Street Art in Palembang

I've been waiting a while to publish this post because there are a lot of pieces I haven't gotten a chance to photograph, but here is my collection so far of the street art in Palembang. Enjoy.

The Ride Home: A Poem

The Ride Home

Pop the kickstarter out and give it a good go,
the machine and my knee are both screaming 'sakeeet!'
All the stares manifest like I'm putting on a show,
sweaty back, hot sun, and now some pain in my feet.

Impatiently I wait as she warms up her pipes.
Onlookers look on, judge and jury of this trial.
One more try- there she goes, now she's singing just right.
Say my red-faced goodbyes and move on bule-style.

The warm wind's friendly but the smells unfamiliar,
my bike and my belly both let out low groans.
Not sure where I'm going but it must be far,
I'm passing endless houses but could any be my home?

Odometer's broken so I can't check my speed.
Should I stop and smell the durian or just ride on?
No time to question whether or not I should be
on this road I'm dodging traffic flow and pylons.

Day becomes night but I neglect the suns tumble,
busy questioning the question of my purpose.
Awakened at times by my bike's alluring rumble,
she says, "ride through this rickety road, it's worth it."

In my mirror I glimpse a warm moon too distant:
the cat and the fiddle play tunes I can follow.
An urge to stop and listen- but I resist it,
the shine of moonlight makes the street seem less hollow.

Soon my bike is singin' a silky lullaby,
smoke clears and the faces on the street now appear
as faces to which I am pained to say 'goodbye'.
Now stern stares turn to wide smiles that ignite no fear.

Tank's empty so I stop, but the timing's just right,
I watch the faded moon fall gently behind me.
The shine of the sun reveals a most inviting sight:
a thousand lips resounding one "Selamat pagi".

References:
bule: Indonesian word for 'tourist' or 'foreigner'
durian: a very smelly but tasty Indonesian fruit
Selamat pagi: Indonesian greeting meaning 'good morning'

Getting Sick In Palembang

Since arriving in Indonesia, I felt an obligation to get sick in order to experience medical care in this country. I am proud to say that I have stayed true to my ambitions and have experienced a few different illnesses during my stay. To my dismay, I have yet to experience the big players, i.e., malaria, dengue, typhoid fever, or rabies. I have, however, been getting a sufficient amount of nasal infections and fevers in the past few weeks that have allowed me to learn more about my community's understanding of health care and some of the traditional medical techniques still widely used in Palembang.

Masuk angin- Literally translating to 'enter wind', masuk angin is the understanding that the body can experience disease through the 'entrance of wind' into the body through the skin. It sounds peculiar at first, but the idea behind the belief is very solid. Basically, it is believed that a person's body can experience a state wherein they are more susceptible to disease, the state at which 'wind' can enter the body and cause illness. Masuk angin can result from someone being outside in the cold rain, from running themselves down physically, from eating and drinking substances that are not believed to be healthy, from not sleeping enough. It occurs more commonly during rainy season or during the changing of seasons. This makes a lot of sense, and these are all proven instances where one's immune system is weakened and the body is more susceptible to illness. 

Kerok- This is a method used by Indonesian people to help alleviate the symptoms and disease caused by masuk angin. Basically, one uses a hard object with an edge, such as a coin or a spoon or the lid of a jelly jar (which was used on my back) to firmly scrape the skin. The scraping causes blood vessels in the epidermis to break, causing the appearance of blood at the surface of the skin. An aromatherapy solution is used to decrease friction.

My back after receiving 'kerok' from my Bapak

The idea behind kerok is that the bursting of blood vessels causes blood to rush to the surface of the skin. They say that masuk angin causes decreased blood circulation which can cause an array of disease. Kerok, then prevents wind from entering through the skin and causing further illness while increasing circulation to fight the current state of disease. At times, the procedure was akin to a massage, and at times it felt reminiscent of my older brother pinning me down and digging his chin into my back. Afterwards, I cannot say that I felt better or worse, I just felt a little weird. 

Jamu- a traditional medicinal herbal drink that is sold and drank all over Indonesia. In fact, every morning, a lady wheels a cart past my house chanting "jamu, jamuuu" (oftentimes waking me up from my beauty rest). I have yet to try jamu, but it contains many different and varying leaves, barks, seeds, fruit, and flowers. I'll give an update when I do get a chance to chobs it. 

Typical jamu shop
 (from http://mikejkt.livejournal.com/13262.html)

I will say that the overwhelming response I have gotten from my community when they learn that I am sick has been holistic and simple. Here are some common pieces of advice that I received:

• Drink a lot of clean water.
• Rest and drink a lot of clean water.
• You have been playing too many sports, tell your friends you need to rest.
• Stop playing futsal in the rain!
• Sweating a lot is good, keep the A/C in your room turned off.
• No cold showers, heat water before showering.
• Don't drink ice water.
• Don't drink soda.
• Wear a jacket outside (haha).
• Drink hot water.
• Stay home from work and rest.
• Go to a doctor if you do not feel better.
• Rest, rest, and rest some more.

I have been very happy to hear that my community has a deep understanding of the body's inherent healing abilities and the idea that sickness is oftentimes caused when we do things to weaken our immune system. They also understand the importance of staying home and resting in order to overcome illness. There is no question, as there oftentimes is in America, about caring for your health above all other important obligations. 

When myself, or another teacher or student is ill, it is inevitable that the sick person will be visited. I have missed class on many occasions to visit members of my community who are sick and in need of friends to make them feel better. It really does a lot for your health to see how many people care about you in your time of illness and to have some company after being hauled up in your room all day. One time I had over 30 students all come to see me at once, equipped with loaves of cheesy-bread and chocolate. Needless to say, I felt better in no time.

Ghosts of Indonesia

In Indonesia, most people believe in ghosts. You may be thinking 'hehe, that's cute, but ghosts aren't real', and admittedly, I thought the same thing upon first hearing this. But after learning more about the ghosts and going on a ghost-hunting expedition with my neighborhood friends, I started to realize that I really don't know whether or not ghosts are real. Who am I to insist that they don't exist? I have less proof that they don't exist than they have of the contrary. I'll fill you in on my adventure and some ghost profiles and let you decide for yourself.

The time approaches ten o'clock pm as we leave the prayer ceremony outside my neighbor's house. As I depart, I get word from one of my friends informs me that a group of thrill-seekers are going on a ghost-hunt on the grounds of my high school at midnight. 

I return, spirited (pun intended) and armed with a camera at the designated time. The instructions are clear: 

1. Take pictures of dark, spooky places where you believe a ghost might be present.
2. Do not look at the pictures. They will be investigated after the ghost-hunt is completed.

We spend the next hour creeping around dark alleys, abandoned buildings, and my school grounds, which are extremely spooky at night. Everyone in the group is very intent on finding ghosts, and their attitudes make the experience very genuine and creepy. As we walk around, they tell me stories of past ghost-hunts. 

"Last year, I spotted a 'kuntilanak' (a dead mother with dark hair over her face in a white gown) right here. I ran away immediately."

There is no element of fraudulence in the hunt. No one pretends to see a ghost or pretends to be scared. This is no joke, for them it is serious business. And soon it became serious business for myself as well. As  the night went on, I felt less like a tourist enjoying their silly ghost hunt and more engulfed in the possibility that there were ghosts all around us.  

At one point, I hid in a dark bathroom behind the door and wait for my friends to come looking for me. I pop out and scare one of them. His reaction indicates that doing such things is not cool. I am shamed for m immaturity.

After sufficient pictures are obtained, we head back to a friend's house to analyze the photos. As we look at the pictures, I am informed that the bright spots in the pictures, which may or may not be due to the reflection of the flash off objects in the surroundings, are ghost energies. We shuffle through the pictures and I continually try to point out ghost figures. My suspicions are consistently denied. Silly foreigner, that's no ghost. 

After going through all of my photos, no ghosts were seen. Proving two things: 
1. I am a horrible amateur ghost photographer.
2. They do not fabricate ghost sightings.

After an amazing ghost-hunting experience, I decided to find out more about Indonesian ghosts, or 'hantu-hantu'. Here is some information that my students shared with me:

Hantu Indonesia

Pocong- a mummy ghosts with a scary face that hops instead of walking.

Kuntilanak- a dead woman with long black hair over her face wearing a white gown who may be pregnant.

Suster Ngesot- A hospital nurse with a broken foot who cannot walk properly, so she crawls. Lives in Jakarta hospital.

Pastur Kepala Buntung- ghost who carries his own head, has a ghost dog with a read eye. Stays on Jakarta graveyards. One must run around the graveyard 7 times to see the ghost.

Tuyul- a small, bald, dead boy.

Noni Belanda- beautiful Dutch girl with long hair and a long, white dress.

Pukang- flying ghost with one leg and a face full of blood who marches through the air like a military person.

I couldn't find a picture of this one.

It should also be noted that as a result of their beliefs, Indonesians LOVE scary movies. My first week here, I was invited to see The Conjuring 2 fives times by my students. I only actually saw it twice. Good movie. 

Indonesian Names

Here is a list of as many Indonesian names as I can remember right now. Most of these are nicknames because that is how I know most people. Their full names are usually longer and harder to remember, so I stick with nicknames.

Ibu Tismay and I at end-of-semester
 teachers' party. I was having fun I swear.

Female:

• Yuyun
• Nuretta
• Nellie
• Cantika
• Astria
• Rafira
• Ayu
• Refa
• Lila 
• Ochie
• Fiori
• Sinta
• Oudie
• Indah (means 'beautiful')
• Buanna 
• Nurul
• Ganesa
• Emil
• Yulia
• Ade
• Maya
• Tismay
• Eti
• Yana

The nature of Indonesian culture is such that I am a lot closer to the males in my community, and thus remember a lot more male names. A lot of social and business interactions are segregated by gender and co-ed interactions usually occur in large groups. For instance I rarely ate dinner with Ibu Yuyun, my house mom, before her cousin, Pak Fadil, moved in with us. Now, I eat dinner every night with Pak Fadil, because he is a male and it is socially acceptable for us to eat alone together.

Bagus and I at our coach's wedding.

Male:

• Adit
• Made
• Ryan
• Tongku
• Aristha
• Rifqi (one of the most common names)
• Riski
• Zico
• Arif
• Zen
• Iklas
• Ali
• Mohammad
• Bagus (means 'good')
• Ondet
• Dedi
• Budiono
• Riduan
• Rahmad
• Humzalah
• Bayu
• Nafaldi
• Dandi
• Dani
• Danu
• Fadil
• Moyo
• Andre
• Minus
• Jeffrey
• Aji
• Rico
• Ichan
• Enal
• Angga
• Pagas
• Ardie
• Doyok
• Harry
• Coco
• Randi

Interesting note: When Indonesians refer to someone shorthand, or by nickname, most of the time the derive the shortened name from the end of the word. In America, we almost exclusively use the beginning of the name. For example, to get Bagus's attention on the basketball court, you would yell "Gus!" (like goose). Pagas becomes 'gas' (long a), Rifqi becomes 'qi', Nafaldi becomes 'di', and so on.

Thoughts on Bahasa Indonesia

Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of Indonesia. The language is adapted from Malay and was established as the country's official language with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945. There are more than 700 languages living languages spoken throughout Indonesia, most of them variations of Bahasa Indonesia. All Indonesian people speak Bahasa Indonesia and use it in formal social settings, but most Indonesians speak their local dialect as their 'first language'. Of these dialects, Javanese is the most widely spoken. As of 2000, 84.3 million Indonesians spoke Javanese throughout Northern Banten, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, and East Java.

3.9 million people speak Bahasa Palembang, the dialect which is spoken in my city of Palembang. I have been learning some Bahasa Palembang throughout my stay. It's distinction from Bahasa Indonesia is simple in many ways. While there are many words unique to Bahasa Palembang, oftentimes a word ending with 'a' is replaced by an 'o' to create the Palembang word. For example, 'lupa' meaning to forget is spoken as 'lupo' in Bahasa Palembang.

Bahasa Indonesia, like much of Indonesian culture, is greatly influenced by Islam. There are many commonly used words in Bahasa Indonesia that are directly adapted from Arabic. Here are a few examples:

'Selamat pagi' (good/safe morning): Selamat is adapted from the Arabic word 'salam', an Arabic greeting which denotes safety/well-being

'Apa kabar?' (literally 'what's the news', like 'how are you?'): Kabar is the Arabic word for 'news'.

As a whole, Bahasa Indonesia is a very simple language. Grammar is straightforward and there are no verb conjugations. Ideas or thoughts which are expressed in many ways in English are oftentimes expressed with one redundant phrase or word in Bahasa Indonesia. While the pompous Frenchmen of L'Academie Francaise would condescend the language for it's lack of intricacy, I believe that the language's simplicity is interesting and reflective of Indonesian culture.

Sporting some traditional clothes at my basketball
coach's wedding. The bride and groom are on my sides.

As a result of the language's simplicity, communication in Indonesia relies heavily on body language and context. I have found that the Indonesian people have an uncanny ability to read facial expressions and physical cues in a way that I am unable to comprehend. If I don't sleep enough and look tired at school, my state of being will inevitably be noticed and mentioned by my coworkers and students. The slightest, often subconscious expression of sadness or boredom is always picked up by my Indonesian friends. I will never forget how my students commented on my elated state of being after we went shopping and I finally found a pair of soccer shoes that fit my long feet. While I did not say or do anything to purposefully express my happiness, my students exclaimed "Mr. Matthew is happy now" as they read my subtle body language that I myself did not even notice I was exhibiting. 

The simplicity of the language has, surprisingly, made it rather hard for me to understand conversations between second and third parties. While I am able to understand many words that are said in the exchange, the actual tone or meaning of the conversation is very hard to discern. The reason, I believe, is that the context of the conversation is far more important than the vocabulary words which I can understand. The significance of the words that I do understand lies in the context, which is more based on the tone and other clues beyond the mere vocabulary.

Here are some fun things that I've learned about Bahasa Indonesia:

• The is no word for 'him' or 'her', only the word 'dia', which is unisex. Often, people are referred to as 'ini', which means 'this'. This fact may give some insight into how Indonesians perceive the importance of gender. Or maybe not. This also makes it hard for Indonesians to learn the difference between the words 'him' and 'her', and 'mister' and 'miss'.
• There is only one response to the question 'Apa kabar?' or 'how are you?'. The response is always 'beik', which means 'good' or 'fine'. This shows that this question, much like 'how are you?' is a merely a greeting and not an inquiry into one's current state of being.
• The expression for 'no problem' is 'tidak apa apa' which literally translates to 'not what what'.
• A common question to ask how one is doing is 'sudah makan nasi?' which means 'have you eaten rice?'.
• The word for 'water' in Bahasa Indonesia is 'air'. Isn't that ironic?
• To express that you do not want something, you are supposed to say "Terima kasih" which means 'thank you'. This has made denying or accepting peoples' offers rather confusing and awkward at times. When I do want something, I try to nod my head and say 'terima kasih', but sometimes the point doesn't get across, so I say, "Saya mau, terima kasih" which means, 'I want, thank you!".

Here's a short sample of some Bahasa Indonesia from Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti6SZXgRXQ

Bola Basket Bonanza

After I started helping out with my high school's basketball team, I met a group of kids my age who also help out with the team. Bagus, my dearest of these homies, invited me to come play with his club basketball team called Punai. After my first practice, Coach Ardi was fond enough of my lank and my skills to invite me to be permanent member of the squad. After two practices with the team, we had a tournament at the Palembang Sports and Convention Center. The arena was originally constructed for the 2011 South East Asia games to which Palembang played host. My expectations of the magnitude of the arena or the legitimacy of the tournament were greatly exceeded upon my arrival at the stadium.

Some high school teams played before us and the fans came in great numbers, drums and endless chants included. Very reminiscent of European soccer games.

I knew we had a solid squad coming into the tourney. I rotated on center with two other tall humans. I have come to expect a reasonable level of attention anywhere that I go in Palembang, as it is not a tourist city and white guys are few and far between. In this case, the attention compounded with my pre-ballin' nerves, so my performance on the court was less than great. My teammates could sense my anxiety and continued to tell me to 'woles'- Indonesian for 'chill out'. Some of my students and friends came to watch the games, and it helped to have some familiar, friendly faces in the crowd. What did not help was the emcee, who felt it necessary to scream "AIRBALL!!" into the microphone after my attempted three-point shot. At least she knew some English...

Bagus and I post-game. Bagus is Indonesian
for 'good' so you can imagine the fun
I have with his name.

Minus and I. He is the star of the best
high school team in town- Xavierius 3,
and also the star of our team.

Girls game prior to our third match.

The whole gang. 'Keep Smile!'

We played four games, winning the first two by landslides and losing the second two in nail-biters against som more formidable opponents. I scored a whomping two points in four games, but I was actually pretty happy that I didn't play very well. I already felt kind of bogus walking on to the team and stealing playing time away from players who had been with the team all year. I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I am an exotic foreigner, and maybe a little bit to my ferocious defensive playing style and god-given lank that was intended for the basketball court.  

Head Coach Ardi and Me.

Assistant Coach and Me.

After the last game, which ended at midnight on Saturday night, we headed to the nearest warung for a post-game munch. I feel so blessed to have found a team to belong to. It made me feel so comfortable, stretching in the locker room with my new team, warming up with serious faces and occasional jokes. I loved feeling nervous before going out onto the court. It is a feeling that I have experienced throughout my life, and it transcends time or place. There is a comradery that one builds with his teammates that cannot be recreated in any other social setting. Battling on the court for each other, supporting each other through thick and thin, sweating and laughing and celebrating together. For as long as I can remember, I have always had a team- a group of friends who you care for without question or explanation, but simply because they are your teammates. I have this team now in Palembang and it certainly helps to make my new home to feel a lot less foreign.