Hello there! I apologize in advance because this blog post is a week or two overdue. The last couple of weeks have been a blur. Let's flashback to Friday, October 25th. This was the day that we had been counting down to for weeks. We were finally going to find out our permanent sites AKA where we would live and work for the next two years of our lives. The week had been full of discussions between my friends and I regarding the various locations we could be placed in Indonesia including East Java (the province I am in currently for training), West Java, or the island of NTT. My Ibu reassured me that every place in Indonesia is the best. Additionally, I felt like I couldn't have a preference since I had only been in Indonesia for a month so I went into the site announcement day with an open mind. Peace Corps Indonesia has quite an amazing site announcement process that I don't want to go into detail on here in case there are future Peace Corps Indonesia trainees reading this. If you want to know more, ask me! It's honestly the best surprise ever. After a day of training, I was more than happy to find out that I will be moving to... BOGOR!
I will be living in the regency of Bogor which is located in the province of West Java. I am less than an hour and a half south from Jakarta which is the capital city of Indonesia. My village is located in the mountains so it is nice and cool which I am a major fan of. Additionally, Bogor is known for its rain and thunderstorms. Overall, I could not be more excited to spend the next two years here.
Less than a day after site announcements, I took off on a 16 hour train ride journey to visit my new home. The journey was spent with four other volunteers who are located within a few hours of my site. Before leaving for Bogor, my language cluster and I gathered to say our goodbyes. We have become pretty close and sadly, our sites are located across Indonesia.
After a 12 hour train ride to Jakarta, two other volunteers and myself took another two hour train ride to the city of Bogor. We arrived around 6:00 am and met two of my counterparts for the first time. The three of us were so excited to finally meet! They drove me to my village and took me out for a traditional breakfast.
Next, we drove to the school where I will teach at for the next two years. I will be teaching at an SMA which is a public high school. Since it was a Sunday, the school was empty for the most part but it made for a great tour. The high school was absolutely beautiful and had three separate areas for each of the grade levels (10th-12th grade).
After getting a tour of the high school, I was brought to my new host family! I was very nervous but excited to meet them. My host family consists of an Ibu (mom) who is an English teacher at the local middle school. She is the sweetest and an amazing cook. My Ibu has a 36 year old son who has a 10 year old son. They were all so welcoming and I feel so lucky that I get to live with them.
After visiting for a while, my host mom told me that I should rest after my long journey. I was also not feeling very well so I decided to take my temperature...
I was so sad to see that I had a high fever and in general, I was feeling awful. This was not how I wanted to spend my site visit. Luckily, while I was packing for my visit, I followed Peace Corps Medical Providers (PCMO) orders and packed my medical kit which contains basically every medicine ever created. I quickly called them and started taking the medicine they prescribed. I spent the rest of the day sleeping and resting.
I woke up the next day and was still feeling awful but gathered up the strength to go to school. After all, I had been so excited to finally meet my students and was only here for two days. Although I was very sick, it was a fun day. I was able to give a speech in Bahasa Indonesia to the entire school of 1200+ people. I visited classrooms with my counterparts and answered questions that students had about the United States. I met with the principal and vice principals as well. Everyone was very welcoming and enthusiastic!
After school, I went home and rested and was feeling even worse than the night before. My counterparts, host mom, and I decided I should stay home from school the next day before taking the long journey back to Kediri. Although I was disappointed that I was sick, I still made the most of my time there. When I was feeling a little better the next day, my counterpart and I went on a little walk around my village.
After saying goodbye to my host family and counterparts, I met my site mate (another volunteer located 45 minutes from me) at her school. Her counterparts drove us to Jakarta where we met 3 other volunteers and then we all rode the train back to Kediri together. I was still sick once I got back so I had to go to the lab a few times for some blood tests. However, I'm happy to say that I am feeling a lot better now! Although being sick was difficult, I believe I made the most of my site visit. I was still able to visit school and meet my counterparts and students which is what is most important. I feel so lucky to be able to spend the next two years in Bogor and I'm really looking forward to moving here in December. Thank you so much for reading this and for all of the support from home. I couldn't do it without you!
I can't believe how beautiful you look in all of the pictures despite being sick- wow! I am so happy you got such a nice posting in Bogor. And now I know to watch for travel deals for your mom (and me!) to Jakarta as that will get us close to you in Bogor. Feel better & feel my positive energies flowing to you!
In all your photos you simply look so depressed. Try and have a little fun, OK? Oh and on a serious note...fantastic. Keep on keeping on!!
Very exciting, thank you so much for sharing! Glad you are feeling better! You are amazingly strong, to give a speech to 1200+ and meet so many people, to be able to do all that while sick. I wish you all the best and continued success in Indonesia! Love you!