Last friday night my dad informed me that we would be going to one of his friends from work's wedding the next morning. I was really scared because it would be a traditional Indonesia wedding, meaning we would go to a Islamic mosque for a mass all spoken in Bahasa with people that didn't know English. I would also have to wear clothes that would cover me from my ankles to me chest. What if I did something wrong? Would they get mad? Do they even want Americans at the service?
The next morning I got up and got ready. I wore a long blue sundress for the wedding with a grey sweater. I regretted it because it was scorching hot that day but it wasn't like I had a choice. We left by 7:00 a.m. to get there for 8:00 a.m. When we arrived we were greeted by what americans would call the groom's family (I am not sure if they call the wedding couples bride and groom or not. They never told us.) To my surprise all of his family spoke English extremely well, his sister was even an English teacher. The only one who couldn't understand us was the groom's grandfather. Someone translated to me that he said he would just smile and laugh. How cute!!! The bride spoke English too, but her family did not.
When it was time for the service to begin we entered the mosque and were the only white people there. We also had no idea what was going on. Luckily a nice woman who was the the aunt of the bride tried to communicate with us and show us what to do. There are some major differences between the different religion's weddings. The first being that the bride and groom do not kiss. In fact men and women do not touch at all when they inside a mosque. The second is that the bride and groom actually sign their wedding license paperwork at the wedding where as in America we do it before the wedding. Another difference is the things that they wear. No very long, flowing gowns. Usually they were very high quality Batik. Batik is a style of clothing many Indonesians wear on a daily basis. You can look it up to see what it looks like. This Batik though, OH MY GOSH. It was so gorgeous. The bride word all white lace Batik with a long headdress, which during the ceremony is wrapped around her new husband too. All of the women on the grooms side wore blue Batik and the women on the brides side wore tan Batik.
The wedding took about and hour an d after they gave out snacks and a two and a half hour period of time before the reception began. We met a photographer who was originally from Bali. He offered to take us to a Balinese Hindu temple close by. So on our way there I found out that his religion was quite different from the Islam religion the was being practiced at the wedding. Men and women can touch in the temple and sign their wedding documents before the wedding. The temple was created because so many people were moving from the island of Bali to Jakarta and they wanted to have their own places to be with other Balinese temple. There were many Balinese people living around the temple, like one big community.
We drove for about ten minutes before we arrived at the temple. It was very different from the mosque. Religious statues of what I assumed to be gods were everywhere. the whole outside of area what painted orange with many beautiful and colorful foliage surrounding it. There a lot of little children and a couple of them were playing a really cool instrument that looked like a drum but made the noises of a xylaphone. We stayed there for most of the time in between the mass and the reception because it was so relaxing.
When we got back to the reception it was everything but relaxing. Their was loud music with people yelling and a bunch of long lines for food. I sat down and many people came over and swarmed me asking for pictures and my name. One even introduced me to her 20 year old nephews ;) After a while they decided I looked like young Brooke Shields. I don't see the resemblance though. No one had ever seen Americans or any person that was not Indonesian go to a traditional wedding. They were all so grateful that my family and I took the time to come to something we knew was out of our element and was very different from what we were used to. I am glad I went and experienced other cultures from my own. I will be doing a lot of that here:)
-Kaylin
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Crazy Start
Well I can honestly say it has been a wild week for my family and I. This week was my first week of school. My new school is the bomb! I love my old school and all, but seriously it doesn't get better than Jakarta International School. The campus is absolutely beautiful. Everyone there has a smile on their face and as soon as I walked into a room I was bombarded by a bunch of kids introducing themselves to me. It kind of got a little creepy at times. If you want to know more about JIS and see pictures, go here --> http://www.jisedu.or.id.
The second part of my week is just me sharing with you some crazy things I have seen on the road here. The other day I was going to the mall to get some school supplies after school. On my way I drove by a man on a motorcycle with a pouch carrying two goats. Yes, I said goats! They were in canvas bags on either side of the vehicle. All you could see were their heads popping out of the bags. It was the weirdest thing. But like my driver, Jamal says, "Anything possible with motor scooter." Ain't that the truth. Some other interesting things I have seen here are, a scooter with over 20 propane tanks on it. Also some women here ride side-saddle on the motorcycles. Usually it is if they are taking the motorcycle taxi and are unfamiliar with the man driving.
On Wednesday I had very late notice to go to the immigration office in Jakarta, which meant I was going to miss school that day. So that morning I left with my mom and we drove for about an hour and half to the office. When we arrived I walked in and a security guard came up and started yelling at me. I had no clue what was going on and could not understand a word he was saying. He started pointing at my legs and repeating two words over and over. I finally made out what he was saying, "No shorts!" It was one of those WTH moments that annoy you so much but I guess that is just the culture over here. So, my mom called the immigration agent who scheduled our appointment and he came down and tried to convince the guard it was ok. But security would not budge. After a while of my mom looking up words in her English to Indonesian dictionary and completely failing at trying to talk to them a young woman came up to me. She poked me and when I turned around she said, "Trade pants?" I just stared at her for a second then she repeated herself," Do you want to trade pants with me so you can get in?" So that's what happened. I went to the bathroom with the girl and we switched pants. I went upstairs, signed a couple documents, got a picture taken and I was fingerprinted. Then I came back down and we switched our pants back. I couldn't believe someone I didn't even know had offered to help me in a difficult situation where she could have walked away and not have bothered with even glancing at me. You can think all the rude things you want about Indonesia about how it is a bad and unsafe place but that is not the truth. The truth is that that people here are genuinely caring and special people that you don't often meet every day.
The second part of my week is just me sharing with you some crazy things I have seen on the road here. The other day I was going to the mall to get some school supplies after school. On my way I drove by a man on a motorcycle with a pouch carrying two goats. Yes, I said goats! They were in canvas bags on either side of the vehicle. All you could see were their heads popping out of the bags. It was the weirdest thing. But like my driver, Jamal says, "Anything possible with motor scooter." Ain't that the truth. Some other interesting things I have seen here are, a scooter with over 20 propane tanks on it. Also some women here ride side-saddle on the motorcycles. Usually it is if they are taking the motorcycle taxi and are unfamiliar with the man driving.
On Wednesday I had very late notice to go to the immigration office in Jakarta, which meant I was going to miss school that day. So that morning I left with my mom and we drove for about an hour and half to the office. When we arrived I walked in and a security guard came up and started yelling at me. I had no clue what was going on and could not understand a word he was saying. He started pointing at my legs and repeating two words over and over. I finally made out what he was saying, "No shorts!" It was one of those WTH moments that annoy you so much but I guess that is just the culture over here. So, my mom called the immigration agent who scheduled our appointment and he came down and tried to convince the guard it was ok. But security would not budge. After a while of my mom looking up words in her English to Indonesian dictionary and completely failing at trying to talk to them a young woman came up to me. She poked me and when I turned around she said, "Trade pants?" I just stared at her for a second then she repeated herself," Do you want to trade pants with me so you can get in?" So that's what happened. I went to the bathroom with the girl and we switched pants. I went upstairs, signed a couple documents, got a picture taken and I was fingerprinted. Then I came back down and we switched our pants back. I couldn't believe someone I didn't even know had offered to help me in a difficult situation where she could have walked away and not have bothered with even glancing at me. You can think all the rude things you want about Indonesia about how it is a bad and unsafe place but that is not the truth. The truth is that that people here are genuinely caring and special people that you don't often meet every day.
New beginings are very exciting!
Kaylin
Saturday, January 5, 2013
School Orientation
Today I had school orientation for Jakarta International School or JIS. I am one of the eight new students entering JIS. I arrived about a half hour early because of minimal traffic, which is surprising because we live in Jakarta that has a population of over 28 million people. When we arrived at JIS we had to find the middle school office. At first I thought to myself, "Ok, no big deal. This school cant be too big." Boy, was I wrong. My family and I got lost! We walked around campus for some time to realize we went in one big circle about three times. When we finally got to the office, I was provided with a wrist band that I need to wear at all times on the JIS campus. The bracelets have microchips in them that you can put money on and I can use them to buy lunches and get supplies from the school stores. As well as locking up my stuff in a locker. I can even check out library books with it and my student ID. A very nice woman led me to the middle school library, where we had tea and she did a short presentation about the school, classes and clubs/after school activities. I then chose which electives I wanted to take and sorted out my schedule. After that, I walked to the band room where we got our new laptops. They are Mac Book Airs and are so nice. Coming from a school with less people than are in my grade at my JIS is very overwhelming but I think that the people at the orientation helped ease my nerves a lot. I have heard nothing but great things about JIS and I am so grateful to be able to attend school there. My first day is on Monday.
Wish me luck!
-Kaylin
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Week 1
My mom and I left Portland, Maine and arrived at the J.F.K. airport in New York on December 28, 2012 at 6:15 p.m. From there we got on a 8 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany, and from Germany to Singapore on a 12 hour flight. We had a 2 hour layover in Singapore before we left for Jakarta. My dad had already been in Indonesia for a month already. Being apart so long had really gotten to me and I couldn't wait to see him. He met us at the gate and as we started to walk towards him and shouted, " Selamat datang bole baru Kaylin and Kelly!", which translates to "Welcome new ex-pats, Kaylin and Kelly!"(which is where we go the name for our blog.) Ex-pats is short for ex-patriots, which is the program that lets the U.S. citizens get work Visas and travel and live around the world. Our driver took us to my new house where I unpacked and slept for the rest of the day. There is a 12 hour time difference between Jakarta and Maine, which is where I lived.
For most of the first week I rested and shopped. There is a local mall about five minutes walking distance from my house. It has a lot of restaurants, a movie theatre and some batik stores. Batik is a popular type of clothing here. It is made of a specific cloth and is very soft. It usually has very vibrant designs on it too. I am very fascinated by it because of it's beauty. It is very expensive to though.
My mom and I had our first swim in our pool this week. The temperature great and taking a swim in the 80 degree weather. We are getting koi for our koi pond on Saturday. I also have orientation for my new school that day. I am so excited to meet new people and experience new things but I am beyond terrified.
For most of the first week I rested and shopped. There is a local mall about five minutes walking distance from my house. It has a lot of restaurants, a movie theatre and some batik stores. Batik is a popular type of clothing here. It is made of a specific cloth and is very soft. It usually has very vibrant designs on it too. I am very fascinated by it because of it's beauty. It is very expensive to though.
My mom and I had our first swim in our pool this week. The temperature great and taking a swim in the 80 degree weather. We are getting koi for our koi pond on Saturday. I also have orientation for my new school that day. I am so excited to meet new people and experience new things but I am beyond terrified.
Wish me luck!
-Kaylin
PROLOGUE
In May of 2012, my dad left on a business trip to a far away country named Indonesia. At the time I had no idea where Indonesia was, what language the people there spoke and I didn't even know what continent it was on. My dad was gone for two weeks and came home with many stories I could never relate too... Or so I thought. A few months after my dad was home he was offered a job in Indonesia. You can image how scared I was when only 8 weeks ago I had never even heard of the place. So I ventured with my family for ten days to explore Jakarta, Indonesia. While there we bought a house and I applied and got accepted to an international school. All my previous questions were answered... Below Malaysia, above Australia, Bahasa and Asia. In 3 months I would be living there. This is the diary of my mom, Kelly, and I as we experience a new, completely different life on the opposite side of the world.
And the adventure begins...
-Kaylin
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