Wrapping up Indonesia in the capital

Over my two weeks in Indonesia, I felt like I was in a dream. It wasn’t that everything was perfect; there are many imperfections and struggles in Indonesian life. However, I felt extremely comfortable there. I tried to relate this to the other Southeast Asian countries I have visited and loved, like Cambodia and Laos. But there are very few similarities. Indonesia has much more obvious extreme wealth next to extreme poverty. It has hundreds of languages and thousands of islands, each with cultural differences. Compared to everywhere else I have been, Indonesia actually reminds me the most of China: diversity, sprawl, inequity, pollution, ancient history, natural wonders, modern high rises, and a massive young population focused on a modern, developed future. Maybe I feel a real connection with large countries. To Americans, the USA is the center of the universe; to Indonesians, their nation is the center. It all depends on your point of view.

prayer at Indonesia's largest mosque

I thought that spending my last day in the capital of Jakarta would help me understand my feelings on Indonesia. It just complicated things even further. By the generosity of the university in Malang, I stayed at a very nice hotel near the airport. The only other thing near there is a mall, since it is basically a Jakarta suburb. But actually, visiting malls in suburbs of Asian countries is a fun cultural experience. In the entire mall I did not see one Westerner. When I bought a shirt for 10,000 rupiah ($1) the young women who worked at the stall were very excited to practice their English “thank you.” Malls are much more scattered and open in Southeast Asia than in the West. This mall was definitely a hangout spot for the local teenagers. (Which means many of them said “Hello sir!” to me. I am guessing they haven’t learned the difference in gender words.)

inside the mall near my hotel

In order to get from my suburb to the actual city of Jakarta, my only option was a taxi. In most cities I have visited, especially capital cities, there is a city center, a downtown, or someplace that you can walk around a bit to get a feeling for the place. In Indonesia, this does not exist. At first I just made this conclusion on my own. Then I met some English teachers, one Scottish one American, and asked them about city centers. “There are no city centers in Indonesia,” one said. Confirmed. So, you can imagine, with no city center, everything is spread out. How do you get from one place to another? Motorbike. “No one walks here,” one of the teachers told me. Confirmed again. Since I did not have a motorbike in Jakarta, I was stuck with a taxi. But this idea of no city centers, no public transportation, and no pedestrians really stands out to me when I think of Indonesia. My taxi brought me to Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. There you get a free guide in English and a walk around the mosque to learn about its history. It was designed by a Christian and it is actually across the street from a Catholic church, so the guide focused a lot on Indonesia’s religious tolerance. “We are moderate Muslims.” he repeated. Like I said before, Indonesia has been a great place to learn about Islam.

me and the dome of istiqlal mosque

The other major site in Jakarta is the National Monument, or Monas in Indonesian. It’s a freedom monument, a reminder that Indonesia was once colonized by many different foreign powers. Monas is a giant pillar with a golden flame on top, surrounded by huge roads and acres of grass and palm trees. Apparently you are able to go up the tower and also see some small museum inside the monument, but I could not find the entrance. Parts of Monas are really beautiful, but other parts are covered in trash and not kept up. But the greatest part about Monas is the amounts of people just hanging out there. In other parts of Southeast Asia, I have been able to easily find parks where families picnic and boys play soccer. This is the only place like that I found in Indonesia. Food and drink vendors are stretched across the pathways, a toilet in trailer sits at one entrance, and kites flutter in the sky. I was there in the early evening, so families were happy to be outside as the sun was setting to make way for the cooler weather. Walking around Monas reminded me of being in Tiananmen Square in Beijing because so many young people walked up to me to take my photo. The only difference is that more Indonesians speak little bits of English. “Hello miss, can I have a photo with you? Can I have your email address? Will you be my facebook friend?” Indonesian teenagers are not shy.

Monas in the late afternoon. If you look closely you can see the kites in the sky.

The only real conclusion I can make about Indonesia is that I love it. It’s a love that makes my heart ache, like the way I feel about St. Louis and Copenhagen. I’m not sure if I would love it if I didn’t have such wonderful friends as guides in both Java and Bali. I think they helped Indonesia feel like my home. I want more people to visit there, not because it is an island paradise or for the exotic food and art, but because it is an example of how different life can be on this planet. Understanding this is so important to me; I want to be constantly reminded that my home is just a small slice humankind, and nothing gives me the right to assume my way of living is better than anyone else’s. Travel is funny in this way. For me, travel gives me confidence that I can do anything I put my mind to. But at the same time, it brings me modesty. While I am strong and able, I am also small and powerless. I take the first steps, but the world is really in charge. I am just along for the ride.

Hooray Malang!

Finally, the destination we’ve all been waiting for: Malang! Coming to Malang was the whole point of my Indonesia trip. Kasihani’s home university is Universitas Negeri Malang (UM), the state university. Malang is full of schools, and many of them have specialties like technology or engineering. UM is the education university, so the science majors will be science teachers and the English majors will be English teachers. By coming to UM, I have a much better grasp on the topic I am writing about: training teachers to teach English in Indonesia. So I sat in on classes, toured schools, taught a few lessons, and hung out with English students. My days were packed literally from sunrise to sunset. It was a blast!

university library

It was finals time at UM, so one of Kasihani’s classes had to do “microteaching” for their exam. That meant a nearby middle school let them borrow some students to teach for an hour. Since I was there, I got to teach them, too. The winner is always the Hokey Pokey: they loved it! The more challenging teaching job came the next morning: teaching 20 four-year-olds “I’m a Little Teapot.” I’ve never pictured myself teaching little American kids, much less kids who only speak a tiny bit of English. I was exhausted after only an hour with the little ones; I don’t know how teachers do it! I was able to confirm that teaching kids is not my strength or my goal. Whew. I also did some lessons at an English tutoring center and a bilingual (English/Arabic) high school.

teachers and students from microteaching

it's blurry, but i am the tall one (for once) and we are doing the little teapot motions!

After doing my school duties, I had the chance to spend a few days with some of the university students. Kasihani asked her student Ninga to be my guide for three days. She was so generous: showing me her campus, introducing me to her friends, driving me around on her motorbike, bringing me to a park in the mountains, and helping me pick out Arema t-shirts. (Arema is the soccer team of Malang that just won the national championship. Arema!!!) Ninga is an English major and she just got a job offer to teach English in Brunei next year. She is going to be an excellent teacher, and now I have to plan a visit to Brunei!

Ninga's awesome floormates in the women's boarding house (note my t-shirt. Ninga is the bottom right with the peace sign)

Malang is in the higher elevation part of East Java, so that means it is much cooler than other coastal parts of Indonesia. Ninga and her friends decided to take me on a day trip up to Batu, a city even further up into the mountains. Eight of us traveled by four motorbikes an hour from Malang. I was slightly worried that an hour-long motorbike ride would mean dodging trucks and other crazy motorbikers. However, it was actually pretty tame, and my biggest issue was my butt falling asleep. In Batu, there are lots of parks and forest areas for people to relax. We went to a place called Selecta, which is a combination park, garden, waterpark, and amusement park. There are mini motorbikes for kids to ride, waterslides curving through the trees, and huge plots of vibrant flowers. It was really cool to be among Indonesians taking a break in the cool mountains for the weekend.

five of us at Selecta's gardens

After wandering around Selecta, we drove to a restaurant that lets you catch your own meal. We went fishing for about an hour, caught too many fish, threw a few back secretly, and then had the restaurant cook our meal. This is probably the freshest fish I have ever eaten. Also, I think I could recognize the fish that I caught when it came out covered in spices and lime. Anyway, the fish was delicious, and it came with some really spicy mango salad. I told everyone at the table that I would cry if I ate it, but that just made them want to see me eat it even more. I ate it, nearly cried, and they laughed. Why do I always go to countries where everyone has such strong spice tolerance? I look like a wimp!

fishing for our lunch

When I had to say goodbye to Ninga the next day, I cried. We had only known each other a few days, but we spent every waking hour together. I was with her when she went to the mosque to pray, when I tried (not very successfully) to teach kids how to sing “Twinkle Twinkle”, and when I watched “Angels and Demons” with Indonesian students at an English conversation club. I was very intrigued by the students’ choice to watch a movie about the Vatican in the largest Muslim country in the world. I admit I was surprised at the openness that came from the students as we discussed spirituality, extremism, and the search for truth. My time in Malang was my first time living with Muslims, and I think it was really valuable for me. It’s not that I didn’t respect the religion before; it’s that it felt very far away and strange to me as an American. Now, it just feels like another way of going about your day.

before digging into our fresh fish

Love to everyone in Malang. ♥ I will be back!

Bali part two: work and play

I was happy to play tourist for a couple days in Bali, but I was more excited about visiting some of Kasihani’s friends and leading a teacher training event afterwards. Bali is kind of shaped like a diamond, with the east and west ends sticking out longer. Our resort was at the southern tip, and Singaraja is at the northern tip. In central Bali, there are mountains and rice fields – but at no point is there really a break from people. The part of Bali I saw is very densely populated. Driving through the mountains is a slow task, and once in a while a bit nauseating. But we got to hang out with some monkeys!

feeding monkeys bananas and peanuts

First we went to Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, a beautiful school in the city of Singaraja. We were over an hour late, but all of the students were waiting patiently for us in their seminar room. When we arrived, Kasihani was greeted by old friends. I was greeted by new ones; it seemed like everyone in the room already knew my name as they shook my hand and introduced themselves in English. For the next two hours, Kasihani and I did training activities for elementary school English. Most of the participants were students at the university, but some were also already teachers. We practiced greetings, pronunciation, speaking drills, and songs. I helped with everything, but the songs were my main role. Singing with a microphone in front of 25 strangers is not so easy, but everyone was smiling, so I guess I did OK! We sang songs that little kids like, such as Twinkle Twinkle and the Hokey Pokey. I also told the story of The Tortoise and the Hare while Kasihani acted it out with big stuffed animals. The goal was to give them some tools to use in their EYL classrooms (which is the topic of the book we’re writing).

some students and professors at the training seminar

Over the training session, we had a lunch break and a tea break. I got my first chance to eat real Balinese food (the food at the hotel was not so genuine). Oh wow, it was spicy. Amazing, but spicy. As one woman told me, “If it’s not spicy, it’s not Balinese.” We had rice cooked in coconut leaves, sauteed green beans and spinach, and shrimp chips. The spicy part was the sauce: a yummy coconut and peanut sauce. My lips were numb. The tea that I have had in Indonesia has all been very sweet, but very good. The tea snacks were different fried things: fried bananas, fried tofu stuffed with veggies, and a fried veggie pancake. They love fried! At night we had another fantastic Balinese meal at a nice restaurant, where I tried fish lip soup. Mmm, chewy!

Ibu Titi and her husband, Eka, Ibu Kasihani and I at the restaurant

The next day we met with the chancellor of the university. Pretty cool, but I couldn’t follow most of the conversation because it was in Bahasa Indonesia. We had lunch at Ibu Titi’s house, a professor in the English department and a good friend of Kasihani’s. Her house was lovely and open like most of the big houses I have seen in Indonesia. The front of the house is used for entertaining, and it is usually surrounded by a garden. Since Titi’s family is Hindu, they also have a family temple in front of the house.

Driving around Singaraja was awesome. The streets are lined with lush trees, and every few blocks you see an old Hindu temple. Some of the temples we saw were having festivals, so there were baskets of fruit and huge decorated bamboo stalks (called penjor. google it. it’s pretty) out front. It is a much more residential and less touristy city than Denpasar. However, close to Singaraja is the famous Lovina beach, which seems to be much more of a backpacker destination than the rest of Singaraja. Whenever I make it back to Bali, the north will be my first stop, primarily to see the nice and welcoming people that I met.

(I have been trying to post more photos, but my blog is acting funky. More photos will be posted of Bali on Facebook…that is as soon as I get access to Facebook now that I am in CHINA!)

Mud and sweat in Surabaya

I’m still trying to understand Surabaya. It’s the second largest city in Indonesia. To put that in a little more context, Indonesia is the fourth largest country on earth. Jakarta is the capital and largest city, and Surabaya sits at the opposite end of Java island. Java is the size of New York State and is the most populous island in the world. I flew into Surabaya on Thursday evening, where I was met by Kasihani and traffic. Kasihani is the professor I am writing the book with. She spent a semester in Pittsburgh and now I am here to finish the book and do some English teacher training activities in Indonesia with her.

So back to Surabaya. I read that it was sprawling and crazy. I saw that immediately as the motorbikes zigzagged around me and every street was stuffed with vendors. I really never truly understood the meaning of sprawl until now. Nothing about this place feels urban; it just feels dense. It also became clear that Surabaya is a place with drastic differences in wealth. When we went grocery shopping, small children as young as seven tried to sell us newspapers. Young boys walk up to cars with little guitars and offer to sing and play for the drivers. Kasihani says there are many families who cannot find work and never have enough money, so they send their children out to beg or sell things.

Grand Mosque in Surabaya, Indonesia

Contrast that with the life that Kasihani and her family lives. Her husband is a doctor, and his practice is inside of their home. They live on one of those streets that looks like an alley, but when you open up one of the gates you realize there is a big house back there. They have air conditioning and purified water and multiple bedrooms. Kasihani’s daugher and her family live further outside of Surabaya, and they have wifi and send their children to private school. I know that I have seen wealth disparities like this before in places like Cambodia and the UAE, but staying with a family on the higher end of the scale made it much more real to me in Indonesia.

One of the things that makes the wealth gap very palpable is the presence of a maid and a driver. The maid is a woman, either fairly old or fairly young. The driver is a man, usually young. The maid lives in the house while the driver has his own residence. The driver is a funny concept to me because there is nothing about being rich that makes one unable to drive. The driver sits outside of the car and waits for us if we go to eat or enjoy something. If I had a driver, I would always make him come along. The maid is even more surprising for me. She cooks and cleans and manages the house. They make very little money, but the chance to live in a nice house and eat nice food makes up for it I guess. I just have a very hard time accepting that someone lives in my house and is not treated as a member of my family. I am sure if you grow up with this situation, it seems like second nature. Of course there are Americans who have live-in maids. But this being my first experience, it catches me off guard.

So what did I actually do in Surabaya? Sweat. A lot. And I went to the Grand Mosque, went to the zoo, and had lunch at a big fish restaurant. The mosque was huge and lovely. Kasihani’s grandson, who goes to a bilingual school, guided me around the mosque, telling me “Take off your shoes here.” Kasihani’s granddaughter, a bit too young to be confident in her English, asked him what religion I was. She must have been very curious as to why I requested to see the biggest mosque in Surabaya! There are many mosques all over Surabaya, most of them very modest. This one is very new and sparkling.

with Kasihani's grandchildren in front of the mosque doors

The zoo was a sad sight. Kasihani and her daughter said that it used to be very good, but now they don’t have any money so things are falling apart and it is full of trash. There are signs up on the cages that say “do not feed the animals,” of course, but that doesn’t stop anyone. When you walk by them, they all run toward you expecting food. I only saw a few people actually working at the zoo, and they were busy feeding the camels. It is always interesting to visit zoos in other countries, but this visit showed me how there really is no way a city can take care of its animals if it is not even able to take care of its people.

the entrance to the Surabaya Zoo

The most interesting thing we did in Surabaya was actually just outside the city in Sidoarjo district, once a very wealthy area. Four years ago, mud and gas started spewing from the earth, covering three villages and forcing the residents to move. The mud kept going, bringing the destruction to five villages. Today, sixteen villages have been sucked into the giant mud pit. They call it Lapindo. The people who lived in these sixteen villages have no homes and no work, because the factory they worked for has also collapsed under the mud. The cause of all this was a gas pipeline explosion. The company responsible for the pipeline has not done anything for the victims, and the government is still trying to make them pay for the destruction. I am sad to say I had not heard about this disaster until now. Maybe it had flashed before me on the news years before when it began. It’s really a sad place to see. Those unemployed residents now make all their money giving tours around the mud pit on their motorbikes and selling DVDs about the tragedy, which I bought. They are the only ones allowed to make any profit from the mud flow.

that is mud as far as the eye can see. the smoke is the sulphur gas coming out.

Kasihani’s husband lives in Surabaya, while she spends most of her time in the university city of Malang. Our time in Surabaya was kind of a stop over before heading to Bali, where she has an education conference. My trip to Bali is mostly paid for, so I am feeling extremely fortunate. I have a feeling Bali will be very different from Surabaya.

Kasihani and I in front of Lapindo mud flow

Hello Singapore. Have we met before?

The first time I went to Asia, landing in Korea in January of last year, I felt culture shock immediately. I was strongly aware that I was on the other side of the world and that I stuck out significantly in the crowd of black hair and brown eyes. I remember my heart racing from the moment I stepped onto the streets of Seoul, not out of fear, but out of thrill. But this time something was different. It was more like “Hey Singapore, what’s up?” It felt comfortable and familiar. Of course the prominence of English and the friendliness of the taxi driver helped out with that.

me in front of the spitting lion in downtown Singapore

I arrived at my hostel at 2am, and I guess I kind of slept for a few hours. By 9am, I was out and about exploring Singapore with the short amount of time I had. The best way to do that was by walking from my neighborhood, Little India, to the downtown marina area. On the way I passed by many churches, mosques, and temples, showing how truly diverse Singapore is. The city-state is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and more. Most everything is written in English, but the second most popular language is Chinese. At times I felt like I was in London or Hong Kong.

Hindu temple in Little India

Walking around Singapore was a great way for me to get reacquainted with Southeast Asia. It is truly a shock to the system to go from 60 degree Pittsburgh to 100 degree Singapore. I had to relearn very quickly how to survive in such heat, which is pretty easy to pick up from the locals. The first and most crucial rule is: do not stand in the sun unless you have to. When waiting to cross a street, do not stand on the corner if it is sunny. Stand back as far as you need to in order to be in the shade. I also fell into the Asian umbrella trick, which is really pretty great. It’s amazing how much money I can save on sunblock if I just whip out the umbrella more often.

Lunch in Singapore meant one thing to me: find Anthony Bourdain’s favorite chicken rice. Chicken rice is exactly what it sounds like. There are some sauces to it, and I guess the chicken is boiled or something to make it really juicy. But it’s a very straightforward dish. I went to the food stall area that Tony loves, but I wasn’t sure which chicken rice vendor was his. They all looked the same! So I picked one randomly and it turned out pretty good! Thanks Tony.

Singapore Parliament

boat on the Singapore River going past all the restaurants

I guess the coolest things I saw in Singapore were the Merlion and the riverwalk. The Merlion is like a mermaid lion, tail and all. It spits out water. It’s really big and you can get sprayed with the water if the wind is blowing, which is a great relief in the heat. He’s facing the other side of the bay, where the giant ferris wheel and the new double helix bridge stand. There is also a huge building that I think is a casino. It looks like three buildings with a boat on top connecting them all. The riverwalk is all around the Singapore River, and it’s covered in restaurants and bars that look like they would be quite fun with friends or at nighttime. There are boats going down the river and under the pretty white bridges that apparently were made in Scotland.

I took the wonderful subway system to the airport that afternoon. I went through some seriously wealthy neighborhoods with luxury high-rises. The airport is very impressive as well. It feels more like a hotel than an airport! I highly recommend it. From Singapore, I boarded my final flight on this crazy-long journey: to Surabaya, Indonesia.