Where Energy Drinks Rule

By this point in time, I've had many conversations, with many people about the amount of sleep people get in Guyangan and Pati. I may have mentioned this before (I can't remember now) but I'm actually in the town of Guyangan, just outside of Pati. Anyway as you might have guessed, people in the small towns, especially, are very devout Muslims, which means getting up at 4:30am or 5:00am to pray every day of every week. So, most people here are running on 5 or 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis, even the students. Sometimes they find time for napping during the day, but it's not like something they have built into their schedule. The fact surprised me because of how much even indonesians joke about the fact that they are really laid back. One person said to me, "Indonesians never sweat when they work, only when they eat!" This, of course, was in reference to their spice food.

But from what I have noticed, especially with the teacher crowd, is that these people are very busy and have very little free time. Most teacher work at least 3 jobs, whether it's working at three different schools, private tutoring, or just some odd job. This means that, with a daily ritual of prayer (5 times a day), they have very little time to sleep. Most of the time I've witnessed someone praying, the actual preparation for the ritual takes the most time because they must cleanse themselves thoroughly and then change clothes. They probably spend 1 and a half to 2 hours praying a day... everyday... pretty much everyone.

So, it's pretty funny because every time I watch indonesian television, the commercial breaks are full of advertisements for energy drinks and caffeine pills. M150 Energy and Stamina or two brands that I see advertised literally every commercial break on certain stations. Not to mention, every time I sit down at the school with teachers, they are drinking coffee or tea, every time, any time of day. They must think I'm lazy as hell for getting my 8 hours. Oh well, not something I'm willing to sacrifice! :-)

In Pati... for real this time.

Ah... ok. Well, so last time I was at an internet cafe, the browser that the establishment was using happened to be Opera, which unfortunately is not compatible with this website. Hence, I could not post anything other that a title for a blog entry... a little disappointing.

I am pretty much completely settled now. I have a nice place to stay, which is connected to the library and very close to where the head master lives. I have a nice-sized living room, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and a laundry area. It's very comfortable... besides of course the leak two days ago, which literally almost sent my TV stand floating out the door. I heard a sound from the kitchen, and when I made my way into the living room, I could see the the reflection of the TV in a lake of water on my floor... which was being filled by the light fixture on the ceiling. At that point, I concluded that it would be a good idea to turn the light off. But never fear, the carpenter was on the job immediately and fixed the problem!

I want to go ahead and comment on something that I've found very amusing and interesting here. Indonesians in Pati really don't have any western sense of privacy, which is really the only thing I've had to consciously adjust to. I don't really have anything to hide, so it's not a big deal, but people in Pati are not very individualistic, they are extremely community oriented, so for example, any time I write an e-mail, my driver sits right next to me and tries to read every word that I type. It's not an issue for him that I am writing my closest friends and family; for him, this is just an opportunity to read and improve his english, while learning the names of my friends and family. Also, when I'm in my home, if someone enters or exits, they have yet to shut the door. Honestly, I may have never even noticed if I didn't have air conditioning in my house, which I desperately want to preserve :-), but people here really don't see any reason why they would need to shut the door. And don't get me wrong, they are extremely polite and would never enter or exit without making sure that it is okay with me, but once they are in, it's everybody's news!

I'm running a little short on time, so I must get going, but next time I update this, I think I'll bring my journal, so I can remember all the interesting and entertaining anecdotes that have become a very common occurrence in my life!

In Pati...

Here I was trying to get a different perspective on the volcano crater, i.e, acting like an idiot. The view was incredible. I was disoriented looking down into it because of how huge it was, and I wish pictures could do any sort of justice. If paths had made it possible, a walk around the crater could have easily taken an hour or two.

First Post, August 12, 2007

Hello all!

Hopefully I'll be able to update this pretty regularly. Rather than uploading pics in multiple e-mails, I'd really like to just do it once here because internet is fairly unreliable.

Anyway, my experience so far has been practically flawless... with the exception of contracting the Indonesian Plague of course... and the 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

But hey, no one was hurt, and my antibodies are now stronger than ever. Street vendors, watch out!