Days 1-2: Share a Meal & Share a Thought September
1 September 2013
I was sick and the internet was down. The most communication I had was with a family member who squeezed my nose and then bent it from left to right because it is far more flexible than the average Indonesian nose. You'll come to see that there is quite a nose fascination in my village. After spending years hating my big nose, I come here and everyone literally "asks" for it at least 3 times a day. It's like that episode of Fresh Prince of Belair when Phil tells Hillary she grew into her nose.
2 September 2013
It was another long day. I had finished teaching and went straight to my English Lessons (LES) for Children ages 5-7, about a 40 minute bike ride away. After LES was finished, I changed out of my suit into some workout clothes and headed another 20 minutes away to visit a fellow teacher and his wife. His wife is one of my favorite people, we were only able to meet once before between the holidays and losing my cellphone. She made me some food since she had already eaten, which was "sayur asam" a traditional west Javanese sour vegetable soup as well as rice, fried fish and corn mixed in a batter that was fried. She spoke about old age and how the older we get the more you have to be careful about what you eat. We also like talking about language, because her English is one the best I've encountered and her husband teaches Bahasa Indonesia at my school. She told me that because they are old now, they don't retain language or learn it the same way that they could when they were younger.
Afterwards, we went on an adventure. She said let's go to the jungle! When someone says jungle, I'm not really sure what it is we are going to see. I followed on my bike as she led the way on her motorcycle and after another half hour; we reached our destination. She brought me to the Factory where they create "Kayu Putih" oil. Here's some wikipedia for reference. The Kayu Putih oil is the main form of medication in my village. If someone faints, has headache, body aches, a cold, the flu, stomach problems, is unconscious they turn to kayu putih oil. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen my students collapse (which is a problem in itself) but the solution is ALWAYS kayu putih oil for them to regain their health.
This factory is 1 of 5 in West Java, there's also 1 in Central Java and 2 in East Java. They told us that their production of kayu putih oil is still too low to meet the demand just in Indonesia so they don't export out of country.
The men we met at the factory were also surprised that I was American but equally surprised that I knew Bahasa Indonesia so well. They said I must be very smart to pick up a language in such a short time since they have been studying English from middle school to high school and still don't know any. One of them even made a joke and said it's because we eat rice and you eat bread, maybe if we ate bread everyday we would be smarter. There is a general misconception though that the main diet of anyone in any western culture is bread to the equivalent of eating a plateful of rice 3 times a day. I laughed and I told them that I took Spanish for 14 years and I still can't speak much especially since I'm over 5 years out of practice. I said second languages are often the same everywhere, very few people are fluent after their elementary and high school language courses alone.
To see a picture of us, check out my twitter @Amanda_2858
I was sick and the internet was down. The most communication I had was with a family member who squeezed my nose and then bent it from left to right because it is far more flexible than the average Indonesian nose. You'll come to see that there is quite a nose fascination in my village. After spending years hating my big nose, I come here and everyone literally "asks" for it at least 3 times a day. It's like that episode of Fresh Prince of Belair when Phil tells Hillary she grew into her nose.
2 September 2013
It was another long day. I had finished teaching and went straight to my English Lessons (LES) for Children ages 5-7, about a 40 minute bike ride away. After LES was finished, I changed out of my suit into some workout clothes and headed another 20 minutes away to visit a fellow teacher and his wife. His wife is one of my favorite people, we were only able to meet once before between the holidays and losing my cellphone. She made me some food since she had already eaten, which was "sayur asam" a traditional west Javanese sour vegetable soup as well as rice, fried fish and corn mixed in a batter that was fried. She spoke about old age and how the older we get the more you have to be careful about what you eat. We also like talking about language, because her English is one the best I've encountered and her husband teaches Bahasa Indonesia at my school. She told me that because they are old now, they don't retain language or learn it the same way that they could when they were younger.
Afterwards, we went on an adventure. She said let's go to the jungle! When someone says jungle, I'm not really sure what it is we are going to see. I followed on my bike as she led the way on her motorcycle and after another half hour; we reached our destination. She brought me to the Factory where they create "Kayu Putih" oil. Here's some wikipedia for reference. The Kayu Putih oil is the main form of medication in my village. If someone faints, has headache, body aches, a cold, the flu, stomach problems, is unconscious they turn to kayu putih oil. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen my students collapse (which is a problem in itself) but the solution is ALWAYS kayu putih oil for them to regain their health.
This factory is 1 of 5 in West Java, there's also 1 in Central Java and 2 in East Java. They told us that their production of kayu putih oil is still too low to meet the demand just in Indonesia so they don't export out of country.
The men we met at the factory were also surprised that I was American but equally surprised that I knew Bahasa Indonesia so well. They said I must be very smart to pick up a language in such a short time since they have been studying English from middle school to high school and still don't know any. One of them even made a joke and said it's because we eat rice and you eat bread, maybe if we ate bread everyday we would be smarter. There is a general misconception though that the main diet of anyone in any western culture is bread to the equivalent of eating a plateful of rice 3 times a day. I laughed and I told them that I took Spanish for 14 years and I still can't speak much especially since I'm over 5 years out of practice. I said second languages are often the same everywhere, very few people are fluent after their elementary and high school language courses alone.
To see a picture of us, check out my twitter @Amanda_2858
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