So it must just be because we are all getting fed up with all the nonsense in this country, but last night me, Lily, Hindy and Justyna (the Polish girl who lives with us) all of a sudden started letting out all of our frustrations with everything here.
It seems we are all sick and tired of being overcharged everywhere we go (I mean, we are students here and just because we have lighter skin than the Javanese doesn't mean we are made of money!). We are all so over getting yelled at on the street by uneducated men with funky teeth and dirty little kids. In fact, last night we were walking to get some dinner and some greasy guys squatting on the side of the road doing nothing (because a quarter of this country is unemployed) started yelling at us. We got a few "Hei Mister (because they don't know the difference between Mister and Miss), jalan-jalan?" This is quite an innocent statement if you translate it: Hey sir, going for a walk? However it was the way they kept saying it that just pissed Lily off greatly. She actually turned around and yelled "Shut up!" at them (in English). Then I yelled "kurang ajar!" (which is the equivalent of "what's your problem?") and they were absolutely silent.
The other night, we went to get bread at this really cute bakery around the corner we frequent. I just grabbed a loaf of bread that cost Rp.5000 ($0.50) and when I went to pay, the price suddenly jumped to Rp.5500. Knowing sales tax doesn't exist in Indonesia, I asked the woman why the price was different than the price that was marked on the bread. She told me that it was the old price and that they hadn't changed it yet. Well, I was angry so I decided to argue. I told her if the price was old then that must mean the bread was old, which is clearly against your policy that says everything is made fresh that same day. Then I demanded to get my Rp.500 back because she was cheating me, and I told her I would tell all my friends who often come to the bakery. Okay, so I may have gone a little overboard, but as it turns out, I've been asking my friends to pay attention and everyone gets overcharged there. Let me rephrase: all FOREIGN people get overcharged. They don't dare overcharge Javanese people...argh!!!
And we've also had enough of the Javanese boy who lives with us, who doesn't do his chores on time and is constantly late on the rent. By other countries' standards, the Javanese are lazy, excuse-making, inconsiderate, rude, cheating people and frankly I'm glad I don't have that many Javanese friends.
Quick little note: When I say Javanese, I mean the native Indonesians. There are two main ethnic groups in Java: Javanese and Chinese Indonesians (those whose ancestors came from China but most of them can't even speak two words of Mandarin). The Chinese tend to be the upper-class, more well educated people and the Javanese are more like lower-class, uneducated people. This has a lot to do with history, as the Chinese originally came in as merchants and when the Dutch took over the country they entrusted the Chinese as their business partners while they imprisoned the Javanese. Okay, but the point being that there is a big difference that can be felt still today.
I have made friends mostly with Chinese Indonesians, and I think there is a reason for this. Religion plays a role, I'm sure, as most Javanese are Muslims and most Chinese are Christian or Buddhist. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this entry, but I think I just needed to vent.
Okay other than that everything is going really well! I found out the other day that two of my students (twin girls) live right across the street from me, and so I went and had dinner with them last night. It was really fun, and they invited me back whenever I want.
Alrighty. Later guys!!
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