I am here!

I have now been in Indonesia for almost a week. The traveling here was looong as expected, and the jet lag is finally gone. We spent the first couple nights in Salatiga, had a 2-hour survival course of Indonesian, got to know each other a bit, financial talk, etc. and are now in our respective host families for the week. Sunday we will head back to Salatiga for 6 weeks language classes, before returning to our host families and placements.

I'm in Ungaran, a smaller city 1/2 hour south of Semarang, which is big and commercialized. I've met a lot of nice people who have taken me under their wing(s) and arrange my schedule every day for me! I've spent some time at the Solafide school where I will be teaching kids between ages 3 and 8, as well as at the Maranatha church where I will help with Youth English clubs and other things that have yet to be determined. The teachers are all very eager to learn or improve their English too, so I will be involved in an after-school English club. Possibly one for students' parents as well. I'm sort of a celebrity here, which will take some getting used to. I've seen one other white person since saying goodbye to the other SALTers. The kids at the school are so excited to have a new teacher coming. They call me "Miss Leanne" and are so cute! Some of them were calling me their mom today......strange.......... and they stare at me a lot.

I've attended 2 birthday parties since I've been here - one for the pastor's wife, one for a kid at school - they called in MacDonalds to throw it, complete with a cake and treat bags and party hats. I've eaten some pretty yummy food, and only once has it disagreed with me. A lot of fried food too - fried chicken and rice are staples. I've been out to small eating joints under a tarp with the best nasi goreng (fried rice) and a posh seafood restaurant in the city. I'm pretty self-conscious when it comes to eating: spoon in right hand, fork in left (although most people only use the spoon). I'm still learning how to eat rice with my hands. And only pass things with your right hand (left hand is reserved for bathroom stuff, and usually no toilet paper, just water). At the pastor's birthday party I took some food I didn't realize had chilies in it, and ended up eating 2 of them at once thinking they were green beans. That was my first day meeting all these people - I was almost crying and very red. Very cool.

My host family's house is pretty nice. And the family is really excited to have me stay with them. The language barrier hasn't been too much trouble, as many people know a few English words and I know a few in Indonesian as well. And my new friends know more English, and often translate for me. For example, my host dad just came and said something to me that included 'swimming?' So I guess he was asking if I wanted to come along. He also had on his swimming trunks, as did the little brother and his friend. I have 2 host brothers (25, 9) and a sister (19) who is at school in Jakarta. The grandmother also lives here and is super friendly.

Hmmm what else...? I'm woken up most mornings around 4:30 by the call to prayer. Indonesia's population is close to 90% Muslim. Because it's Ramadan the call to prayer is earlier than usual (5 or 5:30 is the normal time). And it's a big time of year for food sales in the evenings when people break their fast.
That's all for now folks. More to come...