Countdown is on...only 3 more weeks in Indonesia!

Once again I have been neglecting the blog updates. I'm sure not everyone checks in too frequently on the blog (other than you mom) - and if you do, I'm surprised you haven't figured out my tendency to update very INfrequently! UNfrequently? Wow my English is not at its best these days.

It's now almost July... and my remaining time here is going to fly. In May the Ropp clan came for a visit and we jalan-jalan-ed to Jogjakarta, Borobudur, Bali, and Gili Trawangan island off Lombok. I'm not going to lie, it was not always easy with 6 people going place-to-place and making decisions as a group but I think everyone had a good time and we all wished the holiday could have lasted longer! We definitely had a lot of quality time together:) We had the enjoyment of seeing wild monkeys steal other tourists' glasses, shoes and hats (and then saw a certain Canadian woman smack one of them after it stole her favourite hat), some beautiful ocean views, surfing in Kuta, hiking the rice field-covered countryside, smelling fresh frangipani flowers that are everywhere in Bali, snorkeling - one of the best places in the world for coral, eating lots of fresh fruit, fish and seafood, seeing some cool traditional Javanese and Balinese dances, ..... and so much more!

A few weeks later I met up with dear friends Kim and Nadine who were finishing a southeast-Asia trip with their last stop in Bali... and what a blast that was! Some more quality time with quality people! We hiked Gunung Batur, a volcano in northeast-ish Bali, enjoyed hot springs after our sunrise hike, went to Ubud, saw monkey forest sanctuary, Tanah Lot, relaxed on the beach in Kuta, had some good laughs at Ulu Watu where the monkeys were NUTS stealing tourists' stuff, ate good food (haha always)...and caught up on each others' lives.

School finished up a week and a half ago. The students had final tests and the week after had camping/sleepover at the school one night - games, Outbound competition, talent show, campfire, and swimming the next morning! They loved it! That week we also had a master chef competition at school and a soccer championship. Last week Juliana and I had a kampung/village experience in a place called Kaligarang. We were asked to come help with the local church's English camp - it was their first year doing it without outside (English-speaking) leadership.. so we were mainly there to help teach the English lessons to kids. It was a huge contrast from my house in Ungaran... this was serious village life. One day we got our own coconuts from the tree to later drink/scrape out (no we didn't climb - it involved using a long bamboo pole with a sharp hook on the end). The last day of camp there was a feast! They killed a chicken and a duck and I got to help prepare the meat - my first time plucking out chicken feathers! The people were so hospitable, friendly and generous... even though I looked forward to getting back to my own Ungaran home, I was glad I agreed to go and experience a bit of real Javanese village life.

The last 4 days were spent in Batu, Malang in East Java.. there was a GKMI (one of the Indonesian Mennonite synods) youth summit that SALTers were invited to. It involved a lot of sessions/speakers that were difficult for our ears to understand, workshops and some outdoor team activities. There was a pool that was not used too often since it was so cold up there, but made for some funny pranks. Outnumbered as the only white girls around and the only girls to brave the pool, Juliana and I jumped in with our clothes on, surprising a bunch of Indonesian teenage boys. Juliana flipped one big guy off his innertube in the water which was probably enough to scare them all away..haha we almost cleared them out and encouraged some Indonesian females to join us.

I heard about a recent study that shows huge differences socially between the US and Indonesia in the areas of indiviual independence and power differences.. it was a shock first coming here and feeling much less independent - especially girls. Culturally it is very different here than in the West. For example, I rarely return later than 9pm at night to my host family's home. People are amazed and afraid for me if I tell them I am taking the bus anywhere, especially to a different city - "wow you are brave" they say. "Are you sure you can do it?" Also, distance between authority and 'subordinates' is something that is easily observed here.. between older and younger people, males and females, teachers and students, rich and poor.... These are constant sources of frustration for me (and probably most Westerners here) because I will often be reminded or asked questions like "have you eaten already?" or being told when to wake up, when to shower, reminded of obvious things that I should do, take medicine if I'm sick, don't shower at night because it's not good for your health, eat rice 3x a day so you will be strong, wear a jacket so your skin doesn't turn black...the list goes on. I interpret this 'advice' as nagging or annoying reminders - as if I don't already know how to take care of myself... while culturally here, it is the norm to say these things - almost a duty to say them to people younger than you, less experienced in life, or foreigners who aren't familiar with living here.

SOOOOOOO here I am back in Ungaran. In 2 days my family is taking me with them to Bandung (West Java near Jakarta) and we will also spend some days in Jakarta with more family. I'll be there for my birthday! I have no doubt it will be a memorable one. That's about all for now folks. Maybe the last post on here, ... hopefully not. Sampai jumpa.......