life

Since tales of island hopping isn’t disappointing to you, my loved ones, I’ll faithfully continue to share my “sufferings” here in the other hemisphere, including the recently-schemed Thanksgiving excursion. But more on exploring this nation of 10,000 islands later…

It’s been another crazy week, actually, the busiest so far. I hit a point somewhere mid-week on about hour 12 of the work day that I think I’m working harder at this job than I ever have any other in my life. Maybe it’s that there’s more to do, maybe it’s because I’m living amid the disaster aftermath, maybe it’s because there’s not much else to do here other than work, or maybe it’s e a combination of those and a lot more, but I have realized that I definitely couldn’t go at this pace forever! The one-year mark ahead signals a time of respite, and for that I’m thankful. Things *will* eventually slow down. In the meantime, though, I’m hard at it. Meeting, planning, typing, walking, talking on this tiny black cell phone that is my constant companion, and overall, trying to keep up with more “to do” details than my little brain will hold.

Thursday of this week, though, I did hit a bit of overload… or maybe it was bad chicken, but something made me deathly ill for about 24-hours. I woke up the night before throwing up, feverish and nauseous and that’s about it, but my symptoms continued into the next day and sent me home from work after a few hours and back to bed. Sleep helped immensely, and I was fine again by the next day. Through it all, I came to two important conclusions – First, I will not be eating chicken again while I’m here. None. The only variation of what I’d eaten from my housemate Sharmila the night before was chicken, so it’s been deduced to be the possible culprit. So, since the fish here is so delicious and knowing there will be plenty of hot wings waiting for me back in the States, I’ll have all the chicken I want *after* returning. Second conclusion – That I’m grateful for my “on-call” doctor here in the eastern hemisphere. Sharmila is an M.D., so if I'm lying in bed convincing myself I have bird flu, she'll be there to assure me (with authority) that I indeed do not.

I have much, much to be thankful for…

Other items of late include the joy of finding a little café near my office that serves PIZZA. Yes, that’s right – fluffy dough, something that resembles tomato sauce and a few shreds of unidentifiable cheese. After rice for every meal for well over a month now, it was absolute deliciousness! And, to top it off, the restaurant even has internet connection (dial-up, like everywhere here, but I’ve gotten used to it) so I’ve decided that it could likely become my satellite office, away from the sheer chaos that often invades my working quarters. My current workspace did, however, receive the indescribable blessing of an air conditioning unit this week. So, even though it’s still noisy and packed with people, it is much, much cooler than it was!

And, we can now wear shoes in the office (another exciting little happening this week). Had I mentioned that you have to take your shoes off before you go inside most places here? Well, you do. It’s like that in many cultures around the world, I think, and even though it keeps the germs of the street outside, it makes for quite a shoe assortment piled outside every door! Within my first few days here, I switched from wearing my New Balance and tying and re-tying them every time I came and went, to the slip-on ease of my Chacos as a result of the “shoe policy.” But for some reason, they changed it for our offices now. Perhaps because it became more sanitary to let everyone keep their shoes on than have dozens and dozens of people running around barefoot on floors that may or may not have been cleaned this year. Who knows, but I’m just glad the bottoms of my feet aren’t entirely filthy at the end of the day anymore… my shiny red toenails are one of the only remaining things that help me feel pretty!

This week, I also had fleeting moments of feeling like I actually knew how to do my job (which is always exciting). I prepped my boss for an interview with Associated Press, and we went over the questions that I knew I would ask if I was the reporter. And amazingly, the reporter asked those questions verbatim! It was extremely reassuring, and made me feel more confident looking ahead to the onslaught of journalists who will be coming our way in the next few weeks…

On a happiness of the heart note, I’m starting to feel like I really have friends here. And we all know how very important that is. Everyone’s been super nice from the get-go, but over the last week or two, the moments of connection and familiarity with people have saturated my day-to-day with an ease and comfort I had been missing. Whether it’s going to a big meeting and knowing most everyone around the table, or having coffee with colleagues from England or Canada or Argentina and chatting long after our “official business” discussion was over, it’s been really good to start to feel connected. There have even been parties to go to the past few weekends. These regular get-togethers for all the “foreigners” had slacked off during Ramadan but have now restarted. Usually they’re hosted by one of the organizations and held at one of their group houses. Most, like my new house, are ridiculously spacious, so it’s plenty of room to hold 50, 60, 70 people. It’s a great place to get to meet people outside your organization, and the mixture of backgrounds makes it seem more like a United Nations assembly. So it’s been great to get to “socialize” too, and we’re planning to host party ourselves in the next few weeks.

But amid working and socializing and island hopping, I hopefully will never lose sight of why I’m here – to be a part of helping the people of Aceh. I’ve resolved that no matter how crazy work activities are, I’m going to make sure I balance tasks and meetings with being out in the field interacting, reporting, photographing and doing what I truly love most – being a journalist. My duties here necessitate so much “other stuff” than I ever realized I would be responsible for… which is challenging and stretching, but very fulfilling in realizing that I can help our work here move forward in an assortment of ways. But it’s being out in the hot sun in the middle of a village with my camera slung over my shoulder and my notebook clutched in my hand when I know I’m in the posture that suits me best.

So, yesterday, I went with our psychosocial team out to an ocean-side community about an hour away that was ravaged by the tsunami. Hundreds died there and almost everything was destroyed. Survivors live in makeshift houses and tents now, but the school has been rebuilt and was the site of the event yesterday. Our Indonesian partner agency took the idea of a competition like American Idol (which they have here and in almost every other country around the world) and are holding singing competitions for kids in the schools throughout Aceh. The winners’ songs will be played on a radio station that we’re helping sponsor, and then anyone can call in and vote – just like American Idol. And if the fun and big turnout of yesterday’s activities were any indication of what’s ahead, it will be huge success. The community loved it! We even had a videographer come out film it, and that could evolve into something very cool in the long run. But for now, I hope you’ll enjoy seeing some of the scenes from the day and some of the sweet, adorable faces I encountered. I’ll try to get them downloaded and posted soon.

As the pelting rain drowns out the sound of Sarah McLachlan and clicking keys, I’ll sign off for now. (This has indeed become a novel-length posting, and I have no idea really what I've been rambling on about.) But as I mentioned earlier, on the next island jaunt, we’ll be taking advantage of two unexpected days off this upcoming week –Thanksgiving. Our team had assumed that since we follow local holiday schedules that there was no way we’d get time off for turkey, much less travel, but our director surprised everyone and gave us two days vacation and another reason to be thankful! I’ve concluded, though, that the only way to cope with my first Thanksgiving away from my sweet family is to treat myself to a trip to a place that makes me almost as happy as Mamaw’s house – the beach. (But it’s definitely a *distant* second, of course!). More details after we know if we’re actually able to get tickets tomorrow…As always, thanks for all the love and prayers i feel coming my way!

All my love,

Bonnie Jean

p.s. If you heard of the earthquake here over the weekend, don't worry. We barely even felt it! The one that happened a few days after my arrival was much stronger. Everyone's a-ok.