the best month yet

May has probably been one of the busiest and best months yet in Indonesia. I've spent the last thirty days in three different cities, both reuniting with old friends and making new ones. 

A couple weeks ago I joined in the AFS Java mini exchange, where all the exchange students on Java (maybe 15 or so) switched cities for a week and lived with a new family. I was placed in Bandung, a city in the mountains about two hours from Jakarta. Bandung is actually one of my favorite cities in Indonesia so I was very excited to be placed there. It's mountainous landscape and cool weather is such a welcome and stark contrast from living in Jakarta for the past nine months. 

I got to meet up with some old friends in Bandung as well as explore the city, taking angkot everywhere. Bandung reminded me a lot of Madison in that it had a very "college town" like feel, something that I had really missed about home. 

bule adventures

street food

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my host mom in bandung

A couple weeks after Bandung, my friend Mallory (another YES Abroader from Montana) came to visit me in Jakarta. I got to play tour guide and we roamed around Jakarta from mall to mall, doing what we do best. Somehow we decided it would be a good idea for me to get my hair dyed, which is how this happened:

Through a series of events I now resemble a mix between Iggy Azalea and Queen Elsa from Frozen. I didn't exactly intend for my hair to end up this shade of platinum blonde but hey, you're only seventeen and live in Southeast Asia once. 

After Mallory went home to Bandung I met up with the middle schoolers I had volunteered with a few months ago and we took a field trip to a botanical garden in Bogor. I went with my teacher friend, her mom, and 20 fourteen year old girls so it was a pretty full group. I talked with them in a mix of Indonesian and English so we could both practice each other's languages and I had a great time teaching them about America and high school life. And of course I got the standard questions: 

1) What is your favorite Indonesian food? (Martabak manis)

2) Who is your favorite guy from one direction? (I don't listen to them too much but I guess Niall?)

Afterwards some of us headed back to Annisa's house where we played ping pong (my first time in at least a year) and had es kelapa (coconut water in a plastic bag). Overall it was just a great day with some great people, and I really hope I can keep in touch with them all in the future.

Friday was also my last day of Indonesian high school and junior year, I can't believe how fast this school year has gone but at least I still have about 5 weeks of free time so I can still hang out with my school friends.

Thanks to everyone who continues to read this, only 6 more weeks until I fly home to Madison! Thank you for all the support :)

two months to go

I'd like to make a quick apology for going so long without posting, I only have 65 days left in Indonesia so i am trying to make the most of them and blogging has been hard to fit into my schedule lately.

I'm trying to make these last two months in Indonesia some of my most memorable yet, but I still haven't totally accepted the fact that my experience is almost up. It feels like it was my birthday yesterday, not already a month ago. Bali feels like much less than two months ago, and I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I left Madison eight months ago.

People really aren't lying when they say being an exchange student messes with your concept of time.

I've had a fun last couple of weeks. My definite favorite day was when my host family and Ellen went to Puncak (a national park in West Java) for a day trip. We hiked about an hour through dense, tropical forest until we reached a massive waterfall in the middle of the jungle. Ellen and I were at first under the impression we had hiked all this way to admire the view from a safe (and dry) distance but it most certainly did not end up that way.

We ended up wading in until we were standing under the base of the waterfall, the water cascading over rocks and boulders and drenching us completely. It was freezing but after eight months of bucket showers I didn't seem to notice quite as much. We were in the middle of the jungle in Indonesia standing under a waterfall. It truly doesn't get much better than that.

When friends at school ask me why I chose Indonesia, I often say something about the nature drew me. I mean coming from the Midwest and corn fields stretching to the horizon, something about palm trees and rice terraces and ocean coastline just drew me right in.  While, contrary to popular belief of friends back in the US I do not live in either the jungle or near a beach, Indonesia has treated me very well with its natural beauty. I have lived here over eight months now but riding mopeds under palm trees that line the roads still excites me. 

However, I would be lying if I said my photos from rice terraces and beaches in Bali and jungle trekking in Java are an accurate representation of Indonesia as a whole. Indonesia has jungle, beaches, and rice terraces in addition to big cities and suburbs (where I live). Showing American friends pictures of Balinese beaches and saying "this is Indonesia" would be the same as showing Indonesian friends pictures of Hawaii or Miami and telling them "this is America". America is the metropolis of the east coast, the farms of the midwest, and the Rockies in the West. Indonesia is Jabodetabek (Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi), the Javanese countryside, and the volcanoes and mountains scattered throughout the entire archipelago. The variety of landscapes and cultures are what makes Indonesia click. The official motto of Indonesia is "unity in diversity" which could not describe this country any better. The unity in the diversity of religions, cultures, languages, and landscapes is what makes Indonesia what it is, and I am proud to call this country my second home.

From the rice terraces of Bali

 to the streets of South Jakarta

to the villages on Java

This is all Indonesia.

It all combines together to complete this incredible country that I have called home for the past eight months, and that I only get to call home for 65 days more. Indonesia will forever have a special place in my heart long after I hop on that plane back home, and I can only hope to come back again in the future.