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Published: March 29th 2010
barelang 003
fishing for dinner! prawns i thinkHey everybody! Thanks for all who read my blog! I hope it wasn't too long.
I was having some trouble last week adjusting to the island and I went through pretty serious culture shock. But who can blame me!? A naive young american flies all the way across the world and plants herself in the most unique culture where nothing is the same and everything is like one big giant puzzle I can't crack. With that week behind me I am happy to say that things are going a lot smoother and I am finding myself really happy to be here once I got used to everything. I had a really good weekend and have a whole different outlook on the island now.
This weekend our boss took us out for lunch on Saturday because we enrolled a bunch of new students so it was our reward for hitting the target. We went to this seafood place unlike any I had been to before. They told us to go pick out which fish we wanted to eat..I was very confused, where was the menu? Haha come to find out we were supposed to walk down to the ocean where
they had a HUGE fish farm with all different kinds of fish and choose which one we wanted them to cook for us! They caught the fish in front of us and we saw the poor little creatures last minutes of life :-( It was worth it though! I picked a lobster and crab. I tasted a little of everything though. They even let me try to catch a fish, and I was successful! We feasted like kings on delicious seafood, which my stomach later did not like but it was still worth it.
I have been meeting more and more people and making new friends which is making my transition a little easier. I am getting used to the way things work here, learned an appreciation for bug spray, ear plugs, and sunscreen. Went out to dinner the other night with a friend I met from New Zealand and we ate lobster, mango chicken and this other spicy dish that was so spicy even I could barely eat it. We washed it down with fresh Papaya juice and then watch a performance from an Indonesian "lady boy". Im sure you can guess how it sounded...and looked.
I finally found some food that I like its called Bakso and its like a beef broth soup with meatballs in it. Its getting easier and easier to get around now as im learning key words in Bahasa Indonesian. My students are warming up to me a little more and teaching is fun!
Indonesians are very nice and hospitable people. Some of them try to take advantage of white people though because they think were all rich. We have to be careful not to get ripped off and bartaring is now a skill I am getting particularly good at :-) The indonesian friends that I have met have been very helpful and informative though. Signed my life away when I went on the back of a motorcycle moped thing and took a mini tour of the Industrial area where the reason Batam thrives originates from. The traffic is so scary here! The place is huge and employs hundreds of thousands of people mostly in the electronic manufacturing business. Then we rode up to the top of this hill that overlooks all of the city and offers scenic views of the water. Beautiful! Batam is beautiful once you get out
of the city!!!
Trying to plan a trip to Bintan island this weekend because we have a holiday. Bintan has some of Indonesians most famous beaches comparable to Bali and we would be staying in beach bungalows built on stilts right above the water! I will let you know how it goes! Hope to visit Singapore soon as well.
I miss everyone back home!
p.s. yes Leanne there are cockroaches here however I have been lucky enough to not come face to face with one yet, but im sure my time is coming. EWW! but yes they are included in Batams "wildlife".
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