Sumatran Dance & Avocado Smoothies

One of my favorite things about Indonesia is the hospitality people have for foreigners, making it easy to find new friends.  Today my friend Charlah called me and invited me to UPN to watch a dance group practice for an upcoming performance.  Charlah had her friend come pick me up at Dito’s house.  My usual motorbike ride through the city was composed of hanging on tight to the back seat of a fast moving bike, weaving in an out of cars, and getting absolutely soaked by the daily thunderstorm in intense traffic.  It wouldn’t be an adventure if it didn’t include a little danger!  

After arriving at UPN, I met up with Charlah and the dance group.  Some of the dancers were also AIESECers that I had met at a meeting in the University a few days prior.  They were practicing a traditional dance from North Sumatra.  They seemed very prepared for their upcoming performance and decided to ask me, the bule (foreigner), to join in.  We clapped our hands together as they sang, and picked up the beat, faster and faster.  Our dance ended in laughter as some of us got confused with the fast tempo. 

Tyo and some others drove me back from UPN to my host families house.  I asked them if they wanted to come to Garden Juice, a local fruit juice bar near my house, to join me for a smoothie.  In Indonesia, avocado is considered a fruit and often mixed with chocolate and milk to make a fruit smoothie.  I was a little nervous about my first avocado smoothie, but it turns out, it’s now my favorite!  We all ordered a round of fruit smoothies, and enjoyed picking rambutan (a hairy fruit) from the tree above us, of course ending in throwing the seeds at one another!              

Project

Here in Yogya I'm working with AIESEC, an international student run organization.  Yogyakarta is known as a university city, full of many students from Indonesia's many islands.  The project that students are working on here is HIV/AIDS education/awareness.  I'm specifically working with two universities, UGM and UPN, as well as several NGOs that work at targeting at risk populations for HIV/AIDS.  So far our project has been centered around preparing for a high school road show to present information on sexual health.  The idea is to have a peer-led project.  High schoolers will present the information to their fellow students with the help of local NGOs.  I will be working with these student leaders to help them prepare their presentations and encourage them in their leadership role.  My role will be to provide information on HIV/AIDS in the U.S., to show how different countries approach disease transmission.  There will be several difficult aspects of this project.  So far I've been trying to understand my own thinking on HIV/AIDS, my own prejudices and judgements.  I think it is important to understand one's own thinking before diving into educating others.  The AIESECers here have been good at providing me information on cultural notions of sex, drugs, and disease, all of which are important to HIV/AIDS education.  The last thing I want to do is make people uncomfortable while trying to provide awareness on STDs.  One thing I'm impressed with is the motivation most youth have, it is humbling to see how active people are, whether it is HIV/AIDS or conservation of tigers in Sumatra or Oragutans in Kalimantan (Borneo).  I know that people here will push my thinking, something that I will take back with me to the U.S.  

Indonesia

I've arrived to Jakarta, 11 hours by plane to Istanbul and another 11 to Jakarta.  I hopped off the plane to find myself in a city of 11 million with no where to stay, speaking absolutely no Bahasa Indonesian.  I wasn’t feeling well either and luckily stumbled across a very caring Jakartan taxi man who was willing to take care of me during the ride.  I went straight to bed, trying to adjust to the 12 hour time difference and eager to get to Yogya.

When I arrived to Yogyakarta, Yoana and Cantya picked me up at the airport.  I was nervous to meet my new host family, unsure of what to expect.  I was happy to realize that Dito would be my host brother as he is an AIESECer and the one who interviewed me 3 weeks prior to my departure.  Dito helped me settle in to my new home for the next 7 weeks.  Dito’s mother is the owner of a catering business here in Yogya, and lucky for me, Dito explained that I would get home cooked meals, many of which, better than my own mothers home cooking, and that’s saying a lot!  From then on, I knew I was in good company.