First Day in Jakarta

The school loaded us into 3 of their vans and took us to our new home for the next year. The apartment complex is HUGE. Driving up to it at night, there were 4 massive towers that appeared to be 40 stories high. One of the guys in our car said, “Oh yeah, we are definitely in the 1% here.” I was pretty tired at this point and just wanted to find out who my roommate would be and what our living quarters would look like. We could tell that the people shuttling us around were tired and just wanted to drop us off and get the heck out of there. We were all being dropped off at different towers at the complex. Jenny and I got dropped off at the 3^rd stop. I knew she would not be my roommate, so I was anxious to see if my roommate was there already or if I would be waiting on him (or them) to arrive. I was told at the UNI fair that I would probably be rooming with 1 or 2 other teachers the first year. The second year they would give us an allowance to find our own place. I get up to my floor. Get to my door. The nice gentleman opens it for me, and I see:

Obviously, this was taken after I unpacked, but that’s it?! I said, “So, I will be in this one by myself?” He replied, “Yes.” He asked if I needed anything else. I did not and he was off. My only instructions at this point (at roughly 1:00am Thursday morning) were that I needed to be in the lobby for pick-up by the school bus by 7:00am Friday. No roommate. No idea where any of the other teachers (except Jenny) were staying in this massive complex. No way of communicating with anyone (my Indonesian is, how do I say this, non-existent). No Internet. I was fully planning on unpacking a few things and getting some sleep. This was the first time that I got a glimpse (still don’t think it has fully hit me, yet) that I am HALWAY ACROSS THE WORLD. I felt lonely that night. I did not second guess my decision, but I did realize more clearly the uphill battle that I have in front of me to mesh with a new culture and build new relationships. I was a little disappointed that I do not have a roommate, but maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. Instead of coming back to the apartment to hang out with him, maybe this will force me to stay out of the apartment and be outgoing during my year at this location. I unpacked a good number of things, took a little shower to cool off (below: this is my whole bathroom; swimsuit is covering the shower head), and then said a few prayers.

I did not cry that night, which is shocking. If you know me, I am a very emotional guy and the fact that I have not cried at all during this process is very surprising (you could have gotten me not cryingat 20-1 in Vegas last week). I just prayed that the other teachers didn’t feel lonely/lost that night. We all signed up for a crazy adventure, and this is the hand we have been dealt. I also prayed for my health and safety during my time in Southeast Asia. Once I was ready for bed, I went to turn off the bathroom light. All the lights went out. I think by turning off the light I caused a fuse to blow and all the electricity in my room went out. Indonesia, mane. Thankfully, the only thing that stunk was not having air conditioning that night. It is very hot and muggy, here. I got about 5 hours of sleep that night. I think that I heard the Muslim call to prayer around 5 that morning, but it is a very hazy memory. I woke up around 8:00am and it was fully light out. One thing that will take some getting used to is that the sun rises every morning at 6:00am and the sun sets every day at 6:00pm—because we are practically on the equator. Just before 10:00am Thursday, a nice young fellow from Bina Bangsa came by to make sure that we had our water (can’t drink the tap water here, so they have hooked me up with a Danone office-esque water cooler) and that everything was alright. I informed him that my electricity was out and he left saying he would tell someone about the situation. About 45 minutes later 3 gentlemen came by to investigate. Later on that day, my power was restored.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with Jenny and Aaron to do a little exploring around our apartment complex for our first day in the city. We found a nice restaurant with wifi (I wanted to send a text to mom and let her know everything was going fine) that had tremendous food. I got the Momma’s Fried Noodles with chicken. It had the little pepper next to the name of the dish to signal “spicy.” The noodles had a great kick and I demolished that meal. The people there were very nice and I had my first photo request from one of our waiters. I had been warned about people wanting to take photos with you randomly, and sure enough it happens. He must have recognized me from the blog. We continued to walk around for about an hour and I’m sure a lot of locals went home talking about the crazy white guy with the phat (yeah, I used a “ph” phat) smile on his face walking around town. A lot of people yelled, “Hey Mister!” and there I was like Kramer responding to “Assman” with a wave and a smile for everyone. When we got back I ran into Cindy, a teacher from Canada, in my hallway. She was part of a group that was taken to the mall to get a few necessities. She said that she had been told that we were not permanently staying in this apartment and that this was only temporary. I’m not sure how I would feel about moving. On one hand, I would love a roommate and possibly a bigger/nicer space. Having someone to talk through the highs and lows of this year would be great. But I am already somewhat settled in here and it isn’t that bad. I guess I will find out in a few days after our orientation is done.

We ended our first night by heading to a spot with wifi to enjoy a beer and update everyone back home on our whereabouts. It is going to be an adjustment, but I hope to make the most out of every day I get to spend in Indonesia.

Minumlah!