My Weblog

Skyrockets in Flight

Children in the streets rejoice in song.

An old man dances a jig.

Alexis breathes a deep sigh of relief as she bites into a mouth-watering croissant while she pets a dog.

Martin smiles as he dances the poco poco.

Cats and mice across the world declare a truce and share a piece of cheese.

Teachers in Aceh use media to illustrate their delight.

Jennifer and Angelina share recipe ideas over a cup of coffee.

The planets align.

All sins are forgiven.

Everything is right with the world.

The Gugus Revitalization Report is finished.

Over.

Done.

Coming soon, in downloadable form, to a blog near you.

I've Never Gotten the Worm

I looked nervously at the clock on my cell phone for the eighth time that minute, and then over to Badung in the car seat beside me. He looked chilled, as usual. The clock said 1:21, my session for the Ubud festival started at 1:30, and we were still miles outside of Ubud. How had this happened? No matter what I do, I always arrive late.

When Made, Badung, their cousin Made and another friend showed up this morning at my beachside bungalow in Amed, it was great to see them. It was funny because Wawa Wewe, which was a little bit empty that day, was suddenly filled with all of my friends – I felt as if I had an entourage. It made me kind of sad when Made told me that some of his friends hadn’t ever been to Amed (only about two hours away from Ubud), and so they wanted to come along to see it. We talked for a bit as I finished breakfast. Made asked me if it would be okay if we dropped his friend, who had come along for the ride, off on the way back to Ubud at another friend’s house.

I said sure. It sounded as if it would only take a few moments to drop his friend off and then we would be on our way.

“Really? Okay, great,” Made said.

They helped me load my bags into the car, I said goodbye to the staff who had become good friends in the week that I had stayed there, and we drove for a few kilometers down the road that snaked down the dramatic coastline. We then took a left turn off the main road, apparently to the house of his friend’s friend.

“You have plans today?” his friend turned his head around in the front seat as we turned off the main road down the dirt road to his friend’s house. I started to get frustrated. I had explained to Made several times last week – I even showed him the brochure with my session circled so he could look at it and see the time, then again on the phone when he called to confirm that he was picking me up, and again this morning when they arrived --that I had to be back in Ubud by 1:30 for my writer’s workshop. I love the guys so much and they have been so good to me, but we definitely have completely, astronomically different definitions of time. I never thought that it was possible to meet people who could be consistently late more than me.

I started to get upset. If his friend wanted to see someone, why hadn’t they dropped him off on the way to my hotel and picked him up on the way back? But, as so often happens when I am with Made and Badung and time is concerned, what he meant when he said “dropped off” was a “few hour visit where we sit around, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and talk about life.”

As I watched the friend’s wife bring out several cups off steaming Balinese coffee on a big, round serving tray, I knew that I was going to be late. I finally just said to Made, listen, we have to go!

We got in the car and the driver, Made’s cousin, was probably a slower driver than my Grandpa on one of his fast days. My stomach sank, and I began to regret signing up for the session in the first place. It’s kind of stupid to actually schedule something at a certain time when you’re in a country that has a specific saying for always being late: “rubber time.” I could be sitting by the pool at Wawa Wewe, instead of stressing out. I finally just had to let it go and realize that I would arrive when I arrived.

Finally, we reached Ubud. We sped down Monkey Forest Road and then out to Ananda Cottages, where the workshop was taking place. I ran up the front steps at 1:38. Not too bad. The woman at the front desk told me very politely to follow the signs. As I turned corner after corner, I began to feel as if I was in a crazy obstacle course. It was through several cottages, past the pool, down some stairs and then down a long walk.

All eyes turned to me as I entered the bamboo-roofed meeting area strewn with colorful flowers hanging on the ceiling. I wanted to melt into the floor as I walked across the only area I could to get to an empty seat – which of course was right in front of the instructor’s teaching area. I had originally planned to check into my hotel beforehand so I could take a shower, etc. but of course that didn’t happen. I got to my chair and did my best to get into the mode.

The workshop was actually pretty good, and I’m glad that I went. The session was being held in a meeting area that looked out over Bali’s famous rice fields, complete with squawking ducks and farmers harvesting rice. I felt lucky and happy to be participating, surrounded by smart and interesting people in a beautiful setting. It was definitely a unique situation and so much better than sitting in a boring conference room someplace as so many “work” type of things are held. The view beyond the instructor was definitely artistically inspiring.

We did exercises along the way and then would share by reading aloud. I got very self-conscious when I realized that so many other writers were infinitely better than I will ever be. But I did learn from the people who read. We had to share something that we had already written, and I read a bit of my Ibu Sam post, which received some good feedback as well as some suggestions. The instructor was interesting and had a lot of information to share that was applicable to what I want to do. I was happy that I’m kind of in the writing frame of mind, from doing the blog, and not rusty.

Last night, I went to Susan’s book launch. She invited me last week in Amed. She did the photos for a coffee table book about the best hotels in Asia. When I arrived, the bookstore where the launch was being held was packed. Susan was happy to see me and gave me a huge hug. Charles was there, and as soon as he saw me he broke out into a wide smile. It was actually nice to see some people I knew. As crazy as Charles is, he means well and he introduced me around to several writers and editors that he knows and works with here in Bali. I felt very much “in the know,” and had thankfully had time for a shower and a clean up by then. I met some really interesting, nice people.

Afterwards, Susan invited me to go to dinner with some other people from the book launch. First we went to this place called “Naughty Nuri’s” for a quick drink before dinner. I had been told about this place but never gone – apparently it’s an institution. I was introduced to the owner and the regulars.

The owner is American and is married to a Balinese woman. His daughter, Maggie, is six years old and she was hanging out there with her dad. I fell in love with her – she was incredibly smart and she had those shoes that light up when you tap them. We had some long, interesting conversations about where water comes from and Christmas trees. Each time I would start talking to someone else, she would shout “Alexis!” and have something else to show me. As her dad is American, her English is just as good as any American six year old and it was fun for me to be able to interact with a kid in a common language, as many of the conversations I have with Indonesian children are covering the basics which they have learned in English classes at school. Maggie had some deep insights for a six year old, and I decided that I need to make up a t-shirt that says, “Everything I learned in life, I learned from Maggie.” Six year olds seem to have it all figured out!

We eventually moved on and had a really good dinner at a slightly shi-shi place called Lamak. The food there was pretty good, although it felt a little bit foreign to me to be in such a fancy place. I was glad that I wore my best dress – it can be challenging sometimes to go from backpacker to fancy dinner all in one day when all you have is a small amount of clothes. But I pulled it off and realized that’s one of my favorite things about myself: I’m flexible.

I sat with a big group of Westerners who live in Bali now full-time and again I met some cool people, including a rather serious 9-year old named Dash who was the very definition of “old soul.” No matter what I did, I couldn’t get him to smile. His best friend is a 65-year old guy named Barry and I think that pretty much sums up Dash.

Today is my last full day in Indonesia. I have some shopping to do, and then a massage at my favorite place to get me ready for sitting in a plane seat for about twenty hours over Sunday and Monday. Then, a wine tasting event tonight for the Writer’s festival and that’s all, folks! I’m leaving on a jet plane up to Singapore and then to Paris, so this will be my last blog from Indonesia. More about leaving Indonesia in my next post, but needless to say it’s a bittersweet goodbye.

Tales of An Internet Junkie

My friend Jeff, in Nashville, e-mailed me a few weeks ago regarding working from the road. How was Internet access on my travels? By way of this post, I’m going to answer Jeff’s question because maybe some other people are wondering, too.

I have come to realize on this trip that I’m an Internet junkie. I haven’t even seen a TV, let alone watched it, since I left Banda Aceh about a month ago. The Internet is what I crave – information when I want it, how I want it. E-mail is my main mode of communication at the moment and even when I’m back home I’m (embarrassingly) much better at e-mailing someone than picking up the phone and calling them. So in that way, I guess that I am a product of my generation.

Since I left Banda Aceh – where I had free, 24-hour wireless around the clock, of all places! – the blog has gone from free (well, $8.95 a month for my Typepad service) to not so free. When I was in Sulawesi on Bunaken Island, the Internet was painfully slow. But right where the boat picked people up to take them to the island of Bunaken, in Manado, there was actually a high-speed internet place with broadband which was as fast as anything I’ve used.

I realized in Bunaken that it was a good idea to write everything up on my computer, and then figure out how to transfer it over to a computer with internet. This saves time and money as opposed to sitting at a computer with Internet and typing everything up and being charged by the minute. Usually I burn it onto a disk or sometimes the Internet café will take pity on me and let me use their memory stick, which has happened a few times and is really nice. This way, I can also spell check on my computer before I upload – but if you’ve noticed I don’t always do a good job of this. In Banda, each of my posts were looked over a few times lovingly and edited thoroughly. If I made some sort of mistake, I just logged back on and changed them. Now, it’s a little bit more on-the-run blogging, unfortunately, and I apologize if the quality has decreased a bit.

But I do want to stress how much I have enjoyed doing the blog and haven’t really considered stopping it. I am sometimes challenged by making sure that I am actually doing things to blog about, rather than getting stuck inside some boring internet café, but most of the time it’s not a problem. I realize now, however, how much I took the wireless in Banda for granted. I could blog whenever, instead of making it a planned event.

In Ubud it took me a few days to figure out what the locals already knew. There’s a place on Main St. called Highway that has extremely fast broadband that I can just plug into my computer. The only problem is that it is expensive – about $5 an hour. I balked at first but then, in the end, realized that I could be in and out of there in about ¼ of the time that it would take for me to do the same thing someplace else so in the end it all evened out. There’s also a really good wifi hookup at a restaurant called Dragonfly and if I’m not uploading any pictures then that’s where I like to go.

Uploading pictures – that’s the beign of my blogging existence. I think that pictures add so much and I’m actually excited about showing off my fun, little hobby. I’ve never been good with a camera and then once I met Rusel I don’t think I touched a camera for three years. It’s been fun to experiment with my crappy, five-year-old camera that will most likely get sent home from Paris because Rusel is bringing his regular digital camera, which I can use as well as an amazing new bells-and-whistles camera that he just bought for the trip. But uploading the pictures can really be hard. At Highway it’s quick and painless but in other places it’s anyone’s guess.

My rule of thumb at this point is the islands, or places near the water, are generally not the best places to get any work done. And most people don’t go to islands to work, as I’ve come to notice. So it’s really no big deal. The best thing is probably to check the guidebooks. Obviously the more remote, the less likely it is that there will be a good Internet connection but then again some places surprise you.

And then I came to Amed. Beautiful, amazing, magical Amed. With dial-up Internet. That’s right. Dial-up Internet. The last week has been so wonderful but the Internet issue has unfortunately turned some of my now sun-bleached hair gray. I am in the final final stages of the Gugus project. My amazing friend Steve “G” Gaydos copy edited the final document for me and sent it to me on Monday. I was unbelievably excited to see it in my e-mail in-box. Unfortunately, that’s all that I could do: look at it in my in-box. The computer’s connection was so slow that it couldn’t download my thirty page document.

After trying all of the three computers there, I was finally able to download it onto the desktop. Great! Next step, as I am being charged by the minute and it is blowing my budget, is to burn it onto a disk, take it back to Wawa Wewe, look and it and make changes, burn it onto yet another disk from my computer, take it back to the internet cafe, send it to Martin. One slight problem. The one computer that I was able to download it onto wouldn’t let me burn the disk!

Panic. Deep breath. Okay. New idea. I talked the woman who owned the café into letting me get off the internet (so the meter would stop running), make the changes and edits there on the computer, get back on the internet, send it to Martin, done. Whew. Ingenious! Working, working, working. That Steve. Thorough! Working….WHA!? Gone. The computer completely crashed. I had already been there about two hours, just to download one document and edit it. Now it was gone.

The woman looked at me as if I was crazy. I felt like a mad woman. I didn’t know what to do. I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore, that traveling about an hour away to what I had been told was “higher-speed” internet was my only option.

“Broadband? Wifi?” I asked the helpful guys at Wawa Wewe when they suggested driving me to another town. Blank stares. Oh no. Was I going to be traveling there only to be confronted with the dreaded dial – up again? I felt like I was being transported back to 1997. I could feel an Alanis Morisette song coming on.

I was walking back to my room dejectedly and ran right into Charles. He noticed the look on my face and I told him my frustrating story. As a writer, he knows all of the tricks. He asked me if I had burned it onto a disk. Check. Did I have a flash-disk? No. Stupid, but no. He didn’t either because he broke all of his by ejecting them wrong so he couldn’t lend one to me. Did I know that the guy who owned the dog who had the fits at Wawa Wewe I on Saturday night had wifi? Jackpot!

First thing the next morning, I walked over to Only You, the hotel that the German guy owned. His wife answered the door and I told her my sob story, all while petting her dog (this dog was actually cute, and I did feel as bad for him as I possibly could about his experience). Although the wifi and broadband was a rumor, he did have a faster dial-up connection than the one in the village. He very kindly let me copy the document to his hard drive and then he had a memory stick that I could transfer the document over to, and then I put it onto my desktop. Success!

I spent a few hours yesterday editing from the daybed on my veranda, burned the document onto a disk, went back into the village internet café and sent it off to Martin….and fingers crossed.

And the unsung hero in all of this is definitely Rusel, who has been patiently helping me lay the entire thing out. Hopefully I will be able to post it tomorrow or over the weekend.

Last night, when I went back into the village to do my regular blogging, I noticed another guy there on the computers working on his own laptop. At the end of his Internet session, he pulled the cable out of his computer, put it back into the café’s computer that he was sitting near, paid, and walked out. It was then that I realized that I could’ve just done the same, with my own computer, and avoided all of the drama. Sigh.

Lex’s Tips For Working On The Road:

-Try not to! Obviously, if you can help it, try to finish everything up before you leave. If you’re a writer, photographer, etc. and traveling is your thing then you probably don’t need me to tell you how to work from the road.

-Always carry a flash disk, which can be purchased quite cheaply before you leave and weighs next to nothing so it won’t cramp your style. You can then easily transfer things from your computer to computers at various Internet places along the way.

-Carry a few spare burnable CD’s, just in case all else fails.

-Determine free Internet wifi connections from the guidebooks. Go there and order a cup of tea or a glass of wine and hook-up. If you can, book accommodation at hotels with free wifi.

-Make sure that you pack a universal adaptor to give your computer the juice it so desperately needs to run. Also, it might not hurt to bring a bit of tape, as sometimes it's a challenge to get everything working together: adaptor, computer plug, electrical socket.

Sunrises and Sunsets

So I didn't sleep a wink last night, and now it's catching up with me. As anyone who has ever watched me attempt to pack knows....I'm terrible at it. I lose sight of the big picture and end up pondering each and every item and its significance in my life, which leads me to ponder the significance of life in general. For each, and every single item.

Around 4:00 a.m., I realized that my process wasn’t working and ended up stuffing everything in Backy. Although I thought for sure that I was leaving with less than I was coming with, somehow that turned out not to be the case and I ended up having a hard time getting my backpack closed. How did that happen?

I was just finishing up my packing when Martin texted me (on my new, cute pink phone!) around 5:20 a.m. to see if I still wanted to go on the bike ride. I was up – why not?

I’m so glad I went. This bike ride was more my style – flat, paved roads, and cool weather. Banda Aceh – as is the case with all cities – is completely different at dawn. There weren’t any cars, and we saw lots of people walking home from early morning prayers. I saw a couple of men jogging down the street – without any shoes on! I guess that’s how it’s done here. Who knew?

I am definitely not a morning person, but every time I actually get up at this hour I love it. If I hadn’t been here for the past two months I wouldn’t have even recognized Banda Aceh.

We winded out near the ocean and then back into the city. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Perfect.

We got back around 7:15 a.m. and had a quick bite at the coffee shop across from the office. I ran home, took a quick shower, and rode my bike back to the office quickly to do some last-minute things. Then the car came, with Dr. Noor, who was on the same flight as I was.

Of course, I started bawling but let’s skip over that part as I looked like a total emotional wreck. Lots of people were standing on the stairs of the IRC and waved goodbye to us and that made me feel really special – I had a proper send-off.

Then we had to go back to the house to grab my bags. As I was loading up my bags in the car, Ibu comes up to me – tears streaming down her face – and tells me goodbye. It was kind of emotional overload. She stood at the gate of the house and waved and cried as we drove down the street.

So it was good when I got in the car, and Dr. Noor talked a blue streak until the moment we both got into our separate seats in separate aisles on the flight. My periodic “yes, that sounds interesting,” and "Hmmmm, I see your point” comments every now and again helped me to focus on something else besides the fact that I was leaving.

And now, here I am in Jakarta waiting for my next flight. Who knows what adventure awaits!

You Don't Have To Go Home, But You Can't Stay Here

From the moment I began my internship at the IRC, Martin explained to me that the offices here were merging with another NGO called CARDI. Now that the "emergency" phase is over, many NGOs are leaving Aceh. At the height of the response, I think Martin said that there were about 250 NGOs in Banda Aceh -- even an NGO called "Clowns Without Borders." I laughed really hard, until Martin told me how awesome they were and that they came and put on performances for the children immediately after the tsunami. The kids absolutely loved it -- and the cool thing is that clowns can perform in any culture and people will understand because they don't use actual language.  Although clowns pretty much scare me, these seem cool.

Anyway, now many NGOs who have been here since the tsunami hit are leaving.  In a way, this is kind of sad but in another way it's probably a good thing.

One word that Martin, and everyone at the IRC, uses frequently is "sustainability." Through the Gugus Revitalization Program this means that the organization had to be extremely careful to reinforce the system rather than create a brand new way of doing things that would end soon after the IRC was gone.

One thing I heard over and over again from the teachers in my interviews was that they wanted a transportation stipend to attend the trainings. The IRC doesn't give the teachers transportation vouchers or pay them to attend training, as other NGOs do. It just doesn't make sense because who is going to pay them when the IRC is gone? Without these measures, would the program continue on?

The Gugus Revitalization Program is working with the system that is already in place, and making the teachers realize that there are funds set aside for them to use -- through the government. It's empowering them to know what their rights are, and the avenues to use to get these funds. Basically, the IRC has a rule against paying someone for doing his or her job. This only reinforces a broken system rather than beginning the process of fixing it.  The education sector has one of the biggest budgets but, in turn, it also has the highest level of corruption. One of the ways to combat this is to inform the teachers of what they are entitled to receive.

This all ties into the inflated prices in Banda Aceh, because of the NGOs here. This is why I worry a little bit about what is going to happen to some of these people when the NGO money is no longer here. Things will definitely have to stabilize. For instance, the Ibu who cleans our house makes about the equivalent of $150/month. That's the same salary as a teacher here. Although she is worth her weight in gold to me, it just doesn't make sense.

One problem that was created in the initial emergency response was this policy that some NGOs had called "cash-for-work." In essence, they started paying people to do things that they probably would have done anyway. This caused a mentality among some that work would only be done when they were getting paid. It also caused a dependence on NGOs which would ultimately leave. It's a complicated issue and definitely not one I know enough about but I'm writing what I understand of what has happened.

The office here is starting to clear out, one by one. My lovely roommate Ivana will be leaving to head home to Serbia on Saturday morning, and I'll be leaving next Friday. I'm going to spend the month of September doing some diving, maybe stretch my body out a little bit with some yoga in Bali and do some writing as well -- there are a few stories that I have been meaning to work on for a few years now and I'm really excited about having the luxury of entire days....to write!

But first, I need to finish up this project. It's all coming together quite nicely. The pedal is definitely to the metal, though.

Pictures: The first picture is of a sign that I saw last week, near the beach. The second is a bunch of men working on an IRC water project. They are bringing water to a small village between here and Lhoong. We saw these guys working on the system next to the road when we were driving back from teacher interviews last week. The final picture is Ivana with the infamous sunglasses. It is now my side project to take pictures of people with The Sunglasses! The funny thing is that I never actually ask people to try them on. They are drawn to them like a moth to the flame!

Guess Who Is A Superstar? Here's A Clue: She's Not Modest

I found out today that the story I wrote about National Children's Day is the featured story on the main IRC web site! Check it out by clicking here. It is under the "Issues In Focus" section, with the title "Celebrating Children." Or, if you want to go to the story directly, without clicking through, go here.

I'm excited!

You Take The Good, You Take The Bad

Today was the event for National Children’s Day and it was a resounding success. The day started with a small surprise. As I was walking to work through the back short-cut, I turned the corner and heard some type of animal barreling down the road towards me. Turns out it was a huge, panicked cow! I ran all the way into work from there. I have no idea where the cow came from or where it was going, all I know is that it was going there fast!

Martin and Friska were waiting for me in the mini-van to head over to the school to pick up the first van-full of kids. Then we headed off to the big day. The best way to explain it is through the pictures, so I have uploaded all of them (actually just the best, as I took over 200). There was singing, dancing, Banda Aceh’s most famous storyteller, food, drink, a lost kid, a found kid, and more of all of the above. It was a really long day though – the event started at 9:00 (rubber time, so it really got going closer to 10:00) and didn’t end until around 5:00. And thankfully (depending on how you look at it, I guess), the sun was shining. Well, that’s an understatement. The sun was SCORCHING.

After the day finally wrapped up at 5:00, Martin, Friska and I loaded up the last bus-full of kids. The driver was going to drop the kids off at the school and (from what I understood) come and pick us up again shortly afterwards to take us back to the office.

Last week, Ivana taught me a word that you really need to know when living/working in Indonesia: “korrupsi.” It sounds just like what it means in English: corruption. Turns out, Indonesia is the second most corrupt country in the world. So anyway, at the end of the event, a group of plainclothes police officers came and demanded money from the organizations involved for “security.”

In other words, “korrupsi.”

So Friska had to go and negotiate with the police officers for about an hour and a half at the coffee shop, while Martin and I sat at a table nearby and waited (Martin was listening in, I couldn’t understand a thing). What it boiled down to was that the police just wanted more money above and beyond what we already paid them for “security.” If we didn’t pay them, ultimately they could’ve arrested one of the organizers involved. We didn’t have the money budgeted for bribes, so when we told them we didn’t have the money, it was true.

This brings something else into play that I have experienced in several Asian countries, and that is the concept of “saving face.” The police officers had demanded the money, and we were saying we couldn’t and we wouldn’t give it to them. Friska had to negotiate very carefully because ultimately we absolutely weren’t going to pay, but the situation had to be resolved so that neither of the parties involved appeared to lose.

In the end, Friska said that the head of the IRC would happily go to the police department to discuss the situation with the head of the police. Suddenly, the “misunderstanding” was resolved and strangely enough they didn’t need the money anymore, and it had all been a huge miscommunication (wink, wink). We finally left as the police and the guys who helped us organize the event (who probably would’ve been arrested had we not paid) sat down together for coffee and dinner. Saving face! Martin and I both gave Friska a big pat on the back for her excellent negotiating skills as we waited for the IRC car to come and pick us up.

Most importantly, I think that the kids had a really great day, and so did I. It’s been so great these past few days just hanging out with all of these children and it has been great as well to see the work that the IRC is doing first-hand.

American Idol....Watch Out

So if you ever find yourself a little bit blue (perhaps a rainy day combined with a Monday?), I suggest visiting a school filled with rambunctious Achenese schoolchildren. I went today to help out and get ready for the National Children's Day celebration and have never felt like such a rock star.

The school that we are working with is actually a special needs school and the kids there have different sets of needs. Some are deaf, a few are blind, and some are slow learners. Martin also told me that a few have been physically or mentally disabled by the tsunami.

The IRC and some of their partners are putting on a special production all day tomorrow to celebrate these children, stressing inclusive education and focusing on what children can do instead of what they can’t. It's a pretty cool concept and idea. They've ordered 400 t-shirts for the kids to wear, and the children at this special needs school decorated them all just for the event by painting each one with special paint and designs of their own making.

It was actually rainy and cold here today, very unusual for Banda Aceh. I woke up with a chill instead of the usual damp sweat (I’ve been trying to sleep without the AC to let my body adjust). The dress rehearsal was at the outdoor stage where the event will be tomorrow, and we had to keep ducking for cover because of the rain. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain tomorrow.

The kids are performing different dances and songs and all are so sweet and talented. I have included pictures of a dance that they do with umbrellas and the words are (fittingly for today) about rain. There is also a traditional Achenese welcome dance performed by girls and another traditional dance with boys and drums. And for the really outgoing kids, there are some solo performances that I’m sure will bring down the house tomorrow. One of the kids, apparently, sang a song last year called “I’m a Man Who Knows How To Please a Woman.” When Martin told me this, I literally started laughing so hard I couldn’t quit. I mean, first off the kid is 12 years old and secondly, those lyrics are DEFINITELY not Sharia complaint.

I don’t know if these posts reflect it, but I have just really been loving every minute of being here in Indonesia -- the people I have met and the experiences I have been having. On the plane ride over, I read this book called “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. She is now one of my favorite authors and one quote from her is: The writer is always tricking the reader into listening to their dream.

The writings I have been doing have really helped me articulate what I love so much and why I love it. I’ve also really fallen in love with writing again and it’s like I’ve been reunited with a long, lost friend. It’s been great, and thanks to everyone for reading. Oh, and added bonus: I'm writing a story covering the National Children's Day event tomorrow for the offical IRC newsletter! Very excited.

Tonight also marks the beginning of what I hope will be a good tradition – Kate, Ivana and I had a dinner party. Martin was our guest and Ivana cooked an amazing meal, which we named “Banda Aceh Surprise,” after my signature dish “Shanghai Surprise.” When I cook “Shanghai Surprise,” the surprise is that it is edible. When Ivana cooked her dish – roasted eggplant with tomatoes, onions and Parmesan cheese – it was pure heaven. I was the sous chef (hey, It’s an important job!!! There is a special art to chopping!!!) and also went around the neighborhood and cut some fresh flowers for the table. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Martin's Contribution

Loyal reader Martin has submitted an excellent photo to give other readers not in Indonesia a sense of the amazing coffee making process taking place at the place right across the street. Enjoy!

Meet My New Best Friend: Friska

So day two in Calang (pronounced Cha (like cha-cha-cha) lang) was great. It's nice to sort of settle into a routine here. The IRC has a compound here, which Micah described as a "really nice concentration camp." It doesn't make it sound too lovely -- and the grounds themselves probably aren't what anyone would call beautiful -- but it is bordered by a really nice, sweet beach where everyone swims at the end of the day. More on that later.....

So today, I met first with Glenn (you may remember him as one of my Banda Aceh roommates, he is now in Calang full-time as the head here) and Martino, who helps run the educational element here in Calang. Friska, Martin, Glenn and Martino all sat down first thing in the morning to tallk about what they're doing here in terms of the teacher training program. It was pretty interesting and will be the crux of my project.

Then, I went with Friska to meet with one of the Gugus leaders. After our meeting with him, we went to a coffee shop on the ocean with a great view and met with the same Gugu leader as well as another Gugu leader. On the way there, Friska (who...by the way, is really quite amazingly smart and cool) told me that her favorite band is Collective Soul, and her favorite singer used to be Britney Spears...."But she went crazy, right? With what do you call it...rehabilitation? She went to the party with no pants, right? Crazy!" I got a really good laugh out of that one.

Some observations:

-Cats here either don't have much of a tail, or their tails are all bent and mangled. After asking many people the explanation for this, I learned that it's simply the way it is. Strange to get used to!

-The men smoke here, all the time, everywhere. I guess it's just a cultural thing.

-Indonesia kind of looks like Hawaii  (landscape-wise).

-I killed two mosquitos flying inside my mosquito net this morning, and the massacre of one splattered my own bright red blood all over my sheets.

-The food here is delicious and vegetarian-friendly. Tempeh is often served. I need to be careful, though, because donuts are also a staple.

-I'm falling in love with the coffee, or "kapee susu." Sweet coffee served with milk and sugar in glasses. Delicious! I will upload pictures when I get back to Banda Aceh on Friday.

The rest of the day was spent planning my project, with a little help from Martin. And at the end of the day, I watched a gorgeous Indonesian sunset --- orange fading into pink, rimmed by a clear blue sky -- while taking an afternoon dip in the ocean. Amazing!