Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tsunami
Legend has it there was a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra. Also, Mount Merapi in Central Java erupted. This is quite bad for people living in Sumatra and Java. I am quite a ways away on Sulawesi, so I am fine. To those who asked, thanks for asking about my aliveness.
Monday, October 25, 2010
SMA Barana', part 1
I teach at SMA Kristen Barana', near Rantepao, the biggest town in Toraja, a regency of South Sulawesi. SMAs are college preparatory senior high schools and Kristen means Christian, so the school's name just means Barana' Christian college preparatory senior high school. SMA Barana' (we usually drop the Kristen) is an RSBI, which means it is on the path to becoming an international school (this title, despite the name, is actually bestowed by the Indonesian government, not some international body). It is considered to be the best high school in all of Toraja, though apparently it is not the best by much (we got 5th at a recent competition open only to Torajan schools). The school has about 270 students (I forget the exact total), split among 10th, 11th and 12 grades (SMAs and SMKs--technical high schools--start in 10th grade).
SMA Barana' (I think all Indonesian schools, though I may be wrong) does not have moving classes. So, instead of each teacher having a room and the students moving between these rooms, each taking separate classes from his or her friends, the students sit in the same class all day, with the same classmates. Their are 10 classes at SMA Barana': 4 10th grade classes, 2 11th grade science track classes, 1 11th grade social science track class, 2 12th grade science track classes, and 1 12th grade social science track class.
On the plus side, having fixed classrooms makes it much easier to schedule classes than having moving classes. With fixed classrooms, the school only has to schedule the 30 or so teachers moving around. With movable classes, the school would have to schedule 270 students moving around. The school also probably needs fewer class spaces, which makes fixed classes less expensive.
On the down side, students don’t get to choose their classes (This is not quite true. At the beginning of 11th grade the students choose to follow the social sciences track or the natural sciences track. The track they choose influences the classes they take. However, they still do not choose individual classes. They choose a single collection of classes only).
Fixed classes also effectively prevents tracking (not quite: natural sciences is generally considered to be a higher track than social sciences, and I think students may need to test into the natural sciences track, though I may be wrong. At public schools, anyway, I’m pretty sure students do need to test into the natural sciences track (and test into SMA)). Tracking can be dangerous, but its also a great opportunity for students to go ahead of their peers (in math for example). With fixed classes, everyone in the same class takes the same level of class.
Fixed classes also means that students don’t choose their classes (beyond choosing their track), so students don’t necessarily take subjects that interest them. That being said, high school students in America don’t have that much choice either. I guess I’m really comparing SMA here to college in America, which isn’t fair at all.
Typically, Indonesian schools conceive of languages very differently than we do in America. In America, I would just take Spanish or French (or both!). At SMA Barana’ (and elsewhere in Indonesia), English gets split into multiple parts. So, 10th grade has one English reading and writing class per week (1.5hrs), one English speaking and listening class per week that follows the curriculum (1.5 hrs), and one English speaking and listening class per week where we can do anything we want. The 11th grade has one reading and writing class, one speaking and listening class, and one English for TOEFL class. The 12th grade has one reading and writing, one speaking and listening, one English for TOEFL and one English for Torajan culture.
Separating English into separate classes creates two main problems:
First, the same teacher does not necessarily teach all of a particular class’s English class periods. One teacher might teach reading and writing, while another teaches speaking and listening (Luckily, no class has more than two different English teachers). Even though the curricula for speaking and listening and reading and writing go hand in hand, the two classes might not follow them at the same pace. Even if the two classes did manage to stay at the same pace, the teachers would find it very hard to instill a sense of continuity (connecting vocabulary and grammar points and helping students remember new things from class to class). This coordination is particularly hard since, even though there are only three English teachers (plus me), there is no regular departmental meeting. I think I will try to change this.
Second, the teachers’ hands are tied in terms of creative lesson planning. Not only do I need to try to teach speaking and listening, but also I need to do so while avoiding reading and writing. These skills are connected, so separating them can be a pain.
On a completely unrelated note, one of my students is named Axlrose. This is awesome (also, he's a good kid, and I don’t want to take away from that, but that's not really the point here). Unfortunately, I can't quite imagine him singing, "Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." On the plus side, he's much more likely to say that than any of the other options in xkcd #805 (http://xkcd.com/805/). For those unfamiliar with webcomics, when you have finished reading the comic, place your cursor over it to read the hovertext). If you are older than 40 or have been living under, but not listening to, (a) rock for the past 23 years, "Wikipedia to the rescue!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rose".
SMA Barana' (I think all Indonesian schools, though I may be wrong) does not have moving classes. So, instead of each teacher having a room and the students moving between these rooms, each taking separate classes from his or her friends, the students sit in the same class all day, with the same classmates. Their are 10 classes at SMA Barana': 4 10th grade classes, 2 11th grade science track classes, 1 11th grade social science track class, 2 12th grade science track classes, and 1 12th grade social science track class.
On the plus side, having fixed classrooms makes it much easier to schedule classes than having moving classes. With fixed classrooms, the school only has to schedule the 30 or so teachers moving around. With movable classes, the school would have to schedule 270 students moving around. The school also probably needs fewer class spaces, which makes fixed classes less expensive.
On the down side, students don’t get to choose their classes (This is not quite true. At the beginning of 11th grade the students choose to follow the social sciences track or the natural sciences track. The track they choose influences the classes they take. However, they still do not choose individual classes. They choose a single collection of classes only).
Fixed classes also effectively prevents tracking (not quite: natural sciences is generally considered to be a higher track than social sciences, and I think students may need to test into the natural sciences track, though I may be wrong. At public schools, anyway, I’m pretty sure students do need to test into the natural sciences track (and test into SMA)). Tracking can be dangerous, but its also a great opportunity for students to go ahead of their peers (in math for example). With fixed classes, everyone in the same class takes the same level of class.
Fixed classes also means that students don’t choose their classes (beyond choosing their track), so students don’t necessarily take subjects that interest them. That being said, high school students in America don’t have that much choice either. I guess I’m really comparing SMA here to college in America, which isn’t fair at all.
Typically, Indonesian schools conceive of languages very differently than we do in America. In America, I would just take Spanish or French (or both!). At SMA Barana’ (and elsewhere in Indonesia), English gets split into multiple parts. So, 10th grade has one English reading and writing class per week (1.5hrs), one English speaking and listening class per week that follows the curriculum (1.5 hrs), and one English speaking and listening class per week where we can do anything we want. The 11th grade has one reading and writing class, one speaking and listening class, and one English for TOEFL class. The 12th grade has one reading and writing, one speaking and listening, one English for TOEFL and one English for Torajan culture.
Separating English into separate classes creates two main problems:
First, the same teacher does not necessarily teach all of a particular class’s English class periods. One teacher might teach reading and writing, while another teaches speaking and listening (Luckily, no class has more than two different English teachers). Even though the curricula for speaking and listening and reading and writing go hand in hand, the two classes might not follow them at the same pace. Even if the two classes did manage to stay at the same pace, the teachers would find it very hard to instill a sense of continuity (connecting vocabulary and grammar points and helping students remember new things from class to class). This coordination is particularly hard since, even though there are only three English teachers (plus me), there is no regular departmental meeting. I think I will try to change this.
Second, the teachers’ hands are tied in terms of creative lesson planning. Not only do I need to try to teach speaking and listening, but also I need to do so while avoiding reading and writing. These skills are connected, so separating them can be a pain.
On a completely unrelated note, one of my students is named Axlrose. This is awesome (also, he's a good kid, and I don’t want to take away from that, but that's not really the point here). Unfortunately, I can't quite imagine him singing, "Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." On the plus side, he's much more likely to say that than any of the other options in xkcd #805 (http://xkcd.com/805/). For those unfamiliar with webcomics, when you have finished reading the comic, place your cursor over it to read the hovertext). If you are older than 40 or have been living under, but not listening to, (a) rock for the past 23 years, "Wikipedia to the rescue!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rose".
From Dog to Dinner
Many years ago, Agus, a Torajan girl, was preparing to celebrate her birthday. She wanted to slaughter an animal to feed her friends, but she couldn’t choose the right one. As she walked to the animal market, she considered her options.
“Perhaps I will slaughter a buffalo,” she thought. “But buffalo are too big. My friends will not be able to eat all of it, and it will be too expensive for me. I cannot afford to spend tens of millions of rupiah (thousands of dollars) for my birthday.”
“Maybe I can serve chicken,” she thought next. “But chicken are too small. I would have to slaughter many chickens to feed all of my friends. By the time I prepare all of those chickens, it will already be tomorrow. I need another option.”
Just as Agus was lamenting her difficult situation, she ran into her friend Budi. He was so preoccupied with his own problems that he did not even ask her “Mau ke mana = where do you want to go”. “I am so worried,” said Budi. “Dog mating season has begun, and I am worried my dog will have free sex (note: free sex=sex before marriage). How can I protect my dog’s morality? Also, I cannot afford for my dog to get pregnant. What would I do with all its children?”
The two friends stood, moping in silence. All seemed lost until, in a moment of clarity, genius struck Alice. “I have a great idea,” she announced. “We should kill your dog. Then it cannot get pregnant. Also, then I can serve it for my birthday. It is just the right size.”
“Brilliant,” Budi responded, sipping from the Guiness that magically appeared in his hand (Budi was Christian). “Your plan will enable us to kill two dogs with one whack!”
The two friends strode to Budi’s house, excited to have solved both of their problems. As they approached his house, however, clouds began to cover the sky, as they are wont to do in the rainy season during the afternoon. When they arrived and saw Budi’s dog, their enthusiasm wore off. They realized that killing a dog would not be easy; if you cut the dog’s neck, it might bight you. How to kill the dog without getting injured?
Luckily, Agus, the “alpha dog” of this story, had another solution. “Let’s put the dog in a bag. The dog will not be able to bite us since it will be trapped in the bag.”
Budi, not too easily won over, realized the flaw. “If we cut the dog’s neck while it is in the bag, then we will have to cut a hole in the bag. Then, the dog can escape and bite us.”
Coming to the rescue again, Agus had her third clever solution of the day. “We don’t need to kill the dog by cutting its neck. Instead, let’s take the dog and whack it against a wall repeatedly. We won’t even have to worry about the blood getting everywhere, since the bag will keep that contained too!”
As the sun set, the two friends immersed themselves in the beauty of the moment by slamming Budi’s dog against the wall until the only body parts left moving in the room were the sides of their mouths, which floated upward until the radiance of Agus and Budi’s smiles replaced the radiation of the setting sun.
Later, as they ate the birthday dog together, Alice reflected, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Epilogue: I decided to become a vegetarian.
__________________________________________________________________________
To be fair:
For the sake of telling a good story and leading up to my new vegitarianism, I was not at all fair. I was also factually inaccurate at times. Here are some notes on fairness and accuracy:
(1) Most Indonesians do not eat dog. Muslims would consider dogs unclean, so presumably most or all Muslims do not eat dog. Some Torajans do eat dog, but only occasionally (for birthdays). I believe some other non-muslims throughout the archipelago also eat dogs (either on special occasions or (maybe?) on normal days, depending on the region).
(2) With the exception of those who get joy from animal cruelty (these people exist everywhere), I don't think Torajans or other Indonesians actually enjoy killing dogs. I just thought that made for a better story and emphasized my shift to caring more about treatment of animals.
(3) The students at my school (and Torajans generally, I think) do tend to serve each other dog on birthdays.
(4) Some Torajans do sometimes kill dogs by putting them in bags and slamming them against the wall or the ground.
(5) The person from whom I learned about this does not eat dog. When she was in high school, her dog bit someone else. The dog had to die so that it would not bite others. The victim's father chose to kill the dog by beating it (not using the bag technique) since he was understandably not very happy with the dog. Not using a bag was a poor plan, since the dog, head bleeding, ran away and hid under my friend's bed.
(6) Torajans (maybe other Indonesians?) do greet each other with "Mau ke mana?"
(7) Indonesians do refer to sex before marriage as "free sex"
(8) I have heard of someone killing a dog to prevent it from mating.
(9) The story, is of course, fiction, with small glimmers of truth as mentioned in previous notes.
“Perhaps I will slaughter a buffalo,” she thought. “But buffalo are too big. My friends will not be able to eat all of it, and it will be too expensive for me. I cannot afford to spend tens of millions of rupiah (thousands of dollars) for my birthday.”
“Maybe I can serve chicken,” she thought next. “But chicken are too small. I would have to slaughter many chickens to feed all of my friends. By the time I prepare all of those chickens, it will already be tomorrow. I need another option.”
Just as Agus was lamenting her difficult situation, she ran into her friend Budi. He was so preoccupied with his own problems that he did not even ask her “Mau ke mana = where do you want to go”. “I am so worried,” said Budi. “Dog mating season has begun, and I am worried my dog will have free sex (note: free sex=sex before marriage). How can I protect my dog’s morality? Also, I cannot afford for my dog to get pregnant. What would I do with all its children?”
The two friends stood, moping in silence. All seemed lost until, in a moment of clarity, genius struck Alice. “I have a great idea,” she announced. “We should kill your dog. Then it cannot get pregnant. Also, then I can serve it for my birthday. It is just the right size.”
“Brilliant,” Budi responded, sipping from the Guiness that magically appeared in his hand (Budi was Christian). “Your plan will enable us to kill two dogs with one whack!”
The two friends strode to Budi’s house, excited to have solved both of their problems. As they approached his house, however, clouds began to cover the sky, as they are wont to do in the rainy season during the afternoon. When they arrived and saw Budi’s dog, their enthusiasm wore off. They realized that killing a dog would not be easy; if you cut the dog’s neck, it might bight you. How to kill the dog without getting injured?
Luckily, Agus, the “alpha dog” of this story, had another solution. “Let’s put the dog in a bag. The dog will not be able to bite us since it will be trapped in the bag.”
Budi, not too easily won over, realized the flaw. “If we cut the dog’s neck while it is in the bag, then we will have to cut a hole in the bag. Then, the dog can escape and bite us.”
Coming to the rescue again, Agus had her third clever solution of the day. “We don’t need to kill the dog by cutting its neck. Instead, let’s take the dog and whack it against a wall repeatedly. We won’t even have to worry about the blood getting everywhere, since the bag will keep that contained too!”
As the sun set, the two friends immersed themselves in the beauty of the moment by slamming Budi’s dog against the wall until the only body parts left moving in the room were the sides of their mouths, which floated upward until the radiance of Agus and Budi’s smiles replaced the radiation of the setting sun.
Later, as they ate the birthday dog together, Alice reflected, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Epilogue: I decided to become a vegetarian.
__________________________________________________________________________
To be fair:
For the sake of telling a good story and leading up to my new vegitarianism, I was not at all fair. I was also factually inaccurate at times. Here are some notes on fairness and accuracy:
(1) Most Indonesians do not eat dog. Muslims would consider dogs unclean, so presumably most or all Muslims do not eat dog. Some Torajans do eat dog, but only occasionally (for birthdays). I believe some other non-muslims throughout the archipelago also eat dogs (either on special occasions or (maybe?) on normal days, depending on the region).
(2) With the exception of those who get joy from animal cruelty (these people exist everywhere), I don't think Torajans or other Indonesians actually enjoy killing dogs. I just thought that made for a better story and emphasized my shift to caring more about treatment of animals.
(3) The students at my school (and Torajans generally, I think) do tend to serve each other dog on birthdays.
(4) Some Torajans do sometimes kill dogs by putting them in bags and slamming them against the wall or the ground.
(5) The person from whom I learned about this does not eat dog. When she was in high school, her dog bit someone else. The dog had to die so that it would not bite others. The victim's father chose to kill the dog by beating it (not using the bag technique) since he was understandably not very happy with the dog. Not using a bag was a poor plan, since the dog, head bleeding, ran away and hid under my friend's bed.
(6) Torajans (maybe other Indonesians?) do greet each other with "Mau ke mana?"
(7) Indonesians do refer to sex before marriage as "free sex"
(8) I have heard of someone killing a dog to prevent it from mating.
(9) The story, is of course, fiction, with small glimmers of truth as mentioned in previous notes.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Poco-poco
Poco-poco (pronounced pocho-pocho, since c is always pronounced ch) is Indonesia's line dancing craze. Mechanically, it is similar to the cha-cha slide, the electric slide, or Cotton-Eye Joe. In something resembling a grid, participants first step right twice, then left twice, then back twice, then turn to the left (usually, occasionally right) through an involved sequence of steps. After four repetitions, facing the original direction, the participants use a new involved sequence of steps to perform the turn. Participants go through several different terminal step sequences throughout the course of the dance. Usually one person leads the dance, so everyone faces that one person during the first iteration of every involved sequence, then it is assumed that they will remember the sequence until they receive a new sequence from the leader.
While poco-poco is mechanically very similar to American line dances, it appears in a very different context. Every Saturday morning, all 270 or so students in my school, plus a few teachers and the principal (this week at least--this was the first week I noticed), dance poco-poco on the school's basketball court. Having normally seen line dances at Bar and Bat Mitzvot, I was rather amused to see my whole school doing one. I was wrong to be amused though. I should have saved that amusement for the fact that the military does poco-poco too, in uniform.
The military also dances to dangdut, another form of music, in uniform. To dance to dangdut, you put both thumbs up and move your arms in a motion similar to how they move for running (I would show a video if I could find one quickly enough, but those of you who don't use snail internet can probably find it quickly).
Check out these poco-poco video for a visual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0CJ5KCxmgY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cpaqln5PE&feature=related
While poco-poco is mechanically very similar to American line dances, it appears in a very different context. Every Saturday morning, all 270 or so students in my school, plus a few teachers and the principal (this week at least--this was the first week I noticed), dance poco-poco on the school's basketball court. Having normally seen line dances at Bar and Bat Mitzvot, I was rather amused to see my whole school doing one. I was wrong to be amused though. I should have saved that amusement for the fact that the military does poco-poco too, in uniform.
The military also dances to dangdut, another form of music, in uniform. To dance to dangdut, you put both thumbs up and move your arms in a motion similar to how they move for running (I would show a video if I could find one quickly enough, but those of you who don't use snail internet can probably find it quickly).
Check out these poco-poco video for a visual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0CJ5KCxmgY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cpaqln5PE&feature=related
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Unrelated literary notes
None of these notes has anything to do with Indonesia other than the fact that I read all while in Indonesia.
(1) Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for literature! It was about time. If you have not read anything by him, now is a good time to start. I liked Death in the Andes (Lituma en los Andes) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (La Tia Julia y el Escribidor), but pretty much anything by him is good.
(2) I read The Corrections and Freedom (both by Jonathan Franzen) in the past few weeks. If you have not read anything by him yet, you're missing out. I think its fair to say that both are attempts at writing the Great American Novel. Whether or not he succeeds, I leave up to you, but I thought he did a pretty good job. I think I may read Freedom again, since there was so much I missed (I'm sure I actually missed more in The Corrections, but I did not like that book as much).
(3) Andrea Hirata's Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) is all the rage in Indonesia today. It is actually the first book in a quartet, but it is the only one of the four I have read so far. The movie version came out in 2008. While not as great or as ambitious as Vargas Llosa or Franzen's books, it's still damn good. As the title suggests, the book deals with education, mineral exploitation, government resource distribution, the will to succeed and love. Ok, so maybe the title makes very little sense (even after reading it, I don't like the title that much, though I do understand it). Anyway, it's worth a read if you can find it.
Also, I think I am done with posting about Bandung. I had a good time, but it should not remain the focus of the blog for long. I will start speaking about Toraja (my region) in the next post.
(1) Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for literature! It was about time. If you have not read anything by him, now is a good time to start. I liked Death in the Andes (Lituma en los Andes) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (La Tia Julia y el Escribidor), but pretty much anything by him is good.
(2) I read The Corrections and Freedom (both by Jonathan Franzen) in the past few weeks. If you have not read anything by him yet, you're missing out. I think its fair to say that both are attempts at writing the Great American Novel. Whether or not he succeeds, I leave up to you, but I thought he did a pretty good job. I think I may read Freedom again, since there was so much I missed (I'm sure I actually missed more in The Corrections, but I did not like that book as much).
(3) Andrea Hirata's Laskar Pelangi (Rainbow Troops) is all the rage in Indonesia today. It is actually the first book in a quartet, but it is the only one of the four I have read so far. The movie version came out in 2008. While not as great or as ambitious as Vargas Llosa or Franzen's books, it's still damn good. As the title suggests, the book deals with education, mineral exploitation, government resource distribution, the will to succeed and love. Ok, so maybe the title makes very little sense (even after reading it, I don't like the title that much, though I do understand it). Anyway, it's worth a read if you can find it.
Also, I think I am done with posting about Bandung. I had a good time, but it should not remain the focus of the blog for long. I will start speaking about Toraja (my region) in the next post.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Bandung I
After a week in Jakarta, I headed over to Bandung with my 43 closest friends (plus AMINEF administrators, so really more like 50). Apparently the hotel in Jakarta was not actually considered very nice. The Sheraton in Bandung was much nicer. Nice enough, in fact, that rumor has it that SBY (Indonesia’s president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) stays there when in Bandung. This may be just a rumor though.
While in Bandung one of the ETAs decided to host a “hick wedding.” Each of the ETAs had a role and a characteristic (I was the secretly gay cousin of the bride), and we celebrated a fake wedding in our hick best. It was somewhat offensive, but fun nonetheless.
The hotel also hosted a real wedding while we were there. Apparently this couple really loved America, since they planned to dance down the aisle to Chris Brown’s “Forever.” For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past year or are older than 24, this video might be instructive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
Note the number of times it has been viewed. Unfortunately, the wedding got rained out. Luckily for me (and for you), they rehearsed this many times. I made sure to get a video. The dancing wasn’t great, but it was very jarring seeing the obsession with America via Chris Brown. Once I have my computer situation ironed out, I will post it.
<>
While in Bandung, we (the ETAs) had three hours of Bahasa Indonesia and three hours of pedagogy classes each weekday. Apparently Bahasa Indonesia is pretty easy, since we came out of those three weeks knowing a lot. Also, it helps that my class’s teacher, Ibu Lily, put a lot of faith in us and made us do unimaginably hard things that greatly increased our confidence when we succeeded. So, for example, I had to present for ten minutes on public toilets in America in Bahasa Indonesia (other students presented about other public services such as education and transportation, but I chose last. I liked my topic quite a lot though). It pushed my limits, but not to the breaking point. Unfortunately, my progress has slowed significantly, but I have been reading Harry Potter in Bahasa Indonesia to expand my vocabulary and have been talking with teachers and locals to work on my fluency. We’ll see how that works out. I think I may also start a Bahasa Indonesia blog or email list so that I expand my active vocabulary. Let me know if you want to receive this, if it ever happens (Emmy, Liz, other ETAs, I’m looking at you).
Addenda to that paragraph:
-Anyone interested in toilets and other sanitation issues should check out Zac Mason’s blog, http://zacstravaganza.blogspot.com/. Zac spent the last two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali but continues to blog about development and anything fecal in nature.
-Bahasa Indonesia literally means “language Indonesia.” English is “Bahasa Inggris.”
-Ibu literally means “mother.” However, Indonesians often use it somewhat like Mrs. or Ms. Generally, one addresses other adults with such an honorific, but using the first name. So, Lily becomes Ibu Lily (or Bu Lily), and Marthen (pronounced Martin, since the t and h don’t combine as they do in English) becomes Pak Marthen. This politeness has the unfortunate consequence that everyone in town greets me by saying, “Hello Mister.” “ Halo pak” or “Selamat pagi pak” sounds normal (selamat pagi=good morning), but “hello mister” just sounds funny. I tend not to mind it though, since its much better than the other two alternatives, bule (boo-lay; gringo, though literally it means albino), and Belanda (the Netherlands). I tend not to respond to those since I find them rather offensive, though I should probably come up with a better response.
The pedagogy classes were also quite successful, as I felt surprisingly prepared to teach. Perhaps I will speak more about these classes when I get into my own teaching experience.
While in Bandung one of the ETAs decided to host a “hick wedding.” Each of the ETAs had a role and a characteristic (I was the secretly gay cousin of the bride), and we celebrated a fake wedding in our hick best. It was somewhat offensive, but fun nonetheless.
The hotel also hosted a real wedding while we were there. Apparently this couple really loved America, since they planned to dance down the aisle to Chris Brown’s “Forever.” For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past year or are older than 24, this video might be instructive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
Note the number of times it has been viewed. Unfortunately, the wedding got rained out. Luckily for me (and for you), they rehearsed this many times. I made sure to get a video. The dancing wasn’t great, but it was very jarring seeing the obsession with America via Chris Brown. Once I have my computer situation ironed out, I will post it.
<
While in Bandung, we (the ETAs) had three hours of Bahasa Indonesia and three hours of pedagogy classes each weekday. Apparently Bahasa Indonesia is pretty easy, since we came out of those three weeks knowing a lot. Also, it helps that my class’s teacher, Ibu Lily, put a lot of faith in us and made us do unimaginably hard things that greatly increased our confidence when we succeeded. So, for example, I had to present for ten minutes on public toilets in America in Bahasa Indonesia (other students presented about other public services such as education and transportation, but I chose last. I liked my topic quite a lot though). It pushed my limits, but not to the breaking point. Unfortunately, my progress has slowed significantly, but I have been reading Harry Potter in Bahasa Indonesia to expand my vocabulary and have been talking with teachers and locals to work on my fluency. We’ll see how that works out. I think I may also start a Bahasa Indonesia blog or email list so that I expand my active vocabulary. Let me know if you want to receive this, if it ever happens (Emmy, Liz, other ETAs, I’m looking at you).
Addenda to that paragraph:
-Anyone interested in toilets and other sanitation issues should check out Zac Mason’s blog, http://zacstravaganza.blogspot.com/. Zac spent the last two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali but continues to blog about development and anything fecal in nature.
-Bahasa Indonesia literally means “language Indonesia.” English is “Bahasa Inggris.”
-Ibu literally means “mother.” However, Indonesians often use it somewhat like Mrs. or Ms. Generally, one addresses other adults with such an honorific, but using the first name. So, Lily becomes Ibu Lily (or Bu Lily), and Marthen (pronounced Martin, since the t and h don’t combine as they do in English) becomes Pak Marthen. This politeness has the unfortunate consequence that everyone in town greets me by saying, “Hello Mister.” “ Halo pak” or “Selamat pagi pak” sounds normal (selamat pagi=good morning), but “hello mister” just sounds funny. I tend not to mind it though, since its much better than the other two alternatives, bule (boo-lay; gringo, though literally it means albino), and Belanda (the Netherlands). I tend not to respond to those since I find them rather offensive, though I should probably come up with a better response.
The pedagogy classes were also quite successful, as I felt surprisingly prepared to teach. Perhaps I will speak more about these classes when I get into my own teaching experience.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
So apparently I've been rather bad about posting. I will try to post periodically over the next few days so as to catch up.
We (the 44 ETAs) stayed for one week in Jakarta. We had general orientation activities, mostly from representatives from the state department and the embassy.
The highlights:
→The security adviser told us to "shred, shred, shred" everything we received during orientation, for security purposes. The other presenters tried very hard not to laugh when he said this, as they told us later.
→The state department reads my blog: apparently they can track the usage of various words and phrases (i.e., Fulbright, state department, etc.). They want to know what people are saying about them. Since I am likely to use these phrases in many of my posts, the state department will have the joy of reading many of my posts.
→Apparently there is some restriction that Fulbrighters (and other people from the state department) have to stay in hotels of a certain quality or higher. Their cutoff is pretty high. While our hotel in Jakarta (and the one in Bandung) were not the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in, they were more than we needed. To some extent, the restriction makes since. Hillary Clinton should not be seen staying in a wisma (hostel). For us, though, the hotels were more than we needed. The money could have been used better elsewhere. The law that people with the state department have to stay in hotels of a certain quality might make more sense if it were a bit more finely tuned.
→Jakarta is quite dirty. Public trash cans are rare (don’t even think about recycling), so people burn trash, toss it in the street, or toss it in the canals/sewers, only some of which are covered by sidewalks (sidewalks are also rare), which are constructed in such a way that you can see through little holes into the canals/sewers. Bandung and Rantepao are slightly better, as I have not seen open canals. While my school does have trash cans (so the grounds are not covered in waste), I think we burn all of our trash.
→ Indonesians love Karaoke. Karaoke in Indonesia is very different from Karaoke in the states, though. While in Jakarta, some ETAs (not including me) went out for karaoke. It turned out that the karaoke place was actually a brothel. Oops. Apparently this is pretty standard. If you are ever in Indonesia and want to sing, look for Karaoke Keluarga (family karaoke). Also, sing Justin Bieber. Indonesians love Justin Bieber.
→Before coming to Jakarta, I thought D.C. traffic was bad. I was wrong. D.C. has rules and stoplights. Jakarta, not so much. It is not uncommon to see a motorcycle cut completely perpendicular to traffic. Check out this video (if it loads correctly--I may have to try again later) from in front of our hotel. Note that the lanes are not marked (they are in some places, though cars do not stay within these marked lanes, this intersection has no traffic light (though luckily traffic does come in waves from the left and moves in waves on the diagonal because of one, nearby light), and there are people in the middle of the mess directing traffic for tips. From a more practical standpoint for me, there are rarely crosswalks. If you want to cross a street, you just start walking and stare the vehicles down. It was a little scary at first, but it has gotten easier, especially in the smaller cities.
We (the 44 ETAs) stayed for one week in Jakarta. We had general orientation activities, mostly from representatives from the state department and the embassy.
The highlights:
→The security adviser told us to "shred, shred, shred" everything we received during orientation, for security purposes. The other presenters tried very hard not to laugh when he said this, as they told us later.
→The state department reads my blog: apparently they can track the usage of various words and phrases (i.e., Fulbright, state department, etc.). They want to know what people are saying about them. Since I am likely to use these phrases in many of my posts, the state department will have the joy of reading many of my posts.
→Apparently there is some restriction that Fulbrighters (and other people from the state department) have to stay in hotels of a certain quality or higher. Their cutoff is pretty high. While our hotel in Jakarta (and the one in Bandung) were not the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in, they were more than we needed. To some extent, the restriction makes since. Hillary Clinton should not be seen staying in a wisma (hostel). For us, though, the hotels were more than we needed. The money could have been used better elsewhere. The law that people with the state department have to stay in hotels of a certain quality might make more sense if it were a bit more finely tuned.
→Jakarta is quite dirty. Public trash cans are rare (don’t even think about recycling), so people burn trash, toss it in the street, or toss it in the canals/sewers, only some of which are covered by sidewalks (sidewalks are also rare), which are constructed in such a way that you can see through little holes into the canals/sewers. Bandung and Rantepao are slightly better, as I have not seen open canals. While my school does have trash cans (so the grounds are not covered in waste), I think we burn all of our trash.
→ Indonesians love Karaoke. Karaoke in Indonesia is very different from Karaoke in the states, though. While in Jakarta, some ETAs (not including me) went out for karaoke. It turned out that the karaoke place was actually a brothel. Oops. Apparently this is pretty standard. If you are ever in Indonesia and want to sing, look for Karaoke Keluarga (family karaoke). Also, sing Justin Bieber. Indonesians love Justin Bieber.
→Before coming to Jakarta, I thought D.C. traffic was bad. I was wrong. D.C. has rules and stoplights. Jakarta, not so much. It is not uncommon to see a motorcycle cut completely perpendicular to traffic. Check out this video (if it loads correctly--I may have to try again later) from in front of our hotel. Note that the lanes are not marked (they are in some places, though cars do not stay within these marked lanes, this intersection has no traffic light (though luckily traffic does come in waves from the left and moves in waves on the diagonal because of one, nearby light), and there are people in the middle of the mess directing traffic for tips. From a more practical standpoint for me, there are rarely crosswalks. If you want to cross a street, you just start walking and stare the vehicles down. It was a little scary at first, but it has gotten easier, especially in the smaller cities.
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