Sign Language

I spent the first few days of the Peace Corps in a hotel in Surabaya. We barely stepped out into the city. On top of that we had five long days of lectures, PowerPoints, safety training, and group activities. I did not feel like I was in Indonesia whatsoever. In fact, I could have been in a hotel in Florida and not even noticed.

I didn’t feel like I was in Indonesia until we were all separated into small clusters (5-7 volunteers/cluster) and spit out into villages. Each cluster is assigned a village outside of Batu. I honestly can’t pronounce the village I am currently in. When people ask me I say, “I’m in the village with the long name that starts with S.” I’m sure I’ll catch the name some day.

Anyway, I arrived at Village S three days ago. The Peace Corps bus dumped us at a white house and our bags were tossed onto the driveway.  My host mom and dad came to pick me up.  My host dad (bapak) rolled my luggage on the short walk to his house. I definitely over packed my bag because the look on my bapak’s face said, “Holy crap, did this girl bring bricks to Indonesia?”

When we stepped into the house, they showed me to my room. To my delight, the walls are orange and I have a view of an active volcano outside my window. I toured the rest of the small house. The living room has purple walls and stuffed animals out on display. The kitchen has green walls, a leaky roof, and a blue door that leads to the bathroom. There is a garden on the side of the house where my bapak grows flowers and vegetables. The house creeks when you take a step. My host sister (Nia) always talks about ghosts.  My host brother (Chahya) sits on my lap and plays games with me. It’s as if my imagination threw up and created a fun house for me to live in.

At this point, I was new to the village and knew absolutely no Bahasa Indonesia. I knew how to say “thank you” and “color.” This wasn’t exactly useful after being thrown into an only Indonesian-speaking household.  My host mother (ibu) and I quickly formed our own sign language. When she wanted me to bathe, she poured invisible water on herself. When she wanted me to eat (which is all the time), she scooped imaginary rice into her mouth. When she wanted me to wash my clothes, she rubbed her hands together.

 Our sign language became so advanced that I could explain:

1) Why I chopped off my hair

2) Details about my boyfriend (age, residence, employer, how we met)

3) The whereabouts of each of my 4 siblings (Rahul included)

4) Why I am Indian American and not just Indian. 

She gave me two thumbs up to indicate she understood. This lasted a solid two days until the Peace Corps language training began.

As my language skills progress, I miss our special sign language. My ibu is amazing; she does everything for me and takes care of me as if I were a queen. I didn’t need words to describe how I was feeling. We would just flail our arms at each other until there was a mutual agreement of what I wanted/needed. It was amusing to say the least. We laughed through the entire process. Now, I can speak a few sentences in Bahasa Indonesia. Therefore, our conversations are not as humorous. When I want to shower I can say, “Saya mau mandi.” She still gives me two thumbs up, but it’s just not the same.