Two Weeks Worth of Thoughts: Enumerated, Unfiltered, and Slightly Disordered

1.  It’s been approximately fifteen days, five hours, and thirty-one minutes since I left Nebraska.

2.  York -> Kansas City -> Chicago -> Hong Kong -> Jakarta -> Bandung = 49 full hours of travel.  I did have the opportunity to sleep on the 15-hour plane ride from Chicago to Hong Kong, but because a group of us decided to explore Hong Kong during our twelve-hour layover, I stayed awake for approximately 25 straight hours after that.  Upon our arrival at the hotel in Bandung, we were greeted by singers, dancers, and gamelan players who performed just for us Fulbrighters, which made me feel way cooler than I know I actually am.  Unfortunately, I was in a near-catatonic state by that point due to sleep deprivation, so I was not really sure what all was happening…but it was cool, nonetheless.

Hong Kong -- people everywhere!

Hong Kong - downtown

Gamelan players/dancers/singers at our welcoming celebration

4.  I’m lucky to be with this group of fantastic group of Fulbrighters.  They are some awesome human beings.

5.  It’s good to be back in Indonesia.  After last summer’s adventures (see http://sarahandhershenanigans.wordpress.com), I became obsessed with the idea of returning to this beautiful and fascinating country that is full of kind and welcoming people.  It was incredibly difficult to leave my family and friends for nine months…but I’m excited about the relationships I will have the chance to build here.

6.  For some reason, things I often responded to tepidly at home (i.e. working out, American pop music) are my new obsessions.  Don’t even get me started on how I act when I find Diet Coke in the grocery stores…saya bule gila!!! (Translation:  I am a crazy foreigner).

7.  I’m getting to the point where I can ALMOST hold my own in a bahasa Indonesia conversation.  Hopefully in two months I will be so good at bahasa Indonesia that I will have forgotten how to speak English (which I suppose is counterproductive, as English is what the U.S. State Department sent me here to teach).

8.  If this (orientation) is what working for the government is like, sign me up.  For our three weeks of orientation, we get to stay at the beautiful Hotel Papandayan in Bandung.  Here, we participate in language class, English teaching instruction, and other sessions about the history and culture of Indonesia.  In the evenings, we explore the city and eat delicious food.  This just might be “the life” that everyone talks about.

9.  It was fun to be in the country for Idul Fitri this year after being here for the first part of Ramadhan last summer.  There were fireworks, drums, and kids running through the street waiving flags.  I’m excited to learn even more about Islam when I go to Genteng, my home for the next eight months.

10.  I have been told that it is disadvantageous for it to be one’s birthday in Indonesia.  Apparently custom dictates that on one’s birthday, that individual is responsible for buying everyone dinner and is likely to be the victim of his or her friends’ pranks.  Fortunately for me, I had my birthday in the hotel…where I was given cake at breakfast AND at lunch and was sung to both times.  It will definitely be one of my most memorable birthdays.

Breakfast cake!

Lunch cake!

11.   I realize that if I wrote blog posts more often, I wouldn’t have to burden my readers with novel-length writings.  I do offer my sincere apologies...(I PROMISE I’ll try harder, Mom!). :)  I solemnly swear to bring more stories, more about Indonesian history and culture, more current Indonesian events, and more pictures to this blog.  I am not only excited to experience these next eight months for myself, but am also excited to share them with you.

We are the World

I truly have been struggling to select a blog title for the past few weeks.  Let that be excuse number one as to why I haven't posted until now.

I've never been particularly adept at titling my works.  My research papers are usually submitted with a title I write approximately thirty seconds before hitting "print."  

As of now, however, I have had a breakthrough.

Today, while our group was watching an incredible angklung performance in Bandung, the song "We are the World" was featured by the "Angklung Orchestra."  

These are angklung. Totally worth a YouTube search if I were you.

I look around to see orang Indonesia, Belanda, Amerika etc. (Indonesians, Dutch, Americans, etc.) singing along to the song being played on these beautiful instruments. 

I found myself incredibly moved by the situation.  Although I hate to sound trite (especially on a medium such as a blog), I realized that this concept of global citizenship was the theme to my last summer's adventures, and I hope it is the predominant theme to this upcoming year's experiences.  Last summer in China and Indonesia, I discovered that there were ways in which I was different from the people I met, but those differences were far outnumbered by the ways we were the same.  It may seem to most like a small realization to have had; for me, it was life-altering.

So alas, this blog has officially been christened "We are the World" because I know it to be true.  I genuinely believe that as all the countries of this planet continue to become more globalized and interdependent, it will take solutions generated with input from all nations to address the problems we collectively face.  I am sincerely hoping that these nine months in Indonesia will give me insight into people's lives that are drastically different from the ones I am used to in Nebraska.  I don't expect to "figure things out" or "know all the answers" come May, but at the very least, I hope to emerge from this experience with a clearer idea as to how I fit into this massive organization that I am a part of called the world.