Another blog…YAYY… Sept. 14 – October 20th.
Tuesday September 14th
Woke up at 6am to head to a small airport in Jakarta, to catch a plane to Pangandaran for 2 nights. This was no commercial jet. It was a tiny 12 seat Cessna with a one-propeller engine. Mark and I grabbed seats literally right behind the Pilots. The pilot was a young guy from Canada. We videotaped the take off because it was the first time we had been in a plane like that. The pilot controls the take off and landing; while in the air it is all done by computer. As we approached our landing it seemed as though we were coming in to fast and too steep, we could see the pilots every move and feel the planes response. We made a perfect landing at a tiny airport in Pangandaran.
We were told we could walk to the hotel, so we made no prior arrangements. It turns out this field is in the middle of no where and about a 20 minute ride to where we were staying. There was one English speaking lady on the plane with us, so James approached her and asked her to help them speak with someone to arrange a ride to their hotel. She obliged and called her husband to send two Ojek’s(motorcycles and driver) to come pick us up. It was our first ride in Indonesia. Mark snapped a few photos while we rode through small villages. We approached a small one lane Bamboo bridge that spanned about 80 feet across a mud brown river. The drivers continued right over the wobbly bridge. A few minutes later we arrived at Java Cove Hotel. We were expecting to be some of the only people there but it turns out about 300 other people thought it was a good time to visit here too. Do not ever travel anywhere in Indonesia during the end of Ramadan and the holiday of Idul Fitri. We checked in, and the young Australian manager led us to our room and told us where we may find a less crowded spot to swim, although she had never been there herself. We decided to check out the spot, it turned out to be a rocky beach that was inaccessible because it was below a cliff.
We returned to the beach in front of the hotel and decided to go for a swim amongst the hundreds of tanned Indonesians. Many of them had their shirts on, but we wanted a tan so we popped our shirts off and quickly became a spectacle on the beach as we were the only two white bodies. The sand was black, and it burned your feet to walk on the dry parts the sun is so hot. We got into the warm water and waded out a few hundred feet. We heard the term “bule”(white foreigner) mentioned numerous times and we were also greeted by a number of people. Some even wanted to exchange e-mails to be able to talk to someone from America.
The waves were perfect for surfing, but there were way to many people. Our plan to begin surfing quickly faded away. We walked back to the room and ordered some fresh made smoothies, then a little after went and had dinner. Back to the room for some sleep.
Wednesday September 15th
Woke up around 6:30am and noticed the beach was filling up regardless of the fact it was pouring and thundering out. We decided to sleep in. The rain eventually stopped around mid day, and the beach was much less crowded than the previous day, but still too crowded. Mark began Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series, now hes hooked. We went for a late swim around 4:45pm after the crowds left and spent the next hour enjoying our time amongst the surfers. We were very jealous we could not join them. Had dinner at the restaurant went back to the room and watched the classic movie, The Pest and went to bed.
Thursday September 16th
Woke up early to try and do some surfing before our plane ride back, decided against it, still too crowded. Had breakfast, talked to the manager and had to arrange a ride to the airport through Susi air, our flight provider. The driver was a little late so on the way to the airport he was honking the horn and driving around mopeds and other cars. Honking the horn in Indonesia does not have the same meaning as it does in America. They use the horn to alert motorcycles, other cars etc that they are there. It is also used to tell other drivers I’m coming into the lane. It is not used because you get angry at someone. We got to the airport, credit cards were not accepted so they let us on and told us to pay when we got into Jakarta. Same plane, same pilots, same experience. We were escorted to the desk where we paid, then went to go have some donuts at Dunkin Donuts.
Took a cab back to Nadia’s where we ate some dinner and watched the final episode of America’s got talent.
Friday September 17th
Woke up at 8am and got our things ready to go to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta). Headed to the airport, had lunch there and waited for our flight. Got on the plane and had a 1 hour flight. We landed in pouring rain, so the company was giving umbrellas to each passenger as they exited the plane. Found a cab to take us to the hotel and he was listening to a mix CD with artists such as Britney spears, backstreet boys, bon jovi and the crap radio top 20 countdown. He was rocking out and loving it.
Arrived at the hotel and headed off to dinner. Nadia’s friend Angela remembered a great warung(small restaurant) that she had been to previously in Jogjakarta. After an hour or so of searching for said restaurant, the rest of the car held a coup and we voted to eat somewhere else. Her navigation skills were almost as good as Loras, or should I say Svetlana. We ended up stopping at some random place where we sat on the ground and had a great meal for 100,000 rp ($12) and there were 5 of us. Went back to the hotel to get ready for the night. Took a cab to Survive Garage, a little store with front yard set up for preview performances of the next 2 nights. Really cool artwork and lots of people smoking cigarettes, which is the norm around these parts, indoors or out. 2 Australian rappers (some of the biggest in Aussie) performed some freestyle as did a few Indonesian ones. Around 11 we headed back to the hotel, once back we ordered room service, chit chatted then went to bed.
Saturday September 18th
Woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Poor selection, but it was a beautiful day out. We all headed to the pool, which was the nicest part of the hotel. Swam for a bit and jumped off this Cement dragon statue platform which was about 8 feet above the pool. After, Nadia, James and Mark went to the Sultans Water Palace. We hired a guide, but he was horrible. He led us to a Batik(batik is?) shop. After some bargaining, Mark ended up buying 2 large Batiks. We then headed to a small café by Becak (almost like a rickshaw, except the driver is behind you). Café Via Via had some great food and drink. We ended up having a discussion about Independent women, women taking the husbands last name and so on. Lets just say James and Marks views were not the same as the women’s.
For dinner we ordered room service again then headed out to the national museum to check out the Aussie/Indo hip hop festival. Checked out some of the acts, ErthBoy(aussies next big rapper, hes on youtoube) killed it. We met Matt, an aspiring doctor from Australia, who was on his way to an Island off the northwest coast of Australia where they were imprisoning any immigrants trying to get into Australia. Mark met a Indonesian girl named Valentina who wanted us to come to the club with her and her friends. After we exchanged numbers, she left and another girl came up to us and asked for our number. James at this point thought they were all prostitutes soliciting business. But turns out they were just being nice. Headed back to the hotel, James went for a swim, then to bed.
Sunday September 19th
Woke up had some crap breakfast again, because by the time we ate there wasn’t much left. Packed up our room and moved into Nadias, because Nadia’s 2 friends Maeve and Angela left that day. Mark and James headed for lunch at Café Via Via again. Food and drinks were delicious again. We were haggled by Ojek drivers but we could see rain was coming so we decided to wait for a cab. Sure enough 5 minutes in it started to pour. On the cab ride back Mark was busy texting with his new friend Valentina. Once back at the hotel, we booked our flights back to Jakarta.
Walked near our hotel looking for some dinner. Ended up stopping in all the T-shirt stores looking for some fresh gear. James got a few shirts. He even bargained in one of the stores where there is never any bargaining. He had 150,000 rp on him and the shirt cost 165,000 he told the cashier that and she discussed with her friend for a minute and they agreed to it. Went to eat at Steak and shake, a chain around that part of Java. It was cheap and good. Went to bed early.
Monday September 20th
Woke up at 4am, grabbed our packed breakfast from the front desk and waited for our driver and car to pick us up to go see the temple of Borobudur (google it), an incredible Buddhist temple. Supposedly seeing it at sunrise was spectacular, with our luck though it turned out to be misty. It was a large temple, with ornate carvings, and sculptures of Buddha on each level. Each level represented your path to enlightenment, with the top being enlightened. Some monks were praying at the top.
On the way back Nadia was haggled by some vendors and she bought a small souvenir. Headed back to the hotel and waited a few hours to be picked back up and transferred to the airport. Caught our flight back to Jakarta. Grabbed our things from Nadias and headed back to Ries’. Of course not without a shitload of traffic, and a lovely cockroach visitor in our donut box, Nice! Got back, unpacked, then repacked for our trip to the rural village of Ciseeng the next morning to teach English.
Tuesday September 21st
Woke up early, got ready and headed about an hour through bumpy narrow roads to the village. We were accompanied by Ries, and some of her cousins. Checked out the place, or rather the room we’d be staying in for the next week. Headed down the road to the school to meet the staff and introduce ourselves to the kids. Headed to lunch with the Principal and our traveling party. Ate at a Padang restaurant, you pick dishes from a case eat as much as you want and pay only for what you eat. Oh yea, and you eat with your hands. After getting back we visited more classes. The kids were happy to see us but extremely shy. Took a lot of photos and smiled so much our cheeks started to hurt.
After school let out we walked through the village to our humble abode. All along the way we were stared at and warmly welcomed by the children and adults of the village. We discussed ideas for teaching, then showered up in the outdoor bathroom where you dump a bucket of dirty water over yourself. Headed to dinner at another Padang restaurant. Once back we learned some Basa Indonesia with Ries’s Cousin Aan (Ah ahn). Went to bed in a steaming hot room filled with mosquitoes.
Wednesday September 22nd
Woke up after about 45 minutes of total sleep that night. Mark had about 35 mosquito bites. Had a breakfast of white bread, and then headed to the school to begin a full 7m-5pm day of teaching. It was a long and repetitive day. We realized that many of the kids had very poor English, and the books they were learning from were meant for 10-12th grade English students. Not 17 year olds who were on a 1st or 2nd grade English level. By the end of the day we were drained, and no longer wanted to teach. We discussed replacing the chalkboards with dry-erase boards. They did not have the money to replace 4 of them; Mark and I discussed it and donated the money to have 4 white boards put up in the classrooms. While we taught, little village kids would poke their heads through the windows and just watch. Upon the students leaving the classroom, instead of a hand shake they would take your hand and bring it to their forehead, nose or cheek as a sign of respect for their teachers.
Headed back to the crib, installed mosquito netting that the principal gave us. Then we were visited by the principal and his wife, who brought us Martabak, a traditional sweet peanut or chocolate pancake/cake type deal. After they left, we headed to dinner, came back learned some more Indonesian and went to bed, this time under the mosquito netting we brought for camping. Mark was emotionally upset because of the mosquitoes attacking him, not a’an or James.
Thursday September 23rd
Slept much better last night because of the mosquito netting. Slept in for a bit, but were awoken by the Kindergarten class that went on from 7-10 am. Slept some more, then did nothing till we had grade 11 English class from 3-5pm. We made the kids stand up in front of the class to read dialogue, answer question and get them out of their shy little shells. After class a student was playing basketball on the court. One of the12th graders told James to come play one on one. James was in khakis, button down and boat shoes, but he is not to be shown up no matter where he is. Got on the court, started playing and noticed all the eyes were on them. All the students, teachers and villagers were watching a Bule play one of their own. After James blocked a few of his shots and scored some of his own, amongst cheers from the crowd, he was sweating profusely. He told mark and another boy to come in to play 2 on 2. We played a game to 3 then switched teams. Mark and I vs. two 18 year old students. It was a good time for all involved.
Walked back to the house with kids following us. We couldn’t go anywhere without little kids following us or people saying hello. We felt like celebrities. There was a nightly Koran reading class below our room and the kids, aged 5-12 learned there. They all were excited we were there and wanted to learn more English, so we held an impromptu class near our door and taught them the body parts. They were adorable. After we went to have dinner at the same place. They gave us a fruit called Rambutan to try for free. Came back to the room and A’an insisted we learn how to do Shiatsu. He used James as the model while mark watched in enjoyment as James grimaced. After he finished, A’an insisted James try this on Mark. We both said it would never leave the room as it was uncomfortable to massage a friend, but for your enjoyment we have included it.
Friday September 24th
Slept in. For lunch we went to have chicken burgers, which were nothing like chicken. Went to class from 4-5pm. On the way to class, we passed by the kids we taught the night before. They were yelling our names. We quizzed them in the middle of the road, after they ran off smiling and laughing. We were accompanied by the principal’s nephew who is a translator. We made nametags with all the kids to learn their names. After class some students offered to drive us on their motorcycles back to our place to avoid the rain. Upon arrival we were welcomed by the impromptu class again, this time it was even bigger. Taught some more, then headed to dinner at the principals by public transport. It was just a van crammed with as many people as possible. Enjoyed some Egyptian Martabak and checked out pictures from class. After we went to his nephews home to use the internet. Then he took us back to where we were staying one by one on his motorcycle. No public transport after a certain time. A’an tried to get us to do more shiatsu but we politely refused.
Saturday September 25th
Woke up at 6am to get ready for school at 7am, ON A SATURDAY. Taught morning classes until lunch. While we waited for lunch, some of the students taught us words in Bahasa Indonesia while we sat behind the desks as students. After lunch we taught and sweated some more. The first class was uneventful and outside the open windows someone was burning trash. They burn trash to dispose of it here or throw it in the streets as they have no means to get rid of it. During the last class a few of the girls wanted to buy us lunch, we politely declined.
Before heading back to the room to pack up, we took a group picture, then we were asked to take a picture with a family who lived right across from the school. They invited us for coffee and snacks. Thankfully we had A’an to translate. Everyone has been more than welcoming to us. They share whatever they have. Much better hospitality than many of the bastards in the states. We packed up our things and waited to go back to Cinere. While waiting the kids found us again and we taught for a few minutes. Then finally headed back to Ries’s, where dinner and apple pie (Ries’ reminder of Larchmont) were waiting for us. It was a wonderful and emotional experience.
Sunday September 26th
Sunday was a relaxing day where we didn’t do much. After dinner we had some dessert, James ate almost an entire layer cake. We then taught Lisa, Ries’s niece what some items around the house were in English. Lazy day. Goodnight
Monday September 27th
Woke up at 6am to get ready for our first day of teaching at an elementary school near where we are staying, called Dharma Karya. We were picked up by the school car, already a much different experience than the poor village of Ciseeng. We arrived at the school to find the near 700 students aligned in rows, dressed in school uniform participating in the flag ceremony. When we stepped out of the car all of the students turned and looked at the two white boys walking across the yard. We were escorted into the head masters office where we met Pak (mr. in basa Indo) Din, One of the English teachers who would be our guide for the remainder of our stay.
We attended multiple classes, and noticed right away how well behaved and disciplined they were at such a young age. The younger students (grade 2 or 3) also had better English skills than the 12th graders of Ciseeng. Before entering each class everyone was required to take their shoes off and leave them outside. After introducing ourselves and playing a few games, the school goes on break for 30 minutes or so. We headed to the canteen (outside cafeteria) where we enjoyed fresh avocado and guava juices, and bakso (meatball) soup, along with chocolate martabak. We headed back to the classroom to teach the 6th grade bilingual class. We recapped our adventure to the students and then tested their listening skills to see what they could remember. Went to a 3rd grade classroom to end the day. On our ride back to cinere, we noticed 2 little kids naked peeing on the side of the road, apparently this is normal around here.
Relaxed for the rest of the night and prepared for another fun day of teaching. We like the kids and the school a lot already.
Tuesday September 28th
Woke up and headed to the school again. Started teaching a 1st grade class, we went over greetings and goodbyes, as well as introductions. We then headed to a 5th grade class to work on birthday greetings. We then headed to another bilingual class, introduced ourselves and opened up the floor for questions. They asked us many questions, some even involving whether we had girlfriends or were married. After, while James was in the lieu, mark was swarmed by tons of little children wanting to shake his hand and show respect for their new bule teacher. The gym teacher blew his whistle and dispersed the kids so we could enjoy our break time. Had some more soup and fruit juices. After the break headed back to the classroom to finish up story telling and questions.
We then headed to a 2nd grade classroom where the class was bouncing off the walls. We worked on teaching them the difference between singular and plural using fruits. After we had another break, during which a few students wanted to ask more questions, we allowed it for a few minutes then wanted to rest. After lunch we prepared a vocab list for the afternoon class that would consist of 4 students who would be in the school spelling bee. Before we could finish, about 60 students swarmed into the room waving notebooks and pens for us to sign their notebooks. We now know what it is like to feel like a celebrity. After our hands were cramped and sweaty we got back to preparing the vocabulary. The students came in and we challenged them with the words we prepared. Some were better than others, but they all tried very hard.
Headed back to Cinere, on the way back we were invited to Pak Din’s village about 3 hours a way, to see a waterfall and to take in more culture. After getting home we contemplated the offer over tea, and trailer park boys, an interesting Canadian show. Ate some dinner, then went to bed.
Wednesday September 29th
Woke up early and awaited for Ries cousin to pick us up to go to Ciseeng and Harapan school so our presence would be noticed as the government officials were conducting a review of the school that day. We spent the morning sitting around, feeling useless, we were tired and it was hot. Around mid morning the officials arrived and we went into the classroom. James thought that everyone was just practicing for the upcoming meeting, so he wasn’t very enthusiastic when talking, and found out later that it was the actual meeting. Whoops. After the meeting a group of female students were brought in and performed a traditional Sundanese dance, then another read a poem she wrote. After, we had lunch with the teachers and awaited our ride home. Nothing much went on for the rest of the day. Just hoping that the upcoming weeks would fly by, so we could start our traveling.
Thursday September 30th
Woke up and headed back to Dharma Karya, for our last 2 days of teaching. Upon arrival James was asked to make a short 3-5 minute speech, to all the teachers, faculty, PTO (similar), and visiting members of University among a few others. After teaching a few classes we got to enjoy a 1.5 hour break, and during this time James prepared his speech and ate some lunch. Around 11:30 the holiday celebration of forgiving each other for the past year began. The headmaster, a doctor and a few others all gave speeches. Finally James and Mark were called to the podium. James was the most nervous he has been in a few years. Standing in front of a crowd of 100 teachers, parents, officials and delivering a speech in his native tongue not theirs. He started the speech off on a light note to get a few laughs, and it worked. Explained our backgrounds, our adventure, why we were here, and our impressions of Indonesia and this school. It went very well thankfully.
After the speech, we shook everyone’s hands and enjoyed a large buffet of food for lunch. After the crowds left, we were forced to do a little Karaoke in front of the remainder of people. We sang Mariah Carey’s Hero. Not a song suited to our baritone voices. Got home to find Ries cousin A’an waiting for Ries to give her a weekly Shiatsu massage treatment. While waiting he offered to give one to mark. While mark suffered, James sat on the computer and relaxed. After dinner we tried a fruit only found in Indonesia, Durian. Mark didn’t mind it but James was disgusted by it. Ended the night by enjoying the Christmas special of the show It’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Made us want to get back to the states to enjoy this time with our families.
Friday October 1st
Woke up early to head to Dharma Karya to participate in their physical education class. It lasted about an hour, and consisted of dance aerobics, it was very odd. After sweating up a storm we took a break, and had some boiled banana, and sweet potato type of thing. After we headed to the 6th grade bilingual class and used the computer to sing some songs and practice listening. We also introduced them to the USA, the states, Grand Canyon and showed them pictures of our towns. A few of the students drew us some drawings. One was of us in the classroom, James, bald, and mark with read curly hair. The other was almost the same except this one was outside and it had the American flag and Indonesian flag together. It was very thoughtful. After we ate lunch in the library, where mark taught the children about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico through his friends production company, red bridge productions, who were creating a film about it. We were then split up and taught 2 separate classes. James was brought to grade 2, and mark grade 5. After we had a meeting with the head master, where he asked us our opinion of the differences in the schools here and the USA etc. We then took pictures with him and headed home.
Saturday October 2nd
After breakfast we began to catch up on our blog, we are slowly making progress. After lunch we were driven to Lion Air to pay for a few of our plane tickets. It down poured severely while there and the roads flooded quickly. We then went to go pick up Nadia, saw some monkey in the street wearing a dolls face, it was hilarious. One of those things you have to be there to appreciate. Sat in traffic to get there, then grabbed her stuff and sat in another few hours of traffic to get back to Cinere. For dinner we decided to eat at the mall and ended up getting McDonalds. This was both of our first times having fast food in a few years. After arriving home and checking facebook, James noticed that about 20 of the students wrote on his wall. Bad idea to give the children our facebook accounts.
Sunday October 3rd
Woke up around 5am to get ready to be picked up to go to the village of Sukabumi with Ibu Nina, Pak Din and his wife, who was 8 months pregnant. The village is 100km away about 60 miles yet it took us about 3 hours to get there. Once there we had lunch, on the floor traditional style. After eating we headed towards the waterfall we were supposed to go see. We passed large green tea plantations. Once there it started to rain and as we walked up we were stopped by rangers and were told we could not continue up because it was too dangerous. Headed back down to the ranger station and checked out some of the things we could have seen. Monkeys, black panthers, and leopards.
Headed back to Pak Din’s wifes house and had tea then headed out to look for Bakso soup. On the walk we were passed 3 times by 3 girls on a motorcycle, finally they stopped, waited for us to walk up then sped away. They came back again and finally talked to us. After we took a drive and found Bakso soup and headed home. On the way back we hit a mass amount of traffic. At one point mark and I went to sleep and an hour later we were no more than 1km away from where we fell asleep. It took us almost 6 hours to go 60 miles. Once back we were given 2 coconuts as a gift, which we gave to Ries. Ate a bit and went to bed.
Monday October 4th
After breakfast we took a ride with Ries’ niece Dewi to the post office. After we went looking for a tailor to make our suits. We then went to visit her daughter Ishma who was sick with a fever. Went grocery shopping for Ries, picked up a few pastries and headed home. Had some dinner and for dessert ate Mangosteen, another exotic, or is it erotic, fruit? It was very good. We helped another one of Ries’ nieces with her English homework. Bedtime.
Tuesday October 5th
Ries needed us to do a few errands for her. We borrowed a motorcycle, and with James driving, mark was on his 2nd Ojek ride. It was a fun ride to the mall, weaving through traffic and away from potholes, Mark did not find it as exciting as James. Got to the bank, no one spoke English so it was difficult to understand anyone. Filled out the paperwork and made a wire transfer for Ries. After we headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things. After unsuccessful attempts at finding celery and lettuce at a few different places, we headed home. Ate some lunch with Lisa and Zahra (Ries’ nieces, she has a lot of them). Met Ries’ childhood friend Dewi whose place we will be staying at for our first 4 days in Bali. Discussed renewing our Visa’s as they expire before we leave the country. After, James helped make Nasi Goreng (Fried rice). Mark prepared for his interview with Ashoka. Skyped Fatt Matt down in Florida then went to bed.
Wednesday October 6th
After breakfast, we headed out to the mall with Dewi to find English books. No books in English at the store, but they did carry computer, camera and sporting equipment. We picked up 2 basketballs for the school in Ciseeng. After arriving home, Dewi nicknamed Mark, Marv from home alone, because his hair looks like his after not being cut for 3 months. Ate some dinner listened to some 90’s music (ghetto superstar etc) and went to bed.
Thursday October 7th
Headed out to the tailor to get sized up for our suits, put our deposit down then headed to another tailor to pick up clothes Ries needed. Relaxed the rest of the day. After dinner, Mark James and Lisa were hanging out when an intruder snuck into the house. It was a bat. It flew in through the window and was flying around trying to get back out. Lisa was trying to hit it with a blanket, finally mark opened a window and it flew back out. It was a funny situation.
Friday October 8th
Happy Birthday Carrie. Talked with Ries’ cousin Aan about going back to Ciseeng and about visiting a waterfall. Went to a mall in Jakarta with Nadia, picked up some electronics and bought some pirated DVD’s. Bought a total of 33 DVD’s each less than 1 dollar a piece. Saw some guy walking with a few boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts. We went on a hunt to find it, after about 20 minutes of searching we asked the information desk and finally found it. Bought a box to bring with us for our cab ride back to Cinere. Sat in a bunch of traffic, but what else is new. Ate dinner went to bed.
Saturday October 9th
Checked out the documentary The Cove, a must watch for all of you out there. Very moving. Decided not to attend one of Ries cousin weddings. Hung out around the house and relaxed. Good thing we didn’t go because on the way back they sat in about 4 hours of traffic. Mark helped Ries 99 year old step mom into bed with the nurse because no one else was around.
Sunday October 10th
James was asked to go to the traditional market with Ries. On the way there, they hit every pothole on the road, and even a motorcycle. No one was hurt, besides the headless and bloodied chickens that were on display in the market. What a smell. Once back guests started arriving for a family meeting. There were about 40 people in total. After the long meeting, which was spoken in Bahasa Indo, we left for Ciseeng to embark on another weeks journey of bathing in dirty water, using a squat toilet with no TP and eating with our hands.
Arrived in Ciseeng and unloaded our things. Mark, Lisa, James and Dewi played a little bit of basketball inside the house and did not realize how loud it sounded to the rest of the village. When mark went to go use the bathroom he ripped the door of its top hinge. All that rice has made him too strong. Set up our beds and tried to go to bed.
Monday October 11th
We woke up in pools of our own sweat, and had a total of about 1 hour of sleep between us. Mosquitos, scratching, digging, kept us up most of the night. Around 2am we heard a huge slam, like someone dropped a boulder on the roof. We didn’t find out what it was till a few days later. More to come with that story. At 7am headed out on a 2 hour van ride to a waterfall. Arrived, ate some food. Mark started to have blurry vision and was having trouble seeing. It passed quickly thankfully. Before starting our descent we were shown what a cotton tree looked like. They don’t have bushes here, their cotton grows on trees. We started our descent to the waterfall. After changing and submerging ourselves in the very cold water, we took a few pictures. The water was so refreshing, and it was probably the cleanest water we have encountered since being here.
Around mid afternoon we were told monkeys would start to show up. Soon after we were told this we saw 2 monkeys come out of the woods and start climbing up the riverbed. Mark was so excited he ran towards them to take pictures. Apparently they love the spotlight and the first 2 monkeys mounted each other and started to “monkey around”, if you catch my drift. And I am not talking about itching their armpits, throwing feces or swinging from trees… After a short cigarette break, they came right up to the people standing around and started rifling around looking for food. People started to give them crackers and bananas. Soon after, the rest of the family came up the river. Probably another 10-12 monkeys. Mark decided he wanted in on the action (not that action) and decided to throw a peanut shell at one of the babies, papa monkey did not like this. He chased after mark and tried to slap him on his shins, Marks cat like reflexes allowed him to come away unscathed. As we walked out the big daddy monkey was hungry and came strutting up to us right in our path, he looked angry, we all got scared and Rizki one of the students who came with us threw down his bag of chips so its attention would go elsewhere. It worked and we made our escape.
We took a lovely ride back down the mountain through pine forests. Once back we decided against staying any more in Ciseeng and wanted to head home. We signed our basketballs gave them to the school, packed the car and headed back to Cinere. Had dinner, discussed plans to go to immigration to renew our visas and went to bed.
Tuesday October 12th
Woke up and headed to the Immigration office in downtown Jakarta. James, Mark, Ries and Dewi. We ended up going to the wrong office, so we took a break for lunch, met Nadia, then headed to the other Imigrasi office. This one was also the wrong office and we were told we had to go to a different one that covered the area where Ries lived. It was something out of a Chevy Chase, National Lampoon movie. To late in the day to go to the other one so we headed to the mall to find a CD case for all the Dvd’s we bought, we also stopped and had some donuts at none other than, Dunkin Donuts. Apparently more than America, “runs on Dunkin”.
Wednesday October 13th
Dewi, James and Mark headed to the Immigration office in Tangerang, about 1 hour away from where we are staying. On the way we got a bit lost, asked for directions and ended up finding the place. We filled out what seemed to be the same form multiple times. After we went to go hand in the papers and as we went up they were going on their hour long lunch break. We decided since we were near the airport we would go refund 2 airline tickets in exchange for different flights. It turns out the secretary on the phone gave us wrong information as we could not get the refund done at the airport. We decied to have lunch and head back to Immigration before it closed. Made some photocopies then bribed the Immigration officer so our information would go through quicker and we would not have to return to Immigration 2 more times, we would only have to come back once, and it would be ready in 2 days. We left to go pick up Ries at the mall. We got lost on the way and stuck in more traffic, so she ended up taking a cab home. After dinner we wanted to get ice cream but it started to rain heavily, so Dewi made us Banana smoothies, Ini Enak Sekali! (That was delicious).
Thursday October 14th
First thoughts about how we would miss Ries’s nieces when we leave in a week. We have gotten close with 3 of them and they have turned out to be so nice, very funny and good company. 2 of them tried a combination of Bread, butter, cheese and mango for breakfast, odd tastes. After breakfast we began packaging Cd’s for Emma’s wedding. Mark was the ribbon man and James having no creative talent, hole punched, and put cd’s in envelopes. After getting through a grueling 300 cd’s , took a break for lunch. After lunch we planned on going to get ice cream with Lisa and Zahra. As we hopped on the back of their motorcycle it started to drizzle. Not a good sign. We sat down to enjoy some frozen yogurts. Soon we heard the pitter patter of the rain on the roof, which turned into what sounded like hail. The raindrops here are on steroids. The girls went and got the mopeds (how chivalrous we are) we lent them our rain jackets. We sped through flooded streets in the downpour, hoping that we would not hydroplane or skid out. We got home in one piece, changed out of our wet clothes and continued packaging the Cd’s. We got through 500 of them before we decided to stop for the night.
Mark was on skype and introduced Mrs. du Moulin to Ries’s cousin A’an, his wife and niece Lisa. After he presented us with souvenirs of the Harapan School. We were given a mechanics button down, and pair of the schools gym uniforms. After, he told us the details of our sleepless night in Ciseeng on Sunday Oct. 10-11. Upon arriving in the room, Mark noticed blood stains caked onto the floor underneath the wax on the floor. As we tried to sleep we both heard digging sounds, and the sound of people picking up rocks outside the house. Around 2am we all heard a loud slam (like a door) in the middle of the night, A’an asked if that was us, we replied no. He got up to see what it was. Nothing, so he went back to his room. When he was in his room he saw a shadow cross back and forth at his window. When he looked out the window it was gone, but as he layed back down to try to sleep he noticed it again. He took a look outside nothing, went back in his room and closed his door. When he woke up in the morning his door was partially open. He asked the owner of the house later that morning what the sound was, and the owner told him that there was something in the house, and that’s why it has been vacant for so long (he didn’t care to elaborate). We put the pieces of the mystery together, like the hardy boys and determined that the house was haunted. We were immediately creeped out, but glad we did not know about this while we stayed there. Ghosts do exist. Probably the reason we did not sleep. Plus we probably shouldn’t have been throwing basketballs off the walls.
Friday October 15th
Ries, Dewi, James and Mark headed into Jakarta to the 5th largest clothing mall in the world. Ries and Mark shopped for the wedding Batiks while James and Dewi, took public transportation to go refund the airline tickets at the main Lion Air building. After success we headed back to the mall and had lunch in the food court. After we saw the first black person we have seen in Indonesia, we ate some soft serve ice cream from A&W(they are big here, as is KFC), it was good. After going sandal shopping for the wedding party, and James making a baby cry we left the mall. We sat in traffic to get out of the mall. While sitting in more traffic Dewi surprised us with Jendol, an Indonesian sweet. Strands of sugar cane between 2 pieces of Krupuk(thin rice cake type thing), reminded us of cotton candy. After dinner and getting home we took a motorcycle ride to pick up our suits. Tried on our suits, and before we put them away we noticed our pants had the label “bule” on them. We ended the night by watching Pirate Radio, with Lisa and Zahra but we quickly turned it off when lots of nudity came on the screen and switched to a more appropriate, Toy Story 3.
Saturday October 16th
Before family arrived for another wedding meeting we had lunch on the back porch. Once the family arrived, we stayed in our A/C room watching movies all day. Word to the wise, do not rent or see Grown ups, it was not good. After dinner, Dewi, A’an, Zahra, lisa, James, and Mark went to get ice cream by motorcycle. After some good local ice cream we went to visit Dewi’s daughter who has chicken pox. Once home, Zahra and Lisa asked us if we would like to join them on Sunday morning and go to Jakarta’s amusement park. We ran the idea by Ries , as Lisa had a few classes in the morning. Good to go.
Sunday October 17th
Woke up around 6:15 to get ready to take the 1.5 hour motorcycle ride to the park. We first stopped at Lisa’s school to drop off her homework. We met one of her friends who asked us if we had any other American friends for her. Yes, back in America. We continued our journey to the Ancol Marina, this is where the park was. When we got there around 9:30 we found out the park didn’t open until 11 (Lisa told us it opened at 9:30). We waited around, bought our tickets around 10 and headed over for some pre opening festivities. Watched some dance and met a friendly Indonesian couple who wanted to take some pictures with us. Soon after another 2 women came up to us and wanted pictures as well. It was starting to get really hot and humid out. The UV index in Indonesia is 10+ extreme (according to weather.com). We started out on the swinging pirate ship, a little warm up for the better rides. Next, we waited on line for 2 hours to go on Hysteria, a ride similar to double shot in playland (The one that launches you up a few hundred feet then drops you down and back up again. The ride was worth it. We saw the pictures of our ride and the faces were priceless. We bought 4 copies of the picture so each of us could have one.
On the way to find lunch, Mark noticed there was barely a line for power surge. A ride which turned you upside down, flipped you in circles and made you feel generally uneasy. We all left, with dizzy heads and hungry stomachs. We sat down for some lunch, Mark finished off the Girls Nasi Goreng as they went to go pray at the mosque conveniently located in the parks grounds. Mark suffered a grease attack. After lunch we headed over to the big roller coaster of the park. It had 1 loop and 2 cork screws, it took approximately 1 minute. As we were getting on it started to rain. It was scary because we thought the coaster would derail in the rain. After we finished safely we went on the circular swing ride in the rain. We all left very dizzy. We headed to a water raft ride. On the way to the water ride, we saw that there was not much of a line for the roller coaster. We headed for round 2. We then went to the river ride which was not very fun but got you completely soaked. James put on his rain jacket and stood up in the raft so he would not get wet. When we got off we noticed there was no one in line for the roller coaster. We hopped on for round 3. When the ride finished, the operator told us all to stay in the seats as he was letting us go again because no one was in line still. We did this 3 times in a row. It was great.
We knew we could not end our day without going on the ride called Tornado(dufan tornado on youtube). There was no line so we got on right away, what a mistake. The ride brought you up high then spun you upside down, made all the blood rush to your head, then whipped you around a few times, lowered you down then repeated the process. We all left dizzy and happy to be off of the ride. We decided to finish our day on the log flume. On the way we stopped in to the mirror maze (boring) and finally the tippy house. All the floors were built on steep angles so it made it feel as if you were falling over drunk trying to walk. Being college graduates, we knew how to master this flawlessly. Just kidding, it made you really dizzy. Finally we got on the log flume, and it was a major let down, not fun at all, mark got thrown around and hurt his shin. We decided to call it a day, but not before we found some cotton candy. We got a jumbo stick and finished it all very quickly. Hopped back on the Motorcycles and started our ride back home. We got lost and the ride went a bit longer than expected. Upon arriving home, our knees were aching and our asses had taken a pounding. We did not want to go on the back of a motorcycle for a while.
Monday October 18th
That did not last long for James as today he went on a motorcycle ride to pick up the passports in Tangerang, another 1.5 hour long ride away on the back of a motorcycle. We made it in an hour, Dewi drives fast and weaves in and out of traffic like shes a motorcycle racer. At one point they were traveling 85km an hour, and were passing between 2 cars and there was just enough space for us to fit through, it was quite the experience. We arrived at Immigration, got the passports and headed to Lion air in Pondok Indah to get the refund in motion. After we headed to the Pondok Indah mall to grab another cd case and some ice cream. After more bobbing and weaving in and out of traffic we finally arrived back in Cinere. Mark organized papers and called Evelyn from Ashoka to discuss future collaboration. After dinner we went back by motorbike to visit Dewi’s daughter Ishma who still had chicken pox. Tried to cheer her up a bit. Then rode back home.
Tuesday October 19th
Woke up and watched episodes of Curb your Enthusiasm. Had some lunch, and finally got to meet Emma and her to be husband, Jonathan. Chit Chatted for a bit and finalized some of our plans for the rest of our trip. Had tea and dessert while we caught up and relaxed for the rest of the night. Our room is starting to smell like a college dorm as you cant really get very clean dumping a bucket of water on yourself for a shower everyday.
Wednesday October 20th
Today we were accompanied at breakfast by Emma., catching up on the past twenty years. Then we went for a run to start getting in shape for the climb of Mt. Rinjani. Checked Yankees.com only to see that the Yankees lost game 4. Lets go pinstripes! We spent a few hours catching up on our blog, and we are finally caught up. After dinner we went to the mall to get some ice cream and exchange some dvd’s. Then headed to visit Dewi’s daughter again and bring her some dinner. We also met her son. Came back and watched the movie the expendables. What a ridiculous cast, and some crazy action. Stallone all botoxed up, the Russian (from rocky IV), willis, rourke, schwarzenagger, li, statham, it was quite an interesting cast. 3 more days until the wedding and Bali!!
