I spent the entire day (7am to 9pm) on the road yesterday. We went to visit the other 3 villages that are supported by ConocoPhillips -Teumareum, Bahagia and Kuala.
Teumareum is located right across the river after the makeshift ferry. There were about 15 trucks waiting for the river crossing, so we ended up leaving our car beind, took the barge and walked to the village. We walked in on one of our staff giving leadership training to the village leaders in the temporary mosque built out of wooden planks. While listening to Kamal give the training, a big truck from a NGO pulled up to deliver school supplies to the children. It was quite a scene with all the kids running up to the truck and dragging boxes of notebooks and lugging new blackboards to their newly built classrooms. It was so wonderful to see the kids so excited by the brand new school supplies.
Before we joined the villagers for a crab feast, we were shown to a tandem bike a couple of guys had built from tsunami ravaged bikes. They painted the bike red, white, and blue in honor of USAID. They couldn't refurbish the bike seats, so instead, they fashioned 2 pieces of jackfruit tree wood (REALLY REALLY HARD WOOD) into saddles. Recommended only for well-padded butts. The bike comes completely with a bell, light, kickstand, lock, and portable pump.Quite fancy!
We went to the other villages and didn't end up leaving Lamno until about 6:00pm. It was quite late, since we're not really suppose to be driving around the rural areas at night, but it also meant catching a beautiful sunset on the road. However, I only got a few pics before my camera ran out of battery. More next time! I've been invited to go back to Teumareum in a few weeks to hike to a waterfall.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
Christmas Weekend
Here's what I did for Christmas:
December 22, Thursday
I decided to take a break from real work and cook dinner for 15 people. Christen had arrived, Lauren our microcredit person from Washington was still in town, and a bunch of staff from Jakarta were also around, The menu was Texan chili, fried chicken tenders, and a tomato avocado salad (all eaten). Dessert was chocolate fondue. I had to make the fondue because I told a journalist I was going to do it and he ended up quoting me in his article.
December 24, Saturday
The day started at 7am. I was coordinating the awards ceremony for the Art for Recovery project. It was a logistical nightmare. I had to get 4 VIPs, 10 press members, 12 kids, 24 family members, and 15 dancers to the village all before 10am. I had to mobilize 9 different cars and luckily everyone made it to the village on time! The ceremony feature the kids, traditional women dancers, and men playing traditional drums.
Christen and I had some down time in the afternoon and then went to USAID for a Christmas dinner with some of the other USAID contractors that were still in town. Had a very nice roasted turkey for dinner.
December 25, Sunday
Folks from ConocoPhillips were in town to check out the 5 villages they're supporting. I accompanied them to Lhoong (about 2 hours south of here) and spent Christmas at the 2 villages. The villages - Saney and Utamong were devestaed by the tsunami, and most of the residents are still living in the barracks about 10 minutes away from the location where the village is currently being rebuilt. We held a community meeting to discuss what are some of the things they would like to do with a small revolving fund we'll be setting up. Before the tsunami, Saney was a very rich village because it had a very vibrant fishing industry. Sometimes a boat would bring in over $500 worth of fish with a single catch.
December 22, Thursday
I decided to take a break from real work and cook dinner for 15 people. Christen had arrived, Lauren our microcredit person from Washington was still in town, and a bunch of staff from Jakarta were also around, The menu was Texan chili, fried chicken tenders, and a tomato avocado salad (all eaten). Dessert was chocolate fondue. I had to make the fondue because I told a journalist I was going to do it and he ended up quoting me in his article.
December 24, Saturday
The day started at 7am. I was coordinating the awards ceremony for the Art for Recovery project. It was a logistical nightmare. I had to get 4 VIPs, 10 press members, 12 kids, 24 family members, and 15 dancers to the village all before 10am. I had to mobilize 9 different cars and luckily everyone made it to the village on time! The ceremony feature the kids, traditional women dancers, and men playing traditional drums.
Christen and I had some down time in the afternoon and then went to USAID for a Christmas dinner with some of the other USAID contractors that were still in town. Had a very nice roasted turkey for dinner.
December 25, Sunday
Folks from ConocoPhillips were in town to check out the 5 villages they're supporting. I accompanied them to Lhoong (about 2 hours south of here) and spent Christmas at the 2 villages. The villages - Saney and Utamong were devestaed by the tsunami, and most of the residents are still living in the barracks about 10 minutes away from the location where the village is currently being rebuilt. We held a community meeting to discuss what are some of the things they would like to do with a small revolving fund we'll be setting up. Before the tsunami, Saney was a very rich village because it had a very vibrant fishing industry. Sometimes a boat would bring in over $500 worth of fish with a single catch.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Aceh! I apologize for the lack of quality posts and pictures in the past few weeks - I've been extremely busy. I'm counting down to the day until I take off for Jakarta and Singapore.
Tomorrow morning is the awards ceremony for Art for Recovery (see earlier postings for more info). We have selected 12 winners. The top 3 will each receive a bicycle and the other 9 will receive a backpack full of school goodies. The logistics behind getting everyone to the Gurah village has been a nightmare. Tomorrow morning, I'll be coordinating 9 cars to bring 12 kids (from all different villages), 2 family members each, the Head of Community Develpment from ConocoPhillips, and 15 traditional women dancers from another village all to Gurah by 10am. Hope it'll all run smoothly and that I haven't forgotten to pick up anyone important. Everything should be over by noon and I'll get to go to the beach in the afternoon with Christen, my friend who's visiting.
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Tomorrow morning is the awards ceremony for Art for Recovery (see earlier postings for more info). We have selected 12 winners. The top 3 will each receive a bicycle and the other 9 will receive a backpack full of school goodies. The logistics behind getting everyone to the Gurah village has been a nightmare. Tomorrow morning, I'll be coordinating 9 cars to bring 12 kids (from all different villages), 2 family members each, the Head of Community Develpment from ConocoPhillips, and 15 traditional women dancers from another village all to Gurah by 10am. Hope it'll all run smoothly and that I haven't forgotten to pick up anyone important. Everything should be over by noon and I'll get to go to the beach in the afternoon with Christen, my friend who's visiting.
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Sunday, December 18, 2005
8 More Days
You're probably thinking that I've lost my mind - it's 7 days to Christmas and not 8. That may be so, but at the moment, I'm not as concerned about finishing my Christmas shopping as about the 1-year anniversary of the tsunami that is coming up on December 26.
Today is the Andrew Natsios visit, a highly choreographed event with lots of press. He'll first lay some flowers at the mass grave and then have an informal (right...) discussion with the community in the mosque, followed by dedicating the not-yet-finished water processing facility we're helping to build. It's overcast at the moment, hope the rain will hold off until after the visit! I'll post pictures later today.
Next week will be another busy week - the judging and awards ceremony for the Art for Recovery event, there will also be a team from our Jakarta office here doing monitoring and evaluations, and getting ready for a survey we're conducting in the post-conflict areas. But more importantly, Christen will be here! My first official visitor will arrive on Tuesday!
Today is the Andrew Natsios visit, a highly choreographed event with lots of press. He'll first lay some flowers at the mass grave and then have an informal (right...) discussion with the community in the mosque, followed by dedicating the not-yet-finished water processing facility we're helping to build. It's overcast at the moment, hope the rain will hold off until after the visit! I'll post pictures later today.
Next week will be another busy week - the judging and awards ceremony for the Art for Recovery event, there will also be a team from our Jakarta office here doing monitoring and evaluations, and getting ready for a survey we're conducting in the post-conflict areas. But more importantly, Christen will be here! My first official visitor will arrive on Tuesday!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
It's never a walk in the park
We took the NBC crew out again on Saturday. This time was to the familiar villages of Lamteungoh and Gurah, places were I've been many times. I even considered about leaving my camera at home because the battery was low and I figured it would just be a regular visit.
Lamteungoh was the first stop. We got to the village around 830 and as our luck should have it, two fishing boats were just on their way in from an evening of being out on the sea. NBC was able to get some good footage of fishermen emptying out their nets and I got to play with the crab and lobsters that were caught. After some more interviews with the villagers and with the rep from USAID, we moved on to Gurah, where we promised to show the NBC folks villagers building a 3-mile fence and men making and playing traditional drums.
In order to get to the place where the villagers were fencing, we had to follow this muddy road and then walk about 10 minutes. Our pick-up truck followed a larger truck on this one-lane muddy road, and the truck in front of us got stuck in the thick mud. Everyone got out to help push this truck, but with no luck. We decided to walk from where we were to the fencing site and then walk back to the village. It wasn't just any old walk in the park. The field was a rice paddy before the tsunami and it has been sort of cleaned and now overgrown with 2-ft tall grass. It had rained a whole lot the previous night so the entire field was pretty damn muddy. One of our guys kept on saying he thought snakes lived in the paddy. After walking about 20 minutes we arrive at the fencing site, NBC did a bunch of filming and interviewing and then after another 15 minutes or so, we end up back at the village. There better be people building that damn fence on the news!
I later found out that the NBC news correspondent who's out here with us was abducted and held captive in Iraq for about 3 days earlier this year. This gig is a walk in the park for him.
Lamteungoh was the first stop. We got to the village around 830 and as our luck should have it, two fishing boats were just on their way in from an evening of being out on the sea. NBC was able to get some good footage of fishermen emptying out their nets and I got to play with the crab and lobsters that were caught. After some more interviews with the villagers and with the rep from USAID, we moved on to Gurah, where we promised to show the NBC folks villagers building a 3-mile fence and men making and playing traditional drums.
In order to get to the place where the villagers were fencing, we had to follow this muddy road and then walk about 10 minutes. Our pick-up truck followed a larger truck on this one-lane muddy road, and the truck in front of us got stuck in the thick mud. Everyone got out to help push this truck, but with no luck. We decided to walk from where we were to the fencing site and then walk back to the village. It wasn't just any old walk in the park. The field was a rice paddy before the tsunami and it has been sort of cleaned and now overgrown with 2-ft tall grass. It had rained a whole lot the previous night so the entire field was pretty damn muddy. One of our guys kept on saying he thought snakes lived in the paddy. After walking about 20 minutes we arrive at the fencing site, NBC did a bunch of filming and interviewing and then after another 15 minutes or so, we end up back at the village. There better be people building that damn fence on the news!
I later found out that the NBC news correspondent who's out here with us was abducted and held captive in Iraq for about 3 days earlier this year. This gig is a walk in the park for him.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Watch the News!
A film crew from NBC is out here in Aceh to shoot footage for four or five segments (about 2 minutes each) for the NBC Nightly News.
We met the crew and producers on Wednesday evening and briefed them on what USAID is doing and yesterday I took them out for the afternoon. We went to Lampaya village where Art For Recovery was taking place, so they got plenty of good shots of little kids painting. Then we went to Lampuuk village where they got people building, planting, and making fences.
Going out with them tomorrow morning again.
Watch NBC news between Dec 22-26!
We met the crew and producers on Wednesday evening and briefed them on what USAID is doing and yesterday I took them out for the afternoon. We went to Lampaya village where Art For Recovery was taking place, so they got plenty of good shots of little kids painting. Then we went to Lampuuk village where they got people building, planting, and making fences.
Going out with them tomorrow morning again.
Watch NBC news between Dec 22-26!
Monday, December 05, 2005
Aceh Coffee Coming To A Starbucks Near You
To all you Starbucks addicts! You'll soon be able to find Aceh coffee in a java joint near you!
If they ever print one of those nifty coffee sticker with Aceh on it, please steal me some!
If they ever print one of those nifty coffee sticker with Aceh on it, please steal me some!
Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Number Game
They have constructed a temporary Media Center for the flock of press that have arrived in Banda to cover the 1-year anniversary of the tsunami. I was down there this afternoon to bring them some propaganda and I came across the official 'Damage Assessment & Progress Report' that's been put out by BRR. By living and breathing Banda, I often forget just how destructive the tsunami was. Here are some numbers for the province of Aceh to put things in perspective:
- 129,775 people were killed
- 36,786 people were missing
- Approximately 542,000 people have been displaced because of the tsunami and earthquake
- About 120,000 houses were destroyed
- 1,509 bridges were destroyed
- 367 health facilities were destroyed
- 2,224 schools were damaged or destroyed
- 13,828 fishing boats were lost
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Living Like a Real Expatriate
When I worked at the World Bank, a lot of people gave me grief for not paying income taxes. Now in Aceh, I've received some *remarks* about my allowances. I currently receive from the governement a Post Differential allowance, Cost of Living Allowance, and Danger Pay.
Post differential (also called “hardship differential”) is an allowance for any place when the place involves extraordinarily difficult living conditions, excessive physical hardship, or notably unhealthful conditions affecting the majority of employees stationed or detailed at that place. Living costs are not considered in differential determination.”
Cost of living Allowance is “a balancing factor designed to permit employees to spend the same portion of their basic compensation for current living as they would in Washington, D.C., without incurring a reduction in their standard of living because of higher costs of goods and services at the post.”
So I could go out and eat rice and fish everyday for about $1.25 for lunch, but like any good and proper Expat, I need to maintain my luxurious Washington standard of living and buy western goods (and support the local economy). In the past week or so, I've been noticing just how ridiculous some prices are. Here's a sampling, Aceh price listed first, followed by US price
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (1 pint) $6.50, $2.50
Tina’s Burrito $2.75 , $0.59*
S&W Canned Beans $1.80 , $0.79
Frozen Tortillas $4.50 , $1.45
Cheerios (large box) $9.60, $5.29
Barilla Spaghetti or Penne $3.75, $1.39
Microwave popcorn (3 bags) $4.75, $2.99
Box of Nerds Candy $2.50 , $0.69
10 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread $2.00, $1.00
Total Aceh: $38.15
I admit to splurging on a pint of Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie the other night.
* Some claim to have found them 12 for $1 in college
** US price based on www.peapod.com for zipcode 20003
As of today, I've been in Aceh for 6 months!!!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Art for Recovery
We kicked off our new little project for little people this week. To get the kids from our villages involved in all the fun, we decided to hold an art competition.
Although the Acehnese are a resilient bunch of people - you kind of have to be when living in a place that's been a conflict area for the last 30 years. A lot of people suffer from post-traumatic disorder and this is especially true for children. A few months ago, we were caught outside during a sudden rain storm and there were 2 kids, probably around 8 or 9 years old next to me and they could not stop shaking and crying. Perhaps the sudden downpour triggered memories associated with the tsunami waves? So we thought it would be a good idea to get a bunch of crayons and lots of paper and give the children a chance to express themselves through art. The topic is 'The Future of Aceh', but as I watched the kids this afternoon, a lot of them were drawing big waves.
Each village will select 2 drawings and then we will pick 12 of the best. We plan to hold an auction and also to create a 2006 calendar out of the 12 drawings. The Assistant Secretary of State will be coming in 2 weeks and the plan is to have him hand out the awards to the winners. What a great photo-op that'll be.
Although the Acehnese are a resilient bunch of people - you kind of have to be when living in a place that's been a conflict area for the last 30 years. A lot of people suffer from post-traumatic disorder and this is especially true for children. A few months ago, we were caught outside during a sudden rain storm and there were 2 kids, probably around 8 or 9 years old next to me and they could not stop shaking and crying. Perhaps the sudden downpour triggered memories associated with the tsunami waves? So we thought it would be a good idea to get a bunch of crayons and lots of paper and give the children a chance to express themselves through art. The topic is 'The Future of Aceh', but as I watched the kids this afternoon, a lot of them were drawing big waves.
Each village will select 2 drawings and then we will pick 12 of the best. We plan to hold an auction and also to create a 2006 calendar out of the 12 drawings. The Assistant Secretary of State will be coming in 2 weeks and the plan is to have him hand out the awards to the winners. What a great photo-op that'll be.
Monday, November 28, 2005
J to the K to the T
I was in Jakarta this past weekend. I must say this was the first time that I've actually enjoyed being there. Maybe it was because I was only there for 2 days? Maybe it was because I was there purely for fun? Maybe it was because now I have friends there who I can hang out with? Or maybe it was because I did a whole lot of shopping? Who knows?
The big news is that there is a new direct flight from Jakarta to Aceh! Previously, all flights to Aceh stop in Medan for about 45 minutes (get off the plane with all your carry-on (5 minutes), hop on a bus to the terminal (5 minutes), stand in line for 10 minutes to pick up a transit ticket, standing in line for another 10 minutes to go through the 1 x-ray machine, and get back in line to board the plane...yes, a big waste of time). This morning, I caught the 6:20am flight and was in the office by 9:15am! Yes, we're excited by these things. I think there will be a parade if they start a direct flight to Singapore!
The big news is that there is a new direct flight from Jakarta to Aceh! Previously, all flights to Aceh stop in Medan for about 45 minutes (get off the plane with all your carry-on (5 minutes), hop on a bus to the terminal (5 minutes), stand in line for 10 minutes to pick up a transit ticket, standing in line for another 10 minutes to go through the 1 x-ray machine, and get back in line to board the plane...yes, a big waste of time). This morning, I caught the 6:20am flight and was in the office by 9:15am! Yes, we're excited by these things. I think there will be a parade if they start a direct flight to Singapore!
Brrrrrrrrrrr...
No, it’s not cold here.
BRR or the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi is the Indonesian government agency responsible for the tsunami rebuilding. Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal (11/02/05) published an article about BRR – how it was set up, the support it received from McKinsey and about its Director – Pak Kuntoro (a Stanford alum). Just last week, in local newspapers, there was an exposé of sort, publicly announcing Kuntoro and senior official in BRR’s salary level. Apparently Kuntoro makes 75 million Rupiahs a month (about $7,500) which is about 12 million more than the President of Indonesia’s officially published salary. The justification being BRR is handling millions and millions of reconstruction funding, and with the culture of corruption that is so pervasive in this country, BRR officials' (from the very top to the very bottom) salary must be higher than the normal bureaucrat in order to prevent corruption. Does this logic make sense?
On the note of Pak Kuntoro being a Stanford alum. I learned something new about Indonesian economic history the other day. In the 1960s, Indonesia was on the brink of famine and disaster and a group of US-educated Indonesian economists pulled the nation out of economic crisis which led to 3 decades of growth under Suharto. This group of economists - most of them Cal Bears were referred to as the Berkeley Mafia. Go Bears!
BRR or the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi is the Indonesian government agency responsible for the tsunami rebuilding. Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal (11/02/05) published an article about BRR – how it was set up, the support it received from McKinsey and about its Director – Pak Kuntoro (a Stanford alum). Just last week, in local newspapers, there was an exposé of sort, publicly announcing Kuntoro and senior official in BRR’s salary level. Apparently Kuntoro makes 75 million Rupiahs a month (about $7,500) which is about 12 million more than the President of Indonesia’s officially published salary. The justification being BRR is handling millions and millions of reconstruction funding, and with the culture of corruption that is so pervasive in this country, BRR officials' (from the very top to the very bottom) salary must be higher than the normal bureaucrat in order to prevent corruption. Does this logic make sense?
On the note of Pak Kuntoro being a Stanford alum. I learned something new about Indonesian economic history the other day. In the 1960s, Indonesia was on the brink of famine and disaster and a group of US-educated Indonesian economists pulled the nation out of economic crisis which led to 3 decades of growth under Suharto. This group of economists - most of them Cal Bears were referred to as the Berkeley Mafia. Go Bears!
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Tragic!
I just lost my 3500+ songs on my iPod. I'm so sad. This is just really bad timing since I'm about to get on a 3-hour plane ride to Jakarta.
I had bought about 10 pirated CDs and wanted to upload those songs for the trip. Instead of selecting 'update iPod manually', I selected 'update iPod automatically'.
Now I have 315 songs =(
I will just have to buy a suitcase full of pirated CDs in Jakarta. But I'm still sad. No Juanes or La Ley or random music I've collected over the years.
Luckily, I think the files are still on my laptop in DC. Mom! I hope you didn't erase the files!!!
I had bought about 10 pirated CDs and wanted to upload those songs for the trip. Instead of selecting 'update iPod manually', I selected 'update iPod automatically'.
Now I have 315 songs =(
I will just have to buy a suitcase full of pirated CDs in Jakarta. But I'm still sad. No Juanes or La Ley or random music I've collected over the years.
Luckily, I think the files are still on my laptop in DC. Mom! I hope you didn't erase the files!!!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Gobble Gobble Gobble
Thanksgiving in Aceh! I'm off to a turkey sandwich dinner!
However, I will get to have a real turkey Saturday night in Jakarta.
However, I will get to have a real turkey Saturday night in Jakarta.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Eeck!
In my inbox this morning were 4 emails all related to the new travel warning for Indonesia issued by the State Department.
The Indonesian police raided a JI (the Indonesian branch of terrorists connected to Osama) safe house a week or so ago and discovered 35 bombs and a videotaped threat from a hooded terrorist who threatened specific attacks against Americans, Australians, British, and Italians. The police also discovered an internet website that gave detailed instructions on how terrorists can attack and kill individual westerners on the streets of Jakarta. In addition the new info indicated that terrorists are likely now to attack westerners riding in cars or walking on streets, sidewalks or pedestrian overpasses in Jakarta. So glad I'm not white!
The Indonesian police raided a JI (the Indonesian branch of terrorists connected to Osama) safe house a week or so ago and discovered 35 bombs and a videotaped threat from a hooded terrorist who threatened specific attacks against Americans, Australians, British, and Italians. The police also discovered an internet website that gave detailed instructions on how terrorists can attack and kill individual westerners on the streets of Jakarta. In addition the new info indicated that terrorists are likely now to attack westerners riding in cars or walking on streets, sidewalks or pedestrian overpasses in Jakarta. So glad I'm not white!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Work in progress
These are a few photos from this past week's visit out to Lampuuk. Things are happenning out there!
Lampuuk villagers building the water processing facility
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Lampuuk villagers building the water processing facility
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Shake Shake Shake!
Earthquake #11
Magnitude? 4.9
Date? Friday, 18 November, 12:44:08 local time
Epicenter? 55 miles SE of Banda Aceh or 5.032°N, 95.999°E
What was I doing? Having lunch at USAID with the #2 dude from Washington along with reps from the other projects in Banda.
Magnitude? 4.9
Date? Friday, 18 November, 12:44:08 local time
Epicenter? 55 miles SE of Banda Aceh or 5.032°N, 95.999°E
What was I doing? Having lunch at USAID with the #2 dude from Washington along with reps from the other projects in Banda.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
This week...so far
It's been quite a busy week - which is good. I always go through this "I'm so bored in Banda" phase whenever I return from a city, and I was once again in a funk after coming back from Bali. Demonstrated by the hours and hours of Alias I watched this past weekend.
Tomorrow the #2 dude from USAID will be arriving to do a 2-day field visit. The visit is extremely important as this dude has a lot of pull when it comes to budgetary allocation for next year. And lucky us, #2 dude will be visiting 2 of our project sites. The first site is 2 of our villages in Lampuuk (See June 23 post on Lampuuk). We are helping the villages build a water filtration and storage facility. The village is blessed with a mountain spring, but the water needs to be purified and stored in order to make it potable. I will post some pictures of the project later. Also, we helped the villagers to start a small business making well rings. When constructing a well, first you drill, then you line the sides of the well with these cement well rings. Typically a well will require abut 10 rings. So instead of buying rings, these villagers decided to buy some molds and cement and build their own and then sell to other villages. They're lucky because the guy who knows how to make the rings survived the tsunami.
The 2nd site #2 dude is visiting is Baitul Qirath. BQ is a microfinance organization that we're supporting. Recently, we just signed a public-private parternship agreement with Microsoft, and Mr. Gates will be providing BQ with $200,000 over the next year or so to strengthen the capacity of their staff, to write up a business plan, and to increase the lending capital. BQ right now has about 300 customers in Banda, all are shopkeepers in 5 main traditional markets around the city. USAID digs the whole public-private partnership thing, so we gotta show BQ off.
On the home front, I've been getting an illuminating crash course on electric systems, as we’re getting ready to make some upgrades to our office and guest house's current system. Since it’s over $500, per US government procurement directives, we must obtain price quotes from 3 different firms. So I’ve been interviewing contractors and learning about how and how much electricity gets beamed into my houses. Did you know
In other news, it looks like I'm stuck in Banda for the first anniversary of the tsunami. It might not sound so bad, but it's December 26! I was planning on going to the Philippines to meet up with Lillian for X'mas, but now, it looks like I'm stuck here. I'm still hoping to see her in Singapore for New Year. Major Bummer.
Tomorrow the #2 dude from USAID will be arriving to do a 2-day field visit. The visit is extremely important as this dude has a lot of pull when it comes to budgetary allocation for next year. And lucky us, #2 dude will be visiting 2 of our project sites. The first site is 2 of our villages in Lampuuk (See June 23 post on Lampuuk). We are helping the villages build a water filtration and storage facility. The village is blessed with a mountain spring, but the water needs to be purified and stored in order to make it potable. I will post some pictures of the project later. Also, we helped the villagers to start a small business making well rings. When constructing a well, first you drill, then you line the sides of the well with these cement well rings. Typically a well will require abut 10 rings. So instead of buying rings, these villagers decided to buy some molds and cement and build their own and then sell to other villages. They're lucky because the guy who knows how to make the rings survived the tsunami.
The 2nd site #2 dude is visiting is Baitul Qirath. BQ is a microfinance organization that we're supporting. Recently, we just signed a public-private parternship agreement with Microsoft, and Mr. Gates will be providing BQ with $200,000 over the next year or so to strengthen the capacity of their staff, to write up a business plan, and to increase the lending capital. BQ right now has about 300 customers in Banda, all are shopkeepers in 5 main traditional markets around the city. USAID digs the whole public-private partnership thing, so we gotta show BQ off.
On the home front, I've been getting an illuminating crash course on electric systems, as we’re getting ready to make some upgrades to our office and guest house's current system. Since it’s over $500, per US government procurement directives, we must obtain price quotes from 3 different firms. So I’ve been interviewing contractors and learning about how and how much electricity gets beamed into my houses. Did you know
In other news, it looks like I'm stuck in Banda for the first anniversary of the tsunami. It might not sound so bad, but it's December 26! I was planning on going to the Philippines to meet up with Lillian for X'mas, but now, it looks like I'm stuck here. I'm still hoping to see her in Singapore for New Year. Major Bummer.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Happenin' Friday Night in Banda
I just watched 7 episodes of 'Alias'. 7 well spent hours. Goal is to finish Season 1 by the end of the weekend. Think I can do it?
I hear 'Lost' is pretty good - never got into it while I was home. Is it worth spending $6 on Season 1? I think it has 9 DVDs.
I hear 'Lost' is pretty good - never got into it while I was home. Is it worth spending $6 on Season 1? I think it has 9 DVDs.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Inch’allah: It is the will of God
One of the things we’re working on in the villages is trying to get people to make long-term plans. When we ask the villagers what kind of small scale infrastructure they would like in the next 6 months, often they’ll respond by “inch’allah, we may all die tomorrow.” Well, it’s one thing to live everyday as your last and do something cool, but to just sit around and smoke all day? Hmm…Anyway, this thinking was exacerbated by the tsunami because many people saw the natural disaster as God punishing the people of Aceh because they had done something to really piss off God. But this way of thinking is pretty pervasive. A couple of weeks ago, I was conducting a 6 months performance reviews for my local staff and I asked our young accountant where he saw his career going and what kind of things he’d like to pursue. His answer was “inch’allah, what ever God has planned for me.” I guess he wants to tape receipts and enter numbers into Excel all day for the rest of his life. And just the other day, I asked one of my staff if she wanted to join us for dinner. Her answer was “inch’allah.” It’s like, c’mon, what could God do to you between now and dinner time? She wasn’t struck by lighting, and came to dinner.
What’s the point of having goals and aspirations when everything is inch’allah?
What’s the point of having goals and aspirations when everything is inch’allah?
Monday, November 07, 2005
Asking for forgiveness in Bali
It was the last weekend of Ramadan, and in Indonesia, it means everything pretty much shuts down because everyone goes home to spend time one's family and ask for forgiveness from everyone. Because of the huge transmigration that takes place in Indonesia, cities like Jakarta pretty much shuts down. Aceh as well was pretty darn quiet starting on Tuesday when people started to pulang kampung (literally means to return to village). I left for Bali on Thursday morning, which is Idul Fitri, the first day after Ramadan. Everyone goes to the mosque for early prayer before returning home to spend the day with family. With this being the first Ramadan after the tsunami, there were a lot of people visiting the mass graves that surrounds the city.
So to ask for forgiveness from my sins of the past year, I decided to go to Bali to meet Michael and David, 2 friends I met in Yogya, along with friends of friends, all together about 20 people.
The entire weekend consisted of sleeping in, swimming and body boarding at the beach until after sunset, out to a nice dinner, and then partying until 5am. Saturday was a costume party, with "legends" being the theme. We had to scramble around Kuta to find creative costumes at the very last minute. I went as the Chiquita banana girl. I don’t think I’ve seen so much debauchery in one night, and I will spare you the sordid details.
It was a beach-bummin' weekend - can't remember the last time I saw 3 sunsets 3 days straight! Since I didn't get to explore other parts of the island, I'm sure I will be going back to Bali sometime soon. I still need to go check out Ubud, the cultural center of Bali, as well as the volcanos on the western side of the island. Who wants to join me?
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Instant Culture
A new supermarket opened in Banda Aceh and I went to check it out. There’s only one chain of supermarket operating here and it’s called Pante Pirak (silver beach). The drivers are always confused when I say, “I want to go to Pante Pirak” because there are like 5 Pante Pirak supermarkets and the street the biggest Pante Pirak is on is conveniently called Jalan Pante Pirak. So now, I always have to say, “I want to go to the Pante Pirak near…
Anyway, this new place is pretty big (we’re talking Aceh standards here, not Safeway or Whole Foods standards, but it is bigger than the Soviet Safeway on 17th and Corcoran, for those of you who live in DC). In the store, there are about 2 aisles designated to mie instan, better known as instant noodle! There are packets and packets in red, green, and glittery packaging. But essentially, it’s all the same stuff - skinny curly noodle with a packet of seasoning and a packet of silicon-whatever to keep it dry (my Dad once mistaken the silicon-whatever as seasoning and mixed it into the soup. The soup became rather gelatinous but he still made me eat it!*)
*Actually we both ate a couple of bites and realized something was wrong and dumped it out. That's what happens when mom leaves us alone for dinner.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
The traditional bird market in Yogya. We decided to visit this place before the bird holocaust.
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Friday, October 28, 2005
dua puluh enam
My coworkers got me a 15-in used TV. I found it on my desk this morning when I arrived at the office. I was pretty surprised as I thought only the Office Manager knew it was my birthday (but I guess it only takes one person to rally the entire office). Now the TV is sitting in my room and my project this weekend is to get it connected somehow and also find a way to plug it in (all my electric plugs are on the other side of the room).
Overall it was a pretty good (Aceh) birthday, went to 3 meetings and delivered some school supplies and sporting equipments to an orphanage, had a nice dinner with a couple of friends and then capped off the night with a good piece of carrot cake and a cappacino from the new coffee shop.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes sent via Amazon, phone, IM, and email. Wish you were here!
Overall it was a pretty good (Aceh) birthday, went to 3 meetings and delivered some school supplies and sporting equipments to an orphanage, had a nice dinner with a couple of friends and then capped off the night with a good piece of carrot cake and a cappacino from the new coffee shop.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes sent via Amazon, phone, IM, and email. Wish you were here!
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
Buka Puasa
Got back to Aceh Saturday evening. Was quite disappointed that I wasn’t able to do the midnight climb up
Anyway, it’s still Ramadan (kind of forgot about that being away from Aceh). Sunday night, we went to one of our staff’s house for buka puasa (breaking of the fast, literally meaning opening fast). Tonight we went out to our favorite village – Lamteungoh – for buka puasa. We arrived at the village a little before sunset and chatted a little with the villagers before entering a temporary shelter – made of wooden planks with a tin roof – for dinner. In Achenese fashion, we sat on the ground and ate with our hands. As we ate, the rain and the wind picked up. The house was shaking a bit and the rain made conversing hard. The tin was chiming up a tune as the rain drops started beating down harder and faster. I can’t even imagine living in a place like that day after day for nearly a year.
Most of you know that I don’t believe in ghosts or anything like that. On our way home, we were driving through this field that was a densely populated village. We drove through tall grass that had grown over where houses used to be. Our headlights created strange silhouettes from the tall grass bowing in the wind. It was hard not to feel like I was surrounded by spirits of those taken in such an untimely manner.
What a feast! It's so true when they say, "save for a year and spend it in a month."
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Funnies
Sorry about writing a non-Aceh related posting, but I thought this was extremely funny, especially after spending 2 weeks with 2 Canadians at the language school and always talking about Canada's inferiority complex.
This is an actual radio conversation of aUS naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland
This is an actual radio conversation of a
CANADIANS: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
AMERICANS: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
CANADIANS: negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
AMERICANS: This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
CANADIANS: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
AMERICANS: This is the Aircraft Carrier US ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied with three Destroyers, three Cruisers and numerous support vessels. I DEMAND that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that’s one-five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
CANADIANS: This is a lighthouhuse. Your call.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Week in Review - Yogya
I’ve been in Yogya for a little over a week now and have had a fantastic time. Learning has gone very well. My level of vocabulary has increased, but a lot of improvement has been on speaking-feeling more confident-as well as getting a good grasp on grammar. It’s always funny to find out just how little I know about English grammar and grammar in general. What the hell is the different between a transitive verb versus an intransitive verb?!? I will be grammar queen by the time I leave here.
Aside from school, I’ve definitely been making up for lost times-bowling, dining out, shopping, playing tourist. It’s been great.It was a pretty action packed weekend. Friday evening, I went to the ancient Prambana Hindu temple for the Ramayana ballet, depiction of a traditional Indonesian/Hindu story. The entire ballet is separated into 4 episodes and each being about 2 hours. The ballet was held at an open air theater with the silhouette of the ancient temple in the background. Very nice.
Then we walked through the traditional bird market. I wondered if I should stop breathing.
There's a buddha inside each bell shaped stupa. 2 buddha statues are left uncovered.
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They couldn't figure out where these pieces belonged to when they were rebuliding the temple
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Friday, October 14, 2005
Who Needs a Tan Anyway?
Most of you who have traveled in
When walking through the cosmetic aisle of the supermarket or mall, you're inundated by whitening products. From lotions that promise whiter skin in 10 days to serums that will whiten and brighten your face. Women in
Anyway, so I was walking around the IGA supermarket in Yogya this afternoon and came across this…
Monday, October 10, 2005
Let the Learning Begin!
I arrived in Yogya last night and started my Indonesian course this morning at 8am. The Realia school is in a large converted house, 12 classrooms with a lovely garden in the middle. This week, there are 6 of us. A girl from AusAid (Australian equivalent of USAID), a guy from CIDA (Canadian equivalent of USAID) and his Japanese wife, a Swiss guy who worked for the World Bank but is now working on his phD dissertation, and an Australian Defense guy. The Swiss and the Aus Defense guy are long-termers, one staying for 8 months, the other for 1 year. The rest of us are here for either 1 or 2 weeks. It’s a nice group of people. I’m planning to go out to check out the silver factory with the Aussie girl tomorrow.
Classes begin at 8am and there are 3 classes each day. For each class, I have a new teacher (all classes are 1-on-1). The teachers are really talented at writing upside-down since we sit across from each other and they write new words, definitions and instructions down for me, so they have to write upside-down. It’s pretty neat. I will have 5-6 teachers that will cycle through every 2 days or so, this way, I don’t get tired of looking at the same face day after day and am exposed to different speech styles and accents. Classes are from 8-10, 10:10-12, and 1-3.
I’m staying in a hotel that’s in the middle of town. There’s a shopping mall right next door and some good restaurants around. I’ve discovered this place called Thai Express. I think I’ll be going there for dinner quite often! There’s also supposedly a driving range on the hotel roof, still need to check that out…
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Puasa
Puasa means fasting. You hear that word a lot these days.
Ramadan started on October 5 and will end on Hari Raya which is November 4. Muslims-which is like 99% of Aceh-will not consume water, food, and cigarettes (the hardest part for some people) between sunrise and sundown. People get up at around 5 am to eat their morning meal and to pray. My staff have been coming in early and leaving around 4:30 to go buy food and groceries for breaking the daily fast.
This is a pretty harsh month for the restaurant/food stall business. They're closed except for between 4-6pm and some open again from 9-11pm. All stores are closed during the evening praying time which is between 7-9pm.
This is the first Ramadan after the tsunami and my staff have indicated that they've noticed some differences. For one, during 4 and 6pm, the main streets use to be packed with people shopping, now it's much quieter. Another difference is due to the non-Muslim invasion of Aceh, there are a couple of restaurants that remain open all day. That never happened before. But, these restaurants must cover their front windows so other people can not see in. I went out for coffee this afternoon and drank behind a butcher paper covered window.
I'm off to go learn Bahasa in Yogya tomorrow. Should be much more happenin' there since Aceh is about as Muslim as you can get in the Archipelago. I should have a decent Internet connection at the hotel.
Ramadan started on October 5 and will end on Hari Raya which is November 4. Muslims-which is like 99% of Aceh-will not consume water, food, and cigarettes (the hardest part for some people) between sunrise and sundown. People get up at around 5 am to eat their morning meal and to pray. My staff have been coming in early and leaving around 4:30 to go buy food and groceries for breaking the daily fast.
This is a pretty harsh month for the restaurant/food stall business. They're closed except for between 4-6pm and some open again from 9-11pm. All stores are closed during the evening praying time which is between 7-9pm.
This is the first Ramadan after the tsunami and my staff have indicated that they've noticed some differences. For one, during 4 and 6pm, the main streets use to be packed with people shopping, now it's much quieter. Another difference is due to the non-Muslim invasion of Aceh, there are a couple of restaurants that remain open all day. That never happened before. But, these restaurants must cover their front windows so other people can not see in. I went out for coffee this afternoon and drank behind a butcher paper covered window.
I'm off to go learn Bahasa in Yogya tomorrow. Should be much more happenin' there since Aceh is about as Muslim as you can get in the Archipelago. I should have a decent Internet connection at the hotel.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Choices
Life ain't bad here in Banda Aceh compared to some places where my friends are living or have lived. I can pretty much fulfill my basic everyday needs. But the thing is, I like having choices, and that's something I don't have much of here.
If you want bread, ok, you can have bread, but only soft, white, pillowy, Wonderbread-like bread. If you want chocolate, ok, you can have chocolate, but either $5 imported Ritter Sport or disgusting local chocolate (so I end up splurging). If you want socks, ok, you can have socks, but only polyester socks with flower designs around the ankle. If you want books, ok, you can have your pick from 20 books, but only books in Indonesian, and most are about Allah. If you want to go to the movies. Sorry. No movie theaters in the province.
Shake Shake Shake!
Earthquake #10
Magnitude? 5.7
Date? Wednesday, 6 October, 15:46:41 local time
Epicenter? 20 miles SSE of Banda Aceh or 5.234°N, 95.481°E
What was I doing? Working at my desk.
Biggest earthquake since I've been here. We ran out of the building but I made 2 mistakes:
1. I ran to the door that was in the next office, when there was a door within 10 feet of me.
2. Grabed my keys instead of my cellphone.
I'm such an amature. Oops!
Magnitude? 5.7
Date? Wednesday, 6 October, 15:46:41 local time
Epicenter? 20 miles SSE of Banda Aceh or 5.234°N, 95.481°E
What was I doing? Working at my desk.
Biggest earthquake since I've been here. We ran out of the building but I made 2 mistakes:
1. I ran to the door that was in the next office, when there was a door within 10 feet of me.
2. Grabed my keys instead of my cellphone.
I'm such an amature. Oops!
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Time to Put My Learning Hat on
The boss has finally decided. I'm off on Sunday to go to Yogya (short fo Yogyakarta, sounds like Georgia but like Jo-gia) on the island of Java for the next 2 weeks to study Indonesian. For those who are not familiar with Indonesian geography, below's a map of the island of Java. Yogya is known to be the cultural capital of Java, as well as a shopper's haven, with lots of batik, silver, and furniture. Everyone in the office is predicting that I will come back loaded with goodies.
I will be enrolled at Realia. Classes begin at 8am and run through 4pm with a 1 hour break. That's 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks. I think the classes are mostly individual lessons with field trips to practice with the locals. It's going to be an intensive 2 weeks. I've never learned languages this way before.
For the weekend in between the 2 weeks, I'm planning to go to the 1,500-year-old Borobudur Temple, its built from two million blocks of stone in the form of a massive symmetrical stupa, wrapped around a small hill.
I will be enrolled at Realia. Classes begin at 8am and run through 4pm with a 1 hour break. That's 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks. I think the classes are mostly individual lessons with field trips to practice with the locals. It's going to be an intensive 2 weeks. I've never learned languages this way before.For the weekend in between the 2 weeks, I'm planning to go to the 1,500-year-old Borobudur Temple, its built from two million blocks of stone in the form of a massive symmetrical stupa, wrapped around a small hill.
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