Warning: This post has a lot of numbers. I love my counterpart. Sometimes, we get into the most random discussions on a strange topic of my fixation. No matter what, he will sit patiently and explain every little detail to my heart’s content. I’m not sure how we went from discussing tomorrow’s English lesson to … Continue reading
1. When a little bit of food turned into a flock of birds standing on my brother’s head. 2. Flirty peacocks. 3. Dancin’ Elephant – A Music Video I wish the quality of the video were better…but the HD version would take FOREVER to upload. 4. Rollin’ like Indiana Jones at the Monkey Temple in … Continue reading
In theory, Sunday mornings are the one time I get to sleep in and enjoy “the weekend.” That’s a nice dream, but the reality is that my sleep often gets interrupted by the chatter and laughter of men gathering outside my window for their Sunday routine: the arisan burung, or bird reunion. This bird reunion … Continue reading
Back in the day, teachers may have received apples from students. In Indonesia, entire classes of students celebrate certain events (such as getting through reciting the entire Al Qur’an) by giving all teachers food boxes. This is a common affair, but today I broke a record. Today alone, I received THREE food boxes and some … Continue reading
My decreased blogging has not been in vain. Over the past three months, five other volunteers near my area and I have been working incredibly hard to organize a leadership camp for 10th and 11th grade girls held at my school, MAN Bondowoso, from Thursday, March 28th to Sunday, March 31st. Since November of last … Continue reading
For a multitude of reasons – some of which are admittedly strange – elephants have been on my brain. So when I encountered this poem back in January, I paid extra attention. This poem then led to an entire month of English Club focusing on poetry, which culminated in some pretty decent rhymes (for the … Continue reading
When I first received my invitation to join Peace Corps Indonesia, it was never a question on whether I wanted to serve as a volunteer. I did, however, question the location. To help with this big decision, I went out and bought a Lonely Planet book. I hadn’t made a commitment yet, and I was … Continue reading
I said before that Riung wasn’t what I expected. I still maintain that; yet, Riung has a special place in my heart and here’s why. Riung, a small fishing village in the northeast side of Flores, is a two-warung town— which means it’s tiny. There’s also a small market, a BRI bank, a handful of … Continue reading
November 15th marked the first day of the Islamic year: Muharram 1, 1434. To celebrate this, all the students and teachers from my school take a motorcycle drive around Bondowoso every year. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I am not allowed to ride a motorcycle (which is the reason why I was feeling left out … Continue reading
The following was written before in-service training in Surabaya. I am standing in front of the mirror in my room, analyzing every curve at every angle. Am I fatter? I think to myself. I don’t look any different. I try different clothes on to check. Nothing looks different, but after one-too-many comments on how I … Continue reading
Indonesia—like most countries—has many folk tales, myths and dubious characters (i.e. ghosts). Javanese in particular are very superstitious people, who will often sleep with the lights on to guard away evil spirits. Today, quite randomly, English club diverted into talking about ghosts—though it does fit in appropriately with Halloween and Dia de los Muertos in … Continue reading
in the land of dragons 