we woke up and went on a search for alex. today was market day-- but not market day like all of the other markets we've been to where i want to rip out my hair by the time we're done. today was traditional market day. traditional market not-in-tourist-jakarta-day. we weren't going to be getting ripped off today because we'd be with the locals. in fact, we wouldn't even have a damn clue what the sellers would be trying to say to us. we found alex and waited around til he got the bike ready.
now work with me here. you have to understand our location. we are in a remote area of a mountain. this means no road. our road is grass. with rocks. grass with rocks up a huge hill. cross out hill, grass with rocks up a huge mountain. this means rollercoaster ride down.
alek took us to where there were two bikes waiting. we looked at him, he looked back at us. "how you want to go?" though alex and i have ridden three people to a bike before, this drive wasn't looking very promising for all of us in one. someone would have been sure to come off.
"you drive?" he asked us. alex replied, "i don't, rachel does sometimes." my eyes widened for about two seconds, then i thought logically for one of the first times in two months.
"is it five speed?"
he had no idea what the hell i was asking him. "uh, how do you sayyy... automatic?" that sparked a clue.
"oh. no. not automatic."
driving was officially not an option.
combro popped out of some random bush or nowhere, the way he always does, and patted the back of his bike. "come, alex!"
ahh, combro gila.
it was settled. i hopped on the back of alek's bike and alex rode with combro.
ayo!
..
we headed down into town, to the market. we hadn't gotten more than a quarter mile away from jocean's driveway before we were getting stares. i heard the same word, "bule! bule!" over and over, accompanied by pointing, laughter, excitement and smiles. this isn't so bad, i thought to myself. alek, while driving, said to me, "we are, how do you say, not in tourist town."
ok. yeah.
"soo what are you saying?"
"they are talking about you."
oh.
as it turns out, "bule" means tourist in indonesian, and tourist translates to "white person." they were pointing at alex and i on the bikes, and i would watch their heads do a complete turn from right to left as alek and i passed by. jaws dropped, eyes widened, and you can only imagine the look when they saw combro and alex on the next bike.
holy shit, there's two!!
alek pointed out the surprise in not only seeing two white girls, but seeing us riding on motorbikes, and being with two indonesian men was appearently quite a site.
..
alex and i weren't quite ready for what we would experience at the market. we pulled in on the bikes, the boys shut them off, and we stood up. looking around, it resembled what i thought it would: a place to get things you need, not useless-but-kinda-cool shit you don't like the other markets we've been to. alek asked us what we were particularly looking for today, and though alex was semi-answering him, i did a 360 circle where i was standing.
there were no questions asked. every person within my sight stopped and stared.
i know this because i made eye contact with almost all of them.
workers stopped stocking, shoppers stood with their bags, salesmen halted their transactions and pointed us out to their customers. i've never felt so uncomfortable in my life.
we knew that we'd get looks, but i definitely didn't expect this. i should have known better-- we're more than two hours away from tourist central, and it's no surprise that these people don't see westerners that often, let alone two young girls.
alek led us around the market as we looked for eggs, onions, bread, honey, and a few other odds and ends. every time we stopped at a stand, we'd hear slight conversations and get more stares.
it came to the point where the two of us were pretty much staring at the floor or trying to imagine that we weren't the center of attention. at the egg stand, the guy took his time and kept questioning alek. we could see he was getting a bit frustrated, as he said to us "all i want to do is pay and go."
next was the egg stand. younger guys were working this one, though it's always difficult to tell age over here, they had to be anywhere from 15-25 years old. immediately, they asked something that made alek laugh, and we can only imagine what it was. through their jumble of words, we heard american, and asked alek what they were saying.
"he says you girls beautiful. why are you not in other place," referring to the mud and unsanitary conditions amongst the market. how sweet.
he wanted to ask us some questions, and alek to translate, but alek wouldn't tell us what he was asking.
alex brought up a good point.
"they're probably for our hand in marriage."
to which, what do you reply?
"well. ask him how many cows he will give me."
..
on the way back, alek asked if i was still interested in local wine.
damn straight.
we stopped off at probably the sketchiest roadside stand that i've seen yet.
we walked inside and the guy immediately greeted alek. they exchanged indonesian and alek told us the price. we handed him money and in return got a black plastic bag. inside was two smaller bags, something resembling the bags you get two-cent goldfish in when you win them at a fair.
inside those bags was our wine.
"wine is only black market here."
as would be later explained to us, indonesia has heavy taxes on wine due to its islamic population. therefore, it is illiegal to make your own, but a fair amount of people still do, they just pay bribe fees to the law enforcement. we took our sketchy-bagged rice wine back to jocean's and gave it a shot.
well worth it.
..
the rest of our day was pretty uneventful due to the rain. jocean came back up for the night, and we spent some time teaching him kings and drinking wine and beer. highlight of the night?
durian.
durian is a fruit very specific to southeast asia, but all throughout our travels, we have met very few westerners who will a. be brave enough to try it or b. actually like it if they do. it has just about the worst smell of sugar and moldy cheese possible, and looks as appealing as a porcupine fish.
but jocean, knowing we hadn't tried it yet, was kind enough to bring one for us to try. he cut a small piece off and handed it to me.
as much as i tried to get past the smell and enjoy the fruit for what it was, this was my expression:
so much for that.
..
the next day, alex and i woke up, ready to get back onto schedule. she went on, continuing with her compost hole for jocean, next to the house.
i, however, went back to the power tools.
i had about half of the cabinet to finish still. for the next two and a half hours, i spent my time practically sitting on the sander to get it to shave off enough wood so i could see the color i wanted below.
thankfully, the workers have off on fridays, so no one was really around to sit and watch me sand. i had brought my ipod out with me and finally got to listen to a few things i haven't heard since i left. it was relaxing and comforting, being able to do something i knew i could do again while kind of being in a bubble from home.
..
in the afternoon, some kids showed up for their first english lesson. around two pm, we headed into the soon-to-be bar area where jocean and alek had put together a makeshift classroom with doors for chalkboards. alex and i were greeted by about 8 or 9 faces, ranging in age from eight to twenty-four.
when we first walked in, jocean already had "my name is, i am __ old" on the board, and the kids went around introducing themselves.
indra, a boy, went first. all idiocity aside,s had i guessed, i would have said he was twelve years old. he was twenty.
i don't understand how they manage to look so young!
the overall lesson itself was wonderful. the kids were so eager to learn, ecstatic about english. some of them already had a decent background from school, and some of them were more willing to chim in than others. they all had notebooks in front of them, eagerly writing everything we wrote for them.
before long, our board was full, and uneraseable. but, of course, the most previlent sentence was also the most important.
everyone should know how to ask for a banana.
..
even combro and alek were walking around, helping out. well, alek helped more than combro, as combro doesn't really know much english at all. still, it was nice to see alek translating, and i loved concentrating on what he was saying and trying to piece it together.
though i wasn't always sure what they were telling the kids word for word, i could often understand the concepts of what they were trying to help the kids differentiate, such as when you use "too" or the difference between want and need.
the lesson itself probably lasted about an hour or so, and the kids were constantly talking to each other in broken english pieced together with indonesian.
this all reminded me of my time at oda, and what things would have been like had i actually done the tefl that i was looking into for so long. sometimes i still think i should have done it, but who knows. my patience level with large groups of children
for long periods of time has never really been award-winning, anyway.
we departed for the day, and hopefully we'll be seeing them again tomorrow before we head back into jakarta.
..
Y rae. racho. d.
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