Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been very busy. I have some photos for you today from our hiking trip last weekend. And hopefully tonight I can upload the pictures from my Yogyakarta trip from this weekend through Tuesday. It was loads of fun but more on that later.
Getting ready to leave. Patches is awkward isn’t he?
We were above the clouds.
Rice fields.
A mountain. I can’t remember the name.
I was there. Proof.
So the last three days have been a roller coaster. The first two I was feelin great. I was starting to understand more, I was doing OK in classes, things were good. I’ll write more about all this later. For reasons I’m about to explain. Then we had the American-Aussie 4th of July Fest in Indonesia. It was so much fun. Too much fun. After Patrick was pushed into the rice field and covered in mud I laughed so hard I fell over. My wrist and trapezoid or trapezium or scaphoid (one of those) hurts so bad. Morgs wrapped it up for me in the wrap I bought at the Apotek. So currently it hurts to type and I’m going to stop. Just wanted to post a quick update. More details and pictures about the good days and a little bit about today and how I cried because of stress later.
Yay Indonesia!
OK, so today was a good day. Why? I’m not really sure. It just was. It started with me sleeping through the call to prayer which was awesome. I also woke up with only a few mosquito bites. Whoo. Already a good start to an Indonesian morning. I then had the much spoken of yet not yet acquired “cheese donut.” Yes friends this is a sweet donut with frosting and topped with cheese. This was handed to me with a piece of cake for breakfast. It wasn’t half bad if you’re curious. Would I buy it? No. Would I eat it if someone put it in front of me? Ya of course. I do love cheese. And then I went to class. I went to class early and a lone and didn’t feel pressured to do anything or be proper or wait for anyone or like that. It was very nice. Very nice indeed. I also got to the LTC building early enough to check my mail, check facebook, and make sure I understood the questions for today’s discussion on religion. I did. We didn’t end up using any of them. But I understood them. Huzzah.
Megan was not with us this morning because she stayed in Jogja over the weekend after the excursion and the company lied to her about when her car would leave. They said 6am. It didn’t leave till 8am. So the four of trudged our way into our least favorite class: Tata Bahasa. This class is a review class and not terrible in concept at all. It should be my favorite class. However Ibu Ika, who is a sweet woman bless her heart, but she is very, veeery, veeeeerry slooooooooooow. Yes, I know what you are thinking… I complain when they speak too fast and when they speak to slow. Well, yes. I do. SO there. Also, second argument, this isn’t just me. The other students agree that that speed is a mind numbing pace at which to be learning. Then for a short 40 minutes we had Pak Henry. Pak Henry is by far my favorite. Not only does he not make me feel like an idiot for being lost a lot he also draws a lot of pictures on the board. It is a fun way to learn words we have forgotten or simply are new. We also play hangman. Because why? Because learning is FUNdamental. BAM.
Also today we had a long lecture, it wasn’t very organized and started late. Not my favorite things. However, it was the rector of the university and he was discussing his push (as a pastor of all things) for traditional religious rights within Indonesia. That was interesting. Everyone should have religious freedoms, people. That is just how it should be. Indonesia has a very interesting religious system on it’s ID cards. You have to claim a religion and it has to be one of six: Islam, Christian, Catholic, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Confucianism. Which means, yes, sorry Jew-Friends… that religion is not valid here. Also, many others and the choice to not have one. It is an issue of debate for some people. If you can imagine…
Then? Oh then it was lunch. Lunch was catered by a new group today. Apparently they are on two week rotations or something. Whatever the case may be, I don’t care because it was delicious. I had two bowls of the soup because it was so good. Also, NO seafood! So thats a bonus. I could eat everything. Including the fresh fruit. Also the soup, have I mentioned the soup?
We then watched a movie in Indonesian “Tanda-Tanya.” It was pretty good and *drumroll* had subtitles! Huzzah! It is about people really but also about the different religions of Indonesia and the toll that takes on the people of Indonesia. It was pretty good and I’d recommend it for UH’s South East Asian film series. Do it. You know you want to. After the movie we all, the COTI peeps and some PIBBI folk, sat and did homework from 3 till 5. That was very much needed. There were a lot of words I didn’t know in the reading for tomorrow. It is all about the issues Indonesian’s have run into with interfaith marriage. It amazes me that that is still an issue in the world. One day you will just be able to marry the person you love. Or Robot. I’m down with Robosexuality too people. Man, I miss Futurama. That show makes me giggle.
Ok, now that I have finished this and I have 45 minutes left on my computer battery I guess now is a good time to hit the dusty trail and catch an angkota back to the homestay.
Sampai besok!
There is a hornet in my room. There is a giant mother ducking hornet it my room. So I am, of course, too terrified to go back in my room. Bu Lele said it went away but I am so scared to go back in my room. And no, the whole “they are just as scared of you” thing is bullshit! Bullshit I tell you! That thing came right at me. I just don’t know how much more I can take. I am trying but I am floundering here. I can’t deal with the food poisoning and the infections and the hornets.Two of the three I could deal with but now I can’t even be in my bed!
So lets go back to Thursday. On Thursday I felt fine. My lungs felt so much better and I was awake and happy. We had class, I understood half of it. Which is good. Then we had lunch… I’m not sure what I ate at lunch that didn’t sit with me well but MAN it didn’t sit with me well. An hour after lunch we were sitting in the computer lab waiting for Megan to get back from the doctors. Her stomach wasn’t feeling great either, but that had been going on for a few days and it was just something she wanted checked out. My stomach started to feel a little wonky but I figured I just ate too much at lunch. So we decided to wait for Megan, stop by AlphaMart, and then head to Kayu Arum to do some studying. On the way from LTC to AlphaMart I realized that my stomach was really no good. So when Matt kindly offered me some cookies I had to decline. I just thought “Oh I’ll get to Kayu Arum, have some sprite and soup, and it’ll settle down.” It did not. I got to Kayu Arum, sat for 3 minutes or so and then ran to the restroom where lunch made a second appearance. I then thought “Well, that is fine. It’s out. And now I’ll have soup and everything will be well.” Lies. All lies. I ended up making 4 more return trips over the next hour and a half the the Kayu Arum restroom. Where the fishies watched me vomit. It really is a neat restroom. Then I felt like all hell and the others had picked up on the fact that I was a bit ill by this point. Or maybe earlier and they are all just to nice to have said “hey, you’re gross.” So we decided to head home. Once I gave into the idea of going home I really got sick. I think my body just collapsed. Luckily the hotel drops you off wherever and people were amazing and sent me home first with Emma.
It was good I went home when I did because the second I stepped out of the van I vomited what can only nicely be described as stomach juices all over the corner or the street. I couldn’t make it in the gate to Bu Riny’s house. God Bless Emma for standing there and waiting for me while I heaved stomach juices into the grass. Emma then basically carried me down the walkway to the house. Where I immediately ran to the bathroom to vomit again. Note, this was not a long driveway we walked down. I just had to vomit that soon. Emma explained everything to Bu Riny, again God Bless her Indonesian language skills and how much better they are than mine, and then told me to call her if I needed anything. She left, and then called me almost right away. Her host family decided I needed to go to the doctors. She came back over with them to find me again over the toilet. Where I actually yelled at Bu Riny at this point. I felt really bad but she kept trying to move me away from the toilet WHILE I was vomiting! SO I kept yelling “Don’t Don’t Don’t!” Which is not very polite but I figured neither was getting stomach content on her floor. Eventually, after a rough drive involving a bucket, we got me to the doctors. He said I must have had an allergic reaction to something I ate and my body was trying to get it out. He prescribed some anti-convulsion pills for my stomach and something else to stop the vomiting. And again Bless Emma in this situation because I kept throwing them up and she kept making me take them. Which I did not want to do because the more water/pills I put in the more vomiting I would have to do
I ended up spending the night at Emma’s house. This was also a blessing. I wanted to be somewhere where I knew someone could fully understand me and what I did and did not want. Also with someone who understood the cultural differences when it comes to what to give someone who is sick. By this point I had been vomiting for about 6 hours and I was dead tired and didn’t want to fight Bu Riny about what was best for me. When I told Emma’s host family that I couldn’t eat porridge at that moment they let it drop. Bu Riny kept pushing it. She was there at that point dropping off some of my stuff and would not let it drop that she knew what was best. I know it is because she is a mom, etc. but I just couldn’t take it at that point. I was too tired. All I wanted was to not be vomiting and to sleep. The problem was then that I couldn’t sleep. Every part of me was so sore from convulsing that it hurt too much to lie down in any position. I did finally fall asleep with the help of some Advil and two normal pillows and a body pillow. 8 hours of vomiting. That is a work day of vomit. I needed that sleep. In the morning I felt much better. I only threw up once and I was able to keep down some porridge after that. Of course I did not go to school because I could barely stand on my own. Emma’s host family (who are awesome by the way) drove me to Bu Riny’s and I went to sleep. And I slept.
I missed school the next day and the “field trip” where apparently they went around and bugged more people. Oh did I say ‘bugged’? I meant ‘interviewed’ more strangers who were busy trying to eat lunch. So at least that was a day to miss. No homework and no real class work. I’ll have to write one of my 5 essays on one of the other 7 different “field trip” day but that is ok. That was a good day to miss if I had to miss a day… again. What made me really sad is I had to miss the saturday excursion of cave tubing and Prambanan Temple. Yes, Emma said it was mostly car sitting… but still. I missed the bonding. That sucks. Yes, I needed the sleep and I wouldn’t have made it very long on that trip… but it still sucks. Instead I stayed home and tried to fight with Bu Riny on what I could/couldn’t eat and how sick I was/wasn’t. At first she didn’t want me going on the trip because I was too sick. Then she made fun of me for staying in my room all day… what the what? Then she brought me ALL this food for lunch which just made me feel super bad for two reasons 1. because they made all this food for me and I could eat about a fist size of porridge and 2. because the egg smell made me want to vomit again. I like eggs but at this point boiled eggs were not sitting with me right. I am just frustrated right now. I don’t know when Im stepping on toes, or when Im not asking for enough or asking for the right thing, and they make fun of me when I don’t ask for the right thing or when my Indonesian is flawed and it just isn’t what I need right now. I just need someone to not mock me when I am trying to learn this language and learn what the right thing is to say w/o being that huge American stomping through demanding everything. So Saturday night we did get out of the house because I think Bu Riny is bored, her kids just left on a week long trip, and she wanted to do something. This could also explain why she is over mothering me. So we drove to the bakery. I didn’t really want something but she insisted that I buy something. It turned out ok because the mini green tea cake did make me feel like I was at home a bit. Then we went to KFC. Sounds silly yes? But it was awesome so you shut your mouth. I had chicken soup and it made me feel so happy. I may go back later just because it made me that happy. Now it is Sunday. I am still a bit worn down and tired but I feel much better. It is mostly just emotional stress now. I want to be better at this language. I hate wanting so badly to express myself and not being able to think of the words right away. Then in order to say SOMETHING I say the wrong thing and then I get made fun of. And currently I’m so worn down I can’t even think of the words in English. It just isn’t helping. Also not helping… the lunch I just had. I was informed at the end of the meal that it was filled with shrimp chips…. cause a horrible allergic reaction to sea food means put shrimp chips in my meal. *sigh* I am losing it here… hopefully I just don’t lose my lunch. Again.
PS: So far so good on the not losing my lunch. Out and about at Frame doing work and checking email and such.
PSS: Get ready peoples because when I get back we are going out to Outback Steakhouse because I want a GIANT STEAK and then MASSIVE amounts of bacon and kalua pork. I’m talking massive amounts. Deal with it.
A Christmas Tree in Asia 