Not much around these parts...

Surprised to see me update so soon this time? Even I myself am a little bit surprised :)

Robyn, I have to tell you that your comment made me laugh out loud in the middle of this Internet cafe. What was it exactly that I asked you that time? Was it "How do I turn the washing machine on?" And I don't think we were kids - I'm pretty sure it was when my fam was living on Cantrell...oh my. And yes, you saw me wearing 2 dresses in those pictures (the blue one and the black one). You want to know the sad thing? I had to go to a seamstress and have those two dresses specially made for me because I'm too big to shop in Indonesia...oy! As for your question about Robe. It's looking more and more like he won't be able to come with me in May. He may not be able to get his Visa until the end of the summer at this rate. The estimated timeline is between 2 and 12 months (great estimate, huh?). At this point I'm kind of thinking ours will be on the lengthy end of that. Actually I was in a forum for people applying for Fiance Visas and there was one couple (the girl was from Spain and the guy from the States) who got the girl's Visa in ONE MONTH! I told them congratulations, but secretly I hate them.

Tara - yea, I think Robe is going to be really weirded out by a lot of things, but I think he's ready for something a little more modern. Of course, I'm not entirely sure about that because when we went to Jakarta (the capital & biggest city in Indonesia - Indonesian equivalent of like NYC), he kept looking at everything like it was the 8th wonder of the world. It really was like "farm boy goes to the big city." Quite funny. He's going to be surprised by everything in the US - from the fact that we don't let our food sit out on the kitchen table all day to our weekend being two days instead of one. As for your car, I'm sorry I called it trashy. It's just that purple reminds me of like a white trash kind of car. But I'm sure if you like it, it must be the furthest thing from white trash. Just promise me you're not going to grow a mullet to drive it ;-) just kidding! I can't wait to see your hot new little race car :)

As for me, not really much to report from this side of the world. I've been battling some weird illness recently. I think I've just gotten so tired from all my sudden activities (after a month of complete freedom and relaxation), and the fact that this weather has been doing some crazy things. This is the worst weather - freezing (okay not really freezing, this is a tropical country after all) cold in the morning, burning hot in the early afternoon, ferocious rains in the late afternoon (but while it's still hot!) and then it's freezing cold in the evening/night with CRAZY winds. And the humidity jumps from 20% to 99% throughout the day, too. And that has been every day for the past two weeks, pretty much...

So this crazy illness is what the Indonesians call "masuk angin." Literally, it means "entrance of the wind" or "the wind enters" or something like that. Indonesians really truly believe that wind can get into your body through your belly button. And when the weather is really bad, or you're really tired, apparently you get this. They've even got special medicine for this. It's called "jamu" and it's traditional. I can tell you from firsthand experience that jamu tastes like minty poop. Don't ask me how I came to that conclusion. Probably the same way I came to call the icing on store-bought cakes "lipstick" icing. Anyway, up to now, I have not actually believed in this illness. I mean, how the heck can wind get into your body? Then about a week ago, I couldn't sleep because I felt really weird. Nothing actually hurt, though. My body felt tired, I was a little bit dizzy, and my stomach felt all rumbly and bumbly (in the same place where you get heartburn, so you can imagine how weird that felt). All at the same time I felt like I was going to faint, throw up or go number 2. This is probably too much information for you, but this is just such a strange story I had to tell it.

Anyway, so I felt so incredibly weird and uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep. I went out to the kitchen at about 10pm and Robe's sister was still awake, so we sat at the table and chatted for a while. She kept trying to tell me that I had "masuk angin" and I kept telling her that I didn't believe in that. (Imagine how strange it was for Vivi to hear this -- it would be like telling an American that you didn't believe in the common cold) Then Robe's other sister Lia came home with her fiancé Budi. Budi went to college in Canada, so he was trying to explain to Lia & Vivi why Americans wouldn't believe in masuk angin.

He convinced me to try to take some medicine to prevent it, but of course I was too stubborn to take the liquid medicine you're supposed to take. It smelled too much like wet dog and I was not about to ingest that. He said it also came in tablet form, but they didn't have any at their house. So Robe's sister Adi volunteered to run out (it was almost midnight at this point) and try to find a pharmacy. More than an hour later he came back, victorious. I had been suffering from these symptoms practically all day (taking Pepto Bismol to try and feel better), and after I took those tablets (which tasted like minty poop) I felt completely better in about 7 minutes. Unbelievable.

Anyway. All this to say that I now believe in masuk angin. I still don't think wind can actually get into your body, but I believe that this illness does exist in Indonesia. It's so weird, though. I've never heard of anything like this in the States. Maybe you guys could help me think of an equivalent. I think it has something to do with the weird weather here, though.

So next time someone tells you that you've got wind in your body, don't be so quick to reject the idea! :)

Valentine's Day gone wrong...

Hey everyone! So yes, I do realize that V-Day was like more than a week ago, but I still have to tell you about how frustrating my day was...

Actually Robe proved to be quite the romantic. I told him I would make him dinner, and so while I was preparing our meal he decorated part of his house for us. It was so cute and romantic – he put up black fabric to make it seem more private and set up a little table with candles and everything. It was all very cute. He tried to find flowers for me, but unfortunately florists don’t exist here. So he searched all over Malang to find me these really ugly plastic flowers. But of course I love them. It was so sweet!

So for dinner I planned on making chicken tetrazzini, one of my favorite dinners. Let’s just say that turned into quite an ideal because Indonesians just don’t have anything good to cook with…

First of all, the knives in their house are quite dull, so I had to practically pull the chicken apart with my hands. They don’t have small pots, so I had to use this really huge could-serve-an-army kind of pot that I was barely tall enough to see inside of. No skillets here either, so I had a choice between incredibly tiny or obnoxiously huge woks that are too heavy to pick up. I won’t even mention that they do measurements by weight (grams), not volume (cups) like we do. You can imagine me trying to measure things like “1 cup of milk” and “1 ½ teaspoons of black pepper.” If you know me at all you know how (not) often I cook, so I couldn’t really “eye” 1 ½ teaspoons of black pepper. I’m pretty sure I put in like 2 tablespoons, because the sauce was very “lada hitam” (black pepper) heavy.

Before I forget, they use these little gas stoves circa 1800 that poop out on you in the middle of cooking your chicken without you noticing. Thus, it took me about 2 hours to cook the chicken. Okay so let’s also not forget that nothing is in one place here (i.e. the kitchen). There is no water supply in the "kitchen," so I had to keep going back and forth between the bathroom and kitchen just for water. And they don’t keep any dishes or silverware in the kitchen, because that would make way too much sense. They keep them behind the pantry, where they have a very strange dish washing station which is very wet (all over, even on the floor!) and very disgusting. So if I was in the middle of cooking, oh I don’t know, sauce, for example. And I needed another fork, just for example. Forget it. I would have to stop everything I was doing, turn off the stove, and run to the washing station, grab a fork and run back to the kitchen, starting everything all over again.

That leads me to the sticking point. So after laboring intensively and uncomfortably (most Indonesian women are quite short, so their countertops are strangely low. I had to bend over awkwardly for about three hours while cooking), I asked Robe to get the oven out for me. He had told me before that they had an oven, but they put it away when they weren’t using it (so I’m thinking, a portable oven?). I was not prepared for what he did next. First he went outside, grabbed 2 bricks (and I do mean bricks, the kind you build houses with), and handed them to me. Yea, like I knew what I was supposed to do with those... He took them back, placed them on either side of the gas stove, then disappeared again. About a minute later he came back, awkwardly carrying this metal toolbox with holes in the side. Turns out, that metal toolbox was the oven. Oh my God. I swear you have never seen anything like this. He put the toolbox oven on top of the bricks, turned the gas stove on, and turned to look at me with this huge smile on his face. I just kind of stared blankly at him, all the while thinking “What the heck am I supposed to do with that?”

Anyway. After “preheating” the oven (did I mention there were no knobs or buttons or anything on this oven? You have no option about the temperature and you just kind of have to guess when the oven is hot enough), I pried open the oven door, literally using all the strength I had (with oven mitts on, of course, because the entire metal contraption was piping hot). I threw in the chicken tetrazzini and waited – for about an hour. Even after an hour, the dish was just hot, not even all good and melty, the way Mom makes it. Oh, well…

Did I mention that I didn’t start cooking until after 6pm? The housekeeper had told me she would finish cooking around 4pm so that I could use the kitchen. Yea, that didn’t happen… So poor Robe, who had worked hard all day, didn’t even get to eat dinner until after 9pm. I felt so awful. My “experiment” as I like to call it these days, didn’t even turn out all that great. I also made a salad, but that turned out to be a disaster because I bought way too many veggies (thinking Robe’s family could enjoy it, too). Clearly I was wrong and practically the entire salad went to waste because Indonesians don’t know how to eat anything that’s not fried. I told them they could eat vegetables raw, and they looked at me like I had three heads.

Oh, well. It doesn’t matter because after all the stress of cooking in Indonesia (which, by the way, I’m never doing ever again), Robe and I did actually get to enjoy our meal (which was not too terrible…).

That’s all I have for you today, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sorry, Tara, for not updating sooner! It’s been a little hectic around here lately… But thank you for all of the updates!! How is the new car? I can’t wait to see it!!! But purple…sounds a little trashy and weird to me…but if you like it then it’s definitely fine J

And it's been a long time....

I do SOOO apologize for not having written in forever. However, in my defense I will say that I have had an absolutely insane last few weeks.

Thank you so much for all of the comments!! Robe says hello and thank you for all the congratulations. We are so excited to get back to the States. I miss it so much and Robe is really looking forward to this next chapter of his life (Aunt Heather's words, not his! ;-).

I wanted to say thank you to Dad & Tammy for the candy, Grandma Marsha & Grandpa Vic for the card and wishes, Aunt Becki for the awesome photo album (which made me really regret not being able to spend Christmas with you all...) and Aunt Heather for the engagement gift. Thank you guys so much! I feel like I was connected to you for just a little bit!

As most of you already know, my Mom and Grandma visited me here in Malang a little over 2 weeks ago. We all had an absolute blast! Robe and I flew to Jakarta to pick them up as they arrived in the country. The two of us had some fun touring the city for a couple of days before Mom & Grandma got here. That was pretty cool - one of Robe's dad's "employees" works up in Jakarta, and we met up with him. He gave us the royal treatment - finding us a really nice hotel and taking us around the city. We had such a great time!

So I was so shocked to see people I actually know get off the plane in Jakarta (Mom & Nay Nay, I mean). It was kind of weird to have members of my family actually in Indonesia, but I got over that pretty quickly. We picked them up around 9pm at the airport and we ended up staying up really late (like 2am) that night, just catching up and everything. Actually Robe's parents were on a trip in Cambodia and surprise! They came home two days early and met us at the hotel in Jakarta. The next day we flew to Malang and our little adventure was underway!

We did so much in a short 3 days -- we visited a neighboring city (called "Batu," which means 'stone' in Indonesian) where there is an absolutely beautiful waterfall called "Coban Rondo." We traveled around Malang a bit -- saw my university, Matos (the infamous local mall that I spend way too much time at), ate LOTS of (what I thought was) good food. I think Mom liked the food, but I'm not so sure about Grandma. They also got to meet a lot of people - all of Robe's family (and they were quite smitten with Robe's sister's fiancé Budi), my host family and some of my friends. We also had a rather amusing night at karaoke. Grandma, I have quite a hilarious video of you and Jonathan singing an Indonesian children's song. And Mom, I've got a video of me and you singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" which should never be shown without our supervision...

We all (Mom, Grandma, me and Lily) stayed at Robe's house for their visit, which was nice because we didn't have to worry about going back and forth to the hotel. The only thing that was maybe not so great was that meant that there was a lot of translating going on. I mean, I fully expected it but for some reason it stressed me out a lot. Whenever Robe's parents wanted to say something to Mom or Grandma, they would incessantly call my name regardless of whether or not I was already engaged in some other conversation. All in all, though, Mom & Grandma had a great time I think. Robe's parents are excellent hosts and everything was pretty much taken care of (and paid for) by Robe's dad. I'm pretty certain that Grandma wanted to take Jonathan (Robe's 14-yr-old brother) home with her.

Come to think of it, both Mom & Grandma were quite a hit. Everyone kept talking about how awesome my Grandma was (she taught Robe's sister how to knit and now Lia is absolutely unstoppable! she played silly card games with us and sang her heart out at karaoke). Then everyone kept saying how they thought Mom was actually my older sister and how pretty she was. I heard the phrase "hot mom" on more than two occasions...

It was really sad when they flew out, but it didn't make me more homesick (thank goodness!). I'm really ready to come home, but I've only got a little bit longer here, and I'm not that impatient.

So after that, Lily and I had some time before classes started up again at school. And actually today was my first day of real class. Yesterday Lily and I found out that they were allowing us to go into the regular classes with local students, which was exciting and yet terrifying at the same time. We were each allowed to choose our own classes, so I chose: Drama Appreciation, Phonology of Bahasa Indonesia, Semantics of Bahasa Indonesia, Sociology of Letters (not letters A, B, C, but Letters as in study of language), and Advanced Reading. So far I've been to one class of Phonology and one class of Semantics, and it's okay. Phonology wasn't so difficult and for Semantics I have a really funny professor who likes to show off his English skills (or lack thereof). The only thing is that each class is 1 hour 40 minutes, and at AU each class was only 1 hour 15 minutes, so I've got to get used to long class times. It's alright, though. I'm looking forward to really improving my spoken Indonesian. I was a scheduling genius, though, and now I only have to come to campus 3 days a week!!

In other news, I did decide to move in with Robe and actually I moved everything out of my old house this past weekend. It's okay living there, I guess. I mean, these days I stay out of the house A LOT on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I leave around 7am and don't come home until 6 or 7pm. The real test will be the end of this week, because I'll be stuck in the house all day with Robe's mom and their housekeeper. Their house is actually outside of the city of Malang, so it's too far to take public transportation. I'd have to switch mini-buses like 3 times just to get to the mall...Meh, I won't have much free time anyway because I'll be doing a lot of homework it seems!

Okay that's about it. Now I'm sitting here at the painfully slow internet cafe (but at least now I have my own laptop so I can use the wireless, which is a tiny bit faster...) waiting for Robe to pick me up and take me home. So I guess I will talk to you all later!! Miss you all and love you :) :) :)