Final wrap up

So this is likely my final post from Indonesia. I am sure many of you are wondering whether it was worth it. That's a hard question to answer. The simple answer is that if I knew exactly what it would be like, I probably would not have come. But the complicated answer is that if we had this opportunity and let it go by, we would have forever wondered about it and probably kicked ourselves. It certainly has not been terrible. I have learned a lot about Asia and I think this will be Asia's century. We have felt very valued. My volunteer work has kept my time occupied. I was thinking about all the stuff I have done for Education USA and the list includes seven talks on writing a college essay or statement of purpose, workshops on choosing a college in the US, preparing for the TOEFL test, scholarship opportunities, three radio talk shows, two college fairs, talks on English literature, preparing a resume, visits to high schools, and judging a middle school debate, among others. I have been in literally a thousand photos. The downside as I have mentioned is that there are very few Westerners here and so things that we are used to like fashion and food and public green spaces are hard to find. Relying on taxis is getting old. We have had great friendships with the other Fulbrighters and supported each other as we deal with the lack of support from Aminef in Jakarta.

But it's time to come home.

What I will miss:

The Indonesian people

Fruit. A huge variety of wonderful, different fruit.

 

What I won't miss

Earsplittingly loud music

Public toilets

Sidewalks that are unwalkable

Indonesian food- there must be a reason we eat other Asian foods like Thai, Vietnamese, etc., but Indonesian food has never made it in America.

Corruption. It doesn't affect us directly, but Indonesia could be a really great country. It has natural resources and great beauty and hard working people, but corruption skims off money that could be spent on infrastructure and education. The newspapers are full of stories of corruption every day, so it's not hidden, but turning things around is very difficult.

 

What I am looking forward to:

My kitchen, especially a full size refrigerator ( with automatic ice maker), dishwasher, and garbage disposal.

Paper towels. Try living without paper towels for a year.

Drinking water from the tap

My garden

Driving myself somewhere. Anywhere.

 

So I say "Sayonara, Surabaya".

 

Amed, Bali

It's twelve days before we depart for home (but who's counting!). Deciding to make a last trip to Bali, I chose what I hoped would be a fairly remote area on the northeast coast and known for good diving and snorkeling. The flight to Bali is just an hour and costs less than $100 round trip, but like all good places in Indonesia, this one is a slow, three hour drive from the airport. It's roughly 90 miles so you can see we averaged 30 mph. But, after almost a year, we have come to expect this. The place is a diving resort with a well known Japanese WW II shipwreck just offshore. The villas are up a steep hill with wonderful views of mountains and sea. The design is traditional Balinese with rattan roof and a large, covered terrace with dining table and day beds. It's hot in the sun but in the shade with the nice breeze it's very comfortable. Alas, that breeze is causing choppy water so we haven't been snorkeling yet. Nonetheless, it is incredibly peaceful and I could sit and look at the view all day. Traditional Balinese homes are all around us, chickens everywhere, the occasional pig, and many motorcycles. Simple rattan homes with tile roofs. The people are Hindu so a temple is nearby. They speak Balinese, but everyone says, "hello", even a toddler. The language is harsher and the people speak much louder than most Indonesians. One of the first things I heard this morning was some sort of a shouting match down on the road below us. That's very unusual in Indonesia. We had a surprisingly good dinner last night, so I expect we will continue to take all our meals here, although there are several local warungs nearby.

So it meets our goal of being off the beaten track. Bali in general is at risk of choking on its own success. This is now high season in Bali, with August being the peak and the infrastructure is just not able to cope. The domestic airport is a disgrace and supposedly a new one will open in 2013, but we'll see about that. Bali is quite a large and mountainous island, but most of the tourism is within an hour or two of the airport, so there are parts that are still quite traditional. It seems as though Amed, where we are, is getting "discovered", as there are many small resorts, albeit of a simple type, along the road leading here. It's the only place we have been in all of Indonesia that has no cell phone coverage at all. We slept wonderfully with just the sound of the surf.

Later. The water has remained choppy and murky so not very good for snorkeling. We have been very lazy, reading a lot. I am reading the Steve Jobs biography, which is quite fascinating. Tom has done some long walks and seen a lot of village life. It's very much a fishing village with narrow boats with colorful sails that look like windsurfers. They are coming in now in the morning with loads of fish and the villagers meet them and help haul the boats onshore. The fish are sold right from the boats. Tom thinks they are small tuna, known locally as tonggol.

A barefoot young man just brought up a breakfast for us to eat on our terrace while we watch the boats come in and go out below. We have a large fresh fruit salad, toast with jam and/or peanut butter, a yogurt parfait for me, cereal for Tom, and tea.

I think about the simplicity and sameness of everyday life here. There is not even a change of seasons to anticipate, unless you count the fact that it's somewhat rainier a few months. On the other hand, they have sufficient food ("mangos and bananas you can pick right off of trees", as the song says) and nice weather. Probably the highest thing they aspire to, other than a spouse, is a motorcycle.

On the way to the airport we stopped to see a traditional weaving cooperative, including dyeing the cotton with natural dyes made on site. Very interesting as they use plants and bark and dried fruits to get the different colors.

June 20. Arrived back home in Surabaya, well rested and anxious for the next ten days to pass quickly.

 

Homecoming update

Three weeks from today! We are beginning the preliminaries to actual packing. Throwing stuff out, disassembling the batik paintings that we had framed, giving stuff away. We have three suitcases plus carry-ons. We can actually have 4, but it makes it really hard to travel with that much. As I pack I will see if we need a fourth suitcase.

Our farewell party is scheduled for June 16 with about 20 or 22 expected. We will have a private room off the hotel dining room and guests can partake of the hotel buffet. That way we will only be charged for the number of meals eaten so we don't have to worry about people not showing up or bringing extras. It's frankly more of a duty than something I am looking forward to, but so be it. No alcohol, obviously.

The next day we are off to Bali one last time for three nights. We have chosen a place well off the beaten track that is supposed to be good for snorkeling and just plain relaxing. I tried to make the room deposit with my PayPal account as they didn't take credit cards. PayPal freaked out and blocked my account, I suppose because they saw the location was Indonesia. The only way I can unblock it is for them to call me at my phone number of record (my home phone) and speak to me. Very frustrating.

On a different topic, the economic problems in Europe are starting to make Asia very nervous. Indonesia had its first trade deficit last month in more than two years and is readying a stimulus package. And both China and Australia have applied stimulus in the form of interest rate cuts this week.

Elvis and the Land of the Living Dead

Where to begin? This was probably both the most unusual and the most difficult to get to place we have visited here in Indonesia. The area is called Tana Toraja (hereafter known as TT). It's on the island of Sulawesi, which was known when I was in school as "the Celebes".

Our friends, Scott and Hilary Pike, planned to visit and chose this destination from some choices we gave them. It was a place we had wanted to visit, so we happily made the arrangements. They flew from Seattle to Bali and then on to Makassar for overnight. We met them there after a 6 AM morning flight, which necessitated a 3:45 wake up call. Elvis was our guide and Anton the driver and so we began the 10 hour drive to the TT area. At first the time passed quickly as we caught up on each others' news. A stop for lunch over the water yielded the best seafood we have had in Indonesia. But the afternoon dragged on and darkness fell and on we drove. Everyone was tired and a bit cranky. Hilary got a bit carsick on the twisty roads. Meanwhile Elvis began to tell us about the Torajan people. Their oral history says they came by boat from indo china (think Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) in the third century and went inland to the highlands. There they developed their culture and had no contact with any other people until the 17th century when they had some wars with the Bugis, one of the dominant cultures on Sulawesi. The next century brought Dutch missionaries, the first batch of which were all killed, but ultimately most Torajans were converted to Christianity. Now they are about half Catholic and half Protestant, but they retain their traditional funeral practices from the ancient times, which are highly unusual, to say the least. When a person dies, the body is kept in the family home for up to two years. The bodies are rubbed with oils and wrapped in linen, so essentially become mummified. (today sometimes formaldehyde is used also). They continue to bring food and drink to the mummy thrice daily. Meanwhile the family begins planning the funeral. The higher the family's rank, the more elaborate the funeral must be. Money must be saved, construction of various structures must begin and a special "priest" booked. No structure can be re-used. All must be torn down afterwards, although the lumber can be recycled. When all is arranged, the funeral is announced and hundreds of people come. Each group or clan must bring a gift to the family, usually several pigs or a wAter buffalo or two. The funeral lasts several days and the animals are killed, cooked, and served to the guests. Meanwhile there is chanting and dancing, etc.

Finally we arrived at our lodging which was in a traditional style, with boat shaped houses. They reminded me of both Viking ships and also Polynesian themes. (Tiki restaurant?). We were very lucky on our visit in getting to see both the market (Held only once every six days) and a funeral. We began at the market which had an astonishing amount of livestock ( hundreds of animals) mainly large pigs and water buffalo. But also baby pigs and chickens. I immediately thought of how much wealth the animals represent, but also the small amount of animal protein the average Indonesian eats. A water buffalo can cost $4000 and weigh 1000 pounds. It was somewhat reminiscent of a state fair, with owners washing and grooming the animals to show to the best advantage. Most of the pigs (alive) were trussed onto bamboo litters, ready for sale, as it were.

We watched all this activity and then went to the funeral. Outsiders are very welcome. It is considered a joyous occasion as the deceased finally can find peace. It was utter chaos. Huge crowds, many people wanting their picture taken with us, large flatbed trucks dropping off both guests and pigs(they rode together), slaughtering and cooking of pigs, loud exhortations from the "priest", who speaks an ancient version of the language that nobody understands anymore.

After lunch (not too hungry after that) we visited several burial sites. These vary somewhat by village. Some coffins are put into caves, where they decay over the years, leaving the skeletal bones. Family members still visit the coffins and leave drinks or especially cigarettes by the skulls. It was like a very creepy haunted house except that it was all REAL. Caves are patrolled by villagers at night to prevent looting. Coffins of the very wealthy are put high up on cliff faces because they have many valuables in them. Other villages put the coffins in holes in rocks with a decorated door. Then there are the babies. If they don't have teeth yet, they are put into holes cut into a certain kind of tree and the hole covered by a bamboo mat. The tree grows and covers the opening. When the woman has another baby it is believed that the dead baby has come back and is being born again. If the baby has teeth, however, it has another kind of burial in a hole in the rock in a special area for babies.

There were (are still) 3 castes, royals, commoners, and slaves. Originally the slave was killed and buried with the owner when he died. The Dutch banned slavery in 1905, but still people are bound to their owners and often buried in simple graves nearby. Elvis said it is a bit more collaborative these days, with the owner stopping by and saying, "I think we should plant the rice next week. What do you think?". There are complicated rules, different for men and women, for marrying up or down castes, but most people marry within a caste.

The area is very agricultural, raising large amounts of rice, but also coffee and cocoa. They put out large tarps by the side of the roads for drying these and rake them frequently. The coffee is very famous. I am not a coffee drinker, but Tom had some and said it was good. There are rice storage houses which are smaller versions of the boat shaped houses and it is a measure of one's wealth how many rice storage houses one has.

After a full day seeing these sites, we slept again in our tongkanan traditional house, and the next morning drove the grueling 10 hours back to the airport. I think we all felt it was worth it to see this unique area. I remarked to Tom that this was the Indonesia I had been hoping to see all along. I now understand that long arduous travel is probably necessary to get to some of these spots. I wish I had realized it sooner.

It was astonishing to me that this rigid, complicated, hierarchical culture could grow and survive in such an isolated area. We also could not help but notice that many of the people looked like Vietnamese or Cambodians, so maybe their oral history is true. I titled this the land of the living dead because one's whole adult life is devoted to burying one's parents and earning enough money to have an appropriately lavish funeral for oneself. I don't know how anything gets done, but I was told they are richer than average Inonesians, probably because they have to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The End Game

Suddenly we are in the End Game. Suddenly I have to manage the calendar. Six weeks from tomorrow we head home. I have been out gallivanting around the country for a couple of weeks (more on that in later postings) and had previously calculated (wrongly) that I would have seven weeks. I also recently found out that we have to surrender our passport and residency permit for several days four weeks from now to clear the way for our exit permit. That means any traveling needs to be scheduled soon. I am trying to convince Tom to visit the island that is home to the Komodo dragon. He is almost on board with that, but like much of the travel here, it will involve a couple of plane flights and a three hour boat ride. Maybe another couple of days in Bali, too.

We will also have a visit from a fellow Fulbrighter for a few days. We found out we are expected to have a "going away party" (broad hints were dropped) so we are trying to get those details arranged. After much dithering on my part I decided to have some clothes made by a tailor. I pick up the first three items on Monday, and if I like them, I may have some more made. One of the universities I spoke at before is making noises about having me come back and do a workshop on writing resumes and cover letters.

And of course the sorting, organizing, and packing, and giving away of some items of value, e.g. my orchids and basil plant, will take a while. We plan to leave many clothes behind, either because they have worn out or because we are just sick of wearing them. I hope my bathing suit will hold out as I haven't found a suitable replacement. We had some batik paintings framed for our walls here with the idea that we would "unframe" them to take home. I hate to have to do that, as I know it will cost a pretty penny to have them redone, but so be it.

We knew from prior Fulbrights that time has a way of accelerating as the end approaches. And so it appears it will be this time. We can't say we will be sorry to leave. It has been a challenging year in many ways, but nonetheless a worthwhile one.

We arrive at Washington Dulles on July 4, too late to make a connection to Columbus. So overnight there and the next morning a transfer to Baltimore-Washington so we can fly on Southwest and save a bunch of money on both tickets and bag fees. Home mid-afternoon on July 5.

A visit to Perth

We have visited much of the East coast of Australia, but to visit Perth from Sydney is like Boston to LA, so it remained off our horizon. But from Indonesia, Perth is due south of Bali and a 3 1/2 hour flight. Same time zone, even. So, off we went for four full days plus travel time.

Western Australia is known for premium wines, notably In the Margaret River area. We decided to spend two days in Perth and two in wine country. Perth was fabulous and everything Indonesia is not, such as clean, organized, lots of green space and flowers, good public transportation (and hence, not much traffic). However it is very expensive. Breakfast in the hotel was a breathtaking $38. (we went elsewhere). Their dollar is almost exactly on par with ours. Perth is the boom town in the center of the mining area. Salaries in mining are very high- we met a self described "pipe fitter", who make $200,000 per year. He is flown to the mine site, housed and fed, and works 28 days straight, before flying home for 7 days off. There is a lot of money chasing luxury goods like steak, wine, yachts, housing. [I hear they're hiring!]

It is a gorgeous city with many "fingers" of water here and there. It reminds me most of Vancouver, BC. It's 15 miles inland, up the Swan River, from the coastal city of Fremantle. We took a cruise downriver to Fremantle, a charming port city that has done a remarkable job preserving its 19th century buildings.

Otherwise we ate well and soaked up the crisp, clean fall air. Public transportation is frequent and free in the downtown area so very easy to get around. The locals were delighted to meet Americans. I think they feel a close kinship to us, especially those in Western Australia. Something about the can-do attitude. We heard quite a bit of grumbling about the Federal government and not a little bit about secession.

On Sunday morning we picked up a rental car with some trepidation as they drive on the "wrong" side of the road. I had to work at getting Tom to agree to a GPS unit for the car, but by the time we got finished, he was sold. We made our way out of town and headed south along the coast to Margaret River. After a somewhat boring drive, with a notable stop at Busselton jetty, we arrived in wine country and began to visit some tasting rooms. The region is known for Chardonnay and Cabernet and we tasted and socialized our way into the town of Margaret River. It's what Napa must have looked like 50 years ago. We could walk the full length of the main street. I think the descriptor is "funky". The next day we took a wine tour with 10 other people, mostly Brits, visited 6 wineries, including a lunch at one, and gained a bit of knowledge. Our best dinner was a wine called "the Sledge" paired with venison rib chops. Yum! Since we usually have neither wine or red meat, you might imagine what a treat it was. We also had some wonderful bread. (I may have mentioned that Indonesian bread all tastes like cardboard.). We even brought a loaf of whole grain fruit and nut bread home with us and ate every morsel, including the ends.

In sum, nothing earth shattering, but a nice break that gave us a wee bit of homesickness. Oh yes, we did see kangaroos in the wild.

 

Hanoi

Before I get to Hanoi I want to mention a couple of other things going on. We had the big college fair last week which my office was in charge of. We had reps from 37 colleges and we had to find and train bi-lingual students to act as interpreters for each rep as well as arranging many details-name tags, food, setup, etc. We had workshops on topics like getting visas and American college life with a panel of returnees. I did a workshop on writing the college essay (or statement of purpose for scholarships). The deadline for many scholarships is April 15 so the rush is on. I actually did that workshop 4 times during March at several venues. They really have no idea what they should do, so the workshops attract lots of people.

We had some concern about attendance at the college fair as there was a demonstration nearby against the reduction in the fuel subsidy (and the resulting rise is gasoline prices). Some people no doubt stayed away but we still had almost 1000 visitors. [The government backed down on the fuel thing. It was a big mess and will cause money to be diverted from elsewhere in the budget to cover the shortfall. It caused splintering in the governing coalition and exposed how weak the president is, as well as emboldening the protestors for the next time. I am looking at the headline on today's paper. It says" Govt fuel 'flub' fouls future plans"]

On Sat. I was a judge for an English speaking competition for junior high students? I was asked by the consulate and I try to say yes to as many things as possible, but as the day approached I began to dread it. Junior high students speaking English! But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I am usually treated like royalty at these events (just like Dutchess Kate!) and this was no exception. There had been a winnowing process by the other judges before i arrived and I was brought on just to judge (with the other judges) the five finalists. I was introduced and asked to say a few words. Then each finalist chose a topic by drawing from a hat, then had 10 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to speak. They were very, very good, both in their delivery, their English, and their defense of their argument. I was asked to say a few more words while the results were tabulated and I said I could not imagine US students that age doing so well in a foreign language. I was then called upon to give out the awards and posed for many pictures with the winners and the organizing committee. I can imagine some of the winners going on to a career in politics.

Now, Hanoi. We loved Hanoi. All of the Fulbright scholars and researchers were there from SE Asia and it was great to share experiences. Many of the Indonesian Fulbrighters we met last summer in DC. Most of the experiences were, like ours, a mixed bag. A few people had very good things to say. We were wined and dined in five star luxury for a few days. Tom had a schedule to adhere to, but another wife and I spent one day shopping and one day we went on a bike ride with a guide through the "suburbs" and villages into an area where squatters were growing vegetables on land that was officially off limits because of potential flooding. For those who remember the Vietnam War, we rode on some of the Red River dikes and across the Long Bien bridge which the US tried to bomb back then. The bridge was built in 1903 by the same French firm that built the Eiffel tower. The US damaged it but was not able to bring it down. It was part of our plan to stop supplies from the port of Haiphong getting to Hanoi. We also saw a strange quasi-religious ceremony. I say religious because it was held in a temple with incense and flowers, but our guide said it was more like a superstition- a ceremony commissioned for good health or good luck. It is called Len dong and when I looked it up on the Internet I see that it is traditional, was banned by the communists, but now is tolerated. There was a main character with helpers who went through many changes of colorful robes and rituals, each of which represents as aspect of mother Earth. She would occasionally smoke a cigarette which seemed very incongruous to me until I read that she was in a kind of trance, which made me wonder what else was in that cigarette.

We were surprised how much of a "French" feel remains in Hanoi. After all, the French have been gone for 60 years. But the infrastructure with wide streets and sidewalks and trees and parks with benches for reading was very evocative. They have maintained a type of colonial architecture for personal residences with a very small footprint and several stories above, each with French doors leading out onto a balcony. We had a meal in an old colonial house built in 1928 now converted to a restaurant. Very charming. All kinds of food were available. A group of us living in Indonesia dined on pork ribs one night, something completely unattainable here. Delicious. The weather was overcast and 60to 65 which I find perfect for doing a lot of walking which we did.

Speaking of the Vietnam War, there is a lake in the center of town, within a short walk of our hotel, surrounded by a park and flowers. This is the lake from which John McCain was fished out by locals when his plane was shot down and he ejected. A remnant of the prison where he and the other pilots were held has been turned into a museum. It was built by the French in 1900 and much of the museum details the terrible treatment of Vietnamese prisoners, many if them women and political prisoners, at the hands of the French. Indeed, a subtext is "see how badly the French treated us and how well we treated the Americans". The French section had a guillotine last used in 1930. I had no idea they used them that recently. It makes me want to read more about the French in Indochina. There doesn't seem to be any resentment toward Americans. A guess is that 75% of Vietnamese were born since 1980. In fact US dollars are widely used by vendors and taxis. They even make change in dollars. Also it seems tthat Vietnam was at war with so many countries during the last century, that we are just one more blip. BTW, they call it the American War.

We had hoped to go to the coast and take a cruise around Halong Bay which is quite beautiful. We drove 3 hours to get there, got on the junk-style boat, which was beautiful, and sat down to lunch. Then we were informed that due to heavy fog, which it certainly was, that no boats were permitted to sail. They were very good about making arrangements for us to return to Hanoi (locate our driver and rebook our lodgings inHanoi). So then we drove 3 hours back to where we began. Fortunately we were with Jan and Ronnie (Fulbrighters) so we had lots to talk about. Since we had an extra day, Tom and I did some more shopping. Things were very inexpensive. There were good buys on many textiles and handicrafts. Hard bargaining was the order of the day. Tom got a haircut on the street.

Then an uneventful flight back to Surabaya. We will see the Indonesian Fulbrighters one more time, in Lombok, for our pre-departure briefing in Mid May. Some will be going home shortly after that. We are here until July 1 since we came later.

 

Apologies for the location of these pictures in the blog. I can drag and drop them where I want, but the blog has a mind of its own.

 

Musings from the 20th floor

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here; kind of unusual to have a light, steady rain instead of an intense downpour. We had hoped to go see "Hugo" this afternoon, but maybe later.

It's been a good week or two for movies. We've seen "The Artist" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". We much preferred TTSS, although I doubt that anyone under 30 would enjoy it.( Which includes most moviegoers in Indonesia, so I doubt it will stay long. We are just a short walk from the theater (which, BTW, has the cleanest bathrooms in the city). The prices are great- just $2.00 midweek and it's a brand new theater. We do have long stretches where there is nothing we want to see. We missed "Iron Lady"- here and gone.

My title is Musings from the 20th floor and I wanted to note how much I am enjoying living in a high rise- this high rise at any rate. For someone who enjoys her garden as much as I do, it's a surprise. I do have two outdoor areas, a balcony off the living room, where I am growing a couple of pots of basil, and a "backyard" utility area where I have my washing machine and laundry drying rack and my toaster oven. I keep it outside as my kitchen gets warm very easily, so it's nice to release the heat outside and it's only a few steps away. I like my birds eye view of the neighborhood and my ability to see storms coming and seeing the lightening. We have had several Indonesians lately ask to see the apartment and to them it is so incredibly luxurious that I have realized how nice it really is. The quality is very high with marble floors and baths. We rarely hear or see anybody else on this floor (4 units on this floor). The staff are all very responsive, even though there are sometimes language issues with maintenance staff.. My housekeeper comes three times a week and cleans thoroughly. His English is very good and we communicate easily. This building was built ten years ago before the property boom and the quality and space would not be duplicated now. We looked at one so-called 2bedroom unit that would fit in our master bedroom here. Today they build them small and cheap and encourage average Indonesians to buy as an "investment". The kitchen is a challenge for me, but it's much more than most people have.

We're off to Hanoi this week. I've just been thinking that it's been almost 40 years since the war has been over. How can that be?. Where did the time go. We are staying at the Hanoi Hilton (!) although that term will only resonate with those of a certain age.(For the rest of you, ask John McCain). Actually it's called the Hilton Hanoi. I guess we didn't bomb Hanoi back then and the city is supposed to be quite charming and European-a good walking city. There is supposed to be good eating and shopping and one of the other spouses and I plan to explore while the guys are in meetings. The country is still decidedly communist, although I am told US dollars are widely accepted and we'll be warmly welcomed. I wish the Republican presidential candidates would remember that war as well as the debacles in Iraq and Afganistan. I can't believe they are talking about bombing Iran. It would be a disaster. Loose lips sink ships (and raise the price of gasoline)

I am very busy this month with my various talks. I have a variety on my flash drive and use them as necessary. I've done three of my essay writing workshops, one TOEFL prep, and one on choosing a college in the US and its only the 12th. I have one more after we get back from Hanoi. One of the downsides to growing older is feeling perhaps irrelevant to younger folks, so it is very nice to be so much in demand.

We experienced the proverbial Chinese fire drill the other day. We were invited to international Day at a Middle School to talk about life in America. When we arrived all the kids were dressed in some kind of traditional outfit. Nice and the kids were adorable. Most of them are Chinese but we had a little Dutch girl and several American cowboys. But...it was being held outdoors in a courtyard in the heat and the kids ranged from k through 8 (600 in all). There were special foods being served and utter chaos reigned. Tom and I looked at each other and mouthed, "disaster". We had prepared a PowerPoint with slides but there was a small screen and it was so bright outside that there was no hope of seeing the screen and so hot that balloons were exploding on the stage. We put on our game faces and mentally retreated into the zone we go to when stuff like this happens. There were several student performances and fulsome welcoming remarks and then it was our turn. We put up the slides and talked as briefly as was polite. The kids were walking back and forth in front of us and I swear the only person listening was the principal. Of course afterwards we received the requisite plaque and had numerous pictures taken. At least the car that took us back was air conditioned!

Enough stream of consciousness for today.

 

A few more thoughts. We went to see Hugo last night. It was marvelous and for any age.

We return from Hanoi on the 19th and I just read that a general strike is being called for Mar. 20 to protest the government's planned reduction of the fuel subsidy. I learned in my geopolitics of oil class that subsidies are bad for a number of reasons and one of them is that a crisis is provoked when they are removed. This is generally not a strike-happy country, but rising fuel costs affect everyone. We'll see. Let's hope we are safe at home by then.

We have been getting some fabulous salmon lately. The store tells me it is wild Alaskan salmon and comes in fresh every day. It is clearly not farm raised as it is very oily (all those good omega -3 oils), but how and why it gets here so fresh and at the reasonable cost of $14 a pound I can't figure out. We will continue to enjoy it as long as it lasts.

Well I am ready to post, but only have one picture available. Tom took several good pictures of the middle school event, but somewhere between him emailing them to me as an attachment, me opening them on my iPad, saving them to my pictures, and uploading them to the blog, there is a glitch. I want to post this before we leave for Hanoi tomorrow and I don't have time to hunt down the problem. Maybe later.

 

What a day part 2

Before we headed off for the evening we looked over our balcony down to the pool/party area and saw people gathering, including ladies in fashionable long red dresses with elbow length black gloves. We decided to go down and take a peek. Well..., it was very strange. Along the edges, for all the world like 8th grade boys at a dance, were seated guys in black leather jackets with spiky hair. There was a ten foot high banner saying, "Happy birthday, Mr. Harry", with a life size picture of a guy who looked like Kim Jong Un, North Korea's new boy wonder. At the far end were about 6 or 8 of the dressy women. As they came closer, I noticed first the extravagant hairstyles, and then I realized they were cross dressers. There is a tradition here of those people being entertainers, but I didnt know what they would be doing here. We were not the only ones looking. Hotel staff and other guests were peeking out from behind pillars and shrubbery. We had to leave, but while waiting for our taxi, we engaged the staff about what they knew. (of course they knew a lot!). Apparently Harry's father owns a chain of hair salons, which explained a lot, and it was his 30th birthday.(The picture was taken at the end of the evening and she does not seem to be a cross dresser.)

So, on to the Sheraton. The staff was all decked out in red berets and had learned a few words of French. On the way in we noticed a small kiosk with the word gourmet. We went in and it was most fortuitous. There was a young French guy (Nicholas)in there sampling wonderful cheeses. It turns out he has recently started a gourmet food business and brings in French food delicacies and also pork sausages sourced from Bali. It was like a cool drink to a thirsty person to know I could buy some of these things here. And best of all he doesn't have a shop so I place an order once a week and he delivers to my apartment. The cheeses are absolutely fabulous and about the same price we would pay in the US. He should have picked up quite a few clients that night. I have placed my first order and it should come next week.

The wine dinner and French foods were wonderful. It was a buffet and had so much variety. We had the first beef we have had since Christmas as well as lamb and duck and rabbit. The wine wasn't great, but it was French and it kept coming. There were more wonderful cheeses and some of the best bread i have had here. We ate to satiety. The expat community was there in force. The staff began to draw door prizes and I won one! I got a $50 certificate for a photography workshop and a day pass to a climbing wall place(!). We were getting ready to leave and they were still calling door prizes and Tom won one! He also won the day pass to the climbing place. We haven't quite decided what to do with those, but the owner of the store was in the restaurant and talked with us and said he guaranteed they could get me to the top. We'll see.

When we got back to our place the party was still on, but winding down. Tom went to take a few pictures and we turned in.

This town is a bit of a food wasteland so, of all that happened today, I think I am most excited to have found my French cheesemonger who delivers. He's good looking, too.

Thus ends Tom and Anne's amazing day.

 

What a day!

Feb. 24. What a day. It began normally enough. I got up at 6, skyped with my friend Marilyn at 7, then my colleague, Ambar, came at 8:30 to collect me for our visit to a radio talk show. She wanted to see our apartment so she came up and met Tom, who was working from home for the day.

The talk show was about the American Education system and was partly in English and partly in Indonesian.

Tom and I had been anticipating a special French themed evening at the Sheraton. About two in the afternoon at our apartment complex we began to hear very loud music. We looked down from our balcony and saw the staff setting up for an event around the pool. We figured the band was just testing the equipment. But, no, the loud music continued unabated, even though there were no guests. We were quite annoyed and remarked that we were glad that we were going to be out that evening. We are on the 20th floor and the two buildings (with the pool area in between) are arranged such that they funnel the music up between the buildings like a megaphone.

[Due to technical difficulties, I have to continue this in a different posting. Read on.]

 

 

 

Bali

 I think Bali is a candidate for  the Garden of Eden.  But much like that paradise, all is not well.  Bali has become t oo popular for its own good.  Australians in particular are coming in droves, especially as their currency is very strong right now.(when we visited Australia in 2000 an Aussie dollar cost 0.60 US.  Today it's worth 1.05 US.  The reason is commodities which Australia has in abundance and are in much demand in China.)

When people first began to talk about Bali, they raved about the beauty, but also the friendliness of the people.  Both are under strain right now.  The roads can't handle the traffic and some of the people have become greedy.  There are still lovely people and places in Bali, but it might take a bit of looking.

We met up with our son, Steve at the airport.  As I mentioned we probably planned to do to much.  The plan was to  spend 4 nights in Ubud, then go to Lombok for 3 nights.  Lombok is being talked about as the "new Bali",  but it has a way to go.  I really did underestimate how big the island of Bali is and that the roads are such that it takes a long while to get places.  The first day was just traveling and we had booked a car and driver for days 2 and 4, leaving us just one unprogrammed day in Ubud.  Ubud is a Balinese version of Santa Fe- lots of art galleries, classy shops, and restaurants and we definitely would have liked more free time there.  I relied on Indonesian friends for suggestions of what to see, and that was also not a good idea.  We saw far too many temples-one or two is sufficient.  We then changed the itinerary for day 4 with the driver for more of our own choices.  But still we chose a traditional village, which was good but not worth the 3 hour round trip.  We loved the place we stayed in Ubud.  We had thatched roof rooms with no AC but ceiling fans.  The complex trickles down the sides of a ravine to the river below.  It was very lush and green and peaceful and we loved the insect  and frog noises at night.

Bali is Hindu, with a bit of Buddhism thrown in.  The degree to which religion pervades daily life is unusual.  They create a lot of artistic offerings for the temples and the small daily offerings are everywhere.  The driver always had one on his dashboard.  They take a piece of banana leaf, fold the corners into a low, box shape, and artfully arrange flowers, fruit, and maybe a stick of incense.  I think it is these offerings that make them such good artists.  For, artists they are.  They do all kinds of wood and stone carving, weaving and batik and other textiles, gold and silver work, as well as paintings.  They also have a lot of traditional dances-we saw one and would have done more if we had time.  

We then headed off to the island ofLombok, which, although being a short distance away, took  a while to reach.  Our First night was at an island off Lombok, called Gili Trawangen.  We flew from Bali, then took a taxi to the port, then a horse cart to the ticket office for the boat, then the boat to the island, and another horse cart to the hotel.  And most of these steps involved negotiations over price.  And we had to wade ashore from the boat!  Gili T., as it's known, turned out, after all this, to be a cross between key west and spring break.  There were lots of bars and restaurants along the beach, each with their own(loud) music.  Yes, you could sit at a restaurant at the waters edge with your feet in the sand, but all in all, not to my taste.  Wild horses could not drag me back to Gili T.  It's true that I had heard so much about the Gilis and how great they are that I would have gone sooner or later but I would rather not have wasted Steve's time.  When it was time to leave we just paid  for a private boat to  pick us up from the  beach in front of our hotel and drop us off at the next hotel in Lombok.  Sometimes you just have to pay up.

That hotel was the sengiggi beach hotel and we all loved it.  There were extensive and beautifully landscaped grounds.  It was peaceful and relaxed and that was most welcome.  The beach was nice although the water was so choppy it was hard to snorkel.  Just outside the grounds was the "town" which had several restaurants and some shopping so we wandered into town both evenings for dinner.

We were lucky to get off Gili T when we did as the winds picked up the next day and many of the boats could not operate.  January is the rainy season, but the wind was more problematic than the rain.

We drove back to the airport where we came home to Surabaya and Steve flew back to Bali to get his flight home.  He spent two days in Hong Kong on the way over and one day there on the way back.  He enjoyed HK very much.  It was wonderful to spend time with him and hear all the news from home.

 

In which I visit a Madrassah

If you have ever heard the word Madrassah, I am sure it carries a nasty connotation - maybe Saudi funding schools in the third world with the idea of creating terrorists.  

My boss was planning to visit a Madrassah today for outreach and asked if I wanted to come along.  I am always game so of course I said yes.  Since it was Saturday, Tom wanted to come along, and, since Tom was coming, her husband Thomas also joined us.

We headed off at 8 AM for our two hour drive into the country.  The setting was quite lovely, high in the hills with terraced rice padis trailing down the slopes.  I have long known that Madrassah is a generic word for Islamic school, and, although this school has Madrassah in its name, it is more correctly known as a "peasanteren" which means Islamic boarding school.  We were visiting to prepare the students to take the TOEFL (test of English as a foreign language)in a couple of weeks.  It was impressive to learn that the entire senior class would be taking the test, which, by the way, strikes terror into the hearts of most Indonesian students.  It was even more impressive to learn that 98% of the students would go on to college.

After the initial greetings, we were ushered into a sitting area in the principal's home.  (shoes off folks)  We sat on the floor and were served tea, steamed cassava, peanuts and a local type of sweet potato.  The principal grimaced when I tried to shake his hand and gave me a sort of no touch handshake.  I know Muslim men are not supposed to touch women unrelated to them, but in all my years of living in Muslim countries, this was only the third time I have had any problem, and the other two were in Iran.  (One of those told me he would be happy to shake my hand in private, but since we were in a public place, he'd rather not.)

The principal's English was very good and we pressed him on the source of the funding.  The students pay $80 per month for tuition, room, and board, which is quite a bit of money in this part of the world.  But he said a wealthy Indonesian had started a foundation which gave them a lot of support.  He allowed as how there were some donations from abroad, but that is as far as we got into any possible Saudi funding.  There are 600 students in grades 10-12.  They get three days off every two months and otherwise study 7 days a week, with a three week summer break.  They compress the normal three year high school curriculum into two years so they have an additional year for more advanced studies.  For the two years previous to this, they had Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETA) assigned to the school and were very interested in getting another one.

We went off to meet the students in a new classroom building ( there is also a new mosque under construction).  Boys and girls, in uniforms, were seated on separate sides of the large room.  After introductions we started to show the video which we use to show about college life in the US.  Not sure if I have mentioned this, but my boss uses the Ohio State video because she likes it.  We had technical problems and had video, but no sound, so I narrated the video.  Tom did a short talk on the importance of knowing English in the global society today, whether it be science or business, or travel.

My boss talked about taking the test and then began the practice test.  They had to listen to people speaking English and then answer questions about what they heard.  Sometimes they listened to a cassette player and sometimes Tom and I read the script.  The last part was picking out errors in sentences.  All in all, pretty challenging.

After exchanging tests with other students and going over the answers, I tried to do a little Q&A.  It's usually hard to get them asking anything and this was no different.  I did get the common question from a female on what it would be like to wear the hijab on a college campus.  After we wrapped up, then(!) they all came up and wanted pictures, or asked questions.  One guy wanted my autograph!  Tom got besieged by a group of chemistry students preparing for the chemistry Olympiad.  There was a very chatty boy who had lived for a year in Oregon as an exchange student.  He wants to go back to the US for college, but thought it rained too much in Portland.

We finally got the four of us corralled and thought we were going, but found out we were invited for lunch.  We had the lunch in an open-sided pavilion with the two English teachers and the principal. (Also a cat which kept sneaking onto the pavilion.) We sat on the ground (again!) and I can tell you that at our age, it is really rough.  Also I was wearing my snuggest trousers which made it even more difficult.  At one point Tom jumped to his feet and explained that he had a leg cramp.

The food was not bad, chicken, fish, rice, veggies.  They did realize that we would prefer utensils to using our hands.

Once we started home, Thomas said if we didn't mind an extra hour travel time, we could take a more scenic way home.  That was fine with us and we stopped at a very nice resort in the hills with lovely grounds we could stroll in.  Then we did have a scenic drive, with one stop to buy some fruit from a roadside stand-avocados, mangosteens, and oranges.  Back home by 5 PM.

So I hope I have given you a different idea about madrassahs.  These students were like teenagers anywhere.  They laughed a lot and teased the teachers and were even a bit sassy.  I look forward to seeing them again when they come into our office to take the TOEFL in a few weeks.  Maybe the ice has been broken a bit.

Coming back online

Thanks for the queries about my health and whereabouts.  I am well recovered from the flu, although the cough did bedevil me for far too long.

The truth is that I have been traveling, having a wonderful time and being too busy to post.  We spent 8 days in Bali and Lombok with Steve, were home for 3 days, and then headed off to Sri Lanka for 10 days.  I am working on posts for both of those trips and they should be on the blog with pics by Monday or Tuesday.

The short version is that Bali was great, but we probably tried to do too much, so spent a lot of time in transit. I would have done things differently had I known, but still it was fine.  It's Bali, after all!

Sri Lanka has been on our bucket list for a while and it far exceeded our expectations.

We are now slightly more than halfway through our stay here and we are both getting busy.  I will be doing two more presentations of my talk on essay writing for college applications and scholarships.  We have the big college fair with 37 ( so far) US colleges planning to be here in late March.  And, for those readers who know the Pikes, both Kevin and Scott and their significant others have booked flights here(not at the same time) in April and May.

Upcoming planned trips include Hanoi for a regional Fulbright conference in March and Indonesian Fulbright wrap-up in Lombok in May.

After all the travels, it's kind of nice to be home in our own apartment.

Watch for the new posts- soon!

Sri Lanka did not disappoint

I write this from my terrace room on Bentota Beach on this our last day in Sri Lanka.  It has been a fabulous trip.  It has been on our bucket list for almost ten years, since we lived in the Arabian Gulf, and this year the stars aligned so that Tom's month long university break coincided with ideal weather to visit here.

Before you rush for an atlas or to Wikipedia let me say that it is the small teardrop island off the southeast coast of India.  It has been called India-lite, but that doesn't do it justice.  Oh, yes.  There is the matter of the 32 year long war against the Tamil Tigers, who introduced suicide bombings to the world.  That war ended in 2009 and tourism is now rebounding.

And what a lot of things there are to see.  There are six or seven UNESCO world heritage sites.(we saw five.). There is wildlife, there are echoes of colonial eras of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British.  There are world class beaches where the water is 84 degrees year round.  We visited the tea growing areas at high elevations in the hills where a fire in the fireplace was welcome at night.

It's very humbling to realize how little we in the west know of Eastern civilizations.  They have several thousand year old cultures we have never heard of.  For example, we visited Segriya fortress where a paranoid king built a palace on top of a 600 foot high rock and surrounded it with moats and terraces and pleasure gardens.  And he did it 1600 years ago.  The engineering was amazing, especially the hydraulics.  A poem I memorized in high school was buzzing in my brain and with a little help from the Internet I found it.

Kubla Khan

 

In Xanadu did kubla khan

A stately pleasure dome decree

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea

 

This place reminded me of the poem.  We climbed all 1262 steps to the top, past frescoes of bare breasted women (he had 500 concubines including Africans and Chinese) and the water gardens and swimming pools.  There only remain ruins of the palace but it was built of brick, which had to be hauled up all that way.  We also saw costumed dancers and drummers in Kandy performing traditional dances and walking on hot coals.  Kandy also houses the Temple of the Tooth Relic.  That would be a tooth of Buddha, saved from his cremation pyre and carefully tended by royalty ever since.

Beyond the cultural stuff, there was the amazing wildlife.  Sri Lanka is mostly Buddhist (with about 7 percent each of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu) and that background helps to promote a conservation ethic.  We went on two jeep safaris, one in the north and one in the south.  In the northern one we saw mainly elephants-I would guess we saw about 60 to 70 wild elephants.  They were mostly in groups of 7 or 8, always with a baby or two.  In Yala National Park in the south, a more scrub, savanna type habitat, we saw more elephants, but many other animals.  We saw both spotted and sambuhr deer, crocodiles, wild buffalo, mongoose, jackal, iguana, wild boar, and monkeys.  The bird life was also fantastic-more peacocks than we could count.  My favorite birds were the bee eaters, both green and blue tailed varieties, the painted stork, and the hoopoes.  The conservation ethic extends to sea turtles.  We visited a hatchery where I held a day old hatchling.  They are released from the hatchery when they are three days old.  Over thirty years of work they have convinced the locals not to eat the eggs or the turtle meat, but to bring the eggs to the hatchery and be paid a small amount.  The hatchery also was rehabilitating some turtles that had been injured, some of which would be returned to the sea and some which would have to remain there due to loss of both front flippers.

The lodgings were all quite unique.  Two were over 150 years old and go back to the days go the "English raj".  One was a cottage in the national park where we had to be escorted to the dining hall after dark because of roaming animals.  We thought it was just for show until we found a wild boar rooting around by our porch on returning from dinner.  My favorite, though, was a 250 year old building built for a Dutch admiral and now converted into a boutique hotel.  It only has 13 rooms and, for some reason, we were given the Admirals's quarters which was a huge two room suite with a bathroom as big as many hotel rooms, and with two verandas.  It was full of antiques and was quite marvelous.

The first day we arrived was an auspicious day for weddings and there were three in the hotel where we stayed.  They were very elaborate affairs.

The food was fine, if not remarkable.  As Buddhists, many are vegetarians and they did a nice job with vegetable dishes.  There were many varieties of curries and good fruit.

We went to the higher elevations where tea is grown and visited a tea factory.  For a drink enjoyed all over the world, it is a surprisingly low tech operation.  From picking to being ready to drink takes about a week.  A plant can live 60 to 70 years.  The air was crisp and we did a lot of walking while there. 

We drove along the southern coast which was devastated by the 2004 tsunami.  There were at least two monuments to the lost and missing.  Rebuilding is occurring slowly, but you can see shells of houses remaining.  A train with more than 1000 people (many tourists) was washed out to see along this stretch.

One bad thing-I left my Kindle in the seat pocket of the plane.  That's what happens when you get off a plane at 2AM.  I miss it like my right arm.  And the worst part is that I can't replace it.  It's not sold here and it's not advisable to have anything shipped here-doesn't usually show up.

I am not totally happy with how these photos look in the blog.  There has been an update that I have to figure out.  But meanwhile it gives you some idea of our trip.

I am going to try to put in a link to some other photos.  Let me know if it works or not.   I have my doubts.