Life in the Public Eye
This afternoon, I went walking down my street to explore Malang a little (and find some of the watermelons I had seen on street stands, or warungs). Malang is known for its apples, and I finally ate one. It was good, very sweet and juicy—but I maintain that New England apples are better. I walked over a bridge and looked down into a valley with a river and lots of trees and vegetation right in the middle of the city. I tried to find a warnet (internet café) to get some cheap surfing time, but the directions the watermelon vendor gave me led to nowhere. Literally, the street just ended. Lots of staring, people beeping their horns and screaming hello at me. It’s a little strange not to be able to go anywhere without drawing a crowd—for example when I was buying apples, people came over to watch me garble my Indonesian numbers and not understand kilos. It doesn’t really bother me, just makes me aware that I can’t do things like pick my nose and hope no one notices—because they definitely will haha. The streets are really uneven and I was wearing flip flops, so of course I kept stumbling. People watching me thought this was by far the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. They point and laugh, even when I turn around and look at them. So then I just laugh too—what else can I do?
I went to dinner with my neighbors tonight. We tried to go to Pizza Hut, but that place was jammed. Thirty minute wait for a table! Pizza Hut is a sit down, kind-of-nice restaurant here. Instead we went to Steak n’ Shake, which I’ve actually never been to in the US. It was pretty delicious, or enak sekali, if you will. The mother and father are really happy I’m here and teaching English to their two older girls, Eka and Made. The youngest daughter Miming doesn’t know much English and she is pretty shy, but she managed to ask me if I liked Britney Spears. As soon as I told her I saw Britney Spears in concert we became fast friends. On the way home Eka told me I looked like Princess Diana, which is blatantly false but a lovely compliment nonetheless. When we got back to Mayjen Woyono all of the people who lived with them came out to see me—uncles, friends, some other young men—apparently they had been wanting to talk to me, but since we have no language in common I had to use my standard phrase of “saya belajar bahasa Indonesia, lalu kita berbicara” (I am studying Bahasa Indonesia, then we will talk). Pak Putu told me now I was a part of their big family, and they would all take care of me. Everyone was very genuine about wanting to make me feel at home.
Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I’m starting to get a little nervous about forty pairs of eyes on me! Made told me that my height is an advantage, so maybe I can stare menacingly down at any errant students. There is a flag ceremony tomorrow morning (first Monday of every month), so I leave at 6:15 am. Oh man.
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