It is late Saturday afternoon and I am sitting in the dark inside the house where I am staying, as the power has just gone out and the curtains are shut (as is the local custom during evening prayer time); the local neighbourhood is very peaceful.
It’s hard to describe what it is like here in Banda Aceh, but I’ll try to highlight some of the things I’ve noticed – and please send me questions on things you are curious about…
The first thing is that Banda Aceh is entirely different from Jakarta; although it is only about a 3 hour flight (via a city called Medan), BA and Jakarta are worlds apart. Jakarta sort of reminds me of a mixture of Nairobi and Mumbai, in that it is very modern in some areas but very poor in others, has diverse cultures, suffers from very heavy traffic, etc - whereas BA is predominantly mono-cultural (devout Muslim), relatively small (approx 200 000 population) and (so far) fairly easy to get around, even during busy/peak times.
Down the block from the house where I am staying
Each day it has been between 30-35C (…plus humidity!), with bright sunshine most of the time interspersed with a few short but intense downpours of rain. There are power outages at least once per day, usually in the late afternoon or early evening, just when it seems to be the hottest :-) we are always so thankful when the A/C comes back on!
I am staying at the house of an American lady, who has lived and worked in Banda Aceh for a number of years (before, during and since the tsunami). The house is in a fairly quiet area, is partly air-conditioned and comes with the traditional Indonesian bathroom (kamar mandi). These bathrooms feature a large water tank and a plastic scooper, so to shower you pour water from the scooper over yourself (nice and refreshing since it is so hot!); the toilet is basically a hole in the ground with footrests on either side; to ‘flush’ the toilet, you just reach for that same handy plastic scooper, take water from the tank and flush (for anyone who has travelled in India, you’ll understand what I am talking about!).
Each day it has been between 30-35C (…plus humidity!), with bright sunshine most of the time interspersed with a few short but intense downpours of rain. There are power outages at least once per day, usually in the late afternoon or early evening, just when it seems to be the hottest :-) we are always so thankful when the A/C comes back on!
I am staying at the house of an American lady, who has lived and worked in Banda Aceh for a number of years (before, during and since the tsunami). The house is in a fairly quiet area, is partly air-conditioned and comes with the traditional Indonesian bathroom (kamar mandi). These bathrooms feature a large water tank and a plastic scooper, so to shower you pour water from the scooper over yourself (nice and refreshing since it is so hot!); the toilet is basically a hole in the ground with footrests on either side; to ‘flush’ the toilet, you just reach for that same handy plastic scooper, take water from the tank and flush (for anyone who has travelled in India, you’ll understand what I am talking about!).
Outside and inside the house where I am staying…
Dressing modestly is important here in Aceh, and it is essential that women cover up as much as possible, including the arms – you can even buy separate ‘arm coverings’ for when you are wearing a short sleeve shirt. I wear my hair up most of the time but I do not wear a head covering, except for when my hair is wet, as there is a negative connotation associated with women who are seen outside or in public with wet hair – guess why?
To get around Banda Aceh I generally travel in something called a ‘becak’, essentially a three wheeled motorcycle rickshaw. I get stared at a lot as there are not too many Westerners around, and some people call out ‘bule’, which means foreigner. I am also called ‘Ibu’ Susan, which is the polite form of addressing a woman.
A typical ‘becak’ I am continuing to learn little bits of Bahasa Indonesian here and there, and have focused this week on learning my numbers so that I can go shopping in the market and tell time :-)
I have also started to try some of the local foods – besides my favourites of mangoes and papaya I have taken a liking to a local fruit called ‘salak’ which is recognizable by its brown snakeskin covering, and has an inner texture similar to a crunchy apple and sort of a nutty flavour. I also enjoy ‘sirsak’ or ‘soursop’ juice, which comes from a warty, green-skinned fruit with a white, pulpy interior that has a slightly lemony taste. In Jakarta I tried ‘gudeg’ or jackfruit curry, which has a nice flavour without being too spicy.
On Thursday I started visiting my friend’s office, met the local staff and learned about the type of programmes they are implementing in and around Banda Aceh. Next week I will have the opportunity to visit one of the local villages, to observe a program first-hand.
I have also started to try some of the local foods – besides my favourites of mangoes and papaya I have taken a liking to a local fruit called ‘salak’ which is recognizable by its brown snakeskin covering, and has an inner texture similar to a crunchy apple and sort of a nutty flavour. I also enjoy ‘sirsak’ or ‘soursop’ juice, which comes from a warty, green-skinned fruit with a white, pulpy interior that has a slightly lemony taste. In Jakarta I tried ‘gudeg’ or jackfruit curry, which has a nice flavour without being too spicy.
On Thursday I started visiting my friend’s office, met the local staff and learned about the type of programmes they are implementing in and around Banda Aceh. Next week I will have the opportunity to visit one of the local villages, to observe a program first-hand.
The office that I am visiting
I heard from my Mom that it snowed in Saskatchewan today, so I guess I should not complain about having a sun burn - but thankfully the power has just come back on…so time to cool off....
Nice becak picture :-). Brings back old memories. I used to live in Medan and the becaks there are like the one pictured. I think that's how they are in Sumatra. In Java, the becaks are human-powered (with sort of a half-bicycle) with the driver in the back of the passenger (not on the side). Also, have you tried durians yet?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing all the beautiful pictures, comments and insight about all that you are experiencing! We are thinking of you and hoping you are keeping well.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to learn about all you are seeing and learning. We are still waiting for spring here, still very cool but the song birds are back so it should start to green up soon ( and warm up as well). thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteGood to see glimspses of your journey. I enjoyed reading your very written diary!
Have Fun. I pray for your success in this endeavour too!