How to make Urab (a traditional Sudanese dish)

(pronounced oo-rab)

Slowly but surely I've been recieving my initiation into Sundanese (West Java) culture. The students in the school next door played these bamboo instruments which I would look up the name of if my internet weren't  slow enough to test the patience of a saint right now. Today's lesson took place in our kitchen. 

Mamah, my family's friend and maid, had out a dozen cutting boards, huge bowls, pots and woks when I walked into the kitchen for breakfast this morning. The twins, Susi and I spent the next two hours making the following. (Disclaimer: I used my dictionary to translate all of the ingredients and some are foreign to me so if you wish to use this recipe at any point, go with your best judgement. I also took pictures.)

Ingredients:

- green beans (kacang hijau)

- spinach/kale/water spinach (I assume that's a real plant)/watercress (kangkung)

- bean sprouts (toge)

- grated coconut (kelapa)

- small red onions (bawang merah)

- red chilli (cabe merah)

- tomato

- kencur (no translation; smells earthy)

- prikitik (see photo)

- green pumpkin-oid thing (waluh)

- salt

- sugar

1. Grind about 10 red onions, 10 green chillies, several kencur and garlic into a paste. Also grate a heck of a lot (maybe a whole) coconut into a bowl.

This is kencur.

This is the quantity of coconut we're talking about. 

2.  Thinly slice green pumpkin (about 10, they're small)

3. Cut up tomato, red onion and chillies into small-ish pieces and set aside

4. Steam green beans, bean sprouts, spinach-oid plant and prikitik (pictured below) set aside in a big bowl. 

5. In one large pot steam diced green pumpkin. In one large wok heat oil on med-high and mix red onion, chillies and paste. Add in tomatos after about 30 seconds with 3 tablespoons of sugar and a little salt

6. Add in the bowl of coconut shavings and mix everything inside of wok. Add more oil as needed

7. Grind 1 Tbsp salt, 5-6 red and green chillies (as desired) and add to wok

8. Then mix in all the steamed veggies and adjust spices as needed

Serve with tempeh, tofu and rice if you're not sick of any of these things. Selamat makan! 

Where the wild plants are

Ok, bonus picture before I start my tale of our intrepid adventure to Bogor today. This was from yesterday, Friday afternoon, when my host sister and I played badminton at the Karawang sports center. The sport center consisted of a large badminton court and two pool tables (to the left of where I stood to take this shot.) I found it fitting that they sold donuts at the snack counter. Donuts are, of course, right up their with cigarettes in terms of items considered to be healthy in this country. In fact they sold cigarettes as well at the gym. 

This morning I woke at 4 and Syifa, my 25 year old host sister and I were out the door by 5:30 am to catch our bus to Bogor from the questionable bus stop which was situated right on the freeway.
The main attraction of the day was the Bogor botanical gardens. This post will mostly be devoted to long-overdue pictures of the native flora. 

 

Our guide was Syifa's former high school English teacher who also gives "freelance tours" of the gardens. He shares my sister's passion for nutrition. 

First we saw a bunch of cool FLOWERS (actually first we saw a bunch of ibus and school/work groups picnicing on the sprawling lawns.)

In the lotus garden

Trees on the path to the orchid garden. 

From the orchid garden.

Apparently it's not the season for orchids. Most looked like this.

Interesting bit of history. This park was founded by an English man and has a lot of mock buildings around it like the Eiffle Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidential Palace. We only saw the GG bridge today.

I have no idea..

And then we happened across some MUSHROOMS:

As we were ambling out of the gardens around lunch time we saw none other than the Golden Gate Bridge! Apparently there's also an Eiffel Tower and mock Louvre somewhere. Syifa told me it would take at least a week to see all of the gardens. I took that as another trip in the making. 

Also, awesome trees.

After the gardens we had lunch and this ice-jello mixture for dessert. It was good, even if the star-shaped jello pieces and colors reminded me of some sickly-sweet cereal. 

Annnnnd then it flooded as we drove back into Karawang. Not the whole road fortunately. 

The end.

https://www.google.co.id/maps/place/Kebun+Raya+Bogor/@-6.597629,106.79957,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x75f23c6b45a37ee5

A day in the life in Karawang

Actually, I haven't been here long enough to establish a routine - that and my school schedule is essentially non-existant because I arrived just as students were in their final week of exams before a month-long break for Ramadan.   

But my day usually starts in my *private bathroom* with a few splashes of cold water from a heart-shaped blue bucket to wash away the sweat that accumulated while sleeping stock-still in front of a fan all night.

I'm not usually one to willingly immerse myself in cold water, no matter how hot the summer day, but I do so without hesitation here, in this eternal, blistering summer. 

For the first few days I watched the clouds of mosquitoes fly around my head, ready to deal the fatal swat but after a few days I decided it was better to coexist in peace for the most part. I still put up my bed net at night and my family sprays a repellent in every room before we sleep. 

By 6 I eat breakfast, cross-legged on the floor with the twins, Naila and Nabila, my two sisters, Susi and Syifa, Umi and Abi (new words for mom and pops in Arabic), maybe an uncle or two and some other extended family of this one huge adopted family. My host parents have adopted 4 - now 5 with me - children to add to their stock of 3 biological children for a grand total of 8. Usually the three younger sibs run around, making as much noise as possible, Susi cooks and cleans while sometimes chatting with Syifa,  Umi and Abi are out and then there's me, the still dazed and confused bule.

 By 7 am the twins and younger brothers are ushered to school, Syifa (25, already graduated and works part-time in Bandung for a nutrition company) goes with her father to Bandung (where I stayed for two nights upon my arrival in west Java) and Susi and Mamah, the maid continue with chores. I go to school to either monitor exams (now finished), chat with students or attend a teacher's meeting. There are 25 teachers at this relatively small high school and it seems very well-run from my first impression. 

 

My school.

Buying my bike with my two awesome, very sweet and helpful counter-parts, Mr. Yayat and Mrs. Euis. 

 

Sunrise from the window of the upstairs room I stayed in the first night.

Around 8 years ago Karawang was apparantly all rice paddies and has only recently become suburban sprawl. It's very pretty but I heard that during the harvest season - sometime in October, same as us - the insect life is more than a little invasive....

From the left: Syifa's sister and one of the  3 biological children, Riri, who also just got married and moved out of the room I am now in, mama Umi, the tall bule, Syifa, Zia (the brother whose only home from school during the holidays) and papa Abi.

Mangoes, salak, jambah air, apples, oranges and who knows what else...

Thank God. A kitten has adopted us. And my host brother Fariq! 

 

They laugh at this picture and Umi calls them "orang Afrika". Huh.

Delicious peanuty goodness. Abi and Umi took me out for breakfast to this little shack behind the Karawang train station this morning. We sat on some benches and the shack was already bustling with locals at that early (for me) hour. 

The nice rickshaw man let me pose for a photo. I guess some people use this as a mode of transportation. I don't see many people in them.

Not ready to leave just yet...

At the end of the day we have a language lesson using a white board my family has. They're all very keen to learn English (different from my first host family). I've requested some bahasa Sunda and Arabic lessons in exchange. That may happen at some point...

Watching the World Cup at 3 am Indo time, an hour before prayer. Opening night: Brazil vs. Croatia. They were rooting for Brazil (who won! And thus I watched my first soccer match ever. It was quite exciting.)

Wild, wild West

Disclaimer: this post was and will be written at different stages of my transition to my permanent site in west Java. 

It's Tuesday, my bags are packed, my mosquito net is down and I'm meeting my group of 25 in less than an hour to depart for the Malang train station (in BI stasion kareta api. That's maybe my bew favorite word in this language.)

I know all volunteers say their host family gave them the best send-off, but mine really did. The night before last an uncle with a nikon camera arranged a photo shoot with all of us in the living room. He took some pictures with my camera as well so I was surprised when, after swear-in, my host bapak and ibu gave me a floral photo album of said photo-shoot. 

Swear-in was an elaborate affair, held at the University dome, a different building but same campus where we have met every Friday during training. Peace Corps pulled out the metaphorical big guns for this event. The Dome itself was a work of religious art. I felt very small standing in the center looking up at the intricte stone work which supported a circle of stained glass at the very top with some word in Arabic.

During swear-in, Pomp and Circumstance played in my head, even through the Indonesia Raya and Star-Spangled Banner. His Excellency, the US Ambassador to Indonesia, did the actual swearing in and that was a very big deal. There was all kinds of security and press that hung around him, at least at the beginning and end. 

Here we are: the ID8 group 2014-2016!

I'm second from the left in the line of volunteers. His Excellency, Robert Blake, is at the far left. 

My O3 cluster (the only village that has a hand sign, for all it's worth), the people I saw the most these past 10 weeks. 

And now for a closer look at my stunning steampunk batik....

You can't see the bow very well. I may find a different fabric at some point to replace it with....endless possibilities! I'm beginning to see why many volunteers pick up the hobby of designing batik while here. 

So back to Tuesday. This is my send-off party: the loveliest people in all of Batu. 

Bus to Malang was short and sweet, bad bakso for lunch and then a 15-hour train ride to Bandung. It was awesome! I didn't see a lot of scenery because I didn't have a window seat, the windows were dirty anyway and it was dark for about 11 of those hours but it was still a very satisfying train experience.

We had a few hours to rest before lunch on Wednesday morning, then we toured the Bandung hospital where I will most likely go if I need any medical treatment. 

In the evening we went to the top floor of our swanky hotel and had dinner with our counter-parts. To meet them, PC had us line up on either side of the room, American volunteers on the one side and Indonesian teachers on the other and they called us one by one to meet and sit down. That was a bit nerve-wrecking. 

My two counter-parts came, one man, one woman. They both seem really nice, speak English very, very well and said that their school was really excited to host me. It was like a dream come true. I don't know where I picked up this anxiety that my school/community wouldn't want  me but I didn't realize until then how nervous I am about that. 

One ID7 I talked with in the lobby put the goals of the PC English teacher very aptly: the goal is to be helpful but not needed.

Anyway, we head off into the sunrise early next morning. Hopefully Karawang won't be as hot as everyone says it is.