A Very Official Meeting

This is another mosque right outside my office window. I can actually see 4 from it.

Well, another mighty institution has proved to be well… just full of people after all.

I went to a UNICEF* meeting today. I didn’t know what to do or say, so I just showed up. My colleague, Wira, asked me to go with him. It was about educational programs, so I suppose it was perfectly legitimate for me to go. Anyways, I was rather intrigued about the possibility, I’d seen the UN trucks driving around, and hey, you’ve got to admit that they’re pretty cool. Well, the meeting was long and drawn out and predominantly in Indonesian, and, as far as I could tell, it was an hour and a half to say that all the NGO’s in the area need to get organized so we don’t all try to do the same thing for the same people. It was very informal, very practical and very long. And during dinner time too. But, hey, I got to go to a UN field office! And, even though the people there are just people, they do have the coolest vehicles, hands down.

My brother had to leave. It’s been so much fun having him around, too bad he’s gotta run so soon. But I do understand that Andrea must really be ready for him to be heading home.

I went shopping for a “Muslim shirt” which, around here, means a tunic style shirt with long sleeves and is long enough to cover your bum too. We went to a lot of shops. They really like their busy patterns around here, so I’m still looking for a shirt. I know there are cute ones out there, because I’ve seen women with them on! I don’t think I’ll need one until I actually go into a school building, so I still have some time to find the perfect one. J I did however, find a nice pair of flip-flops (a non-negotiable need around here), and I saw some GORGEOUS scarves, actually I think they were Pasminas (you know those really pretty scarves you get in Prague?, like that: luxuriously soft). When my friend/colleague, Herly, asked how much they were she guffawed and told me it was an extravagant price. When pressed she said they were equivalent to about 5 US dollars. Then she and Meilen, another friend/colleague, started laughing at how absurdly expensive they were. J



*UNICEF stands for United Nations….something… Children’s (?) … something, maybe fund?

weekend with my bro!

Happy Monday. I’ve had a great weekend, especially since my brother has been here. He’s on a trip checking up on various FHI programs, which, happily, includes Indonesia! It’s been a lot of fun seeing him, and hanging out. But he really does work hard on these trips, even on the weekends!
Since he and another group of people were here checking things out, I tagged along on some of their tours through the neighborhoods that we’re working in. Even though it has been an entire year, the magnitude of the disaster here can still be seen everywhere. It’s absolutely heart-wrenching. I’ll continue thinking about it, and taking better pictures, and then write something on it in a few days; it’s just going to have to percolate a little longer so I can give it my best, so visit this blog again sometime, okay? My brother was also just in Pakistan, assessing the programs and needs there. This morning he shared photos with us, and that too was horrific. Please continue to remember the Pakistani victims of the October earthquake, as they are attempting to survive an extremely harsh Himalayan winter without proper shelter, clothing or food. Despite their extreme hardship, his photos had image after image of smiling children. It’s the same here: children smiling. How can they smile after all the tragedy in their lives? It astounds me.

Next week will be my first English camp with the children in the neighborhood that we serve. Many of them still live in tents there. I’m excited to meet them and help them in whatever way I can. Meanwhile, I’m frantically writing curriculum and having my Indonesian colleagues check it to make sure its culturally acceptable to the very conservative Islamic culture here.

Here’s a few photos of this weekend. The beach is gorgeous, though my brother said the last time he was here, NOBODY would go there, since it was filthy. Apparently it took a long time for this town to stop smelling of death. Happily, it no longer does, and they’re not finding anybody new, and the beach is clean and we can enjoy the most gorgeous sunsets over the Indian Ocean. It’s amazing that beauty is always there if you look for it.

Here's a photo of the street by where I live. The only public transportation around town are the becak "baychalk". They're a lot of fun to ride in. You feel like a movie star since everyone points at you and waves.... it may actually have more to do with my whiteness than the becak though...

These are some of the GREAT people I work with!






my bro and I... it was REALLY hot...




mmmm...

nice, hey?!

some thoughts

Hey Look! A picture!!

This is the view from my office. Nice, hey?


There’s a kid that lives across the street who likes to take all his clothes off and wander through our house. He also seems to like peeing into our front yard.

I’m convinced that there isn’t a difference between the three speed settings on my fan. They’re ALL too soft. It’s so dang hot here.

Sinks are useful things because when you wash your hands, you don’t splatter water on your legs.

I judge the heat of the days by the number of showers I take… an average day is a 2 shower day.

We have no hot water, and believe it or not, the “cold” water can still be a shocker when you pour it over yourself in the morning.

There are some bugs we just ignore, like the tiny ants that crawl all over the food and in our wardrobes. I do not ignore the flies on my food though, or the mosquitoes.

We can get peanut butter here!!!!!!!

Indonesians like their rice just as much as the Japanese do… breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Where else do I get to work barefoot? This is awesome.

The kids like to yell “Hey Mister!” to me. I’m not sure what to think about that.

The people here have the most glorious smiles, and they’re easily given.

Where am I?

Alright, here I am again. (and, incidentally, here you must be as well if you’re reading this). Do you actually know where Indonesia is? (please say yes) What about the island of Sumatra? So, here’s my challenge: where, in relation to Medan, is Meulaboh? So, mark, get set, go! Find those maps (or better yet, google-earth it!) Write me with the correct answers, and you’ll win a prize (to be disclosed, um, well, when you win it).

After flying around the world, I have really reached, well, a whole different world. Which seems cliché, but it really is different here from the U.S, Hungary or Japan. There are still a lot of similarities: people are just people no matter where you go, with hopes and dreams, loves and hates, as well as the necessity of doing the dishes. But a person who lives in Meulaboh (myself included) leads a vastly different life than one who lives in Budapest, or Seattle (both wonderful places, I may add). Naturally, I can only give you life in Meulaboh through my bule “boolay” (Indonesian for “gringo” or foreigner) eyes, but I’ll do the best I can. Later on, when I know people better, I’ll try to tell you some of their stories and thoughts as well.

Meulaboh does have a road to it from Medan, but it’s long, windy, and bumpy. It has to go over some decent-sized mountains, and I understand it takes a long time to drive it (if you want the exact time: a)you’re anal, b) ask me later). There is a small airport, with a paved landing strip, where several UN, Red Cross, MAF or Samaritan’s Purse aircraft come in daily, but no commercial flights. It took about an hour on a twin engine prop airplane (sorry, Kossuth students, I don’t know the exact name of the plane) to get here from Medan. The town has a couple “main” roads and lots of tiny roads that wander amongst the little water canals and ditches. Perhaps 50,000 people live here, but the actual area is quite small with a dense population. People build their houses out of brick and cement, and some of them (the ones not destroyed) are quite beautiful with intricately decorated gables and lots of bright flowers out front. There are a few cafes around, and many shops have opened in the past year; in one you can find all sorts of great chocolate and bath products, probably catering to all the foreign workers in the area. Most people travel by motorcycle, and they put as many people as can fit on the bike, including babies and women sitting sideways. The roads are absolutely filled with traffic, and chaotic; I swear I saw a 10 year old driving a motorbike the wrong way up the street the other day.

While I can see the mountains in the distance, the coastal area here is quite flat, and that’s why the tsunami wave devastated it so horribly. The people say that the wave was 3 palm trees high, and everyone here lost family members, friends, and neighbors, as well as their homes, schools and businesses. Parts of the town have been rebuilt, and some areas are in the process of rebuilding, but the peninsula part of town is like a desolate field of rubble still. Nothing was left standing over there (it was about 1/3 of the town). Everywhere you go, there are still signs of the tsunami, from wrecked buildings, to piles of ruined cars, to topless palm trees.

The organization that I’m with (Food for the Hungry International- FHI) is one of many NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) here in Meulaboh. Essentially every relief NGO you can think of is represented here, and it’s shown in a confusing soup of acronyms pasted on the side of the trucks tooling about town. While F.H.I. began doing purely relief work here, they have shifted focus to meet the current development needs of the local people, and that’s why I’m here! They’ve started an educational program that includes English language education. So, I am employed to teach the non-bilingual Indonesian staff (about 10 people) English, and to develop curriculum and teach a children’s monthly English Camp, as well as teach a few other community English classes. So far, I’ve only taught the staff, and we’ve had a blast. They’re eager to learn and a lot of fun.

I live in the women’s staff house with 6 other women (Indonesian and American), they’re all great people, who do a lot of laughing. Next door is the men’s staff house. We eat all our meals together (prepared by the housekeeper-awesome, hey?!) and since there’s not much to do in Meulaboh, we all hang out together too, as well as with the other NGO people. Our house has no flushing toilets, or bathroom sinks or showers-just buckets to dump over yourself! And it has resident geckos (lizards) in every room. In my room the geckos’ names are Melchizedek and Simone. In the evenings and weekends we can go to the beach, eat at a cafe, or go to each others homes. That’s about it! Needless to say, we do a lot of reading, watching DVDs and chatting in our free time. The beach is absolutely gorgeous, with great sand and a splattering of palm trees. Sometimes there are kids there who are nice, and want to play Frisbee with us. The only drawback is as a woman I can’t expose my leg more than mid-calf and I can’t wear sleeveless shirts, which makes the beach a pretty warm endeavor.

Well… the evening call to prayer is wafting out in the night air, which means that it’s time for me to think about going to bed. I’ll tell you more about Islam in this area later, I need to learn a bit more…..

So, go look at a map, figure out where exactly I am…. And write me an email!

Here I sit

... at the airfield in Meulaboh! I've finally made it here! After 24 hours flying, 2 days in Singapore... a night in Medan. I'm here! We took a UN flight from Medan and flew over some gorgeous mountains, and landed right by the sea here in northern Sumatra. Even an entire year after the tsunami, I could still see the effects of the giant wave far away from the shore. But it's green again.

When I got off the plane here in Meulaboh, I was greeted by a homemade sign for Starbucks! :-) I guess one can never really get away from it all. :-)

Well, I'll write more later. Thanks for reading this you guys, and email me, I love hearing from ya!

Here I am...

So, I’ve made a New Year’s resolution that I’ll try to keep in better contact with my friends. And this blog site is going to (hopefully) be updated a lot more often this coming year.

I did move back to the States, as you’re all aware, last June. And then I moved to Seattle. I lived there for 4 months, and now I’m back in Oregon at my parents’ place, getting ready for my next overseas adventure. This time I’m going with Food for the Hungry to Meulaboh, Indonesia. Meulaboh is located in northern Sumatra, in the Aceh province. It was hit hard by the tsunami last year, and is still in the process of recovering. I’m going there to help develop several ESL curriculum programs for Indonesian ESL teachers and students. I can’t give you more details on what exactly I’ll be doing since I’m not that clear myself. I promise more info when I become enlightened.

What I do know is that I leave in a week (ahhhhhhh!!!!), on 9 January and should be back in the States on 9 June 2006. All this planning is, of course, God willing, as well as visa willing and all that jazz.

I’ve never been to Indonesia, or anywhere else in Southeast Asia. I’m curious about it. Ever since leaving Peru as a kid, I’ve wanted to try living someplace tropical again, and here’s my chance at it. I’ve got my cotton clothes, and my Malaria pills and I guess I’m as ready as I’m going to be.

As always, your thoughts, prayers and emails are much appreciated!