Updates related to recent blogs

The white diet seems to be working.  My stomach is finally settling down and I tried some pasta with tomatoes last night.  Keep your fingers crossed that the worst is behind me.  If it goes back to being really painful I think I'll finally give in and see a doctor.  There are too many parasites, amoebas, worms, etc that can easily be picked up in Indonesia to ignore it much longer.

courtesy of gifam.org.  These are exactly the ideal lodgers.

I saw three other white, foreigners on busway this week.  None of them were on my bus, but the were on the gangways that are required to get on a bus.  I think we stared at each other with an equal level of disbelief.  It wasn't quite as severe as the astonished stare I have when I hit the Seattle Airport and I am no longer in Asia, surrounded by Asians. A second note about busway; No one thought I was pregnant on the bus this week.  I was able to get a seat last night simple because it was after rush hour and I was going opposite the tide.

courtesy of conceptualist.com.  Just like on the bus: nearly the same but not.

I think I might maybe possibly be rising on the next wave.  After spending the better part of the last month or so withdrawn from friends and social life, I feel the shadows lifting and the urge to begin to muster the energy to go out.  As that sentence implies,  I'm not there yet, but looking at the distinct possibility.

courtesy of omiru.com. That split seems about right for now.

I'm wrenching myself away from the Japan coverage.  As tragic as it is, I don't think watching the minute by minute feed on BBC.com is healthy for anyone after a week.  I did find this site that is the best thing going.  Livingsocial.com is a site like groupon, they offer discount vouchers for restaurants and services.  Today they are offering a $5 donation to the Red Cross to help those affected in Japan.  The kicker is that they will match your five bucks with another five smackers for a total donation of ten United States greenbacks. I don't care how broke you are, if you have a computer and can read this blog, you are in a position to give five samolians.  That's less than two lattes at Starbucks!

courtesy of images.businessweek.com.

Instead of Japan, I shake my head in amazement that people are paying of 65,000 British Pounds for a dress worn in 2002 by Kate Middleton, that all Prince William can do is offer condolence in New Zealand and Japan.  No actual, quantifiable help.  Sure, the UK has send aid and rescue teams but wouldn't Diana have done more than say "oh, so sad, so sorry"?  I am shaking my head in worry about the newly minted no fly zone over Libya and hoping that it won't plunge the world into another decade long Middle East conflict which costs numerous lives and countless dollars. 
My final shake of the head is from a forwarded email of Walmartians.  I'll let the photo speak for itself.

courtesy of http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Walking with the Egyptians

Figuratively anyway.  It might seem late to be writing about Egypt now.  It was so quickly swept from our consciousness and the international press and I still feel that it's an pending issue.

The protests and subsequent riots in Egypt had the world riveted.  It's difficult to imagine now that one issue alone could hold our attention when there are so many that have popped up simultaneously. I  missed the Tunisia protests entirely.  I was still traveling and as such I was not tied to a computer and checking news all day as I have been today. The rumblings began in December 2010 and it came to a head in January 2011. I missed it entirely.  The president of 23 years was ousted and only days later the Egyptian protests began.

Egypt has managed to expel Mubarak from power but the future of Egypt and all Egyptians is still very much any ones guess.  The road to freedom was not an easy one, but is starting to appear so in comparison to Libya and Bahrain where the powers that be are fighting protests and rebel groups with deadly force. Could you continue to fight for what you believe when you are seeing friends and allies dying on either side?  What if there were hired professional assassins brought in to take out your rudimentary forces? And the bombs that are dropped on you by your own government?  Could you muster the strength, the fortitude to continue?

I mentioned in the last post that I watch Al-Jazeera.  My only two English language channels are that and Channel News Asia, based out of Singapore.  If the TV is on, I'm getting Middle East and Asia centric news.  Very different from news stations in the United States that don't cover anything international short of a war or celebrity event. Now I struggle to get news on the US! On a sem-iregular basis, Al-Jazeera news goes fuzzy.  it gets pixelated, or the picture is clear but there's no sound.  I am trying to find the pattern as I think when situations in the Middle East worsen, so does their broadcast.  It seemed the days fraught with the most violence and highest levels of tension were the ones I couldn't get anything on TV. 

I followed every death, every protest, saw numerous interviews from people in Egypt, authorities on the region and politicians of all makes and models.  I have never been to Egypt but know several people who have lived or visited.  I closely follow an amazing blog of someone living there.  I thrilled right along with the populace at every triumph and ached with every defeat.  Seeing a revolution committed successfully in Tunisia inspired those in Egypt who now seem to have passed the spirit along to the people of Libya and Bahrain. As a species, we look to each other for support, for affirmation, for assistance and encouragement.  A spark or motivation, or simple possibility can travel farther than one might ever imagine.

Standing together while it falls apart

World wide solidarity. With the recent world events, from random natural disasters to consciously initiated uprisings, there are more reasons to know your cause and stand with those who fight for the same standards.

As I am a liberal/progressive bordering on socialist American, I have lately been keeping an eye on the protests centered in Wisconsin that have also spread to Ohio, Indiana and several other states. The protests against union stripping measure are the most extreme in decades and have the ability to unify and mobilize the democratic party and liberals.  What Scott Walker is trying to do to unions in general pales in audacity only to what he has announced he will do to education in Wisconsin. "Walker also is proposing a nearly $1 billion cut in aid to schools in his two-year budget plan that would take effect in July. He argued that for that reason, districts need to get more money from their employees to help mitigate the loss in aid. Walker also wants to limit the ability of schools and local governments to pay for the cuts through local property tax increases."

courtesy of dirtandseeds.com.  Yep, this is the jackass who was elected in January and has since caused more political uproar over individual rights than I've known in my lifetime.

It's sickening as an American, and as a teacher.  My new bone to pick is going to be with the Deomcratic party for not supporting the Wisconsin 14, the 14 lone Democratic state senators in a large Republican majority congress. They were unwilling to give in and instead walked out to prevent the vote.  If you have not been following the issue you should. Rachel Maddow's coverage of this event has been informative, accurate and insightful. I download her show on MSN as a free podcast through Itunes. Do not believe that this is only about the budget, this is not about a fiscal crisis.  It is about a shift in power and money, from the working poor and middle classes to the rich.  While you're at it, look into the Koch brothers,  that's enough to make even a moderate Dem sick. They're sort of like Paris Hilton, famous for being rich with money they didn't earn.  It came from daddy.

courtesy of politicallyillustrated.com.  It's helpful to remember that the icon of the Republican party is an elephant, while the Democrats are a donkey.

This all came close on the heels of the upheaval and eventual overthrow of the government in Egypt.  I was riveted by that coverage, especially since I have Al-Jazeera in English, which probably put me on some kind of terrorist watch list since I am American.  The turn outs of 100,000 plus people to protests in the middle States of the USA is nearly as significant as the protests in Egypt, at least in my mind. (Note that link is not just protests in the US.  Look how few of those there are.) The protests there have lasted over three weeks.  People are angry and realize how unfair this is.  They aren't going home. There are petitions circulating to recall Scott Walker from office, even though that can't be done until January on his one year anniversary in office.  I hope and believe that people will be ready on that day, to walk in and drop the signature on his office, then vote his ass out of office.  When was the last time you saw people gather like that around a single issue in the US that wasn't a Lady GaGa concert? Probably to protest the Second Gulf War.  Before that?  Perhaps protests of the Vietnam War combined with the Civil Rights movements in 1967.  I've been in and seen large scale protests in both Spain and Indonesia.  I believe many Americans take their rights for granted and as a result, gather in numbers, for power and protests, much less than heaps of other citizens of other countries.

courtesy of stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com.  Outside the state capital in Wisconsin last week.

I meant to write in one blog about Wisconsin, Egypt, Bahrain, Japan and even touch on Indonesia. I will instead splinter them into separate blogs for reading ease. The theme?  Standing together.  For support - be it physical, monetary or emotional - and for much more.  In times as jarring and shocking as the ones we are living through right now,  I remind those I know, both near and far, dear to me and mere acquaintances, that I am here when you need me.  I tell those I've never met, who are struggling with political oppression, fighting to find a way to continue in the midst of chaos, or simply to continue living: I stand with you.  There are more just like me.  Those of us who can only send money to help. Who can help inform others. Who encourage you to carry on. My spirit and my hope is with you.

Hibernation

It's not exactly, not even hardly wintery today, but it is dark and the rain is looming.  I feel like hibernating not just because spring never really springs here but because I'm tired.  I wanted to blog today but couldn't come up with something on my usual fantastic witty level so I'll write a quick note about my least favorite but more present topic lately, my health.

courtesy of artfulwisdom.blogspot.com

My stomach is feeling a bit better today after going two days eating no veggies, only bananas for fruit, rice, bread, oatmeal and little probiotic yogurts. I'm dying for some fried rice though I haven't for weeks.  It's always when you can't have it that it sounds good. I've successfully fended headaches off the last two days.  I am still very tentative after the three successive days of migraines a week ago.  I'm also feeling achy lately, just the last two or three days really.  Whether all of this is related or not I don't know, but it all adds up to making me feel lousy.

courtesy of epinews.com

I am also feeling mentally and emotionally drained lately.  There have been a couple weekend nights out that turned sour and has put me off going out, at least to that particular club.  It seems to take more and more energy to get ready and get out only to have the night flop or worse, that I don't want to rationalize it.  If I'm going to go out, I'd rather it be a good friend or two for dinner and a cocktail. 

courtesy of knol.google.com

Mixed signals, irritating circumstances or pending business surrounding a couple people in my life is also contributing to my recent sentiments.  There's a lot of my mind regarding things that I can't change or sort or deal with right now, not because I don't want to but because I can't yet.  They are things I can't expel from my brain and hence then sit and suck up the last drops of energy and initiative. I'm also starting to think about next year (already??) for work, where to live, etc, etc. It's making me antsy to go but I know it's not time. Well, that and the fact that I know everything could change between now and then.
I wish I could just . . .

courtesy of blog.woolloomooloosky.com

On the upside, I am encouraged to keep writing, even if it's short, by the number of blog views I've had lately.  Thanks for stickin' around long enough for me to get back in the groove after the holidays.

Bus Bum

Before I launch into today's planned blog, two notes. One: I did change my blog appearance.  I just wanted something lighter.  Let me know if you have an opinion. Two: I am miserable.  Physically miserable. It's been upwards of three weeks now that my stomach has gone from trying it's hand as a trapeeze artist to feeling like it contains a heavy weight boxer throwing punches.  I have been reduced to buttered pasta, grilled cheese and white rice with plain chicken as my refuge.  Keep your fingers crossed that giving up fruits, veggies, chocolate and anything with much flavor will help.  Sprite is my new favorite drink because it seems to help settle my stomach a bit.  Stabbing pain, lots of grumbling noises, cramps and pangs of nausea are the main complaints.  If you've got suggestions on what to do or what this is, I'm all ears. Now onward to the planned bus bit.

I've recently discovered that my new apartment makes the use of public transportation in Jakarta possible if not always easy.  I live on one of the main lines, the bus stop is a mere five minute walk from my house.  That walk is along the side of a road with no sidewalk where one has to take their life in their hands, navigate puddles, mudholes, motorbikes, and folks leering and jeering along the way.  Yet only five minutes away. A one way trip, where you can transfer at a couple of stops through long over-road pedestrian walk ways that vaguely remind me of airport gangplanks, cost a measly 3,500 Rp (0.40 USD).   I do love that it's cheap but the best part is that busway has it's own lane on the road and therefore flies through the traffic in Mampang, the main obstacle between my place and down town, or really any part of town except Kemang.  Mampang is notorious for it's traffic jam.  I use a singular form of traffic jam because I think this traffic jam started eight years ago and has been there in perpetuity since.  There is a traffic jam in Mampang at two am, at two pm and every time in between.  I realize it isn't necessarily the best solution to give busway it's own lane; it contributes to the problems for the other cars.  Now that I'm on busway, I find I complain about that much less.

Compared to buses in Europe, busway is cheap, cramped and utilitarian.  I haven't always thought highly of the public transportation system in Seattle, mostly due to the lack of runs.  Once an hour is insufficient by all measures. In comparing the busway to say, buses in Madrid I'm also struck by the difference in riders. Last week, I got on the bus at about quarter to eleven am on a Sunday.  The bus was quiet and I found a seat.   I recognize that Indonesia is a conservative, Muslim country, but if you saw that what I go out for a night of dancing and drinking in is longer than what most of the Indonesian girls wear, you will soon understand why I took note on Sunday.  Mine were the only knees visible on the bus. I was wearing a dress that I wear to teach, it hits my knees.  It's sleeveless so I had a shawl on.  Yet mine were the only bare knees.  I don't know if that's why the three year old sitting across from me was staring.  I suspect the "white worship" starts early but who knows.

There's one more story of note from last weeks busing adventures. On Thursday I went in to town to finalize my new second hand blackberry purchase.  I took the bus in and was able to WALK to the mall from there.  I can't remember the last time I walked outdoors in Jakarta other than from mall Senayan City to mall Plaza Senayan which are across the street from each other.  It was a nice walk through Mega Kuningan which may be the sole location in the city with sidewalks, and spacious ones at that.  I completed my business at the mall and walked a different but still sidewalked path back to the bus.  I made the mistake of wanting to go home (a direction everyone else was going to-out of the city) at about 630 pm.  After buying my ticket, it was eight or nine buses before I got on one.  The buses were coming by every minute or two tops, but they were packed to the rafters. I finally jammed on to one, and moved away from the door up the aisle.  I don't mind standing because at least there is an AC vent blowing directly into you then. I was about three people back from the driver and definitely the only foreigner on the bus.  I had my headphones on and was trying to to count the stops until mine because it feels longer.  It must have been about seven stops after I got on that I felt a tap on my right arm.  I had been holding on with both hands to the hanging rings and kept having to lean forward, towards the seated passengers, to let people by behind me.  The tap came from a miniature woman in her mid thirties.  She was wearing causal but fashionable closes and a jilbob (Muslim head covering). She tapped me specifically to give me her seat.  I was three people to her right, the ones right in front of her were male though the two with their backs to her were female.  She was getting off and offered me her seat.  I was surprised but tired enough to jump at it.  It was mere nanoseconds later that I figured out why.  I'm fairly certain she thought I was pregnant.  Embarrassed? Check. Laying off the beer?  Check. Not too proud to take the seat in a packed bus after a loooong day?  Check.  I'd like to convince myself that she did it to further Indo-American relations, or because I looked so tired, but I am skeptical at best.

At that, maybe this stomach issue will be a parasite and I'll loose my "baby weight".  This is when I laugh to keep from crying and carry on. There will most assuredly be more bus trips in my future, and I'll make up strange stories about the other riders that I'm sure won't come close to the ones they think up about me.

An Indonesian Convert?

Not that I am necessarily any more or less enamored with the place, I am finding it's growing on me, or maybe me into it. A list of the multiple ways I am becoming more Indonesian by the day:

• I own more than one phone.  I own more than two phones, each with their own sim card and purpose. I have two phones at my place, one in the wall and one for magic jack computer use.  I currently have three cell phones.  I heard another teacher tell a story that her conversation class came in one day and this woman took out a small zippered pouch from her purse.  She proceeded to open it looking for something and there were six cell phones.  Each with it's own number, sim card and purpose.  I have left strict orders with Vicki that if I should ever own that many, I am to be drug out back and shot.

• The honking and being misterbombed don't phase me any more.  Misterbombing is when the locals sit on their stools at a warung (roadside shack that serves food) or stand my their motorbike, or anywhere really, and shout "Missmissmissmiss" or "mistermistermister" at you.  If they are between the ages of say eight and forty two, they'll giggle when they do it, especially the boys.  98% of the time, if you stop and say hello or ask what they want, they are completely flabbergasted and don't know what to do.  Now I just truck on.

• Tied into that is the fact that I no longer expect to have any personal space, or understanding thereof, be it literal space or figurative.  In the US, if I were to walk down the street with big headphones (not earbuds, the big ones that are obvious), sunglasses and a slight scowl, no one would even consider approaching me unless my pants were on fire. Here in Indonesia, I'll still be misterbombed, asked if I want to buy food, take an ojek ride or enter their shop. 

• I take the bus and don't give a damn that I'm the only white person on it.  I did notice last week that my knees were the only visible ones on the bus, and I was wearing a teaching-elementary-school-students -appropriate dress. 

• I'm beginning to cultivate the ability to fall asleep anywhere.  If you ask Indonesians (and this goes for the Koreans I work with too) what their hobbies are, eating and sleeping are assured to be among them. It doesn't matter how many times they are told by foreigners that sleeping, and eating for that matter, are not hobbies. I saw a guy fall asleep standing on a packed bus yesterday.  I've had my own close calls falling asleep on the back of an ojek. And yet it's the days when I am the most desperate to sleep that  I still toss and turn in my own bed.

• I now grasp why the culture has adopted a mass theory of procrastination.  My contention with this was it stifled my ability to get things done!  Now I get the two pronged reasoning.  One: most Indonesians are lazy.  It sounds like an awful cultural stereotype, but even the Indonesians say so.  They will work very hard if required, like the ditch diggers who have been laying telephone cables along my route home.  That happens infrequently.  It can be seen in that most jobs allow for lots of hours sitting around doing little to nothing.  I thought the "manana" culture of Spain was bad. There, nothing was ever so pressing as to rush and do it today, if tomorrow would suffice.  Two:  To get something taken care of by maintenance at my apartment, it usually takes at least two trips to talk to someone to sort it out or schedule it and then supervision of said task.  I have found myself recently postponing tasks.  My television stopped working.  I thought there was a problem with the power supply/cord/source.  The little green light wasn't coming on.  Because of work obligations and timing, I couldn't get down to ask them to fix it for two days.  On that day, two days later, I asked at the front desk on my way up to my apartment.  When I got into my place, I double checked and sure enough, the tv was fine again.  Same thing happened with mysterious water on the bathroom floor.  I'm fairly certain it was leaking from between the tiles in the shower, but now that it's stopped, I don't care. 

• I cannot respond to a simple question with just yes or no.  I repeat yes or no multiple times.  Here's an example:

Joe: Hey, how are you today?
Me: Ya, good ya, and you?
Joe: Ya good.  Are you going out to EP this weekend?
Me: Ya, ya, ya (the last one stretched out to yeaaaaa). Hope to see you there.
Joe: Do you think it will be quiet like last week?
Me: No, no.
The ya's, no's and adu's (an expression for exhaustion, frustration, incredulity and about six other emotions) have seeped deep into my vocabulary well. I also can't just nod to show I am intently listening or flowing the logic, now I have to "ya, ya, ya" my way along.

• I slog along through the puddles just to get where I'm going.  Last night was in heels on the way to the bus stop.  The afternoon rain had ceased, but the puddles along the road would last until evening.  Also, I usually wear sandals now.  Easier for the water to go in, but also easier for it to flow back out and dry out.   Additionally, I have rain gear for the motorbike and anything less than a torrential down pour doesn't slow me down.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few. If so, they shall be added tomorrow.

Riding the wave, or just attempting to hang on to the board

As much as I wish this blog post was actually about surfing, it's not.  It's a blog about a pattern in my life.  This unintentionally follows on the heels of the magnetic field hypothesis which would make sense for waves.  I wish I had planned it that way, but let's just say subconsciously I did.  A big part of me would like to assume that it's a pattern that occurs for most people, but I have no idea really.  It seems like something very Malcolm Gladwell via Blink or Tipping Point, based in sociology and psychology. If after reading this you have an opinion (to agree, disagree, alter or call me a total crack pot) I encourage you to do so.

courtesy of hickerphoto.com.  See?  One right after the other! Up and down

This is a theory that has taken shape over the last couple years.  I think that my life moves in waves.  Some might say it's cyclical but I find more resonance with the idea of high and low troughs of the wave, potentially the water too though there is the water cycle. There are the high points when things are all flying along.  I can get a taxi with only a minute wait, my friends are around and available for dinners, drinks and general indulgence, I go out on a date or two, the money is if not plentiful at least sufficient.  These are the times that life is really good.  More than likely there's something coming up for me to look forward to, concerts, trips or the like.  My only slow down is myself as my social calendar is packed! This is when the life of a social butterfly is everything it's cracked up to be.

courtesy of alysband.com.   If this were a true representation the drink would have tequila in it.

Just as every high tide is followed by a low, and the crest of a wave has the accompanying trough, the contentment can't last forever.   The money runs short after an emergency or two, the men seem to vanish (figuratively if not literally), no one can be found for a pedicure date or even free beer night.  It's never just one event that turns a crest into a trough, a high into a low.  It's normally a mass build up of five, then eight and the twelfth "something" is what pushes me over the limit.

courtesy of ineedmotivation.com.   One cut isn't the problem, it was the 14 before that were.

Now that's the overarching layout. Since I began formulating, I've also noticed the waves in smaller parts of my life.  After nine weeks in a row going out every Friday with the girls, I get tired.  I need a weekend in, often on my own, to regenerate.  Maybe even two or three weeks away from the club and bar scene.  Then, I find myself rested and itching to go back, which I do. I pull away, sleep more (or enough at least), read, relax and have my time.

courtesy of cartoonstock.com.   I'm not that bad, but I do drop off the social radar.

One day I have a craving for microwave popcorn following six months when it didn't even cross my mind.  I proceed to have microwave popcorn every second or third day for three weeks until I'm totally sick of it and don't want it even at the movies.

courtesy of deartheonion.wordpress.com. 

I have a great group of girlfriends here, bigger and probably closer than any group of girlfriends I've had before.  Before you blast me, those of you who I am/was close to in Spain or the States, this is a small pack that's tight knit for lack of many other community options. As a group we are all close, where Spain were different factions of a group that did get along when all together but rarely were all together.  That all being laid out, for three weeks I might see one particular friend a dozen times.  We discuss certain things that they "get" more than others, we have similar available times to meet up, and just enjoy each others company.  Again, after a couple weeks, there is a burn out factor.  I just need to expand back out to a different part of the group.  I don't cut that person out of my life, but might need or want to back off from seeing them all the time.

I've just come out of a short trough, but it was a deep one.  All the waves seemed to bottom out at the same time, nothing helping keep me afloat. It was a combination of many factors, some which are still mid-resolution. I occasionally wonder if I'm bipolar, though I feel like those highs and lows would be more frequent or without external provocation.  Either way, after this most recent low I wanted to give thanks to my mom first and foremost, who is always my rock and anchors me to a truer version of reality that I sometimes create for myself. Also to all my lovely, amazing friends who have come to understand that I have ups and downs and are willing to roll with me all the same.