Whew, happy holidays.

On Tuesday, I taught my last class before the holidays! Yay! While I love my job, I am very ready for a vacation (I know, I know, I’ve already had vacations..). On Friday, ten of us are going to a nearby lake for the holidays. It’s higher in the mountains, so a bit chillier in order to somehow mimic the winter holiday feeling. Lake Toba is a twelve hour bus ride and a two hour car ride away, and I’m very excited. My whole house is going, plus Jesse, Carlos, and a few other friends. We’re staying at a hotel attached to a German bakery that includes breakfast, which I can only hope means pastries every morning.
On Sunday, we had a little holiday celebration of our own. We lit candles on coconuts, and Sarah and I cooked latkes, peroshkies, gingered carrots, green beans, and a blintz casserole. It was all delicious, and even better as leftovers. Tomorrow we’re going to a friend’s house for Christmas brunch and then spending the afternoon baking cookies with our Acehnese women friends. So, it’s the holidays full of food as usual.
Life here has been busy as usual. I still feel like I’m not completely settled in (mainly because our house is constantly under construction) but I’m definitely getting to know Aceh more. Carlos and I spent the day at the beach on Monday, which was completely deserted and beautiful. We ate freshly caught and barbecued fish in a wooden hut, read, and splashed around in the turquoise water. It was a pretty great day. On Tuesday, Sarah and I went to aerobics. I’d heard stories about this wonderful class, but this was the first time I’d actually experienced it. I’ve never seen so much spandex outside of an ‘80’s workout tape. It was pretty incredible and I plan on going weekly. I myself wore purple spandex tights (recycled from Halloween) and a tank top and felt overdressed. It was amazing to see the transformation from fully clothed and covered Acehnese women to sweaty barely clothed aerobics women. I learn something new here everyday.
Happy Holidays!

Just a little quieter- but only on the surface.

Since the last time I wrote I have:
-Gone to Sabong (a city on the island an hour from Banda Aceh) for some nice swimming and some yoga (really, I know...)
-Had a fantastic Thanksgiving at our house with Acehnese and foreign friends (four pies, two chickens, stuffing, corn, rolls...mmmm)
-Gone to Jakarta to meet up with Carlos, and have a great weekend exploring a city that is intimidating large. Ten million people live in that city!
-Come back to Banda Aceh to find the addition on our house almost completed, but potentially incapable of housing Jesse because of gender and community dynamics...
-Found out who the two new fellows for next year will be! Wow! Looking forward to meeting you Patrick Hung and Sarah Willis.
-Started teaching again, though only theoretically because the one-day national religious holiday becomes over a week long, culturally.
-Helped Carlos move to three different homes in slightly over a week.
-Gone back to that same island, but to the other side, for the extended holiday to experience beautiful snorkeling, a leaky roof, lots and lots of mosquitoes, and the most beautiful balcony view I’ve yet to see- from a hammock.

So now here I am, half an hour from a literature class I haven’t taught in three weeks because of extended religious and personal holidays, with only five out of my 17 students actually showing up (because they’ve decided the holidays are even longer, I suppose). So much has changed, as usual, in this short period of time. I’m exploring Banda Aceh all over again (not that I’d nearly figured it out yet) this time with Carlos. Things are quieter and calmer with a male friend around. We still get stares, but certainly less heckling and honking horns. During that first week with him here, I’d forgotten how difficult Banda could be for a woman alone. It wasn’t until a couple days ago that I walked around alone again, and was reminded of just how noisy and harsh it can sometimes be. Unfortunately, just because things seem quieter with Carlos (or Jesse, or any other man next to me), it only means that all those words become quiet whispers behind closed doors and windows. These whispers, though, always find their way back around, and I’m realizing that being open about a relationship here, doesn’t necessarily make it easier. This is a learning experience for everyone that we are definitely starting to figure out. As with everything, though, it takes time.
I will admit that timing is simultaneously good and bad. It happens that right around now there is quite a bit of vacation time. In two more weeks, it’ll be Christmas, and New Years, which means two more weeks of vacation. About two weeks after that is the semester break. All this means a lot of travel time potentially out of Banda Aceh. However, right now, is also a fairly critically time at home. Catherine moved out the week I left for Jakarta, but also right after they’d started construction on Jesse’s new home- a two-room addition to our home. The trouble with this is that it is quite untypical to have unmarried men and women living together- many foreign NGO workers have successfully done this, but by isolating themselves in foreigner dominated neighborhoods. Each Acehnese neighborhood has community head (the gajik) whose job it is to protect each person and to function as a mediator. It was our duty to report to this person as new members and, more importantly, this person should have approved the construction of Jesse’s “separate”- yet connected- home. While it has been quite some time since these things were somewhat neglected, reparations are in process. And, hopefully, everything will work out in the end- especially since next year we will definitely have another male fellow coming to join us.
As usual, things in Aceh are exciting, challenging, and ever changing. It is rainy season in Aceh. While this translates to wetter, cooler weather, the rain’s power to bring life is evident all around- in the plant life that is flourishing (we have a small vegetable garden that’s growing quickly) and in the baby animals all around. The seasons are changing, and life here adapts- for people included.