Dating, Indonesia style..

That's right. You read the title right. Dating Indonesia style.

This is by far the most interesting part of this past week. Please, read on...

So it's Wednesday at 1:25PM. Kathy is literally walking out the door to catch her bus to go teach at Santa Maria. The phone rings. The maid picks up. She goes, "Kathy..." holds out the phone and says, "Hardi." Kathy's heart sinks. What in the world? Well she gets on the phone with Hardi and he starts asking her what she is doing that day. She says she is getting ready to go to school, but will be back around 5. So he asks her if she would like to go to dinner with him. Uhhh she doesn't know how to react and just says, "Okay. Sure." And then he hangs up.

So she comes in the room and I'm like, "Did Hardi just do what I think he just did?"

He totally asked her on a date. Oh good, sweet Lord.

So we're freaking out about this because we couldn't figure out what he meant by dinner. Kathy assumes that I am coming with her. There's calling and laughing about Kathy's situation with the other girl volunteers. Lakshmi and Deepa in particular found the whole predicament rather amusing.

So Kathy gets back at 4:30 and Hardi shows up at 4:50. Alone. First of all, an Indonesian being early!! Whoa!! But then Bu Dewi stepped in and was like, "Two people alone? Oh, no. You must go with four. Tori will go with you." So Hardi called Victor to come and join us. Great. Now I have to go on this date with them. Fab.

So Victor shows up eventually and we definitely hopped on the back of their motorbikes with them and headed out to our double date. But in all actuality it was really fun. Kathy and I had a really good time. I was really scared on the bike, but eventually got over it and had a really fun time. Too bad Victor doesn't speak English very well, because I'd totally date him...lol.

On the way home, Hardi and Victor kept switching who was in the lead on the motorbikes. At one point Hardi looked and me and gestured like his hands were sweating and he pointed at Victor and said, "Victor is nervous..." So adorable. Then while we were still on the bikes I asked Victor if Hardi likes Kathy. He was like, "Oh, yes. He like her very much. Uhh he want to bring her a ring. But I don't think Kathy like Hardi." It was very cute.

Oh, only in Indonesia...;-)

~ Tori =)

Pictures!!

The group in front of the symbol of Surabaya.





Traditional Javanese wedding. Check out the intricate costumes and makeup and hair. This is the Majorese wedding. They're one of the last matriarchal societies in the world. Sweetness.



Traditional Indonesian indoor market.













The group wearing traditional Indonesian clothing (batiks and cabayas) at Joice's wedding.

















The group at Mount Bromo, pre-hike.
And trust me, it really was THAT cold.

There's something every day...

Oh, my oh my. I apologize for not updating sooner, but what a week it has been!

Tuesday night, Octa took Kathy, Deepa and I out with some of his friends. The original plan was to go to karaoke, because it's what we do. But when we got to the place, they said the speakers were broken. I think they just didn't want to hear the white people belt it out. They weren't ready.

So then we decided to go play pool instead, since that's what all the cool kids do. Little did they know how dreadful Kathy, Deepa and I all are at pool. In the time it took us to play 3 games, the boys played like 10 games. No joke. But we had such a blast anyway. We got to talking about the difference between dating in the US and dating in Indonesia. Because we have nicknamed Octa "Casanova," we asked him if teenagers go "parking" in Indonesia. Of course we had to explain it, but and he was like yea, we call it "mobil goyang." Literally that means "shaking car." Now, before that we had been talking about the earthquakes in Indonesia, so he goes..."Yea, instead of an earthquake, it's like a manquake!"

Our jaws dropped.

So anyway. Wednesday night, Kathy and I went to church with Bu Dewi because there was a speaker from England coming to give a guest sermon she said. So we were excited about hearing some English. Well, turns out the guy was Scottish and I had to pay really close attention to actually understand him through that thick accent. Good stuff. Also turns out he is a Born Again Evangelist, so that was fun. Instead of giving a normal sermon, he decided to do that and then "heal" people. So after praying for people and calling upon the power of God to "heal" people (of course there were people shaking and fainting), the guy goes "You may leave if you would like, but the Holy Spirit is not letting me leave this House of God tonight." Naturally he made a beeline to the only two white people sitting in the crowd, and then the fun really started...

He asked us where we were from, blah blah blah. Then he asked Kathy if she had a boyfriend, if she had ever had a boyfriend, and that God was showing him that she had been really hurt by a man. Then he asked if we would both come up to the front so he could pray for us. Riiiiiighhht. So we go, because well let's face it. You can't say no to God.

He does Kathy first. He takes her hands and first thanks God for sending us such a beautiful, beautiful young woman. Then he tells her she will be successful and that God is showing him that she will travel the world and will be financially secure. Then he blows on her head and she was done.

My turn. He takes my hands, doesn't thank God for my beauty but instead tells me that kids made fun of me and talked about me behind my back when I was younger. So basically Tori you are ugly and fat (jkjk). Then he asks if I have a boyfriend and when I said no, he asked if I had a problem with men. A problem with men? Was he asking if I was a lesbian? Wow...So anyway he told me that I will travel the world. Then that God was working on finding me the right man. He said that God has put the image of the right man in my brain and that HE is sending me that man. Wow...(actually, Mom, do you remember Carmen telling me the same thing? Kinda cool...).

So anyway then he called upon the power of God to release me from whatever the heck I needed to be released from, but he got really scary with me. He made a fist on my stomach and then clapped really loudly several times (making me jump, of course) and then yelled "fire, fire, fire..." something else. It was quite the experience.

Anyway. So that's that story.

Thursday we went to Pizza Hut with everyone and had a really great time.

So today (Friday), we were on the mikrolet and it's crowded, normal, whatever. Well, this guy gets on and sits right next to Kathy on her left (normal). The girl who was sitting in front of us had a notebook out and she was studying for something. Well, she writes in it "Be careful, there's a thief on your left." And then she turned it to show to us. So we're like "Okay, just hold on to our bags tightly and we'll be okay." So then this guy gets on soon after that and starts coughing and spitting and then he starts to kind of vomit. So he opens the window so that he can lean out, but because it was so crowded and he was not really near the window opening, he had to reach across all these people. Keep in mind he's like gagging, so we're all pretty grossed out. So the thief was in the way. He kind of stood up and leaned across Kathy and put his hand on her bag. AH! Clearly Kathy remedied that situation and protected her bag and herself. So one of the women in the mikrolet asked the guy to get off because it was disgusting. And sure enough, one stop later the "thief" got off. They were totally working together, but didn't know who they were messing with. Ah, only in Indonesia...

Tonight we are having a surprise bday partay for Kathy because she's 20 today!! Woot woot!!

Oh, I wanted to let you know that no one in our group was affected by either of the last two tsunamis that have hit Indonesia. The first one earlier this week happened on West Java's South Shore. There was another one in West Java as well yesterday that killed over 500 people, but this time it was on the North Shore. Luckily Malang is nowhere near that, as we are in East Java. But I just thought I'd let you all know that everyone here is safe and sound.

Alrighty, I think that's about it. Love you all and miss you!!!

~ Tori =)

P.S. Next time I Internet I will try to add some pictures, but it's just so slow!!

Come to da beach :)

Hey all!

So my weekend was up and down, but overall pretty fabulous :)

Saturday was Bu Joice's wedding, and so naturally I was super excited for her! This wedding was the reason that I had originally planned on staying the whole time in Indonesia, instead of just coming for a couple of weeks. Well, the night before my host mom told me (not asked, told) and Kathy that we were going to the hair salon in the morning before Joice's wedding so that we could look pretty. Okay. Well, of course we were running on Indonesia time and were late to the salon, which took longer than expected, and we ended up being 45 minutes late to the wedding. I was absolutely mortified when we walked in during the ceremony (we're talking full on Catholic mass style, too), and rather than my host family deciding to sit in the back, we had to walk up to the fourth row! How rude!!! Kathy and I just followed, mortified...

Anyway, the wedding was amazing and gorgeous and the reception was equally as fun. Of course the foreigners danced and the Indonesians watched in horror as we broke tradition and actually had a good time at a wedding. I cried for Joice and Brooks, and then I gave her our gift, which she loved of course. So happy!!

Can I just tell you how the preparation for this wedding went at my host family's house? This is other people talking to me. "Tori, do you have a dress to wear like Kathy's?" "Tori, you no pretty dress?" "Tori, you must get your hair done. You must look good for wedding." "Tori, you wear market sandals to wedding? I take you to buy shoes." "Tori your feet too big." "Tori you're too fat." It's a good thing I don't have body image problems...

Then we left for the beach a few hours later. Everyone (all the volunteers plus some cool host siblings) piled in two cars and we headed out. I sat in front because, again, I am fat, but it didn't bother me. At least I got to have room while everyone else was crowded. Well...we ran over a raccoon/possum creature, and three seconds later the engine light turned on. We broke down on the side of a random Indonesian road for hours! It was hilarious, though, and we eventually got going again.

We saw a traditional Javanese wedding the next day, and it was gorgeous. Apparently 850 people were coming to this wedding because it was a wealthy Majorese couple tying the knot. The Majorese are one of the last remaining matriarchal societies on Earth, so it was pretty cool to watch it all. The music, the dress, the colors, the decorations, the food, the singing, everything was absolutely grand.

Then we finally made it to the beach, where some of us decided to take a little sail boat/canoe contraption out to sea and hang out. It was such a nice day! Not too much sun, either, which was nice because I didn't want to fry at the Equator.

Okay, so now I'm just tired of typing so I will update you all on the rest of my life later...

~ Tori =)

P.S. You all know my friend Vikki, right? She's engaged!!! :) :)

I'm staying here ;-)

WOW! What a crazy seven days it has been. My apologies for not updating more often, but the Internet here is slow like whoa. For real.

This past weekend we killed time for most of Saturday, and then we went to see Superman with Amellia and Octa. I really enjoy spending time with them, and it's really like they are our own brother and sister. :) They showed the movie in English with Bahasa subtitles, so of course Kathy and I were having an enjoyable time, until the sound cut out! Ahh!! So for about five minutes, we really had no idea what was going on. We could only catch certain words (mostly "Superman" and "Lois Lane"). And our fabulous friends didn't even translate for us! It was fun, though. Afterward we went to eat with all of their friends and had a grand old time. I felt so Indonesian, sitting in plastic chairs at a fold-up table in a little area that is car shop by day and porridge resto by night. Only in Indonesia...

Sunday was a really long day. We went to church bright and early, which was fun. One of Amellia's friend (Hardi, the magician) is a Sunday School teacher. I was so incredibly impressed by that. I mean, a good Christian boy who likes kids...I think I might marry him. ;-) Kathy and I were pretty lost through most of the service, but some of the songs we recognized because they were just translated versions of our own worship songs. Sweetness.

Sunday night we went with the whole Hartono family to celebrate Amellia's (and other) birthdays. Their entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, gmas, gpas) was there, and it reminded me so much of my own family and made me so happy! Their family is great, too. Except one of Amellia's and Octa's cousins is a little creepy...his new nickname for whenever we refer to him is "the weirdo."

So when we got home after the partay, I went to bed and got up at 1AM to watch the World Cup final with pak Hartono and Octa. Wow, what a match! It was fun spending time with them, and I felt like one of the family. Half asleep and cheering Italy on. Can I just say what a soccer genius I am? I totally predicted it all...except for that little Zidane head-butting fiasco. What an idiot!

Fast-forward to Tuesday night when bu Dewi had weekly prayer group and it was her turn to host. I took at nap around 5, and when I woke up 45 minutes later, they had all just arrived and began to have a mini-church service in the living room. Kathy and I decided to stay in the room and not disturb them, and were really glad we had decided that when they started moaning and yelping. It sounded like there was an exorcism going on out there, and we feared for our lives. We are in the largest Muslim country in the world and found the most devout Christians in the entire country. I mean, I love Jesus just as much as the next God-fearing girl, but my goodnes. Oh, Yesus. ;-)

Yesterday was a fun day. We visited the International Christian School up the road here in Malang, called Wesley International School. The Principal met with us and gave us a little tour of the school. It was absolutely amazing. He told me that they had a shortage of teachers and that when I graduate next spring I should e-mail him if I wanted a job. WHOA! All they require is a Bachelor's and they are short elementary teachers, so I could actually do what I want without having to go get extra certifications. An international school in my favorite city with a Christian message...I'm staying here!

Last night Octa took us to go see IBL (Indonesian Basketball League). It was so fun!! I wished J.T. could have been there, though, he would have absolutely loved it! The players weren't very good, but we got to sit right behind the players in the VIP section. It was incredible being right there, so close to the action. It was also the first time since we arrived here that I felt like people weren't staring at us. For once, they were more interested in what was going on in the game. I loved it!

Okay I think that's all for now. Busy, busy, busy. In a couple of hours, Kathy and I are going to see the second Pirates movie (for free) with some of her students and some of mine from last year. Yay!! Johnny Depp!!

Love you and miss you all!!

~ Tori =)

P.S. Thanks for the messages, guys! I love them all! Hi, Tara Bear and Kyle Bear. Sorry I didn't say Happy 4th of July. I completely forgot about it! I think that makes me a bad American...Hey, E. I love ya too! J.T. I took plenty of pictures so that you can see. Or maybe you can visit to Indonesia one day!! Amy, I'm sorry work sucks, but you can live vicariously through me and my crazy adventures. At least we'll have some of our own next summer! Aunt Vanessa, I love you and miss you too!

We're on "Indonesia Time" here...

The past week has been absolutely INSANE!

We went to Surabaya to pick Amellia up from school, and on our way home we stopped at my host dad's cousin's funeral. VERY strange, considering we had no clue that someone had even died...So we get to this place, and first you have to pay to park in a normal parking lot, but then you look up and there's this huge circus-like tent set up divided into little pie-like pieces. And in each of the pie slices there was a different funeral going on. It was cool, though, because there were funerals of different religions going on at once - Christian, Muslim and Buddhist. It was awesome, but very, very odd. I was hoping to see some Shao Lin (Buddhist monks, if that's how you spell it), but I was unsuccessful...oh, shucks.

So today was just not my day. I woke up and went to the market with Amellia and Bu Dewi, which was quite the experience. We took becaks there and of course people stared and called at me the entire ride there. But really I'm getting used to being a celebrity again. So anyway the market was so Indonesian - very colorful and very crowded. It was amazing :)

But then it all went downhill...I went to take a shower to wash off the market smell, and so when I was doing my thing afterwards in my room, the housekeeper knocked on my door. So I open it, and she is holding the remains of my notebook. Aka the notebook that I keep EVERYTHING in - emergency contacts, itineraries, interview notes, EVERYTHING. It seems that she accidentally threw it in the wash with my bed sheets. What were the remains, you ask? The front and back cover and the spiral part. All the information - gone.

I didn't really know how to react, though, so I just told her it was no problem. She was really sorry and I felt kind of bad for leaving my notebook on my matress, but the whole situation just sucks. Luckily I think I can get all the information back somehow. Blah...

So then today was Amellia's bday so Kathy and I ordered a cake yesterday, and I went to pick it up after the whole notebook fiasco. Well, when I got there the woman who spoke English to help us yesterday was not there and so in my awful Indonesian I managed to tell the people there that I wanted to pick up a cake that I had ordered. The manager came out and was like, "Oh...I sorry. The cake you order, no ready. Maybe 3:00?" I was SO UPSET because we had clearly told them that we would be back to pick it up at noon, and it was noon when I went to get it. Clearly they were running on Indonesia time, and I was not. We planned a surprise get together with all the volunteers for her bday at 12:30, so there was nothing I could do. I just told them whatever, and I took one of the cakes in the display case. One of the like 3-day old cakes. So it was not as good, and I was just very upset.

But then it got better because when I got home, all the volunteers were there and we sang happy bday to Amellia. Then some of her friends came over and we flew kites with them and did more magic tricks. So now my day is much better.

This weekend is going to be very chill. Kathy, Amellia, Octa and I are all going to hang out with the corn-grilling people tonight and then tomorrow we are going to see Superman. I really don't want to see it, but whatev. It's like the equivalent of $1, and in English (with Indonesian subtitles). So "it's no problem-lah!" as the Indonesians say.

Okay I must go now. Tori is a very, very busy girl!!

~ Tori =)

Hangin' Out, Indonesian Style...

So it looks like the Immigrasi scare has blown over...at least for now. Like my Mom said, I think too much attention has been drawn to the group. Next year, we may have to only focus on private schools so that no one pays attention to us.

Yesterday was so amazing! Kathy, Bu Dewi, Amelia and I took a "becak" (my first rickshaw ride EVER) to go shopping. I almost died like 50 times whenever we would try to cross a busy intersection or when cars weren't paying attention (which was often!). We bought postcards and other fun things and had a nice ice cream break at a cutesy Dutch resto called "Toko Oen," where a creepy Dutch guy told us about his daughter who married an American military man who apparently beats her (uhhh...dude, we just met you!) and then told Kathy she was very beautiful. Good times.

At night some of Amelia's church friends came over. We met Hardi, Victor, and Haynez. Hardi and Haynez were quite the magicians and kept doing magic tricks for us. It was so fun! I couldn't help but crack up every time someone said Haynez's name, though, because it sounds like "anus." Yea, I know, good clean fun. :) It was nice to hang out with people our age, though, and we had such a fun time just sitting on the porch playing cards.

Tomorrow night we are having a big group meeting, so I have to go prepare for that. It is so strange not seeing everyone every day!

I miss you all so much!!

~ Tori =)

Oh, immigration...

Sooo...I just thought I'd update (twice in one day, what a treat!!) you all on my current status.

Earlier today, Kathy and I were sitting just chatting at our host fam's hizouse and the phone rings. Well, we didn't think anything of it until I heard Amelia say the world "Immigrasi," which means, I'm sure you could figure it out, "Immigration."

Uh oh.

She hung up the phone and starts explaining that Bu Indra, one of the host mothers who teaches in a public high school, just got out of a meeting with an Immigration officer from Surabaya. Immediately I was like, "We're all getting deported. Great..." And Amelia was asking us what kind of a Visa we had and all that jazz. Immigration apparently thinks we are working (like for money) on our Tourist Visas and apparently is pretty peeved.

So Joice met with them and explained to them that we are just tourists and that we are not actually teaching for money. The thing is that we're not actually here teaching illegally because it is volunteer work, but as soon as Immigration got wind that there were 10 Westerners (8 Americans, 1 Australian, and 1 Taiwanese) here teaching English, they pounced on it. I mean, I guess we are quite the spectacle and you know how people talk...

Here's how it all went down: We are now teaching in public schools, and one of the students in one of the public schools has a parent who works for Immigration in Surabaya. Well, the student told their parent and so now there's this big hullabaloo over our Visa status. What it all comes down to is money, but Joice and our host families are really worried that they might try to either charge us, jail us, or deport us. What an adventure!!

Please don't freak out, guys! (Especially Dad...) Our host families and Joice are handling the situation very well. I had to call an emergency meeting at my house to inform everyone to stop telling people that we are teaching English. So we have to downplay that and emphasize our "Tourist" status. But everyone that we know is behind us, and my host family has connections to Immigration anyway, so I'm sure everything will work out fine.

I just thought I'd share this little adventure of mine because it's absolutely INSANE!! I love this country!! It's just so much fun!!

Just think - I'll be able to start stories like this: "Yea, well this one time I was almost deported from Indonesia..." How cool is that?! ;-)

Alrightythen. I will catch you all laterrrr. Miss you!!

~ Tori =)

P.S. I just figured out that people were leaving me comments on my posts!! So here we go, answering them...

Mom, I just figured out that I can actually send pictures from here from my camera. I took my cords just in case, and it turns out that USB is compatible over here, so that's good news! Next time I come to an Internet cafe, I will bring my cords with me and send some pictures. I may just post them on here if I can figure it out!! And no worries, no more motorcycles for me! One of the volunteers, James, is actually from Taiwan and has a motorcycle license, so he drives a motorcycle around sometimes, but no one else does. All of the volunteers have had at least one ride on a moto, though. ;-)

Erica, Mames, and Michelle!! I am so glad to hear from you!! I forgot the password for the Xanga page, so if one of you could like facebook message me what it is or something, that'd be fantastic :) I'm glad NYC is good, but I totally understand about the whole too American thing. Trust me...this is so the opposite of the US and I'm totally soaking it all in :)

Layang-Layang

Hello from the other side of the world!

I am so proud of myself...I have now successfully gotten myself back to my host family's home using the mikrolet (crazy public transportation) all on my own. Congrats to me for not getting killed :) Just kidding!!

Last night I felt so Indonesian. Kathy and I were walking home from the supermarket, and we saw all these kids everywhere playing with these kites ("layang-layang"). It seems they are really into the whole "kite wars" thing. In our neighborhood it's like the thing to do for kids. So we asked our host sister where we could get a hold of a kite to go out and play, and she took us to this woman who sells them and we bought two kites and two things of kite string.

Then we met these three "expert" 12-year-old kite flyers, and they taught us all about it. They were so cute, and I just wanted to take them all home with me! Their names are Rian, Uding and Indra, and of course all of their little friends and kids from the neighborhood houses got curious and came out to play with us, too. We took pictures of them and they got a kick out of us playing with them. On Monday we agreed to come back and they'd teach us how to play this traditional game with marbles that everyone plays. I'm really excited!!

Last night we bonded so much with Amelia and Octa, our host sister and brother. It was just a great night. We have gotten to that point that we can all poke fun at each other and just have a grand ol' time. I'm really happy :)

Tonight we are going to Mount Bromo, the extremely active volcano near Malang. We will leave at midnight and drive a few hours and then get out and hike up the volcano to see the sun rise over the range. It is going to be so much fun, and all the volunteers are coming along, so it will be that much better!

Okay I must go now and catch my mikrolet home. I miss everyone at home and can't wait to see you all again!!

~ Tori =)