| 15 March 2005 - Aaron Editors note: I have been preparing this journal entry as a response to requests that we all continue to post journal entries from time to time. My perspective was to be how Austin and /the US are different from Banda Aceh, and how I miss those differences. As I was just about to send this, I got Eric’s latest journal entry which addresses the same question in his own way. Interesting that our approaches to this topic are so similar. Enjoy…. I’ve been back now from Indonesia a couple of weeks. I am recovering well from the surgery-I’ve been doing some “light” weight training, and have been playing basketball again for the past week, including a 25 point performance last night (OK, so we are in the 35 and over league here in Austin, but…I’m still glad to be at close to 100% again). I remember telling Eddie that the thing that you really miss after going to Indonesia are the people. The first time I ever came back from Indonesia, some 25 years ago, I remember walking along the road in Utah (where I was born) with my sister Audrey and asking her, “where are all the people”? To which she responded, “in their houses, where they live”. It just seems strange to not have people everywhere you look. This morning I walked outside my home in my quiet Austin Circle C neighborhood, and missing were the people just walking, riding motorcycles, busses and cars, peddling wares and trying to survive. Where were the overturned cars, burned out from within and discarded by the side of the road? Gobs of blue exhaust and open sewers were nowhere to be found. There was nobody scavenging through the garbage with long bamboo tweezers, for cigarette butts…”there’s good, smokeable tobacco left in most of ‘em”! Gone are the chess games with Pak Surya and the gang in the prayer room with our shoes off and sitting on crappy mattresses cross-legged as we play. The cigarette smoke burns our eyes and most of the building’s occupants hang around and kibbitz (No, I don’t know how to spell it-but it is the word we always use when someone is coaching or suggesting moves while playing chess-which is a common thing when playing in Indonesia). Of course, since the loser always has to go get the nasi goreng for dinner, it definitely is a bit irritating when the person you are playing is getting help from all the buddies in the kampong-and Pak S certainly has the buddies. Chess is the same in any language, and a game that I love. Chess is very common in Indonesia, and we often ran across people sitting around in the mosque or in the street playing chess. I often saw Eddie start a game with someone in a hotel or on the side of the street, then wipe out the person who happened to be at the board when we walked up. After that, they would get the “local grand master” who, despite a valiant game from Eddie, would usually beat him. And what about roadside-music groups? Despite living in the music capital of the world, there aren’t many makeshift groups of people strumming guitars and beating drums while singing Indonesian folk songs here in Austin….actually, that I have to take back, because Austin has certainly learned about this beautiful pastime and it is enjoyed everywhere- except for the Indonesian part. I am certain that Eric still enjoys these get- togethers in the evenings. In Circle C, curiously missing are the food and ware stands… In Banda Aceh, the stands are everywhere. Fruit, goathead soup, pirated techno CD’ s, juice, rice of every shape and color, Satay grills, phone cards, and batik can all be bought within 100 feet of any location. And why isn’t livestock walking around everywhere here, foraging though garbage piles for food? The funny thing is, people in Circle C stay in their homes, they don’t hang out by the side of the road, and try to sell their neighbors fried rice. The streets seem desolate here. Eddie and I are staying busy and involved in AIRO while in Austin. He is gathering information and beginning the process of our filing as a 501 (C) (3), non-profit corporation. It looks pretty straight-forward, and this will help as we attempt to take on some new projects. We expect that it will be 2-3 weeks before we are registered. He is also continuing to work the communications side, preparing and issuing a press release about the KR project in the last few days. We will post it to the website shortly. I am managing finances and budgets, chatting via yahoo with Eric virtually every day, and planning my return trip in mid April. Thanks for all your support. Aaron |
Journal Entries
Journal Entries
Mosques always survive
A mosque in BA at dusk
The logo for AIRO
Strange
Editor's Note: Personally, it
looks like Aaron needs to cut
back on the items below...
Editor's Note: Personally, it
looks like Aaron needs to cut
back on the items below...
Spicy food!
Can you find this ibu's injury?
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