The Man Purse

Real title: Culture I Have Encountered

Who wants to learn about culture?
(in a massive souvenir shop, playing with wayang shadow puppets) 

To get an idea of what I encounter every day, I'd like to share some things I've learned and seen here. Of course, this is exclusive to my experience in Indonesia so while some things are general, please don't paint a picture in your mind that all Indonesia is always like this! 

Let's start with the most important, food: 

• Indonesians like spicy food. More importantly, they like sambal, a chili sauce of varying degrees of spiciness. This is added to everything, all the time. 
• Javanese food is known for being sweet, sweeter than other islands. 
• A common drink is es jeruk, a cold drink of squeezed mandarin oranges and sugar. Jeruk panas is the hot version of this. Never though hot orange juice would be good; it's DELICIOUS. Also, everyone drinks tea (mostly green and some black), either iced or hot. It's served with heaps of sugar unless ordered specifically without.
• The rice cooker is the most used appliance, running all day. Food is made and set out for anyone to take during the day; often, families with different schedules don't eat together. 
• The dishes I've eaten revolve around rice (3 times a day, on a good day), noodles, chicken, fish and vegetables. 
• Nasi goreng, mie goreng, capcay, bakmi, bakso, ayam goreng, tahu, soto, gado-gado, ronde, 
• empek-empek, ikan bakar, ayam bakar, nasi sayur asing, nasi mie goreng, sate ayam, lontong, dll. Meals I've eaten. 
• Jus jambu, blended guava juice, is amazing.
• I enjoy a good lele (catfish) every once in a while.
• I have yet to try dog meat. 

The Family Home:

• People live in their home until they are married, unless they go away for university. I know a man that stayed until he was 28 and another that is 32 now. Unheard of in Canada. Parents support their kids until they are married as well, if they can afford it. 
• Family is very important and an incredibly strong bond.
• In a survey of household consumption, the second highest expense after food was cigarettes.
• School is free until high school, SMA, so many students drop out if their families can't afford it. 
• No matter how nice your house is, you will always find ants, geckos and mice (thanks Pak Dan for this information). Houses have many open holes so anything can find its way in.

Life Outside the Home:

• There are people everywhere: on the streets are tons of warungs, little "restaurants" that can serve one dish up to a whole menu. There's no real equivalent from home that I can think of. These are often on the sidewalk, which can be tarped off from the street. Many people sit on mats to eat;
• many warungs, shops and businesses have parking attendants. There are no parking metres but there are attendants, who must be paid;
• a popular hobby seems to be sitting on the side of the road with friends. At night, I'll see groups of men with their motorbikes parked and they're just sitting there. Often squatting, which continues to impress me every day; 
• the most common form of  transport is the motorcycle. Others are cars, bicycles, becak (a rickshaw-like vehicle pushed by a man), andong (a horse carriage), buses and jalan kaki (on foot).
• People can start riding motorcycles when they are in their early teens. It's still unnerving to see 13-year old kids driving around. 
• The word I've probably heard the most is terus. This means continue, straight, keep going, next, etc. Every day I hear this word. It seems that because there are so many people and things are built really close together, a team is needed to maneuver in and out of parking spots. That's why the parking attendants are needed. But everyone does it! My 7-year old host brother in Salatiga helped his father out one day by terus terus terus-ing him out of our street. I thought it was the cutest thing and it still makes me smile every day when random bystanders will lend a terus here and there. 
• The exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and Indonesian rupiah is 1 CAD=9604 IDR. However, the cost of practically everything in Indonesia is much cheaper so it is very hard to explain. For example, if I pay Rp, 20.000 for decent portion of fried rice for lunch, that's a little bit much. But that's only around $2.00 in Canada... See? I've learned to look at prices from an Indonesian perspective. It helps a lot. 
• Indonesia is the top user of Facebook in the world. 
• The man purse. Totally common here. 
• Smoking is a cultural habit, it is everywhere here. Everyone that smokes in public is male and it seems that almost all youth (young adults) smoke. It reminds me of Austria.
• Many young men dress very well. 

Culture:

• Indonesians try to use the passive form of sentences as to not put anyone on the spot. The more the object can be the main focus of the sentence, the better. 
• Indirect communication is very important. 
• Questions that are common upon introduction: Where are you from? How old are you? Are you married? What's your religion? Mau kemana? ("where are you going?" Answered with ke sana, "over there"). 
• Titles are very important, depending on how old a person is in comparison to you. Some examples: bapak, ibu, kakak, adik, mas, mbak (Mr., Mrs., older sister/brother, younger sister/brother, brother, sister). 
• The left hand is not used to receive or give objects, as it is used for other things. If used, say something like "maaf, tangan kiri" (sorry, left hand). 
• Shorts and tank tops are only worn around the home and by tourists in public. 
• In public or formal settings, ladies shouldn't cross their legs when sitting on the floor. Sitting with legs to the side can hurt after a while, ow... Also, while sitting, girls shouldn't cross their legs if an older person is present.
• Every Indonesian citizen has a KTP, ID card issued by the government. It includes all important information, including religion (there are 6 recognized religions), job and a fingerprint. 
• There are national holidays from all religions. Therefore, Indonesia has many many holidays. 
• Javanese culture is incredibly rich and strong here in Jogja. It deserves its own post, if I get around to that. 

This is all for now. I hope it was interesting; it's not an exhaustive list so if there are any questions about anything else, please do ask :) Love talking about culture! 

Thank you Mami for the idea.

Lisi

Yogyakarta, here I am!

 29 Oktober, 2012

I’m finally writing from Yogyakarta, the centre of Javanese culture and hospitality! But before I dive into that story, some pictures from my last week in Salatiga.

Merapi, seen from Merbabu's summit. Dangerously beautiful, I now live  close to this guy. 

We visited an organic farm. Check out the size of that bundle of parsley!

Visited a boat shop. These are mostly used for fishing.

Taking a boat ride on a lake right outside of Salatiga.

I was so blessed by my time here; the people, the town and that beautiful mountain Merbabu greeting me every morning were reasons that I would’ve loved to stay. But comfort sometimes needs to be disrupted for change. And this is a change I was ready for! I was looking forward to Yogyakarta for months so it was time to get there and see it. Sad to say goodbye to fellow YALTers but trust that they're doing well in their new communities!

On October 14th, I was picked up by my new host parents. My father is a professor of architecture at one of the many universities in Jogja; my mother stays at home, selling cosmetics and organic supplements. They are wonderful! The first few days were a challenge as we were getting used to each other and the language barrier between us. My host father speaks a bit of English and my mother speaks less. I have two host brothers, ages 22 and 24. The younger son is still a student of architecture in town and the older one works in Bali. He was visiting this past weekend for a holiday and I was lucky to hang out with him for a few days. This family lives in a large house on the northern outskirts of Jogja, 20 minutes away from the city centre and my school. I have the upstairs to myself, including a bathroom and “living room” with a TV. 

The next day I started at the Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana (UKDW). Walked into the PPBA (foreign language centre) and the ladies greeted me with shrieks of joy! I am this year's Native Speaker.The staff was so welcoming right away and I appreciate them all. The first two weeks were pretty slow, as classes were on a break, so I spent a lot of time in my own office! I am part of helping plan events for the English Club, a weekly meeting for students to practice English. We got right into planning a games hour (on the 19th) and the Halloween Party on Nov. 2nd. Today I started my first day of classroom assisting. I will be joining teachers for required English classes and sharing stories, helping with the lesson, answering questions, etc. However, this morning I received an SMS that the teacher of my first class was sick, so I was going to manage half of the class by myself! So after another staff member opened the class, I was alone. Was not too confident in my ability to communicate concepts of our super easy English language but I think it went well. They left the classroom happy and with my Facebook name and blog address. The other class went well and I look forward to the rest of my classes this semester. I was also on the campus radio today, promoting the English Club, our Halloween party and sharing about Halloween. I was so nervous, this was a new experience! 

Aside from assisting the PPBA I am joining the local GKMI, Mennonite Church, where my host family attends. From my first meeting, I was so excited to be a part of this small church. Although I can't understand the services and bible studies, I felt immediately welcomed here too. It's a giant family and I am not a guest but a sister in Christ. I love the global church! This past weekend was the family retreat, where about 90 people attended - almost the whole church. There were people from all ages and I had such a good time! Met some of the youth girls, I am excited to get to know them better. The retreat was in a beautiful area called the Dieng Plateau. By the city of Wonosobo was the Tambi Tea Plantation where we stayed. I woke up early one day and walked through the plantation and it was breathtaking! It's right on the foot of Mt. Sundoro. It was such a treat to spend time in the mountains again - the scenery (my favourite), the fresh air, the feeling of being cold, snuggling into a real blanket, being provided with a hot shower... It was great! We also got a tour of the plantation, wow! This was such a treat. 

ASIDE from the university and church, I've been busy with other things too! My family has been great at introducing me to new things and taking me places. Visited so far: an ancient Hindu/Buddhist temple site, built in the 9th century; a village devastated by the 2010 Merapi eruption, now thriving in tourism; a Javanese art and culture museum; the main shopping centre of Malioboro and the evening hang out place for youth, for a nice cup of kopi Joss (coffee served with a hot coal). I've enjoyed it all and this city is slowly becoming familiar to me.

I have been so blessed these past two weeks by my family, the university and the church. It almost feels like it's too good to be true! Instead of waiting for something to go wrong, though, I will thank the Lord! This SALT position seems to be such a good fit and I look forward to the next 9 months here in Jogja. 

I ask for prayer for motivation, perseverance and strength! I keep realizing that I have a lot of work to do for my internship and when opportunities come to go someplace, I always take them. Which is great, but I need to learn to say no. Time for discipline! I also find myself tired often, especially when I was sick last week with a super sore throat and a bout of heat rash. I'm all better now - it's finally rainy season so the awkward in-between season period is over, praise the Lord! 

I have started an online photo album, so I can finally post many pictures at one time! Link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101166710549137784356/LisiInIndonesia?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIrU983np_eOqgE&feat=directlink

Keep following! Thanks for your prayers and thoughts :) I am incredibly blessed to be here and am thankful for everyone that's making my time here possible! For everyone in Canada, I hope you're enjoying the Fall season! It's one of my favourite things and I miss it here. I love walking through the Fall colours, breathing brisk air and starting a new semester (yes, I miss school). Enjoy :)

Love from a global servant learner, 

Lisi 

Address

Hello everyone,
Here is my mailing address! Some of you were asking for it, perhaps to send some mail or to look it up on Google Maps :) Both ideas make me very happy.

Lisi Schrottner
GKMI Yogyakarta
Jl. Jati - Pingit Kidul
No. 9-11
Yogyakarta 55231
Indonesia

This is the church's address, which is faster since I live in a housing complex that's apparently not nice towards mail...If you would like my house address, please email me privately.
I'll update this blog soon, I promise!
Blessings,
Lisi

Merbabu 2



Mt. Merapi, an active volcano that erupts every 4-6 years. Last major eruption was in 2010, smoking a little bit all the time. Nevertheless, I'm going to climb this one too!




The puncak (summit) crew! Representing Canada, China, Zambia and America



From the summit



Merbabu 1

Dawn over the valley, around 5:15

The closest we got to seeing sunrise.  On the right is Merbabu's lower summit and the mountain in the middle is Andong

The last steep climb!

Getting closer to the top

The summit! :) Java's highest mountain, Semeru, in the  distance

Pictures from Class Outings

An enting-enting factory in Salatiga

The waterfall, Sekat Langit

The batik factory. The men are stamping hot wax patterns (close-up) onto fabric

Receiving wonderful hospitality during a village visit

For my fellow hikers and lovers of God's creation!

2 Oktober, 2012

Semangat!
I am sitting here with a fantastic sense of peace and joy and I owe that to the goodness of my God!

As week 5 of language class came to an end with a full class, we headed to G. Merbabu for an overnight hike. The seven very intrepid YALTers with varying levels of excitement and two guides approached base camp of the 3145 m. mountain at 6:00pm and ascended the steep and dusty trail. It reminded me of Kamloops, to be honest. Through the trees we could see the village lights between the cities of Magelang and Salatiga and looking up, the sky was a canopy of stars and moonlight. The waxing moon reached its full point at midnight, so flashlights were not always necessary! Unfortunately we dropped one member of our team who was sick at the start, so he had to remain in the car... But the rest of us made it to the 2nd stop/ camping spot. It was pretty cold at this point and we hurriedly set up tents and built a fire. After a quick dinner and a quick solitary lie-down in the grass under the full moon :) we went to bed. I think I slept less than an hour in the 3 hour time span we had to rest. It was so cold! Even for Canadian standards, yes. Oh well. We departed again at the chilly hour of 3:30am to reach the summit by sunrise. I was very excited; some may call it being overtired but I had energy and was stoked to do this! We climbed and clambered up the rocky trail as the moon set and the sky lightened up. Peaks started coming up through the clouds and we could see the villages once again. At the pace we were going, we unfortunately didn't make it to the summit for sunrise (can't cross that off my list of things to do but I don't mind trying again!). But the mountains turned golden as we continued and the view only got better. We reached several posts ("this isn't the top yet??" "5 minutes more") and it was getting quite warm. A group of Papuan students studying at UKSW in Salatiga passed us and practically ran up to the summit. Half our group stopped at the 700m remaining mark as we stared up a really steep cliff. I scrambled up and finally made it to the puncak (summit) at 7:15. Wow. I celebrated with the Papuan guys and turned around and there was G. Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Have you ever stared eye-level at a volcano, speechless and jumping for joy inside? That was me that morning! It was unusually clear so you could see every ridge, rice paddy, and the sand slides and ravines left from the 2010 eruption. Amazing! The 3 other members of the group followed shortly and we ate peanuts, hydrated and took many pictures for a short while. It was an amazing experience and man, there is no other feeling like being on top of a mountain! Love it :) I praise the Lord for such joyful experiences and I am excited to have more! As my opening sentence states, my peace and joy was renewed and I really needed this.
We descended slowly and reached camp a few hours later. After a quick breakfast/lunch we headed back to the bottom. I finally started losing steam here and my ingrown toenails made for very uncomfortable shoes. But we all reached the bottom and boom. Mountain "befriended" (or conquered, whichever you prefer)! I crashed that night and spent the next day moving and keeping myself busy. I have to say, I feel great :)

The next day brought more excitement right away, in ways that I wouldn't have readily asked for but it happened. On the way to school I witnessed my first minor traffic accident; unfortunately, it was another YALTer ahead of me. A motorcyclist collided with her from behind and he crashed, the bike coming down on him and his wife. With shouts and crying coming from both sides of the accident, the mess was untangled and it was time for the two of us to use our Indonesian to find a solution and see what the damage was. This is difficult while trying to decide who to see to: comfort your crying friend or see if the other couple are truly alright? This was a little stressful and our language escaped us for the time being! But with the help of a wonderfully helpful passerby we made it to a walk-in clinic about 2 minutes away and our language teachers and MCC contact came to the rescue shortly after. The man required some stitches and the woman was just scratched and bruised. My teammate was quite shaken up but she's ok! I praise the Lord that nothing serious happened and that police were not involved. We learned to be super careful in traffic and that it was just a matter of time before something happened to one of the nine YALTers. Also, that people truly care and that we will not go uncared for during our stay in Indonesia!

Needless to say, I am a little more tired now after all this!
But "The Joy of the LORD is my strength" and  every night I can, with assurance, say that "I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety".