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.
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...
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.)
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.
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...
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