"Anda Tinggal di mana?" "Saya Tinggal di Surabaya!"

So we landed in Indonesia!  We got off the plane and as a group we waited in line for the custom guys to check our passport and get our fingerprints and officially put us on the Indonesian grid. 

After I was put on the grid I looked for my luggage.  I almost cried when I saw that my accordion was in perfect condition. 

At this point all of us Peace Corps trainees were about as tired as we could be and we had to go through one more security checkpoint in order to leave the airport.  The door after this went outside.  we were greeted with loud cheers and dreadful heat and humidity.  Cheers you ask?  Some of the current Peace Corps Volunteers were there to meet us!  They had signs and everything.  I wish that I wasn't so tired and overwhelmed by the heat so that I could say something to them.  I probably looked like a jerk because I was just like "oh, ok".

We then all loaded into shuttles that took us to our beautiful hotel: the Country Heritage hotel in Surabaya. 

The drive to the hotel gave us the first glimpse of Indonesian traffic.  It seems the traffic "laws" here are more suggestions, and something like 80 percent of people ride motorcycles.  this means that there are a few vans and trucks driving with motorcycles swerving anywhere they can in order to get to their destination faster.  I feel that the Peace Corps made a good decision in not allowing us to drive.

Our hotel is pretty nice.

The food is really nice.

In all honesty we are being babied.  For this first week we are staying at a nice hotel and being served food regularly.  The food is quite tasty too.  don't let the fish head scare you.  i would compare the taste to barbeque chicken.  We get bottled water and everything is planned out for us.  I have only left the hotel once without the Peace Corps and that was with a bunch of other volunteers to go check out the Alphamart.  I bought an umbrella (because it has rained heavily everyday) and some Indonesian potatoish chips. 

We get like 3 hours of language classes a day and other classes regarding our safety, food, diseases, culture, and other important things.  My Indonesian Guru (teacher) is Didit.

He is the guy with the awesome hat.

Bahasa Indonesia has been going swimmingly.  I can count to like a million.  Whenever we see someone we greet them with "selamat" and then the time of day (pagi, siang, sore, or malam).  It's a heck of a lot of fun. 

One day we had a field trip to the Peace Corps office in Surabaya.  It is a ways away so we had to get a ride there.  We rode in what is called an angkot.  These are basically vans that are turned into buses for the public.  It was pretty fun.  In the angkot that I rode in, the door didn't shut which was interesting.  It was safe I guess as long as the driver didn't make any sharp right turns.  one guy handed us a menu through the open door.  It was for a restaurant called the Super Awesome Cowboy Restaurant or something to that effect.

Like I said, we are being babied right now.  This is demonstrated by the fact that the hotel that we are staying in has a pool.  This is something that us sweaty and stressed out volunteers are taking full advantage of for this week.  we also have western toilets and toilet paper.  I am yet to use the squat toilet as the one in our apartment is in the basement and the light does not work.  I think I will hold off until I am able to see before I poop with no seat and no TP.

On Sunday things will get a bit more real as we move to our host families for our 10 week training sessions in Batu.


Sampai Jumpa Nanti!