“Indonesian Writers Idol” ….? Jamie and I are trying to write up this formal proposal for a national creative writing competition for our students. Suggestions for a name of the competition are welcome. There are 31 of us English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) all over Indonesia so it’d be pretty groovy if we could get some of our students to compete against one another, eh? Plus I think it would provide an awesome forum for students to be heard… hopefully. Wouldn’t you want to know what my Indonesian high-schoolers think about the world today? I’m interested to see how they perceive the world and specifically the US through our wonderful pop-culture that is kind enough to dominate the world. meh.

We’re tossing around the topic idea of Gandhi’s “We must be the change we wish to see in the world,” or a Kennedy quote, or something else along the lines of Fulbright’s mission for mutual understanding between nations. Perhaps a quote from his book, Arrogance of Power.

This week I’ve been gathering writing samples from students to hopefully motivate sponsors to give us some moola. Today my 10^th graders rocked on this activity about being world leaders and writing ideas of what they thought are the world’s biggest problems. Among the 50 something issues raised, my favorites are: global warming - destroys the ozone layer, melts the north pole, and makes land sink – such as Indonesia; creating diplomatic relations between countries; war between America and “Irak;” and Malaysia stealing Indonesia’s songs!

It’s really great to be back in Bandung with these awesome students. Apparently I’m one of the luckiest because other ETAs said that their students really can’t speak English too well, and their areas are pretty secluded. I had the chance to chill with about 12 of the other ETAs out in Bunaken under the sea, Manado, and Yogyakarta.

Had a short refresher dive after 7 yrs in Bunaken, and in the following dives I saw a lot of pretty fish and coral, a ship wreck, and went night diving and had glowing things, red worms and freaky fish swim all around. Purty sweet.

Breathing under water again was definitely a highlight of the trip, but chillin with Bunaken locals (diving crew to the left) was pretty awesome too! The kids there (not in pic) were my tour guides, and we jumped off the dock, n played water football and marco-polo :) and they even brought me mangos one day when I was sick. I miss them.

In Yogya we saw the famous Borobodor (left pic is of D and I reaching for Buddah's left foot for good luck) and many other sights including the “sex temple” in Solo (right pic). Yeah… history and Indonesia today don’t really match in my head. I haven’t quite figured out the social dynamics of Indonesia – everyone has a different take on social norms… but I’ve noticed amongst the 31 ETAs, we have pretty different ideas of America’s norms.

3:30am Breakfast call!

Sometimes the explanation doesn’t matter. I mean the reasons for why something is in existence doesn’t always matter you know? It’s the results of that something that matter. I guess that goes along the lines that it doesn’t matter what the intent a person may have, it’s the impact that matters.

Specifically I’m thinking of puasa – Ramadaan – fasting. People have different reasons for fasting – or for believing in anything right? The beautiful thing about puasa for me is that everyone recognizes it, and once the sun goes down it is a time in which we can all be thankful for the food and community around us. In the beginning of puasa I went to Capoeira from 4-6pm. Everyone was pretty exhausted but it was still a pretty tough practice. Around 5pm I was excited to see the sun going down so that I could have some water. By 5:48ish :P the prayer sounded and everyone cheered and ran to their water and snacks. I was thankful to have some water and I had lunch that day! Everyone shared their treats and we played around a bit more.

A couple days ago I talked on the radio about this and they had asked if we have fasted at all. Jamie and I had fasted for 8hrs while we were working, but never the full 14hrs. So today was the first day we fasted like many around us. We had sahur at 3:30am with some of the family members from next door, and I had my last sip of water at 4am. It really wasn’t bad at all with just spurts of hunger or thirst, and a bit of tiredness and crankiness. By 6pm it wasn’t really a rush for food, but it was nice to be with people that immediately brought us water and snacks, with dinner that followed. It’s like open family dinners all around.

Yesterday I took some studio pics with the English club and then we had buka puasa (breaking fasting) for the day at a food court of a nearby mall. Bandung ppl love their malls ;) Bandung is the Paris of Java – home of the Gedung Satay, SMAN 11, good lookin’ men, no drugs, and rebellion… riiight. Ooo I should use that for a quick True or False quiz :P

Now my school is in their pesantren week – their week of religious study. Then the Ramadaan break starts next week until Oct. 21. So I’m off to Manado – Bunaken to go scuba diving for a week, and then I’ll be in Yogyakarta for a bit.  Abracos y saludos. And for all yas fasting, much respect and I hope you're getting some beautiful community love or at least a refreshed body. ;)

PS. I taught the capoeira crew here: “Obrigada/Obrigado; de nada; boa noite; cuidado; voce tambem.” teehee!