Stir Crazy (this happened a few weeks ago, but gives good insight into my life here)

I awoke this morning and opened the door to my garden area. I was taking a look at the plants when I saw a rat (I’m guessing the mother) scamper out of an empty plant container, followed by two baby rats. She made eye contact with me briefly and then went on her way. So I guess I’m not living alone in this big house after all.

For the past three days I’ve been cooped up at home waiting for repairs to be done on my house. Installing the western toilet (to replace my hole in the ground) was only supposed to take one day, so I was told, but it has turned into three. Most of the time the repair people have been here, they have been lounging around waiting for parts to be delivered. This was a little unnerving for me, since all I have been able to think about is that I should be at campus preparing for classes. On day one my kitchen faucet broke and luckily they were here to stop the water. So for a day I had to use my bathroom for my water supply. This meant using the same bucket to take a shower, flush the toilet, and wash dishes. It sounds gross but wasn’t horrible.

The most stressful part was having the repairmen speak Bahasa Indonesian to me and not understanding a thing. I got out my dictionary and called someone from the university several times to translate. I have picked up some new phrases like “Lengkap?”…………Finished? and “Kapan Lengkap?”……When will you be finished? “Anda mau makan/minum?”…………Do you want something to eat/drink? (this was after day one when I didn’t know I had to feed them and they looked ready to collapse by the end of the day).

They also finally removed all of the trash that was behind the house, left over from the last tenants. Rendi, who has a portable food stall in front of my house, went through the trash and salvaged some things that he wanted. I felt sad for him that he was going through my trash pile, but he was excited, like on a shopping spree. I pay him to get rid of my weekly garbage and pull weeds that grow like crazy in this tropical climate.

So now things are officially repaired at my house and I’m going to campus tomorrow! But I noticed that the repairmen removed a part from my shower so now I have to hold the shower head. I’m wondering why they removed it? So much doesn’t make sense in this country. But now I have a western toilet and internet at my house!