Off to Borneo

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Well, tomorrow I am off to my home for the next nine months. It is going to be a bittersweet moment - I am excited to get settled into Bontang, but sad to leave the friends I have made. It is amazing what trips like this can do for friendships; I feel like I have known many of the other Fulbrighters for more than two weeks.

I realize I have been a bit slow on updating my blog. Orientation was informative, but intense. Our days started with a 6am wake-up call, breakfast, and then class from 8am-4pm. We spent half of our days working on Bahasa Indonesia, the language most Indonesians speak, and the other half learning about teaching English as a foreign language.

Outside of the classroom, the biggest surprise has been the number of shopping malls in Bandung. There are at least half-a-dozen shopping centers within walking distance of our hotel, a density that seems to hold for most of the city. Friday and Saturday nights, the malls are filled with teenagers dressed to the T. The malls are noisy, with bands in the courtyards and loud music blasting from the shops. In the enclosed malls, the noise echoes off the walls, to the point where I am not sure how people carry on conversations.

I have seen several entertaining promotions at the malls. Last Saturday, for example, there was a promotional dance competition for a crock-pot-esque kitchen appliance. That is, twenty-or-so contestants were dancing with a metal pot and a wooden spoon. They were following the lead of dancers on a stage, banging the pot with the spoon, holding the pot over their head, and spinning around with the pot held straight out. Behind the stage there was a 15ft-tall blow-up crock pot that you could walk inside of. Talk about creative advertising.

While many of you may find this hard to believe, I have done very little shopping. There are restaurants and a grocery store at most of the malls, so the majority of our trips have been food-oriented.

When not hanging out at the mall, I have been playing volleyball with social workers from a school near our hotel. My volleyball skills leave something wanting, but it has been really nice to meet Indonesians outside of the hotel. The women were very friendly and welcoming, and invited us to their Independence Day celebration. They had a band, tug-of-war, a soccer game, and a traditional game in which people try to climb a greased pole.

At the hotel, I participated in an eel race, another Independence Day tradition. That is, I was given four eels in a bucket. One by one, I picked up the eels, ran across the parking lot, and placed them in another container. This was no easy task - eels are very slippery and wiggle easily out of your hands. I guess it is the Indonesian version of bobbing for apples.

Well, we have a birthday celebration in a bit, so that is all for now.

Miss you all!

Kerry

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Comments

[Blake]

Eels!
This sounds awesome!! I'm so glad you are having so much fun!