Don't forget to shower!

A friend reminded me of this story I wanted to share, a bit of insight. In America we like to make small talk with things like "how are you?" "what's new?" In Indonesia, people also like to ask if you've bathed yet. It really is just in passing, but here most people do shower twice a day (you can get pretty hot and sticky). This question, though more just for chit chat, can sometimes be embarrassing if you answer honestly and, well, just don't feel like bathing yet again. Anyway, here in Aceh, we give our students our cell phone numbers for assignment questions, resulting in some pretty humorous text messages. The second day of school, I received, "Hello Miss Michelle, have you bathed yet?" I decided it would be more professional not to reply...

Coffee and Mango Scones

This morning Sarah and I woke up just before six to go on a short run through the neighborhood. The sun was still rising, the sky still cloudy from a night of rain. Only mothers and polite men are up this early, making for a peaceful run. I did my first attempt at baking here today and am now enjoying my scone from our own mango tree and that of a friend. The coffee I’m drinking Sarah roasted herself on a trip to Flores. Maybe the butter is imported, but otherwise, this is a pretty local breakfast. Perhaps more importantly, waking up to run and actually having the time and energy to bake, makes me feel like I’ve really settled in here. Yes, I still need to study a map and have yet to see the ocean (which I think is only 15 minutes away), but all these things will come with time. Sarah says there’s a three-week settling in period, so I still get another week and a half...

I always hoped I’d get to have loungey breakfasts with scone and coffee in hand, listening to music and looking out at the greenery. But I hadn’t imagined they’d be coconut trees and tropical plants, and the paper in my hand would be mostly for show-since I can’t quite read it just yet.

Creating Home

I've been in Banda Aceh one week today! After vacation I had one day in Yogya before I set off for Aceh. That one day was spent doing all sorts of shopping and errand running in preparation, but also just enjoying the city for one last day (until next time that is). While I do feel busy here, I'm not overwhelmed and am really enjoying getting to know the city, little by little. I live in a beautiful house with three other women: Kristy (a volunteer for the American group Volunteers in Asia, she's teaching at a high school run by the University here), Catherine (an Austrailian anthropologist doing research for her PhD), and Sarah (the other Shansi fellow already here for a year). We all, unsurprisingly, get along very well and last night spent the evening doing yoga together in our living room... The house itself has four bedrooms, one real bathroom, a kitchen, and even a screened sitting room facing our lush back yard. Pretty soon, we'll be setting up a garden. Our house is also five minutes from classes by foot which is amazingly convenient.
While everyone seemed to think Aceh would be an enormous shock, I feel I'm settling in really comfortably. I'm sure this is mostly because of my two cofellows, Sarah and Jesse, and their amazing advice and willingness to explain just about everything. I also recognize that I have yet to do much more than work and sit at home, so have much exploring and learning to do. Living with a researcher and teacher who have been here a year has been enormously helpful and interesting in providing varied perspectives. I get to hear all about the political climate and little cultural facets I'd definitely never hear about if my housemate's job wasn't to constantly observe, record, and critically analyze.
As usual, life is always exciting. My second or third day here was a tremendous event in Indonesian history. Hasan di Tiro (possibly misspelling..) returned to Aceh for the first time in decades. The exiled head of the separatist movement, his return is mostly a symbol of Aceh's newly found stabilization (whew). While I couldn't make it to his speech, we did take a walk the night before to find the streets packed with people planning to camp out, that's how excited the city was.
As for teaching, I started on Monday, and my work week ends on Saturday. I'm teaching three speaking classes -each meets twice a week- and one literature class (yay!). My students range from first year undergraduates to professors, so I really have the whole range which is super interesting and fun.
Of course, I could go on for pages about all the interesting nuances of life here, but I'll save that for later... oh, and pictures soon from vacation and from Aceh (my battery charger never arrived, but Sarah coincidentally has the same charger, yippee!!!) .