Well, after a rather embarrassing four-month absence from the blogosphere, I have returned. Starting in November I sank into a deep resentment and unhappiness about life here. Since momma always said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all," I took her advice and kept my silence.
Well, I've adjusted. Did you know it takes about six months to get used to a place? And now I'm used to it, but man oh man! I can't wait to be back in the good ol' USA. I still don't have a lot of nice things to say, but I'll try to mask it with my unmatchable wit and sense of humor (which, by the way, went MIA for about three months and still isn't what it usually is). Feel free to read between the lines, though.
Let me tell you about an ordinary day in the life of a white foreign woman in Medan, Indonesia is like:
Today I took my motorcycle to get it serviced. A strange man sat down next to me and asked if I could speak Indonesian. I told him that I know only a little, and then I pulled out my cell phone and called someone so that I would be left alone. When I hung up the call 30 minutes later, he turned to me and said in English, "Why so big?" I said, "What?" He proceeded to make the monkey arms with which I have become all-too-familiar and said "Big girl. Big girl." I said, "WHO!" and he pointed at me and said "You big girl."
After I got my motorcycle serviced, I had to buy a new tire. So I went to another store. The man there started to tell me he likes me and wants me to be his friend so he can practice English. Then he told me I should always come to his shop for my motorcycle needs because he will give me free service. All free for me, he said. Then he asked me who I live with. I told him I live with my big, muscly husband who is very very tall and kind of mean and doesn't like other men to talk to me. Then he said, oh yeah....you should come here again for motorcycle service. All cheap, very cheap for you. I wonder if I would have had to perform some favors to get the free stuff before he thought I was married.
After all was finished with my motorcycle, I went to Pizza Hut (I've been getting a hankering for cold pizza for breakfast) to get takeout. After I got the pizza, I went to my motorcycle. Btw, I was still wearing my jilbab from school so everyone thought I'm Muslim. I paid the parking attendant, and he shouted, "I LOVE YOU! I love Muslim you!"
Before all this happened, I was teaching. Today I had my students write round-robin stories (each person in a group writes a little bit in every story). They were supposed to be creative. I gave them the beginnings of their stories. Somehow, in spite of the fact that there were 10 different groups and the potential for 40 different stories, I had 40 of the same.
During the sholat break at school (sholat means prayer), I went for lunch. Not in the mood to be stared and gawked at and forced into awkward, shallow conversations in a combination of English and Indonesian, I went to a chain called Texas Chicken (the same as Church's Chicken in the US - I'll let you use your imagination as to why the name was changed for the largest Muslim country in the world). Usually, I can sit in a corner and no one bothers me. Today, however, I was not so lucky. I watched a parade of businessmen do a double-take charade. They'd walk by the window out of view, then double back and stare at me. Then they'd leave and come back with 2 or 3 more and repeat. And the janitor boy (no older than 15) managed to mop the exact same spot on the floor directly beside my table for the entire 20 minutes I was there.
