Birthday Bash

A few years back, I celebrated my birthday while I was in Bosnia during an internship.  It was one of my hardest birthdays.  Hence, I was unsure how this birthday would go, but I was hopeful.  I've developed some wonderful friendships here, and we've been able to have great times celebrating others', so I was excited to see what would come of my big day, and if it would all work out as planned.  Because, let's be honest, nothing goes according to plan here.

My birthday weekend was very full.  First up, the Highland Games. You know the Scottish festival where the men get dressed up in kilts and throw the giant logs?  Well they had one of those in Karawaci.  I wasn't able to go for long, just enough to see the opening parade, but that itself was an interesting experience.  A mixture of Asian and Scottish men dressed in kilts all playing bagpipes... I never thought I would ever experience something like this.  There were a ton of shops and restaurants represented here.  I didn't know there were more than two Irish pubs in Jakarta, but apparently, there are many. And they all came out to appeal to the masses of bules, though I'm not sure where all of them came from either!  Sooo many people.

I opted for a more traditional Indonesian snack... a fresh coconut.  In the background of this picture is my apartment building.  I could see the games and all the tents from my window.

For other birthdays we've gone to Bali, played lazer tag, rocked out at karoke, or played games late into the night.  So I wanted something a little different.  So we had a pool party and cook out with only American food.  Burgers, grilled veggies, potato salad, macaroni salad, watermelon, and brownies.  What could possibly be better.  

It was a bit of a challenge getting everything pulled together for the BBQ.  Getting a grill was the most interesting part.  Coincidentally, there was a Frisbee tournament going on the same day.  For lunch, a few of the teachers had brought grills over to cook for all the teams.  When we let one of them know, he was happy to let us use his grill, and we wouldn't have to worry about transporting it or anything.  

But it was out of gas by the time we went to use it.  So Jon and Kimberly rode to the neighborhood to try to find the gas man, who has no phone number.  They'd ask him to deliver the gas to the school where we would be having the cookout.  They found the gas man, and ordered the gas.  But then it started pouring rain.  And what gas man wants to run a massive tank of gas on the back of his motorbike to a school?  None that I know of.  So after a while, Jon was wonderful enough to find a family with a car who drove to the gas man, picked up the gas himself, brought it back to school, and then carried it on his shoulders across campus so that we could put it in the grill.  Have I mentioned how wonderful some of my friends here are?  Then we recruited a worker who was fixing something to help us hook the gas up to the grill.  People are sometimes so helpful!

It stayed pretty rainy most of the evening.  But we were still able to swim, play pool games, smell the grill cooking the burgers (which I haven't had-or smelled- since summer, and didn't realize I missed so much), play some Bananagrams, and have a nice time sitting and talking together.    

Janis made my cake, a carrot cake, since I was having trouble thinking of a kind of cake that I actually like.  Her cake was delicious!  No nuts either!

And the celebrating didn't end there.  Sunday (my actual birthday), I went into town for church and met up with Janna.  We went to a fancy hotel brunch, paid a pretty penny for our meal, but had a lovely time sitting and talking.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful friend live near me.

I was born at 9:21 am.  And every year I get a picture at that time. But with the time difference, that's 8:21 pm.  So Lauren and I headed to Supermall Sunday evening to get my photos.  What a better way to celebrate my birthday in Asia then by doing a photo booth! So that's what we did!

And being a teacher means a guaranteed class party! I actually got to celebrate twice at school.  Once with our pod staff.  We ordered in Chinese food and had a fun time talking and hanging out during lunch.

But interestingly, on Monday, my kids said happy birthday and I handed out my snack to them, but no one sang happy birthday.  Neither of my co-teachers initiated it.  It was a little disappointing, not gonna lie, but I moved on.  Tuesday I get to school, and one little boy informed me that there was going to be a surprise for me.  So he hands me a present.  It was a very nice surprise!  Later, he informed me that there was going to be a surprise after lunch.  Well, I had seen some donuts in the staff room, so I figure that might be it. And then, after lunch, as we were headed back to the class, he lets me know that the class planed a surprise party for me.  Thanks dude.  You apparently don't get what a surprise means.  

As we walked, two of my Korean girls came up and grabbed my hands.  They said to close my eyes.  So as we walked back to class, they chatted in Korean.  Those smart girls!  They left me outside the pod and said not to move.  Ibu Ida invited me into her other office instead of standing in the doorway with my eyes shut.  After a few minutes in her office, one girl comes in saying, "Miss Rachel! There you are! You're supposed to be teaching us English!"  Oh no! I totally forgot!  I made my way into the classroom, and there was a surprise party!  All my kids with big smiles and lots of food on the table.  

I really was surprised!  Maybe not at that moment, but it was such a surprise to have such a big shindig.  I love my team. I love my co-teachers.  I love these students.  I cannot wait for another year with Ida and Betty.  But I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to these adorable little children whom I love so much!

Another surprise, one of my girls brought in trick candles.  I've never experienced them before.  And I don't think there was a better time than when I was surrounded by 17 kids who thought it was hysterical to see their teacher work as hard as I was to blow them out.  There was probably a mixture of spit that landed all over the cake, but I guess I do appreciate their help :) 

Here and There through Jakarta

While Rachel was visiting, I got to visit a few other places in Jakarta that I haven't yet visited, and a few places that I frequent.  These things and these places are the things that make living in an Asian city so special.

We went to Cikarang, which is where Janna lives on the other side of Jakarta from where I live.  It's a more rural area, and is home to some attractions that aren't in the big city.  Attractions such as this alligator farm, home to hundreds of alligators, unfortunately overcrowded, underfed, and missing parts of their bodies.  Our group of 5 was probably about a third of all the people who came during the day. So... it's no wonder that, with the entry fee being almost nothing, the alligators are suffering.  Not that it makes it alright, because it's not okay, but it's pretty common to see things like this.  So, welcome to Atraksi, home of lots of alligators, and creepy coin-operated cars that look like they belong in an 80's horror film.

Sometimes, the roads that we drive really make me remember that I don't live in the West.  The little shops, the motorcycles, other "old-fashioned" means of transportation, the street vendors, and the friendly passer-byers who stare at us because we're bule (white foreigner).

And then you get back into the city, and you see the other traffic... comprised of hundreds of blue taxis and crosses between SUVs and mini-vans.  Massive shopping malls.  On every corner.  Or more than one on a corner.  How they manage to stay in business is beyond me. Actually, I do understand.  There's not much else to do in Jakarta.  As Rachel said, she's excited to tell people about her trip to Malldonesia.  Pretty much our whole lives comes out of the mall.  Clothes, food, entertainment, toilet paper, laundry detergent.  It's no wonder they need so many.  With 22,000,000 people in Jakarta, they need something to do with their time.

Jakarta is home to three good Mexican restaurants.  One, is similar to Chipotle, though it is nowhere near as fabulous.  The second makes an appearance at most school bazaars and has free guacamole.  The third, Hascienda, is the best.  And here, we got to experience the benefits of being bule.  Everyone is very friendly when you're friendly with them, even if you're crazy.  So, when we started roasting marshmallows over the candle, our waiter brought us the creme brulee torch. And then left it at our table for us to use.  Such a nice guy, though he didn't seem too impressed by the roasted marshmallow when we gave him one to try.

A few of us at SPH have gotten into salsa dancing. There's a couple restaurants that offer it on different nights of the week, and I've gone quite a few times this semester.  You get to know the people there, which ones are creepy, and which ones are friendly.  And it's fun to go and have some friends outside of SPH, even if I only see them once a month... and I would never give them my number.  

One of the few touristy things to do in Jakarta is visit Monas, the national monument.  It's nothing that special.  Just a big tower with a museum below that gives a very censored version of Indonesia's history.  But I live here, so it's something I had to do at some point, right?

Across the street is the national museum... home to all things art and music and historical through the centuries of Indonesia's existence.