This is my first ever blog, so I’ve been taking this blog-writing business more seriously than needed, putting off starting it by 5 days already trying to figure out what to call my blog. (I think 5 days, anyway... time has sort of blurred together here since I arrived last week).
Anyway, I’ve been sitting up in my room in my host family’s house this afternoon trying to brainstorm a title, sweating from the humidity and trying to wage an unsuccessful war against the ants in my room. Still no title but in the meantime I might as well start at the beginning.
I had only just got back from spending 15 amazing months living in Tunis, Tunisia and without a job back home, or the desire to find one, I decided that it’s now or never to finally move to Asia. Signing up for a second round of being an intern through AIESEC’s exchange program, I found a project focused on entrepreneurship with the local committee at Brawojaya University here in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. I stumbled into my host family’s house at about 10pm on a Thursday night after boarding the plane in Winnipeg about 50 hours earlier and Vira (an AIESECer here), her mom and little sister met me at the door. They showed me up to my room and gave me a crash course in navigating their bathroom (a porcelain hole in the floor requiring a pretty good set of quads, and a bucket with a sink full of water for showering), after which I crawled into my bed to sleep off the 13 hours time difference.
Adapting to life in Malang was incredibly easy thanks to my super adorable host family and the amazing AIESECers and interns and I’ve had a lot of fun picking out all of the similarities between the way of living here and back in Tunisia. Indonesia is a Muslim country (it’s the 4th most populated country in the world, with the largest population of Muslims) and it took me a couple nights to be able to once again sleep through that first call to prayer in the morning (I swear the call to prayers last 5 times longer here).
My host family lives about 15 minutes from the centre of the city in a really quiet neighbourhood with a great view of the mountains surrounding Malang. Actually, the entire city seems to have a view of the mountains and volcanoes nearby and I’m still in love with how green the city is. Vira, the oldest daughter, is in her first year of university and has been such a life saver for me, organizing my schedule and getting me to and from where I need to go, along with explaining the ins and outs of daily life. She has a younger sister in junior high and a younger brother in grade one. The two girls are my in-house translators, since their parents, brother and servant don’t speak much English. I’ve been putting myself through a crash course in Bahasa Indonesia to try and make life easier and more interesting for all of us.
Since arriving, I’ve had the chance to hike through rice fields, climb to the top of a temple, swim in a natural pool with monkeys observing us from overhead, sample insanely delicious Indonesian dishes, meet a team of super-motivated AIESECers and interns, and get to know the conditions of local small businesses here. I’ve also gotten used to eating rice at least two or three times a day, looking the other way when crossing the street, having spicy food for breakfast, re-learning to suppress my urge to wear a seatbelt, and pretty much accepting the fact that I’m going to look sweaty in almost every photo I take here.
Landing in Jakarta, hot and delirious after a night spent in Hong Kong and almost a full day sitting in one plane or another since leaving Manitoba, and trying to navigate the chaos that is the capital’s airport, I seriously did ask myself why I willingly move to these random places but after finally meeting everyone, seeing the city and getting started on the project, I definitely know why I put myself through so many confusing situations and embarrassing/frustrating misunderstandings. In the end, it’s all part of the fun.
Anyway, I’ve been sitting up in my room in my host family’s house this afternoon trying to brainstorm a title, sweating from the humidity and trying to wage an unsuccessful war against the ants in my room. Still no title but in the meantime I might as well start at the beginning.
I had only just got back from spending 15 amazing months living in Tunis, Tunisia and without a job back home, or the desire to find one, I decided that it’s now or never to finally move to Asia. Signing up for a second round of being an intern through AIESEC’s exchange program, I found a project focused on entrepreneurship with the local committee at Brawojaya University here in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. I stumbled into my host family’s house at about 10pm on a Thursday night after boarding the plane in Winnipeg about 50 hours earlier and Vira (an AIESECer here), her mom and little sister met me at the door. They showed me up to my room and gave me a crash course in navigating their bathroom (a porcelain hole in the floor requiring a pretty good set of quads, and a bucket with a sink full of water for showering), after which I crawled into my bed to sleep off the 13 hours time difference.
Adapting to life in Malang was incredibly easy thanks to my super adorable host family and the amazing AIESECers and interns and I’ve had a lot of fun picking out all of the similarities between the way of living here and back in Tunisia. Indonesia is a Muslim country (it’s the 4th most populated country in the world, with the largest population of Muslims) and it took me a couple nights to be able to once again sleep through that first call to prayer in the morning (I swear the call to prayers last 5 times longer here).
My host family lives about 15 minutes from the centre of the city in a really quiet neighbourhood with a great view of the mountains surrounding Malang. Actually, the entire city seems to have a view of the mountains and volcanoes nearby and I’m still in love with how green the city is. Vira, the oldest daughter, is in her first year of university and has been such a life saver for me, organizing my schedule and getting me to and from where I need to go, along with explaining the ins and outs of daily life. She has a younger sister in junior high and a younger brother in grade one. The two girls are my in-house translators, since their parents, brother and servant don’t speak much English. I’ve been putting myself through a crash course in Bahasa Indonesia to try and make life easier and more interesting for all of us.
Since arriving, I’ve had the chance to hike through rice fields, climb to the top of a temple, swim in a natural pool with monkeys observing us from overhead, sample insanely delicious Indonesian dishes, meet a team of super-motivated AIESECers and interns, and get to know the conditions of local small businesses here. I’ve also gotten used to eating rice at least two or three times a day, looking the other way when crossing the street, having spicy food for breakfast, re-learning to suppress my urge to wear a seatbelt, and pretty much accepting the fact that I’m going to look sweaty in almost every photo I take here.
Landing in Jakarta, hot and delirious after a night spent in Hong Kong and almost a full day sitting in one plane or another since leaving Manitoba, and trying to navigate the chaos that is the capital’s airport, I seriously did ask myself why I willingly move to these random places but after finally meeting everyone, seeing the city and getting started on the project, I definitely know why I put myself through so many confusing situations and embarrassing/frustrating misunderstandings. In the end, it’s all part of the fun.
quite amazing :) thanks for writing!
ReplyDelete@Edvard - Thanks! :) Glad you liked it.
ReplyDelete