First view of Indonesia at Taman Mini Jakarta-a theme park featuring each island of Indonesia. My first impressions were that it was very hot, smoggy, and full of nyamuk-nyamuk (mosquitoes). The nyamuk here are smaller, more smart and EVERYWHERE. The bites on my face are finally going down so I now longer look like I have a case of chronic acne! My host brother is paid 1000 rupiyah (10 cents) for every nyamuk that he kills. He is apparently a professional mosquito-killer!
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| Traditional bathroom was difficult to get used to at first but now I'm a pro. To shower you squat and pour water from the green scoop over your head. To use the toilet you squat and since Indonesians believe wet is cleaner than dry you use water, not toilet paper to clean yourself! By the end of my stay I'll have ripped legs from all the squatting! |
Traditional batik is very popular here as well as La Liga... But I never expected to see the two combined. These clothes, while well made are also very cheap: 27000 Rupiyah=$3.00!I bought one batik shirt (without the Barcelona FC motif) and two batik pants and one batik sleeping dress. All for under $5.00 each. I'm very grateful for these because all of my clothes are heavy cotton blends and it's very hard to follow appropriate, conservative dress code without sweating to death in the heat.
The food here is fantastic. Mostly it is all goreng (fried) with coconut oil and garlic, onion, and other bumbu-bumbu (spices). The fresh fruit is the best I've ever tasted. In the mornings Ibu and I walk to the front gate to buy fruits and vegetables from a woman with a vegetable cart. Tofu and tempeh are very common here, so surviving as a vegetarian is not difficult... Except yesterday I accidentally ate meat. It was bull-meat, I think, but I thought it was tofu. I noticed that it was really rubbery and hard to swallow but I did out of politeness until I realized it was meat. After that I felt sick to my stomach-probably more from the psychological effects than the physical ones.
I visited the pasar (local market) today. It was my first real excursion into the fray of the public of Surabaya. I smelled dozens of new odors and tasted dozens of new things (all the vendors offered free samples to me). I got a lot of attention as a bulai ("white" foreigner). People stared and pointed and one man called me belanda-which means Dutch (which I am not, even a little bit). They yelled American saying "Oh my God" and calling my "Mister, mister!". People would also yell ayu (beautiful) when I passed and one stranger even told me she wanted to switch noses with me! Another invited me to her guava plantation.
To get home from the pasar Ibu and I took a becak (pedicab) which was wild. The people here drive on the left side of the street, which is still disorienting for me; and to be pedalling along going 5mph surrounded by honking cars and thousands of motorcycles was terrifying to begin with. I also rode my first motorcycle on the way to get a haircut today and Ibu guessed it was my first time by how I clung to her with terror. At the salon I learned that in Indonesia there is a rule that boys' hair by law cannot be long enough that it touches their collar. Apparently the punishment is an embarrassing hair cut of many lengths if I boy defies this!
Facts:
- Tahu means both "to know" (v.) and "tofu" (n.) which has already created one awkward misunderstanding.
- On the plane between Jakarta and Surabaya (an Indonesian company) there were prayer sheets about airplane crashes for Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. All prayers were translated into at least three languages.
- They use electrified tennis rackets to kill mosquitoes.
- Surabaya means "Shark-Crocodile", named for a famous battle between the two in the river running through the city.
