I Was On T.V. Today

Well, the show doesn't air until November, but I somehow found myself in a television studio during school today. The events of the day are as follows:

6:30 am: Matthew is put on stage in front of the entire school during the flag raising ceremony. He is told to introduce himself in Bahasa Indonesia. Within a few minutes, all of the students have met Matthew and he has completely exhausted his Indonesian vocabulary.

7:30 am: Matthew is told to teach his first English class about adverbial conjunctions.

7:31 am: Matthew quickly looks up adverbial conjunctions in student's grammar book. He proceeds to wing a lesson, using 'student-centered learning' techniques to buy time to read more about adverbial conjunctions.

12:00 pm: Matthew is told that he will be reciting an Indonesian poem on a South Sumatran television show.

2:00 pm: Matthew is driven to t.v. station where he finds a large group of students all lookin' super fresh in batiks (for the boys) and sparkly dresses (for the ladies). 

2:10 pm: Matthew sees that the television show features musical groups from high schools in Palembang. He watches the students rehearse their songs and is thoroughly impressed with the dope tracks. 

2:15 pm: Matthew learns that he has to memorize the poem that he was given and begins to frantically try to internalize the four-line piece written in Bahasa Palembang (local language).

2:25 pm: Some students teach me the necessary interpretive dance moves that must accompany my performance.

2:30: The students take the stage and I take my place in the audience. The show begins with a song and the host comes on stage.

2:35: The host calls Matthew onto stage. The host blurts lots of Indonesian words at Matthew while Matthew sweats under the hot lights and comprehends .02% of the words. Matthew sees himself in the monitor and realizes that he looks as baffled and out of place as he had imagined he looked. 

2:37: Matthew is plopped into the center of the boys' chorus stands. The students then begin to step out onto the stage to recite their own love poems in pairs, one boy and one girl at a time. They are performed in the fashion of Nick Cannon's 'Wild N' Out', with accompanying oooohs and aeeeeeehs from each group. Lots of laughing and making fun of each other. 

2:42: Host says something incomprehensible to Matthew and makes a motion of pouring water on his head. The crowd laughs. Matthew later discovers that the host was telling Matthew that he looked like he just took a bath. The lights were very hot. Plus Matthew was in Indonesia so he is sweating all of the time anyway.

2:50: Matthew is called up to perform his poem. He does his best. He thinks he says all of the words, but certainly butchers much of the pronunciation  He is not sure if everyone is laughing with him or at him, but he is used to this feeling by now. When Matthew is done, the host does some mocking motions and is most certainly making fun of Matthew's performance. Matthew maintains dumb smiley face and rejoins the boys. 

3:00: The show ends with a sweet song and some sick dance moves. The hot lights turn off and relief ensues.

Here is the poem that I was made to recite, with a (rough) translation below:

'Jalan-jalan ke kota Palembang,
jangan la lupo beli gulo-gulo.
Aku seneng idak kepalang.
Biso ketemu wong kito galo!

SMANLEE spektakuler!'

'Walking to the city of Palembang,
don't forget to buy candy.
I am happy without need for remark.
You can meet the people of Palembang!

SMANLEE (my school's nickname) is spectacular!' (followed by triumphant fist pump)

I will do my best to secure some pictures and possibly video footage of the fiasco. 

What I love most about this experience was that its occurrence did not surprise me in the least. I have come to expect that just about anything can happen at any time. Not only is the Indonesian lifestyle seemingly spontaneous, but the language barrier that still exists mandates that I have to be ready to do a lot of things with little explanation. It is quite a refreshing way to live. I would like to say that I'm sure things will slow down as I settle-in, but I really have no way of knowing. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings and take it from there.

Badminton Is (Not) Child's Play

When it comes to badminton in Indonesia, these people don't play games. On Saturday night, I went with Ibu Yuyun to play at a local business park called Pusri where there are some indoor courts. Upon arrival, I was sent to play with the children. Initially, I thought this would be a great warm-up. To mess around with the little chaps before stepping up to play in the big leagues.

What actually followed was me getting schooled by a six-year-old who was one-third my height for a solid hour while I sweated through every thread of cloth on my body. Apparently there is no such thing as a height advantage in badminton. This young badminton prodigy (at least I hope he was one) thoroughly enjoyed the match-up. He giggled often while sending me running from the net to the back of the court and back to the net and so on until my half of the court was puddling-up with secretions from my exhausted body.

Lesson Learned: Badminton in Indonesia is not the silly game you play in high school gym class when you don't want to sweat too much before 6th period. It is a hot and sweaty battle not fit for the faint of heart or the lanky American guy. 

My New Home

Here are some pictures of my new home in Palembang. I am living with a lady, Ibu Yuyun, and her son Harris, who works at Sony in Palembang. The home is very nice, one of the nicer homes in Palembang that I have seen. The floors are all hard marble-like surface and you must take off your shows before coming inside, as is true with many buildings in Indonesia. What I like most about the home is Ibu Yuyun's beautiful garden in the front yard.

Beautiful trees and plants that Ibu Yuyuan maintains in her front yard.

Some more beautiful plants in my front yard.

My counterpart and fellow English teacher, Mr. Jack and I outside of my home!
He always puts his thumb up against his pointer finger to illustrate our height difference haha.

Chairs for chillin' on the porch. I can't sit here if I'm feeling unsocial
because if I am spotted by one of the neighborhood kids,
they all come running over!

My beautiful bedroom and huge bed. I am spoiled.
My room is the only one with an A/C unit.

The family room. There is a poster in the background with all
the world's currency that Bu Yuyun's sister made. 

The living room/ entrance room.
That green couch has been destroyed by kitty paws.

The dining room. That green basket is used to cover the food when no one is eating.

Some of Ibu yuyun's many cats chillin' hard in the kitchen.

This is my bathroom. Western toilet with a shower head next to the water tub.
It's only setting is freezing cold and I love it.

One of Ibu Yuyun's cats had kitten! They are currently living under the sink

Close-up of the kittens. Their eyes are always shut and they just fumble around
and cuddle with each other.

My friends invited me to play futsal with them on Friday night. It was tons of fun.
Sometimes I forget how much taller I am than everyone else until I see pictures haha

I thought this was a pretty sweet picture that I took during our futsal match

Went to see Insidious 2 for the second time with one of my English classes at a nice theatre in the mall. Chances are I'll be seeing it again soon.

I am very grateful to be living with Ibu Yuyan during my time in Indonesia. She is, like everyone that I have met here, infinitely warm and kind. Her English is as advanced as my Bahasa Indonesia, so there has been a bit of a language barrier which we have overcome with patience and lots of smiles. She cooks my meals for me and even does my laundry. I tried to communicate to her that I can do it myself but the gesture was lost in translation. 

Indonesians have a natural tendency to feel responsible for each other, especially in situations like a homestay. In fact, because my school is providing the homestay for me, myself and my actions are a responsibility of the school. Therefore, I must consider that my actions are not only a reflection of myself, but of my Ibu Yuyun, my headmaster Pa Budi, and my school. I continue to see how deeply the people within the community are intertwined and I think that it is a beautiful thing. 

Pictures

Now for some pictures of my first couple of weeks in Indonesia! Enjoy!

Enjoying a  fresh coconut with Max in Singapore

Playing futsal against the Trans Hotel security team

Eating at a warung in Bandung 

Group picture at the top of the volcano hike in Bandung

Hilarious inappropriate translation at mall in Bandung

The city where we ended up after getting lost during our volcano hike. Cantik!

The city of Bandung from the 18th floor of Trans Hotel

Rainforest during our volcano hike

Beautiful tea and rice fields during our volcano hike

Volcano that we hiked around in Bandung

Posing next to some cool graffiti in Bandung

Cultural Chasms #1- Offense and Sensitivity

In this section of the blog, entitled 'Cultural Chasms', I will comment on cultural differences or similarities that I observe during my time in Indonesia. Please note that all of my assumptions about Indonesian culture are just that- assumptions. I can only understand their ways of living through my own cultural lense, so my ideas and observations cannot truly reflect Indonesian culture.

After a few days in the classroom and in extracurricular activities (English debate club), I have observed that the teachers here are very strict on their students. For the most part, they do not implement positive feedback in criticizing their students’ work. Although it is not practiced here, I think that I will try to use positive reinforcement with my students if only to share my upbringing in the American education system. I’ve also noticed that most Indonesian people are what I would call straight-forward to the point of being rude or offensive. However, this seems to be a part of Indonesian culture, and the people are not offended by comments that I would perceive as being rude. Thanks to my orientation, I have some understanding of why this may be true. 

For example, during Debate Club one larger-set girl ran over to sit by me when I arrived at the Debate Club Meeting. The teacher, Pak Robintas, lightly said “Don’t cause an earthquake” and then proceeded to explain to me that her jiggling fat might cause an earthquake if she moved too fast. Some students giggled but it really was not even a big deal. Later he referred to a heavier student as “the big girl” and another as “the fat one”. At first, I was extremely surprised and even felt bad that the teacher was talking this way to his students. I wondered if people’s feelings were actually hurt by these comments. And then I remembered what I had learned about Indonesian culture during orientation.

From what I’ve learned so far, I think that the Indonesian people take little offense to criticism because they place far less importance on their individualism than they place on their belonging to the community. For example, an American would feel isolated by such ‘offensive’ comments because the comments highlight what we perceive to be an undesirable individual trait. An Indonesian person would not feel the same offense because they feel that their individual traits and characteristics are not as important as the collective community of which they are a part. They have a deep-seeded understanding that the meaning of their existence lies in their belonging to a group, not in their individual importance. Calling someone ‘the fat girl’ serves only as a means of identification. It does not reflect the girl’s worth or belonging, because that belonging is intrinsic in her existence within the community. 

Indonesiantroduction

I’ve created this blog as a means to transcribe and communicate the meaningful experiences that I have during my 9 months in Indonesia. I realize that all the people that I care about are very busy, and so I will do my best to relay the events of my life abroad in a concise and hopefully entertaining manner.

I have been in Indonesia for 3 weeks now, and but I feel that my life here in Palembang is just beginning. I will try and create a synopsis of my travel to Singapore, my few days in Palembang, and my two week orientation in Bandung to post on this blog. In short, I can say that I’ve have learned so much already of the intensely welcoming Indonesian people and their language. I have experienced the highs and lows of being so far away from home in a culture that is truly different from my own. I have also made 34 new friends who I know will serve as advocates and support networks as we all navigate our new lives throughout this vast country.

I plan on relaying my experience in a few different ways through this blog. I hope to provide lots of picture, to tell short stories, to list things that I have done, and to make comments of things that I observe. My hope is that this blog will serve as a means to communicate my experiences with family and friends. But even more so I hope that this blog helps all who read to understand a little bit more about the Indonesian people, and to realize, as I have been realizing, that we are all more alike than we had ever imagined. Thank you for reading.