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.