Culturally Awkward Ninja

That title is even culturally awkward isn’t it? Aw well… I’m not changing it. It’s part of who I am. Being as awkward as a giraffe in heels and a scuba mask. You’re picturing that now aren’t you? You’re welcome.

Anyways, as you can imagine moving across the world to a completely different country where they don’t speak your native language is just riddled with cultural land mines. I mean even moving to the UK where they speak, roughly, the same language would be a cultural kick in the arse. Now there are a lot of similar aspects culturally to Hawaii here. Time moves similarly. I think it has something to do with living the heat. You move slower when it’s this hot and most everyone finds that perfectly acceptable. It is understood. However, there are things here that I am slowly learning. I can read about cultural norms all I want but it is different to experience it. I had a taste of it when I lived in Salatiga but that really was only a small bite. Living here by yourself is a smorgasbord. Slang for one is a big issue for me. Slang is constantly evolving and as an outsider it just seems like a completely different language I have to learn. Greeting people is different here. Normally a handshake does well but it is an interesting game to guess how people are going to greet you. Driving on the left side of the road… well ya you can guess how that one is difficult. Here is hoping when I get back to Hawaii and get in RuPaul (the name of my car you creepers) I don’t head down H1 on the wrong side of the road. Not that it could make traffic any worse…

My point is here my mind is swirling. Maybe if I cared less my brain matter wouldn’t look like a Van Gogh sky but I do care and it does swirl. I don’t want to upset or insult anyone. From the taxi driver taking me to my destination or the professor who is helping me at my destination. So that is why I act a bit askew sometimes. Like the aforementioned awkward giraffe. So this is why sometimes I curtsy in restaurants. Yes you read that correctly. As some of you know I recently went to an establishment I enjoy to get some spicy tofu. As I was leaving I said thank you (in Indonesian) and did a cute lil’ curtsy. Why? I don’t know! I just don’t. Who does that? In Indonesia? I curtsied. Sigh. I then twirled around and walked away quickly. Maybe they didn’t notice? Ya… the entire restaurant didn’t notice the giant white girl they had been staring at half the time. Oh well. I was the strange girl when I walked in and I sure was the strange girl when I curtsied my way out of there. Ce la vie.

Motorbikes. That is another thing I’d like to talk about. Yes, we have them in Hawaii. We DO NOT have them like they have them here. They own the road. They by far outnumber the cars and there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. Also, mopeds in Hawaii follow strict laws or they get pulled over, right? Right. Here… I know there are laws and regulations for riding your motorbike. I don’t know all of them yet but by just watching them you couldn’t tell. It looks like this massive sprawl of motorbikes weaving every direction with no rhyme or reason. Similar to a mosh pit. Yet it works. Seems to work just as well as Hawaii if not better. Still scares the crap out of me though. However, less now. My first time here I didn’t really enjoy being on the back of a motorbike. After yesterday and today I am starting to really like it. It feels freeing. So hopefully that will transfer to when I’m actually in control of a bike. On Friday. Lessons are coming with the bike. Well, I was told there would be help. I’ll be fine. I think.

A fun thing happened today while I was out buying a backpack, the one I had in the states had had the full Manoa/Diamond Head/Maunawili experience and was falling apart, two girls stopped me and asked “Excuse me misses do you have a free moment?” They were two young high school girls who were interviewing tourists for their English class. How brave is that? They were pretty shy yet still able to grab my attention and ask me if they could interview me. I of course said yes. Who am I to deny a strange person in a public place asking for an interview? I mean I need to put strange people asking for interviews in public ju ju out there! So I said yes and spoke to them in Indonesian for a quick second and then they interviewed me in English for 3 minutes each. Yes, they both asked the same questions so I answered them twice but they were very sweet and even professional. Made my day. They even took me up to the backpack store they knew so I could get one. Then they were off to find more foreigners. I really hope they found some more nice people to talk to and that they get fabulous grades. My favorite question they asked was if I thought modern clothing styles had influenced dress in Indonesia. Note: all three of us were wearing skinny jeans. My answer was yes, obviously.

Today I also met with a very sweet girl who is going to be my translator for the upcoming festival I am going to. She speaks English just as well if not better than me, is adorable, and is writing her undergraduate thesis about gamelan. So it is just a lovely match. I’m so happy to have her working with me. She says she doesn’t want payment but she is taking payment darn it. She is wonderful and deserves it. I’m so glad to have her help me with this. It makes me feel so much more relaxed. My Indonesian is coming back in strange chunks. I always think I have a handle on a language until you drop me in that country. Then is takes its time to become natural again. This time it’s very odd. I don’t know if it’s the “brain fog” or what but the chunks are strange. However, there are chunks and they are growing. Things are moving forward and going well. I feel really great about this.

I’ve had a few landmark moments since I’ve been here. The first time someone actually spoke Indonesian to me the whole conversation instead of starting out in English because I was obviously not Indonesian, the first time I made it through a whole conversation without really thinking, the first time I felt really happy, but this one is the most important. I feel secure in my research right now. I know there will be ups and downs but this is incredibly motivating. No matter how lost I may feel later that can’t take away how secure I feel now. Plus I know now that I will feel secure again even if I do stumble and fall. Ah good feelings. I like good feelings.

Now to just not curtsy at this event…