast he did drive away.. finally..

so after two angkot rides we finally made it to our first destination: Banguwangi. There we met my friend Jen who got us a hotel and made some wonderful plans for us for the day. The hotel had a nice view. We could see Bali from our balcony. So after taking a nap (since we made it to our hotel at 6 am) Jen took us to a batik factory. There we got to see then making the patterns, applying the wax and adding color. It was pretty cool. After our mini tour we got to make some of our own mini batiks. it was pretty cool. it was a lot harder than it looks. But it was fun. I am totally not talented in that department. All the ladies in the wax room loved Krystal. Honestly if PC doesnt work out I think she has a new job for the next year and a half.

Bali again..

Batik by print. He covers the previous design with wax and then prints over it.

Using the printing block

Some of the fabrics after they have been dyed.

This is where they are adding the wax on by hand.. Pretty cool how they can do it perfectly

 After this adventure we went back to the hotel and another friend arrived. We then rested up a bit and then went out to dinner at Jens house. It was a pretty good dinner. After that trip we headed back to the hotel and Krystal and Hannah went to use the internet and then stuff went crazy. Whitney and I were standing outside getting ready to eat a popsicle when i thought i saw something in the sky. i dismissed it until i saw it again. It looked like it was moving back and forth but it faded in and out. I thought i was seeing things until Whitney started to see it too. It was so weird. We creeped ourselves out and at one point Whitney screamed and we ran back inside and shut the door. When my sister and Krystal came back they thought we were crazy which maybe we were but who knows.

Then the next day we started our adventure in Bali. Around 12 we caught a ride on the ferry across the bay to Bali. We then got on a mini bus that took us to Kuta which is further south. It took us close to 4.5 hours to get to Denpasar which is the capital city of Bali. From there we had to take an angkot into the main area and that was another 20 minutes but FINALLY we got there. I, being the dummy that I am, do not have any pictures of the hotel BUT it was a nice hotel. It had a pool and yeah it was just a nice hotel.

 on the ride into Bali

Our driver stopped and got blessed. Pretty neat.



The next day just included shopping and a mini little trip to the beach. We sadly didnt get to the beach until around 4 and the weather started to look bad but at least Hannah got to see the beach. We went back to the pool and fooled around and got some drinks. It was buy one get one so hannah and i got three drinks which was wayyy enough for me.. it was fun for a little while. Before we got stuff to eat Hannah and I had some very funny convos. At one point, and im not even sure how this got in my head, but i started talking about teletubbies. I finally figured out why they are called that- because they have tellys in their tummies or maybe i said tubbies. It was pretty hilarious.

Then it was christmas and i got to see my fam which was nice. Its still weird seeing everyone sitting around the table and not being there.. After the chat we chilled in the pool a little and then Hannah got a massage and the before we knew it, she had to leave. It was pretty hard taking her to the airport. Even though she gets on my nerves it was really nice having her here.. I miss her a lot now.. stupid sister..

We went and attempted snorkeling on Monday.. Which failed.. i was the first one in the water and i totally would gave done it if the water hadnt been really rough.. Im not the most awesome swimmer so when the waves kept forcing me towards the boat i started to freak a little bit. I was afraid that I was going to be swept under the boat and i did not need that.. the trip ended up being really short and only whitney came in after me. i think Krystal saw us struggling and she changed her mind.. darn weather! Next we went a turtle farm. they have some gigantic turtles there. I really hope they let some of them go back into the wild. But it was nice seeing so many sea turtles.

 Little babies! They were so small..

 Getting biggerrrr...

 This turtle was HUGE.. they had people "picking" it up but it was so heavy the only got half of it out of the water.. so cool though..

 hand by head shows how large it is..

big storm on the way back in..

The next few days then just went in a blur of shopping and chillin in the pool. It was nice up until i got i got sun burn. Sunburn really makes life a lot harder. Two days later we checked out of our hotel. We left our stuff at the front desk to be picked up later and went out to meet with some other folks who had just come into town for lunch. I was also trying to decide whether or not i wanted to stay extra days. Tough decision haha. So we ended going out to eat and then chilling at a hotel with some of our friends for a little bit and then Mary Ellen and Nicole and I went out to find something to wear. I got a cute dress and a shirt but afterwards I decided I didnt really want to go out clubbing.. which, for those who know me well, isn’t really my cup of tea. So I just sat outside and read a little bit once everyone left and then eventually took a walk with one of my PC friends Cody. We went and got some water and he got some ice cream -  side note he is allergic milk so this wasnt really the best thing for him. We had a really good chat.. Im not sure exactly how long we sat talking but it was a really good chat. He tried to get me to finish his ice cream, which looking back i shoulda helped him out but i didnt.. Later he went in his room to sleep and i tried reading again but i got tired since it was like 1 so i tried to sleep on the floor outside the room.. which wasnt smart but i was tired.. of course the sunburn made me really uncomfortable. Cody ended up walking out and told me to get in his room and sleep on the bed. Finally around 3 MaryEllen came back and we left to go to her hotel which was farrrrr away. by the time we got to her hotel it was four in the morning. Before I went to bed i noticed that my legs had some sun blisters on them.. oh joy..

so the next morning we all got ready for a day of traveling. Erin and her brother came down and we all got in a car to go to Ubud. We had a full day planned to visit a lot of cultural places and while my legs and other sunburn were bothering me, I was glad i had come out. I hadnt really gotten a chance to see much stuff.

First we went and saw some traditional dancing which was pretty neat. It made no sense but luckily they gave us a paper that kind of explained what was happening.

The first dance.. Pretty close to Javanese dancing.

start of the story.. some officials or something..

one of the bad guys..

this guys were funny.. they spoke english sometimes and did some crazy stuff.. made the story more interesting..

this thing ended up eating people at the end.. not sure how it fit in the story though..

at the end noticed that my leg was getting bigger.. lovely right?

Afterwards we decided to go the monkey forest to meet up with some friends. On the way to the monkey forest I noticed that my blisters were getting bigger which kinda sucked. Before we walked in the monkey forest, Oma Colleen (she is the oldest volunteer in the first group but she has a real young heart) she kept talking about the last time she came and how some of the monkeys were aggressive and a tourist actually got bit.. I was a little nervous but i still thought it would be pretty neat. i mentioned to Mary Ellen before we walked in “Man I hope they dont think that my blisters are food.. That would suck.” I should have kept my mouth shut. After walking around for about 30 minutes I notice this monkey that is kind of interested in me.. It starts to come towards me so i start walking around my friends brother. Then it stops so i stop. I started talking to someone and all of a sudden the monkey lunges. We are all a little shocked. I looked down and one of my blisters is gone. I kinda just stare at the monkey for a little bit and he is licking his fingers, which is kinda gross. Then he starts coming towards me.. again. Oma Colleen tells me to start walking away and then she starts to push the monkey away but hes not really having any of it. Finally she shoves her purse in its face thats the point where i pretty much turned and ran.

Once i was a bit away and “safe” we looked at my leg and it didnt hurt at all but the blister was gone so i now had an open wound. We called the doctor and he told me to wash it out with soap and i was thinking to myself “where am i gunna get soap in the middle of this park?” but luckily we had some drinking water and some antibacterial gel so at least i got something on it.. I called him back and he told me he wanted me to come to Surabaya to get a rabies shot.. I was so bummed. I almost started crying, which is dumb but I had made the decision to stay and I was having a good time and then a monkey had to go and ruin it. Mary Ellen felt bad for me so she went and got me some ice cream which was really nice and it ended up making me feel a whole lot better. So remember that when someone is down: ice cream is an awesome fixer-upper.

 statue outside of the park..

 aw.. isnt he cute.......

 a momma and a baby..

 chilling in the trees.. at a much safer distance..

 view of the jungle.. it really was a pretty place..

 at the end of the staircase.. thats erin on the side by the way..

 cool jungle area..

 pretty sure this is the monkey that made me leave bali..

 the river was pretty cool..

the Komodo dragon statues were also pretty neat.. a little bit bigger than a real one though..

So we continue on our day and we went and saw a temple area called the Elephant Cave and got some lunch and then finally a waterfall. During this whole time the other blister on my left leg kept growing. It was starting to hurt every time i put my foot down. I wanted to pop it but everyone kept telling me to wait. Its kinda like when you are little and you want to pull out a loose tooth but your mom is telling you no.. i was very determined to have the thing gone as soon as possible. So finally once we ended out trip Erin and I walked to the pharmacy or the apotek to get some equipment to pop the sucker.

the sign at the start of the elephant caves.. interesting eh?

 fountains with holy water. People were washing their arms and faces with it..

 Wah its watching me!

 Pretty cool jungle area..

 neat tree..

  the big waterfall!

After buying a needle, lighter, some non-stick gauze and some soap we went on our way to find an area that we could do some surgery ha. We ended up stopping at a puskesmas (i think thats how its spelled) which is kinda like a free clinic, and we used their bathroom. Thank god I had Erin because im not entirely sure i could have popped the thing by myself. I started to get really nauseous at the idea of stabbing myself with a needle. (This is gross.. fyi..) I still had to push all the liquid out though so i had my fair share disgusting. So finally it was mostly empty and clean and we went on our way. That night was nice once I could finally walk without wanting to cut off my leg. We ended up having dinner at a vegetarian restaurant which was reallly good.

my leg all bandaged up after the "surgery"

the "monkey" leg.. looks clean here but it isnt now.. :(

thats Erin and Oma Colleen (the woman who saved me haha) chilling on the beach after a long day.

The next day I ended up leaving around 10 in the morning to go to the terminal to catch a bus back to Java. I sat at the station for about an hour before they finally started boarding and then another hour on the bus before we finally left the terminal. Once leaving we didnt get very far before we stopped again. I think it took close to 5 hours to get to the ferry, which SUCKED. The air conditioning didnt work really well when we were stopping constantly so the first half of the trip was hot. Finally around 6 we got on the ferry. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Once i got to the terminal in Surabaya i got accosted by taxi drivers which was annoying. Sadly it was past 12 so none of them were running meters (which is dumb) and they wanted to charge me 100 to 75 to get to my hotel (normally the fare is about 35..) I was so annoyed. I kept telling them that I had been there before and I knew how much it cost and I wasnt paying above 50. They all started to ignore me. Finally a taxi driver told me he would take me.

I do have to ask why, whenever i go to Surabaya at night, do I always get the taxi driver who has no IDEA where he is going. He had to stop 3 times to find out where we were going and near the end I had to tell him where to go. A person who doesnt live in Indonesia has to tell the Indonesian cab driver where to go..

The hotel room wasnt that nice but at that point I didnt really care I just wanted to go to bed.. The next day I went and chilled out at the PC lounge for a few hours before seeing the doctor. Got to check my email, read a book, take a shower..

The doctors visit wasnt too eventful. I got one shot and then he had to scrub my wounds which wasnt too bad. HA Ill spare you guys the details.. but finally they were clean. I asked the doctor how many shots i would have had to get if we didnt get the three shots before during PST: A whopping 32 shots.. and I would have had to be evacuated back home.. Which woulda sucked.. But im still here.. So pretty much I had my wounds cleaned and I had to spend my new years by myself because i was the only one in Surabaya.

 these are current pictures of my leg.. this is the monkey leg.. which isnt doing too well..

the normal leg.. healing much better and much faster..


So thats my story.. I had an interesting past few weeks and hopefully the next year is just as interesting.. just not with bodily injuries.

LOVE YOU ALL :)