Minggu Keempat

This weekend was my first AFS orientation.  We went to Nganjuk, the small village where my coordinator grew up.  There between sessions I wandered around, meeting all of the sapi-sapi, kambing-kambing, domba-domba and ayam-ayam (cows, goats, sheep, and chickens) of the village.  We could just walk into anyone's yard because they all knew my host and trusted her.  I hadn't realized how much I had missed sapi-sapi until then-and Sara (The Other Bule) found her obsession with chickens-which somehow increased after an angry mama bird nipped her for getting too close to her anak-ayam-ayam (chicks).  Some of the sapi-sapi are owned communally; many villagers care for/feed them and then split the profits when they are sold/slaughtered.
To give the animals water one must pull a bucket of water about twenty feet out of an ancient well-the same method for the outdoor mandi I used.  I love it-seriously, America's obesity problems would be solved if we all had to work up a sweat for each shower.  There was no AC in the traditional village house we stayed in so Sara and I shared a bed with the window open, a fan on high, and the warm night breeze. On the night we arrived we only got five hours to sleep and I only slept for about three (nyamuk bites on my legs were SO ITCHY) and in the morning I woke up with my eye swollen shut.  Sara has several embarrassing pictures of my fatigue-eye which opened gradually throughout the course of the day giving me an endearingly manic look.  Those pictures will not be published.
On the way back to Surabaya we stopped in Mojokerto for an AFS in-home-interview for an American-bound Indonesian student.  Sara and I waited in the kitchen were I fell in love with the (flea-ridden) kittens.  A little boy kept peeking around corners and trying to call the cats from us (with impressively realistic meow-sounds)...  But we had food and attention on our side.  His mother came in and asked where I was from.  "Amerika Serikat" (USA)  "Tidak Austrailie?" (Not Austrailian?) "Tidak.  Saya orang Amerika" (No, I'm American)  Then she insisted that I look Australian and introduced me to her family as an Australian exchange student.

After the in-home-interview we visited the Candi Tikus ("Mouse Temple" because when it was found it was full of mice and rats) which used to be a swimming pool for the queen of an ancient kingdom.  It was on the banks of a manmade lake beside which the king used to have banquets for foreign leaders.  After the meal he would throw the plates and cutlery into the lake to demonstrate his wealth...  (There was a net lining the lake bottom so slaves could later retrieve the plates and such)

I have been running here every day after school.  I get a lot of attention while I run in the nearby university campus.  People on sepeda-motor (motorcycles) slow down, either to ride with me or to clock my speed.  Sometimes pedestrians start running along with me-which was super creepy the first time (I thought I was about to get mugged).  Most often people yell things at me.  As my Bahasa Indonesia improves I've realized that they are mostly yelling encouragement: "Semangat!  Semangat!" (C'mon!  You can do it!) and "Cepat! Cepat!" (Quickly! Quickly!).  This always makes me smile.

After school this week I went to three NBL (National Basketball League, Indonesia) games with my new friends.  The quality of play is very different than the NBA.  First of all, everyone here is much shorter here so it is much more skill based and defense orientated than shot-focused.  It was super fun to go out with teenagers and just relax.  This was the first public place I've gone to where no one stared or tried to randomly strike up a conversation with me.

This week I experienced my first bout of homesickness.  I found out Wednesday that my cat in America had been missing for a week and a Fisher Cat had been spotted in town.  My Thursday was spent sullenly taking midterm exams at school and trying to explain to my friends why I was so depressed.  Most people here don't seem to get as attached to their pets and most cats are feral.  I got super homesick (and cried it out with my host mom) because I felt a) guilty that I couldn't be home helping find him and b) horrible that my mom had lost me and her beloved "favorite child" (Diablo The Cat) in the same month.