So this week has been a little tumultuous. I started off being ill, which wasn't fun. I was up for most of the night on tuesday. Slept away most of the next day, and in the meantime got pretty dehydrated and couldn't eat much so I was a little out of it. That threw me for a bit afterwards, only now getting over it and feeling back to health. Meanwhile, I wasn't very happy for the last couple days, which is a common theme in the group. A lot of the Canadians have been down recently. In the wake of Christmas people are feeling homesick, which is normal, but even the Indonesians are starting to feel homesick. We put a good face on for the ceremonies, but that good spirit seems to be waning under the pressure of the community.
A lot of us still don't feel like part of the town. People here are treating the Canadians like tourists, and our Indonesians like translators. I thought that the cat call from people would stop, and that every celebration we go to wouldn't turn into a photo op but they still do. I still feel like I'm not a part of the family where Ilive. Most of the communication we have is them getting me to eat or them getting my laundry or my shower ready. They are nice, but I have no idea who they are, and while Hendri has emersed himself in the family, I'm often in my room reading which is better than having food and drink forced on me. Saying no doesn't work too often, unfortunately. Everyone has been having these problems, and we all seem to have different things that bother us. Some of us hate the pictures, some hate the people yelling at us and staring, others are upset with the slow movement and lack of motivation and organization in a lot of the people here.
I find most of it pretty annoying, but it helps to think of everythng as a sitcom, all these little botherations with a laugh track. It wasn't working very well when I was sick, but I'm dealing. Apparently people in the other group are leaving (unconfirmed) but I doubt anyone will from ours or at least I hope not.
Couple stories that are the highlights of this week. We made pizza one night, but couldn't eat mine as I'd filled up on the ingredients. So I brought it home and kept it in my room for later. There are few fridges in the town so I figured it was safe wrapped in a plastic bag on top of our dresser. Late the next night, I had some. We did a good job considering how few ingredients we had for the process. As I turned the pizza around out of the bag, a cockroach crawled onto my hand. The next morning, as I was playing sudoku on the edge of my bed, a mouse crawled out from under my bed and over some of my clothes on the floor. Didn't know their were mice in the house.
Rainy season is in full swing now, and will be for the next 3-4 wks. It starts around noon, then its anywhere from light mist to monsoon. I come home wet a lot, though I don't have as far to walk as others. We still don't have a steady schedule for work or group. We were supposed to start work next week, but apparently that's wrong as the kids are still out of vacation between semesters. We are going for a hike into the mountains next week, and this week we go to see the other group and will get to see a beach for the first time. That should be pretty sweet, we're camping for both trips so I get to sleep out on the beach. I need the exercise and swimming will be the safest option. Funny fact, very few Indonesians can swim well.
Tonight is New Years Eve. We have a small get together planned, but it will be very different from what most of us are used to. Still, it should be some fun. On that note,
Happy New Year to everyone, hope you all celebrate the new year well
Justin
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas to all. It's Boxing day here, but we're a day ahead. We went to Garut for the day, and had a break from the town. We set up a small christmas tree and decorated it. We decided to cook our own supper for Christas Eve, which made us feel more in the spirit. Christmas morning we spent giving gifts as part of a secret Snata, and our supervisor Krista put out some things for stockings. Overall it was a good day, we worked through the problems that came up. Most of our food was pieced together from what we could find at the grocery store. We made an Italian dish called Gnocchi, potato pasta with marinara sauce from scratch, stuffing without savory, some stir fried veggies, and a salad sans lettuce. All the food was great even so, and the cooking was fun resulting in flour fights and many pictures.
Madrasa, the governement program paired with CWY, is a bit confusing. They had planned our day, consulting us but without really telling us what was goung on. Ths led to repetitive activites and visits we weren't keen on, like a trip to a school to give and hear more speeches, and lunch at a polluted lake with paddle boats and the remains of a sorry little park. About halfway through we waded across the language barrier and explained that we would like to make other plans, and, after much explaination, we convinced them to let us have Christmas to ourselves. We got some shopping in for secret santa and did food searching. A few of us went to church here, regardless of faith. That was an interesting experience, and since all the christtians were celebrating the holiday, it seemed a little more familiar and comfortable. Helped get into the spirit. We got back yesterday and watched home alone, which counted as our christmas movie, and got to spend a few more hrs as a group.
Life other than Christmas is going well. I'm getting more comfortable in the country, if not really at home. I'm getting used to having people smoke around me, and I can ignore most of the piles of burning garbage in the road. I'm still working on getting used to the driving. n the car is fine, but its discomforting to be walking down the road and have a bike or truck whiz 1/2 a foot away from you dong 60. Also, there are few mufflers to be found, so conversation has to stop when you're be9ng passed. It sounds like living on a highway, but the road is pretty small compared to the rest of the country.
This town is supposed to have some of the cleanest air and quietest area in the country, which is sad but better than it being the worst. We've been walking a lot, going up into the mountains where it's a little fresher. Unfortunately, there isn't any wilderness around us. We've walked for hrs and found only farms and fields. It's beautiful up in the mountains, and the rainy season has kept the weather in a careful balance of not to much sun or rain. Either are dangerous in large doses. I've already had a couple bad burns, and apparently the rain in Indonesia will make you sick. Not sure of the validity of that claim, but best not to risk overexposure considering the other toxins I'm getting.
Heading over to friends house for a movie day now. Movies are stolen and really cheap, but DVD players are hard to come by, so now that we've pinned one down we want to use it.
Merry Christmas
love Justin
Madrasa, the governement program paired with CWY, is a bit confusing. They had planned our day, consulting us but without really telling us what was goung on. Ths led to repetitive activites and visits we weren't keen on, like a trip to a school to give and hear more speeches, and lunch at a polluted lake with paddle boats and the remains of a sorry little park. About halfway through we waded across the language barrier and explained that we would like to make other plans, and, after much explaination, we convinced them to let us have Christmas to ourselves. We got some shopping in for secret santa and did food searching. A few of us went to church here, regardless of faith. That was an interesting experience, and since all the christtians were celebrating the holiday, it seemed a little more familiar and comfortable. Helped get into the spirit. We got back yesterday and watched home alone, which counted as our christmas movie, and got to spend a few more hrs as a group.
Life other than Christmas is going well. I'm getting more comfortable in the country, if not really at home. I'm getting used to having people smoke around me, and I can ignore most of the piles of burning garbage in the road. I'm still working on getting used to the driving. n the car is fine, but its discomforting to be walking down the road and have a bike or truck whiz 1/2 a foot away from you dong 60. Also, there are few mufflers to be found, so conversation has to stop when you're be9ng passed. It sounds like living on a highway, but the road is pretty small compared to the rest of the country.
This town is supposed to have some of the cleanest air and quietest area in the country, which is sad but better than it being the worst. We've been walking a lot, going up into the mountains where it's a little fresher. Unfortunately, there isn't any wilderness around us. We've walked for hrs and found only farms and fields. It's beautiful up in the mountains, and the rainy season has kept the weather in a careful balance of not to much sun or rain. Either are dangerous in large doses. I've already had a couple bad burns, and apparently the rain in Indonesia will make you sick. Not sure of the validity of that claim, but best not to risk overexposure considering the other toxins I'm getting.
Heading over to friends house for a movie day now. Movies are stolen and really cheap, but DVD players are hard to come by, so now that we've pinned one down we want to use it.
Merry Christmas
love Justin
Saturday, December 19, 2009
To finish the trip description; on our second day in Jakarta , we were shown some of the typical tourist sites. First we went to a theme park, which depicted Indonesia in full. Their was a huge IMAX theater where we watched an movie about Indonesia and all its splendor, which made us all the more excited to get out and see some of it. It's hard to imagine that such a diverse country can exist, because all of the islands have such strong cultural differences that to make any one of them its own nation would stretch limits. it's rare for such diverse people to agree enough to run a country together, let alone agree on a single language that many people still do not speak in the outer villages. The park had a couple zoos ( I got to pet a komodo dragon), examples of houses form all the different areas of Indonesia, tons of food stands, a water park, even a lagoon with miniature islands representing the country. The place was so big that Hendri, before coming to Canada, spent 2 days there without doing anything twice. Its the size of a small town.
We went to one of their bigger malls, which is where we spent our afternoon and evening. The air conditioning was a blessed change of pace, more than a couple people had been burned during the day. Not much was bought by my group. Most of the things were expensive, comparable to N.American prices. We were told that in Bandung, we would be allowed to shop at outlet malls so I just bought a flash drive to hold pictures. We got out of Jakarta on our third day there. The bus ride out was pretty uneventful, got to Bandung and had to wait for some meetings. We got got talked at a lot on this journey, mostly government officials, but it did mean a lot of boxed lunches. It also meant that given the Indonesian lack of sense of time, we were stuck waiting for long periods of it, and missed our shopping excursion. I wasn't to disappointed, though I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Bandung. After leaving Jakarta, it seemed small, but it was still bigger than Toronto. Luckily I, unlike others, didn't need to buy a whole lot.
The next day was my Birthday. Considering many of my previous birthdays have been studying for or writing exams, this turned out fairly well. The bus sang the birthday song, I had to sit through another long and boring meeting, got lunch at a beautiful fancy restaurant, and I had a small Indonesian green cupcake lit with an emergency candle. Then we got to the community and things went sideways. I had been feeling queasy in the bus, but didn't think too hard on it. When we got to the village, there was a parade waiting for us, with clowns guiding us down the street, and children waving Indonesian flags. None of us knew what was going on, but we were led to the town square with most of the town and some of the surrounding town members watching us. We were seated with some of the Madrasa (CWY in Indonesia) officials and important members of the town. They put on a play that is native to the area, that was a little intricate and involved inviting someone into the family. We all still had no idea what was going on, but somehow I was chosen to represent the group in the play, so I walked up, got a wreath of flowers from a girl, and had lots of pictures taken. by this time, I wasn't feel well at all, sick to my stomach and dizzy. I found a bathroom, had to use a squat toilet for the first time, and came out to find a flock of girls who all wanted a picture with me. After that, I rejoined my group and had to sit down. I didn't perform the dance we've been doing for all the other official gatherings because my vision was starting to go white. After the speeches and stuff were done, I took refuge in the bus and when they kicked me out of there, I went to the mayors office and laid down on one of the couches.
I wasn't in the mood to socialize with people but some people came to me. One of them was a teacher at the school next door, who, upon learning I was ill attempted reflexology on me, starting with my feet. I'm not sure it worked, but it was surprisingly painful and eventually I'd had an almost full body massage. It's interesting to be sick and have no idea what the people taking care of you are saying. I don't really recommend it, but, as didn't want to offend anyone by refusing, I just sort of went with it. While gettng this massage, my host parents came in to meet me. Hendri had been there the whole time, and he and the other Indonesians we had in the group had been pretty good about translating here. Even with his help though, I wasn't sure how they took the situation. It's funny looking back but I was trying to make introductions as cordially as possible while someone translated and someone else was rubbing a salve on my back. Meanwhile, I just wanted to a familiar place to lie down and sleep.
We got taken home soon after. The sun had set, it was raining, and everyone else had made their own way home. The ride was a bit long in the dark, and I had a glimpse of Steph (a group member) in a house we passed. Otherwise, I had no idea where everyone was living but I just wanted to find the bed. Not a great way to introduce myself to the family, but considering the entirety of the day, still a solid birthday.
The saickness lasted into the 3rd day in the villiage, and kind of left a dmaper on my spirits. Hard to stay positive and find comfort in a strange place and new language while sick. SAtill things get better everyday, and we have our work placements now. I'm teaching english and sometimes milking cows. Thats pretty much what all the jobs were, but I got my choice. I'm getting up at 530 or 6 everyday, but we're gong to bed around 9. Not much to do and there are no street lights. After dark, everything stops. Next time I'll have more current stories. 2nd week here.
We went to one of their bigger malls, which is where we spent our afternoon and evening. The air conditioning was a blessed change of pace, more than a couple people had been burned during the day. Not much was bought by my group. Most of the things were expensive, comparable to N.American prices. We were told that in Bandung, we would be allowed to shop at outlet malls so I just bought a flash drive to hold pictures. We got out of Jakarta on our third day there. The bus ride out was pretty uneventful, got to Bandung and had to wait for some meetings. We got got talked at a lot on this journey, mostly government officials, but it did mean a lot of boxed lunches. It also meant that given the Indonesian lack of sense of time, we were stuck waiting for long periods of it, and missed our shopping excursion. I wasn't to disappointed, though I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Bandung. After leaving Jakarta, it seemed small, but it was still bigger than Toronto. Luckily I, unlike others, didn't need to buy a whole lot.
The next day was my Birthday. Considering many of my previous birthdays have been studying for or writing exams, this turned out fairly well. The bus sang the birthday song, I had to sit through another long and boring meeting, got lunch at a beautiful fancy restaurant, and I had a small Indonesian green cupcake lit with an emergency candle. Then we got to the community and things went sideways. I had been feeling queasy in the bus, but didn't think too hard on it. When we got to the village, there was a parade waiting for us, with clowns guiding us down the street, and children waving Indonesian flags. None of us knew what was going on, but we were led to the town square with most of the town and some of the surrounding town members watching us. We were seated with some of the Madrasa (CWY in Indonesia) officials and important members of the town. They put on a play that is native to the area, that was a little intricate and involved inviting someone into the family. We all still had no idea what was going on, but somehow I was chosen to represent the group in the play, so I walked up, got a wreath of flowers from a girl, and had lots of pictures taken. by this time, I wasn't feel well at all, sick to my stomach and dizzy. I found a bathroom, had to use a squat toilet for the first time, and came out to find a flock of girls who all wanted a picture with me. After that, I rejoined my group and had to sit down. I didn't perform the dance we've been doing for all the other official gatherings because my vision was starting to go white. After the speeches and stuff were done, I took refuge in the bus and when they kicked me out of there, I went to the mayors office and laid down on one of the couches.
I wasn't in the mood to socialize with people but some people came to me. One of them was a teacher at the school next door, who, upon learning I was ill attempted reflexology on me, starting with my feet. I'm not sure it worked, but it was surprisingly painful and eventually I'd had an almost full body massage. It's interesting to be sick and have no idea what the people taking care of you are saying. I don't really recommend it, but, as didn't want to offend anyone by refusing, I just sort of went with it. While gettng this massage, my host parents came in to meet me. Hendri had been there the whole time, and he and the other Indonesians we had in the group had been pretty good about translating here. Even with his help though, I wasn't sure how they took the situation. It's funny looking back but I was trying to make introductions as cordially as possible while someone translated and someone else was rubbing a salve on my back. Meanwhile, I just wanted to a familiar place to lie down and sleep.
We got taken home soon after. The sun had set, it was raining, and everyone else had made their own way home. The ride was a bit long in the dark, and I had a glimpse of Steph (a group member) in a house we passed. Otherwise, I had no idea where everyone was living but I just wanted to find the bed. Not a great way to introduce myself to the family, but considering the entirety of the day, still a solid birthday.
The saickness lasted into the 3rd day in the villiage, and kind of left a dmaper on my spirits. Hard to stay positive and find comfort in a strange place and new language while sick. SAtill things get better everyday, and we have our work placements now. I'm teaching english and sometimes milking cows. Thats pretty much what all the jobs were, but I got my choice. I'm getting up at 530 or 6 everyday, but we're gong to bed around 9. Not much to do and there are no street lights. After dark, everything stops. Next time I'll have more current stories. 2nd week here.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
There is life in Indonesia.
I am in the town,have been for a few days now. the travel wasn't actually that bad. I was expecting something really arduous, but the worst part of it was the driving. From Halifax to Toronto something was wrong with the pressure in the cabin, andas my nose was pretty stuffy, it somehow deadened the nerve to the top left half of my teeth. It was a little diconcerting to have them all slowly go numb, but that was about as exciting as that flight got. The Toronto Hong Kong flight was actually fun. I got a bit restless towards the end, but I slept for the first 8 hrs and spent the rest dong crosswords, watched a few movies and finished writing in my canadian journal. The time pretty much flew by...
Getting to Hong Kong in the middle of the night was probably a good thng, as the place is huge and greatly resembles a mall. As stores started to open up, we explored what we could, straining our invisible CWY leash. Considering how little time it took for us to feed ourselves, we bascally wandered shops with no real interest to buy for an hr. Even if one of us had the urge to buy an overpriced gucci bag, we didn't have room to store it. We had to take a train to our gate, and soon we were on our way to Indonesia.
By this tme the sun had caught up to us and we could see Thailnd and some of the other Islands of Indoneasia on our approach. Finally getting there, we were hit by a warm moist wave of air. Jakarta at this time of year is a hot place to be. The airport was busy, we had brought a hundred or so Indonesians finishing their trip to Mecca, so the baggage claim was filled withfairly quiet but bustling people making gathering luggage a problem. Driving in general in Indoneasia is done with more care to where you want to go than those around you, which holds truer for luggage carts. More than one of us got hit by a reckless driver. Actually getting into the city was even worse. I have no idea why there aren't more accidents, but they certainly cut it close, and I'm glad I don't have to drive. Its insanity, whipping into the tiniest gap, and the motorcyclists are even worse, dodging cars and people like traffic cones. Pedestrians beware in Indonesia, it's one of the things they were all concerned about.
We got to the hostel type place we were being housed and had to unload baggae and find rooms. The city itself reeked, garbage everywhere, and the heavy air kept the exhaust from all the cars weighed down, like a blue blanket over the city. The heat was oppressive, especially when the sun deigned to peak through the clouds, and we were all greatful for the air conditioned rooms, and the tradtional cold Indonesian showers.
Biggest cultural hit beyond the garbage, which is piled, then burned in the peoples yards, is the bathrooms. We started the trip with si tdown toilets, a bucket full of water and a hose. I didn't have to go for the first while, but the group soon became very comfortable discussing their uncomfortable bowel movements. The only things that has changed is the loss of a sitdown and a hose.
We had 2 days n Jakarta which was kinda nice, as we were all asleep the first evening around 6, time zones finally catching up with us. The next day we were all up around 4 or 5, had an early breakfast and ventured into the city. There was a mall nearby that wasn't open yet, but the AC was a nice change of pace, and we got to take in a bit of the city from it's higher windows, watching people go on their way to work. There is no rush hour in Jakarta, just grid lock and not gridlock. the city is so spread out and massive, that getting to where we went later required an extra couple hrs just considering that, and we still were late to most of our events. I'll cover that and the rest of the trip later.
As a heads up to where Im at now, I'm ok. Thisisn't really what I thought it'd be like. think our main concern herewill be pollution. Like Jakarta, and apparently the rest of Indonesia, there is no recycling, compst or really any kind of garbage pick up. Some plastcicbottles are collected on occasion, but glass bottle are only collected in certain cities, not the villages. Everything else is either buried or burned in ther front yards, or, thrown into the river or woods. Healthy all around, it creates an endless haze over the town which is added to by a constant cloud of cigarette smoke, which the men do anywhere and everywhere, and I don't think the motorbikes and cars are at N.American emission standards. I get the sense they want to change things here, but need a leader to do it. Enter us with our white skin and English voces, which make everything better. I've seen a lot of faces whitened by makeup since arrving. White is in, and everybody accepts it, favours it. We are pretty much superstars here, I was mobed for my photo the first time I got out of the bathroom here. The kjids following us and people pointing and laughing and shouting"Boulays" was kind of endearing at first but it is wearing us down fast. Topped with everyone having dire need of the bathroom and trying every cure we know for stomach illness, spirits here are low. know it will all pass, and we gain stregnth from the group, but a few of us are feeling a little down, trying not to count downthe days tocome home. Hope I'm more hopeful by the next post, but right now I miss home and don't really get things here, even though the family is being pretty nice considering the language barrier. The town is honoured to have us, so I geuss that counts for something.
Love to everyone
Justin
I am in the town,have been for a few days now. the travel wasn't actually that bad. I was expecting something really arduous, but the worst part of it was the driving. From Halifax to Toronto something was wrong with the pressure in the cabin, andas my nose was pretty stuffy, it somehow deadened the nerve to the top left half of my teeth. It was a little diconcerting to have them all slowly go numb, but that was about as exciting as that flight got. The Toronto Hong Kong flight was actually fun. I got a bit restless towards the end, but I slept for the first 8 hrs and spent the rest dong crosswords, watched a few movies and finished writing in my canadian journal. The time pretty much flew by...
Getting to Hong Kong in the middle of the night was probably a good thng, as the place is huge and greatly resembles a mall. As stores started to open up, we explored what we could, straining our invisible CWY leash. Considering how little time it took for us to feed ourselves, we bascally wandered shops with no real interest to buy for an hr. Even if one of us had the urge to buy an overpriced gucci bag, we didn't have room to store it. We had to take a train to our gate, and soon we were on our way to Indonesia.
By this tme the sun had caught up to us and we could see Thailnd and some of the other Islands of Indoneasia on our approach. Finally getting there, we were hit by a warm moist wave of air. Jakarta at this time of year is a hot place to be. The airport was busy, we had brought a hundred or so Indonesians finishing their trip to Mecca, so the baggage claim was filled withfairly quiet but bustling people making gathering luggage a problem. Driving in general in Indoneasia is done with more care to where you want to go than those around you, which holds truer for luggage carts. More than one of us got hit by a reckless driver. Actually getting into the city was even worse. I have no idea why there aren't more accidents, but they certainly cut it close, and I'm glad I don't have to drive. Its insanity, whipping into the tiniest gap, and the motorcyclists are even worse, dodging cars and people like traffic cones. Pedestrians beware in Indonesia, it's one of the things they were all concerned about.
We got to the hostel type place we were being housed and had to unload baggae and find rooms. The city itself reeked, garbage everywhere, and the heavy air kept the exhaust from all the cars weighed down, like a blue blanket over the city. The heat was oppressive, especially when the sun deigned to peak through the clouds, and we were all greatful for the air conditioned rooms, and the tradtional cold Indonesian showers.
Biggest cultural hit beyond the garbage, which is piled, then burned in the peoples yards, is the bathrooms. We started the trip with si tdown toilets, a bucket full of water and a hose. I didn't have to go for the first while, but the group soon became very comfortable discussing their uncomfortable bowel movements. The only things that has changed is the loss of a sitdown and a hose.
We had 2 days n Jakarta which was kinda nice, as we were all asleep the first evening around 6, time zones finally catching up with us. The next day we were all up around 4 or 5, had an early breakfast and ventured into the city. There was a mall nearby that wasn't open yet, but the AC was a nice change of pace, and we got to take in a bit of the city from it's higher windows, watching people go on their way to work. There is no rush hour in Jakarta, just grid lock and not gridlock. the city is so spread out and massive, that getting to where we went later required an extra couple hrs just considering that, and we still were late to most of our events. I'll cover that and the rest of the trip later.
As a heads up to where Im at now, I'm ok. Thisisn't really what I thought it'd be like. think our main concern herewill be pollution. Like Jakarta, and apparently the rest of Indonesia, there is no recycling, compst or really any kind of garbage pick up. Some plastcicbottles are collected on occasion, but glass bottle are only collected in certain cities, not the villages. Everything else is either buried or burned in ther front yards, or, thrown into the river or woods. Healthy all around, it creates an endless haze over the town which is added to by a constant cloud of cigarette smoke, which the men do anywhere and everywhere, and I don't think the motorbikes and cars are at N.American emission standards. I get the sense they want to change things here, but need a leader to do it. Enter us with our white skin and English voces, which make everything better. I've seen a lot of faces whitened by makeup since arrving. White is in, and everybody accepts it, favours it. We are pretty much superstars here, I was mobed for my photo the first time I got out of the bathroom here. The kjids following us and people pointing and laughing and shouting"Boulays" was kind of endearing at first but it is wearing us down fast. Topped with everyone having dire need of the bathroom and trying every cure we know for stomach illness, spirits here are low. know it will all pass, and we gain stregnth from the group, but a few of us are feeling a little down, trying not to count downthe days tocome home. Hope I'm more hopeful by the next post, but right now I miss home and don't really get things here, even though the family is being pretty nice considering the language barrier. The town is honoured to have us, so I geuss that counts for something.
Love to everyone
Justin
Friday, November 27, 2009
Going...
eth⋅no⋅cen⋅trism
[eth-noh-sen-triz-uh
m]–noun
| 1. | Sociology. the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. |
| 2. | a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own. |
It's one of the words my Dad really likes to use. I have been learning a bit more about where we are going and what to expect as far a culture goes. Over the last 12 weeks, we've noticed more than a few differences between the Canadians and Indonesians. Some are simple, if sometimes irritating, like walking speed, or Facebook addiction. But going there is going to be bit more intense, and I'm wondering what will have the most affect.
Right now I think the things that are weighing most on my mind, the things that will cause the most disturbance will be, in order: heat/humidity, spiciness of food (amount of oil used may also be a factor), and language barrier. There's not much I can do but adapt to them. The first two will be a matter of time, the last will probably find some balance later on.
All of Indonesia speaks Bahasa Indonesia, but every region has it's own distinct dialects that can make a big difference, compare German with English. They area we're going to will speak Sundanese primarily but should have learned Bahasa to some degree. We are going to live with some of the more affluent members of the community, probably going to have at least a high school education. I'm hope I'm prepared for anything, no matter what it's going to be interesting and new. Fun facts: squatting toilets only, no toilet paper just water, no hot water for showers,
As usual, it's the night before and I haven't finished packing. I'm pretty much ready to give up trying to anticipate what will be available and what won't and just go with it. Unlike most times I travel, that's a big open ended question. Still, I think it'll be something I'll enjoy, or at least learn from. But the purpose of the definition is just to remind myself that I'm not in a place to judge others culture, and realize that I'm going to be doing a lot of shrugging things off.
We leave tomorrow and I've already said goodbye to most people. My host mother, Maria, left this morning. She has a conference she had to go to, and we all got up to see her off. It was emotional, expecially for Hendri. He put on a special song to say "thank you" for everything. We both gave gifts to thank them. I made a dream catcher for them, and Hendri got a picture of us all and framed it. I am definitely going to be coming back sometime soon, but Hendri doesn't have that luxury, though he is planning on returning in 2015. We both really appreciated both Maria and Ken for their hospitality, above and beyond the call of the program, so I think we'll both be missing them.
Hopefully I find a computer again soon, but we'll have to wait and see. I have a few bits of info on where we're going and what we're doing but they're few and vague. I think we'll be living close to each other, which is the hope. We spend the first week in transition. A day in Jakarta, meeting the minister of sports and youth, and other officials. 3-5 days in Bandung with short term host families to help us adjust and gather things we may need. I'm only bringing one bag, most of that is books and gifts, so I'll have to pick up some clothes etc. Then we are off to the town. We are starting to plan some volunteer activities for the area, ranging from gathering clean water to more social issues. Apparently, female circumcision is big in this area. That's raising the hackles on a few group members. We may cause a stir when we get there, after we learn to communicate to people.
With any luck, I'll post again soon.
Love, Justin
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
It's been awhile since the last post. A lot has gone on and not all of it is good, but I may not have internet access for awhile so I had better put some more posts up.
Recently my cousin, Danny Byatt, passed away. He is greatly missed by his family.
That has been a big part of how the last few days have passed, trying to find a way around the rules I agreed to to be in the program. I can't take a bus or rent a car, and people are to busy to drive that far out of their way. I will be in Dartmouth at the Quality Inn on Sunday, so I'll be able to go around town and see people then, but it's not the same.
This past month has really zipped by. I am trying to remember the bigger details to share. This weekend we went to a sweat lodge which was a pretty intense experience. 2 hrs in a sauna not much bigger than a van. 16 people squished in, though most people didn't last the whole time. In fact most of the Indonesians were out in the first half hr, but the ones who stayed I think really enjoyed it. It was much hotter than I thought it would be, the steam was suffocating and it burned to breath to hard. I couldn't talk very much, and staying still was reccomended, but the people doing it were able to full out sing. Practise makes perfect I guess, and they were very kind. They fed us afterwards, lent people towels and shorts, and fed us after wards, and they didn't charge. They seemed happy to share their culture, and I think the group really appreciated it. We invited them to a potluck we are holding on Friday for the host families.
We already had an afternoon tea/performance for the work placements. We haven't been working since last Thurs., and we invited all the supervisors in for a thank you. We all gave them a card, and a speech. We appreciated their efforts, all of them seem very kind and welcoming, great examples of the town. I know I'm going to miss working on the farm. Wasn't always exciting, but we got free apples, good working conditions, outdoors, and in a beautiful place, plus they were both very nice, offering drives encouragement etc.
the last post was about the fundraiser. It seems like that's made up most of our time here, and definetly required the most focus. We reviewed it the other day, to the discomfort of some. There was a clear difference in the group on who did work, and who felt that others could have done more, which led to a few peoples great stress. I'm not sure we'll be doing another show like that, but I think that in the end, we're not going to change much as a group, and the show turned out quite nice. I stand by our work (those who did it), and, if there is a next time, maybe people will change their habits. Their was a lot of energy at the beggining, but our group has a bit of a focusing problem, and plans that are made aren't always explained to everyone, or followed through.
Anyway, we leave Antigonish in 5 days. I've already started packing as we have to go to a debriefing camp for the next 3 days. Once we get back, we prep for the host family dinner, then say goodbye. Leave town on Sun. It's going to be a busy week, shooting by already. I'm still not sure how I feel about leaving. When I was a kid flipping through my parents National Geographic magazines, I decided Indonesia was the most beautiful, diverse, and fascinating country. Now I'm days away from getting there, and either it hasn't really registered that I'm leaving, or I 'm too distracted to care about it. I have a few worries. Electricity, internet connections, social comparisons, etc. I'll make a list in my next post. Either way, the countdown has begun...
Recently my cousin, Danny Byatt, passed away. He is greatly missed by his family.
That has been a big part of how the last few days have passed, trying to find a way around the rules I agreed to to be in the program. I can't take a bus or rent a car, and people are to busy to drive that far out of their way. I will be in Dartmouth at the Quality Inn on Sunday, so I'll be able to go around town and see people then, but it's not the same.
This past month has really zipped by. I am trying to remember the bigger details to share. This weekend we went to a sweat lodge which was a pretty intense experience. 2 hrs in a sauna not much bigger than a van. 16 people squished in, though most people didn't last the whole time. In fact most of the Indonesians were out in the first half hr, but the ones who stayed I think really enjoyed it. It was much hotter than I thought it would be, the steam was suffocating and it burned to breath to hard. I couldn't talk very much, and staying still was reccomended, but the people doing it were able to full out sing. Practise makes perfect I guess, and they were very kind. They fed us afterwards, lent people towels and shorts, and fed us after wards, and they didn't charge. They seemed happy to share their culture, and I think the group really appreciated it. We invited them to a potluck we are holding on Friday for the host families.
We already had an afternoon tea/performance for the work placements. We haven't been working since last Thurs., and we invited all the supervisors in for a thank you. We all gave them a card, and a speech. We appreciated their efforts, all of them seem very kind and welcoming, great examples of the town. I know I'm going to miss working on the farm. Wasn't always exciting, but we got free apples, good working conditions, outdoors, and in a beautiful place, plus they were both very nice, offering drives encouragement etc.
the last post was about the fundraiser. It seems like that's made up most of our time here, and definetly required the most focus. We reviewed it the other day, to the discomfort of some. There was a clear difference in the group on who did work, and who felt that others could have done more, which led to a few peoples great stress. I'm not sure we'll be doing another show like that, but I think that in the end, we're not going to change much as a group, and the show turned out quite nice. I stand by our work (those who did it), and, if there is a next time, maybe people will change their habits. Their was a lot of energy at the beggining, but our group has a bit of a focusing problem, and plans that are made aren't always explained to everyone, or followed through.
Anyway, we leave Antigonish in 5 days. I've already started packing as we have to go to a debriefing camp for the next 3 days. Once we get back, we prep for the host family dinner, then say goodbye. Leave town on Sun. It's going to be a busy week, shooting by already. I'm still not sure how I feel about leaving. When I was a kid flipping through my parents National Geographic magazines, I decided Indonesia was the most beautiful, diverse, and fascinating country. Now I'm days away from getting there, and either it hasn't really registered that I'm leaving, or I 'm too distracted to care about it. I have a few worries. Electricity, internet connections, social comparisons, etc. I'll make a list in my next post. Either way, the countdown has begun...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
So, since last post, a few things have happened. The biggest would be the fundraiser, which went very well. We raised over 1600, which isn't too shabby. Watch, enjoy, point out the flaws.
1. Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74YuXeD4Zeg
2. Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTgHi9n_Uqc
3. Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vyGj6YWgA
4. Part 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lULORvdubVU
5. Part 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_uaFWFvg28
6. Part 6 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5S_pVUri1Q
7. Part 7 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PZNmlPUbuU
8. Part 8 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AhSVmBPTlg
9. Part 9 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfdh4j7uzMs
It was stressful putting it all together, more for some than for others. It took the better part of Sat. to cook all the food, decorate the church and rehearse for a bit. I spent most of the morning cooking nasi goren (fried rice). I think I can cook it in my sleep now. We were still eating it for the sleepover on Thurs. But I think it went well, I enjoyed the hustle/bustle of the kitchen, we performed well, fed the audience some decent food, I think everyone enjoyed the show. More to come later.
1. Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74YuXeD4Zeg
2. Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTgHi9n_Uqc
3. Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vyGj6YWgA
4. Part 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lULORvdubVU
5. Part 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_uaFWFvg28
6. Part 6 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5S_pVUri1Q
7. Part 7 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PZNmlPUbuU
8. Part 8 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AhSVmBPTlg
9. Part 9 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfdh4j7uzMs
It was stressful putting it all together, more for some than for others. It took the better part of Sat. to cook all the food, decorate the church and rehearse for a bit. I spent most of the morning cooking nasi goren (fried rice). I think I can cook it in my sleep now. We were still eating it for the sleepover on Thurs. But I think it went well, I enjoyed the hustle/bustle of the kitchen, we performed well, fed the audience some decent food, I think everyone enjoyed the show. More to come later.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
So, as some of you know, I've been sick for about a week now. I'm better, or getting there. Still in a bit of a fog, and tired, but I don't have a fever or chills, and my throat doesn't hurt any more. Hopefully I can get back to running regulrarly again after Saturday. Until then, I have to hope that my immune system will keep up the good work. Some days I've felt fine but others, not so much.
Over the weekend we had a Halloween party. I spent a good part of the day cooking. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. We weren't sure if the part was going to be cancelled or not due to H1N1 but I figured if it didn't go to the potluck it would be eaten here. I made a really nice spice bread, beef dumplings (which are harder to make than I thought), and spaghetti. Good hearty food for harvest. We found out the party was on, and after a rush to get costumes together at the last minute we were on our way.
Now, it's important to preface the party by saying that this was many of the Indonesians first encounter with Halloween. hendri was very excited by the idea to dress up, and, using some random bits and pieces from Maria and Kens "halloween costume bag", he formed a ghoulish cosutme that looked store bought. I coped out, and went as a vampire. Simple, and easy to put together, though I probably matched dozens of people in town. Luckily our group was a bit more imaginative, and there were no copies. Most costumes showed a bit of effort, or at least, signifisanct ingenuity. The evening was a blast, all the effort and energy that children normally build up for the holiday, in semi-adult bodies. Many pictures were taken, and we grabbed a quick dinner. Then, as the Antigonish curfew closed in, it was decided that trick or treating should be taken advantage of. So, the Canadians decided to take the Indonesians around the block. Pretty incredible, and hilarious. As a group, they would chrage a house, running across the yard, yelling random things, and acting scary. Then, as they gathered in front of the door to yell "trick or treat" (the occupant either amused or worried), they would start singing Indonesian songs (pretty common for our group) and a Canadian would explain who we were as candy was dolled out.
We finished the evening with sorting and sharing candy, after a surprisingly succesful venture, and played a gmae called werewolves. We were allowed to bring alcohol to the party, so there were a couple bottles of wine finished off. It was a pretty great evening.
The morning after, however, the illness returned and many people were once again out for the count. I was feverish and in solitude for most of the day. Which was unfortunate not only for my own comfort, but this was the day Marias family, some of whom were visiting from Holland, were coming for dinner here. Close to 30 people in total, and even though I had promised earlier to help cook, and it would be nice to meet more people of the family, I was in hiding, and rather miserable for it. It would also hae been a prime opportunity to sell tickets for our show.
Either way, I'm better now, and starting tomorrow morning, we start work and don't stop cooking, singing or dancing until 8, Saturday. I'm excited for the show, sad I won't be doing swing, but we just didn't have time to learn it with both of us feeling ill this last week. But there is still plenty to do, and learn. Other people in the group have taken the brunt of the labour for a couple reasons. I wanted to do more, but given my position in the community and the low frequency I go into town and see the others, I don't have many opportunities to help out. Still, I imagine everyone will be needed tomorrow. Should be fun.
Over the weekend we had a Halloween party. I spent a good part of the day cooking. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. We weren't sure if the part was going to be cancelled or not due to H1N1 but I figured if it didn't go to the potluck it would be eaten here. I made a really nice spice bread, beef dumplings (which are harder to make than I thought), and spaghetti. Good hearty food for harvest. We found out the party was on, and after a rush to get costumes together at the last minute we were on our way.
Now, it's important to preface the party by saying that this was many of the Indonesians first encounter with Halloween. hendri was very excited by the idea to dress up, and, using some random bits and pieces from Maria and Kens "halloween costume bag", he formed a ghoulish cosutme that looked store bought. I coped out, and went as a vampire. Simple, and easy to put together, though I probably matched dozens of people in town. Luckily our group was a bit more imaginative, and there were no copies. Most costumes showed a bit of effort, or at least, signifisanct ingenuity. The evening was a blast, all the effort and energy that children normally build up for the holiday, in semi-adult bodies. Many pictures were taken, and we grabbed a quick dinner. Then, as the Antigonish curfew closed in, it was decided that trick or treating should be taken advantage of. So, the Canadians decided to take the Indonesians around the block. Pretty incredible, and hilarious. As a group, they would chrage a house, running across the yard, yelling random things, and acting scary. Then, as they gathered in front of the door to yell "trick or treat" (the occupant either amused or worried), they would start singing Indonesian songs (pretty common for our group) and a Canadian would explain who we were as candy was dolled out.
We finished the evening with sorting and sharing candy, after a surprisingly succesful venture, and played a gmae called werewolves. We were allowed to bring alcohol to the party, so there were a couple bottles of wine finished off. It was a pretty great evening.
The morning after, however, the illness returned and many people were once again out for the count. I was feverish and in solitude for most of the day. Which was unfortunate not only for my own comfort, but this was the day Marias family, some of whom were visiting from Holland, were coming for dinner here. Close to 30 people in total, and even though I had promised earlier to help cook, and it would be nice to meet more people of the family, I was in hiding, and rather miserable for it. It would also hae been a prime opportunity to sell tickets for our show.
Either way, I'm better now, and starting tomorrow morning, we start work and don't stop cooking, singing or dancing until 8, Saturday. I'm excited for the show, sad I won't be doing swing, but we just didn't have time to learn it with both of us feeling ill this last week. But there is still plenty to do, and learn. Other people in the group have taken the brunt of the labour for a couple reasons. I wanted to do more, but given my position in the community and the low frequency I go into town and see the others, I don't have many opportunities to help out. Still, I imagine everyone will be needed tomorrow. Should be fun.
Friday, October 30, 2009
There is an exceptional, warm feeling to be had when finding out the book you've been waiting for has come into print and is 40% off. The newest of a series I've been following for the better part of the decade is now my weekend project, which has made this day so much better. For those who have been following this H1N1 thing, Antigonish has been one of the hardest hit areas in Canada. Go figure. A few of our group have contracted the disease and are feeling "fluish". I still don't unerstand the hype. According to one of our members more people die from toaster related incidents, I kinda want to see those studies. Meeting today, about half of us were in quarantine, and a couple of us have just left, myself among them. I am pretty sure this was just a bad head cold, otherwise this has been blow way out of proportion, but I was still unhappy for a couple days trying to gain some body and mental stability. But the foggy veil has lifted, I'm not chilled, and I'm getting better at not dropping my swing partner, though she may now be infected, sorry about that.
Swing may be dropped from this shows set list as we are still working on choreography and we have less than a week to learn. The individual moves we can do, but putting them in a sequence that will shock and amaze is proving more difficult than I'd anticipated. But we both want to learn so when we get to Indonesia, we can pass it off as "traditional canadian dance". It was invented in N. America, so it's close.
On wed. Hendri and I finally did our presentations on our homes. His had more media than mine, taken from a tourist advertisment and covered all of Indonesia whereas mine is a little more scoially focused, going into Native concerns and global warming. The classes seemed to like them both, although my first presentation was to a gr. 11 class that was not into the whole school idea and I got a lot of blank faces. The gr. 5's just wanted to hear ghost stories from the Nahanni, so I'll have to look up more of those. I like working at the school, despite the longer day. It's interesting and helps me work on my presentation skills which have come along way in the last year. We go back on monday.
Hopefully, people will be better for tomorrow, because we have a halloween party planned if we aren't still infected. I'm not sure what I'm going as, but I'm healthier so I want to get out.
Happy Halloween
Swing may be dropped from this shows set list as we are still working on choreography and we have less than a week to learn. The individual moves we can do, but putting them in a sequence that will shock and amaze is proving more difficult than I'd anticipated. But we both want to learn so when we get to Indonesia, we can pass it off as "traditional canadian dance". It was invented in N. America, so it's close.
On wed. Hendri and I finally did our presentations on our homes. His had more media than mine, taken from a tourist advertisment and covered all of Indonesia whereas mine is a little more scoially focused, going into Native concerns and global warming. The classes seemed to like them both, although my first presentation was to a gr. 11 class that was not into the whole school idea and I got a lot of blank faces. The gr. 5's just wanted to hear ghost stories from the Nahanni, so I'll have to look up more of those. I like working at the school, despite the longer day. It's interesting and helps me work on my presentation skills which have come along way in the last year. We go back on monday.
Hopefully, people will be better for tomorrow, because we have a halloween party planned if we aren't still infected. I'm not sure what I'm going as, but I'm healthier so I want to get out.
Happy Halloween
Monday, October 26, 2009
Well it's been a long while since I've posted something, sorry I've just let it slide with everything else that's been going on.
So far we've, or at least some of us, have been working on our fundraiser. We've been making some decent progress, we have the menu planned, a place to do it, tickets printed, letters being sent out for donations, a set list for the entertainment and we are working on the songs and dances we have to memorize. It's fairly mutable at this point, a lot can change with little notice, but at this point I am doing songs in 2 medleys and a dance that the whole group is involved in. The dance I have down, the songs not so much. Not only are they not in english, they aren't in Bahasa. The medleys were designed to represent the whole of Indonesian culture, and like canada, it's fairluy varied. Unlike canada, each province has it's own dialect that is almost incomprehensible to the others, and while they all had to learn the words in their 2 week intro course to the program, they don't know what they're singing.
Most of the acts are Indonesian in nature, with a couple english and a french act interspersed throughout the show. Over midproject we were attempting to have a dance party, and for some reason I decided to teach some people a little of the swing dance I learned at Mt A. Apparently I learned more than I thought, and people were impressed, and suddenly it was in the show. Originally we had 6 people, 2 Indonesians. Since then, people have either not been comfortable, gotten hurt or both so it's down to Anna and myself. We have covered quite a few cool moves and now we need to work on some choreography because we need to look good for the cameras.
Somehow, Hendri spoke to a national news program in Indonesia, and they asked if we could film it for their broadcast. So, apparently we're going to be on national tv in different country. THIS is how viral videos start.
Midproject, already more than a week ago, was pretty fun. I felt we spent a lot of time talking when we could have been enjoying the weekend off. Some extraordinary luck found us at the Sisters of St. Martha retreat, a very scenic spot a little up the coast, quiet and secluded and plenty of space for us to cook, party(ish), and have "lively" group sessions. Most of our time was spent discussing different aspects of everyones life. Most of it was repeated sveral times, and the sit in a circle and talk style of learning has never been my forte, but we suffered through it and somehow somethings were resolved and, if not that, people could vent. I just don't like that everyone feels compelled to speak when they don't want to, and many things either don't need to be said, or have already been said. We're still working on our communication skills
It's starting to get cold here. Somehow I got frostbite on my ears, and today we were removing plastic from some of the fields, and with all the rain my fingers were wet and numb for most of the morning. I'm trying to stay on the side of healthy (insert swine flu worry here) and slowly losing that battle. The cold does not help the immune system. I'm wondering what my body will do when we go to Indonesia. It should be around -5 in late Nov. and 25 in Java. A bit of a difference, should be fun to see the reaction.
I got the package from Fort Simpson (thanks Mum and Dad), and found some interesting souvenirs I can give out. Not sure who thought ordering dehcho first nations "bandannas" would be a good idea, or why the colour scheme is black and red tie-dye, but they're a cool gag gift. Whoever put the M&M's in wins my undying love, I enjoyed those, thanks for everything.
With that I say goodbye. I'll work on more regular updates.
Justin
So far we've, or at least some of us, have been working on our fundraiser. We've been making some decent progress, we have the menu planned, a place to do it, tickets printed, letters being sent out for donations, a set list for the entertainment and we are working on the songs and dances we have to memorize. It's fairly mutable at this point, a lot can change with little notice, but at this point I am doing songs in 2 medleys and a dance that the whole group is involved in. The dance I have down, the songs not so much. Not only are they not in english, they aren't in Bahasa. The medleys were designed to represent the whole of Indonesian culture, and like canada, it's fairluy varied. Unlike canada, each province has it's own dialect that is almost incomprehensible to the others, and while they all had to learn the words in their 2 week intro course to the program, they don't know what they're singing.
Most of the acts are Indonesian in nature, with a couple english and a french act interspersed throughout the show. Over midproject we were attempting to have a dance party, and for some reason I decided to teach some people a little of the swing dance I learned at Mt A. Apparently I learned more than I thought, and people were impressed, and suddenly it was in the show. Originally we had 6 people, 2 Indonesians. Since then, people have either not been comfortable, gotten hurt or both so it's down to Anna and myself. We have covered quite a few cool moves and now we need to work on some choreography because we need to look good for the cameras.
Somehow, Hendri spoke to a national news program in Indonesia, and they asked if we could film it for their broadcast. So, apparently we're going to be on national tv in different country. THIS is how viral videos start.
Midproject, already more than a week ago, was pretty fun. I felt we spent a lot of time talking when we could have been enjoying the weekend off. Some extraordinary luck found us at the Sisters of St. Martha retreat, a very scenic spot a little up the coast, quiet and secluded and plenty of space for us to cook, party(ish), and have "lively" group sessions. Most of our time was spent discussing different aspects of everyones life. Most of it was repeated sveral times, and the sit in a circle and talk style of learning has never been my forte, but we suffered through it and somehow somethings were resolved and, if not that, people could vent. I just don't like that everyone feels compelled to speak when they don't want to, and many things either don't need to be said, or have already been said. We're still working on our communication skills
It's starting to get cold here. Somehow I got frostbite on my ears, and today we were removing plastic from some of the fields, and with all the rain my fingers were wet and numb for most of the morning. I'm trying to stay on the side of healthy (insert swine flu worry here) and slowly losing that battle. The cold does not help the immune system. I'm wondering what my body will do when we go to Indonesia. It should be around -5 in late Nov. and 25 in Java. A bit of a difference, should be fun to see the reaction.
I got the package from Fort Simpson (thanks Mum and Dad), and found some interesting souvenirs I can give out. Not sure who thought ordering dehcho first nations "bandannas" would be a good idea, or why the colour scheme is black and red tie-dye, but they're a cool gag gift. Whoever put the M&M's in wins my undying love, I enjoyed those, thanks for everything.
With that I say goodbye. I'll work on more regular updates.
Justin
Monday, October 12, 2009
Most of my entries are pretty bare bones, mostly cause I try to sum up a week in a few paragraphs and there is actually a lot going on. On Friday a few people in the group went to taekwondo class, which I wasn't really thrilled about but since Hendri seemed psyched, I went along. There were about 8 of us, organized by another member of the group. I had planned to stay for a couple minutes than use the track outside to go for a run. But once everone was there and we got into it, we had a good time. I haven't had a chance to do much exercise oriented towards martial arts in awhile and being back in that environment was a good reminder of that. We all broke a sweat, and I got a few compliments on my form, which was kind of cheating as I didn't mention my experience. I have been running most days, even started doing sprints, but the sensei(?) worked us hard and all our bodies were aching afterward.
I had hoped that my brother would have come up this weekend but he's apparently gone camping. I haven't had a chance to see Antigonish after dark all that often, as we need supervisor approved drivers before we can go anywhere and I don't want to ask my host parents to drive me much past 10. However, I did get a visit from some family yesterday, my aunts Ann Marie, and Mary, along with my Grampie came up and took Hendri and I to lunch in town. The visit was very good, I think Hendri enjoyed meeting them and we got a chance to talk about a few things before I leave. They also brought up my computer which will ease some of the burden placed on the home comp. THey have high speed wireless and I don't have to feel to guilty about being on it often and facebook and skype seem to be additions for all the Indonesians. We can pretty much guarantee someone is on FB when we stop anywhere.
Tomrrow I have my second EAD, I am providing native oriented games, so I'll be bringing out some of the more accessible games from AWGs.
Today is Thanksgiving, so in the spirit, I am thankful for family and friends, old and new, who have helped me get here and remind me of home.
Love to everyone
Justin
X
I had hoped that my brother would have come up this weekend but he's apparently gone camping. I haven't had a chance to see Antigonish after dark all that often, as we need supervisor approved drivers before we can go anywhere and I don't want to ask my host parents to drive me much past 10. However, I did get a visit from some family yesterday, my aunts Ann Marie, and Mary, along with my Grampie came up and took Hendri and I to lunch in town. The visit was very good, I think Hendri enjoyed meeting them and we got a chance to talk about a few things before I leave. They also brought up my computer which will ease some of the burden placed on the home comp. THey have high speed wireless and I don't have to feel to guilty about being on it often and facebook and skype seem to be additions for all the Indonesians. We can pretty much guarantee someone is on FB when we stop anywhere.
Tomrrow I have my second EAD, I am providing native oriented games, so I'll be bringing out some of the more accessible games from AWGs.
Today is Thanksgiving, so in the spirit, I am thankful for family and friends, old and new, who have helped me get here and remind me of home.
Love to everyone
Justin
X
Thursday, October 8, 2009
So we're still working on communication, but getting better at geting together. With everyone living so far away, it takes a bit of organization.
On tues. I did my first EAD on organic farming. Hendri, John, Danar and I all did it, and asked our work placement boss did a talk. We had it out in Bayfield where we work, which meant we didn't have to get into town. it also meant that we would be near our house so we deided to combine it with a potluck/bonfire thing. Lots of fun we went swimmming which was pretty cold, but even the Indoneasians went in. I'm sure pictures will make it to fb. Everyone brought a bunch of food, with a heavy focus on indonesian dishes, so spicy. Getting use to the spice though, which will benefit me when we get across the ocean.
On that note, probably a good idea to mention the earthquakes. Of the 3 only one was on the island where we will be going, Java, and most of the damage should be repaired by the time we get there. The quake on Sulawesi caused much more damage and killed a couple thousand people, it caused a lot more stir in the group. One our members is from the island but herr family is ok. A member of the Amherst group is from Padang, the center of the quake. His family is ok, but people are still dying. We are planning on putting together a fundraiser for the victims, a dinner of indonesian food coupled wih some cultural dances from both Antigonish and Indonesia. Not sure how much we'll raise but it makes a difference, hopefully.
Otherwise things have been going well here. Hard to believe that next week is Midproject, we'll be leaving town as a group for a couple days. This weekend is thanksgiving, I know we'll be having people here for dinner, but I'm hoping to see some family.
On tues. I did my first EAD on organic farming. Hendri, John, Danar and I all did it, and asked our work placement boss did a talk. We had it out in Bayfield where we work, which meant we didn't have to get into town. it also meant that we would be near our house so we deided to combine it with a potluck/bonfire thing. Lots of fun we went swimmming which was pretty cold, but even the Indoneasians went in. I'm sure pictures will make it to fb. Everyone brought a bunch of food, with a heavy focus on indonesian dishes, so spicy. Getting use to the spice though, which will benefit me when we get across the ocean.
On that note, probably a good idea to mention the earthquakes. Of the 3 only one was on the island where we will be going, Java, and most of the damage should be repaired by the time we get there. The quake on Sulawesi caused much more damage and killed a couple thousand people, it caused a lot more stir in the group. One our members is from the island but herr family is ok. A member of the Amherst group is from Padang, the center of the quake. His family is ok, but people are still dying. We are planning on putting together a fundraiser for the victims, a dinner of indonesian food coupled wih some cultural dances from both Antigonish and Indonesia. Not sure how much we'll raise but it makes a difference, hopefully.
Otherwise things have been going well here. Hard to believe that next week is Midproject, we'll be leaving town as a group for a couple days. This weekend is thanksgiving, I know we'll be having people here for dinner, but I'm hoping to see some family.
Friday, September 25, 2009
It's been a good second week of work. This week went by fast. On monday we were back to weeding and hoeing, which isn't as much fun as it sounds. tuesday we had our first EAD (educational activity day). The topic was health, and we had a person from the local womens shelter come and talk about sexual health, and dangers. It was mostly about possible rape, so some people felt uncomfortable and others were very involved in the discussion. Afterwards, we went outside for some dance lessons. We are trying to learn a few on the Indonesian dances that they all know. Each province has it's own unique form of cultural dance, and all the Indonesians were briefed on them before coming. S far we aren't doing to badly and some of the results have made it to facebook. We played sports for most of the afternoon, which is always a good way to end.
An important part of that day was that the ban on alcohol was dissolved. There are rules of course, but it was basically what we wanted from the beginning, like asking the counterpart, and don't go overboard. Most people live out of town anyway so it was never a worry. We had a celebratory drink on Tues., but it took a long time for everyone to get organized at one place. It seems to be the curse of our group to never agree on one thing and meet at a specific time. By the time everyone was settled and drinks were ordered, people had to go. We are trying to have a more organized time tonight.
Wed. we harvested some stuff, probably going to be doing that a lot more soon. We are protected from the frost because we are right next to the ocean, but winter is coming. We had yesterday off to make a presentation for the schools as part of our work placement. Didn't do much so now its a weekend project.
This weekend my host family, who are very involved with the local acting crowd, are involved with a dinner theatre on Sat. and Sun. night. Hendri and I are going with them and helping with wardrobe etc. Should be fun, but very long.
I've been cooking a lot, invented a few new recipes. Apples and chicken go together, and turnips are edible with apples pie spices.
the more you know
An important part of that day was that the ban on alcohol was dissolved. There are rules of course, but it was basically what we wanted from the beginning, like asking the counterpart, and don't go overboard. Most people live out of town anyway so it was never a worry. We had a celebratory drink on Tues., but it took a long time for everyone to get organized at one place. It seems to be the curse of our group to never agree on one thing and meet at a specific time. By the time everyone was settled and drinks were ordered, people had to go. We are trying to have a more organized time tonight.
Wed. we harvested some stuff, probably going to be doing that a lot more soon. We are protected from the frost because we are right next to the ocean, but winter is coming. We had yesterday off to make a presentation for the schools as part of our work placement. Didn't do much so now its a weekend project.
This weekend my host family, who are very involved with the local acting crowd, are involved with a dinner theatre on Sat. and Sun. night. Hendri and I are going with them and helping with wardrobe etc. Should be fun, but very long.
I've been cooking a lot, invented a few new recipes. Apples and chicken go together, and turnips are edible with apples pie spices.
the more you know
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Second week not quite over. We have started our work placement. It's about 7 min bike ride down the road from us, so not to bad. It's an organic farm, a few large sized gardens with a small orchard attached. We spent most of the first day weeding and hoes the herbs and leeks, then threw down some mulch, probably going to be the Monday story of the next 2 1/2 months. Wednesday we went to the school for the second part of our work placements, where we will be giving presentations for a bunch of different classes from gr. 7 social studies to grade 12 global history. I'd forgotten what high school was like, more angst than I remember. Also, I think little kids are losing their fear of large people, we need to work on that. Today was a short harvest. We'll be doing that every Thursday to help with the farmers market. Today it was snow peas, crab apples and tomatoes. It kind of works like a U-pick, so I got my fill. Not sure how long till the first frost comes in because that's when we really start farming. Till then the weeding will probably get tedious. Still easier than tree planting though.
We've been gaining attention in town, a few organizations that we're working for and a few that we reached out to. We may be involved in the Olympic torch party, a few groups on campus, theater groups (our host parents are pretty active on their own), etc. Hopefully we get free access to the campus gym, we already have library membership. People seem to love giving free stuff to volunteers, which works for me. Second weekend, I'm hoping things are going to be a little more exciting, no being able to officially drink puts a damper on things but we can have fun without alcohol.
I've been keeping a decent record in a fairly neutral journal that people can read should anyone wish a detailed story. Not sure who's reading this, so please drop a comment.
We've been gaining attention in town, a few organizations that we're working for and a few that we reached out to. We may be involved in the Olympic torch party, a few groups on campus, theater groups (our host parents are pretty active on their own), etc. Hopefully we get free access to the campus gym, we already have library membership. People seem to love giving free stuff to volunteers, which works for me. Second weekend, I'm hoping things are going to be a little more exciting, no being able to officially drink puts a damper on things but we can have fun without alcohol.
I've been keeping a decent record in a fairly neutral journal that people can read should anyone wish a detailed story. Not sure who's reading this, so please drop a comment.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
So it's time for another update.
The past week we've been doing a lot of little seminars and group work. Not a whole lot of fun to be had, kinda like going through RA training, just stuff they feel we should go over like positive space and recycling programs. Besides that, we've been figuring out peoples work placements. Mine and Hendri's came with our house so we were saved the drama of the selection, though some of the other places seem like they'll be fun. It might have been nice to switch things up as the program progressed so everyone gets a chance to do a few different things, even if it is a little complicated.
The other thing that had to be decided were rules for the group. We got through the basic ones that we all had to agree to when we signed the contract like the no driving and no hitch hiking rules. Then we got the alcohol rule and things turned sour. There was apparently some confusion among the group because the Canadians were told that we would have choice in the matter, and the Indonesians were initially told that it would be a dry program. When Krista brought up the subject we were then told it would be a group decision. Which led to a long discussion in which the arguments for were many, and the arguments against were basically tradition of the program and religious discomfort. Halfway through the discussion we decided to take a break and when we returned and got a few minutes more into the debate we were told that it was already decided, and we were to be a dry program. For whatever reason, being misled, losing personal freedoms, or simply the lack or a decent case against, this sparked considerable distress in the group. I was more than a little perturbed and, with most of the group disliking the decision, we argued for long enough that the supervisors chose to "experiment" for 2 weeks with a dry program.
Having finished the week with little learned from any of the seminars and finding some of the group family building a little unsettling I'm looking forward to starting work this Monday, and the group itself has been coming together pretty well. Hendri and I are getting along very well in our host family. We had a few people over last night for chicken satay, an Indonesian food Hendri really likes. We've been doing that a lot recently, cooking foreign foods, if not always Indonesian. So other than being bored at points and a little angry at others, things are going very well.
The past week we've been doing a lot of little seminars and group work. Not a whole lot of fun to be had, kinda like going through RA training, just stuff they feel we should go over like positive space and recycling programs. Besides that, we've been figuring out peoples work placements. Mine and Hendri's came with our house so we were saved the drama of the selection, though some of the other places seem like they'll be fun. It might have been nice to switch things up as the program progressed so everyone gets a chance to do a few different things, even if it is a little complicated.
The other thing that had to be decided were rules for the group. We got through the basic ones that we all had to agree to when we signed the contract like the no driving and no hitch hiking rules. Then we got the alcohol rule and things turned sour. There was apparently some confusion among the group because the Canadians were told that we would have choice in the matter, and the Indonesians were initially told that it would be a dry program. When Krista brought up the subject we were then told it would be a group decision. Which led to a long discussion in which the arguments for were many, and the arguments against were basically tradition of the program and religious discomfort. Halfway through the discussion we decided to take a break and when we returned and got a few minutes more into the debate we were told that it was already decided, and we were to be a dry program. For whatever reason, being misled, losing personal freedoms, or simply the lack or a decent case against, this sparked considerable distress in the group. I was more than a little perturbed and, with most of the group disliking the decision, we argued for long enough that the supervisors chose to "experiment" for 2 weeks with a dry program.
Having finished the week with little learned from any of the seminars and finding some of the group family building a little unsettling I'm looking forward to starting work this Monday, and the group itself has been coming together pretty well. Hendri and I are getting along very well in our host family. We had a few people over last night for chicken satay, an Indonesian food Hendri really likes. We've been doing that a lot recently, cooking foreign foods, if not always Indonesian. So other than being bored at points and a little angry at others, things are going very well.
Monday, September 7, 2009
I've been told that my last post had a few grammatical errors so I will be sure to proofread more carefully (thanks mom). It's Monday, which means I've been staying with my host family for 3 nights. Everything has been going very well, our family is very friendly, welcoming us to their home very graciously. My counterpart, Hendri, and I have have been shown a good portion of the town and some of the surrounding area. We aren't in Antigonish proper, but out in Bayfield about 20 min away.
I've discovered that I'm not exactly cut off like most people in our group. My brother will be in the immediate area, just down the street and I have a couple friends in the town and family not far from here. I can tell a few people, especially among the Indonesians, are feeling pretty homesick. I'm doing pretty well so far, but I'm expecting any feeling of displacement will dissipate as we get on a real schedule.
We've been introduced to our work placement. We'll be working on an organic farm, fairly small, just 6 medium gardens and an apple orchard. No one seems to be sure what we'll be doing, but the owners are very nice, gave us their own small tour and offered to drive us around when we need it.
Tomorrow we start our activities, not really sure what we'll be doing, but it'll nice to be back together as a group. We've bonded quite well in our short time together, I missed them when we first got to Antigonish. We all went to the Expo on sunday, which was basically a big country fair. It was funny, apparently Indonesian horses our very small, so when I showed Hendri the clydesdales, he was very impressed. Also, didn't know muslims can't touch dogs, which must be weird for them in Canada where most people have them as pets. Both our host family and our work placement have very big dogs which I love, but may be somethng we have to work out.
Till next time.
I've discovered that I'm not exactly cut off like most people in our group. My brother will be in the immediate area, just down the street and I have a couple friends in the town and family not far from here. I can tell a few people, especially among the Indonesians, are feeling pretty homesick. I'm doing pretty well so far, but I'm expecting any feeling of displacement will dissipate as we get on a real schedule.
We've been introduced to our work placement. We'll be working on an organic farm, fairly small, just 6 medium gardens and an apple orchard. No one seems to be sure what we'll be doing, but the owners are very nice, gave us their own small tour and offered to drive us around when we need it.
Tomorrow we start our activities, not really sure what we'll be doing, but it'll nice to be back together as a group. We've bonded quite well in our short time together, I missed them when we first got to Antigonish. We all went to the Expo on sunday, which was basically a big country fair. It was funny, apparently Indonesian horses our very small, so when I showed Hendri the clydesdales, he was very impressed. Also, didn't know muslims can't touch dogs, which must be weird for them in Canada where most people have them as pets. Both our host family and our work placement have very big dogs which I love, but may be somethng we have to work out.
Till next time.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
So it's the fourth day of the program, and so far we've been doping a lot of "work". We've met our counter parts, and are slowly starting to get to know them. There is a pretty big language barrier but they all have at least a inimal level of english so we get by with relatively fe w translations. So far so good, we should be meeting our host families tomorrow, though I don't know where I am stayting just yet. All the families sound pretty interesting, most are out of town in the country. The one I"m going for is a very liberal couple whose children have moved out of the house. They work on an organic farm and if Hendri (my counterpart) and I go there, we will be working there, voluinteering at a bunch of different place including a school and dinner theatre. More on that if we actually get it, but it's what we're hoping for.
Most of the things we;ve been doing so far are seminars on how to interact with another culture and preparing for the changes as well as how to deal with being in the groupo and having counterparts. From what they say, this may hurt a bit, lots of culture shock and issues to work out betyween cultures. It's all very PC, and the way everything is being run is kind of childish. I was hoping for a crash course in indonesian culture so that we know what to expect and can learn to handle any problems as they arise. Instead we are colouring a lot and putting everything into artistic and simple ways to ensure everyone is energized and understanding. It gets tedious, though with the limits of language, it's kind of understandable. I still think it could all have been summed up in a couple hrs instead of 3 days.
L:iving here otherwise has been fun, the food is pretty good, the rooms are like hotels, and everyone seems to be getting along very well. Once away from the "structured fun" people seem more willing to actually have fun, leading to volleyball games, bon fires, and general chatting. I think that most of us have found some common ground, so it should all work out very well.
I'll try and post more this weekend with more information on what we're doing.
Miss you all
Justin
Most of the things we;ve been doing so far are seminars on how to interact with another culture and preparing for the changes as well as how to deal with being in the groupo and having counterparts. From what they say, this may hurt a bit, lots of culture shock and issues to work out betyween cultures. It's all very PC, and the way everything is being run is kind of childish. I was hoping for a crash course in indonesian culture so that we know what to expect and can learn to handle any problems as they arise. Instead we are colouring a lot and putting everything into artistic and simple ways to ensure everyone is energized and understanding. It gets tedious, though with the limits of language, it's kind of understandable. I still think it could all have been summed up in a couple hrs instead of 3 days.
L:iving here otherwise has been fun, the food is pretty good, the rooms are like hotels, and everyone seems to be getting along very well. Once away from the "structured fun" people seem more willing to actually have fun, leading to volleyball games, bon fires, and general chatting. I think that most of us have found some common ground, so it should all work out very well.
I'll try and post more this weekend with more information on what we're doing.
Miss you all
Justin
Friday, August 28, 2009
It Starts.
As the trip is about to begin, I figured it was best to start keeping the promise I've been making to so many people and create a blog to keep in touch. As phones are expensive and internet may be sparse, I figured this would be the best way to do it. So, if you are interested in keeping an eye on me, please keep reading and when I get back we can recap.
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