I'm a celebrity!!!

Yea, and I'm not kidding at all...

I'm pretty sure I forgot to write about my newspaper appearance last week. Remember that Malang Post reporter who came to talk to me at the school last week? Well, our picture and a nice little write up made it to Page 3 of the city newspaper! How cool is that?! I'm in an Indonesian newspaper!

Later in the day on the 4th, my host sister got a text message asking if I could be a guest speaker on a radio show. Random and cryptic, yes. But cool nonetheless. We decided it would be best if we brought three bules (boo-lay = white foreigner, we get called that all the time!) instead of one, so you should have seen it. We were all sitting here in this Internet cafe, and Amelia was texting people and calling people left and right to try and organize everything. She has jokingly started calling herself "bule manager" because of our celebrity in this town. So the next thing we know, we were at this radio station being interviewed about American Independence Day (i.e. what do we do to celebrate, who we gained independence from, etc. etc.). It was a lot of fun, actually.

Then the following evening (last night, Thursday) I went to church and did ANOTHER radio show. This one was at the church, so it was all geared toward the Gospel and whatnot. It was a lot of fun, though - we talked about what it meant to be a Superman or Superwoman, and if that was a good thing or a bad thing. We pretty much came to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a Superman or Superwoman here on Earth; that in fact it's a matter of a Superteam. No one does good work alone, because our strength comes from the Lord. And also it's important and necessary that we recognize that we, as humans, are sinful beings and the only way to become part of a "Superteam" is to admit to our sins and let Jesus into our hearts. I do apologize for getting all Jesus-y on you there, but I thought it was a cool topic. Of course the discussion was all in English, and there were callers who asked questions during the broadcast - all in English! The church offers the weekly show as an opportunity to have fellowship while working on linguistic skills. It's a pretty cool deal and I met some really cool people, so I'll probably go back next week.

Bad news on my Visa. I called Jakarta yesterday, and they told me that they cannot do anything with the Visa I currently have. In other words, I have to leave the country and have a new Visa processed wherever I choose to go. They suggested Singapore, which wouldn't be so bad because it would be inexpensive to get to, and my host brother might go with me...I guess we will see what happens!!

Thanks for all of the comments! Grandma Nay Nay, I'm sorry your post didn't show up. That is so strange...maybe next time. I hope you are having fun on your cruise!!!

Amy, thank you for making fun of me for my crush on the short, gay dancing man. I really do realize the hilarity of it all :) I'm so excited for you learning how to dance! You'll have to teach me one day, because I actually do look like Elaine from Seinfeld. I don't have much time left, but tell Christie that I said CONGRATULATIONS! I am SO HAPPY for her. She deserves this, and I think she really needs it, too. I hope you get to go with her. That would be AMAZING!!

Okay, so the post above this should have been published on July 6th, but as soon as I went to publish it, the power in this internet cafe went out. Luckily Blogger saves the drafts automatically. Phew!

Okay, so now for this weekend's antics...

This past weekend, we went to Mount Bromo, the active volcano near Malang. The entire trip was a disaster right from the start. First of all, nothing was organized. We had a really nice surprise party for Amelia (my host sister) right before we were supposed to leave, but the party and the festivities were completely ruined by the mess of a trip this was. So nothing was organized. Usually if we do a big group trip (volunteers + host families + friends), Amelia and I organize it. However, this time it was organized by another host family, and it was really rough. No one knew where we were leaving from, no one knew what time we were leaving, no one knew anything really. Not even the family organizing the trip could give us a straight answer.

So we ended up leaving 2 hours late, and almost missed the sunrise at the volcano because of it. Luckily there was no traffic or construction that late, so we got there right on time. So after seeing the sunrise (which was beautiful, but completely ruined because of all of this mess), we hopped back in our 3 cars and headed down to actually climb the volcano. Well, the kid driving our car (David, Ria's boyfriend, was our driver. Ria is one of the host sisters - they are two important characters in this saga) got lost because he decided he did not want to follow everyone else. No, no. We took the "faster" way and got lost for two hours, finally ending up not by the volcano, but at the road leading back to Malang. So without consulting us, David just kept driving home and didn't turn back around to go back to the volcano. I mean, it's probably the decision I would have made had I been in his shoes, but he didn't even ask us or tell us. So the other 2 cars got to see the volcano and climb it. We did not. It was fine with me because I had seen it twice, but I felt bad for Ainsley, because she made the trip and didn't get to climb the volcano. She was so looking forward to it. Blah.

So the next part of the story is the most bothersome. The main person organizing the trip, Ria (remember from before?), told Amelia (my host sister) that everyone needed to pay 100,000 rupiahs. That's roughly $12. Now usually this wouldn't sound like a lot of money to pay for food and gas for the trip, but in Indonesia Rp100,000 is spent like $50. So yes, it was a lot of money! But we didn't really think twice about it until after the trip was over. There were 21 of us who went, and if each of us had paid Rp100,000 it would have added up to 2,100,000 rupiahs. That's like $250, which is unheard of in Indonesia.

So I talked to Amelia and Ainsley about it, and we figured out that Ria had made only the bule (the white people) pay. I was LIVID. What gives her the right to make the volunteers pay for everyone? I think not. Oh, I was so incredibly mad. And I only got more upset because Ria's mother (Bu Tina) called Amelia the next day and told her that Rp100,000 isn't a big deal for us, so it's okay that they made us pay that much. Oh. My. God. That's simply taking advantage of us, and that is not okay with me. I mean, it's a delicate situation for many reasons. Firstly, I understand that they give so much to us as host families, and every once in a while we don't mind picking up the dinner tab or something. That's fine. But sneaking around our backs like that? So not cool. Secondly, Ria's family has close ties to my host family - they go to the same church and have the same group of friends and frequent the same places. And this whole situation has made my host family look differently at theirs, which kind of causes problems for them. It's really just one big mess...

Amelia said that this is the last year Ria's family gets a volunteer. I feel bad, but at the same time I am so incredibly upset with them that I can hardly contain myself. I mean - they made money off of us! Blah. I went and talked to the English teacher at church (Bu Francine) about the situation because I needed someone to talk to, and she helped calm me down and realize that I need to let my host family deal with it because they know Indonesian culture and I don't want to cause any more problems for them. That just wouldn't be fair. So I will just pray for Ria's family and hope that they come around.

Okay so on a happier note, yesterday Ainsley and I hung out with Prido and his dad and the whole gamelan/dancing crew. It was SO COOL last night, though, because they actually sat us in their gamelan and taught us how to play! We played for like 2 hours straight with them, and they asked us to be in their performance later this month! Klenteng (the Buddhist temple where they practice) is celebrating its anniversary (I don't know how many years) on July 21st, and it's going to be a huge party. The entire city is invited, and they are serving a free dinner for anyone who shows up. There's going to be Chinese dancing, Javanese gamelan, traditional dancing from all over Indonesia, and all kinds of other things. Oh my goodness...so funny. There was a guy from Quebec who randomly showed up at the practice, so we chatted it up en francais a little bit. It was great fun.

Also - yesterday and today and all this week I am teaching at SMP Kosayu, a private Catholic Junior High School here. Dan, one of the volunteers, was supposed to be teaching there, but there was a huge misunderstanding on many ends which led Dan's parents to book him a flight 3 weeks early without realizing it. So he is gone - he's now in China with his Dad, and I am not pleased. It has really caused a lot of problems for LE, but luckily I'm here without a teaching position, so I am taking over this week. Then next week Ainsley will take over because she will be finished teaching at her current school. Blah - so many problems.

So needless to say I am absolutely exhausted. For the past 3 nights I have not gotten much sleep at all, and I am seriously fading fast. I'm pretty sure I'll be going to bed tonight at like 7pm, no joke. I'm going to pass out as soon as I get home, but right after teaching today I went to some Indo friends' house and we are now in Matos (Malang Town Square - the big shopping mall everyone goes to here), waiting to go watch Transformers in an hour. I may fall asleep in the movie...

I was going to write something else, but I can't remember it. I'm a little bit fried right now. But of course I am still having a blast!! I just need my bed...haha.

Okay well I love you all and I miss you like whoa!!!! I'll catch you on the flip side.