Going...

eth⋅no⋅cen⋅trism

/ˌɛθnoʊˈsɛntrɪzəm/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [eth-noh-sen-triz-uhm]

–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

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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
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