Indonesia: Life In The Islands

Retreat From Sanity, Part Deux

Laughing at schoolbuses, SMA 3 transported 900 kids 2 hours up a mountain in 22 military convoy trucks. That is, unless the students wanted to take their motorcycles (and a few friends on back) along the winding, pothole-riddled, vertical roads. That was allowed and even preferable.

Even though I insisted that I like Javanese food, the women who cooked for the retreat very nicely made me some “American food” at mealtimes. Each day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I was given five (five) sandwiches made of bread, chocolate sprinkles, butter, and peanuts. They were enak sekali (delicious), but 30 pieces of bread a day was a little much. Everyone else watched me eat them and commented on how bread must keep Americans slim, so I felt like I was propagating a giant lie.

Day 3 was a little slow, so my attempts to entertain myself went approximately as follows:

07:00—wake up to the sound of the mooing cow next door.
07:30—eat five bread sandwiches.
08:00—fun with frying—make various shapes out of batter and boiling oil.
08:30—chase the chickens and ducks up and down the road.
10:00—give up on catching a chicken.
10:02—do a television interview about the retreat. Wardrobe—dirty red t-shirt and cut off jeans. Was asked to do the interview in Indonesian, but 8 seconds was too short so was allowed to throw in some English. Babble about loving animals and nature, while squinting into the sun. Everyone cheers.
10:09—drink Sprite and hang out on a bench with various village men. They don’t speak English, I don’t speak Javanese. We smile a lot.
13:00—first military convoy arrives for the trip home. I wait hopefully for them all to arrive so we can pack it up and go home. The final truck comes four hours later.
17:00—I get into my car. Along the way home we pass several students who are stranded because their bikes stalled out. We wave and Pak Tedy says, “Sampai besok!” (See you tomorrow!)

It’s kind of liberating to let everyone worry about themselves. Although it might seem like I’m complaining, I actually had a great time with everyone from the school—I mean, it IS a retreat, why have any rules?

posted by Caitlin @ 12:35 AM