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.
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