A Different World!

I just received an email from Bed Bath & Beyond about a lawsuit where customers may be due a refund. I've inserted part of the email below:

"A lawsuit is pending in the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey that may affect your rights. This lawsuit alleges that Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as Synergy, Inc., misrepresented the thread count in its two-ply bedding products sold in stores and on its website by stating the number of threads in the warp and filling directions in one square inch of fabric, rather than the number of yarns."

I guess I should also add the situation that just happened at my house before I read this email. It was in the middle of a downpour and the electricity was out. I happened to look outside and saw an enormous (6-7 foot long) green snake on my patio area. I don't even like little snakes, so to say the least I was freaking out! I waited a few minutes to see if the rain would let up a little and then went to my neighbor's house for help. (I looked up the word for snake in my dictionary first). I ended up with about 7 wide eyed and terrified men at my house. They had brought along a 4 foot long piece of wood, but after viewing the snake, came back with a long piece of bamboo. I wanted to know if it was poisonous, so I looked up that word in the dictionary too. And found out yes, it was very poisonous! Great! So they killed it while I stayed far away in case the snake came charging into the house. They carried the snake through my house and out the front door, where a crowd of people had formed. Americans always provide the best entertainment!

So then I read the email about the thread count problem at Bed Bath & Beyond and had to laugh. Things in America are so easy. There is so much corruption here, and the combination of my snake experience and knowing that a thread count lawsuit would never be an issue here, was a big reminder that I really am living in a different world!
How ironic too that I didn't see a snake in the jungles of Borneo, but found one in the "city" of Yogya!

My Impressions So Far.............

What I love here:

-mangoes and mango juice
-having my laundry washed, dried & ironed for less than $1
-my garden
-rice terraces
-frangipani flowers
-great snorkeling
-cheap flights to Bali
-call to prayer 5x a day
-Mt. Merapi on a clear day
-becak (a form of transport......I'll post a picture)

What I hate:

-internet cafes (loud music and keyboards don't work)
-traffic
-loud motorbikes
-pickpockets (yes, they tried with me, but didn't succeed)


What is amusing/different:

-a family of 5 on a motorbike (including babies at times)
-that people wear sweaters and leather jackets here when its always in the 90s
-they don't waste time in getting all personal info the first time they meet you (How old are you? Are you married?)
-you are only supposed to use the right hand for eating and receiving or giving things to people (this has been a challenge since I'm left handed)

Bali

One week is definitely not enough time to see Bali. I’ve already checked my planner to see when our next bit of vacation time is so that I can go back. With only a week, I spent my time in Ubud and Nusa Lembongan.

I can understand why people extent their time in Ubud! There is so much to do there and it’s an excellent base from which to take tours to other parts of the island. My first night in Ubud I stayed right in the middle of rice fields. At night it was nice to hear the sounds of the insects and frogs in the rice paddies, but it was so loud it actually kept me awake. I switched to a guesthouse that was a little closer to the center of things. This place was wonderful with tropical gardens and weathered buddist statues scattered over the grounds. In Ubud I visited many hindu temples, saw some traditional dance performances, and even went to a wedding ceremony. There is also an area called Monkey Forest, which has three temples in the jungle. As the name implies there are also plenty of monkeys roaming around, and since there are also plenty of tourists with food, the monkeys are not afraid of people and will even try to climb up a leg or snatch something from an open bag. The place did have an Indiana Jones feel to it, with monkeys swinging between the vine wrapped trees, and climbing over moss covered temples.

Unfortunately I did get really sick while in Ubud. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I wish it wouldn’t have happened on vacation. I went to a clinic and got some Cipro, which is a wonder drug! The doctor did a few strange tests, but I knew in the end I would get Cipro, thanks to my great Peace Corps medical training. So for a day I did nothing but stay in bed, but then the next day I felt well enough to take a tour. I saw beautiful rice fields, which Bali is known for, and also went to see a lakeside temple in Bedugul, central Bali.

I then headed to Nusa Lembongan, a little island to the southeast of Bali. It’s a little piece of paradise with turquoise blue waters and not much development except for a handful of places to stay along the water. Here the people do seaweed farming which is the main source of income along with tourism. I took a scooter ride around the island and also went on an amazing snorkeling trip! I have never seen so many varieties of coral! There were also plenty of colorful tropical fish. The only bad thing about the trip was seeing my boat drag its anchor through the coral beds, breaking it all into pieces. I guess ecotourism has yet to leave its mark on Indonesia.

So now I’m trying to get into the mindset to prepare for classes and start seeing things around my city, Yogya. But as I’m trying to get into the work mode, I’ve been getting emails and text messages from the other teachers in my program planning trips for days off in February and March. That will give me something fun to look forward to! I am excited to start working though. I'll be teaching undergrad courses in Cross Cultural Understanding, Paragraph Writing, and Public Speaking. I'll also be leading discussion groups at the two American Corners here and giving workshops to teachers. Aside from these things, I'm hoping to be able to do some volunteer work with Save the Children here in Yogyakarta. So for the next 5 months I should be really busy.

Orangutans and So Much More

The holidays this year will be something to remember! It all started the day I left for the orangutan trip. It was a Muslim holiday in which they sacrifice animals, and my neighbor invited me to the mosque to take a look at this ritual. Watching goats and cows being sacrificed was sad but they do give the meat to the poor. I reminded myself that we also kill animals this way............the meat dept. at Safeway would be empty if we didn't.

I met up with the other fellows and we headed for Tanjung Puting park in Kalimantan (Borneo). We boarded a small boat and headed up the river in search of monkeys and orangutans. The trees along the river changed from palm and pandanus trees into dense, mysterious jungle. It was surreal to see monkeys and orangs swinging from trees! Our first trip into the jungle yielded one giant orangutan, a downpour of rain, and leeches on the legs of my coworkers. We had much better luck the other days. We trekked trough the jungle to feeding stations where once captive orangs are given food to supplement the food they find in the wild. A highlight was seeing the baby orangs ride piggyback on mom's backs. Watching their behavior I can understand why they say they are 97% like humans.

After the orang tour we took an 11 hour bus trip to our next destination. I guess it was a preview of things to come when the driver taped the trunk closed to keep our luggage from falling out! The following 11 hours was the bumpiest ride I have ever taken! The bus had no shocks so going over the pothole filled road was intense. We also drove through a 2 foot flood, but arrived with our bags still in the trunk.

At Loksado we did an adventurous jungle trek through bamboo forest, Dayak villages, and beautiful mountains. The downside was that we slipped around in the mud and at times couldn't see our path because of the thick jungle. Our last day we spent bamboo rafting down the river which was a great way to end a busy trip.

Happy New Year to all of you! I spent New Year's Eve at my counterpart's house. Her husband picked me up on his motorbike and I held on with one hand while balancing a meal of goat's innards on my knee.

Since classes don't start until Jan. 28 I've decided to go to Bali for a week..........Jan. 8-15. I can't believe Bali is only an hour flight from my city........and $25 each way! This makes all of the struggles and adjustment issues worth it!