As I write this post, sitting in the living room of my home and looking out the front window, I see people sloshing through the meter-high water that has filled the streets, making it impossible for any cars or motor scooters to get through at all. It's pretty dirty water, but everyday I roll up my pants and hope for the best as I, too, slosh through the water every morning on my way to school and back. Luckily, the water hasn't begun to seep into our house like it has my neighbors, but my host mom and I have been preparing for the worst, spending two whole days moving a whole bunch of stuff from the first floor to the second. Because I live in a much poorer area than my first family, most of my neighbors don't have a second floor to move their things to, and a lot of them have relocated with their families to the homes of friends and relatives until they can return to their homes after the floods. It's crazy that just a year ago, I would see these kinds of stories on the news, but actually living through one of these situations has changed my perspective a lot.
I spent New Year's at Bira Beach with some friends from school and had a blast. We rented a villa near the beach, brought about a month's supply of Indomie (Indonesia's version of Ramen Noodles), cookies, a bunch of other junk food and enough fireworks for the entire country of China for our three days there and spent the whole night swimming and setting off fireworks with some people that we met when we got there. For the rest of our time there we went snorkeling around the islands near Bira and laying out in the sun. Not a bad way to ring in the New Year, huh?
But other than that, not a whole lot of new stuff been going on with me, just going back to school and hanging out around Makassar. This weekend I'll be going to some big celebration in my host mom's village in the mountains, which I'm sure will be a ton of fun. I love the people who live in the mountains, they're so different from the people in Makassar, they're a lot more laid-back and traditional and I always end up having some ridiculous experience every time I go there.
Also, the last week-ish has been kinda tough for me because my grandpa died. He was old, 89, when he passed, and before I left for Indonesia I said my goodbyes to him keeping in mind that it could be the last time I would get to see him, but it was still tough to hear that he'd died. Thankfully, my host family has been amazingly supportive and loving, that despite being so far away from my actual family back in the US, I feel so comforted by them. I couldn't ask for a better family here. I will, however, return to the US a couple of weeks early in May in time for my grandpa's funeral/wake/ceremony thing with the rest of my family.
But! Other than that, I really am truly happy to be here right now in Indonesia. I am surrounded by friends and family who love me so much, and it really is impossible for me to think about saying all of my goodbye's in just a couple of months. On the bright side, when I have two months left in Indonesia, the Rotary program here says that we students are free to travel around Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as much as we want and with whomever we want (as long as it's pre-approved by Rotary, of course) so I'm super excited about that coming up.
I can't thank my parents enough for supporting me with all of my adventures, wherever they've taken me. The same goes for Rotary, for giving me this amazing experience. It's truly been life-changing. Can't wait to see what the next four months have in store for me!
I spent New Year's at Bira Beach with some friends from school and had a blast. We rented a villa near the beach, brought about a month's supply of Indomie (Indonesia's version of Ramen Noodles), cookies, a bunch of other junk food and enough fireworks for the entire country of China for our three days there and spent the whole night swimming and setting off fireworks with some people that we met when we got there. For the rest of our time there we went snorkeling around the islands near Bira and laying out in the sun. Not a bad way to ring in the New Year, huh?
But other than that, not a whole lot of new stuff been going on with me, just going back to school and hanging out around Makassar. This weekend I'll be going to some big celebration in my host mom's village in the mountains, which I'm sure will be a ton of fun. I love the people who live in the mountains, they're so different from the people in Makassar, they're a lot more laid-back and traditional and I always end up having some ridiculous experience every time I go there.
Also, the last week-ish has been kinda tough for me because my grandpa died. He was old, 89, when he passed, and before I left for Indonesia I said my goodbyes to him keeping in mind that it could be the last time I would get to see him, but it was still tough to hear that he'd died. Thankfully, my host family has been amazingly supportive and loving, that despite being so far away from my actual family back in the US, I feel so comforted by them. I couldn't ask for a better family here. I will, however, return to the US a couple of weeks early in May in time for my grandpa's funeral/wake/ceremony thing with the rest of my family.
But! Other than that, I really am truly happy to be here right now in Indonesia. I am surrounded by friends and family who love me so much, and it really is impossible for me to think about saying all of my goodbye's in just a couple of months. On the bright side, when I have two months left in Indonesia, the Rotary program here says that we students are free to travel around Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as much as we want and with whomever we want (as long as it's pre-approved by Rotary, of course) so I'm super excited about that coming up.
I can't thank my parents enough for supporting me with all of my adventures, wherever they've taken me. The same goes for Rotary, for giving me this amazing experience. It's truly been life-changing. Can't wait to see what the next four months have in store for me!
"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow... and then we return home." - Aboriginal Proverb
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