Month 2!

I realized today how long it's been since I last posted a blog so I figured it would be a good idea to catch everyone up. 2 months ago today I left for Indonesia. Crazy, I know but believe me it's all gone by incredibly quickly.  In the last 2 months  school has generally been the same, my language skills are getting a lot better but I can't really understand what the teachers are saying so I tend to sit in class and study Bahasa or talk to my friends. Things have calmed down a little bit so there aren't as many people coming up to ask me questions but everyone still likes to look through my phone and every time I get called on in class everyone goes completely silent (a rare thing at my school) I've also learned  how much of a difference it makes to learn the language as quickly as possible. School is a lot more fun when I am able to understand what my friends say and when I can actually laugh with them. Anyways, heres a quick run-down of the things I've done in the past month and a half….

A few weeks ago I visited Tamand mini (mini Indonesia)  with my host family. It's basically a giant park that has miniature replicas of the different provinces of Indonesia and their cultures. The park also has an bird conservation center so we got to see a lot of the tropical birds that are native here. By the end of the day I think I had about 6 different kinds of birds be placed on my shoulders. I even had a cockatoo mock my laugh which, as many of you know, is really obnoxious so that was the highlight of my morning. We only got to visit 3 provinces but it was a lot of fun and I am told that we will be able to visit again soon enough.

Earlier this month, my host dad asked me if I wanted to be entered in a race ( I have been going out to run almost everyday here so he figured I would enjoy the experience) and so on October 6th my host family and I participated in the Jakarta 5k Race for Cancer. We woke up at 4 am and drove down to Jakarta for our race. it was so weird to actually see a lot of "bules" (foreigner in Indonesian). For once I looked more like a normal indonesian then I did a foreigner! The race was quick but fun, and at the finish line we all got our medals. I really enjoyed being able to go and knowing that I was helping a great cause was even better. Hopefully we will be able to sign up for another one later in the year!

Okay and lastly…

This past weekend, my family and I returned from a 4 day vacation to Derawan island. Derawan is a tiny little island off the east coast of Kalimantan/Borneo so, it took a 2 hour plane ride and a 3 hour boat ride to get there. The plane rides weren't too bad, after taking so many flights with YES abroad I've gotten pretty used to them. The boat ride on the other hand was by far the best part of our travel. Or at least that's how I felt, most of the others in our group found themselves getting headaches and motion sickness whereas I just thought of it as a 3 hour roller coaster. There were 15 of us packed into a small blue boat  with a driver and 1 other fellow indonesian in case there were any emergencies. I had thought that the ojecks (motorcycle taxis)  in Indonesia were fast but I have never seen anyone drive faster then the driver on that boat. We were hitting the waves at lightning speed and so we spent 3 hours inhaling the strong scent of gasoline while getting roughly bounced up and down and trying not to hit our heads. It was fantastic. We finally got to the island and it was absolutely beautiful to say the least. The rooms we stayed in were all held up by wooden stilts dug deep into sand so every morning we got to wake up and look right into the open sea. Just a short walk from the shore and our rooms was a small village. Like most places in Indonesia there were a ton of small food stands, stores and of course, cats. But, everyone was so happy and it was a lot of fun to see so many people enjoying themselves just by sitting on their front porch with relatives or friends. We got to do a lot while we were there. By the end of the 4 days I had held a baby sea turtle, gone snorkeling, swam in a lake with stingless jelly fish, seen some of most beautiful beaches, and even watched as little kids played soccer with a coconut shell that was lit on fire.

Well.. Thats basically all of the big things that have been going on here in Indonesia I promise I'm going to try to blog more!!


oh and here are some pics of the places I've been and the things I've done! 

First week of school

So, this week was finally my first week of school! I went to one day of class last Friday but haha that day was relatively quiet. Monday on the other hand was not at all haha. I stepped into class and I was asked to introduce myself so I said my name and where I came from and that I would be in this class for the next 11 months.. Everyone was staring, I was the foreigner and they knew it. I finished introducing myself and went to go sit in my desk they were all taking turns to turn around and look at me.. haha half of them were whispering about me but because we were in the middle of a class they had no choice but to try and pay attention to the teacher as well. Well as soon as we had our first break the questions started. The very first question was "Are you single?" and from there it went on to "Are you an Arab or are you Indian?", "Where do you come from?", "You're staying here for 11 months?? Thats crazy", "Do you have an Instagram? Twitter? Facebook? Line?", "Do you have any brothers and sisters?", "Do you have a picture of your brother?"I literally sat in my desk while being surrounded by at least 10 other students, they asked questions until the next teacher came and when it was time for prayer at noon I got to go and sit near the library for the hour but as soon as I got back to class it was more questions. Hahaha some girls were even sitting in class discussing my nose, and eventually one of them just shouted it out "I love you're nose Its so pointy!" And then the whole group started discussing it, it was so funny, I never expected to get some of the questions I did and I didn't expect to get so many of them! For some reason there ended up not being class for the rest of the day Monday so instead everyone just sat around my desk. The rest of the week was basically the same. The funniest parts were when I would be sitting outside and there would be groups of students in their classrooms talking to each other and they would each turn around one by one to stare at me and if I happened to be  looking back at them they would turn back around really fast and continue talking. I was also surprised When everyone kept asking if they could go through my phone, I figured it wasn't too big a deal and soon enough there were groups of girls standing around each other looking and commenting on every one of my 634 photos. I really didn't mind, it was surprising but they just wanted to know about me. On Thursday we  had gym (it's only once a week here) and it was so completely different from gym in the US. The girls were separated from the boys and we were told we'd be playing soccer.  So, we started by doing some stretches and when we moved on to actually playing we were given a little baby soccer ball to play with. Haha that hour of gym was filled with a lot more giggles and screaming then with playing soccer, the girls were all afraid of getting hit and no one was really worried about who won but it was a lot of fun. Classes the rest of the week were.. Well.. Interesting haha, I couldn't understand a single thing in any of them so I mostly just sat in class and tried my best to study Bahasa. A lot of times though I sat and watched how different class was run here. The teachers in Indonesia are friends to the students, the teachers always make jokes and the students alway have funny comments to make,  and no on raises there hands but instead will just yell "ba!" Or "bapak!" Until he or she came to help them. It was fantastic, the mood in the class room isn't boring, it's fun and everyone's always laughing. :) Annd that basically sums up my first week of school at an Islamic Indonesian high school haha I will try to post some more soon! 

-Em 

And here are some pictures! 

My hijab for school 

Haha this guy was roaming around the school all day, I thought he needed a picture 

Some of my new friends from class :) 

Airplane Adventures

Well, its been a ridiculously long week.. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update my blog lately I keep telling myself I need to do it but by the time I finally have time to I end up going straight to sleep. I am finally here in Indonesia and 2 days ago I went home with my host family. :) Getting here was not the easiest thing in the world but it was definitely interesting haha Our flights to get here were about a total of 20 hours but all in all we spent a good 30 or so hours in the airports and on our flights. The first plane took us from New York to Vancouver and from there to Hong Kong. All 9 of us went on to JFK airport and we had 3 hours to spend before boarding so we all went and found some food while our poor chaperone sat down and watched our crazy amount of carry on bags. 

The gate was super packed and we all were surrounding the only charging station they had so we could charge our phones and iPods haha but we finally got on the plane and of course, who was joining us on our way to Vancouver? Bon Jovi. He was sitting a few rows behind us but actually ended up sitting right behind me later in the flight. I felt bad because it seemed like he really didn't want all of the attention so I tried to catch up on some sleep. Apparently by the time me and Emily #2 were dead asleep Mallory and Bon Jovi were having a good conversation. Guess its my own fault I missed out on that one.

 The part of the plane ride that I remember the most was waking up to see Izzy wearing a surgical mask and some flight attendants surrounding the seats Sarah, Ellen, and Bre were sitting in. Izzy walked past us to get to the back of the flight and we asked what had happened, Sarah had gotten motion sick and threw up all over the lap table in front of her and Bre who was by the window had tried not to but soon after Sarah she too puked all over her lap and a little bit on Ellen. Ellen was seated in between the two and completely asleep the entire time. The look on her face when the flight attendant woke her up was priceless. Everybody tried to clean up as best as possible while the attendants sprayed an obnoxious vanilla scented perfume in between the seats. After a few more hours we were in Vancouver, Canada. All of us got up and were getting excited to go out and stretch for a little bit but we were told we couldn't get off of the plane and instead had to wait an hour while the plane was cleaned up and refueled. I finally got around to taking a sleeping pill and was knocked out before we even took off again. 7 hours of sleep later, it as STILL night time and we had 5 more hours to go. It was a constant night time, we left at 10 pm from JFK but with all of the time differences it wasn't morning until we reached Hong Kong International Airport. It was the most terrifying and amazing thing to know that I was already on the other side of the world. We went through some more security and after, a few of us went out to find some food

 This was coconut milk with Sago which is basically like a sweeter and smaller version of tapioca balls.
(P.S. no it was not 38 US dollars it was 38 Hong Kong dollars)

This was delicious!!! It was mango wrapped in some sort of rice flour dough and covered in coconut flakes. 

A lot of us were still feeling a little sick from all of the flying, so we sat back and just talked and relaxed in the airport. When we finally got to boarding for our flight to Jakarta, Indonesia there was a long line of Indonesians watching as the raggedy group of Americans wearing matching t-shirts waited to board. haha that flight was really bumpy at first and we were all a little nervous it would stay that way for the entire 5 hours but it calmed down after a few minutes and a lot of us went to sleep. I will be posting the next part of the past week soon but for today I think this is enough. :) 

-Em

So this week has definitely been a rough and exciting week all at once. Tomorrow morning I will be heading off to New York for my Gateway Orientation with the other 7 amazing girls who will be traveling to Indonesia with me. The past few months have completely flown by and all of my work with YES Abroad is finally coming together. I am so excited to get to be a part of this experience and though its always hard to say goodbye I know that my family and friends are supporting me and will be here when I return. I have gone over my packing a good 5 times today and I'm still hoping that I won't be over the weight limit of only 44lbs!!! Packing lightly for 10 MONTHS is not exactly the easiest thing in the world…Especially for a girl :) I think I've got enough things to keep me entertained for the next few days Im hoping that I can get myself to sleep for a good while on the plane but all of the nerves and excitement might just keep me away from that, so, I have been working on the most uplifting fun songs that will keep me happy on my long flights to Indonesia. This is truly going to be the journey of a lifetime and I hope everyone has a great year. I will keep everyone posted!

Goodnight!
-Em

Hi Everyone!!

For anybody that doesn't already know about me and my absolutely crazy plans for this year, my name is Emily. I am 17 years old and in just a few short weeks I will be traveling to INDONESIA!! :)

     
I was accepted into the Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad Program and I'll soon be living in Bekasi with a host mom, dad, and sister.

This Blog will, hopefully, be updated once a week on all the new things I will be experiencing while  on my trip and for the next few weeks before my departure. Things are getting crazy! I am finished with my Pre-Departure Orientation. I have my flight itineraries and so for now its time to spend a good portion of my summer having fun with my friends and family.

Talk to everyone soon!
-Em