I've been in Indonesia for about two and a half weeks now. So far so good.

We are staying at an unbelievably beautiful hotel. I have the nicest bathroom that I'll probably have for many years to come, along with people who clean my room for me and do my laundry, so I'm feeling very spoiled and very lucky.

My training program has been a Monday thru Saturday experience of intensive Bahasa Indonesia classes, teacher training, and all sorts of useful cultural training. We've had some amazing lectures about the diverse topics of Indonesian history, politics, and culture; how the education system works here; general healthcare; and lots of conversations about general safety (avoiding motorbikes, surviving earthquakes, etc.). I feel like it is giving me a good background of information that will tie into many aspects of trying to live and work in Indonesia. It has been fun to feel a bit like a college student again, sitting down to an interesting lecture and trying to take notes.

Along with all the important educational aspects of the past couple weeks, this has been a wonderful chance to meet incredible people. There are 50 ETAs in Indonesia this year (the program has been hugely expanded) and we're all together for this training program. We hang out between sessions and go out to dinner in the evenings. We've had time for some small adventures outside the hotel. I went hiking to see some local caves and waterfalls the first weekend here. We saw an amazing performance of wayang puppetry, dance, and angklung music (bamboo tubes of different sizes, that the musicians shake to make different notes) this past weekend.

All in all, I'm feeling very happy and so excited to move to Samarinda next week. It feels a bit like I'm living in a bubble, surrounded by English-speaking Americans and a wonderful hotel staff who feed us every couple hours and let me practice my childlike bahasa skills on them without laughing (at least, without laughing directly at me).

I'm sure that moving to my site will be a big change. I'll have to navigate thru the first moments of meeting my neighbors and the people who work at my school. I'll have to teach my first classes (and I'm not sure how effective the tricks of teaching 3 yr olds or playing Camouflage in the woods are going to be). I suppose I'll even have to figure out where on earth I can get a good cup of coffee.

But, I am incredibly excited.

I'm writing this post from the Hong Kong airport (gosh, its fun to say that) where I am sitting on the floor at what is apparently 5am, waiting for the shuttle to bring me to another part of this already huge airport to get on my next and final flight to Jakarta!

Officially I think it is Sunday... and I left on Friday.... and somehow I accidentally went to Toronto. But despite a rather hectic amount of itinerary changes, flight cancellations, and unscheduled maintenance work (American Airlines, I would prefer to never fly with you again), I had a very perfect moment after boarding the plane to Toronto. I wanted very much to curl up in a ball and fall asleep, until I remembered that no matter how ridiculous things seem, or how tired I am, it was important that I watch the lights and the land of my country disappear as I flew up into the clouds. It just seemed important.

All my bags are packed. I'm ready to go.

I'm leaving on a jetplane. And then another jetplane. And then a third one. And then a bus. And then I'll finally be in Bandung, some 30+ hours after I left home, ready to eat some Indonesian food, meet the other Fulbrighters, and get started on my 3 weeks of orientation and training before I get shipped off to my actual site in Samarinda.

Official Important Details:

2 bags

65 lbs of stuff

6 pairs of shoes

too many pairs of earrings to count

7 good luck charms

and 1 brand new passport that won't expire until 2022!

Map copied from Wikipedia, edited by moi (in paint)

Selamat tinggal, America! Salam Indonesia!

Before I get any further into this blog and my ETA, I wanted to write my official disclaimer. Emilysadventuresatsea and everything I write on this blog are the products of my own thoughts and observations, this is not an official Fulbright program site. What I write in no way reflects the opinions of the US State Department, or the Fulbright Program, or the entire country of Indonesia for that matter.

Somehow it seems appropriate that on our nation's independence day, I should write about moving away from the U.S. to live on the other side of the world.

It makes sense to be very grateful to my country right now, because the State Department has offered me the opportunity to move to Indonesia for ten months and work there as an English teacher. While the job of teaching English is one that will surely be an exciting new challenge, my other job while I'm abroad is to be a cultural ambassador. That means building relationships with my students, coworkers, and neighbors; learning about Indonesian culture and society; and sharing my understanding of and appreciation for life in America. Hopefully this blog will be a way for me to share some of what I'm learning with my friends and family back home.

The other reason that today seems like the right day to start this blog is because my arrival in Indonesia and the start of my training program are exactly a month from today. I've recently found out where I'll be working. I am moving to the city of Samarinda, which is the capital of the province of east Kalimantan, which is on the island of Borneo. I haven't been able to find out much about Samrinda yet, but I do know I'll be teaching at a high school in the city. I've talked a little bit to the girl who was at my site last semester, she tells me I'll be living in a bright green house with an extra bedroom (so feel free to visit, if you're ever passing through!) and wonderful neighbors.

Outside of Samarinda, Kalimantan is home to the oldest rainforest in the world, most of the planet's remaining orangutans, and scuba-diving sites renowned for their sea turtles and manta rays. Sounds to me like a pretty good place to live.

So right now, I'm focused on learning as much Bahasa Indonesia as I can (dan sekarang belajar tidak akan sangat baik), seeing friends and family before I leave, and daydreaming about batik fabrics.

Well this might be it... the last post from the other side of the world. I head home tomorrow. TOMORROW!

I've done a pretty good job of keeping myself busy in the face of all the stress and anxiety and excitement of homecoming that is filling up my brain. I spent three days in Northern Vietnam in a little town called Sapa. My days were spent hiking through jungly mountains and terraced rice paddies, my nights were spent shivering under a mountain of blankets in an unheated guesthouse (it gets cold up north!). So the days were lovely, and I had to buy myself a disposable camera so I could capture the best of the scenery.

Here's a picture stolen from a tourist website.... yup, it really was that good.

I got back from Sapa early this morning. Today I wandered around Hanoi. I picked up a couple more souvenirs for friends, and for myself. There was a point in this trip, only a couple days ago, when I thought I'd actually head home with fewer pairs of shoes than I'd left with seven months ago. That dream will not become a reality. Sigh. But I think I'm okay with that.

In between fits of spending every last dong that I have, I went to the Hanoi Fine Art Museum. The collection was really interesting. I saw a lot of scenes of brave soldiers fighting against the "American aggressors" in traditional laquer-painting style. There was also a really interesting collection of massive oil paintings that glorify Uncle Ho.

When I just wander around the streets, and look at pretty things, it is easy to forget about our history with Vietnam, in a way, the art museum today reminded me of it. I saw some pieces that were very beautiful, and very sad.

My plan for tomorrow is pretty simple. I don't have any grand adventures in the works, because I'm not sure my brain could handle it. Instead, I've got a book, and a lovely lake to sit next to and drink coffee. If I make it to another museum or monument, that'll be fine, but I don't want to pressure myself into seeing one more thing.

I am so excited to be going home. I feel like I've been out here the right amount of time because I do feel ready to go home. But I'm also feeling nervous, and anxious. It is going to be a big change to step back into a world where everybody speaks English, and there aren't a thousand motorbikes trying to kill, and you can drink water out of the tap.

US of A, here I come!

Halong Bay.

(not my picture, but simply stolen from the internet to prove how pretty this place is)

I've been in northern Vietnam for about a week now.

It has been wonderful. The weather up north is cool and dry, so I don't end up breaking into a sweat every time I step outside. The coffee is wonderful here, and thanks to colonial French influences I get to eat a crunchy baguette with that coffee every morning, and after months of rice, that is a very great small joy.

I've spent most of the week living on Cat Ba island. It is the biggest island in Halong Bay, which is surely one of the more beautiful places on earth - giant limestone karsts rising straight out of the ocean. We've gone on a bunch of adventures around the area: kayaking around the bay, going on a hike through the interior of the national park, sailing around at suset, but the highlight may have been the chance to go climbing up these giant rock formations and simply falling into the warm water if you happen to lose your grip.

Today I'm going back to basics, I have plans to read my book on the beach and eat mangoes for lunch, but that is probably all the excitement I'm looking for. Tomorrow I'm hoping to do a little bit of biking around the island, and the next day we'll probably catch a ferry and head off toward somewhere new!