Home in Bontang

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Hello all,

I just walked to an internet café, in the rain, from my new home in Bontang. Thus far, everything is going well. My house is very nice - I have air conditioning, hot water, and a washing machine. Everyone at the school I am going to be working at has been very friendly. My counterpart in particular has been very helpful. He took me shopping, showed me around the school, and gave me a tour of Bontang.

By counterpart, I mean the teacher that has been assigned to be my “go-to person” at the school. My counterpart, Eugeng, has taught English for over 16 years. He now teaches one English class and spends the rest of his time on administrative work. He, along with the counterparts of the other ETAs, met us in Bandung for the last couple of days of orientation. We then traveled with our counterparts to our new towns.

I have been in Bontang for less than two days, so I have little more than first impressions to report on. I have yet to see another bule (white person) in Bontang. As such, as I walk down the street, people stare at me out of the windows of their cars. When I leave and enter the compound, the security guards are much more interested in talking to me than watching who is leaving and entering the compound.

That being said, everyone has been very polite. For example, a student at the school invited me to a birthday party last night. She seemed to understand that while I would have liked to go to the party, I was very tired from all of the traveling and needed a night in. I did, however, agree to go to an indoor soccer game tonight at the school, which I think will be a lot of fun.

Other than that, I have been surprised at the apparent religious diversity of Bontang. While not all Muslim women cover their heads, a much smaller percentage of women have their heads covered here than in Bandung. As my counterpart explained to me, Bontang is a community of emigrants - people move to Bontang from all over Indonesia to work for the fertilizer and natural gas companies. As such, Bontang has Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and people from numerous other religions.

Well, that is all for now. I will post pictures when I find internet access for my laptop.

Miss you all!

Kerry

(If you are interested, the school’s website is http://smaypk-bontang.sch.id/index1.php The site is in Bahasa Indonesia; click on “fasilitas” to see pictures of the school and “galeri” to see pictures of school activities.)

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Comments

[Blake]

soccer
That sounds awesome! Glad to hear all is well. Hope the soccer game was good (I want to come play with you kids!) I saw the picture of the climbing wall. When are you going to try it? Miss you!