What People Don't Realize

I have heard countless people say that the United States and Southeast Asia are pretty much opposites. To be completely honest, I have no idea if this is true or not. As weird as it probably sounds, I had never been out of the country until I hopped on that plane to Japan last month. (Does that make me extra crazy for wanting to go on exchange??) Because of that, I really have nothing with which I can compare the United States to other than Indonesia. I mean, if we're getting technical here, I was in Japan too, but I was just in the airport for like 2 hours.

Anyway, the point of this post isn't actually my lack of experience in international travel. However, it is quite interesting that my first time abroad happens to include being over 10,000 miles away from my home in the US for almost 11 months, right? Okay so now that that's established, I'll start the actual post...

One of the questions I have been asked the most is this: What are the differences between the United States and Indonesia? I get this question from people in Indonesia and from people in the US. It seems simple enough, but sometimes I honestly don't know how to answer it. When I think about it, there are two ways to answer the question. The first way is the simpler of the two and the way that I usually choose. It typically involves me saying something about motorcycles, school, food, and the weather. However, there is a second way to answer the question. It's an answer that most people probably would not expect and almost certainly would not be satisfied to hear. You see, the truth is that Indonesia really is not as different as most people seem to think. The streets may look different and often lack sidewalks. There really are far too many motorcycles to count. The languages that roll off of people's tongues sometimes do still sound foreign. Despite all of that though, there is an almost indescribable sense that so many things are the same. (I literally sat at my desk for 15 minutes trying to come up with a better way to explain that). What many people seem to fail to realize is that people are people. I am not joking when I say that sometimes I wake up and completely forget that I'm not in the US. (That could also be because of the fact that I'm so tired...) It's actually really funny because my classmates remind me so much of some of my American friends, and my host family is like my family in so many ways. I guess what I'm trying to say is something that we have all heard before. We're not so different after all.

After what seems like the longest paragraph ever, I guess I should also give a mini update. This is going to be super short because I didn't do very much this week. I ended up getting sick and staying in bed for what felt like forever (it was only like 2 days though). I probably should have stayed home for three days, but I tried to be super Tori and went to school on Wednesday. (Note to future self: remember the 6th grade pneumonia incident? That never works out well...). I'm also (finally) going to church today, so that should be interesting!

Until next time!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Batuk - Cough

Ben Howard - The Fear

I think this will always be one of my favorite songs. Please give it a listen!

P.S. I know that my past few posts have been lacking pictures. I think I'll make up for it by making a post with a lot of pictures soon! 

ONE MONTH (and a vlog!)

That's right. I've been in Indonesia for a month. I can't believe it! Time seems to be flying by. I'm going to bed, so I'm not going to make this very long. I just want to say that I finally made another vlog! This one is kinda like a Skype call haha I'll have a more structured one next time!

Attractive thumbnail, right? (YouTube has something against me...)

Sorry for the bad quality. I also don't know why I left that cough in the video...

Terima kasih!

The One About Language

I actually wrote this post a few days ago...I'm sorry that I didn't post it sooner! 

I'm sorry that I didn't post last week, but I kinda intentionally held off on releasing this post. As you can tell from the title, this one is about language. It has been a little hard to learn the language because my host family wants me to help them improve their English, and my English teachers seem to always want me to do a lot of speaking in English. However, I asked one of my friends at school to make sure I speak as much Indonesian as possible while I'm at school, so hopefully that will make others speak to me in Indonesian instead of trying to practice their English. In addition, I have been trying to translate things, and the one thing that really seems to help is translating the Bible. I don't know if it's the fact that I am already familiar with it or what, but (I think) it's really helping me learn vocab and grammar. Translating news articles is proving to be interesting as well. I'm hoping to get a book or two in Indonesian!

Despite what some people may think, learning a language (or languages in my case) through immersion is not quite a walk in the park. I definitely agree that it is the best way to learn a language though. The idea of not being able to fully communicate with those around me is forcing me to try to soak up as much Indonesian as I possibly can. Right now, I am at the point where I can understand more than I can speak. Even still, I can only understand parts of what is being said. An example from school is when one of the teachers will say something in class. Sometimes I understand nothing, and sometimes I can understand everything. It's usually somewhere between the two though.

In addition, apparently I don't look too foreign because quite a few people have met have tried to speak to me in Indonesian or Sundanese.  Also, this is a bit random, but telling people I'm from America is interesting. Just as one of  my friends and I predicted, a lot of people don't think I'm  from the United States. It's actually pretty funny because I've had people think I'm from Latin America, Africa, and even Papua New Guinea. I guess that's part of the whole "teaching people about my country" thing though. Contrary to what seems to be a somewhat popular belief here, the United States is a very diverse country.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Ada - There is/there are

Sundanese Word of the Day: Nuhun - Thank You

Pachelbel's Canon

This is my absolute favorite song! 

First Impressions Can Be Tough

Just so you're not confused, I wrote this post yesterday. Also, I'm sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll post some later! 

As I write this, I am sitting at school on my fourth day. My class is currently taking a math exam, and I may or may not be wearing the wrong uniform...oops! That's just one example of what I have come to call bule fails. Just in case you're wondering, this is not the first bule fail regarding sekolah dan seragam (school and uniform). Hari rabu (aka my second day of school) we are supposed to wear a kebaya instead of our regular uniform shirt, and my class also happens to have sport (gym class), which means another uniform. When I came to school on Wednesday, I did not have either one, but it was fine because the teachers knew that I was (am..) new. The same goes for today. I should be wearing my school batik, which is mostly blue, but I am wearing the only type of uniform shirt that I have...the regular white one. As annoying as these small mistakes can be, I am fine with them because they are easy to fix. However, the language thing is another story...I know I said that I would make this post about language, but I have decided to do that next week instead.

Okay so getting back to what the post is supposed to be about.. As the title suggests, I am going to write about some of my first impressions of different places, so probably Indonesia as a whole (aka when I first landed in Jakarta), Bandung, and school.

Arrival: When we finally landed in Jakarta and went through customs, I got my first taste of Indonesia. It was somewhere around midnight, and I was extremely tired from traveling for so long. However, I wanted to take everything in. When we met up with the AFS (I guess technically Bina Antarbudaya) volunteers, we went outside, and I immediately felt the Jakarta heat. As we waited to pile into a few different cars, an adorable kitten appeared on my right. There were a few people nearby, and they were speaking rapidly in Indonesian. I didn't understand a word, but I'm sure that I could at least get a general idea of what was being said by now!) From what I saw, Indonesia was a pretty awesome place, and now I can definitely say that I was right!

Bandung: Now that I think about it, I honestly don't remember too much of what I thought when I first arrived in Bandung. I do remember being slightly confused though. Orientation was one thing because most of it was in English, and arriving in my host city was a whole other thing. The first time that I actually stepped food on Bandung's soil was when I was switching cars to go home with my host family's driver. I remember looking over at the road nearby and thinking how busy it was. I used to always hear about Jakarta's traffic, but Bandung has a lot of traffic too! As I neared my new home, I also remember thinking how narrow the roads were. I still think the same thing now!

School: When I entered my host school for the first time, I definitely remember thinking how different it looked from my high school in the US. Walking to my class was also very different from what I am used to. Students excitedly ran up to me and wanted to try out their English with an American. Even though I expected it, it was still a little overwhelming. Arriving in my class was no different. The students were SO loud and excited when they found out that someone from the US would be joining them for the next year. I remember thinking that they were all really nice, and that still holds true. So far, the girl I share a desk with is the one I have talked to the most, but I'm definitely up for making lots of new friends in the coming weeks and months. By the way, I came in the middle of the school day, and my class was doing chemistry. The teacher expected me to do work right away, and I'm actually glad she did. Even though I couldn't really understand what was being said, I was glad that I could actually do the work! By the end of my few hours there, it was way too hot for a skirt that reaches the ankles and a long sleeved shirt, but I survived! As I hoped, I enjoyed my first day and first week of school. I still find it really funny that people from other classes (aka people I don't know) will scream my name in the halls and ask for pictures though.

Fun fact: I've officially been in Indonesia for two weeks! How crazy is that?!

Thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Sarapan - Breakfast

Tulus - Jangan Cintai Aku Apa Adanya

I hear this song ALL the time on the radio, and I really like it!

I was actually listening to it as I wrote this post :)