New home and new friends

Finally got internet up and running in my new home! On Sunday morning at 2 a.m. I arrived in Genteng, a small city in East Java, where I will spend the next 9 months. My house is bright yellow (both inside and outside) and I think the color attracts butterflies because every day I find at least three of my flying friends perched on my walls. There is a living room, three rooms and a spacious kitchen that leads out to a backyard where soon, I will begin planting my own vegetables. Around my backyard (I just noticed this today) is a tall fence crowned with sharp pieces of glass, which I think are intended to keep intruders out. My kitchen is loaded with casava, coconuts, fruits, and cookies that people have brought over for me. There are always people at my house checking in on me and giving me food and whenever I walk around the neighborhood, people invite me into their homes. It is like being a part of one massive family.

For now, Shienda (my co-teacher/counterpart) at my school is living with me. I am very thankful for this because there are so many things that I didn't know how to do- like wearing a jilbob (Muslim headscarf that I wear to school) and taking showers. In my bathroom there is an elevated upright rectangular cube in the corner which can be filled with water. Naturally, I assumed this was a bath-tub. On my first night, I climbed inside to take an uncomfortable, cold bath, all the while wondering how I would tolerate this for one year. Later I learned from Sheinda that I'm not supposed to climb into the tub but in fact the entire bathroom is the shower floor. Thus, to wash yourself, you just stand in the middle of the floor and use the showerhead or dump water on yourself from the tub using scoopers. This was strange to me at first but now I am used to it.

A little about Shienda. She is 24, has a radiant smile, "single and very happy", and probably the most vivacious person I have ever met. She's been teaching English for only 8 months at our school but speaks wonderful English. She learned most of her English from watching American movies and listening to music- everything from Jason Mraz to heavy metal. When she was in college, she was in three different heavy metal bands (much to the demise of her more conservative parents).

In addition to Shienda, I have a friend named Mohammad Syaefulloh that everyone calls "Syaefull" (pronounced Si-full). But I call him Superman because he helps with everything- driving, shopping, and fixing things in the house as they break down. He does all this in addition to starting college (which he just began today) yet he never looks tired. With Shienda and Syaefull I have no worries except that I might burden them too much. Right now my two buddies are lounging in the living room munching on mango dipped in rujak (spicy peanut sauce) and chatting in Javanese and occasionally asking me questions. It is raining heavily and I will probably find lots of puddles in my kitchen tomorrow morning.