Day 8-9: From Flores To Bali

As we approached the plane on foot at Maumere's tiny airport, I turned to Pak Kam with a grin and said, "Saya bawa alpukat, Pak, lima buah!" (I brought avocados, sir, five of them!) On the road back from Laratuka, I had made Pak Mat stop by a small market so I could buy some avocados for Bali. They were 10,000 Rp for five, that is, a little less than a dollar.

He laughed and replied, "Saya juga! Tas ini, isinya alpukat! Berat, soalnya..." (Me too! This bag here is filled with avocado. Problem is, it's heavy...)  I took a look at his backpack. It could easily be carrying about 20 pieces of fruit. "Bagus, bagus!"(Good, good!) I said, laughing also.

We'd just spent the last hour in the airport talking in depth about the sanitation program in Flores. Guy knows his stuff, and has a particular interest in ensuring that local people have the means to achieve their needs after the program is over. "If the workshop gets at least 50% of these tukang to begin making and selling toilets locally, we'll consider it a success."

Out of all the bapak-bapak I met this past week, Pak Kam is one of my favorites. He's about 70 years old, wears a kopiah wherever he goes, and smiles with laughter and wrinkles in his eyes.

* * *

And then I'm in Bali, riding in the back bed of a pickup truck with my friend Toku, watching an eve-of-Nyepi procession pass by on a narrow road. There are old and young walking together, crowding the area for several hundred meters. Some people are singing and cheering, carrying banners for their community, and others are waving batons of fire. Each group lifts a bamboo platform with an ogoh-ogoh statue in the center, representing a unique evil spirit. The fanciest and most expensive are decorated with lights and jewels, symbolizing their hedonistic personalities. 

The community will soon destroy these figures by dismemberment or by setting them on fire. Because of this, there's excitement in the air. The children are happy, and the adults are likely drunk. It's a parade, except this is unlike any parade I've ever been to. Eve-of-Nyepi is an island-wide party -- the storm before a full day of quiet reflection. On the day of Nyepi, food, fire, work, and electricity are all forbidden. The streets will be empty in a few hours.

When we finally pass the crowded streets, everything becomes dark except for the cars and motorbikes. Our truck's headlights illuminate the windy road and the jungle we are passing through. The crisp mountain air takes over my senses. Ari slows down a bit, allowing other vehicles to pass so that Toku and I can soak it in. We stand there, holding on to the roof of the truck as the trees whip by on the narrow road. I tilt my head back and look up. Above us, the stars are vibrant.

Life Here

A lot of things have happened, and I need to write soon.  In the meantime, here's something I wrote back on May 7, 2013, after a trip to Bali:

Here's the thing, we're getting addicted to traveling. We look at our calendar frequently and think of the next time we have a long weekend, then try to plan something. Even if it's just two days, I always want to go do something… the beach, camping, hiking, biking. I want to see people, see places, smell things. My days are getting so busy. I'm backlogged on grading. I have been accepting way more side jobs than I can chew. But I love it all.

I think in many ways I have a pretty ideal job. My housing is free. I am getting paid. It's not much by US standards ($150/month), and I can't really save a lot, but it's enough to get to by in Yogyakarta. I can eat tempe every day (this, by the way, will probably be the thing I miss the most when I eventually leave, that is, easy access to freshly incubated tempe, fried to perfection). I can drink guava juice whenever I want. I have a job where I can impact the lives of students. Today we had a lesson on interviews, but I used it as an opportunity to instill this idea that failure isn't the end of the world. That experiencing failure is a way we can succeed.

Sometimes I get these chills when I teach, when I feel like students are really understanding the lesson, when i feel like students really care. I've been feeling it a lot more this semester than the last, and it's a feeling that I've grown to love. I am going to miss it when I stop teaching and start working at YDD.

Last week (Wednesday night - Saturday morning) I was in Bali: two days in Ubud, one day in Kuta. I met up with an old college friend, Habi. She's Malaysian but had never been to Indonesia prior to last week, so we decided what better time than now? Two months ago we booked our flights and finally last week got in touch about it again. Made last-minute plans, and it was amazing. Ubud was filled with delicious fresh vegetables. The yoga scene there (think Eat, Pray, Love) seems to have inspired a craze for healthy foods, namely organic produce. The presence of foreigners has resulted in a multitude of organic cafes, complete with fusion recipes. I had a tempe taco with guacamole, beans, lettuce, and tomatoes. What heavenly simple ideas! But sooo amazing. We also saw a lot of Hindu temples and even watched a Hindu ceremony. It was a contrast from the culture I have been experiencing in Jogja.

Habi and me, standing in front of the Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) 

An organic strawberry farm in Bali

What I might take most from the trip, however, was probably the way Habi and I finally got to bond. We gossiped about people from college, told stories about people we had forgotten, stories of broken hearts and happy hearts.

There's so much we can miss from each other's lives if we choose to keep it to ourselves. I'm always so happy to bond with other women, and it's been happening more and more lately in Indonesia.

So there's no goal to this particular post except to say that I've been pretty happy lately, although occasionally stressed. But it's a good kind of stress, I think. I'm in a good place.

Orientation in a Nutshell

I don't know how to summarize the last ten months.  It seems like an enormous feat, and any kind of summary will surely be lacking.  At the very least, I could start by showing some of my favorite photos.

Everything started at Stanford University in Palo Alto, where our pre-departure orientation was held.  There, all the fellows met for the first time, and it was lovely to be surrounded by so much talent and fresh ideas.  To this day I'm grateful to be part of such a multi-talented group of people.  Some are journalists, others are anthropologists, and there is at least one other engineer.  Traveling with them has been eye-opening, not just because of the things we see and do, but also because of the diversity in perspective and disciplines.

The whole trip to the bay area was wonderful for me, especially since I hadn't been there since I was a kid.  In fact, San Francisco was one of the first American cities I visited with my family when we were still living in Australia.  It's such an vibrant city, full of life, character, and some of the most delicious pastries I've ever had.  It's one of those cities you'll never get bored with and is absolutely perfect for people-watching.

Flash Mob in San Francisco

Graffiti in San Francisco

The most interesting part of San Francisco, for me, was witnessing the boom of the tech industry in person.  I stayed with a few friends, all of them involved in computer programming and digital media.  I had the opportunity to visit Twitter, and as I wandered through its colorful office, I couldn't help but compare the company's benefits to all the past jobs I've had.  Compared to Boeing, Twitter was like a breath of fresh, young air.  The food was delicious (although our friend informed us that Facebook recently snatched Twitter's best chef), and for some crazy reason, employees and guests could drink beer in the office!

After VIA training at Stanford, all the Southeast Asia VIA fellows then flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where we spent two weeks with TEFL and NGO training.  Days were spent attending class and studying, while afternoons and evenings were spent exploring the city.  My favorite part of Phnom Penh would probably be the markets.  Smells of various kinds permeated the air, and you could also find some of the best food and coffee in the city.

A woman pouring soup at the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Owner of a Coffee Stand at the Russian Market 

But a visit to Phnom Penh is also not complete without exposure to its contemporary history.  Between the years 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge regime murdered over a million people, and although there are over 20,000 mass graves scattered around the country, Choeung Ek is one of the most well-known, allowing visitors to wander through the grounds and remember some of the atrocities that were committed.  One of stories I will never forget involves Khmer Rouge soldiers throwing babies at trees.

I will also never understand the propensity for dictatorial regimes to actively seek and murder some of the brightest minds its country has to offer.

Skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge at the Choeung Ek Memorial, Killing Fields

And what is a visit to Cambodia without going to the Angkor Wat Archeological Park?  The place is truly beautiful, with some of the more breathtaking temples currently being swallowed whole by the trees.

Michael, fellow VIA vol, admiring tree trunks at Angkor Wat Archeological Park

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

For the Indonesia fellows, Angkor Wat and Siem Reap was our last trip before we finally headed to our new home.