Rama-do List

Ramadan starts today. ALHAMDULILLAH!

If I haven’t mentioned this fun fact already, 88% of Indonesia’s population practices Islam. It has the world’s largest Muslim population and is home to roughly 13% of the world’s Muslims. This will be my first time experiencing any Islamic holiday. Lucky for me, Ramadan is my first one! It starts Saturday, June 28 and ends Monday, July 28.

Last night, my family hosted a prayer group to prepare for the start of Ramadan. The prayer group was for men only. Therefore my ibu and I sat in the kitchen making soto ayam (my favorite Indonesian dish).  The prayer ended at 9pm, which is a fairly late hour for Panggul. I could barely keep my eyes open while I helped my ibu put away the dishes.

Today, everyone starts fasting. People wake up at 3am to eat and relax for the remainder of their day. They break the fast every evening around 6 or 7pm. Now this is a feast! My first Ramadan feast won’t start until tonight, so I’ll blog about the celebrations at a later date.

Indonesia is very calm during the month of Ramadan. Most people don’t exert a lot of energy because they are sleepy from fasting. What does this mean for Kruti the Peace Corps Volunteer? It means I have time. A lot of time. So much time that I don’t know what to do with myself. But luckily I’m a planner. I made a list of projects to keep me busy during the relaxed month of fasting that is Ramadan. I call it my “Rama-do list”.  Here it is:

1)   Catch up on emails that people have been sending me. Thanks again for all my friends and family for keeping up with my blog and reaching out to me!

2) Decorate my room with pictures, posters, and other fun stuff that came in my care package

3) Read the books on my to-read list (Catcher in the Rye; Eat, Pray, Love; A Tale of Two Cities; etc) 

4) Study for the GRE

5) Train for the ½ marathon on Mount Bromo (yup, that’s right. I’m running on an active volcano!)

6) Make a Peace Corps scrap book

7)  Watch Mahabharata- the jaw of every Indian just dropped when they realized how much time I have on my hands if I am able to finish Mahabharata during Ramadan 

I have many reasons why I’m not observing Ramadan. The main reason is that I’m training for a ½ marathon. I don’t want to faint in the middle of a morning jog. I will be fasting on rest days, however. I want to integrate with my family. Fasting when I am able to seems like the right path to take. I also don’t want to fast because I need a lot of water here. I drink almost a gallon a day. I am not used to this type of heat and I need to hydrate myself.

That’s all I can post about Ramadan as of now. It’s only the first day, but I’m sure I’ll have some fun tales to share later on this month. Also, if anyone would like to be my pen pal, please write to:

Kruti Patel SMA 1 Panggul

Jl. P. Sudirman

87 Bodag Panggul

Trenggalek 66364

Jawa Timur, Indonesia

The Blood of the Enemy Tribe

The title of this blog has nothing to do with blood or enemy tribes. I was just trying to catch my friend Ethan’s attention. Anyways….

This blog entry was supposed to be filled with pictures of my village. However, I broke my iphone and alas I am without a camera. I’m sure you’re wondering how I broke it. Well, the phone was already cracked, chipped, and looked like it had been on a journey to the center of the earth and back. I put it in the basket attached to my bike and blasted “Jumpin’ Jumpin’” by Destiny’s Child. I started riding, swerved to avoid a baby chick, and the nearly fell off my bike. I caught myself, but not my phone. And now, I am officially without an iphone. Go me.

So here I am, in Panggul camera-less. Let me try to describe my village as best as I can. Panggul has two beaches on one end and mountains on the other end. When standing on the beach, you can look back and get a gorgeous view of the mountaintops in the distance. The valley is the center of town where all the shops and small restaurants are. I live on the opposite end of the beaches on a mountain. I’m not too far up the mountain, but I can’t get home without breaking a sweat.

I’ve only been here a week, but I have gone on some gorgeous morning runs through the rice fields on the mountain. One morning, I was jogging and jamming along to some Katy Perry song when all of a sudden I hear a noise. Before I could look to find out what it was, I was knocked to the ground. I sat there bewildered. In the corner of my eye I saw something running. “Was that…a….a… goat?” I thought. I held back tears of pain and confusion. I mumbled to myself, “Kruti, you are going to get up. You are going to take 3 seconds to accept that this is your life now. And you are going to keep running.” And that’s exactly what I did.

Of course, this little side story brings me to my next point. Panggul has A LOT of goats. They are kept in wooden cages that are raised about 3 feet above ground. This is to prevent the cages from flooding during monsoon season. There are also chickens roaming around freely and cats…LOTS OF CATS. I’m in heaven! The cats are smaller than the ones you find in America, but they’re just as adorable.

My host family here is wonderful. I have a host dad, mom, and sister. My host dad is the kapala desa (village head) and my host mom is a homemaker. My host sister is 14 years old and constantly says, “O-M-G, HELLLOOOOOO!” She got it from a movie and now I’ve started to say it.

I teach at an SMA, which is a public high school. The school is a five-minute walk from my house, but locals are always surprised to see me walking there. They think it’s far and that I should ride my bicycle. It’s literally about the length of one New York City avenue. Sometimes I don’t know how to respond to them. I just nod and keep walking.

Last week, the students were finishing up their finals exams. My counterpart (co-teacher) let me proctor a few tests. Proctoring tests is always a bit boring, but the students were excited to see me around school. Whenever I walked in to proctor a test, the room erupted in cheers and applause. I guess this is what it feels like to be famous! The principal and teachers are all very friendly.  I like talking to them, although my Bahasa Indonesia needs improvement.

Overall, I love it here in Panggul. My site is simply gorgeous. This village has everything I want, plus a few goats. 

No Tears, No Fears

Peace Corps training turned me into an emotional mess.  I cried privately twice a day on average and publically once a week. I cried when I felt tired. I cried when I craved cheese. I cried when I walked over a mile for wifi only to discover my family was unable to Skype. I cried on my birthday. I cried if I couldn’t fit into my favorite dress because I gained too much weight eating rice.  I cried during the Swear In Ceremony.  I cried when I said farewell to my fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Lindsey (this, by far, was my worst cry-fest). The point is I cried more than the average human should cry. 

Fortunately, training is over and I have a picture to prove it! The picture above is of the Sumberejo B team reciting the 10th Peace Corps Expectation in Bahasa Indonesia at the Swear In Ceremony. I'm on the right in the black and white skirt. 

 Right now I’m in Panggul, East Java, Indonesia. I am at my permanent site and I will live here for the next two years. Good news: I haven’t cried….yet.It’s only been a few days since I left the cool mountain air of Batu, but I can honestly say I’m happier. I attribute the busy schedule, exhaustion, culture shock, and lack of Starbucks (oh no, I just sounded so American there) to my shattered emotional state.

 I thought the hardest part of Peace Corps life was going to be the lack of amenities. It’s not. I have the same luxuries here as I do in America with the addition of an unlimited amount of rice and lukewarm bucket baths. The hardest part of Peace Corps life is maintaining sanity. Sometimes my emotional state dips a little too low for comfort. But there’s always that one little happy moment that keeps me going. 

Indonesia is entering it's dry season. I guess I picked the perfect time to stop crying.

End of Training

Tomorrow I become a Peace Corps Volunteer. Tomorrow is the day that training officially ends. There is a special ceremony to swear us in as Peace Corps Volunteers.

This morning, we all headed to Malang (the nearby city) to rehearse the ceremony in the University of Muhammadiyah Malang dome. Our Country Director gathered us in front of a large screen. After scolding us on our lack of professional attire, she played a short video clip. It was a video of current volunteers congratulating us on completing Pre-Service Training. Volunteers danced and sang along to “Best Day of my Life” by American Authors. Some volunteers danced on beaches, jumped into water, trekked through rice fields, and skipped down streets. In a flash I saw how beautiful Indonesia is. I am incredibly lucky to live here.

During rehearsal I thought about the past three months. Training has come with a lot of ups and downs. I can’t fully explain the emotional trip I’ve been on since I arrived. The highs are really high, but the lows are incredibly low. One moment I’d be ecstatic over the fact that I learned how to get around Malang. Three hours later I’d be crying in the fetal position in my bedroom while my ibu asked me for the 9^th time if I wanted to eat.

The toughest battle I’ve faced is wrapping my head around the lack of solidarity in the Peace Corps. Although we’re experiencing a similar journey, that doesn’t mean we all joined for the same reason. This sometimes created a sense of loneliness during training.

However, my relationship with my host family gives me hope. I love the calmness of my host dad’s personality. I love my ibu’s silliness and obsessive need to take care of me. I love giggling with my host sisters when talking about boys. And I love coming home to my host brother. He races his friends up the street so that he can be the first one to give me a hug. Although I will miss my crazy family, I am excited to create new relationships with the locals in my permanent site.

After I am sworn in, I will be shipped off to Panggul, East Java. I will teach at a public high school. I will live with a new host family. My host father is a retired government official. My host mother is a schoolteacher. My host sister is a midwife. I’m so excited to have a fresh start in a new place.

Tomorrow I become a Peace Corps Volunteer. Wish me luck!!!!!