Le décompteur!

Je compte aujourd'hui le jour -6. La valise est prête mais encore vide dans ma chambre qui ressemble pour l'instant plutôt à un chaos qu'à un départ qui s'approche. Le planing pour mon arrivée en cours, la recherche d'une chambre proche à l'ambassade à bon marché avance. Je suis pas encore prête mais je le serai d'ici jeudi prochain, tôt le matin mon avion s'envolera...

Le ciel invisible

" I de Soppe", on dit en suisse allemend pour dire qu'il fait beau à la base, mais qu'on est dans le gris en bas à cause d'une couche de nuage qui se situe autour des 1'000 - 1'500 metres. Littéralement ca veux dire "dans la soupe" et effectivement, depuis les sommets des Alpes on voit qu'une sauce grise en bas, en bas où vive la majorité de la population suisse.

Une fois en dessus de cette couche de nuage on ne veut plus redescendre. Ciel bleu, au soleil bon chaud, dans la neige, pas de bruit et une vue juste EXCELLENTE - qu'est-ce qu'on veut de plus? Une fois en bas on se force de se contenter avec une certaine réalité: Il faut travailler, bouger et gagner sa vie. Pourtant j'y pense à ce bonheur aux sommets des Alpes surtout quand je marche (ou plutôt cours) d'un endroit à un autre dans la ville juste pour échapper le froid puis cette couleur grise. Mais quelle vie en bas, en sachant qu'en haut elle est toute différente. Une habitude des envies se met en place, une réalité se mets en dessus.... la synthèse est de profiter de ces moments parfaits, de se contenter avec, puis d'organiser le prochain tour: Direction montagne!

Sur l'habitude de dire au revoir.

On pourrait penser que j'ai pris l'habitude des re-voyures puis des re-au revoir. Mais non. Tout en sachant que que je suis en Suisse seulement pour un petit moment j'ai quand même fait un maximum pour rencontrer le plus de gens possible. Ca m'a fait du bien de voire des amis et des endroits qui me tiennent au coeur. Pourtant à la vieille de dire au revoir à Genève pour un minimum de six mois il y a une fois de plus une nostalgie qui se fait remarquer. Autrement dit, j'ai de la peine de dire au revoir à cet ville et aux amis vus, pas vus ou trop peu vus après mon retour de l'Indonésie.

Il me semble que ca fait partie de ma vie maintenant, d'être un peu partout mais nulle part vraiment et je sais (ou j'espère) qu'un jour il y a le moment d'un vie plus stable. Malgré que je sois maître de moi même et j'ai décidé moi même de partir, de revenir et de repartir je remarque aujourd'hui l'autre côté de cette vie de voyageuse. Je partirai de nouveau à la découverte d'un autre monde et je me réjouis ce qui est plutôt positive. Mais en effet ca veut également dire de devoir créer des nouveaux liens émotionnels et personels afin de les arracher pour aller à un autre endroit. Ceci est douloureux et dès fois difficile.

En (re-)tour de Suisse

Il est le moment de s'habituer à la vie en Suisse, mais on même temps de se préparer pour une nouvelle étape de la vie. Je passe souvent des moments dans un mélange étrange de nostalgie et de curiosité pour l'avenir.

Je remarque que j'ai de l'énergie, l'énergie pour le travail puis le temps libre pour voire mes amis et des endroits pour une dernière fois. Entretemps je pense je me suis de nouveau un peu intégré dans la société ici. Samedi soir j'ai découvert le plaisir de sortir, de danser puis de boire des bières (ou plutot panaché pour moi). Mais également le plaisir énorme de prendre un petit café ou thé, de papoter pour un petit moment, de simplement lire le journal ou de se poser au soleil bord du lac et d'observer le jet d'eau.

J'apprécie la facilité à l'accès aux information, d'être plus proche à la vie actuelle des choses. Je dois avouer que pendant trois mois j'étais dans le monde indonésien où peu de nouvelles du monde percent la vie quotidienne, à moins qu'on aille le chercher sur internet. Oui, facile d'aller sur internet, oui effectivement pourtant la motivation pour cet effort diminuait dans le flux des jours. Les évenements sont loin et les soucis de tous les jours sont plus important dans le moment, donc je constate que je pendant les trois mois en Indonésie je lisait de moins en moins des nouvelles en provenance de l'ouest.

Touché par les médias, motivée pour re-entrer dans le monde des affaires je me sens pluôt bien en Suisse, notamment à Lucerne, Berne, Bâle ET Genève! :-)

Roselaui

Un souvenir d'un tour en raquette quelque jours apres mon arrivée en Suisse. Il ne faisait pas froid le matin non, ca caillait énormement. La réaction des muscles sur des intentions comme "sourire" ou "parler" diminuait avec le temps qu'on marchait, jusqu'au moment on arrivait au soleil.... quel bonheur.

Taman Hidup is online!

We are very proud to be on the web, so everybody can see what we offer, in hope to get some response. For details and more information, please do not hesitate to contact the Taman Hidup office in Jember or me (abuetler@yahoo.com).

http://eastjavatrekking.com

Here you go!

Back in Switzerland


A couple of minutes before landing the captain announces the temperature in Zurich: 2 degrees celsius. It seems the winter was faster then me. I find my way out of the airplane and just inside the building I see a dozen of Asian people sitting on the floor and changing their sandals in favour of some shoes. Good idea, I am glad to wear my sneekers. By car my Dad brought me home but the outside cold made it right into my parents home. I feel terribly cold and despite of some warm clothes I feel like freezing. The only receipt: To grab a book, make a tea, light a fire in the cheminee, sit in a comfortable chair in front of the fireplace and fall asleep. Welcome jetlag!

I try to get my ideas rights, I try to realize where I am. Only now I profoundly feel how intensive my time in Indonesia was. I got attached with the climate, the vegetation, the food and the people. Back here I need to rethink everything again. Eating a yogurt is something exceptional and if I do not eat rice for breakfast I think there is something wrong. Everything is so intensive again.

This morning then I wrap myself in warm clothes and prepare for a bycicle ride to Lucerne. With all the clothes and the things to wear I feel overstrained. Nothing to complain, I simply need to adapt (cf picture in front of my parents house). I get on my bicycle and ride it down to the city center. By then my noise is running, my fingers hurt because of cold and my knee-joints feel terribly stiff. I look at the people faces: Everybody seems to suffer from the cold temperature, the faces are serious and there is no smile to discover. Everybody seems to rush to a warmer place and before I become myself an icebox I should do the same!

Back home I try to organise my future life again. Now for real, I will be in Washington D.C. from January - June 2008!

In Gunung Pasang

Gunung Pasang in Jember is a small farmers town on the edge of Gunung Argopuro. It is the home of 100 families, around 600 people.Foto: The village Gunung Pasang, Jember with the new riverbed in the front.

The village has known a big flood onJanuary 1st, 2005, 00.15AM. After 5 days of continues rain the river became too big and powerful and swept along the farmers house. Numerous landslides destroyed farming land and more houses. Om Stevanus by that time was on a training for search and rescue in a village, a four hour trekking away away from Gunung Pasang. After the training that ended on January 1^st they headed back to Gunung Pasang to find the catastrophic situation. Jember was immediately informed by radio. On January 2^nd all access roads to the entire region of Gunung Pasang were blocked. However, the first rescue team could enter the area on January 2^nd and build a radio system to ensure communication with Jember and the area. On January 3^rd the second rescue team could enter the area and started data collection on the houses destroyed and the people who died. For two months the rescue teams searched the missing people. The data sent to Jember was 122 dead and 60 missing. However, to keep the compensations low and to hide the number of illicit workers in the coffee production, only 80 dead people were reported to Surabaya.

The village is settled in a fertile area where people mainly grow coffee. There is a coffee and rubber fabric where most of the people are employed. They work every day except on Sundays, starting at 7 am, ending at midday. This is time enough to go uphill, collect 40 kg of coffee beans and carry them down to the state-owned coffee fabric. They earn 14´000Rp per workload, which gives them an income of 40USD per month. As I learn from the kids, most of them finish the school with 12 or 13 years. Their families can not afford to send them to the high school in the next bigger town, mainly because of the transportation costs.

The purpose of my weeklong stay in Gunung Pasang is to give English lessons to our future guides and porters and to show the women how to make handicrats. Together with Om Stevanus I live in the house of Pak War, Taman Hidup´s contact person in Gunung Pasang. Compared with other houses Pak War´s home is relatively big with two sleeping rooms, a big living room and a big kitchen. Next to the kitchen there is a small stable for the hens. Next to it is the famous kamer mandi which benefits of the proximity of the river. However, this proximity to the water brings some other natural friends with it. Yesterday I just saw how a young frog jumped into the water bin out of which I take the water for my mandi. However, so far I have not seen a prince coming out of this well. Despite of this private mandi (as many are public) the young women from the village ask me every day to take my mandi in the big river, together with them. I can not tell if it is for fun, if it would be an honour for them, or if they are just curious to see a white person to take mandi in a river.

Foto: Our porters and guides from Gunung Pasang.

Foto: Om Stevanus giving the handicraft workshop.

Most houses are made out of wood or bamboo, hopefully with a small flower garden in the front. Inside the house, the floor is made out of clay, it is rather dark because the bamboo construction does not allow big windows. People sleep on wooden beds, some without mattresses. The kitchen remains very simple. Ibu War (Pak War´s wife) cooks with wood that men collect during the day. The tomorrow’s chicken runs around in the chicken and is locked during the night. Having a cow is a sign of wealth and so far I have not seen one in the village. If there is electricity it only runs during the night and can not be shut down. Hence, it is finally here that I am forced to learn to fall asleep with light.

The food is simple. It consists of rice, three times a day, sambal (chili, garlic and boiled tomato, all crushed together), vegetables that mainly grow in the garden, salty fish and sometimes cow. I tried to get along with that food, with some troubles. The sambal is just tooo spicy, the fish to salty and if I eat cow I think to have a wooden stick in my mouth with the taste of a stable. One may think that the cow has been killed while walking from the stable to the kitchen. Hence, the guys at Taman Hidup might have been aware of that and insisted on buying some special food for me: Some potatoes, tomatoes, one bread, chocolate powder and one liter milk. Om Stevanus showed Ibu War how to make French Fries, scrambled egg with tomatoes and toast. In addition they were told that I like eggplants (which I am glad they have a lot). Hence, today I ate French Fries and fried eggplants for breakfast. For lunch I had toasted bread, scrambled egg with vegetable soup and for dinner I had grilled corn with fried eggs, rice and some vegetables. Bon appetit! As they are coffee farmers coffee is served whenever people are around. They roast and grind it manually in a big hole of a stone with a stick. Everyday I drink a lot of ginger tea, which they collect in the forests close by.

On Saturday I held the first English class. At the beginning I was disappointed to see only 4 people showing up. I was told that all others were about to collect the Arisan, which takes place twice a month. The Arisan is a custom for which every family who can afford it gives 5´000 Rp. (9`000Rp. =1USD) Per men and 1´000Rp per woman into a common pot. The lot decides upon the family receiving the entire amount of the money. After the flood in 2005 half of the money was used for reconstruction, half of it was used to allow the young people to play football. By now the full amount goes to the families again. I was told that many use is to finance traditional parties, a marriage ceremony, a cow, educational or music instruments. Basically the family is free to the decide upon the use of the money.

Foto: Women from Gunung Pasang with their first self and hand made Angklung

Hence, on Wednesday the last handicraft workshop was held and the women were proud to show their Anklungs and the self-made paper. Pictures were taken and everybody was happy. In the evening, as usual from 7-9pm the last English class was held. Participation and motivation was high during the entire week (expect the first day) and it was a pleasure to teach them. It was a nice week. I had enough time for myself, spent the time with locals and once a day I assisted the handicraft workshop and gave some English classes.

A last goodbye

Yesterday morning I left Jember for a daytrip to Wato Ulo. I left with Yuni at 8 am to pick up two friends of her on the way to Wato Ulo. By car we went which gave me the comfortable opportunity to extent my few sleeping hours from the night before.

When we arrived I was surprised to see so many people. Many Warung were open and sold Ikan baker (grilled fish) to the tourists, only locals. However, I turned myself to an attraction as people started staring at me. However, because I was traveling with locals they did not start talking to me. So I could discover this nice place on my own with my friends. Happy to be outside, to see the sea and to walk in the water we went back to Jember in the afternoon.

From left to right: Yuni, Novi, Maya.

Tutup and time to wash

Tutup is the word a tourist may learn at the fastest rate at the moment in the beloved Jember (and on Java). It means closed and stands on placards on most door.

Since October 13 Ramadan is finished and Idulfitri has taken place. This consists of a one week holiday that shall allow the people to visit the family and friends closer or farther away from their homes. Firstly confronted with the quiet mood because of Ramadan I try to deal now with the scarring silent atmosphere in the campus (the area I live). Even more Warungs than during Ramadan are closed, the students are simply gone.

However, this gives reason to travel further down the road or to the city center to find something else, hopefully something I have never tried before. In that mood of let`s try what exists I ate Gado Gado (vegetables, peanutsauce, potatoes, longtong), Bakso (for real meatballs soup with noodles), Lalapan crispy (fried chicken which is particularly tasty for breakfast) and a lot a lot of kue (sweet snacks). Because it is the visiting-week, wherever you go you find some pots with diverse cookies. So, even though the word Tutup is present all over, it am not starving so far.

Instead I am kind of forced to do a step ahead in my integration process.: My laundry is closed for 12 days. I could manage my stock of clothes if it would not be that hot (using almost one t-shirt per day) and if I would not go on a weeklong workshop the day the Laundry opens again. Being alone in my home (because the family is travelling for a couple of days) I take the courage to do my own laundry, by hand washing. Ohhhh ya, some may not believe me (?), here below you will find the proof. The lesson is that I appreciate more to have proper clothes, that I can be happy to have a well just next to me and that I appreciate to do that alone because I guess the family would not let me to do that..... (before they would offer to do it for me)

Hence, tomorrow I will leave to Gunung Pasang where I will give another workshop to learn English and to do Handicrafts. I will be back in Jember on Hari kamis (Thursday, October 25)

Back from Bloooging break!

Do not worry, I am fine, everything is alright. Since I am back from Yogja some major steps have been made in the Office of Taman Hidup. The progress makes me happy and confident that we reach our goals by the end of my stay,

But not only at work, but also in my sparetime I am full of energy and started to work off my list of things to see and to do. In that vibe of good energy and motivation I managed to do a Pizza day. This means the following: Rendez vous at 9 am to go to the market. Finally, the woman supposed to take me to the market arrives at 10.30am. On her motorcycle squeezing under (mainly her) our weight she starts the sightseeing tour to present me to all of her friends. We stopped here and there, it was hot and basically I just wanted to go the market. Finally in this big building where smells differ with the amount of people being there and the food being sold, people start shouting my name as Fran introduced me once. Saying hello and hi here Selamat siang there and ya, sudah beli ayam (yes, I already bought the chicken) we managed slowly to get our things for the Pizza. It was hard work as the woman accompanying me always thought we need to buy more. 2kg flour was maybe not enough, 1 kg chicken not good for a tasty Pizza, etc. etc. The only thing that is impossible to buy here is cheese, in the Western sense. You can buy cheese, however, it is a rather a salty-something that does not need to be in the fridge and does not melt in the oven. But anyway, some cheese needed to be on the Pizza, little important if it is melting or not. At 1 pm we started doing the bread and I was happy to count on Ari’s muscles to help me knead the Pizza pastry. With the heat we were soaked with sweat after 5 minutes. The tomato sauce I made by myself and by the end of the cooking process it became a good ground for the Pizza. Finally, we could put the Pizza in the oven, which is basically and aluminium box you put on the gas stove. 6 hours later all the Pizzas were made and we enjoyed them with big pleasure. From left to right: Lusi, me, Fran, Ari. For Fran it was the first time eating Pizza.


Then, on Tuesday I went with Linggom to Gunung Pasang, a farmer’s town one hour by motorcycle from Jember. At the end the road became steep and bad, the fun started rising.


After a tea in Gunung Pasang we walked one hour to the waterfall Kancak. The scenery was beautiful. Deep green with diverse trees and flowers made me stop several times just for looking around. The closer we came to the waterfall, the steeper the path, the denser the vegetation. It was so good to walk. After a short break at the waterfall the weather changed and I felt some raindrops. We started going back and suddenly on the way it started pouring down. Within 5 minutes we were completely wet and were happy to find a cup of coffee (from the local production of course) in the house of Pak War. I started getting cold and soon we were on the motorcycle back to Jember again. After the mandi I wrapped myself in a sleeping bag, trying to bring my body’s temperature on a normal level again. Ari served me tea.

On Wednesday then I went with Lis (the familiy’s housemaid where I live) to visit her town , Kalisatan, 1 ½ from Jember by public transport. All villagers are farmers, mainly poor. Poor means that the house is made out of bamboo and not bricks. (picture: Lis in the middle with her Mom, grandma and some of her brothers and sister) There is no stove, people cook with wood. The floor is not paved, it is hard dirt. The roof is bad and as soon as it rains the water runs into the house. Medical treatment is wishful thinking, the kids can barely finish secondary school. Lis is 18 years old and the oldest of seven brothers and sisters. She is been working now for 2 ½ month as a housemade in Jember and earns 250.000 Rp. /month, this is 28USD. I think most of it she will give her parents to help the family. During these 2 ½ months she could not see her family. She told me that sometimes she feels incredibly lonely in Jember and feels sad that she can not see her family more often. Lis can be very serious but I have never seen her smiling more than the day I went with her to her home. It must have been a great honour for them to receive me. After a walk in the neighbourhood and a small sightseeing tour of the fields by motorcycle I went back to Jember. It was that moment all faces turned sad, as they wanted me to stay longer.

Yesterday, my birthday. I asked Fran to organise a Buka puasa bersama (= gemeinsames Fastenbrechen) for my birthday. On Thursday already he went to the market and bought everything necessary. On Friday morning then Fran started cooking: Es buah (Fruit juice), terong (eggplants), and cucumber, beans, some other green vegetable, Sambal (chilli sauce), rice and Gurami goreng (fried fish). He spent the entire day preparing all the food, refusing any help. The good thing about Ramadan is that everybody arrives on time for dinner. Hence, on 7.30pm between 10 and 15 people came to the Office of Taman Hidup and enjoyed the great meal. Against the usual Indonesian habit of eating and leaving the place right away, people stayed a bit longer, chatting and smoking. At 9 pm all were gone again and tired I was I fell asleep….

Not the only tourist

Being with tourists changes a lot. For the first time since my arrival in Indonesia I see other "white people" (except the familiy Hunziker and Andrea in Jelbuk). To be at places where other tourists are has some positive consequences.

Firstly, there is a wide range of hotels and homestays. The prices start at 2.5USD per night per person rising up do I do not not know how much. For my personal well being I offer myself a simple room in a homestay with a private shower (still cold water as hot water is even in middle-income households rare), a nice garden and Western breakfast. Moreover, there is a tourist information office that provides maps and travel agencies are abundant to arrange tours in and around the city. There are things to do and to see, Western restaurants (with Jazz) to go and souvenirs to buy! All that changes a lot from modest Jember!

The downside of the presence of other tourists is the behavior of the locals. They are aware of the money that sits in the pockets of Western tourists and are creative to attract their attention. However, they are not begging nor grabbing and I am not feared to see my wallet pulled away at any time. Instead, Indonesian people show themselves helpful and grateful and keen on showing you around a little bit "for free" or bringing you to a place that might be interesting. What one should not forget is that most Indonesian people may do little if there is no financial interest behind it at a certain point. By the end of the “service” they provide they start on trying to sell something. Some paintings, t-shirts, souvenirs, textile, whatever! And of course showing someone around for free who then does not show any interest in buying something vanishes their smile and their grateful behavior. This is the moment to say Terimah Kasih and to leave.

Better to state from the beginning on where the interests are (or not are) which is sometimes difficult as a curious and open-minded person.

Hanging out in Yogja

Today in one month I will be back in Switzerland. In the hope to avoid a huge stress before my departure I am about to visit Yogja, the so called "soul from Java". I live in a simple and nice homestay, visit the few tourist attractions and take my time to read my book which is just fascinating (wild swans).

Yesterday I visited Kraton, the Sultans Palace. As it is Ramadan everything was quiet even though it is THE tourist attraction in Yogja.
Tomorrow it is planned to visit Borobudur, some old temple site close by. In the evening or on Wednesday morning I will head back to Jember.

Before I went to Yogja I spent a wonderful evening with friends. For once we went a bit outside Jember where we could eat Kabab and smoke a Shisha. It made me think of the evenings I used to spend with my friends in the apartment in Geneva, smoking, drinking tea, chatting. Here you go with a small tribute to old habits and Middle East culture!

In Gedanken zu Hause




Ich denk an Euch

Preparing to leave

It was the day before yesterday the information reached Taman Hidup that a dead body was found on the mountain Argopuro. After identification through a picture, it is most probably a scientist called Vincent from Bandung. One year ago he got lost in the mountainous area, without a map, without GPS. The team Taman Hidup, member of the Jember Rescue Team were asked to search him but after two months without any signs of life from Vincent they resigned. Yesterday morning, three people from Taman Hidup left Jember to go to Argopuro and evacuate the corpse. One person will stay in Jember and coordinate their activities via radio.

Because I depend largely on their presence for my work in Taman Hidup I decided to leave Jember for a couple of days. The destination will be Yogjakarta. I was told it is a nice town to hang out, relax and visit some temples close by. Hopefully today I will catch the bus for a nine hours long ride.

Finally some news again!

It is time again for another article, I know, it has been I while I have not given any news from me. One reason may be the general mood here in Indonesia: Because of Ramadan all are tired during the day, hang around or sleep. Many stores are closed and it happened to me that I needed to go three times to the Money Changer to find it open (considering that the first time I did not find it).

What is new is that I feel totally independent now. I did the effort to start going by bicycle to the city center, alone. This was a tremendous challenge because orientation is not one of my strengths, there is no detailled map from Jember, streets are not simply straight, instead they turn a little bit everywhere and for me everything looks the same!Thanks to a handrawn map from Ari I am no longer helplessly disoriented in a big city where people just say lurus, lurus (=straight) if I ask them the way to go.

Then, another highlight is that I went climbing with Bepenk in Jember . Strange to be in a wall (as I personally prefer some real rocks) I tried to pull me up a bit. I think the following pictures do better explain the experience than my words.

De la série : Little stories from Indonesia

Indonesian breakfast

Sunday morning in Ramadan : At 3am the lights turn on in the house and people start cooking, eating and drinking. Half an hour later it is quiet again, the family goes back to sleep.

I wake up at seven, take mandi and see the usual Indonesian breakfast has gone, eaten at 3am, to bad for the only non-Moslem in this household. I decide to make tea and some Sediap instant noodle: Quick, tasty and nourishing.

I boil water, prepare the spices that are packed in little “sachets”. Suddenly, I had to move one step back as I see walking a 5cm big cockroach (=Kakerlake) next to my hand. Ohh laaa, what a monster! Afraid to touch it, kill it or leave it I decide to look for the housemaid who is never far from the kitchen. She drags the cockroach with ease to the sink and flushes it down – still alive of course. That’s it, she leaves the kitchen again.

I continue preparing my noodle breakfast but I am wondering if this monster has been really drawn or not. Any moment it may crawl up the tube again, right next into my noodle plate. Quickly I leave the kitchen with my noodles in one hand, a cup of tea in the other…..

Workshop in Baderan Busuki, 4h bus ride from Jember

Sunday, at around 10AM Fran and I leave Jember in direction of Baderan Busuki. Our porters and guides will have English lesson, every day from 3-5pm from Monday to Friday. Their wives or sisters or friends will make handicrafts with local material and our knowledge of how to do, from 1-3pm.

The bus ride is a typical Indonesian one. Crowded with people rather starring at me, we suddenly have to leave the bus, it seemed to be broken. Another bus arrives within shortly, however this one was full already. It does not matter a lot because Indonesian people are small; hence we pack ourselves with all others in this second full bus. Hopefully we had to change it anyway, soon.

Our last bus is a very little one who slowly drives up the mountain on a badly paved road. As usual, I am in the back of the bus. I look out of the window and see a little girl walking with her Mom along the street. As soon as I glimpse their eyes, the girl starts smiling and points the finger on me. Confused and maybe scared to see a white person she quickly turns to her Mom , who in return starts smiling while looking at me. I raise my hand to say goodbye. They lift their hands too and smile.

The first workshop for the handicrafts and the first English class were held on Monday. During the workshop differences in motivation and skills could be seen between elderly and young women. I am glad to let them choose on their own which handicraft they would like to produce, according to their interest. The first English class was mainly a repetition of the material they have learnt two/three months ago. A challenge here is to have an illiterate in the group. I will need to adapt my planning/class material.

Le bilan d’un mois en Indonésie:
So far I am well installed in Jember and can fulfil my tasks and responsibilities. I am very happy that I have improved my Indonesian language skills to a level where I can independently express my needs with locals (under condition they speak bahasa Indonesia and not one of the many local languages). In addition I am able to have small and so far still simple conversation about my own person and my life in Indonesia. The challenge is less speaking than understanding. There are many accents and people often say things in different ways. Thanks to the language I feel more integrated as people appreciate to see someone doing an effort to understand them.

For the work with Indonesian people I need to be more patient. I always have many questions and often insist on knowing the details, as I want to be sure that things will work out properly. However, the answers I get are often vague and not up to my satisfaction. This costs me a lot of my nerves. Sometimes I wonder also if they do not take my questions as serious. If I ask it is for a reason and if I do not get an answer it seems to me there is a hint or something “not good”, so it makes me worrying. From their point of view it looks as if I do not trust them and they get suspicious because I keep on questioning.

Event though life here is simple, I feel comfortable. I got used to the cold Mandi in the morning and the absence of any toilet paper. I manage to eat once a day noodle, rice and potatoes. I miss cream, cheese and a good steak with butter on it (or one of these home-made-pizzas…. As I think further on).

On Wednesday the handicraft workshops are showing its first result. Everyday the workshop attracts kids to come and see what we are doing. People are curious and the ones that are motivated can join us and be active for their own pleasure and future income.

Thursday, the first day of Ramadan: Starting today for a month people will not eat AND drink during the day. The consequences are that they are not very patient with their work and have difficulties to concentrate during English class. I try to be less demanding but as I continue to eat normally (for my own and the others good) I can not feel the same way.

I had a wonderful Thursday evening. I went to the apartment of Kris, an elementary school teacher, who joined the handicraft workshop. I spent the evening together with him, his wife and people passing by, speaking half Indonesian, half English. As there is night AND Ramadan I was served abundant food (rice, egg and fish), the typical very sweet tea, cookies and some rather sticky food made out of a local snake(=kue) (seems to be a misunderstanding: kue stands for snack and not snake: Similar but different) and bananas. With curiosity I tried the snake-banana-thing-rapped-in-a-banana-leaf and was happy to find it tasty!

The last day of the workshop is held on Friday. Some handicrafts are finished now, others are still in process. People have now the knowledge to make the handicrafts on their own. For the future, only the motivated ones were asked to produce the handicrafts in which they have a special interest or particular skills. Responsibilities were set accordingly. The last English class consists of a “world discovery” which was overdue. Because these people were having the world upside down in their minds I tried to make clear that the United States are not in Europe and The Netherlands are not in America!

Then finally in the evening a moment I was hoping for since our arrival in Baderan. Roti bakar on the bamboo (grilled bread on a bamboo stick). I brought everything to make bread (=roti) and as people do not have stoves we “grilled” (=bakar) the bread on the fire. I prepared it “handglänk mol phy” because one could only wish something to measure 6dl water and a balance to weight 1kg of flour.

It is a good moment: Sitting around a fire with people appreciating bread (which they usually do not eat), smoking a tasty kretec cigarette, chatting and laughing with locals, listening to the sound of the nature and the muezzin in the background. I am happy.

After two hours of grilling and eating my home made bread, people are gone and I sit alone around the fire. It is the moment to reflect on a weeklong workshop session under my responsibility. The targets are met, challenges have been sorted out and the future steps are defined. From a more personal perspective I learnt to make concessions, to be more flexible, patient and to overcome ups and downs in loneliness. I was forced to deal with situations that have not been planned and that could have set a turnaround in our objectives. Creativity and allowing the time to do its good was needed to overcome this stage of anxiety. Not to be obsessed by the people’s tasks but to let them work in their own rhythm has been illustrated to me everyday. Not to take information too seriously makes me more flexible and in case things change (and they do a lot) I am not in a moment of despair, instead, I can easily adapt.

A nice afternoon

Together with Andrea Neyer and Bepenk I went to Bondowoso this afternoon. Thirty minutes by the public bus and there is this town that hosts a three star hotel called Ijen view. Within the hotel there is a nice swimming pool, a garden and no noise from motorcycles or cars. It was relaxing and together with fresh juice and Pizza it was holiday-like. Here the picture with a foot putih (white and me) and a foot chocolat (brown, Bepenk) :

On the way to move?

One more time I was preparing to move to another place. However, it seemed to be a perfect place: Around a nice family with a girl, some female students, close to the office, a nice room, good breakfast. What else do I need?

The so called boarding house (students house) has its own "safety rules". The students should be at home at 9 pm, unless they call the family. I was not aware of this unwritten and unspoken rule at the moment I moved to this place. By the time I started to be annoyed to call them each time I came home later. As they usually go to sleep at 10 pm I still felt stressed not to be at home toooo late. So I decided to move to another place. Yesterday I packed my things. Today morning I had breakfast with the family and we were talking in 90% Indonesian and 10% English about me, my plans and my life in Jember, including jokes of course.

It was the last moment to tell them why exactly I want to move. I was hesitating first to ask them if I could have a key. I knew the rule and I feared to upset them with habits that are not common here (especially for girls). However, finally they understand that I am different, that during the night I am not somewhere hanging around (because I am in the office) and that I know that during the night it is dangerous to move alone in Jember.

Finally a compromise was found and I have now one more key. I am free as I wish to be and can go home whenever I want. Tonight I am going to unpack my big bag again. :-)

Tomorrow I will go to Baderan Busuki with Fran for one week. The purpose of my stay is to teach English lessons to our guides and porters to help them communicating with the tourists. In addition, I will bring the material and instructions for the women to make handicrafts that will be sold afterwards.

The lessons are prepared, the handout for the handicrafts is written and I am ready for a new experience in a (very) remote village in Indonesia.