A Simple Update

I haven’t written for quite sometime, though this is not for want of activity. Things here are as busy as ever. On March 16th, Sarah and I opened a small English library above our office space where we loan out magazines, books, and DVDs with the idea that the library would become a resource center and center for activity. In less than a month a lot has happened. We recently picked five student interns who are all eager and enthusiastic in helping us organize the space and student activities. Because it has been so popular, we are already moving to a larger space. We’ll also be hosting a discussion table where other foreigners lead discussions with students on a topic of their choice. Our first such event will be on Monday, April 27th and will about marriage in the past and present here and in the west. It’s a topic many students are interested and I personally am really looking forward to it. Jesse will also be “digitizing” the library with a computer the Language Center is letting us have. Things are really going well with the space and I’m eager to see all the wonderful ideas of our interns materialize in the coming months.
Since I know I never really reported on my travels, here’s a quick summary of my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur. Since this was the third short stay Carlos and I have had there, things have become much easier. KL is already a very easy city to navigate, so we were really free to just get along with business and have a good time. We stayed in a different part of town (last time we stayed in raucous and touristy Chinatown) called Bukti Bintang which is, yes, still touristy, but with a different less party-like scene. We stayed in the Atapsana guesthouse with was really a wonderful space. The entire guesthouse was filled with Ikea furniture and Malaysian decorations which made it feel like the apartment of an American traveler. It was really quiet but also surrounded by Middle-Eastern, Arabic, and European food which was all fantastic. We spent a good deal of time in embassies, which we are now incredibly adept at finding. Carlos got a new Indonesian visa while I got my China visa (I’m going at the end of June, yay!). Mostly, we spent our time enjoying the luxuries of a big city: shopping malls, movie theaters, international food, and a Malaysian Philharmonic. This last attraction was something I had really been looking forward to. The Malaysian Philharmonic is actually located on the second floor of the famous Petronas Towers and demands all the respect a pair of glittering skyscrapers assume. The dresscode for men was lounge suit or long-sleeved batik and for women seemed to be anything from smart suit to ballgown. Since Carlos owned neither of his options, he had to borrow both shoes and coat from the ushers. While we though this to be funny enough, the long line of both westerners and locals returning borrowed clothing was also qutie a site.
The concert itself was really pretty good (they played two Symphonies by Hadyn and one by another composer), but almost equally interesting was the makeup of the orchestra itself. It was really quite striking to see nearly all white faces in an orchestra in the heart of Malaysia. The conductor is from Amsterdam as well as a good deal of the musicians. There were also several guest Russian musicians for this particular concert. All-in-all a really nice night.
So here I am back in Aceh with two months left till summer. Things here are changing all the time and in two months I expect them to be quite different once again. It seems like a strange deadline though, sixty days for me to learn enough about Aceh (culture and language) to be able to teach next year’s fellows, complete semester activities, be able to play my instrument for seven minutes straight (we’re planning a concert), figure out travel plans, and hopefully get an art show up and running. Phew. That’s a lot to accomplish when what I’m really enjoying in the new season’s heat is sitting here my sugary glass of iced-tea.