an entry somewhere else

I don’t even know where to start up with this post. I’m my first internet shop in Banda Aceh near campus. It took me almost a week to get here. My digs this time are fine and Spartan. There are a few wrinkles that are still being ironed out. It’s my first week, right? The kitchen sink is a trickle, so I have to wash my dishes in the bathroom–which is a squat toilet and a cistern of water for bathing and washing my bum. The whole bucket bath and squat toilet is new to me as it was much the same in Nepal. There are other things that require help: where do I put my trash? Do I top off the heaps in the compound of the dorm, or do I find a proper place for it?

My new place is a bit aways from the center of town. I live in an area of the city named Darussalam and like that there aren’t becak and other beasts of burden rumbling about so much. I’m also a quick walk to my office, but a long walk from this internet shop or any place to buy pretty much anything. The major supermarket in town had very little I am accustomed to from living in Makassar. I found milk, tuna, oatmeal, and peanut butter. Much else that I cook for myself is gone. Explorations are still occurring.

My counterpart took me for a little ride last weekend to the freighter ship that was in the middle of a neighborhood. At first I thought it was a massive building but he then pointed out that it was electricity generating ship from the harbor. The locals have rebuilt their houses up around the monster. Someday it will have to be disassembled and removed, but, for now, it still can be fired up to generate electricity. We then went off to the harbor that the ship came from, passing one of the mass graves along the way. The antenna of the ship was all that could be seen from the harbor at Ulee-leh. The rebuilding looks like it is finally picking up and reminds me of the new subdivisions that get built in the USA. On the whole, Banda Aceh seems a bit behind the development times with only a few international franchises and the locally owned supermarket chain. The coffee is good (when you finally get serviced). It’s probably going to pick up in the near future with all the natural resources that don’t have to be shelved because of a separatist movement.

This week was the first week of classes and about 2/3 of the enrolled were showing up. Next week will be Meugang, or the days previous to the start of Ramadan, and I was told that the students would probably go home or be preparing for a pre-Ramadan feast. Then, we get about two weeks of classes before the big break starts. I’m heading to Bali once again. I have plans this time of renting a car and driving about the island with another Fellow. We’ll see what happens…