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!

It's an adventure - challenges of the day

It’s an adventure.. That’s what I try to say to myself when challenges come my way. It’s a choice inside to be frustrated or to see the challenge. To see a possibility to grow, to learn, to love and to shine.

This morning someone knocked my door. ‘ a moment please” I said, but the person behind the door kept on knocked again. And I already felt irritated. And I wondered why it irritated me. I realized that in Holland you just ring the bell once and you give the person time to walk to the door. You just don’t keep on ringing the bell. That would be so unpolite. Haha all those culture differences.

Oke, so I open the door and there is this lady standing in a white uniform. When she sees me  she starts talking in a mix of Indonesian and English, I don’t understand a word. I learned it is very unpolite to interrupt, so I wait patiently until she’s finished and I tell her in Indonesian I did not understand a word she said. As usual (when I open my mouth and speak in Indonesian) she’s very surprised that I speak her language. And she explains in Indonesian again what she’s selling. And I still have no clue, then she said: ‘ look what do you not understand. Everybody in the kampung is buying it, so just buy it to participate. It is to clean your floor. I look to my floor and say: “ I clean my floor every day, I don’t need this stuff.” “ Yes you do”, she says and she shows me a horrible picture of people with swollen ugly legs, and she shows me a picture of a worm. “This worm you cannot see, but it is on your floor and it will make your leg like this.”  I try to tell her that I don’t need this medicine or whatever it is. But she continues : “ The other Dutch lady from the kampong just said show me what your selling, I showed her and she bought the big package and gave me 70.000Rupiahs”. And she pushes the medicine in my hand. As I’m standing there in confusion about the amount of money because she just told me that the price was a 15.000Rp. Inside I’m confused and irritated. If this is something that the whole kampong does because of the hygiene, why don’t I know about it? Do I need it? I don’t know. And why doesn’t she understand my questions. Well all my ways to try to tell her it don’t want it failed. So I give her my best smile, cause that’s what you do here. I grab some money out of my wallet and give it to her. She takes a step back, smiles, puts her hands together in front of her face and says: “I say thank you so much”, she turns around and leaves. Me, standing in the frond door, still in confusion, with some stuff I’m not even sure about if I need it.  Telling myself it’s an adventure.

 Later that day…

Three minutes left on the clock and I’m waiting for the bell to ring to start my 2^nd day at school, as I hear my name Nona Dian, nona Dian, (nona means Miss, and Dian is my Indonesian name). It is one of my teachers calling my name. She sits next to me and says can you please, please, please give your testimony. (we start every Monday with a little service where we have a change to put our language in practice, we do preaching, singing, testimony and reading a bible verse) I look at her and the only thing I can say is “ Aduh” which means something like Oh no. She says “ please” while she looks at me and holds my arm. “ Aduh, aduh, aduh” I say. “It’s my second day at school, I’ve been away for 2,5 months and lost so much language, I don’t know.” But she still looks at me and finally I say  “ Ok, I will do it”. Asuming that she really need someone to do the testimony, because there is no one else.

But the tears are almost running down my face, but there is no time to think, I feel overwhelmed and the bell already rung. I go inside and a copple of minutes later I’m standing before a group of people stumbling in my Indonesian, trying to tell what a great time I had in Holland. Not that I have the vocabulary, but hee, I did the best I could! It's an adventure, right? And adventure means to me that we not always know what's next. I did very well today, by not having time to prepare a testimony in my 3th language and just standing there and doing it at my 2nd day of language learning, after being away for 2,5 months! I'm proud of myself!

And while I’m sitting at a friends house writing this update, after I cried all my tears out, I’m eating some nice chocolate and when I opened up the wrapping around the little chocolate, I found some true words saying: Do all things with love…

Seasons change

As the day passed by, I’m sitting outside in candle light watching the cloud filled sky. The crickets are filling the sky with their sound. People are chattering, someone is playing the guitar, hundreds of  houses are shining their little lights in the valley, dogs are barking, cats fighting their territory. I’m home…

It was interesting to discover today that live went on while I was in Holland, but some things are still the same. Like the little lizard that lives in my garbage bin, and the ants still walking the same route through my house every day. Things like finding out there was  no water in the entire kampong today.

And the neighbor with her little warung in the street still sells her Bakso (famous meetbal with mie soup) everyday, the ojeg (motortaxi)drivers are still sitting at the entrance of the kampung, waiting and joking around. And everybody is smiling and asking: how are you doing, where do you wanna go, what did you do? Their way of saying hello while their squatting on their knees in the front of the houses or sweeping the floor at the front door in the hot and burning sun. Even it looks the same, the season is changed, as in nature, as in my live. Raining season is over.

And even though the program of the day looks the same, going back to school and learning about language and culture. I’m changed, a new season is waiting, and I’m looking forward to see what it will bring.