Have you heard of the app, 1 Second Everyday (1SE)? It lets you compile a video of one-second clips from every day, creating a fun, fast-paced glimpse into your past.
Inspired by some of my fellow ETAs, I jumped on the bandwagon and started adding daily clips. I kept it up for the entire year, and finally finished my Fulbright Year video. Enjoy this glimpse into my daily life in Indonesia!
A month later and I’m finally about writing the second half of my Vietnam adventures. January and February were busy months with our Mid-Year Enrichment Conference and then getting back into the swing of things at school after six weeks off. It felt like the second semester was starting off at 110% – there was so much to be done and to prepare for this semester (WORDS, YES Scholarship, etc). Then, add in a new American President and you have me spending a majority of my free time reading the news…Today is election day in Indonesia so it’s a holiday! (Take note, America.) This means I have a blissfully free Wednesday to sleep in and do as I please. Aka finally writing a blog post.
I left off the last post in Hue on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we packed up and headed to Hoi An, via motorbikes! It’s (theoretically) about a half day journey by motorbike from Hue to Hoi An and we had heard fantastic things about the trip.
We stopped at a number of places throughout the trip – submerged rice fields in the countryside outside of Hue, an incredible cemetery, a beautiful lagoon, a waterfall, and the Hai Van Pass, which takes you along the ocean and over the mountains and is absolutely beautiful. A flat tire, running out of gas, and losing Daniel turned our trip into a longer day than it should have but I can’t recommend this trip highly enough! It was SO COOL!
Submerged rice paddies
These resting places, in An Banh village, are incredibly beautiful. Plots like this stretch one after the next, for as far as the eye can see.
The average family spends $70,000 to $100,000+ on these grave sites… um WHAT?
I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to climb on the dragon and ride it in a cemetery but when else can you ride a $20,000 dragon?
The view from our lunch pit stop… jaw-dropping
Along the Hai Van Pass
Travel Buddies!
The view coming down the other side of the pass. The city of Da Nang is in the distance.
Then we spent three nights in Hoi An, a charming little town known for its tailors and lanterns. It’s a tourist trap but I loved it after living in far-off Indonesian places for so long. Unfortunately, on our second night there, we got food poisoning and became horrendously sick. We spent the next day in bed, hardly able to move, and cursing the food gods. We were looking forward to spending a day at the beach that day but alas, that didn’t happen.
Best breakfast spot in town
Exchanged Christmas presents <3
Lanterns for sale in the market
The famous Japanese-covered Bridge
The next day, we hauled ourselves out of our sick beds and made our way to the airport. We were much better by then but still a bit queasy. By the time we arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), we were feeling better and up for a night on the town. We stayed at the COOLEST hostel – The Common Room Project – and luxuriated in the down comforters, beautiful bathrooms, and incredible rooftop. It’s a little out of the way from the Backpacker District but if you are wiling to take cabs to and from wherever you are, it’s 100% worth it. Seriously, this place was amazing.
Photo from The Common Room Project website because I was too busy enjoying the place to take a picture
The shared kitchen <3
View from the rooftop patio
We stuffed ourselves with pho, got drinks at the fancy Skybar in the tallest skyscraper in the city, fell in love with a dozen puppies, soberly made our way through the Vietnam War Museum, and went on a food tour with local university students. On New Year’s Day we went on a tour to the Chu Chi Tunnels, about two hours outside of Saigon. While the whole thing was way too touristy, it was still neat to see and I’m glad we went. We spent the rest of New Year’s Eve bar-hopping with some of our other ETA friends! On New Year’s Day, we said goodbye to Daniel, and Kate and I headed back to Kendari.
Pho from the gods <3
At the Bitexco Tower fancy-schmancy bar
Falling in love with puppies. Look at his little face!
$50 and he could have been mine… gahhh I should have bought him!
Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon
Chu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Minh guerrilla hid during the Vietnam war
We got to crawl through one of the tunnels! It was a tight squeeze!
New Year’s in Saigon – looking down on the streets from a rooftop bar
We had to spend a night in Kuala Lumpur before getting back to Kendari so we decided to book a hostel in the city so we could see the Petronas Towers. Damn they are incredible. We stumbled upon a food truck park at midnight and devoured some pizza before crashing back at our hostel for the night. We woke up at the crack of dawn and headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Jakarta, then to Makassar, and finally back to Kendari. Of course, when we got back to Kendari we discovered that our bags hadn’t made the flight and were still in Makassar. Thankfully, Kate’s landlord (and our ride) was there to help us sort things out and our bags were finally delivered the next morning.
Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Because in Asia, you gotta have a selfie!
Books to read before going to Vietnam
I read a number of books about Vietnam before we went. I wanted to know more about the history, in particular about America’s role during the Vietnam War, but also about the history of French colonialism and Vietnamese culture. I searched around on a couple of websites and found these recommended books so I bought the kindle versions and read them in December and throughout the trip! These books were especially interesting to read as they all took place in the cities we were traveling to. Now, having been there, I can picture what it must have looked like and the references to different locations (Old Quarter vs the French Quarter in Hanoi) mean so much more. Here are my selections:
On December 19th, I packed up my bags, headed to the airport, and boarded my first of four flights to Hanoi, Vietnam! It took us about 24 hours, including an eight hour overnight layover in Kuala Lumpur, to get there. 24 hours! I could have flown back to the States in that time! This goes to show how far Kendari is from anything… it took us half a day just to get back to Jakarta…Over the course of 2 weeks, we traveled to five different places in Vietnam, going from North to South: Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
I traveled with my friends, Kate, Caroline, and Daniel – all my fellow ETAs in Indonesia. We also ran into five other ETAs throughout our travel, who had similar vacation plans 🙂 Besides Kate, my sitemate, I haven’t seen the other ETAs since orientation, back in September, so this was an exciting chance to catch up with everyone.
Daniel, Kate, me, and Caroline ~ on a rainy morning in Hue
Our first stop was Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and the second largest city. Kate and I spent our first day exploring and eating Vietnamese food as we waited for Daniel to arrive later that night. Our second day was spent shopping, visiting museums, making arrangements for the rest of our trip, and finding Caroline later that evening.
Bon Ca ~ a Hanoi speciality. It’s essentially a make your own soup? They give you everything individually and then you add it all together in your bowl, and continue adding until you are stuffed!
In the middle of Hanoi is a small lake. There is a temple in the middle and it is located in the Old and French Quarters so surrounded by coffee shops, famous sites, and tourists.
Vietnamese coffee… incredible. How did I never know about this? It’s like an espresso shot (a little more) on top of a little bit of condensed milk. Stir it all together and you have a delicious coffee!
The Old Quarter of Hanoi is full of shops selling anything you could need. And in addition to the shops, are dozens of bicycles overflowing with goods, like this man’s flowers.
This narrow alley is famous for the train that runs through it twice a day. Apparently, you have to flatten yourself against the wall of one of these houses when the train comes! We tried to catch the train but after 30 minutes or so, we gave up and went home for a well-deserved nap.
We finished our time in Hanoi eating incredible Indian food. Yes, I know we were in Vietnam and should be eating Vietnamese… but we’ve gone too long without some of our favorites, and it was time to splurge 🙂
After two days in Hanoi, we packed up and jumped on a tour bus to Ha Long Bay. Four hours later, we could see the ocean and massive rocks jutting out of the water – we had arrived. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the “New Seven Natural Wonders of the World”, Ha Long Bay is a breathless site.
We spent two days and one night on an old pirate ship exploring the Bay. We kayaked, ate, drank, played, jumped off the boat, and ultimately spent a lot of time sitting in wonder gazing at the beauty surrounding us.
Our pirate ship
Kate and Caroline on their kayak!
Sunset from the boat
Swimming in the Bay
After a four hour bus ride back to Hanoi, we had an hour to kill before boarding our 12-hour overnight bus to Hue. Yes, 16 out of 17 hours on a bus. Could have planned that better but oh well… we survived 🙂
Sleeper buses aren’t so bad when you have a whole bed/seat to stretch out on!
We arrived in Hue in the morning, checked in to our hotel, and decided to wander the city and explore the Imperial Citadel. After exploring the palace and grounds, we met up with our friend Jukie to wander the market, and then went home and took a well-needed nap and finally met up again for a Christmas Eve dinner!
Hallways of the 1800 palace
The grounds of the Imperial City
Drinks on a rooftop bar for Christmas Eve
In an effort not to make extraordinarily long posts, you can find the second half of our Vietnam trip (including a motorcycle tour through the countryside, food poisoning, and New Year’s Eve festivities) in the next post… 🙂
I’m wildly late in posting this but I’m a teacher on her summer vacation so it’s now time to catch up. At the end of March I had a week off of school for exams (I had many weeks off – see this post for explanations) so I headed off to Bali, because… why not??
I really wanted to go scuba diving again (I hadn’t had an opportunity to since I got certified in Thailand in January) so I chose a random little island off the coast of Bali that I’d heard had incredible diving. And omg… when I washed up onto Nusa Lembongan as the sun was setting (literally, you have to go by boat) my jaw dropped.
We came over in a speedboat… not this boat haha
I spent three days diving, exploring, and chilling in my hammock under my beachfront bungalow. It was pretty spectacular.
The water is truly crystal clear
My bungalow
The cliffs of Nusa Penida
From Nusa Lembongan, I took the boat back to Bali where I met up with Carlie. She only had a three day weekend, whereas I had the whole week off, so she joined me for the long weekend and we headed up into the hills of Ubud.
Ubud is known as a yoga, hippy, art, culture hub of Bali. It’s beautiful and relaxing, set around lush rice terraces and packed with healthy Western food places. Needless to say, it was paradise.
Tegallalang Rice Terrace
Playing at the Sacred Monkey Forest
Making friends
Spot the real monkey 😛
Grand Palace at Ubud
Kecak Fire Dance
Best lunch EVER
After Bali, I went back to school for a few days before we had another long holiday and I traveled again! This time I stayed on my island and all my friends came to me! Well, kinda… When you think of Borneo/Kalimantan, you probably think of dense jungles and exotic creatures. And if you think of dense jungle and exotic creatures, you probably think of orangutans. Well, if this is what you are thinking, then you are thinking of Tanjung Puting National Park.
A group of ETAs had done this trip last year and highly recommended their guide, Erwin, so I contacted him and set up our excursion! (Highly recommend him!! Email him at erwinvanjava@gmail.com if you’re traveling in the area!) Six other ETAs (besides Carlie and I) flew into Pangkalan Bun while Carlie and I took a 10 hour bus from Palangka Raya to Pangkalan Bun (not fun but we survived). Once we had all arrived (after canceled flights and lots of chaos) we hopped on board our liveaboard boat and set off into the heart of the jungle!
For two nights and three days, we cruised deep into the heart of Borneo. We stopped at three different orangutan feeding camps and got to watch the orangutans swing down from their trees to come feast on the bananas and other fruit laid out for them. The orangutans here are part of a rehabilitation program – orangutans are an endangered species and many are captured by local people to be killed and eaten or harmed. Orangutan Foundation International works out of Camp Leakey, literally in the heart of the national park, where they rehabilitate ex-captive orangutans and work to protect the forest, conduct research, etc, etc. Because they are introducing more orangutans into the forest, the rangers provide extra food for the orangutans so that they don’t fight and kill each other over what food there is. And this is what visitors can see. The rangers make loud orangutan-type noises which calls the orangutans and they come swinging out of the trees, or lumbering down the paths, to the platform. Humans are no bother to them – they’ll come straight down the path into the cluster of humans, while the humans jump out of their way. It’s funny but also terrifying to be that human.
“Get out of the way, Human”
How many teachers can you spot?
Our boat crew prepared delicious meals and snacks all day long, which they served to us on board our boat. At night, they laid out mattresses and hung up mosquito nets and we all slept on the deck of the boat, listening to the sounds of the jungle. After three days, we were sad to be going home and leaving our wonderful river retreat! Carlie and I boarded our 10 hours bus while the others flew back to their sites and we were all home for a few days before flying back to Jakarta for the National WORDS Competition. It was a busy few weeks!
They climb up these tiny trees! I can’t believe the trees can hold their weight!
Siswi, the orangutan, couldn’t hang with our crew 😀
But then, she decided she wanted to hang and climbed onto our boat – while we all went shrieking to the back of the boat, ready to jump off into the crocodile infested water.
Then we turned to find that monkeys had invaded our boat and were stealing our fried bananas… attacked on all sides!
But all in all, it was a great trip!
Photo credit to my friend Saad, who has an awesome camera
So… holy shit, I have nine days left here. How did we get to nine days?! Where did April and half of May go?
This week has been a little bizarre because I am finally teaching again after some seven weeks of holidays and testing. Yes, SEVEN WEEKS. From March 21-May 6 we had endless holidays, testing, and events. The 12th grade takes a big National Exam in April so at the end of March (and two other weeks in March too but at least we still had class) they took a week-long practice exam, and the 10th and 11th graders got the week off. WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand… What’s even more irritating is that they don’t tell you until the Saturday before… so you give assignments and plan things thinking you will have class and then they cancel the whole week. While annoying, I got a free week and spontaneously headed off to Bali for the week. Photos to come, I promise 🙂
So then we went back to school for four days and then got another 12 days off because it was time for the REAL National Exam (UN) but then they also have a remedial National Exam… and again, the 10th and 11th graders didn’t have school. (WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! I don’t understand!). For this, I went to Tanjung Puting National Park for a three day river houseboating adventure with a bunch of other ETAs. Then, I came home for a few days before heading off to Jakarta for the National WORDS competition with Telsy, and a few extra days of planning for next year with the other Returning ETAs or SETAs (Senior ETA). See these posts for all about the local WORDS Competition and the National Competition!
I was thrilled to be home and ready to finish the end of the grant strong. I taught Monday and Tuesday (now we’re at April 18-19) and then on Wednesday they announced Final Exams for the seniors, which meant the 10th and 11th graders had no class on Wednesday through… well, I didn’t even know. Again, WHY?! WHY can they not have class?! We ended up having no class from Wednesday through the following Thursday while the 12th graders took their exams. At this point, I was out of vacation days and unable to travel anyways because we were within 30 days of leaving (AMINEF wants us to spend our last 30 days at site) so I had a week to kill in a very quiet, boring city. Carlie had the time off as well so we ended up hanging out almost every night – usually going to see a movie. We saw four movies that week and from that week to now we have seen every movie (both Western and Indonesian) that the theater has played… Let’s just say it’s a lot of movies. But it kills the time and it’s been entertaining and it’s a particularly good way to practice my Bahasa Indonesian 😀
At an event with my student Keke (grey gown), who is the 2016 Tourist Ambassador of Central Kalimatan (think like Miss Washington)
At the waterpark with Telsy and her family on one of our free days!
So then… (and I apologize because I didn’t intend to rant about all this but I’ve started the story so now I may as well finish it) we finally went back to school on Friday the 29th. I taught my one Friday class and then prepared for the following week of classes, thinking things were finally back to normal. But oh no… the education gods seem to want to do everything in their power this year to keep me out of the classroom. Monday, May 2nd was “Hari Pendidikan” (Education Day) and while we were supposed to have a day of competition and games, the headmaster never showed up so we didn’t do anything and the teachers got to sit in the teacher’s lounge and gossip for the entire day. I couldn’t quite believe it – this is how you spend Education Day? By taking the day off and gossiping? Sheesh. Luckily, I wasn’t alone – my fellow ETAs and I had an entertaining facebook thread of all the random and useless things our schools was doing, or not doing, for Education Day. This country… sometimes I just don’t get it.
Oh yeah, and this happened too…
A handful of my students took a big test on May 1st for a scholarship that would send them to America for their senior year of high school – I’m so proud of their efforts and we are anxiously awaiting the results of this first round!
Okay so then on Monday (Education Day), I was told that Tuesday was the farewell party for the seniors and that we would have no class again (insert angry faced emoji) – it’s a lovely gesture and I love the idea but WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN AT 8AM? Why can’t this happen at 2pm AFTER school??!!
Farewell party
We also ended up getting a surprise visit from a member of the Indonesian Parliament that day – they came to investigate some claims that the food the dining hall serves to the kids is spoiled. Ha! I laughed pretty hard at that. I wouldn’t say its spoiled but it’s certainly not good and certainly lacks any kind of nutritional value. So we had a little pomp and circumstance for him and his crew of 25 other government officials and then we had the farewell party. Super sweet and fun.
The guy on the left with the quilt-looking batik is the Parliament Representative
My senior girls <3
I finally taught one class on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday was a national holiday so no class again. We (Carlie and I and our schools) hosted an English Teaching Workshop for local high school teachers with one of the U.S. Embassy’s English Language Fellows (ELF). (Similar to the ETA program but they all have a master’s degree in TEFL/TESOL/teaching etc. and are placed in universities.)
Our teacher workshop
Finally, this week we went back to school for real!! Except, it’s only for two weeks… the 10th and 11th graders have their final exams on May 23rd and it’s also the end of my grant as I leave on the 21st. So this is the answer to, where did the last two months go??? Well… it went to sitting in my house, seeing a lot of movies, not seeing a lot of my kids, and to planning my travels with Spencer come post-grant.
The view on my evening walks, which have become a daily routine with all this spare time
I taught a grand total of 8 days in those 7 weeks… (Please keep in mind the rough start I had to the grant and the fact that I think I taught like three days here in my first three months – see this and this and this and this).
And as you can see, my cultural adaptation stretches a little thin at times. I’ve gotten used to (and have begun to love) so much else here – the calls to prayer, the staring at the “white girl” (don’t love), the rice, the heat (don’t love), the cockroaches (don’t love), dressing conservatively, the language, the cultural events… I’m an entirely different person from the girl who stuffed a pillow under her door on the first night to keep the cockroaches out. But, the educational system is something that I just don’t understand. Why can’t we have school during exams? Why do we have seven weeks of vacation in the middle of the semester?? For one week, sure – that’s fine. But five weeks of no school because the 12th grade is testing? That’s crazy! I can understand that they want to spread the kids out into many classrooms so they can’t cheat – but come on, there’s ways to work around that without canceling five weeks of school for 2/3 of the students. And Hari Pendidikan? Really?
It’s hard to take teaching and learning seriously when you don’t have class. It’s hard (if not impossible) to learn when you don’t have class. It’s hard to teach when you don’t know when you’re next class will be. There are some classes I hadn’t seen for seven weeks until this week! How are they supposed to learn and how am I supposed to teach part 2 of the lesson we did seven weeks ago?!
My personal adaptation to slow life has changed dramatically. A few months ago, when faced with the prospect of a week’s vacation for semester exams, or even a long weekend because of a holiday, I would come close to a panic attack. What would I do?! How would I survive? (Quite literally… this was before I had a motorcycle to go out and get my own food) How in the world could I possibly fill a whole day with nothing planned?
Well, that’s changed. Dramatically. Somehow that whole week of Final Exams at the end of April passed and I actually dreaded having to return to school and no longer have my days to myself again. I embrace the quiet. I love a day with no plans. I can sleep in. I can take naps after I sleep in. I can go for a long walk. I can read for hours. I can nongkrong (hangout) with Carlie every single day if I want to. I can run all of my errands. And I can still go to bed by 9pm.
Yet somehow, in all those weeks of libur (holidays/vacation) I never found the time (or inclination is probably a better word – I had plenty of time!) to write a blog post. I had plenty to write about. And sometimes I would draft something but never got around to posting it. A lot of it has to do with internet. I’d rather upload pictures when I’m at a cafe and am using wifi – and not my precious data from my modem. And if I go to a cafe, I end up doing other things – like messaging Spencer and figuring out post-grant travel plans, pursuing facebook. etc… But tonight, just as I finished my shower after a lovely evening walk, the power went out. Mati lampu. I hate mati lampu. It’s dark, hot, and boring. Back in February and March we had regularly scheduled mati lampus two or three times a week for weeks. From 5:30pm-9:30 or 10. It was THE WORST. It absolutely killed any plans I may have had with my students or even to be productive and do something at home. Tonight, for the first time in weeks, we got another mati lampu. And at 5:30 too, so I know it will last until at least 9 or 10. On my walk I had decided that tonight I would finally start packing. I’ve got a small suitcase for my post-grant travels. A big one that I’ll leave in jakarta and pick up when we come back to Jakarta before flying home, and another one that I’ll fill with everything that can stay here – most of my batik (traditionally patterned clothes), my yoga mat, my motorcycle helmet, my teaching books, etc. I was finally going to start the process but then… mati lampu.
So instead I had dinner with my kids in the dining hall (for the first time in weeks) and then walked home to my dark, empty house. I studied Bahasa for a bit and then got that twitchy feeling in my fingers and my brain… I wanted to blog. I can’t do anything else so I believe it’s finally time to blog.
So here you go, my friends! I’m sorry for the extremely long and ranting post. This was not at all what I intended to write when I began writing but… it’s what came out.
My computer is about to die so I’ll get this up quick – then I’ll settle into my bed with my kindle and Game of Thrones and wait until the power comes back on… Goodnight friends!
(If you’ve made it to the end of this – congratulations. Thanks for sticking with me as I rambled. If you’re shocked (like I was) at the educational system here in Indonesia, then I’d highly recommend this article, A Nation of Dunces. It’s a fascinating take on education here in Indonesia, and I can attest to having experienced all of the anecdotes she gives… give it a read if you have ten minutes.)
I want to give you more snapshots of my life. I think you might get a kick out of the things that are now biasa (normal) in my life, but quite entertaining for those watching from a distance (and let’s be real… for me too). I’m going to start a little series called, “A Day in the Life.” We’ll see if I can keep this up…
The particular day I’d like to share was this past Wednesday when I joined my school on a 22 hour field trip. Yes, 22 hours.
Let’s begin the story on Tuesday…
Somehow, despite not having class until 10:30am, I’m late to school. It’s 10:27 and I’m just leaving my house. What have I been doing all morning?! I even set my alarm early so I could go for a run! (Didn’t happen.) It’s a good thing I live about three minutes walking distance from school…
I walk through the asrama, say good morning to the security guard, and wave at the students outside their classrooms cheerily calling to me, “good morning, Miss!” I walk up the dirt path, pass the 12th grade classrooms, the administration office, and come upon the teachers lounge. Like usual, a group of teachers are sitting outside chatting away excitedly. Pak Elit calls out, “Selamat Pagi Miss! Apa Kabar?” “Grinning I call back, “Baik! Anda?” The other teachers all giggle excitedly as I say the most basic words ever in Bahasa. Then, Pak Elit says, “Miss, mau ikut ke Banjarmasin besok?” Me: “What? Umm… Tidak bisa!” (I’m not spending my precious vacation days on a trip to Banjarmasin with my school). Pak Elit: “But you have to!” Me: “Berapa hari?” Pak Elit: “One day!! Berangkat jam 5am dan kembali jam 24:00” Me (to myself): Good lord. “Oke! Bisa 😀 Saya mau ikut.” And ten teachers cheered.
And that’s how I was ambushed into a 22 hour field trip. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love my students. I was excited to spend the day doing something different. But Banjarmasin is a solid four hours away. Probably five by bus and I quickly realized I had just agreed to a very, very, very long day.
Wednesday:
My alarm goes off at 4:15am. Ugh. Five more minutes, please? But alas, not knowing when exactly we will leave I best be ready by 4:30. I throw on my teacher batik, slacks, wash my face, brush my teeth, and am just grabbing my bag when my phone rings. It’s 4:35. Shit, am I late already?! It’s one of my students. “Mack, where are you?” “Um, at home. But I’m ready to go!” “Okay, I’ll come get you!”
We walk around the swamp and into the dining hall, each of us grabbing a plate of rice, and sit down with the other 49 students who are coming along on the trip. We sleepily walk through the school to the buses where we wait for about an hour before climbing on and setting off. I’m lucky enough (truly) to get to ride on the “girls” bus, with 24 female students and another female teacher. I’m thankful I’m not stuck on the teacher bus and subjected to five hours of questioning and dangdut music. We pull out at 5:50am and set off. The girls are bubbling with excitement. This 10th grade class “won” this trip by having the cleanest classroom in the “clean and decorate your classroom competition.” Someone pulls out a selfie stick and we take a million selfies. They pull out cell phones and snacks. I’m impressed… 10th grade students aren’t allowed to have smart phones at our school (only brick phones), yet all of a sudden, they all pull their Androids and Samsungs out… Slowly the bus quiets as the girls begin to drift off to sleep. I pop my headphones in and attempt to doze off to sleep but the road between Palangkaraya and Banjarmasin is not meant for sleeping. It’s pot-holed and uneven and narrow and windy. I’m tossed up and down in my seat and resort to staring out the window for four hours.
At 11am, we pull into Martapura, a tourist trap and city I have come to hate. It’s supposed to be the diamond capital of the world and there is a market full of gemstones and diamonds. It doesn’t feel authentic in the slightest and it’s hard for me to believe that these gems and diamonds are real. Plus it’s small, with really only one “famous” store and a dozens of others with shopkeepers trying to win your attention before you walk into the “main” diamond store. This is my third time here. The first time I bought a simple $20 gemstone ring. The second time I was here (three weeks ago on another day trip with a teacher), said teacher’s sister-in-law bought a Rp 34,000,000 diamond ring. That’s $2,500. WHAT? People here don’t have anywhere near that kind of money.
Now we are back. I wander through the market with my kids taking selfies, and watching them splurge on Rp 5,000 keychains ($0.30). I spend $4 on two pretty bracelets, one for me and one for my best friend back home (lookin’ at you Martha). An hour and a half, 14 Magnum ice cream bars, and 55 packets of rujak (some fermented fruit thing) later, we board the bus. We then wait for an hour or so because two of the students are missing and it takes someone ages to find them in the small market. Our wait for the boys means we don’t have time for lunch before we are supposed to visit another school.
At 1:30 we finally leave and head directly to the school. We pull in at 2:30, 30 minutes after we were supposed to be there, and climb up a massive set of stairs and enter the most glorious Aula (auditorium) I have ever seen in Indo. EVER. And I’ve been to a LOT of schools (see Fulbright’s recent Instagram post). It’s huge, it’s shiny, it’s clean, it’s fully air-conditioned, it has recessed ceiling lights. There are huge, cushy couches for the teachers to sit in. I’m in shock. We then hear a presentation about their school, hear lots of speeches, sing our school song, and after two hours, my poor students are ready to faint from hunger (their last meal was at 4:30 this morning… 12 hours ago). We take a zillion photographs. Their English teacher asks me, “Are you that bule teacher who taught at UNLAM this fall? Everyone is talking about you!” HA. Yes, that’s me.
Squeaky clean and SHINY!!!
We quickly tour their school and then board the bus. We pull into a big restaurant where a buffet is waiting for us. My kids stuff themselves to the point that the restaurant runs out of food and the last 15 students in line didn’t get any food. We wait for them to cook more food. We change out of our batiks and uniforms in the bus. The headmaster then informs the students that we no longer have time to visit the waterfall (the point of this field trip) so instead, we go to the mall.
I’ve been to this mall at least 20 times. Carlie and I would go here almost every day when we were in Banjarmasin during the evacuations. It’s a small mall (but ten times what Palangkaraya has) and is really a place I’d hoped never to go back to. But alas, here we are. The students disperse with strict instructions to be back on the bus in two hours time. I wander off with the teachers to a fancy coffee shop where we order $5 coffees (mahal sekali! very expensive!) and take another set of selfies with our selfie stick. We wander around the mall for a bit, take some more pictures, and then meet the students at the bus.
It’s now 8pm. We go back to the same restaurant and eat again. This time there is plenty of food. My students ask me endless questions about America, the WORDS competition (more in a later post), and about scholarships to study in America. This is what I love. Informal, fun, away-from-school conversations with my students. They are shy but trying hard. I use a little Bahasa. They giggle with glee. 447 pictures later we climb back aboard the bus. This time, two more teachers have joined us and I have therefore lost my double seat (and to begin with these are not spacious luxury bus seats – but built for tiny Indonesians). I now have the aisle seat in the front row next to another teacher. I know that no sleep will come. By the time we get gas and wait for the kids at the mosque, it’s 9:30pm. This is my bedtime. I only stay up past 10pm if I’m waiting for it to be late enough in the morning to talk to mom (15 hour time differences are HARD). Oh, and did I mention I have class at 6:30am tomorrow?
We head out of town. The bus driver doesn’t know where to go but seeing as I have made this drive only about 8 different times, I know the way… I direct him “left” “right” “straight” until we are back on the single lane road. The teachers are impressed. I laugh and point out the restaurants and places that Carlie and I went to while we lived here.
The bus is flying through the dark. The students all nod off to sleep but I’m trying to stay in my seat and not picture the image of a crashed bus in the dark in the middle of the jungle. We’re whipping around corners. We’re passing cars and trucks like no one’s business and barely making it back into our lane as an oncoming car zooms past. We’re driving in the middle of the road to avoid the pot holes in our lane. We go over so many bumps that my fingers are white from being clenched to the bar in front of me trying to stay in my seat. I try to close my eyes, try to fall asleep, but I keep being bounced up and down. Finally, I relax my hand on the bar, put my head back and close my eyes. And am subsequently thrown out of my seat when we hit a bump and literally fly into the air, arms flailing, and land on the floor of the bus. The teachers gasp and the bus driver grins. I scramble up and back into my seat. No more attempting to sleep.
Oh, and the floor of the bus is literally burning. It’s metal and the the engine must be underneath and its literally so hot it’s burning my feet through my shoes. I’m trying to move my feet to different places, stacking my shoes on top of each other, putting my feet on my bag – anything to relieve the burning. Five hours of this people. Five hours.
We ended up spending a total of 13 hours in the bus this day
I’m taking hourly snapchats just to pass the time. It’s so late now, that many of my state-side friends are awake and I text with people I haven’t talked to in months. At 2am we pull back into the school. I pick up my bag expecting to see holes burned into it but no, it’s just so hot I can’t even touch it. I stumble after the students back to the asrama. I dig out my keys, open my door, set my alarm for 5:45am, and crash into bed.
