Happy Thanksgiving from Bandung!



Hello Friends and Family,
        just decided to give you a brief update on my life for the past few weeks. As you know I have been temporarily relocated out of Yogyakarta and the US Embassy will not allow me to return until the Indonesian Government lifts the "Red Alert" status on Mt Merapi. So no worries, they take good care of me over here and won't let me stay anywhere even slightly dangerous. With that, I am most lucky to have been placed with another ETA in Bandung, Mary, for the time being. I have been helping Mary teach her classes at a military boarding school here called Krida Nusantara. It has been an amazing experience so far, the military boarding school has a very different feel from my vocational high school in Jogja. Krida Nusantara is located in the Eastern part of Bandung and has its own complex, like a little college campus up on the side of the mountain overlooking the valley where the city of Bandung lies. The students and teachers all live, work, and go to school on campus. The campus is clean, green, and the fresh air and view from our guesthouse is a  rejuvenating way to start each day. The atmosphere is very conducive to enjoying the outdoors, and Mary and I have been running and exercising outside daily which does wonders for one's physical and mental health. The students here are very friendly and well-disciplined, and they are extremely eager to learn English which makes working with them very easy and also rewarding. I certainly miss all of the teachers and students at SMK 6 in Jogja, however, and I will be happy to return and also relieved when Mt Merapi is no longer so active; I worry about the safety of my friends and everyone at SMK 6 in Jogja.

     So, a few random plans as of lately.... I will be visiting Lombok, Bali and the Gili islands in December as the schools will be testing for a week, and then will be on Christmas vacation for several weeks after that. Mary and I are also planning a trip to northern Sulawesi to go snorkeling and enjoy the beaches around Gorontalo, Manado and the Togean Islands. Sometimes it is hard to be completely present and just think, "I am really here, I am really helping these wonderful students learn English, and I am really traveling to these amazing places, I am really here in Indonesia." I try to center myself daily and do this, and it is still incredibly amazing and somewhat hard to grasp all at the same time. This week in class Mary and I are doing a lesson about Thanksgiving. We talk about how Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday and how anyone can celebrate it and how it is just meant to be a time to hang out with your family and express what you are thankful for in your life. We play a youtube video of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade which the students think is especially awesome with all the the big floats and marching bands. Then we do the "Hand Turkey" activity, you know, when you were in elementary school and you traced your hands and colored them to look like turkeys? The students enjoy getting creative with their turkeys and of course we have them write five things they are thankful for along with their drawings. Its nice to walk around the class and read them and I think it is a good life lesson for everyone, not just the students but for Mary and I as well. It focuses our minds on what we are so grateful for and lucky to have in this life. Sometimes it is far too easy to focus on the negative things and everything little thing that goes wrong in everyday life; small good deeds and successes often slip by, unnoticed. The students make me smile with the things they come up with and of course it makes me reflect on my own life and the many things in it I have to be thankful for. Also in celebration of Thanksgiving, Mary and Yours Truly will be cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for all the of teachers here at Krida. So far we have cranberry sauce from a can, potatoes but no whisk or mashing device, two whole turkeys and stuffing but no adequate pan to cook either, no turkey baster, and not to mention absolutely no prior cooking experience of any kind. Just the sheer determination of two women who want to stoke the fire of cross-cultural understanding via the language of food.
    On that note, I have no Hand Turkey to show you, but I will leave you with my own personal list of five things in my life that I am very thankful for:
         
          My Parents- Once upon a time DVG was approached by a petite, young blonde with a fiery attitude in a dimly lit bar just outside of Oscoda, MI.  And the rest of this romantic story, ladies and gentlemen, is history- a history I am particularly thankful for. I couldn't ask for a better set of parents. I have been able to excel academically and personally through all of their support and confidence in me. They have full faith in me and all my abilities as an independent young woman and I hope they know that all that I am is a direct product of their love, wisdom, and moral attitudes that they have instilled in me throughout my existence.
         
          My Family and Friends- All of my family and the friends that I have made over the years have proved to be an incredible source of strength and support, especially in times such as these when I find myself so far from home. I can't thank them enough for all the good times they have shared with me, and the joy they continue to put into my life with even the smallest comments and messages they send to me. The love and positive energy you all send my way knows no distance and no barriers.
     
          Zach- This young man has successfully been turning my world upside down for about two years now, and I wouldn't have it any other way. He makes me think of things I would have never thought of before, he makes me view things from a million different angles and thus expands my horizons infinitely everyday. He supports me in everything I do and has my back on absolutely anything. He exhibits the most genuine qualities one could ever hope to find in a human being and restores my faith in life and humanity on a daily basis. It has been an honor and a privilege to share my time with such an individual.
      
          My Extended Family- I knew upon meeting Zach that such a creature had to have come from some long line of immaculate selections from the gene pool and revolutionary parenting skills. I very much consider Zach's family to be my own family and certainly miss their presence everyday as I miss that of my own. I am so incredibly happy that they have shared their lives with me these past few years and they have influenced me in ways they will most likely never fully comprehend. Their kindness, open-mindedness and humble brilliance has been a very strong pillar of support and guidance for me in times of need.
          
          This opportunity- I am very grateful for the opportunity to be here in Indonesia for the better part of a year. This experience fully immerses me in a culture very different from my own and makes me question things and analyze things I would not have before. Throughout the process of teaching here I have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of students that exhibit more drive, more personality, and more heart than many people will encounter in an entire lifetime. This opportunity not only allows me to learn about other cultures and traditions, but shows me the true colors of my own person and highlights the shades and hues of this strange palate that paint the colors of the human race as a whole.

      

President Obama's Speech at the University of Indonesia

On Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010, President Barack Obama made a long awaited visit to Indonesia. President Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather and attended an elementary school in Jakarta from the years 1967-1971. While President Obama was in Indonesia he met with President Yudhoyono, visited the largest Mosque in Asia, and delivered a speech at the University of Indonesia about the relevance of international ties between the US and Indonesia. Thanks to an entirely impulsive single phone call to the US Embassy made by a fellow Fulbrighter consisting of the request, "We want tickets to see President Obama," several ETAs, their students and I were able to attend his speech at the University of Indonesia. I won't go into specific details or my personal political opinion about his speech, but I will say it was an amazing experience, almost surreal. This was not one of the things I imagined myself doing when I came to Indonesia. President Obama is a great public speaker to say the least, and although his speech was rather short (about 30 minutes), it effectively presented goals and ideas concerning the future of international relationships between Indonesia and the US and why such goals and aspirations are relevant. He focused on three areas: development, democracy, and religion. He covered these topics not very much in depth, and as I mentioned before the speech was rather short. However, I believe President Obama executed the speech in a manner most suitable to appeal to his venue, which was mostly an audience of Indonesian college and high school students and did a wonderful job overall and was very well received by his audience. Although many Indonesians like President Obama and even feel they have a special bond to him because of the fact that he has lived in Indonesia, his presence did not come without some criticism. As we were leaving the speech we saw groups of protestors along the roads, not violent but vocal. I do not know the exact reasons of their protest, but I was told many Indonesians disagree with Obama sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, though he has removed over 100,000 troops and is actively ending the war in the Middle East. Either way, with any position of power comes criticism of one's actions, regardless of what the true intentions of these actions are. To be able to see President Obama, a human I greatly admire, deliver such as important speech was truly an incredible experience and just one of the many I am very thankful for here in Indonesia.

The line of people waiting to hear Obama Speak outside the University of Indonesia,
many were students

President Obama delivers his speech

Obama spoke to a full Auditorium at UI

President Obama shaking hands with the crowd after his speech

To read President Obama's full speech from the University of Indonesia, visit:

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/united-states-president-barack-obamas-full-speech-from-the-university-of-indonesia/405898

Welcome to the Ring of Fire

Part I
Thursday evening, or rather very early Friday morning, I was on my way home from a lovely Toga Party when my friend and I noticed that our taxi windshield was rapidly becoming caked with soot. The cab driver explained that Mt Merapi had just erupted, again, as he reached his arm out the window to pour bottled water down the coated glass. The restriction zone around the mountain had already been widened earlier in the week to around 20km from the base of Mt Merapi, but the cab driver explained that people were starting to move southward to avoid volcanic debris from the eruption that had apparently just occurred. We looked around and his claims seemed to be correct. We were at the start of what looked like an inevitable traffic jam. Cars, motorbikes, and people on foot were all heading southward, and the ash rain became more visible as the minutes progressed. After arriving at home I immediately called the other three ETAs currently visiting Jogja that were at the Toga Party with me but planned to spend the night at another location. Sure enough, the girls were stuck in what seemed like a chaotic and panic stricken attempt at an evacuation of the northern part of Yogyakarta. People were flooding out of their houses, bags in hand, piling into vehicles and onto motorbikes, and just driving southward. The girls ended up hopping into a truck with someone who offered them a ride and brought them to the train station, a straight shot east from my house. They said that not only was there an ash rain but also small rocks and other debris pelting the car windows. Another ETA remained at the Toga Party and confirmed that he had no plans to leave when I called him because of the rocks hitting the roof. I had no such debris at my house and the two girls eventually came to stay the night. Though I didn't experience the bulk of the volcanic debris, we could hear and even feel Mt Merapi erupting from my house. A noise that at first sounded like low rumbling thunder became accompanied by a perpetual subtle vibration of the earth beneath us; Mt Merapi erupting, what we would later learn was its largest eruption in around 140 years. By the time the girls got settled in to my house and we all showered to rinse off the gritty ash and debris as well as re-capped the crazy events of the night, there were only a few hours of sleep to be had before I woke up to teach the next day. I assumed school would not be in session, which was correct, but a teacher from the SMK 6 English department, several students and I were still expected to attend the regional English competition at another vocational school in Jogja. As we drove there via motorbike through the still present ash rain I couldn't believe that the competition was still in effect. All of Jogja looked like some antique shelf in a dark, musky corner of your grandmother's house, unattended for years and whose only company has accumulating layers of dust. It actually reminded me of the old segment on the show "Jackass" where they used to antique people with flour. Anyway, I was only at the school for a few minutes, waiting for the students to arrive when the Program Coordinator at AMINEF called to inform me of an evacuation plan. The ETA in Magelang, located northwest of Mt Merapi and about the same distance from its base as Jogja, and myself would be relocated to Jakarta until further notice. I headed to the train station and bought 5 tickets out of Jogja for myself and the visiting ETA, as well as another recent newcomer to Jogja on a Fulbright Music Scholarship. I went back home, packed up quite literally all of my belongings into my suitcase and two backpacks, had a lunch of cereal, bananas and orange juice from the IndoMaret since all other restaurants were closed, and passed the time with the other ETAs chatting about how crazy the current situation was. A few hours later we were on a train to Jakarta.

Part II
Now there are only 2 ETAs here in Jakarta including myself and the ETA from Magelang, as well as the Music Fulbrighter from Jogja. The other ETAs went to their respective homes in Bandung and Bogor. Being back in Jakarta is personally disconcerting for me for several reasons. I feel like instead of being evacuated from Jogja I actually abandoned Jogja, which is the last thing I want to do. All of my students are there, all of the teachers I have become close to, and several friends close friends that have already shaped my life here. They didn't have the option to just be swept under the protective wing of their government and brought to safer territory. They will stay there until they personally determine it unsafe for themselves, which is not always an easy situation to diagnose when dealing with a mercurial and very volatile active volcano. I think about everyone there everyday and hope that Merapi has erupted its worst and will calm down soon. The plan as of right now is for the Music Fulbright to pursue her critical language enhancement award in Bandung. I will also be relocated to Bandung for the time being and teach with another ETA stationed there, starting at the end of this week or beginning of next. The ETA from Magelang will head to East Java to do the same. Another adventure begins! I'm trying to stay positive and see the new adventure in every opportunity, just like my dad always does, but my heart is in Jogja. Part III to come later...

Hari Ibu-Ibu (Girls' Day)

Last weekend my good friend Bu Ida invited me on a day trip with some of her friends, an event soon to be known as Girls' Day. We visited Kota Gede Royal Cemetery, Goa Cerme, and Parangritis beach. The first stop was the Royal Cemetery at Kota Gede, or silver town. To enter the Royal Cemetery one must wear traditional Javanese clothing known as a Kemben. It consists of a 2 pieces of Batik fabric, one worn as a dress and the other worn around the torso. Men also wear Batik skirts as well as a traditional Lurik Batik shirt and a head covering. Below are all the lovely ladies looking cantik sekali in their traditional attire. Photos are not permitted inside the cemetery, but the graves are actually small above-ground tombs made of stone or marble embellished with Javanese script or depictions of ancient monsters and spirits. Many people come to the cemetery to pray and pay respects to the founders of the community that are buried there. Kota Gede Cemetery is regarded as a very spiritual place and is highly revered.

The next stop was Goa Cerme, Goa meaning cave. The cave had a very different feel from the cemetery but it is also considered a very sacred place by the locals. We all had to wear shorts to the knee, t-shirts, and flip flops, and brought flashlights and one camera covered in plastic. I wondered why anyone would wear rubber flip flops into a cave but I soon found out why. The path through the cave consists of actually wading through water about 1 meter deep, so the flip flops turned out to make sense after all. Goa Cerme was an eerie yet awesome experience, I had never been in a cave quite like that before. Looking up at the walls and ceiling you could see the calcium carbonate stalactites that had formed over many years, some massive and some tiny, still with water dripping off their ends. Some parts of the cave were so low that we had to duck to walk through them, a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. I hadn't noticed, but our guide mentioned the large crack in the ceiling of the cave caused by the last major earthquake.

The next stop was Parangritis beach which lies about 30km south of Jogja. It is a beach with dark volcanic sand and a reef off shore and strong currents make the water too dangerous to swim in as the waves are huge and the undertow very powerful. Before going to the beach itself, we stopped at an overlook of Parangritis to enjoy the view and our lunch of Gudeg, a traditional food of Jogja made from jackfruit.

The weather was a overcast and also a little rainy, but I don't think I would have traded it for a sunny day. You could see the rain coming across the ocean from the overlook. It was pretty awesome to stand with my toes in the Indian Ocean. The water was incredibly warm actually. I still look at it on a map and think "Wow, I am actually on the other side of the Earth from anywhere I have ever been before." Very humbling indeed.

So Mom and Dad, I hope you think this little trip sounds like fun because I can't wait to take you on it when you get here. I miss you! More updates soon, take care over there in the other hemisphere.