Alright folks, you want an all inclusive look at this journey..here it is. Today was a roller coaster of emotions for our entire group. We had a late start this morning, not having to meet until 10 when we’d get together to discuss this next week’s agenda and sort of debrief about our experiences from the past week. Last night my roommates and I had a little venting session, which helped prepare us for this group meeting. I had no idea what to expect from the rest of the group, but once I stepped inside the study room I could feel the tension oozing from everyone. Dr. H asked us to go around and talk about our positive/negative/surprising experiences as a way for us to share this trip with each other. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve really enjoyed myself here, so I wanted to emphasize my positive encounters with the locals. My main complaints were with the preparation of this trip. We weren’t told what to expect, so everything from the living arrangements to the social climate were a shock to us. We were all asked to prepare a presentation, but again, no guidelines or rubrics where given on that assignment. I spoke my mind freely yet respectfully, and without a lot of censorship, and was worried that I may have offended some members of the group. Some things needed to be said though, and I didn’t want the giant elephants to remain in the room for our last week here.
After our rocky/touchy/emotional debriefing, we went to a vocational school ATMI to learn about their system and to present on American community colleges. We had a pleasant time there and I was very surprised by their craftsmanship and work ethic. Then the group split up. Some people went back to the dorms, others to the mall to find wifi, but 4 others and I went to the Jababeka country club to get massages. Afterwards our group ran into the manager of the club, whereupon he insisted we join him for dinner at the 5 star restaurant (he offered a 50% discount…how could we resist!?) We really enjoyed meeting with the manager, Tom. He has studied and lived all over the world and was able to provide some insight into the culture and mannerisms of Indonesians. (We’ve had some difficult personal experiences, most of which have been racist or at least derogatory towards members of our group. I won’t go into detail on here because it’s their personal business). Tom explained that Asians in general then to be a very discriminatory people. They focus on skin tone and status and “the coolness factor” more than other nationalities, so they tend to be more judgmental, blunt, and discriminatory towards members of ANY minority group. We shared our negative experiences, and Tom was able to make sense of why some people had treated us as poorly as they did.
My roommates and I ended the evening on a positive note! We’ve gotten into the habit of walking around the courtyard area between all the dorms just to see what’s going on. The other American students go to bed around 8:30-9, but we like to get out and meet new people. The past couple of nights there has been a volleyball tournament going on so we’ll sit and watch and cheer along with the other P.U. students. Most of the young Indonesians are very curious about us and will come up to our group and start conversations. Others have not been so friendly; we’ve heard the term “buleh” a couple times which is…if anything, hurtful. (It can be translated to “white” or “Caucasian” but is similar in connotation to the N word. I’m one of only 2 white students on this trip, so we’ve been treated different at times, again both negatively and positively). I can’t let it get to me though, because we’ve met some wonderful students and they’ve been very gracious to us. It’s our job to adapt to and learn from this culture, so that’s what we’re trying to do J Things are looking up for team U.S.A.
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