Another Day in Paradise

January's gone by quickly. On most accounts that's a good thing. For most of you it means the end of snow and ice storms is getting closer. It also means that the Superbowl is just around the corner and, yes, the Indianapolis Colts will be there in full force!

On other accounts, after weekends like this, I would be happy to have time slow down just a bit. A friend of mine from the Consulate is leaving in March so she and I have talked quite a bit about what she will miss after living here for two years. At this point in time my list of things that I will miss is still short, mostly limited to a list of people and fruits that I've come to love. However this weekend has brought a mix of relaxation, randomness, and rainstorms that I know I will never have in the United States.

For example, take tonight's journey to this very computer. I left my house around 4pm after enjoying some delicious fried dough balls covered in powder sugar that Nelly, my general protector, made. It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a breeze so I decided to substitute my usual taxi ride with a nice walk. As I walked I greeted each person staring at me with a sincere smile and a pleasant "Hello!" or "Selamat sore!" (good evening). However, approximately a third of the way to my destination some very dark clouds rolled in and I decided to cut my walk short and catch a bimo.

Now a bimo is the local public transport of choice. If I were to choose it in a game of 20 questions and you were to ask me if it was bigger than a breadbox I would answer "only slightly". They take short-bus to a new level. Anyways, I caught the bimo and surprisingly found it empty. I was thrilled because this meant there was a good chance that the driver would take me all the way to my destination rather than to the nearest stop which is not so near. I was friendly and put my bahasa Indonesia to good use. First the driver asked me where I was from. I was in a good mood so I was honest and I said America. We went through the normal questions about work, age, if I'm married yet, what's my religion, etc. Then came the next stage of questioning. "So you're American," he says, "What do you think of free sex." I laugh and say responsibly that it is dangerous. Then I quickly point out that there isn't free sex in America. Then I decided to turn the tables and I asked him what he thought about it. Unfortunately while I can make conversation, my listening skills are greatly limited by my meager vocabulary. He could have said an array of things, but I chose to believe he said that it was deplorable because of the way it promotes a social perception of women as sexual objects.

It is unlikely that that is what he said, however, because his questions began to follow a less thoughtful line. First he asked me about Islam and what I knew about it. Knowing not to bite, I listed random facts that I hope all people know and then I concluded by stating, "I know Islam means peace." He smiled and seemed satisfied.

After some silence he began again. "I have never touched an American boy or girl before!" he declared. I knew where this one was going. "Can I touch you?" he asked. After briefly considering my escape options in case of an emergence I hold out my arm and say ok. Innocently enough he reaches out and puts his hand on my arm. After a few seconds I say ok and take my arm back. Phew, that wasn't so bad! He is beaming. "That is my first time to touch an American!" he says. I insist that we're the same as Indonesians, but he immediately points out the abundance of hair, or fur as they call it in Indonesian, on my arm and the lack of such hair on his arm. I smile and say oh.

He was quiet again for a while and we were nearing the turn to my destination/the stop on his route. He starts again. "You know I've never kissed an American before either." Uh-huh, I think. "Can I kiss you?" No. "Can I kiss your cheek?" No. "Can I kiss your hand?" No. He laughs and then mumbles something about smart woman.

Finally I point out again that I am actually going just a little further hoping that he would just take me there as some of the drivers have done in the past. But no, we arrived at the stop and he proceeded to tell me the fare. Maybe I should have kissed him!

Just kidding, Dad!

Anyways, he said that it was just about 200 meters to the place where I was going. Being from America I don't have a good sense of how long 200 meters is, but it sounded manageable. So I started walking...and walking...and I kept walking. I don't know how many meters later, but I'm guessing it was more than 200, I arrived at my destination - the international school where I was picking something up from a friend - and I was soaking wet. Not long after the curious bimo driver dropped me off the dark clouds above finally burst and let out a serious downpour.

I decided to sit with the security guards at the school until the rain let up and I ventured out again. They didn't seem too interested in talking to me so I pulled out my current reading material, Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" (fortunately my dad taught me the importance of always having a book on hand). After reading just a couple of pages one of the security guards randomly asks me how long I've been Indonesia, the typical conversation starter. I put down my book and we start talking. Then, when we hit a lull in the conversation, he looks at the book and just says "Obama." I ask him if he's heard of him and he says yes so emphatically that it's as if everyone has. I admit that I was surprised, not because I think Indonesians don't know anything about US politics, but I didn't really expect that people were following many Illinois senators.

It turned out that this guard knew a lot about Obama. He knew not only that Obama's step-dad was Indonesian and that Obama himself had at one point in his childhood lived in Indonesia, but this guard also knew that it was from 3rd grade through almost all of the 5th grade, but before finishing the 5th grade little Barack had to return to the US with his mom. The guard even knew what school Obama had gone to. I took the whole conversation as both an enjoyable moment in Surabaya and also as another sign among many that are suddenly pointing me towards US politics and the upcoming presidential campaign.

We'll see what happens in the Superbowl first!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's really hard to believe it's January when it's 80-90 degrees outside. I'm guessing most of you can't relate right now, although I hear it's been quite the mild winter so far in the midwest. In fact I'm guessing there have already been sunbathers lounging on the OU greens. Well knowing midwestern weather, it won't last, so maybe you should put on your bathing suit and join them!

In case you haven't heard, I spent New Year's in Bali...on the beach...looking at the Indian Ocean. All I can say is unforgettable!

Susan and I had a great time over the holidays. We hung around Surabaya for Christmas since I had promised the women at my house that we would be around. While there was no talk of Santa Clause coming or a Christmas Pageant, we were told there would be a big family gathering involving food and presumably gifts. Well, Christmas Eve came and went with no such get together, then Christmas morning. We woke to find stockings stuffed with presents and candy (which looked like it may have been intended for Halloween). After enjoying some sweets we cooked a feast of toast, eggs, and bacon, yes real pork bacon we lounged around just like at home. Yet unlike at home, where you eventually do have to get dressed, visit with family, and eat a large, but delicious meal, we continued to lounge...and lounge, and lounge. Finally, after hearing no word about what time this supposed meal would commence, I descended only to find some family members at the table already eating. It turned out that most of the family wasn't coming after all, so there would be no big Christmas gathering. I returned upstairs, more confused than disappointed. Had I misunderstood? Had I chosen to hear that there would be a big family gathering just because that's what I'm used to having on Christmas Day? Well I don't think so. I think it was just another day in Indonesia.

But this presented a dilemma. Susan and I had scrambled the night before to buy gifts for all of the family members we expected to see for Christmas. Now that most of them weren't coming, how would we give them their gifts? And more importantly, since it appeared as though there would be no gift exchange at all, how would we give anyone their gift? Apparently although Indonesians have picked up on the tradition of decorating piney-looking trees in their homes in December (despite the complete lack of any conifers in the area), they have not caught on to the true meaning of Christmas: presents. My idea was to keep the presents for ourselves in order to avoid the awkwardness of passing out gifts to the unsuspecting people downstairs. Susan, however, insisted on going downstairs and leaving them under the tree. Sure enough, her idea was a good one because not long after we had returned to my room, we heard shouts and near-screams. One by one they began to come up the stairs. When Susan and I came out, we were met by huge smiles and even hugs (Indonesians don't usually hug)! The next half hour is kind of a blur because it was full of such emotion and joy. It was so much fun to watch everyone open their presents and witness their sincere surprise. All of the sudden we had found Christmas in Indonesia!

After the euphoria wore off, Susan and I retired to my quarters where we proceeded to pass the rest of our Christmas listening to music, watching a Christmas movie, and eating a delicious dinner of grilled cheese and salad. It was a great Christmas!

The lounging of Christmas didn't last long. On the 26th we took a 5-hour train ride to Yogyakarta, "the cultural center of Java". I had been there once before, but had not seen much. This visit was going to be different. The big adventure on this trip was visiting Borobudur, a large Buddhist temple about 2 hours outside of Yogya. We went with some friends of mine (Indonesian friends, that is...yes I have them) and it was awesome. Here are some pics; I think they say more than I can (if that's possible):


While in Yogya we also saw a wayang kulit performance (traditional shadow puppets telling stories from the Ramayana), a huge Chinese cemetery, and the aftermath of the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Merapi last spring.

We returned to Surabaya on the 28th, hung out in Surabaya for one last day and then on the 30th Susan packed up all of her stuff and we flew to Bali! This was my 3rd time to Bali, but let me tell you, it doesn't get old! For our first few nights we stayed in a swanky town called Seminyak. We weren't right on the beach, but you could hear the ocean from our bungalow.

Some other Americans I know, teachers and such, were also staying in Seminyak, so Susan got to meet a lot of my buds. We hung out with them the first night and planned on meeting up for New Year's. Unfortunately (or maybe fatefully), either heavy usage in the area or an earthquake in Taiwan made cell phones pretty useless, so Susan and I ended up outside a club on the beach for the countdown to 2007. It was a great place to be. We decided to find something to drink so we could toast the new year. In the end we landed at what is probably the nicest resort I've ever unknowingly wandered into. As we asked the bartender for menus he suggested champagne. We said that sounded nice and asked if they served it by glass or by the bottle. They had both so we decided, what the heck, and went with a bottle of French. We waited for or refreshments on some beach chairs overlooking the ocean, but soon a nice young waiter carrying party hats and noise makers suggested we try a more comfortable spot- it was a bed-like bench with pillows and curtains and dark wood. It was straight out of a dream...or a magazine that makes you wish you were there. Well we were there!

After New Year's we went to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off the southeast coast of Bali. It turns out there's not much to do in Nusa Lembongan...nor is there an ATM. But there is really great snorkelling. Despite the fact that we arrived after a completely sleepless night, one hour after arriving at our hotel we found ourselves on a boat loaded with snorkelling gear and a random swiss man. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water was the color of bright turquoise. We snorkelled at two different sites and saw the most amazing fish and coral that I have ever seen in my life. The fact that we were exhausted was easily forgotten as we saw starfish, sea urchins, and an array of fish that looked like they had been swimming around in cans of bright paint.

The snorkelling made the trip to Nusa Lembongan completely worthwhile, but after one night Susan and I were definitely ready to return to the mainland, so we took an early afternoon boat back and were quickly on our way to Ubud, one of my favorites.

In Ubud saw a Barong dance performance with great dancing and fantastic costumes, lounged in one of the two pools at our hotel, shopped, hung out with monkeys and even ran into Caitlin and Tamara, two other ETAs. The highlight of our time in Ubud, though, was definitely all of the great food that we ate.

After three days of stuffing our bellies, our last day of vacation had finally come. On January 6 we returned to the beach for one last swim, one last sunset and one more delicious meal. At 11pm I took Susan to the airport for her 1am flight and then I went back to the hotel to sleep. My flight to Surabaya didn't leave until the evening of the 7th, so I spent the entire day on the beach relaxing and reflecting on how wonderful my time with Susan was. I got to see one more amazing sunset and then I too went to the airport and made my way back to Surabaya.



(F.Y.I. The above picture was not photoshopped in any way...it was really that beautiful!)