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The Thief, The Prophet and The Drunk Part III

This is the final posting in a three-part series.

The Prophet

By Rusel Parish

Whenever I travel, on some level, I am searching for the meaning of life; a purpose or some great answer to an unknown. Having gone through this a few times I always come back not knowing any more but full of more questions.

Russia was a vigorous battle to which little answers were unveiled. On our adventure to Lake Baikal we met a man whom I call “The Prophet.” He is named after Saint Sergey, who is considered the holiest saint in all of Russia. He told us that this saint speaks to him and he bears this cross of a name with a “Lion Heart” and ultimately, it has helped him to become a teacher to his community.

In him we tapped into a deep reservoir of knowledge and over the course of about ten hours while we  were at Nikita's we had the opportunity to talk with him. He opened our shuteyes to a different side of Russia. To start, he summed up Russia as “sour and bitter.” I thought it funny that he did not say “sweet” to conclude his thought. However, after traveling through Russia, it has not been sweet -- although occasionally we did stumble upon kindness the likes of which he showed us at the lake.

Lake Baikal is considered a spiritual place. The lake is pure clean water, so pure that you can drink from its well without fear.  In Russia the lake is revered and honored as well as celebrated for its healing effects. Many come here seeking spiritual fulfillment, in fact the island is considered a general place of enlightenment. Buddhists, the largest religious group here, have a celebrated trek to the waters once a year to drink from its mouth.

Sergey is here establishing a Russian orthodox community church, which is small and humble. He advocates for it, keeps the keys and builds on its mission. After a quick meeting he took us to the church to show us around and we quickly went into question mode, where he told us how the church was founded (a story that deserves its own post, but too long now) and the spiritual history of the island. We quickly hit it off and I asked him the full gambit of questions and absorbed as much as I could. I told him I was agnostic, but clearly eager to discuss faith and philosophical understanding. He was well studied in both and our conversation ranged from Kant, Hume and then back to God.

The conversation veered through history and his beliefs. I asked him about infinity (replaced for the word of enlightenment, nirvana, spirituality, fulfillment etc. which I have found is pretty interchangeable with most religions and philosophers, regardless of belief – being agnostic I am typically uncomfortable using strong religious words to convey my beliefs). I told him that I sought to understand infinity but that I was troubled. I do not understand a world where enlightenment clearly seems to exist; yet vast seas of people continually seek it out. The reward of infinity or enlightenment seems unlikely, as I have not actually seen the proof. I question: is this path indeed worthy of pursuit? Does it exist?

He told me that not all people had the ability of infinity or understanding. He believed that God gave this ability to only some people and all others either sought it in vain or just lived as if they were a member of a herd (not in a condescending sense – but just lived a life in society – more of a biblical sense: there is Jesus, and we are his herd).

But no one knows who has the ability to reach enlightenment and who does not. I told him that I did not now if it was worth searching and struggling to understand infinity, as I had not known if I had ever crossed paths with someone who had obtained it and perhaps my time would be better spent at other activities. I asked him if he had crossed anyone who had been enlightened and what his thoughts were. He said he had not, but he had faith that his religious leaders, Jesus and his saints had achieved the feat.

He then told us a short story, which would sum up his thoughts. He said that a wise man traveled to a monastery high in the mountains to study. It was considered the best and brightest in the land. Upon going there he asked the monks: What is your wisdom and enlightenment?

They said: “Love your enemy.” He said, “I do.”

They said:  “Love God.” He said,  “I do.”

They said: “Love yourself.” “He said,  “I do.”

They said: “Depart then; we have nothing to teach you because you are already enlightened.”

At this advice he was saddened and felt that even the wisest men in the land were as clueless as he. For the next 50 years he continued to study, struggle, seek discipline and seek to understand infinity. Then one day, in deep thought and study, he realized infinity and that he had had this knowledge since that day at the monastery. He looked back on his life and mused at the great journey he had taken for something he already had.

The Prophet told me that it is not infinity, but the journey of understanding infinity. That I may never reach it, that I may not be the one that God made to understand such things, but to continue my journey, for it was the journey that was important. .

I am not sure if he actually provided me with any different answers from what I already understood but I thanked him for the spirituality he had shared with us.

He told us we were very curious for Americans.

What's Good About America?

Martin asked me this morning. He is contemplating a move to the good old US of A and wanted to know.....

It’s weird when you leave home and suddenly you quit being you, and you become someone who is from a certain place. Something that you don’t think about that often – being an American – is suddenly a large part of your identity.

Where are you from? That’s usually the first or second question people ask you here, after they ask your name. It’s a good way of placing people, I guess. I always tell them, “New York City” and then ask them where they’re from. They always break out into a big grin – come on, where do you think I’m from? they seem to ask with their eyes before realizing that we are both in on the joke.

Upon arrival here, I found myself being asked to defend Bush, or explain why USAID was blasting through a mountain to build a road from Banda Aceh to Calang. People expect you to answer to “The American!” and want to know if you like Britney Spears. Oftentimes, when I’m out with the girls and we’re talking about other people here in Banda Aceh, it’s a good way to describe people as well….”Oh, you know, the Canadian we saw that day at Caswell’s.”

I have to say, it has definitely made me think about being an American and what it really means. It is difficult for me because on one hand, I have serious issues (for those of you who know me well, you know that this is a gross understatement) with our current administration. It upsets me, because on one level people assume that because you’re an American, you voted for Bush and you support his policies.

In my case, nothing could possibly be further from the truth. But at the same time, I don’t really always want to share my feelings of utter despair, disappointment and embarrassment when it comes to our current government. It’s kind of like the theory of how you can talk for hours about how your Mom drives you crazy, but the minute someone else says it…you’re defending your Mama’s honor!

The interesting thing about being an American is that everyone knows your politics. Today, at lunch, I was speaking to the head of our office, Marcel, who is Dutch; Martin, who is British; and Dr. Noor who is from Bangladesh -- about Nixon! Then Marcel started listing all of the American Presidents since Nixon. Luckily, I worked on a documentary about Nixon for The History Channel so I knew my stuff about good old Richard. But sadly, I probably couldn't list ONE of Holland's Presidents in the past 30 years, not even the one that they have now.

Anyway, after being stumped for a moment on “The Rocky Mountains,” “Nebraska!” and “New York City,” I came up with a list for Martin. They are:

-The American Dream. While this is a cliché and a myth to some extent, it really does exist. People who work hard can rise above their current lot in life. Hard work is rewarded and you can be born with nothing and die with millions. It is possible, and this isn’t true in every country.
-No Class System. After traveling in India and witnessing the caste system first-hand, I realized how lucky we are as Americans. Who you are born to doesn’t determine the rest of your life in America. You can be a self-made man or woman.
-Diversity. New York City is a perfect example but it’s not the only one. America truly is a melting pot of people.
-Good Food. He laughed at this one, but it’s true! You can get so many different types of food in America, because of the diversity I mentioned above.
-The power to vote. Again, the 2000 election was brought up…..but we’re trying.
-Freedom of Speech.
-Freedom of Religion.
-Good transportation system (after dealing with crazy roads here in Indonesia I really appreciate straight, well-cared-for roads). However, Kate chimed in that there isn’t a good mass transit system in most parts of America and this is true. To be poor and need transportation in most major American cities isn’t good.
-Creativity is highly rewarded. This is another one of Kate’s, and it is true.
-Women theoretically aren’t discriminated against. In the big scheme of things, this is getting better. Hey……we might even have a woman President soon!
-If you are wronged, you actually have a way to rectify the situation. People make fun of Americans all of the time for suing for no reason – and in the cases of “I spilled my McDonald’s coffee on myself as I was driving down the road talking on my cell phone and putting on lipstick” this is true and it is ridiculous. But at the same time, at least in America there is a system in place to deal with injustice.

Ivana, who is from Serbia, went to her senior year of high school in Ohio and then went to college in Virginia, so we thought she would be a good person to ask. She separately said “the food” and she also said that she really liked the University system in America and she thought that she had great professors. She also mentioned that physically, America is very beautiful, as we all agreed. There is much diversity in this beauty as well -- we've got it all when it comes to nature. And she said that she really loved America as well.

So there you go. If you would like to add some more, feel free -- that’s what the comments are for. Oh, and if this idea is interesting to you at all, please read The Corrections. It’s an amazing book I read last week about the disillusionment of the American Dream, consumerism, and family relationships. It’s truly brilliant.

And the picture above was snapped on the beach at Coney Island a few years ago on Meredith's birthday. A group of people, just down from where we were laying out in our swimsuits, were having some sort of baptism in the ocean. I thought that it was cool that the two can co-exist.....nicely illustrating freedom of religion in America. I have also included some paintings that Rusel made based on scenes from that day as well. To check out more of the amazingly talented Rusel's paintings go here.

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That

Today, I went and did more teacher interviews in Lhoong. On the road there is this huge billboard (above). The billboard says: Avoid inappropriate contact between men and women because this is the evil road that leads to inappropriate sex.

This gigantic sign is on a really busy street. Martin translated it for me when we were on the bike ride a few weeks ago. I thought it was......interesting!

Some other things I learned today:
-There were a bunch of empty-looking fruit and vegetable stands on the way to Lhoong, which is about a 2 hour drive from Banda. Rudy, one of the guys in the car with me on the way there said that it was because a person was eaten not too long ago by a tiger in the forest, and now people are afraid to sell fruits and vegetables along the road that borders the forest. It would be soooo cool to see a tiger! But obviously not to be his dinner. I guess some NGO workers saw a tiger last month in Lhoong as well, lazing about underneath the new restaurant that they are building there.
-In fact, this area is filled with flora and fauna of many kinds. Geckos, monitor lizards, beautiful butterflies, monkeys, wild boars, snakes, and these little creatures I have been told about: civets. I guess they are kind of like cats but also kind of like ferrets. I haven't actually seen one yet. There are cats (with funny, bent tails) everywhere but not a lot of dogs. I guess that Muslims aren't big fans of dogs and find them "unclean." I will withhold any comments on my own personal feelings about dogs here.....Meredith, if you're reading this -- if Micky ever wants to come to Indonesia, don't let him! He wouldn't make it very long, at least not in Aceh. Jack, who heads up the Meulaboh office, is from another island in Indonesia where they think of dogs as "delicacies," if ya know what I mean.
-There are two schools in Lhoong. So many children were killed in the tsunami there that they only have enough children to fill one school. The other stands empty.
-Micah has officially had more "going away" parties than anyone I've ever met. I am going to yet another dinner for him tonight! I think that he even tops my yearly month-long birthday celebration every February.
-I forgot to mention yesterday that I --sadly--never got a snap of the wild boar in Calang! On Monday night I fell asleep so soundly that I slept through the chomping of the coconuts that I'm sure was going on outside my window all night. I have now passed the baton to Glenn, and he has promised to send me a picture of the boar if/when he ever gets a picture of it. He's there until next June, so I'm crossing my fingers.

About the Jilbab…or My Feminist Rant of the Day

I am here to observe and learn, but of course there is a part of me that is also comparing, and ultimately (I have to be honest) -- judging. I think that it is only natural that – when one goes to a foreign country, or even just a place that is foreign– this happens. As humans, it is a way of processing information, ordering things and putting them in their place when navigating new terrain.

So, the jilbab is starting to haunt me. Jilbab is the word for the head coverings that the women wear here. At first, they just piqued my curiosity and the main question I had was: How do women wear those, in this heat? My interest was more scientific than anything else. With the sun beating down in all of its unforgiving intensity here, the physical practicality of it was the thing that intrigued me.

But now, after two weeks, my question has turned to: Why do they wear it? Is it written in the Koran? Has it been done for centuries? Why do some women choose to wear it, but a small group don’t?

So today I did some investigating, via my Indonesian friends here, and I learned that in fact it’s not written in the Koran that women cover their heads. The reasoning I was given (and this is from a small number of sources, so I will continue to investigate) is that women here must cover up to protect men from feeling certain “feelings,” feelings men feel when they see women’s hair, or their neck. Which of course, prompted me in my Western-ness – to cry out – well, that’s the man’s problem!

But here, it’s not a man’s problem; it’s the woman’s obligation and duty. My friend explained that if a man falls in love with a woman without ever seeing her hair or any other part of her body, it is true love. Okay, so maybe the romantic in me can, for one brief moment, see the reasoning in this. But then, why isn’t the man also wearing something similar?

This person also explained that there is an old story here about a woman who was covered from head to toe (as she should be). She was even covering her face so only her eyes showed through. A man approached her and tried to steal her watch, and in the scuffle her veil came off. He was so overcome and couldn’t help himself that he “forced himself on her.” Again, I shouted – but that’s the man’s fault! Followed by a silence. I’m not sure if my protests were lost in translation but I didn’t want to push it and had already probably said too much.

Again, I need to keep my Western-ness, and other-ness, in check. I must always think twice about how I am feeling and think about where my own conditioning and way of thinking comes through and comes from. As I was telling my sister today, I could live here the rest of my life and I would still be just an observer – I’m that different here. In a way I really enjoy it, because of course I am learning so much and also becoming comfortable with the thought and idea of being an outsider. I can’t say that I’ve lived such a charmed existence that I’ve never been an outsider before, but it’s never been so glaring and apparent.

So the jilbab is challenging the way that I think about women, and feel about women, and feel about being a woman. In a way, I must admit that wearing more clothing does free me up a bit. With everything covered and no chance of slip-ups there is a degree of comfortability and de-sexualizing that takes place that is, in a way, nice. Coming from New York City where everything and anything is accepted and even embraced it’s an interesting turning of the tables.

But the thing that gets me is – have these women chosen this for themselves, or has someone else chosen for them? And if so, who? And why is it women who must shoulder this responsibility? Again, I want to stress that I am trying to figure this out myself and am trying really hard not to judge but to learn.

In addition to this I also learned that some women are able to choose to not wear the jilbab because they aren’t from Banda Aceh. Banda is, from what I’ve heard, the strictest of the Muslim areas of Indonesia. Interestingly, not all of Indonesia is Muslim. Bali is Hindu and Flores is Christian. So, if a woman moves here from another area in Indonesia, or is Blang (slang for Westerner), she isn’t required to wear the jilbab. In fact, being Blang is a category in and of itself, but I will save that for another post.

**Also, if anyone out there knows whether or not it is written in the Koran that women must cover their heads, please let me know. Like I said, I haven’t done any research in addition to “asking around” – not very scientific, I admit. **

Today, I also went on some meetings with Friska for an event the IRC is hosting for National Children’s Day. Pretty cool that Indonesia has a National Children’s Day, and my Indonesian friends laughed when I told them that we didn’t have an equivalent in the U.S. “Well, you have a mother’s day and a father’s day, right? Why not the children?” Good point! So I went with Friska to meet with some of the organizers and we also visited one of the participating schools – this school is for special needs students. I took some pictures, uploaded at the right. The kids were gorgeous and really sweet.

A Move, Annie Hall & A Trip To The Mosque

This weekend was a good one. To be honest I was feeling a bit run-down after my trip to Calang so I just took it easy. I think that my body is still adjusting to the heat, and Calang is a little bit on the “roughing it” side so when I arrived back in Banda Aceh I decided I wanted to kind of lay low for the weekend.

Yesterday I moved from House #3 to House #2 with Kate and Ivana. It was a pretty easy move and, truth be told, this is probably a better arrangement for me. The house is a tad bit smaller (or cozier, as a NYC real estate broker would say) but closer to the office, which is nice because I will be able to walk into work in the morning and home after work. Kate and Ivana also walk home and have lunch at home, but I have really been enjoying the delicious Indonesian lunches in the office so far so we’ll see on that one. 

The one thing that has taken some used to these past few days are the power outages. Everything will be normal, and then all of the sudden the power goes out. It happened last night as Kate, Ivana and I were chatting before we went out to dinner and happened again this morning before I woke up, and the power was out all day. In the end, it’s just one of those things that you have to live with.

Today, I walked back over to House #3 to retrieve my bike, the only thing that I had forgotten in the move yesterday. After getting my bike, I decided to go on a bike ride into the main part of the city to take pictures of the mosque. Transportation here is pretty crazy because there really aren’t any traffic laws or lights that I can figure out. Everyone just kind of goes in one flow (it was the same in Cambodia, I remember) and you just blend in, yield, and nobody goes too fast to really hurt anyone if they hit them (I don’t want to test if this statement is true or not!). Another funny thing is that the motorbike is the preferred method of transportation and you will see entire families on one motorbike – mom, dad, and kids. On one bike!

So anyway, after “going with the flow” and getting the hang of it, I arrived at the mosque and took some pictures. I couldn’t get too close though because again, I forgot to wear a scarf to cover up and I didn’t want to go on the grounds looking like that. Putting a scarf on before I leave the house is definitely something I am still trying to remember, it’s just so counter-intuitive when it’s so hot. Anyway, I then spent some time at a small market nearby and took some more snaps. I’ve uploaded them all to the right.

After the bike ride to the mosque, I came home and Kate and Ivana were up for a bike ride so I hopped back on my bike and went with them. They took me to the beach near Banda Aceh that was really hard-hit by the tsunami. It’s really weird to be on a beach and see tree trunks in the waves. The beach has moved so far back that – where palm trees once stood – it’s now part of the ocean instead of the beach. Also on the beach were bricks from houses, pieces of tile, pieces of china and I even saw some clothing. I guess everyone has been focused on rebuilding and not so much on cleaning up the beach, which makes sense in the big scheme of things. Also, here in this part of Indonesia people don’t really “go to” the beach as far as I have experienced so far. I don’t know if this has to do with the tsunami, or the fact that the culture is very much focused on modesty (making swimwear that Westerners wear unacceptable) or what the exact reasoning is for this. I will do some more investigating! When Kate, Ivana and I arrived at the beach we were the only ones on the beach but were soon joined by a few random men, which often seems to happen (very curious). More on that later in another post.

We finished up our bike ride after doing some inadvertent “off roading” – where Ivana had a little bit of a run-in with an angry cow – and headed home. Kate cooked a delicious dinner (she’s quite the cook, after making some amazing pancakes this morning for everyone) and I contributed a pretty delicious Greek salad. We finished watching Annie Hall (what a classic, fell in love with Diane Keaton all over again), which we started watching earlier this afternoon on my laptop until the power on my computer ran out, and here I am, ready for another week!