Goodbye!

'All good things come to an end'

That's what they say, but I have my doubts...

Although I have said goodbye to Indonesia for the time being and am back at my desk in Oslo, the amazing experience of living in Banda Aceh will stay engraved in my memories. Furthermore, it has made an impact on me as a person and I hope to be able to share my experience and enthusiasm with others.

So let's regard this as a beginning. A beginning of stories, pictures and action!

For the meantime, sampai djumpa teman! (see you later, friend)

Religion

How can I live in a place that is also referred to as 'the Gateway to Mecca' without writing about religion in my blog? And believe me, Indonesia, vibrant as this country is, is filled with all kinds of belief...

Since the moment I first stepped out of the plane in Banda Aceh, religion has been evident all around me, in whichever activity you're engaged and at absolutely every location. I know the first picture of my last chapter was also of young girls wearing a jilbab, but it has made such an impression on me that I had to include this picture of two little girls on their way to school. Every morning I first see the gigantic strawberry bobbing along the side of the road -this is definitively the favourite schoolbag in town! - attached to a little human shape. Much like the strawberry, the jilbab is a sign of today's fashion. Only just five years ago women were wearing head scarves, much more casually wrapped around their heads à la Grace Kelly. But now, as confirmed on MTV, it's all about taking a stand, making a statement and, of course, the tighter the better! Last week I had my own little experience of what it's like to be all wrapped up during our visit to the Grand Mosque. After a trip to the rector of the Islamic University - who introduced us to the main pillars of Islam - we headed off to the Grand Mosque to talk to the Grand Imam (it was all very Grand, I can tell you!). Unfortunately we never made it past his office as a traffic jam caused us to arrive just before prayer time leaving us with crushed hopes of ever seeing the mosque from the inside.. Every village has at least one mosque, it is the first building constructed in a community. Although the 5 daily prayers do not have to take place inside the mosque (our meeting room often has little carpets adorning the white tiled floor), all men must go to the mosque on friday at noon prayer. Other than that, one can come and go as one pleases and use the mosque as a meeting place - for prayer, business, gossip or a game of chess. Since yesterday, that seems to be all that happens throughout the city during daytime, well, if you don't count sleeping. We have entered the month of Ramadhan and everyone is fasting (including some of the experimental interns - not me!) and therefore slow and sleepy. Imagine a busy, lively city and then take away all of the factors that have to do with food or drink. Scrap all the people who walk around with a coffee in their hand, chewing on an apple, or buying food at the market. The result: the city is like a ghost town! It is quite eery...

Good thing all those Muslims did not go to Bali, like I did! Enjoying three wonderful days on this breathtaking island, I was lucky enough to arrive for the celebrating of Kuningan, a Hindu ceremony dedicated to the ascendence of ancestral holy spirits to heaven. Offerings include flowers, incense and food (mostly rice and lots and lots of fruit) and are made at every holy symbol on the island. If you imagine that every village must have at least three temples, that every family lives in a compound with three tempels in it, that every shop or institution receives daily morning offerings and that all large artifacts of nature (huge rocks or trees) also have a temple built by or around it, then you can understand that the amount of food on the streets of Bali could seriously damage the principles of Ramadhan.. To me, Bali seemed like a much more religious place than Banda Aceh, but in a completely different way. The Balinese do not practice religion, they live it. Or rather, it lives through them. The tranquility, humbleness and peace shines through all the actions of these beautiful, happy people. Everything revolves around tradition and rituals and can be found through all the generations in a completely natural and unforced way. The young participate in dance and worship with the same dedication as their elders. Symbols such as buddha statues, elephants, dragons, and dancers can be found everywhere and banana leaves and bamboo are transformed into beautiful decorations that are used for offerings. For Kuningan, in addition to the decorating of streets, even cars and honda's were more colourful than usual with ornaments draped over their hoods. Seems to me like the prefect way to avoid a speeding ticket!!

Another thing the Balinese are very religious about: Rice. The island is covered in beautifully stepped rice paddies, wet basins with the very green and young rice plants are alternated with basins of the full bushy adult plants and the dry, yellow mature plants ready for harvesting. The plants are cut by hand and the rice grains are beaten out of the plant by hitting the 'grass' onto a wooden grate - all done on location, in the paddies. the grains are then scooped up into a shallow dish and slowly poured out of the dish onto the ground again, letting the wind blow away the unwanted skins and bad grains. After three days of drying the rice on sheets in the sun, they are bagged and sent to a 'factory' (little machine that one of the villagers has in his garage) where the skins are removed and the rice is ready for final packaging. In the meantime, ducks are driven over the harvested paddies to eat up all the insects and small snakes - while they leave good fertilizer behind them and fatten themselves up so that they can land on our plate, all nicely roasted and crispy mmm..

There is so much more to reveal about this island, but I think I will just extend my newfound knowledge to anyone who reads my blog and needs a personal guide on their next visit to Bali. Count me in!!

Love & Liberty

After my last post about love for food, I am sure you are now wondering about the real thing; Love and Romance.. Let me give you a little taste of what it's like here, followed by a story of liberty, because that is definitively something to be loved!

As you might have noticed on some of my blog pictures, Banda Aceh is a very strict Islam city where prayer times are followed - you are loudly reminded of them throughout the day (and middle of the night!), food has to be halal and clothing restrictions for women are the norm. Girls start wearing jilbabs at a young age and have to make sure to cover their skin.

So you might ask yourself how, without the temptation of visible voluptuous curves or the alcohol which gives courage and makes everyone else more attractive, the different sexes approach each other. The answer has two wheels and a motor. That's right, we call it 'Honda-love'! The term traffic light relationship has gotten a whole new meaning for me here in Indonesia. Teenagers are known to drive around town on their bike and do some serious checking-each-other-out while they wait for the red light. And if they are very bold, girls will hop off their friend's bike to hop on the back of a boy's bike..very daring!! On saturday night, the real tough kids gather to motor race down a long road just outside of town. Some of the girls are even known to have removed their Jilbabs and let their hair blow in the wind! But you always have to keep an eye out for the Shariah police..

If you play your cards right, during your teens and after that, you are likely to end up getting married and hosting an enormous crowd of people at your wedding reception where you have to uncomfortably stand and smile for the entire day while you wear so many stiff and scratchy clothes that you are left sticky and sore and are more likely to collapse in the marital bed (which is viewed with oohs and aaahs by the wedding guests) than do anything else..
From marriage to liberty (contradicting concepts? -just kidding). Sunday, August 17th was the official celebration of Indonesia's independence from the mean and oppressive Dutch.. (ask my brothers, I'm sure they'll confirm I fit the category!) All cities and villages are decorated with flags and there is much food to be eaten and many games to be played. One of them is the very traditional climb-an-extremely-slippery-palm-tree-to-get-the-presents-at-the-top. This is done by both women and men, but the men make it look like a very macho event; there is a lot of grunting, yelling and patting each other on the back. The tree is tall, very tall and not only is it full of oil and vaseline, the participants get extremely slippery making it even harder to climb on top of each other. After 2 hours of continuous climbing, and many sore shoulders, wripped jeans and t-shirts later, the guys finally had to give up (and lose their chance to win 3 million Rp -about 300 USD!!). Some say they were too weak, some say the tree was too tall and others claim there was too much grease. But they did manage to gather the whole neighbourhood as spectators - including some little girls who preferred to watch from inside the building (loving their liberty!).

For myself the weekend was great and filled with joy and liberty. Not only did we get an extra day off and witness all the festivities, but since I was on an island off the coast where Islam rules are not so strict, I was also allowed to shed my layers and even wear a bikini! What freedom..

Food & drink

Food, glorious food! How could I have deprived you of 'the food issue' for such a long time? Shame on me.. But here it is, finally, in all its colours, shapes and sizes. Take your tastebuds for a ride!

Although large parts of Asia are experiencing a serious food crisis, Banda Aceh does not seem to be much affected by this phenomenom. In fact, Indonesia is doing quite well on the rice, coffee bean and cocao production front. And isn't that is all we need; sushi (no problems with fish either), coffee and chocolate?
Actually, as many Dutch can confirm, the main national dishes are Nasi Goreng (fried rice), noodles and anything else 'goreng' - fried. The more fat, the better and please pass the sambal -chili sauce- for that extra local touch. If that isn't enough, wait until they start adding the garlic! I have personally seen our cook cutting up a bucket full of garlic to prepare for the day - maybe that's why my fresh fruit for breakfast always has a suspicious taste to it...

To compensate for all the fat and sugar -'without sugar please' means nothing here- there is an abundance of fruit and vegetables. Especially fruit seems to be popular among the Acehnese, there are fruit stalls can be found all over town, often side by side, displaying the most fantastic rows and pyramids of colourful fruit. This suits me perfectly and I am already a respected, well, at least loyal customer at the stall by our house. I let my friends Boy and Azihr 'Hello Lau!' rip me off every other day - with a smile! The vegetables are surprisingly familiar, with broccoli and cauliflower among the favourites. I had not expected this, but it seems that they are easy and fast to grow, with a small chance of ruining the crop. After the tsunami, many farmers who lost their land and had to start afresh were taught to grow these vegetables as part of their economic development programs. When it comes to meat, the clear winner is ayam, chicken. Be sure you get a Kota -city- chicken and not the Gampong -village- alternative, also known as 'meatless chicken'. If you want to be sure you can get the freshest bird there is, go to the 'headless chicken bridge'. The pictures say it all (note the live chickens in the background, awaiting their fate). Although not used for sushi, there is a lot of seafood to be found. Another one of my favourites! At Simang Mesra -the romantic intersection- (the curve in the road is so sharp, that you end up sitting very snug to that cute passenger next to you when taking the local bus), you can pick a fish, weigh it, bargain for price and watch it being tossed on the bbq. Smells and tastes fantastic!

Well, all this writing about food has made me rather hungry. Good thing I had the local noodle-guy make me a take away (They have developed this to perfection, an art; even coffee is sold in a neat little plastic bag). Banana leaves make for the ultimate waterproof packaging material!

Transportation

They haven't quite come up with a time machine -which would have been very handy- but there are many ways to get around the city...

Another week has flown by (no pun intended) and still there are so many new things to see, do and taste each day. This time I'd like to introduce you to the organized chaos of Banda Aceh. There are about 200.000 people in this city and of course they all have to move around from A to Z and everywhere in between. As you can imagine, it is a true hussle and bussle with so many unofficial shops and no official closing times (they even sell fruit at 04 at night - the perfect time for a midnight fruitsalad!).

Even though the UN provides us with big, beautiful, blue and white UN vehicles, the true way to get around is on motorcycle, aka Honda (even though yours has a different brand). They resemble small scooters and carry an average of 2,5 people on them - I have seen families of 5 on a single Honda and have even spotted a mother breastfeeding her baby while balacing on the back of a bike!!

With so many motor bikes in town, petrol becomes more popular than pineapple juice, but where do you get it? With only one official petrol station in the entire city, people become creative and start their own. Every 50 meters or so, you'll see a family gathered around a collection of obscure looking jerrycans - this picture is probably the best visible 'petrolstation' I've seen!

If you do not have a bike (or you have rented yours to a foreign NGO intern - no comments necessary), then you always have the option to ride a becak: bike with sidecar. Be sure to wear your Muslim clothes so that you don't get harrassed or super dusty! If a becak is too expensive for you or if it rains, then you can choose the comfort of a labilabi. This is Bahasa (Indonesian) for 'turtle' - you can imagine why. They are generally ovens on wheels and the passengers always leave the back doors wide open for some natural air conditioning. As a last resort, one can always put on some comfy no/low heeled shoes and do some jalang (walking). Crazy as it may seem, this is probably the most dangerous choice of moving around town, there are pitfalls every other meter and you feel like you are the leading figure in a computergame, jumping over holes and dodging bikes..

I suppose if you are really not in the mood or position to move (this would not be my preferred town if I were an invalid), then you can always wait until the shops come to you. You name it and you can find it on wheels - including a donut shop!

Tsunami Damage

Where time seems to go I do not know, the pace is definitively not the same as it is at home! This time I'd like to give a short impression of some of the destruction the tsunami caused.

After a fantastic party on saturday night (socializing comes very easily here!), the girls and I decided to go on 'the tsunami tour'. This consisted of a UN driver taking us to see an enormous boat which was carried in land by the tsunami.
It is so big that it was too much work to remove it, so it now rests in the middle of a neighbourhood to remind people of the staggering force of this incredible wave. Climbing onto the boat, we could hardly make out a sliver of water in the distance, so it was not at all close to the shore. Around the boat the community has already started building houses, you can clearly see the difference between what's new and what isn't. This area was hit hard and it reminded me of pictures of warzones. You can clearly see the total destruction when you stand in the middle of ruins. In Aceh alone, almost 150.000 lost their lives and more than 200.000 were displaced. Today there are about 4 million people in Aceh. Almost everyone who is from here has amazing stories to tell. Some of the drivers have lost their entire family, one of them was in his car driving away from the tsunami when the water caught up with him and overturned his car. He managed to climb out of the window and got away. If you stop and think, absolutely everyone and everything was affected.
Yesterday afternoon the entire area of Aceh lost electricity. Some of the shops and NGO's have generators, but our house doesn't. We ended up with candles and in a very warm and dark house. It was very cosy but looking out of my bedroom window later that night, I could imagine how scary it would have been after the catastrophe hit.

At the same time, it is very impressive to see how everyone is dedicated to rebuilding and developing the city and districts. The locals are very welcoming to us foreigners and we were a big attraction to some little girls whom I took a picture of!

Well, it's off to home now. Tomorrow I am having dinner with a Dutch guy whom I met in the swimming pool where I swim in the mornings. Amazingly enough we were the only two people there, imagine the chances!

First Impression

Finally, after three hectic days full of new impressions, I have time for my blog!

After squeezing myself into a Ryanair equivalent Air Asia plane, I arrived in Banda Aceh's very humble airport. There must have been some VIP (not me!) on board as we were welcomed by a woman singing in a microphone and 8 girls with drums dancing and smiling and pretending not to melt in the bright sun and high humidity.

I was picked up by one of the UN drivers (we have quite a lot of them and they drive us around every time we want to go somewhere, including the supermarket!). After receiving a short briefing, I was shown to my office which I share with 2 of my 4 housemates, Susan (from the USA) and Snow (from Myanmar).
5 minutes later I was shown into a meetingroom where I had a chat with Marcus (the Swedish intern coordinator) and Jonathan (the Canadian Greek very funny 'boss'). Jonathan explained all about the ARF, a large document describing and categorizing all the different organisations in the area and their main objectives and activities.
You can read more about them on the website http://www.unorc.or.id/
Following the meeting we had the driver take us to the most fancy restaurant in town, where we had swordfish and gin & tonic on their rooftop terrace for the staggering price of 10 USD per person...
Finally I was dropped off at my new home where we all (including the other 2 interns Jimmy and Dan -also USA) enjoy the luxury of our own room with AC and even running water in the shower :-)
The following day I had my practicalities fixed and was already instructed to take minutes of a meeting about gender issues followed by attending a meeting about women participation in local governmental bodies so that I could write an article about it for the UNORC newsletter. I managed 2 hours of sitting cross legged on the floor next to the translater, impressive!
During the coming days we will agree on my future tasks, most likely women and children issues as well as writing articles (that means going 'out there' to attend meeting and interview NGO's and locals) for the newsletter. I am excited!
That's all for this time, after a 6 day work week, the girls and I will get a 2 hour massage tomorrow (for 8 USD) - I think we deserve it!

Kuala Lumpur

This little (actually, larger than my size 41 feet) rat must have been the brother of the very much alive rat that crawled its way up to my table at the chinese restaurant last night... Did I choose the wrong side of town to stay at?

Actually, apart from the rats, this is a very decent hotel with a VERY decent spa on the 1st floor. I had a little lady walk all over me and crack my back and neck and now I feel like I am walking on air! I wish I could take her home.. I suppose there was quite a bit to crack after I spent the day walking around town - very slowly, to spare my hips. It has been grey and rainy, but nevertheless a great day.

I wish I could have taken a look in the national mosque, but since I qualify as tourist, and a not very muslim one, I was not allowed in :-(

After picking up a leaflet of Qu'ran propaganda and the female role explained (did you know the US spends an annual 56 $ BILLION on porn?!), I did learn all about the Islam architecture around the globe at the Islamic arts museum.

That's all for today, tomorrow I continue on to Sumatra to find out what I will be up to for the next two months..

One last impression of KL: there is a wonderful mix of cultures here!

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to my blog!
(this makes me feel like a facebook crazy teenager..)

It's time to start my adventure in Indonesia!
Limited internet connection and mainly limited time - I am sure I will be busy doing lots of exciting things (Yes, BBQ on the beach counts as exciting!) have driven me to start this blog.
I will try to give you an impression of what it is like to live and work in this part of the world, after the tsunami washed this beautiful city away.

All comments are welcome!
:-)
Laurette