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.