JICF Staff Outing

Well, five Waceks recently left Jakarta and needless to say the activity around this place has greatly decreased. They left behind 1 Wacek (me/Leah) and Sally, who we have decided is a Thompson turned Wacek. So life has calmed down a bit—as a result there have been less bloggable days/events (I mean no one really want to read about us going to the office, sitting in traffic and eating at another mall). However, I have decided that today’s events are deserving of a blog post.

At some point last week the staff in the JICF office decided it was time for an office outing. At the previous places I have worked, normally lunches or maybe even an afternoon of bowling have been deemed as sufficient activities. But, throughout my time in Indonesia I have learned that here you have a lot more options, at a much lower price. So collectively the office workers decided that we would venture to Ancol in North Jakarta and go to Sea World in the morning and Atlantis, a waterpark, in the afternoon.

Sally, I, and two others planned to leave our apartment bright and early—8:00am. (Which I should mention is at least an hour earlier than the normal time I head to the office to work.) But we wanted to get an early start to ensure we had time for all our fun plans. A few minutes before 8:00 we were informed that our car was broken. What did that mean? We weren’t sure so Sally went down to find out. I met her in the lobby, as she came in laughing pretty hard. Sally likes having a good time, but she doesn’t laugh this hard that often. So I knew it was going to be interesting. She told me that we were going to have to pull a ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. If you have ever seen the movie Little Miss Sunshine you know it’s about the road trip of a dysfunctional family. At one point the transmission of their van goes out and they all need to push the van and then one-by-one jump in, in order to start the vehicle. Well the transmission of our Kijang had gone out. Ironically we had just watched this movie two nights prior. The only thing separating us from our day of fun was ‘pulling a Little Miss Sunshine’. So four of us got behind the car and pushed until the driver was able to put it into the right gear. Unfortunately, our experience was not as Hollywood as the scene in Little Miss Sunshine, but it did the trick and we were on our way!
We arrived at Sea World and found that the gang was all there: Wan (the Awesome Administrator), Wan’s wife and two children, Sinur (the Super Secretary), Mona (the Dedicated Director of Children’s Ministry), Dena (the Careful Carrier of the Credit Card that would get as all into the waterpark for half price—she doesn’t work at the office she is a friend of Mona and Sinur, but like I said could swing us a deal so she was invited), Tina and Sally (the Terrific Teen Workers), Isak (the Incredible "I do anything and everything around this place"), Isak’s daughter, and Christov and I (Accelerating Accounting Interns). Sea World was filled with aquarium after aquarium of fish and other sea creatures. The time at Sea World, quickly reminded me of the Indonesia’s take on safety or lack there of. I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised after my day at Taman Safari (see previous post). But, come on! There were three Crocodiles behind a two foot wall, allowing any person to enter the ‘cage’ and making it pretty easy for the crocodiles to escape. There were also four small “Touch Pools” containing baby sharks, sea turtles, sting rays, and star fish. We were able touch all of these animals and even pick them up if our heart so desired. At one point we even got to feed the animals in the touch pools by putting half a fish on a two foot skewer. After seeing the speed and the force the sea turtles used to snatch up their food, I thought twice about liberally dipping my fingers into the water. After our fun at the touch pool we headed over (luckily each of us with ten digits) to watch the divers feed the big fish and sting rays in the large tank. The show was enjoyable to watch. I only had a few irrational flashbacks to the tiger show (see previous post), when four sting rays would surround the diver and he would need to forcefully push one away. These sting rays bodies were probably 5 feet long and then they had a tail was another 2 or 3 feet. The announcer mentioned that the sting rays tail is very dangerous, so the divers need to be very careful—whatever that meant. There was more than enough to see at Sea World and we all enjoyed seeing a variety of creatures, some which I have never seen before.

After an exciting morning at Sea World we ate lunch (most of us enjoying some form of rice, chicken and tea) and we headed to Atlantis the Water Park. Now, I grew up just over an hour from Wisconsin Dells (If you’ve never heard of it, that’s really just too bad—It’s often referred to as the Water Park Capital of the World ), so my standards concerning water parks are pretty high. I’ll give Atlantis a B. Noah’s Ark of course gets an A+++. The waterslides were lacking, but the quantity and variety of the pools was really quite impressive. We were also some of the only people there, which meant no lines and no crowds—a definite bonus. Our group didn’t waste a minute and quickly got to the business of exploring every square foot of the park. We started in the lazy river, which really wasn’t very lazy, as you are fairly aggressively pulled in one direction by the currents. Next we stopped at the slides area of the park and quickly identified the quality and level of fun for each of the five slides. The two tallest slides were labeled as Male and Female. We found that it took an average of 4 minutes to get down the Female slide, due to the number of times you get stuck and needed to use the sides of the slide to continue moving. The Male slide was better, but not great. Throughout the day a simple, non-flashy, rather small, light blue slide became our favorite. The slide essentially dropped straight down 25 feet and then ended with 15 feet of flat slide, allowing you to gain plenty of speed to ensure that your nose fills with water as you enter the pool very quickly and with a big splash. The order of riders on this slide went something like this: Wan, Sam, Kezia, Sally, Leah, Christov, Sam, Kezia, Kezia, Sam, Mona, Dena, Sinur sits down but gets up, Isak, Christov, Sam, Kezia, Sally, Leah, Wan, Sinur sits down but gets up, Christov, Isak, Kezia, Sam, Sam, Kezia, a random Chinese guy goes down head first, Wan head first, Mona, Dena, Sally head first, Sinur sits down, Everyone yells Bisa Bisa!, Sinur goes down! It’s easy to say we more than enjoyed ourselves at this slide.
Another fan favorite was the Dead Sea pool, filled with a very high concentration of salt, which made it very easy to float. Wan thoroughly warned us to not get water in our eyes and that we should only stay in the pool for about 15 minutes. I commented how cool the pool was and wondered why I had never seen something like this in states. Sally suggested that it probably the same reason we don’t hold tigers. I think she is right, combined with the fact that our skin burned and stung a little bit afterwards and Sally had swollen lips the next day.

Throughout the afternoon we also raced in the Olympic sized pool, took on the wave pool (where the waves only came on for 15 minutes ever three hours), dominated the two kitty pools, and Sam and Kezia tired out the zipline that went over a pool filled with just one meter of water—good thing these kids are strong for their ages. By five o’clock we were all pretty tired and worn out from the day. We decided to change and head to dinner. Ancol is located on the north shore of Java, and we were lucky enough to watch the sunset over the water at 6:00. This also provided an opportunity for some pretty good silhouette pictures. We went to a fantastic seafood restaurant for dinner. Where all the fish was very fresh! We ended the evening with taking a short boat ride as a group. Heading home we were all exhausted. The quietness of the car indicated it had been a full and fun day.

All in all in was a great day. It made me even more thankful for the awesome staff that I have been so blessed to work alongside of this summer. The JICF staff is made up of incredible individuals who I have had the privilege of getting to know. I have learned much from them and they have each greatly contributed to my experience in Indonesia.

Role Call Part 3

The final installment!

Sally "I Can't Believe It" Thompson: this title is a compilation of three occurrences. The past few months Sally has been living in Indonesia and, as such, has been introduced to a lot of new things—from scenery, to language, to horrible traffic, to cultural practices. Hiking into a jungle village in a remote corner of the globe was bound to have a number of first time experiences as well. It seemed that every day Sally was commenting on a new experience. The first day, it was “I can’t believe I’m in Papua!” and we, with her, were all marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days later, it was “I can’t believe I’m hiking up a mountain in a rainforest!” and we all were marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days after that, it was “I can’t believe I’m on my knees vomiting into a squatty potty!” and we all were…thankful it wasn’t us. Needless to say, she didn’t let a little 24-hour bug get in the way of enjoying her new experiences to the fullest! It was great to be able to share the country with someone and re-experience the things from my childhood with someone who was experiencing it for the first time.

Birage “Insta-friend” Tandon: a relief to anyone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen is seeing the words “Instant ______. Just add water”. In your head you’re thinking “It can’t be that easy!” But you try it anyway and realize that all it took was that little addition of water to bring about the delicious result. Now, the trouble with friend-making is that it usually takes a while to get through the awkward get-to-know-you’s, get a feel for the others’ comfort level, etc…similar to a recipe with a lot of prep and preheating. The reason we named Birage “Insta-friend” is because getting to know her was as easy as just adding water. She was everybody’s best friend and had something to contribute to every situation. Each member of our group was very different (as you can tell from the previous entries), yet Birage was able to relate with everyone on multiple levels. Being so easy-going and friendly put everyone else at ease because no matter which group she was put with, when we needed to split up for flights or hikes, everybody knew they had a talking/walking companion and a friend.

Kathy "Biggest Panties, Smallest Wardrobe" Wacek: if you have perused any of the photo albums from the trip, you may notice that, although our scenery changed a lot in the 10 days, mom’s outfits…..did not. Aside from the dedication outfit she brought that was a little dressier, she brought only one or two extra shirts for the EIGHT OTHER DAYS. Whenever I am trying to give the illusion that I “change clothes” or “have good hygiene” or whatever it is most people do regularly, I will pick a t-shirt that can easily blend into the mix—a light blue, a tan, or a generic white. Kathy’s always been a tad unconventional and chose instead a BRIGHT blue t-shirt with a huge image of a pair of whitey tighties fit for a double-x woman. As if this weren’t enough, across the front of the underwear are plastered the words “Put on your big girl panties and DEAL with it!” It’s subtle, quaint, and blends right in with Papuan village life. Jokes aside, what this wardrobe malfunction highlights is mom’s ability to keep a light-hearted attitude in any situation and can blend into any setting (while her clothes may not J). Kathy has the ability to crack a joke in the middle of a grueling hike or make hitches in plans seem like no problem at all.

Rick "Baby-Kissing Moses" Wacek: I don’t claim to be the Bible scholar that, say, Larry and Linda are, but I do recognize that there is no recorded scripture reference to Moses kissing babies. It may have happened, but that’s not what I’m referencing here. What this title is referring to is Rick’s incredible ability to a) find and hold the nearest child, and b) attract crowds of people. The baby-magnet aspect of this title is probably due to the fact that most Papuans have never seen anything so hairy and want their kids to get a picture with it….oops, I mean him. No, just kidding. In reality, I think it is because my dad LOVES children…he is willing to jump, yell, play, roll on the ground, or do just about anything to get a little kid to laugh. And, really, that same determination is what accounts for b) above, attracting crowds of people. Just as Birage can relate to anybody about anything, Rick can tell you anybody’s life story within about ten minutes of meeting them. He truly has a passion to get to know people and an ability to set people at ease instantly upon meeting them.

Ben "Helping Hand" Wacek: this title is a tad mis-leading, as Ben was willing to use whatever he had to offer to help out. In any weather (rain during the parade), at any time (he’s already sitting down to dinner), and to anybody (we all got to experience this), Ben was willing to help. I didn’t know that spending ten days in a mountain village would be some of the most relaxing days of my life. But, between the always-ready Papuans who would have carried ME up the mountain had I asked, and my cousin Ben who would have carried the Papuan who was carrying me if need be, I was surrounded by servant hearts. The others in the group can back me up on this, but it seemed like before our mouths had even started the sentence “I can’t really—“ or “Do you mind—“, Ben was already up helping. The old adage states that a smile is the same in every language, and to that I would add that serving is the same in every language. Ben and his sister were working against a language barrier, but both were successfully able to communicate love to the Papuans as well as gratitude for including them in such an incredible experience. (Note: we thought about titling this the "Helping Hand, Back, and Butt" award for how he always helped out, carried all of our stuff, and taught the boys how to transform their squatty-potty into a jungle bidet. Feel free to ask them for details!)

Leah "Monster Clown" Wacek: at first glance, this title may seem a little unkind. And, well…you decide. What “monster clown” emphasizes is Leah’s desire to know and love the people of Papua. She just recently returned from studying abroad in Uganda for a semester. During those months, she loved getting to talk with the people of Uganda, live with them, learn their traditions and experience what they experience. She had the same desire for her trip to Indonesia. The hiccup? English is one of Uganda’s national languages; not the case with Indonesia. So, stripped of a common language, Leah had to rely on the three L’s: Limbs, Large gestures, and Loud laughing. When trying to communicate an idea, she would perform nothing short of a full mime routine. When we would translate a joke, she would laugh 30 seconds after everyone and, to compensate, would laugh twice as loud as necessary (Leah: “I wanted them to know that I appreciated the joke even though I didn’t laugh at first!”). You may be saying “Well, that certainly sounds like a clown, but I don’t quite think its monster behavior”. True. Enter: children. Children, unlike adults, aren’t so sure they want to interact with a loud-laughing mime. You wouldn’t hold someone’s hand before taking them on a date, and you wouldn’t hold a kid before making it a game. So, in order to be able to hold the children, Leah invented the “monster”. Basically, she would run around “rawr-ing” and chasing them, eventually grabbing and tickling them. And they loved it! All in all, Leah just wanted to interact with the Papuans and used whatever means necessary.

Steph "Spongey-Sponge" Wacek: as a teacher, Stephanie often jokes that the extent of her medical training is being able to put on a band-aid and/or call someone in to clean up puke if one of her students is sick. Once, I even saw her put on Neosporin! Needless to say, the day of the clinic put her in a “sink or swim” situation as far as medical care goes. She eagerly volunteered to help in any way possible (as she always does) and was put to work. She quickly mastered the art of measuring babies and asking “What hurts?”, which I think are at least Master’s level skills in the medical field. She was contentedly processing patients when there arrived a child with a 107 degree fever. Charis said “He needs to be sponged!” and the next thing I knew, the bandanas on both my and Sally’s head were in Stephanie’s hand and in the rain. Talk about Jungle Medicine! She sat beside the child and “wet-bandan-ed” him while he waited to be seen by Dr. Teubl. You could practically feel the relief on the child’s mother’s face as Steph took such care with her son. About thirty minutes later, a similar situation happened (this time the fever was 104 degrees) and Steph acted just as quickly and with as much care. We were all impressed by her patient care and thought that when we shut down the clinic at the day’s end it would be the last we saw of sponging. Being a teacher, Steph knows the importance of understanding a subject FULLY before being able to feel confidently versed in it. I suppose in her quest for knowledge, she wanted to feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of being sponged, because three days later she chose to pass out while throwing up and landed her head far-from-gently on the ceramic tile floor. We informed her, after the fact, that we would have happily simulated being sponged, but I suppose she prefers good ol’ fashion experience! Though she lacked previous medical knowledge and ended up being pretty sick for two days, she didn’t let any of those things get in the way of helping out a TON and being a joy to be around. Even when we were checking to see if she was concussed, she was making jokes—what a gal!

Molly "Most Enthusiastic/Best American Dance Moves" Wacek: before you think I’m arrogant and think I’m a lot better dancer than I really am, I am turning the blogging over to Stephanie for this last one. What follows is HER description of this title:

“Dancing Queen” may have been a more suitable nickname, but considering she was competing with women doing synchronized dances while wearing endangered Birds of Paradise head ornaments, “Best American Dance Moves” seemed much more appropriate. Throughout our entire 10 days, we observed some sort of singing or dancing DAILY, much to all of our delight. Having the rhythm and musical ability that she does, this was a small dose of Heaven for Molly. She was always the first one to jump out of her seat and join in the Papuan dances (invited or not!) and took extra time and effort to learn/try to learn some of their songs. As if public dancing weren’t enough (it never is), each night back at our host home, Molly would get the troops riled up for our own little, usually-silent-because-the-head-of-the-village-was-next-door, house dance-off. This is where her American moves really shone as she taught the Papuans how to do the Lawn Mower (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Sprinkler (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Robot (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Shopping Cart (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), and finally the Big Square-Small Square-Cardboard Box (long lived because everyone finally joined in and we all pranced around the table looking like fools!). So much energy and laughter were added to our trip because Molly was on it, and I’m sure the Papuans she met will never be (or dance) the same!