Akward Moments and Weird Things I've Done

I've had my fair share of embarassing and just plain strange moments these last 2 years. Here's a highlight of just a few....

Bank Trips: When I first moved into my village in June 2014, I could not handle the heat. I woke up sweaty, went to school sweaty, came home sweaty...I was just gross all around. Luckily, I found respite from the heat. I discovered that the local bank was the only buildling in town with air conditioning. One day I was sick of sitting in my house and sweating all day long, so I grabbed a book and headed to the bank. 

I sat there for 3 hours until a teller finally asked, "Miss, do you need help with your account?" 

"Oh...no! I'm just reading" I gave him a friendly smile and returned to my book. 

Coffee Mandi: The mandi (bathroom) is a small, tiled, multipurpose room. The toilet is in another room next to the mandi. In the mandi, I can shower, brush my teeth, wash my clothes, and pee all in one spot. Some days I spend close to an hour doing all my chores in my tiny, tiled mandi. One morning, I got the ingenius idea of taking my coffee into the mandi with me. So there I was...in the mandi...naked...washing my clothes...and hair....sippin' coffee. After I came out, my host mom asked, "Do all Americans do this?" 

I didn't want her to think I was strange, so I said, "Yeah! Of course! Totally normal, ibu." 

A Foreigner? HERE?: Locals will stop and stare at me like I'm some alien walking along the side of the road. People will shout at me or motorcycles will slow down to get a better look at my face. I was so confused at first. I'm just a normal person, why must they stare? I finally understood the local perspective about a year into my service. I was riding on an angkot (a large van used for public transportation) and we were pulling into my very rural village. I spotted a Caucasian couple walking around the market place. I literally had not seen a white person in my village, ever. I threw open the window, hoisted my torso out of the vehicle, and hung out of the side of the van until we drove away from the couple. That was the day I started calling myself a local. 

May I Help, Please?: Many times locals will treat me like a child because I'm a naturally clumsy person. If I try to cook, my host mom will take the frying pan out of my hands. If I try to help with the rice harvest, my host dad will shoo me away insisting that it's too much hard work. A few months ago, my neighbor was throwing a wedding party for her daughter and her new son-in-law. Everyone in the neighborhood was at her house helping her cook for 300+ guests. Of course, I wanted to join along in the festivities, so I offered to shred coconut. The other women kept telling me that I couldn't. 

"You'll cut your finger on the shredder!" they shouted. After 5 minutes of pleading with them, they finally let me help out. I'm sure you can tell where this story is going....

Not even a minute into shredding one measley coconut, I scraped my finger against the shredder. Blood spewed in all directions and I quickly put my finger in my mouth to ease the pain. My neighbor just sighed, took the shredder from my hands, and let me to the bathroom. For the rest of the day I sat in the corner and watched everyone else cook.

I've had many more embarassing moments and I'm sure there are more to come in the last 58 days I have left of service. Stay tuned....