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
Leaving Indonesia after almost a year of Peace Corps was more needed than I could’ve imagined. Right before parting, I was feeling rather irritable at everything here, mostly the food, the rain, the mold and the motorcycles—one, which crashed into me while I rode my bike the day before my trip. (I’m fine, it was … 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
A short video I made last semester – December 2012 – of my Indonesian students in English club attempting to say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” In return, I attempt (and fail miserably) to say the Madurese equivalent of a complicated and nonsensical phrase, which is so difficult it can’t even be spelled. Continue reading
Awhile back, I mentioned that my strategy for dealing with my first Christmas away from home was to ignore it completely, to have it go by as if it were any other day. I’m happy to say this didn’t occur. Spending Christmas in Riung certainly made the holiday different than anything I’ve ever experienced, but … 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
Here are a few images of a few of the stunning sunrises and sunsets I photographed during our trip. In Kelimutu— In Kanawa— In Komodo National Park— On New Year’s Day in Kanawa— * for more logistical details about traveling to Flores check out this blog post. 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
Travel in the Peace Corps is unique. You arrive to your country of service not knowing one soul, serve for 9 months and get a slight idea of what some of the other volunteers are about and then, choose to travel with a few. It’s a big risk. One chooses a group with a few … Continue reading
Kanawa, an island located about an hour by boat from Labuan Bajo, is the type of beautiful you only see in travel magazines. From the minute we stepped off the boat, desires to remain in Kanawa forever were impulsively expressed—with good reason. An aquamarine sea brimmed with starfish composing underwater constellations that glistened in the … Continue reading
Bali was the starting point of our Flores trip. Our crew made the journey together by bus to Denpasar, where we took a flight out to the island. The late night bus ride through Bali was an adventure of its own—as bus rides in Indonesia often are—where we were granted various opportunities to contemplate what … Continue reading
Ende was the first place we visited in Flores. It was our intention to fly into the East part of the island and slowly make our way to the West side, hitting some interesting tourist destinations along the way. Ende was the cheapest city to fly into, and to me, it was rather unimpressive. Though … Continue reading
Flores is so unlike Java. There is one main road cutting through the entire island. There are hardly any cars on this winding road, barely any motorcycles and only a few tiny villages scattered in between long periods of time. The landscape is gorgeous and untamed, changing in flora as you climb up into the … Continue reading
in the land of dragons 