The Year of Indonesia

Dear 2014,

It’s been fun. I have officially dubbed you the year of Indonesia. Possibly a year of continuously questioning everything I possibly thought I knew either about myself or the world around me. So, thanks a lot for all the self doubt and putting me in my place. My time with you flew by, every second of it. Pretty much all we ever focused on was IGLOW-IBRO Indramayu. So it’s been a series of ups and downs. You showed me that there are bad people and sometimes depending on our circumstances we can’t actually cut them out.

I began my time with you celebrating in a friend’s Peace Corps village in East Java. It was chill and relaxed and pretty much how I spent the rest of our 12 months together, fully encompassed in my community and my village. I loved it. 2014, Sure we had our share of obstacles but nothing will compare to the feeling of comfort I have from walking in my village, riding my bike through neighboring areas and simply hearing someone call my name will never get old. I've shed many a tear over the many infrastructural things I am not able to change. I came all the way to Indonesia and I was met with wonderfully welcoming people and also isolated individuals who intended to make me feel uncomfortable. The comfort I find though in these many experiences though is that, these things didn't happen to me because I’m a foreigner. These things happened to me simply because I’m another person who lives in this village and works under various circumstances and social norms and I’m not the only one who has gone through these experiences. 2014, you showed me that I’m just another human. I’m not treated any differently because I chose to ‘sacrifice’ 2 years and 3 months of my life. I’m just a person, not a celebrity, a superhero or a magician. I’m just a 24 year old woman who came to give Indonesia a chance to grow on me---guess what? It worked.

2014, you taught me that no matter where I go from here on out…Indonesia, Indramayu, Cikedung, these are places I will always keep close to my heart, people I will always remember, memories I will cherish…even dengue.

2014—we had a good run, me and you. But all good things must come to an end and that’s where I move on to 2015.

2015 is my year of forgiveness. My last months in Indonesia, I want them to be memorable for my community. It’s also the year that I go back to America. Peace Corps does something crazy to every volunteer, for me it’s given me a lot of time alone with my thoughts. A part of me always liked to think I was one to forgive and forget and I am but Peace Corps gave me time to deal with past experiences I had brushed aside. It brought so many things to light I thought I had forgotten. So 2015 is a fresh start. 2015 is forgiving myself, forgiving mistakes, forgiving others, keeping friendships that matter and leaving my world open for opportunity. 

Sincerely,

Amanda