First times

For everything is a time.

This weeks has been the weeks of the first times.

First earthquake

I experienced my first earthquake. I was sitting on the second floor checking my email and all of a sudden I felt the floor trembling, doors and windows where rattling and it kind of felt like I was on a ship. My house, that looked so strong, turned into a paper box. So me and my friend decided to go outside. I don’t know if that was the safest to do. (now I know tho!! ;))But anyways it was a 4.9 a 150 kilometers from my town. We are all safe and nobody got hurt, cause it wasn’t that big, my house got a few more cracks, but it is still standing and that’s the most important.

First time driving up the mountains for Indonesian BBQ

So a couple of days later, my friends invited me to their party. They live in a small town a 2 hour drive from my place, in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the mountains and inbetween  the sawa’s  (paddy field). So me and some other local friends decided to drive our motorcycles up there and join the party. My first time driving that far on my motorbike all by myself. So I made sure my brakes worked well, got them checked, made sure filled up my benzin to the max so I wouldn’t run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, cause that’s where we headed.  The first part was driving in the traffic jam for an hour zigzagging between the cars and big yellow trucks. It was quite a challenges to follow my local friends and to not to lose sight so I would get lost in the chaos of traffic all around me. It was crazy I tell you, cars honking all around me and me following my friend all around the cars, trying to squeeze my motorbike in between two big cars, being brave and selfish, cause if you drive Dutch style here, you won’t make it. Anyways after an hour of cars, motorbikes and more cars and motorbikes we finally came out of the city, the change was obvious: crappy roads or something that looks like a road. But we had some beautiful sightseeing of mountains and sawa’s. So the last hour and a half we drove into the mountains. Oh and did I already told you it started raining? Probably not, well it was more like drizzle. So by the time we arrived I looked like a freckled bule (bule = white person)haha. And I wish I waited washing my motorbike for another week...

At once we arrived the men amused themselves with killing the birds that where on the BBQ menu for that night. (Thank God I’m a women ;)) As we women gathered in the kitchen where I learned to make some Indonesian dishes and tried to make the seasoning at the traditional way. Apparently I did it to slow (or wrong) and my friend took it over. I watched and learned ;)

So I had my first BBQ experience here in Indonesia, and of course we put different things on the BBQ then I’m used to in Holland. And after all what is a BBQ without eating the meat with rice? Anyways birdmeat is quite nice and I had a lovely time with my friends, catching up after a long time no seen.  And as I warmed myself at the fire (yes high in the mountains it can be cold at night) having black corn with butter and sugar for desert. I found myself  happy and in peace, thinking how it is a privilege to be here with my local friends sharing, praying and having loads of fun. Life is good and I love it!

Like the old days

While the rain is flowing down the streets and makes noise on my roof I’m sitting inside on the floor thinking about these last days that past. My friend from Norway brought a visit. We did the first 4 units of language school together and where neighbours during her time here. Pretty good friends as I may say. It was such a good time we had together, like the old days. Catching up with each other and with other friends from Indonesia, America, Australia & Korea.

Yesterday we went with our Indonesian friends to a waterpark. It was a day of endless chatting in Indonesian,  making Indonesian jokes, swimming outside in warm water which was actually nice, having lots of fun, laughing until our bellies hurt, screaming when we went down from the super high slides and more laughing when we ended upside down in the water. It was a good day of creating sweet memories. We close the day with dinner at our friends, a gathering of the language students who are still here. It was an interesting evening, with people from all different places of the world gathered together: Norway, the Netherlands, America and Korea and all talking in Indonesian since that is the one and only language we all could understand. We had Korean food, very interesting. My friend from Norway dared to try some cabbage-ish, lettuce-ish dish, that smelled like it was fermented. I thought she was very brave doing so. Our Korean friend warned her that it was very spicy, as she tries,  she says that it’s to spicy, to eat. So I say: “let me try”, so I take a bite. And while this very interesting taste penetrates my mouth I know it wasn’t cause of the spiciness that she didn’t take another bite. So I repeat after her: “Yeah, very spicy”. And I thankfully take the offer of my Korean friend to put the leftovers on my plate aside ;) haha how smart…I have to remember this excuse ;) I’m smiling if I think back at that moment. I will miss her when she will be gone tomorrow. For now it’s time to go to sleep. Tomorrow there will be a new day, full of new changes and new adventures. Mimpi indah sweet dreams

It's better to have a good neighbour than a friend far away.

As I’m sitting on my favorite spot again, outside on my balcony. I hear the beat of the drums coming out of one of the mosks. It’s already dark for a few hours. And when the evening comes people hide in their houses, mostly the men will hang out on the streets. But tonight has been busy and I wonder why as the beat of the drums continues and I recognize the typicle Sundanese rithme.

The water problem in the kampong is still not fixed, but I’m already used to it. I know my water supply normaly will be empty 1 or 2 a week. The only surprise is when it happens. In the beginning it was a challenge to find out how the water system works here. But now I know the water will only run through the pipes from 9am – 2pm. So if your water supply is empty after 2pm you just wait till the other day. But if the water is not coming for a few days… how to fix that problem? Well, as I told you I’m familiar with empty water supplies, so from my water supply on my roof runs a hose down to the house of my neighbor. They have the water from the city, (I have the water from the mountains, which mostly poor people have, cause it’s cheap) that hardly causes any trouble. So in  that case I get my water out of theirs. I learned through the time that when I open the tab downstairs and the water that comes out is very little or when my toilet doesn’t flush that there are 2 possibilities: 1: I have to open the tab because its dirty 2: my water supply is almost empty. If so, I have to climb up to my water supply (and I won’t tell you how I do that,  just pray for some angels to protect me;p) when it’s empty I talk to my neighbours and they fill my water supply again, and I pay them at the end of the month. I'm so happy with my friendly neighbours! It's better to have a good neighbour than a friend far away! I got reminded a lot by that phrase lately. 

So 80% of the people that live here, don’t have water. Already for 3 weeks they are walking around with buckets and I see people tapping the water from the pipes. You have to know that the pipes are not under the ground like in Holland. But they are above the ground, just at the side of the road, or attached to the walls in very creative ways, with very creative material. The pipes on the ground often leak, or are disconnected. And if someone is walking by and sees that the pipes are disconnected they will connect it again. If I see the water flowing down the ground I always wonder who’s pipeline it will be ;) I still didn’t figure  out which one is mine ;p

Anyways so as I’m walking through the kampong I find people open the pipelines and fill their buckets and nobody who starts yelling to them or is telling them that’s not allowed. I don’t hope it’s my pipeline all the time, ;)  since we still have to pay for the water that comes through your pipeline haha. But it is so beautiful to see that these people are so helping one another, so generous and willing. I think it is a beautiful side of this culture. They are always willing to help. Relationship is something that is the most important, it stands above time. In my culture it’s the opposite. Which gives some very funny situations.  In the beginning I did not understand and found myself being frustrated, but now I rather be amazed by their understanding of relationship, time and appointments. And sometimes I catch myself thinking: If it’s not coming today, it will come tomorrow, very laidback haha. So I try to learn to think their way, that’s a good thing!  And again it can’t all be done without love. Because where relationship is, there is some kind of love.

Through the time I saw that we from the western culture like our privacy and rest, where Indonesians don’t like it at all. If they go for a picknick, they go for the most crowded places.. that is very strange to me. I noticed that they don’t like the lonely places and today in school I learned that the most awful and painful thing that can happen to an Indonesian is when someone tell them that they don’t want to be friends anymore.

That tells me something very important about this culture. And as I’m reflecting my day and the things I learned last week, I feel joy and a stirring inside, I wanna know more about this culture and learn from the people around me and through that gaze upon true beauty!