Miscellany...

Either I've got a bad case of bloggers block, or there just isn't anything very exciting to tell about at the moment. So I thought I would just post a few (totally random) photos that hopefully you will find interesting.

Had you ever wondered what Muslim swim wear looks like? Now you know.

how to identify customer - BULE

Have you ever wondered what your laundry person thinks of you? Well, wonder no more. That's twice he's accidentally slipped and left these little notes in our laundry. We have sent him our dirty laundry every other day for more than 10 weeks now. You'd think he would just learn the name - WARD. Not that hard, huh? But I think this goes to show how few and far between Caucasians are in this society. We do tend to stick out whether we wish to or not.

man accessories?

adjoining room for performing wudu (ritualistic washing)

Have you ever wondered what a mushola looks like?  The other day I tagged along with Ronnie for his swim lesson. I know I've mentioned before that almost every public building here has a couple of rooms set aside for mandory prayer time. This way people can go about their daily activities and when the call to prayer comes, have a convenient place to pray nearby. I have always wondered what these rooms looked like inside. So as we walked thorugh the Cipaku pool  building, I noticed this mushola empty and decided to peek inside. The outer room is for performing wudu; the second room is for prayer.

prayer room in Cipaku pool building

rooster baskets in Ubud

As I said, these photos are quite random. A few weeks ago when we were cycling in Ubud, we kept noticing these baskets everywhere. Turns out, they are rooster baskets. The roosters are kept separately but in view of each other.  Apparently this gets them really riled up and ready for a good fight. Cock fighting is a religious (Hindu) ceremony. The blood from the roosters is then sacrificed to the Hindu gods.

chicken fried Kentucky?

On a lighter note, we spotted this food cart as we walked down the sidewalk in Bali - who would have known the Colonel would show up there?

Three's a charm??

Ronnie after ojek ride home in the rain

Well, we started with a new driver today – the third one in a week’s time. I don’t have the highest hopes that this one will work out any better. We decided after much debate that the better thing for us to do as far as transportation here was to rent a car and driver. Ronnie has been making do on getting to ITB with the angkots and ojeks but those just don’t work for me. We tried taxis for a couple of months, but they proved unreliable, meaning you couldn't always count on them showing up. A couple of times we found cab drivers that we really liked, but they might be on the other side of town or tied up when we needed them. Eventually we realized that we were not going to be happy relying on public transportation, especially now that rainy season has arrived. 

typical angkot - most popular form of public transportation

We gave some thought to buying a car (several people tried to convince us to go that route) but neither of us wanted the risk/liability. We have been told that when there's an accident, the one who pays is the one who has money. It doesn't matter who's at fault. So it eventually came back around to renting a car and driver. We decided to go with TRAC, even though they were a little higher because they were supposedly the most reputable, having trained drivers who work well with expats. We asked for just two things – that the driver have Thursday off so that he could take us to church on Sunday. Check. The second was that he could speak some English. Uh, check.

Ok, so the first driver, Mr. Edi,  was nice and understood a little bit of English (about as much as I do Bahasa, which isn’t saying much) but he was able to get us where we needed to go. However, the company didn’t bother to inform him that he had to work on Sundays, which he was not willing to do. So our relationship with Mr. Edi ended after the first 3 days. 

The second driver Mr. Hendra was a nice young man, but not as experienced a driver (one close call) and definitely didn’t know the city. For example, he didn't know where ITB was when Ronnie asked to be taken to work. Later, I asked him to take me to the store on Friday, knowing it was only about 5 minutes from our apartment. After about 15 minutes I realized that we were definitely not on the way to the store and that he didn’t have a clue where it was. In his defense, I said Setiabudhi market and he was driving down Setiabudhi street. I managed to phone my Bible study leader Marcia and she (being fluent in Bahasa) was able to get him back to the supermarket. We made it back, so no harm done. Then in the afternoon I gave him an address for where I wanted to get my hair cut and he indicated he knew where it was. I knew it was maybe 15 minutes or so from the apartment, so after that period of time I started getting suspicious again that he didn’t know where he was going. Long story short, he drove me around in traffic for ONE SOLID HOUR, insisting every time I asked that he knew where it was and that we were close!! He kept stopping and asking pedestrians, food cart workers and even a lady on the side of the road who was getting lice picked out of her hair. My nerves were pretty shot by the time I finally arrived for my haircut - 45 minutes late. As a side note, the hairdresser ended up doing a WHACK JOB this time and got it way too short!!! Sigh…

So this morning we met the new (third) driver, Mr. Dadang. After profuse apologies, we were set to try driver #3, hoping the third time would be a charm. But by asking questions, we were able to determine that he had never driven for them before (Ronnie was suspicious because he wasn’t wearing the TRAC uniform shirt). In fact, we have no knowledge that he has ever driven for ANYONE before! He may be just used to driving his scooter around town for all we know. So this afternoon Ronnie decided to give it a whirl and go to the store. Ronnie had to show him the way there (anyone who lives in this part of the city knows where Setiabudhi market is – it’s somewhat of a landmark). Not only did he not know how to get there, he couldn’t figure out how to get back either. So I don’t have high hopes for Mr. DaDang. All of these guys seem nice enough (if you can tell that when someone doesn’t talk) but just not real qualified as drivers. It just seems like everything here is more difficult than it should be. Such is life in Bandung.

Have food, will travel....

 

durian ice cream??

Even on sensory overload, one of the first things one notices after arriving in Indonesia are these tiny wheeled food stalls (called gerobaks) that dot literally every street and sidewalk in the city. These rolling food carts are about as Indonesian as it gets. Not only are they on every street, you'll see them rolling around in your neighborhood as well.

 

Basically, a gerobak is a wooden box on wheels which contains a hot stove for street cooking. Some even come complete with mini table and chairs that allow the customer to eat on the side of the road. This give a whole new meaning to “eating out.”

meatballs with noodles

green eggs, fer shur no ham

thin dough filled with egg/vegetable mixture

These rolling stalls sell food ultra cheap. People tell me that some of the food is really good, and that may be true. But we have also been warned by friends who have lived here to resist any temptation to eat at these tiny “meals on wheels". For one thing, there is no running water nearby for cleaning utensils and such. Also one has to wonder how the foods fare when kept outside for hours with no refrigeration. As of yet, neither of us has even been tempted because we have both have had enough GI issues as our systems have tried to adjust to being here. We have been as careful as possible with the water, and we have eaten out only a very few times. Still, we have both been “initiated” into eating in an underdeveloped country. And in all honesty, most of what I see in these carts hasn’t had any appeal to me anyway (martabak manis being the exception). However, several of the young Fulbright girls began eating off these carts soon after arriving and claimed that their stomachs have fared well.

frying dough to fill with egg/veggie mixture

Most of these snacks or meals from city hawkers are of a fried variety. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Indonesians do love their fried food! You will find these carts virtually everywhere you look, and especially in congested, high foot traffic areas such as around schools and universities. So if one really wants to experience a significant part of Indonesian culture, this is  probably on the  “must do” list.

translates "cow foot and whipped noodles"

literally translated means "beef noodle leg shake"

The fact that these street sellers also roam around in residential areas makes it even easier for locals to eat at any time, without even having to go out. All you need to do is wait for them to come by! Some of these have their own distinctive call or songs to announce their wares. For example, the bakso (meatball) seller will hit the side of a soup bowl, whereas mie ayam (chicken with noodles) is announced by hitting a wood block.

Pork is rarely eaten here since 95% of Indonesians are Muslim. Nasi goring (fried rice) and mie goring (fried noodles) are popular, as is bakso (really pale looking meatballs) and krupuk (all types of fried crisps/crackers – usually fish flavored).  There are many other popular street foods but at this point, I have no idea what most of them are. While some of the fruity ones might be tempting (if we didn't mind getting sick), most of the others are not at this point in time. But who knows, perhaps we will get a little more adventuresome as time goes on?

But on a happier note....

... I am developing a good relationship with Aisah, the lady who cleans for us. She is a very nice Muslim lady who needed work badly. Her husband and son, both drivers, have apparently been out of work for some time. I was worried about the amount we were going to pay her (we were advised to pay her a certain amount which is the “going rate” here – her salary comes out to about $1.38 hour). Today I learned that some pembantus work for about half of this! Marcia (Bible study leader) is the one who found her for us, and her sister is Marcia’s long time helper. So her salary needed to be in line with what her sister and other pembantus are making. 

We were told to give her money for angkot and ojek each week for getting to our place and back but  to only pay her once a month. Apparently, if you pay them more often they spend it along the way and there is no money left for bills at the end of the month. Fortunately, she started in the middle of the month so we were able to give her first earnings to her after just 2 weeks. I had worried that she would be disappointed when she saw what her salary was (she took the job without asking). But to the contrary, she started crying when we handed it to her! She speaks only the smallest amount of English, but she was quick to say “happy” because she wanted us to know they were tears of joy! I was humbled and all I could do was give her a hug. 

So Aisah is happy and I am happy and hopefully I can find other ways of doing things for her along the way and certainly before we leave. Even though there is a huge communication gap between us, I practice my ABC’s in Bahasa Indonesian with her and she tries to teach me words. We greet each other in Bahasa each time she comes by saying the same thing each time. (Selamat Pagi, apa kabar? Baik, apa kabar anda?) She cheers me on when I learn new words. I also use Google translate a lot and that has been a huge help. I am thankful for her. Maybe one day she will let me take her photo and I will share it.

It’s really pitiful how “the help” is treated here in Indonesia. The first day she came to work, she was about to eat her lunch (a small baggie of cooked rice and something dark green??) I reached into the cabinet to get a dish down for her. But our landlady who happened to be in the apartment stopped me. I really didn’t get what she was trying to say, so I instead handed her a paper plate (we use these a lot to cut down on dish washing). I could sense that the landlady was not happy with me and before I knew it, she had sent one of the helper boys to get Aisah her own dish and fork that (we were told) were to be kept separately from the dishes we use. When she told me (and Aisah) this, it was all I could do to hold back the tears. It’s like a throwback to the 50’s in the states or before, although in this case it is not race but social class. Helpers are often referred to as “servants”. Sigh…. Every day (especially as I am around Marcia) I am learning more about this culture and how people think so differently than we do in the states.

Another good thing that has happened is that we finally have a car and driver. Supposedly he speaks English, but again his English is maybe a hair better than my Bahasa, so there you go. They have sent two and neither of them speak enough to understand what I am saying. So while I am immensely thankful to have a way to get around now, I will need to be sure I always have my destination written down. I went to the store that is about 5 minutes from our apartment this morning with the new driver. After driving for about 15 minutes, I realized he had no idea where we were going! Apparently the street and the supermarket have the same name, so he was just driving down that street. I finally got Marcia on the phone and she was able to direct him back to the store. She also told me that from now on I need to say “toko Setia Budhi” which indicates that it is the store and not the street I am wanting to go to.

Ronnie's ITB Informatics class skyping with A&M class - gig' em??

On another positive note, Ronnie’s work here could not be going any better! I think it has been even more successful than he had anticipated. So while it is still in the early stages, he is very encouraged by it and therefore, so am I. So all in all, I would say that while there are parts of this experience that I don’t yet see how I'm going to appreciate, I also think/hope that we will some day look back on this experience and see it as one of personal growth (ouch!) and be able to say that we’re glad we did it. I’m not there yet….but I’m working on it. But between now and then….I’ll be dreaming of a white (or cold or hot or even wet - who cares??) Christmas in the good ole’ USA!!!

Nine down....

How many to go???

Yes, we had two more dead rats removed from above both bathrooms again this morning. That makes a total of nine now. Somehow I have a feeling I’m going to lose count one of these days, as our landlady has finally decided to start checking and re-setting the traps daily. She even gave the boys a can of spray to use each time they open the attic. What it’s supposed to do for the rats, I have no idea since it is a bug spray. And did I mention that it's artificially lavender scented?

Artificial lavender perfume mixed with dead rat odor? NICE….

This is living in Indonesia. I’ll admit that I’ve had a rough couple of weeks of it. The new has worn off and I’m past my limit for vacation time. It feels like it is time to go home now. However, the agreement was to stay 10 months and that is what we intend to do. I think I just kind of hit a brick wall here, first with a lingering stomach issue and then everything else just kind of piled on top of it. You know how we all live with a certain amount of stress all the time, but occasionally there just seems to be a tipping point? Well, I reached mine week before last and it wasn’t pretty. I think it was a  just a combination of the dirtiness of this place, a good case of homesickness (missing family, friends and my own bed), feeling trapped in the apartment with the endless burning of trash coming in through open windows and the never ending prayer calls. And just not having enough to occupy my time.

I have tried really hard to make some friends here, but have been very disappointed not to run into any more Caucasians or English speaking people. So far, with lots of effort, I have met 3 women from the US. Helen is an expat (PA)  like myself who is 3 more months into this than I am. Marcia, my Bible study leader has lived here since ’89 and still has kids at home and Trevor Johnson and his wife (MO), a missionary couple serving in a remote tribal area on Papua Island who are in the city for the birth of their third child. All of these have been a blessing to me but they are all busy with their own lives and commitments. 

I had been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to attend the International Women’s Club that I learned about from an expat website. I thought SURELY I could find just one lonely expat there – would that be asking too much? Well, as it turns out, yes. I’ll include a photo taken with my cell phone (not very good quality) at the meeting last week. Turns out there were a lot of nice ladies there…but honestly, none that I see myself wanting to develop a deeper relationship with. Sigh… 

after we danced around the room in what appeared to be the equivalent of a group hug

  

I will share one experience from last week’s meeting. They were set up with a keyboard and microphone and it quickly became apparent that they take their singing seriously. The lady who gave me a ride to the meeting asked me if I would sing into a microphone after we ate. I politely declined and told her I could not sing. Then she asked both of the other two visitors who were there  (and happened to be sitting at my table) if they would sing and they both said NO. It wasn’t three minutes later before I heard her announcing that the three visitors had agreed to sing a song for them!!! Of course by this time they are clapping because we are going to sing, so what could we do but get up and pick out a song to sing together? We finally settled on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I was just so very thankful I hadn’t "volunteered" to sing a solo! I’m not sure why I was surprised by this, as we had each already had to take the microphone and stand in front of the group to talk about ourselves!! I didn’t really feel that I had anything very interesting to say but I did tell them how long I had been here and that I found the Indonesian people to be very friendly (which is true). They all nodded approvingly so I know I said at least one thing they liked. I was careful not to mention any of the above. HA!

Ok, this is the not-so-wonderful report, but tomorrow I will share on a more positive note….

To Market, to Market.....

Shopping for food is a challenge for me here. First of all, nothing really looks very appetizing. That may be partially related to the stomach issues I’ve had since coming here. Also, a lot of things are just not things we recognize. Even common staples are not packaged in ways that we are not used to, so sometimes it takes some figuring out to even know what something is. 

lots of salt

Setiabudhi supermarket supposedly caters to westerners. Well, I must say that there are more products that I recognize there than in the other grocery stores we've tried. But the few items that are recognizable to westerners costs about 4x's what they cost in the US. That’s because they had to come half way around the world to get here just like we did. So we are slowly trying unfamiliar brands and products, some because we have no choice and some because it just doesn’t make sense to pay so much for American products. Occasionally we do treat ourselves to something familiar (even though it feels like we are grossly overpaying) for a little taste of home.

 

sugar (gula)

mountains of rice

hmm....i don't think so

Ronnie at check out

fry it up in a pan!

One of the big things I’ve noticed here from all the sidewalk cooking that goes on, is that Indonesians do love their fried foods. That would explain why there are multiple aisles in the grocery store dedicated to nothing but cooking oils. Of course rice is a staple in any Indonesian’s diet, so the same goes there. Rows of nothing but rice in every brand and size (no Minute rice here, though) fill complete aisles. Of course there are all kinds of meats and fish, with no parts going to waste. Washing fruits and vegetables is extremely time consuming, calling for multiple rinses with bottled water. Washing and rinsing lettuce leaf by leaf is tedious. Which means we don’t eat many fresh salads or veggies anymore. There is only one (1) type of frozen veggies in the supermarket (mixed) so we do buy those. Perhaps everyone just uses fresh here as they can be purchased cheaply from neighborhood vendors or along the roadside.

even the water doesn't look appetizing - pocar sweat??

veggie section at Setiabudhi

Even the locals must drink bottled water, though they do use tap water to cook with. I suppose the thinking is that everything is dead by the time it gets boiled or fried. As Ronnie mentioned in his post, even the restaurant food is not all that appetizing. The few times we’ve tried it, one of us has usually regretted it. There are a few chains that we are familiar with, and we were excited to find them. However, recipes are not the same. Pizza Hut’s meat lovers pizza is made with fake pork products - not recommended. McDonalds surprisingly biggest seller is not a burger but a chicken leg with sticky rice. The rice is served wrapped in paper. People eat it from the paper or use their fingers. KFC serves the same, chicken and rice. You can get fries, no mashed potatoes. Diet drinks are not sold in restaurants (we did find Coke Zero at Setiabudhi, however it is not the same recipe). Restaurants do offer a lot of good tasting fruity drinks, though they are ultra sweet and there is always the question of how the fruit has been cleaned and if the ice is made from bottled water.

durian flesh - not even appealing that way! (Indonesians love it!)

they call this chili and they eat it on EVERYTHING!

Milk is good, as is the yogurt (big on yogurt). However they have never heard of cottage cheese here. We did find some tortillas (?) in our market and we’ve tried making fajitas a couple of times. The first time we looked for tortilla chips, we bought something called “Happy Toes.” We were so excited to find cheese so we could make some nachos. Turns out they were so sweet, they would have been better suited with milk poured over them for breakfast! So no more Happy Toes for us. Our American friends told us they had discovered a decent substitute for a tortilla chip called Carnitos. They are not always easy to find but they are decent and improved by heating in our toaster oven.

KFC's chicken legs and rice balls

The best thing they have here (to our western minds) is their breads. They do have a bakery and make some very nice breads, so we are giving our toaster oven a good workout. We eat lots of peanut butter and homemade pimento cheese and canned soup. We are by no means starving. We’re just having to work a little harder to enjoy eating than we do at home.

A Regular Day...

Ronnie is guest blogging for me today. I asked him if he would write what a typical day is like for us here in Bandung. Not too exciting, but this is pretty much our "new normal."

Routine is something most of us enjoy. It brings comfort, allowing us to live on “autopilot” for the moment.

Daily routine in our apartment goes something like the following. We wake early usually before 6am due to sunlight through the windows, roosters crowing or dogs barking. More often, the motorcycle noise of a neighbor as it climbs the steep hill outside our bedroom windows wakes me. Jan is able to sleep a little longer since she stays up later, but she is generally up by 6:30am.

coffee is ground into a fine powder, then settles in bottom of cup

I generally have mud coffee, although I will use the coffee pot if Jan decides she wants coffee instead of hot tea. We have breakfast, then to clean up, we boil a large pan of water and pour it into a pink wash pan, which has dish soap and a half a cap of bleach. The water is drawn from the bathtub which, unlike the kitchen, is piped with hot but non-potable water. We run rinse water into a blue pan from the bottled water dispenser and wash the dishes. We place the trash outside our front door for the boys to pick up as they do their daily routine of sweeping the stairwell leading to our apartment.

We respond to mail, read news on the web or enjoy Facebook. Seldom is the TV on since few of the channels make any sense to us.

Ronnie drawing hot water from bath tub

Sometimes the routine is disturbed by the boys coming to change the air (water) bottle, which is empty. For that we pay Rp. 12,500 (about $1.47). Today it was disturbed by them collecting yet another rat out of the attic. I heard it squirming in the trap during the night.

On Monday thru Wednesday I shower, dress and take off to work on the ojek (motorcycle), or use the car and driver which we have rented just this week. I pack not only my computer bag, but also my lunch and my running clothes to use later in the day when I run the track at ITB. On MWF, Jan greets the pembantu (house keeper), who arrives around 9:00am.

boiling water to wash dishes - several times a day

Ronnie leaves for work on ojek

Every day the apartment must be swept because of critters that enter during the night, or debris that comes thru the open windows, cracks under the doors or tracked in on our shoes. Anyone from Indonesia that enters our apartment always removes their shoes at the front door. Slippers, thongs and sandals are popular here for that reason.

When I arrive home from work at the University, we generally prepare supper together. We haven’t eaten out that often for several reasons—haven’t found a restaurant where the food is outstanding, has a menu we enjoy or that excels in cleanliness. Our cooking gear is pretty modest. A Teflon skillet, a sauce pan, and a large pot. All three are generally used every time the kitchen is used. Our “dirty kitchen" (the outside kitchen) is used for frying and boiling water. The inside kitchen is used for warming frozen veggies, cooking potatoes or boiling pasta. After supper, we go through the same routine (using the pink and blue pans) to clean up the dishes. Many times we use paper goods to avoid having to wash too many dishes, or concern about what critter has crawled on the dishes at night (cicaks—lizards, roaches, ants, etc.). That creates trash which we put out the next morning. Jan says our camping experience has served us well here. Her sister Marilyn advised us early on to think of our apartment as camping but with roof, electricity and potty. Adjusting our perspective to that has helped some. Jan here: However, we have had 7 rats removed from our apartment and that is something we’re both having trouble adjusting to!

bottled water dispenser, frig, stove top, dishwashing area

In the evening, I go through my routine of reading the comics and the news highlighted by Yahoo or Google. I catch up on email or Facebook and then work for a couple of hours reading, entering research data, grading papers or studying the language. Jan blogs, responds to email, reads Facebook and spends time on her laptop. Thank the good Lord for the Internet and our laptops! Otherwise, we would truly be isolated and miserable without contact from our friends and family. (AMEN to that!!)

On Thursdays, Jan goes to Bible study while I just relax in the apartment or run on the streets nearby. I don’t like to do this because I can get tagged by a motorcycle, have to smell the burning trash on the roadside and worry about injury from the uneven surface of the street (potholes, rock cover or uneven pavers). On Fridays, I take my swim lesson at Cipaku pool and Jan walks in the same neighborhood with her Bible teacher.

On Saturday, we get out and shop or try to see places in the city, but it is very crowded with tourists that come to Bandung to shop the outlet malls or enjoy the cooler weather. On Sunday, we attend BIC (Bandung International Church) and get out in the afternoon to scout the city or buy supplies at Setiabudhi Market to begin another week.