I dare say

I've mention a couple of peculiarities I've added to my vernacular (a word I like and feel is highly underused) over the years.  I think the process really began when I left the States but as I think of it, I'd trace it back to Lawrence, Kansas.  I attended one year of university and left with a y'all that stuck.  It doesn't come out too often. Strangely, improving my Spanish helped reinforce it. There's a verb form that is for "you all who are not me but who I'm talking to" therefor distinct from a They or a We.  Y'all fits precisely.

As my Spanish vocabulary grew in size and complexity, it began to pervert my English. There are words that are similar but sound slightly different - like information and información. Click on the words for pronunciations. They are very close but the stress is distinct. The patterns of speech and word orders are different in Spanish as well.  And let's not forget that there are more verb tenses for past and present in Spanish. It makes my head start to spin thinking about all the intricacies when now I can usually speak it without much thought.

Now as I've come to Indonesia my language is further corrupted. Indonesian, or bahasa indonesia as it's called here, is the opposite of Spanish.  It contains few grammar rules, most revolving about suffixes and prefixes that change a words meaning or use. When the Republic of Indonesia was founded the government realized the need to have a single uniting language, while not abolishing the local languages.  They made it simple enough that anyone could learn it. Instead of having a past tense, anything that happened before now is accompanied by kemarin, or yesterday.  My first few months here involved lots of incidents where I'd say "but it wasn't yesterday, it was a week ago" or something to that affect. If you want to be specific you say when, such as last month, or two weeks ago, but kemarin is the norm.  The same happens with besok or tomorrow for anything in the future.  Part of my personal result of all this has been that when something had occurred or been done the Indonesians say sudah or already.  Nearly all the bule who live here use that as well.  Did you eat lunch? Already.  Are you finished with the paper? Already.  It's awful English but it's very pervasive.

That gives me a nice segue into the fact that teaching English is more likely to screw up your English than anything.  If you hear bad English all day, everyday. You start to subconsciously pick up your students habits and ticks, like the above mentioned already.  You also get accustomed to speaking in short broken bits of English knowing that your students won't follow a more cohesive speech pattern. You go home? Bring book tomorrow ya? It's an effort to change gears when I'm out with friends and speak like the intelligent adult I am.

The last percentage of blame goes to my expat friends.  These are folks from the US, England, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales mostly.  Many of them have retained an accent and vocabulary close to what it would be at home, some have not.  They've all affected my speech.  I'd never have said . . . well, wait right there.  I"d never have said I'd never have said before.  That's present perfect and much more common in the UK.  That could be my friends or teaching British English for two years.  Brilliant, can't be asked (with accompanying Liverpudlian accent), meant to (in place of supposed to), and reckon (used as "you think") are the most prevalent additions. I'm trying to compile a list of all my "new" words but we'll see how that goes.  I'll also start a list of pronunciations as two weeks ago we realized I say to-MAH-to in the British vein, no longer to-MAY-to as most Americans would. 

Luckily, I'm still the one translating and interpreting for others!

MULTI cultural experience

I teach at an international school. I work with Koreans, Indonesians and Ex-pats in a Korean International school in Jakarta. The school staff is divided-the "menial" staff are Indonesian, the "important" staff are Korean. I use these designations for lack of others. The cleaning staff, copy and secretarial staff are all Indonesian.  Some of the more authoritative figures in the head office are Korean, like those dealing with work visas and expenses/funding. The homeroom teachers are all Korean, as are the music, art and physical education teachers.  There are two English departments in the elementary school; 4 Korean women who teach English grammar and 9 native speakers who focus on use and pronunciation.  For those of you not familiar with the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) world, natives are not the people native to a country, natives refer to native English speakers. The nine of us are made up of 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 Welsh, 3 Brits and 2 Aussies. I am the only female and the youngest in my department.  We are on the same grounds as the middle and high schools but each school is entirely it's own entity.  There is remarkably little interaction with anyone outside of our department actually.

With a mix of so many nationalities, it's not surprising that there are communication snafus regularly.  The first hurdle is to find a common language.  There are some staff here that speak English and Korean (Han-gul), some speak Indonesian and Korean, some (most of my department) speak English and Indonesian.  There are very few (I can think of maybe 2) that can speak all three languages.  As far as my department goes, I'm the only Spanish speaker and we have one French-speaker.  We do however have two kids that used to live in Guatemala though they're Korean.  The kids in my 4-2 class have decided their favorite word to use randomly in class is "senorita" though I don't know where they learned it or why they like it.

I'm noticing many, many ways that these cultures are different.  Remember that before JIKS, I worked at EF in Pluit where the students were Indonesian or Chinese Indonesian.  Now that I've taught in the US, Spain and here-Koreans and Indonesians- I can more clearly make comparisons. I wish I'd done this while I was teaching in Spain, it would help me crystallize my generalizations now.  Teaching in the States feels like a lifetime ago. Couple that with the fact is was swim lessons or kindergartens, discounting the variety of ages in my after school and summer programs, and I am struggling a little to recall the details for comparison now.

The US has become very hands off in regards to children.  We've become so paranoid that everyone wants to take advantage of the children that now teachers are not even to touch them unless absolutely necessary. The Korean kids are happy to come wrap their arms around your waist while you try to maintain (or regain) order.  This happens with all the teachers and it causes no problems.  There is a move that's quite popular in Korea and with Koreans called a Don Ho or Don Chin.  The 'aggressor" puts their hand together as though in prayer.  They then proceed to ram their hands between the butt cheeks of some poor and usually unsuspecting victim.  Hilarity and laughter ensue.  I find it all mildly disturbing but I'm starting to understand why they see it so differently.  The Korean kids are very very physical with each other, in both positive and negative ways.  I was taken aback the first two or three weeks to see kids really thumping and smacking each other.  Boys hit girls, girls hit boys and boys hit boys. They'll smash another student into a wall, sit on them, run across the class just to thump them twice and run back.  It all seemed so violent but they ALL do it and no one really minds.  It's the accepted norm. They are also very physically affectionate, girls and boys will lay in each others laps, hang in hugs and embrace each other.  They does tend to be a divide here, girls with girls and boys with boys.  My kids are 4th grade so this is well before dating etc.  They still "ewww!" if two cartoon characters in a movie kiss.

My Korean students are by far the most talkative I've taught.  The talking, yelling and worst of all high pitched screaming is incessant. The Spanish and American students were quite similar from what I remember, talkative but shush-able. I often struggle with the overall volume of the class. I chalk a bit of it up to the fact that, while most of the Korean teachers don't use corporal punishment, they are happy to threaten it and then parents are known to smack the kids around if they under perform.  I won't do that and they know that.  We made class contracts in all of my classes.  The students make 5 rules for themselves and 5 rules for the teacher (me).  bar none, each group made a "the teacher won't hit the students" rule.  I have a two-pronged technique at this point: stickers and the rare candy for students who listen, follow directions and complete their tasks coupled with the punishment of writing lines for those who don't participate, shut up or stay in their seats.  It's working a bit better as I refine it but I'm still nearly lost my voice this week, again.

The last P, with miscellaney

If the title doesn't make sense to you, you should probably read the previous blog.
 
Phonics
            I enjoy the challenge of learning language.  I realized in Guatemala how rewarding it is.  When you progress to finally being able to have mini conversations, like I can now in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language). I can understand and answer simple questions, though I am still at the point where I can understand more of what I hear or read than I can speak.

           I have always chosen to learn languages that are based on Latin letters, the same alphabet that English uses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet for more information).  I figure it will save me time learning another writing form as I would have to for Mandarin or Korean.  There are some pronunciation difference, like I tell my students each letter has a name and a sound in English. And a common alphabet often leads to commonalities.  A case in point is what I have notices with English and Indonesian.  Indonesian is a young language.  Before the creation of the Republic of Indonesia each of the islands and often within the islands, there were different languages.  On the island of Java where Jakarta is located, most people spoke Javanese.  On Bali they spoke, you guessed it, Balinese. To unite the islands some linguists sat down to make a common language.  They wanted something simple enough that even the impoverished and uneducated could learn it.  They created a language based on Malaysian with Portugese and Dutch influences.  There aren't formal tenses of past or present. To refer to the past one uses "already", "before" or "yesterday", for the future "later" or "tomorrow".  This tends to leave foreigners a little confused as to when something actually happened.  I had that problem.  When someone told me they did such and such yesterday when I know they didn't.  Although, as I've been here longer I realize that time here is much more elastic and fluid than I first thought.  I also now say something happened last week when in reality it may have been three or four weeks ago.  There are no seasons, the daylight hours are always the same, the days are full and tend to run together.  I assume it was these factors as much as the language that has lent the culture to speak the way it does.

               The common thread I mentioned before was phonetic spelling.  I started compiling a list of some of the words I had never seen before but knew what they mean..  A good example: otomotif.  If you say it out loud, you'll know know immediately what it is.  Try it.  Did you guess automotive?  Some are obscure until someone points out how simple it is.  I asked a friend of mine what it said on the side of a food cart.  She said, "you know".  I said I didn't.  She told me to look at it again.  I looked at it and then gave her a puzzled look.  Es krim, huh?  "Think!  It's ICE CREAM" she told me like I was an absolute idiot.  Since then I think I've gotten the hang of the obvious.  The only thing you really must remember is that 'c' has a 'ch' sound in Indonesian.  Here are a few more: ekstrem, brosur, galas, sop, diskon.  That's extreme, broshure, glass, soup and discount.  Some are sooo obvious anyone will get them right off: taksi, servis, optik, kilnik, fotokopi and akupuntur. This is that I spend my time looking at from the back of a motorbike.  Now you all know much more Indonesian than you thought you ever would. Just remember there are still many signs that look like this that still require a translation:

courtesy of travelswithanineyearold.com  Could the words be any longer?

            Unto the miscellany as promised.  I think the way Indonesians think of and refer to time often affects their work ethic.  (SIDE NOTE: I never promised or expected this blog to be politically correct or void of generalizations.  These are my thought sand musings.  I never use 'always' or 'never' in the strict senses of the word, so if I say I always eat fried rice with krupuk, that;s a generalization as I have obviously had it without krupuk before but usually, normally, or generally, I do have krupuk) Part of the ojek battle has to do with the work ethic.  Many people here are late, their work attire is tragic and no one seems to make a fuss.  I don't know why workers are always dressed so poorly.  A great example are women who work in banks or offices.  They wear skirts or pants and dress shirts but they are always poorly fitted, usually too tight and pulling at the buttons or hitched up in the wrong places.  This is in contrast to the office boys (I use boys not derogatorily.  Many are older men but' office boys' is the vernacular here).  They look like little boys wearing their older brother's clothes.   Ph, and women in their shoes!!  A woman could be dressed to the nines, but she'll wear sandals with heels and her toes will be half an inch over the front, curled over the edge of the shoe.

             On time here is fifteen minutes late, though if your excise is based on the weather or the traffic then you'll get a pass.  There really seems to be no emphasis or desire to work any harder than absolutely necessary.   When I asked my students at EF what their hobbies were, the majority will say sleeping.  Good luck to try and convince them that it's not a hobby.  The Indonesians on the street take it to a whole new level.  They seem to have the ability to fall asleep anywhere, at any time with no notice.  Ojek drivers at ojek stops (a corner in neighborhood where the ojeks hang out and you can pick one up) sleep before and between their rides. I find there are many things abroad I may never pick up as my own habit.

            Another note about differences.  In Jakarta the pollution is atrocious.  It's in the air from the growing industrial centers and the bajaj with old or no mufflers. The pollution in the water is a result of people using the water ways as garbage cans and toilets, mixed with anything that runs off in the rains and floods. But the pollution on land comes from a very simple, very obvious source. Walk down any street for more than two minutes and you'll see someone throw the wrapper from their snack on the ground.  There is no thought, no consideration of what else could be done with the empty plastic cup/chip bag/candy wrapper, practically all of it plastic. The trash piles up in corners, in gutters on street edges.  There are hardly any trash bins on the streets, but I still put my wrapper in my bag or my pocket and find one.  It's an interesting fact in contrast to the way some objects are used and reused.  There are tons of promotional banners, usually a tarp type material advertising a new drink or beverage.  These never go to waste and are re-purposed in many of the warungs (street side eating places, not mobile but very simple). I saw a push cart, maybe 3' x 6', used for hauling trash around with an wall sign from a building as the front wall of the cart.

             Clothes are repair and re-worn, then torn up and used for the material or for rags. It reminds me of the curbside "recycling" in Madrid.  If you have something of value (household items, clothes or furniture) that you don't want but is still viable for someone, put it on the curb at dusk.  99.398237 % of the time it will disappear before you leave for work in the morning. I like it, it means someone can reuse what I can't and it's easy. I also like how easy it is to find repair places here.  I was commenting to a friend yesterday as we picked her shoes up from being retipped.  In the US it may not be the cost that's prohibitive to getting shoes repaired, as it's finding a place to have it done. We in the West have become such a consumer society, that we automatically think to pitch it and buy new, not salvage what we have if we can.  I tend to think I reuse things more now than I did in the states.  That being said, I draw strange stares at the grocery store when I pull out my folded, material bags instead of getting the plastic ones here.

courtesey of www.stuffwelove.ivillage.com

courtesy of www.greenblizzard.com

versus

                With that in mind, I am consciously and conscientiously trying to move beyond the consumerism that is a plague on modern society. It's evident in Guatemala and Indonesia.  They look at the West, and associate wealth with the ability to buy things.  The malls here are all four stories or more high.  My students don't believe me when I tell them the malls that I know are one or two stories at most.  People here spend money on objects that others will see: a designer shirt with visible lables, i.e. Nike or Polo, new phones or mp3 players, cars.  That's money that could be used to relocate to a nice house or neighborhood, it could pay for education.  Those are not tangible objects in that there's no mass of people to see them and "oooh" about it.  I try to think about my purchases before I make them.  Is this something I need?  Can I live without it?  Will it be within the 100 pounds of stuff I am permitted to take when I fly out of Jakarta for the last time? Is it a gift?  I try to limit the purchases I make if the object doesn't fall in any of these criteria.  Instead I want to spend money on experiences such as travel, meals with friends and activities.  Then I have nothing to carry around, and I've made memories.