Indonesia: Life In The Islands

A Delightful New Twist on the Name Game

I’ve been at SMA 3 for six months now, and my name still hasn’t been standardized. I get called Cait, Caitie, Miss Caitlin, Miss, and C on an everyday basis, and there’s still an annoying large percentage of the school staff who insist on calling me Cath.

I also get introduced a lot. I didn’t realize this until a few months ago, but SMA 3 is apparently one of the best schools in Java (although I adore my students, the thought that their English is the cream of the crop in Indonesian makes me shudder). At least once a week Pak Teddy and Pak Pri, the vice-principal, conduct tours of the school for visiting teachers from all around the archipelago. Last week there were 30 teachers from Banda Aceh, the province hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami. In December there was a large contingent from Sidoarjo, the area near Surabaya that is slowly but surely being destroyed by hot mud. I always get pulled into the teacher’s room for at least a few minutes to just generally act like an American and so the school can show off their white person status symbol..

When Pak Pri and Pak Teddy introduce me they like to switch it up Sometimes I’m, “the Fulbright scholar,” or “the AMINEF worker.” For the teachers from Banda Aceh I was, “the native speakers who works here for us and is going to move to Indonesia to live in Malang (false).” Usually the words “native speaker” are combined with some version of my name.

But today, in front of 25 teachers from Jakarta, Pak Pri stood up and announced, “This is Caitlin, my best friend in the world!” Then he handed me the microphone.

I started laughing, but I’d be remiss if I didn't say I was a little touched as well. Best friend in the world? I had no idea you felt that way about me, Pak Pri. Then Pak Teddy joined in with, “Yes, she is also my best friend too.” The teachers from Jakarta were just nodding happily and waiting for my 7 second spiel in Indonesian. So maybe this is my new standard introduction: Miss Caitlin, best friend to older Indonesian men everywhere.

At least it's better than Cath. I'm not a bag of urine, people!

posted by Caitlin @ 2:17 PM