We have to plant this tree now! (6/17/11)

Early morning!! But we arrived at UPH school AN HOUR EARLY! (better to be an hour early than a minute late. That funny because we’ve been consistently late to all our appointments..but then all of a sudden we had to leave at the crack of dawn to get to the school and drink overpriced coffee for an hour. Lord have mercy!) They had great faculty and a foundation program in place for teacher education. They gave full scholarships to students in the education program with the agreement that the students would teach in remote areas for a certain length of time. Those areas are assigned by the foundation based on necessity of teachers. In many, if not most cases, it’s the graduates’ job to create a school in a desolate region as opposed to student teaching under the guidance of another instructor. Innovative program.

After that great meeting we hurried back to President’s University since we HAD to plant a tree.

Let me be the first to say that I am honored to have a tree planted in my honor at our host university here in Indonesia…but it was taking over our day! Everything we did surrounded around getting back to Cikarang to plant these trees. Once we did get there, everybody was busy praying (most of the officials are Muslim and were participating in selat, required prayer 5 times a day). We weren’t allowed to change out of our business school because it HAD to be done TODAY. So don’t you fret, we got our trees into the ground. Oh, and they don’t believe in shovels over here. I’m not making this up. Luckily our holes were already dug for us…but we had to cover the base with soil..with our bare hands. Don’t get me wrong, I love working with my hands and getting dirty! I was the only one participating! Most people stood around as I went from tree to tree covering them with dirt and watering them. But NO ONE was around or watching or documenting this…so WHAT was all the fuss about earlier?! As you might be able to tell, I was a little frustrated with the lack of planning and forethought on this issue (I’m sounding like Dad again). But hey, there is now a tree growing (behind the parking lot behind the university!) that says “Mary Hallman. Iowa State University. June 2011” on it. Go ISU..

Once we got done saving the environment, and everybody’s nerve, we had a little alone time which I spent working on the internet trying to research things to do in Jakarta this weekend. We have a free day on Sunday and I don’t want to let it go to waste. Honestly, there’s not much to see in Jakarta…and we’re a good 2 hour drive from there. It’s becoming a little disconcerting, and the group is getting tired of sitting in traffic only to arrive to a school or museum where we just mosey around. Oh, I had this sketchy meeting in the library. I’ve normally felt relatively safe and comfortable here but the term “STRANGER DANGER” took on a whole new meaning for me today. Don’t worry at home. There was just this one guy who wanted me to come to a party tonight and it was hard for him to accept “no”..but I’m pretty sure that he got the point after I walked away. For dinner, we met in Dr. H’s room to have some Papa Ron’s cheese crust pizza. It was a delight. I’ve enjoyed the traditional food here, but it was nice to have a little taste of home and relax together.