Frustrating things about Indonesia...

Hola everyone! So the closer I get to my departure date, the more frustrating things seem to get here.

Actually, that's not entirely sure. I feel like these days I'm having so much more fun with my friends. We're doing so much more these days now that we are all used to our school schedules and work loads. But the second I'm by myself or with Indonesians (i.e. not with my friends - they're almost all foreign!), everything just frustrates me to no end!

Let's look at an example, shall we? So at MaChung (the new Chinese/International university that opened up in Malang this year) there are about 50 founders. Basically, these old, nasty, rich Chinese-Indonesian men got together and decided that they wanted to make a really modern, exclusive university for their own kind (i.e. Chinese Indonesians) to study. Great. So the main founder guy, Mr. Naga, is really nice. He's a bit intimidating, but he's a very nice gentleman once you get to know him. His wife, Mrs. Naga, is a different story altogether! She is one of the snobbiest, nastiest women I have met here. I guess it comes with the territory of being super wealthy. Anyway.

I first noticed her ridiculousness the first day I met her, which was back in October. She decided that she wanted to attend my English class at MaChung. So, after the MaChung driver picks me up, we swing by her house to pick her up. Now I say "swing by" but it usually turns into a 15-minute or so stop, because she's never ready on time and she demands that we wait for her, whether or not waiting will make me (the teacher) late to the class! She won't even walk out to the car. She demands that the car pull into her gate, which means that her poor housekeeper has to walk all the way out to the gate, open it up, close it up after the car pulls in, then repeat that stupid routine 15 minutes later. If it's raining, her housekeeper is not allowed to run out with an umbrella when she opens the gate. Instead, Mrs. Naga (which, coincidentally means "Dragon" in Indonesian. I like to call her the Dragon lady...) makes the car pull in as close as possible to the house. Then she makes her housekeeper hold the umbrella for her while she walks the 2 feet to the car door. Her housekeeper then opens the door for her and lets her in the car, then gives Mrs. Naga the umbrella (which she keeps with her, even though she refuses to hold it for herself), runs out to the gate, opens it, closes it up after the car leaves and bolts back into the house - no doubt by this time drenched from head to toe from these ridiculous shenanigans. Shenanigans, I tell you!

Then the other day she was in my class, which ends at 6:00 pm. She waited until 5:50pm, realized she needed to go home right away for some random reason and just left, completely forgetting about me. She had the MaChung driver drive her home immediately, so because she couldn't wait 10 minutes for me, I had to wait around after the campus was actually closed for the driver to return. Exhausted and cold, I finally arrived home at around 8:00pm. Ridiculous!

Oh this woman is terrible! She talks down to everyone and I dread the 20 minutes we have to spend in the car together six times a week (to-and-from campus twice a day, 3 days a week...).

So anyway. Many women here are like that, and it absolutely drives me crazy how they abuse people who work for them. Mrs. Naga's poor housekeeper is a 15-year-old girl who only graduated from elementary school and has been working/living at that house for several years now...oh my. Poor thing.

So what else has me frustrated? Oh, so many things to choose from. Adults in Indonesia often act like children. I swear. At MaChung, I teach teachers/staff members of the university and also the students in the English Department, and I have to say that the students are so much better behaved than the teachers! The other day, one of the teachers made a presentation in the class on Prostitution. As soon as he started talking & giving statistics, three male teachers in the back (ages 28-35) started GIGGLING and making horrible noises & jokes. I was so astounded, I actually stopped class and had to kick them out. How embarrassing is it for a 36-year-old to get kicked out of class for misbehaving?! Seriously, so many Indonesians are immature like that, it just drives me crazy.

Of course then there are always the middle-aged men yelling obscenities at young women (white, Chinese, Javanese) walking by. If I am walking along and I see a group of men sitting by the sidewalk, I will cross the street and avoid walking in front of them. Sometimes it's unavoidable, though, and then I just have to grit my teeth and bear it. Sometimes they call innocent things out at you, like "Hey misterrrr!" (they don't know the difference between mister and miss...), but then other times it's more serious things like "Hey, bule! F*** you!" I hate it so much...

Also, the public transportation drivers here make money based on how many passengers they can pick up, so it's a real race to grab the passengers. Because of this, they honk incessantly while calling out at anyone walking/standing on the sidewalk/street. I generally choose to ignore this, but when I'm standing waiting to be picked up or something, it gets really old to have these stupid mini-buses drive by you at a snail's pace, honking crazily as they pass, then once they reach you have the driver stick his stupid-looking head out the window and call out something. One time I didn't look up from my book at a particularly insistent driver, and I could hear him call me a "white monkey" and some other choice words. What did I do? I looked around quickly, and noticing that no one was around, I picked up a rock and chucked it at his bus. By the time the rock hit the window, I was already back to reading my book as if nothing had happened. It was really funny to watch how angry he got out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't help but feel a little satisfied.

Another time (and this was a while ago), while walking in front of some nasty, greasy men on the sidewalk, they let me know what they thought of me (and let's just say that it was quite clear they did not want me there). What did I do? I stopped dead, turned to them and walked a few steps towards them. As soon as I did that, I could see the expressions on their faces turn from laughing to terrified instantly. They had no idea what I was going to do. It was hilarious. Then, shocking them that I could understand their language, I told them politely that it was not polite to yell at people, especially foreigners. I proceeded to politely tell them that tourism was the reason they had clothes on their backs and they better just leave me alone. They seemed to agree with me, apologized, and then I continued walking. It was such a great feeling! I had finally defended myself, and I was very proud of myself...too bad I don't have that kind of courage every time I get yelled at. Oh, well...

So anyway. I guess I should get going now. Oh, before I do, I better answer your comments. Thank you all so much for them! I love reading from my loved ones :) The couple that was going to help us ended up being very little help. The Indonesian guy actually immigrated through a process that would be considered Visa Fraud these days, so I definitely won't be going that route. And that story about my Polish friend just kind of faded away after a few weeks, thank God! He moved back to Malang and he's still studying here. He decided to change his look, though, so he grew out a mustache & goatee and changed his hairstyle, just in case!

Love you all! Muah!!