Back from China. A New Academic Year. A New but Similar Outlook.

Today, reading my students’ quick writes inspired me (finally) to update my blog. I’ve been struggling a little bit with writing it- knowing that I needed to, but not really in the mood. But today, after smiling, frowning, nodding, and even laughing out loud a little bit as I sat at my desk in my classroom (yes, you read that correctly- I finally have my very own classroom!) reading their thoughts about who they are or who they think they are or who they want (or don’t want) to tell me they are, I feel ambitious and ready to share again.

My mood lately, especially since returning from Indonesia and China, has been less than stellar. My aunt Lisa told me that, just so I knew, I would probably hate the first few months abroad. But after the bouts of homesickness died off and I got acclimated, I would obviously love it. Oddly, my experience has been the opposite. The first six months were so jam-packed with new people, places, jobs, just everything, that I felt like there was no way I was even close to being ready to come home. There was too much happening for me to even have time to think about it. And then I traveled for a month with my friends from home, and then I returned to Thailand and they went back to the States. And I began to feel like I was so far removed from everything I cared about.  Thus, this is the plight I face- what I have come to realize about living and working abroad. I am doing something I love, but I am so far away from (almost) everything and everyone I know and love.

Still, every now and again, I catch myself marveling at the fact that I am here. That this is my life. Sometime during summer school, after classes one day, I was working late as usual. I got up to walk around a bit, get my blood flowing and I found myself in front of the giant windows in the teacher’s lounge, gazing out over the lush green fields, the city in the background, palms swaying gently. It was just one of those moments- I was standing, with my arms crossed in front of me, a mug of tea in one hand, looking out of my office window and thinking about my plans for the next day, running through my to-do list of teacher meetings, parent conferences, lesson planning, etc. Completely normal, uninteresting, organizational, average parts of being a teacher. The only difference is I’m doing it… in Thailand.

China, by the way, was really a great trip. It was so much fun spending time with the students and other teachers, seeing the sights, and of course, what Nakhon International City School trip would be complete without the all-important souvenir shopping we did at least once (sometimes twice) each day and the meals every 15 minutes? China surprised me in many ways. I never thought I would travel there, as it was never high on my list of places to go, but now I am thinking of ways to get back there. It was beautiful- all parts. The city of Shanghai is so modern, in an almost futuristic way, and for being so incredibly huge, it’s also incredibly clean and well-maintained. The ancient cities and temples and ruins we visited were also extremely well-kept, and the countryside was beautiful. I am itching to get to the Great Wall and go to Beijing.

Students on the boat ride!

Chinese Acrobats in Shanghai

Chinese Gardens

Chinese Gardens

The Boys

Shanghai at night!

The view from The Pearl Tower

My favorite shop- Grandmother's Tea

Meanwhile, the new-school year has officially commenced. All of the rumors and talk of our school have subsided, for the time-being, at least, and… the new principal has finally started. Not without a lot of hassle and catastrophe, of course, but he’s here, nonetheless, and already I feel the positive effects on my workload. And I’m even more excited to hopefully be a major part of NICS becoming an established, reputable institution. It’s like my faith has been restored a little bit, which is really good. And I have my own classroom, and that’s good. And I’m teaching, and I love it. And today, I had more than one student tell me, without the promise of extra credit, that I have made them love English, and they’ve learned a lot from me, and they want to be like me when they grow up. Basically, they continue to melt my heart. And they reminded me for the millionth time why I love doing what I do. And that is excellent

I love these kids!

NICS Field Day

Today at NICS, we celebrated the conclusion of summer school with a field day! It took a lot of planning amidst last-minute planning for the swiftly approaching 2011-2012 academic year and last-minute planning for the China trip, but it actually turned out to be a pretty amazing time. We laughed, we cried, we ate ice cream!

The day began with a whole-school assembly, where we filled the students in on the day's activities. Then, we divided them up into teams of 6-7 students, with 7^th and 8^th grades intermixed. The groups then spent the first part of the morning brainstorming team names and then creating their team flag. It was really funny listening to the students come up with team names, and then wondering exactly how they chose those particular English words. For example, we had the Fairytales, 1^st Shot, Suck Rockers, Team Cemetery, Freedom Blood, Team So What?!, Man and a Half, and then Teacher Mark’s personal favorite, the Perpetual Motion Sliders. Perpetual Motion Sliders was particularly unique in that they shortened their team name to an acronym- PMS. And then they took it even further and gave their team a slogan- “We can go all night long!” I feel like at any other school, this would be unacceptable. However, with these language learners, I can guarantee they do not know what PMS is nor are they keen on any connotations that may or may not go along with their slogan, so we just chuckled within our peer group of teachers and that was that.

After, they lined up in their groups and each group introduced themselves to the rest of the school. And then we let the games begin! Three to four teams at a time rotated through each station, competing against one another for points. At station one, teams had to build bridges spanning half a meter, using only 8 1/2 “ X 11” sheets of paper. They only had a certain number of sheets, and had fifteen minutes to create something that would support as much weight as possible. Our “weights” were the English level readers- at the end of the fifteen minutes, we began stacking the books on the bridges, and the one that could hold the most was the winner. This was my station, and it was so much fun watching them strategize and seeing the different ideas they came up with.

At station two, teams had fifteen minutes to build freestanding towers out of drinking straws. The tallest one was the winner. Once again, it was fascinating seeing some of the design concepts. One team first constructed a whole bunch of triangles and then put them together. Another built a tower that was literally a replica of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai! Although it wasn’t the tallest, it was architecturally quite artistic! At station three, which was up in the gym, teams played a game fashioned in the style of traditional horse- shooting around the key for points.

After all teams completed the rotation, students ate lunch, and then the final event was the three-legged race. Thirty-seven pairs competed in this relay that resulted in stinky, sweaty students! Everyone reconvened out on the veranda for a final tally of scores, and we had an ice cream sundae social- Meaghan, Clare and I scooped until our hands were covered in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry slime. We had a little fiasco with the toppings- the cook said she would get them then saw the list in English hours before we were supposed to serve it, and said she wouldn’t do it. So teacher Mark and I left school in a hurry and grabbed Oreos, peanuts, gumdrops, sprinkles, bananas, whipped cream, spoons, bowls, strawberry and chocolate Hershey’s syrup, marshmallows, caramel toffee topping, mini chocolate chips, cones, and the ice cream (Maraschino cherries were SO expensive we had to omit them from the list!). We made it back in time, and it all went off without a hitch.

After ice cream, we ushered the students upstairs- many of the 8^th graders had been working so hard and so secretively all week on a surprise for Teacher Val, who is leaving the school to return back to the states. They let me in on it, because they had scripted me into the movie they were making for her (which made me feel very special and honored!), and it was tough hiding it all week long, as they would come into the lounge and whisper to me about things they needed and questions they had. I even did a little acting coaching! I loaned them my camera so they could film it, and the debut this afternoon reduced Val to sobs. I had the students sign the script they had given to me so I could "memorize" my lines, and then after the viewing, they presented it to Teacher Val. Each student had written something special on it for her. Watching everything, being a part of it- it was all so moving. And I had one of those, “Ah, THIS is why I am doing what I am doing!” moments.

I think one downfall in teaching abroad is that it isn’t permanent- most teachers teach for six months or a year, and then they move on, either to another country or back home. Students grow to count on us. When so much in their life is changing, they take their teachers for granted- there’s a certain stability there, whether acknowledged or not, and when the entire teaching staff is composed of foreign teachers… over the last seven months, it’s been us and these kids. We’ve built a community. We’ve built a family. I know I will be leaving, and it breaks my heart knowing that I won’t be there for them next year. Poor teacher Val was having a hard time with this today.  It makes me yearn for a position at home, in a school where I can stay long-term.

We concluded the day with some excited talk about the China trip- we leave in five days! Today was great, and China will be amazing!  

My First...Fruit Basket

Coming in on Sunday, meeting with the WASC coordinator, directors, and new principal in the morning, then meeting with the concerned parents of seven students is not without its perks, I suppose...

...And I'm Back!

Bali- from our drive to Tulamben

I left off with an ill-punctuated, misspelled, and grammatically incorrect entry (clearly I am embarrassed- thanks to those who wrote to tell me you enjoyed my entries regardless- all I can chalk it up to is not enough time and a slow but expensive internet connection, and I apologize if it was hard to read) that left me in Ubud, Bali, recovering from a nasty virus and off to experience the Sacred Monkey Forest.

When I departed Tanjung Putting National Park, it was with deep reverence and concern. I felt like I had just been a part of something so rare, so special and so insurmountable, I was really and truly at a loss for words. The journey back downriver was mostly silent in contemplation about what we had witnessed and about the imminent danger the orangutans and their futures face. Lack of education and awareness of many of the local people about the depletion of the rain forest and what effect that will have on both the human and animal populations of Borneo is devastatingly apparent and it is extremely disconcerting. I walked hand-in-hand with an orangutan, more than one looked into my eyes, one wrapped its arms around my waist. They are so incredibly magnificent. And the thought that they might not make it past this next generation is painful. I still think about what more I can do, and I am still looking into the organizations, but right now, I am sort of at a loss. If you haven’t already, please go to the sites mentioned in my previous blog and check out ways to help.

Just Sally, our new friend Pan, me, and Meaghan, walking to the banana feeding. He refused to let go of us...

My experience in Borneo lacks comparison, and in a completely different way, so does my experience in Bali. Bali is breathtakingly beautiful, and after our experience on the overcrowded boat we took to Komodo, it was heaven- just what we all needed to pull us out of our travel depression.

Ubud is in Southern/Central Bali, inland and gorgeous.  The streets are lined with art galleries and little alleys leading to courtyards filled with artists’ workshops. Giant canvases lean up against pillars and buildings with stray dogs tucked under them, hiding from the heat of the day. Cafes and restaurants serve delicious food and markets line the sidewalks, selling all kinds of Balinese art and wares.

When I was molested by a macacque in the
Monkey Forest

The Monkey Forest is home to- you guessed it- hundreds (thousands?) of monkeys. Monkeys who know that humans coming through to view the three temples within the forest are suppliers of food and drink. Almost immediately upon entering the gates, I had a macacque jump from some wall or pillar onto my shoulder, completely catching me off guard.  Vendors sell bananas just outside the park gates, and I can only assume that my appeal was that I had just come in and he thought I was carrying bananas. He was wrong. 

The temples were beautiful- especially the bathing temple. All were overgrown with jungle vines and green moss covering the sculptures on the walls and buildings. It would have been a completely enjoyable experience if it wasn’t for all those crazy macacques everywhere. They were quite aggressive, and at this point in my trip, I had seen gibbons, macacques, proboscis monkeys, and most of all, orangutans, and I was pretty much “primated-out.”

The view from the guest house in Ubud

We caught a traditional Balinese theater/dance show and stayed in beautiful bungalows tucked away down one of the alleys. Our view was of the rice paddies flanked with palm trees and the guest house that provided our accommodations also provided us with breakfast every morning, which sort of made up for the fact that our toilets were often out of order. We spent our days in Ubud meandering through the streets, eating good food, and visiting all the beautiful sights. I didn’t want to leave- I was in love.

Beautiful Bali

For a while, friends and fellow teachers in Nakhon had been talking about this wreck dive on the east coast of Bali, and Meaghan and I were really excited about going to do it. Leaving Ubud wasn’t quite so painful once we started on our drive to Tulamben. Every corner we rounded, my jaw dropped even further to the floor; it was THE most beautiful drive. Gently sloping hills, terraced with rice paddies and leading down into valleys; little thatched homes and makeshift scarecrows and flags flying to keep the birds away. Kites filled the sky- more than just for fun, the Balinese people fly kites as part of a deeply rooted spiritual and traditional activity, and the sight is truly one to behold. The whole drive there, which was about 3 hours, was just stunning.

At Tanah Lot, after being blessed at the Holy Spring

Tulamben itself was a cute seaside town- I like to think of it as the Balinese Riviera- that consisted of just one main street. We got situated and found a good dive shop and learned a bit more about our wreck dive that we would do the next day. While I was absolutely looking forward to it, this dive was also going to be my first dive after becoming open-water certified, and for that reason, I was also a bit anxious about it- to the point where I told Meaghan and Allan that maybe I wouldn’t do this dive after all. Being the good friends they are, they gently coaxed me back into it, and before I knew it, I had my long wetsuit on (the water is significantly colder in Indonesia- not what I expected!) and we were walking into the water from the beach! It was a pretty great dive, and the ship had been there long enough that there was a pretty great living reef in and around it. We got to go into the ship, swim through narrow openings and passageways, and see all kinds of beautiful coral and fish. Minus the little buoyancy problem I encountered, overall, it was a great dive. Afterward, we sat poolside on chaise lounges, looking out at the sea, and relaxed a bit before beginning our beautiful drive back to our friends in Southern Bali.

Tanah Lot

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing in the same place for five days, which was a welcome change- I was tired of unpacking and repacking my backpack on a daily (sometimes twice a day) basis. A small day-trip was planned along the southwest coast, where we visited Tanah Lot, a beautiful “temple in the sea.” While is was quite a site, it was flanked by Indonesian tourists on holiday and was so incredibly crowded that it stifled a bit of the beauty. 

With my Javanese friends at Tanah Lot

In addition to that, apparently our group was just as amazing a site as the temple itself- families and individuals were constantly asking us to take photos with them. We found ourselves standing literally for about five minutes at a time while each individual member of each group took a photo with one or more of us. We also visited Ulu Watu, another seaside temple set atop beautiful limestone cliffs. Here, the monkeys were even more aggressive than at Monkey Forest in Ubud, and we were warned while walking to the site that they like to steal shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, food, water bottles- basically anything on your person that is metal or plastic… or just removable. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to myself (like I said, I was pretty much primated-out at this point), I removed my shoes and jewelry and made sure I tossed my water bottle right away. This did not stop them from grabbing my ankles once or twice, but other than being terrified when a few of them bared their fangs at tourists who were teasing them with food, I was okay. While there, however, I watched, horrified, as an Australian man feeding the monkeys peanuts was bit on his hand by one of the monkeys. I also noted how incredibly obese these macacques were compared to the ones I had seen skirting through the trees in Borneo and the ones I saw in the Monkey Forest. I don’t know what the fascination with feeding these little beasts is, but please, I implore you, if you ever visit a place with monkeys, don’t feed them. Thank you.

Don't feed these monkeys!!
(He was actually yawning... after landing on Sally
in an attempt to snatch her sunglasses- exhausting
work for an obese macacque.)

Uluwatu

Leaving Bali was sad and happy at the same time. I had fallen in love with a beautiful place, but I was glad to finally get somewhere where I wouldn’t be living out of a backpack. After exactly one month of traveling around SE Asia (mainly Indonesia), I have returned to Nakhon. Summer school started three days ago, and it feels so great to be back in the classroom. I’ve missed these kids! We are working on a small poetry unit- I am trying to get them to play with words and find less-boring synonyms for words like “happy” and “bad” and “sad” and “good.” So far, I have been incredibly impressed- we have done acrostics and haikus, and I am seeing all kinds of wonderful vocabulary and they seem to be having a good time as well- we have been laughing a lot. It’s amazing how in one month, they have changed so much- grown up, matured, new hairstyles, new attitudes… oh to be young again…

Meanwhile, the month I was gone brought many changes to Nakhon. There are so many new foreign teachers that I haven’t met. My street has at least four or five new shops, restaurants, and other random businesses that I almost don’t recognize parts of it. The biggest and most disturbing changes though, I think, are political. Elections just took place locally and nationally, and many people have been uprooted and disturbed by the shift in political parties in the governmental seats. The mayor whose brainchild was the school at which I am employed has resigned, and it was expected that his son would take his place. In a surprising turn of events, his son lost the election to the opposing party. Rumors have been flying about what the fate of the city and our school is, and this time, I don’t think it is only the foreigners who feel in the dark about what will happen. It’s amazing to think about how much power politics hold- to give and to take away. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about what was going to happen to the school and all the hard work we have done, trying to realize the dream of the parents, students, mayor, and ourselves to make it an international school- a first for Nakhon not only as a city, but as a province. The idea that it could all be ripped away in an instant is all too real. Meanwhile, we are carrying on, continuing to plan lessons and provide these students with the best education possible. A head foreign teacher/director from another school in Nakhon was talking to me about this last night. He told me that all I can do is to continue doing what I believe in, and I have to “tend my own garden with the best of intentions,” and just accept what comes. In this case, I think he is right. I have to keep doing what I believe, keep working hard, and hopefully everything will be okay. At this point, it’s out of my hands. I am already here longer than I originally anticipated, doing things I never imagined myself doing, learning so much and building great relationships. But I am worried about these kids and their educations. I will know more when the new mayor takes office on the 12^th. Meanwhile, our trip to China is still on, and we leave on the 19^th. The students are all so excited and we took our visa photos today- I can’t wait for another NICS field trip! To China!

Uluwatu, Bali

Orangutans are AMAZING!

June 11, 2011

Tanjung Puting National Park is unbelievable. We left the first site after watching an orangutan feeding where, on our way to the feeding area, an orangutan came up to the raised boardwalk that went above the swamp (so we could avoid crocodiles) and stole Meaghan's water bottle. Then, at the actual feeding location, we watched two orangutans stuff bananas in their mouths. These distant yet remarkably close relatives of ours are so amazing that we left thinking if these were the only orangutans we saw on our trip, if this was the only event on our trip, it was all more than worth it. But from there, it only got so much better. Leaving now, headed back to Kumai and recounting everything...

• We slept beneath mosquito nets on the deck of our boat, settled at the river's edge, trees overhanging, with proboscis monkeys nestled into the branches. they would growl and/or bark and shake the trees violently every time we laughed too loud r accidentally banged or knocked the platform.
• During long boat rides upriver to the next site, or in the evenings after our day in the jungle, we played hearts and crazy 8's (the only game the captain who spoke no English and our guide who spoke limited English all knew), all whilst sipping on bootleg rice wine and susu machan (susu= milk, machan=tiger).
• Hiking through the last of the primary rainforest on Borneo, we drank water that magically came from the branch of a tree, ate wild and tart mangosteens, balanced precariously on planks laid down across the leech-filled swamp and still managed to get leeches on ourselves (my biggest freak-out moment), and walked among beautiful butterflies of every shape and color.
• We got to watch macaques playing in the trees and dive into the water next to our boat. It was fun to watch them live amongst the other monkey species in the forest (although they seemed to steer clear of the apes).

All that would have been enough. But then there's the experience with the oranguatans....

• We met orangutan families, watched as the mothers balanced their babies, and as their babies held on to their sides or underbellies, while they moved from tree to tree, going from the very top of the rainforest to the very bottom with ease. The trees are peppered with orangutan nests- they make new ones daily, as they move from place to place.
• It was a progression- first we observed from afar, and then somehow we became more and more comfortable with each other, so that by the end they were digging through our pockets and grabbing hold of our hands. Pan, a particularly vivacious, ostentatious, ape walked side-by-side with us to his feeding, making sure we were coming with him by grabbing our hands and pulling us along. He chose to walk upright, on two legs, holding onto us for support, almost the entire walk. We were blown away. Then, he got a little bit tired, I suppose, because after a while, he turned in front of me, stopped, and wrapped his arms around me then put his feet on my forearms, absolutely, 100% in an effort to try to get me to carry him. As much as I wanted to, carrying him was not an option- he was HUGE!
• On our last day, we finally saw a gibbon. He was at the Leakey Camp, in the trees and playing with a young orangutan right above our heads- we could touch his tail, he was that close. We also got to watch wild pigs and orangutan interacting. We also saw the rare and few purely wild orangutans, sitting in the trees and looking on at us as we began to head back downriver. It was a perfect final goodbye.

I just don't think much else can compare with this. Looking into their eyes, seeing their expressions- you feel their happiness and their sadness, you see it in their posture and their eyes. They are just so similar to us, so beautful, so AMAZING. Sally is already dead-set on coming back next year as a vounteer with the orangutan rehab project that all of these orangutans are a part of. And in the back of my mind, every time I was blown away by yet something else in this crazy place, I thought about how thankful and lucky I am to get to see all of this... before it is gone. Especially before the orangutans are gone. Logging and other deforestation is still taking place all the time in the forest, and the population of the orangutan continues to decline.
Let's be honest- while the experience was utterly fantastic, I should not be having an orangutan climbing on me and trying to get me to carry him to his banana feeding.These are orangutans that have been displaced and are being rehabilitated, but they are still completely dependent on humans. There's a very fine line... and I go on and on about this in my journal, but in addition to the experience, what I am taking away from this adventure is this: 

Now that I have had this opportunity to learn about orangutans, their habitat, and the limitations this species faces, what am I going to do to help? You cannot come here and leave unaffected. There is a certain responsibility I feel. I know that I can start by sharing the experience and by sharing resources to get more information.

• Orangutan Foundation International (the person I talked to the most about the orangutans, their life, and the project was from this organization): www.orangutan.org
• Friends of the National Parks Foundation: www.fnpf.org
• Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation: www.orangutan.or.id

I will NOT forget my trip to Borneo.... indescribable. Hence, why I overuse the word amazing. I'm simply at a loss.


June 22, 2011

I am currently in Ubud, Bali. Bali is absolutely the kind of place that steals hour heart and soul. It is beautiful, breathtakingly so. I am in love with Bali! Since leaving Borneo, we have traveled to the Gili Islands.
On Gili T. I started feeling very strange- disoriented and dizzy, and then before I knew it, my temperature skyrocketed. I was freezing cold yet it was sunny and hot. Of course, I took no malaria medication in the malaria-infested rural jungles of Borneo. So I went to the best clinic on the island... let's just say it was the best of the worst. He didn't even take my temperature and told me Gili doesn't have malaria, so it couldn't be malaria. "Right, I know that, but two days ago I was in Borneo..." "Oh, yes, that has malaria." I couldn't get a boat out to the nearest hospital in Lombok that night, so I had to stay on the island. According to CDC and LP and my first-aid book and everything else I was scaring myself with, any signs of sickness should be treated as malaria until proven otherwise. I mentally counted all the mosquito bites I received while in borneo (too many too count) and how the deet repellent didn't work- I put it on and wore long leeves and pants and was still bit to oblivion. My fever wouldn't break, even with medication, and I was so completely delirious and disoriented and achy, vomiting, horrible cramping, and I was scared. In the morning, Allan went with me to the hospital, where they did blood tests. Not malaria! Not Dengue! But, some kind of horrible virus. I had to stay for two days in Lombok to make sure that I did not have malaria/dengue and to get more bloodwork done, because my lymphocytes (spell check?) were very low and so was my blood pressure. The two diseases could have been hiding still. But, on the third day, my fever finally broke and I started feeling better. the doctor looked at my bloodwork and gave me the okay to see the Komodo dragons, armed with malaria meds, and although mystomach was still uneasy, I left on the cruise! In Lombok, we embarked on another live-aboard cruise to travel to Komodo and Flores to see the majestic dragons. We didn't see them until the last day of our horrid, horrid live-aboard experience. They were the saving grace of that trip. If we had it to do again, we would have flown to flores, stayed for a few days there, and taken day-trips to Komodo and Rinca for diving and hiking to see the dragons. Please, if you are considering this "cruise", don't do it. It is recommended by Lonely Planet, but is 100% should not be. We ended it as soon as we could reach civilization on Flores, were refunded our money (at least 3 other people from our boat did this as well- maybe 6 others making 11 total out of 30 who were so incredibly displeased), and flew to Bali the next day. 
Bali is a godsend. I am still working this dumb virus out of my body- still very sensitive stomach- but I am getting better. Dear Pat in Korea, thank you for talking to the Dr.s at your base for me while I was stuck on Gili. You are a good, good friend. And I owe you. Again.
Off to the monkey forest, then a Balinese massage and a Dr. Fish pedicure... :)

Introduction to my SEA summer holiday...

I ended school on June 1, and at noon on June 2, I left Nakhon for the remainder of the month, embarking on a little trek around SE Asia. My plan was to keep a journal and update my blog whenever I got to the internet, thus keeping my friends and family informed that not only am I still alive, but that I am thriving on this experience. However, with sparkling waters, warm weather, and one-in-a-lifetime opportunities for adventure beckoning me every time I turn toward the internet cafe, I have found it quite difficult to do this.
I was also planning to upload photos, but forgot the cable for my camera... so you will have to use your imagination until I figure something out... hopefully photos will be coming shortly!
Our first stop was in Kuala Lumpur for one night, then to Singapore for three. It was a great start to a trip that clearly would only get better. On June 7th, we departed Singapore and headed to Indonesia, where the bulk of our journey will be taking place. After landing in Jakarta and gathering our wits, we planned our next move- BORNEO!

June 8th, 2011
Location: En Route from Benjarmasin to Pangkalan Bun, Kalimantan, Indonesia (Borneo)

Watching the sun set from the bus this evening was beautiful. I woke from a little afternoon nap to a golden sky with wisps of white curling up, like a reverse wave. As the sun sank lower and lower, the water below the stilted houses lining the road blackened and was so still it looked thick and glossy, so that it resembled dark pools of oil. As we passed villages and homes along the roadside, women and children began to gather on the front stoops, children far outnumbering the adults present. They darted from house to house while the women, presumably their mothers and maybe aunts sat, perched on the steps, either leaning forward with elbows resting on their knees and hands clasped in front of them or leaning back against the banisters or doorways, legs stretched out and ankles crossed, taking in this moment of relaxation at the end of the day.
Most of the homes are ramshackle, made from 2x2 pieces of wood, sometimes painted bright turquoise or yellow, sometimes unpainted with the wood bleached out by the sun, turned a colorless gray. Almost all have tin roofs and sit on stilts, with little boardwalks made from the street to the doorstep in order to get past the water. Rice paddies and thick jungle provide the backdrop for these homes. What a contrast to anything and everything I am familiar with. What do these women do all day, out in the middle of nowhere, with all these children? Suddenly, I find myself wanting to spend a day in their life here, to know what they do and how they do it, to see where our lives contrast with one another, and where they are similar.
There are two different yet related aspects of this traveling experience. One is the land- the flora and the fauna, the landscape, topography, the sky and the earth- which is overhwhelming and beautiful on its own. Then, there are the people- their culture, language, customs, the food, etc.- equally overwhelming and beautiful. Then there is the observation of the way the land and the people interact- how each is profoundly affected by the other. The geography of a place impacts the culture of the people, and the way the people live on the land impacts the environment.
We have already observed areas of forest cleared away, seen piles of trash waiting to be burned along roadsides and in front of houses. With all these houses over the water, there is one guess as to where human waste goes. And few houses have separate water supply tanks for drinking. And we have already seen many children being bathed in the water in front of the houses. Human waste has a very visible impact, even here. So I suppose that what I am trying to say is that from my vantage point thus far, there is this overwhelming beauty of land and people here on Borneo, but I cannot deny the level of poverty of the people, nor the clearly visible impact humans have on the environment, even when living a more simplistic lifestyle, sans cars and urban consumerism and in some cases even electricity. This is visible in Thailand as well, but watching from a window as I pass by it is somehow making it more apparent. Being a part of it makes you realize this with clarity, and yet another overwhelming aspect of travel arises. When I go to the islands, its easy to get lost in the tourism and the higher standard of living that the tourists demand. But at the end of the day, the Thais go home to the same thrid world standards many of them are used to. It's easy to look the other way, to not aknowledge the pile of trash burning out behind the hotel, smoke blowing straight into workers' homes. But it's easy to see if you get past your own good time. And then you have to ask yourself- what can you do about it? How can I enjoy this paradise that I am in to the fullest, yet not promote the environmental devastation that is ocurring simultaneously?

June 9, 2011
Location: Kumai, Borneo

We are on our live-aboard, headed upriver to Tanjung Puting National Park. Even as I sit here aboard this slow-moving klotok, staring out at the muddy river, low palms and mangroves lining the edges, I cannot seem to grasp that I am really here.
Our arrival at 4am left us groggy and not in the best of moods, after a 16 hour bus ride filled with jostles and bumps that were extremely hard to sleep through. Harry, the coordinator for our trip, picked us up from the station, and he took us to the port, where we boarded our boat, slept for a few hours, and then embarked on our cruise to see the orangutans.
It's surreal here. This journey upriver reminds me of making our way through the mangroves off the coast of Belize- same same, but different. Our slow-moving boat's motor is the only motor. The water is placid except for our miniscule wake and sights of civilization are nil. The insects are so loud that you can hear their chirping and buzzing over the noise of the boat. While sights of civilization are non-existent, signs of it are not. Foamy boat trails and some iridescent film along the top of the thick, soupy looking brown water are reminders that we are not the first and nor will we be the last to use this pathway to the preserved jungle rain forest. Certain areas of the shore have been plucked bare of vegetation for various reason- perhaps for the illegal loggers to gain access to the land or to make way for palm leaf and oil harvesting.
Looking through LP this morning, it comments on much of what I was wondering about last night with regards to depletion of natural resources and pollution. Our guide, Azi, has also been able to fill us in on some of the issues that seem to be staring this beautiful land in the face only to receive a casual, quick, sideways glance in return.
LP says, "environmental awareness is nascent at best"- rampant depletion of natural resources, mainly the rain forest itself and ill-managed waste removal services contaminating virtually all the water on this island, result in a paradise soon-to-be lost, which is terrifying and all too apparent. When you look at it from the perspective of a single, foreign, displaced person observing it all, this bewildered anxiety creeps in. Where do you start? How do you fix it? How did it get to be that the only two itty bitty places on earth orangutans continue to exist in the wild (but are still closely monitored and supported by humans) are here in Indonesia?
Finally, we are at park headquarters, where we will stop for lunch. It is a small compound of green buildings, along the shore, and we pull up and tie our boat to the dock. Chickens follow a lone rooster, clucking after him and pecking at the ground beneath the gargantuan sign that maps out the park. Here we are.
Tanjung Puting National Park is supposed to be the best place in the world to see orangutans. There are three different camps here who study these primates, luring them in by providing them with a plentiful supply of bananas at scheduled feeding times. This provides researchers and scientists with a way to monitor the progress or lack thereof of rehabilitated orangutans, see how families are coming along, make sure everyone is still around, etc. But in this preserve, orangutans aren't the only sight. there are also gibbons, macacques, sun bears, proboscus monkeys, crocodiles, and so many different birds and butterflies, not to mention primary rainforest filled with all kinds of strange and exotic flora. Already there have been some amazing butterflies fluttering in and around our boat. I cannot wait to get off and explore!!

Quick Update....

About to head into the jungles of Borneo for 3-4 days... hopefully will be able to update when I get back- so much to write about!!