Second Week

My second week here has been wonderful. I’m doing my best to make sure that I keep a busy schedule, because there’s nothing worse than being in a different country with nothing to do.

This past week I was able to sit in on Ibu Eka’s Sociology and Religion class, which was very interesting. The students were discussing laws in Sharia Islam, and even though some of the vocabulary they used was difficult for me to understand, I was still able to get the majority of it. They covered a lot of interesting stuff, my favorite was when they talked about the punishment for thieves – according to Sharia law, the punishment for theft is to cut the left hand off for the first offense, and then the right hand if they commit the crime again. Ibu Eka mentioned something interesting about this that I’d like to note here – she said that maybe instead of taking it literally, another interpretation could be to cut off their resources. She said that our hands are our biggest resource, since we do so much with them, and that cutting off a resource would be like cutting off someone’s hand.

This week was also the first week of the IAIN English discussion group. The turnout was pretty decent, there were about 5 students who came the first time, and we’re thinking that next week a few more will come. We’re planning on having different themes to talk about for each week. This week was just an introduction, but next Friday we’ll be talking about culture and the participants will prepare a 1 – 2 minute shpeel about anything they want that has to do with culture. It should be pretty fun. I didn’t get to actually lead a discussion group this week at Al-Kafi…Norman said that there were some planning issues that they needed to work out. But he gave me a few good resources for class ideas that I’ve been looking through, and next Friday we should have a class set up.

Ibu Eka also introduced me to Ibu Ina, a super sweet lady who has been studying in Malaysia. Her husband is actually a director at the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies here in Aceh, and she recommended that I get in touch with him to see what they’re all about. I still have yet to go over and set up a time to meet with him, but I’m hoping to get that done this week.

On Saturday, I went with Ibu Eka to another pesantren – Pesantren Ruhul Fatayat, otherwise known as Pesantren Seulimum. I enjoyed visiting here more than I did at Tanoh Abee. It was much more lively, as they have almost 1,000 students – about 600 girls and 400 boys. We met with the head of the girl’s section, Pak Husseini. I’m really glad that I met him; he was extremely charismatic and funny. He invited me to stay a night at the pesantren this week to see how they operate, and to meet the girls who live there. It should be a great experience. Pesantrens are normally pretty exclusive and aren’t too accepting of outsiders, but this one is very open and it will be interesting to see how the girls there live and go about their daily activities.

Later that evening, I went out with the girls from the asrama. Like I’ve mentioned before, they’re not allowed out past maghrib, but tonight was an exception because there was a theatre and music performance at the university that everyone wanted to go to. I had a great time – it was so much fun to see all of the performances. Some people sang and danced, and there were also some skits that were performed. My absolute favorite though, was when this one group played Acehnese percussion. They were so energetic, and they kept an intense beat. Whoever said that Asians couldn’t get down has clearly never met an Indonesian. I took a couple of videos of it, and will do my best to try and figure out how to put it up.

I also met some visiting students from Yale University who were here for research. They have this magazine that they publish called The Yale Globalist, and they go around to different countries and write about the various things that are going on there. The team that they have in Indonesia was split up between Aceh and Bali. They were all very nice and we ended up having dinner last night. It was great hearing about the experiences that they’ve had here; I’m sure that they’ll have a ton of crazy stuff to put in their magazine later on!

Yesterday there was a huge event called “Acai Cinta Damai – Death to Terrorism”, which was a free concert with a lot of big name Indonesian singers and bands. We got there a little bit late, but the governor of Aceh spoke about the importance of peace, and how averse the Acehnese are to terrorism.

I’ve been getting to know the girls at the asrama very well, and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them. They are fun-loving and kind, and I always have a good time with them – they crack me up. They told me that they wanted me to cook American food for them one of these days, so on Sunday afternoon I made them fried Oreos. Because really, you can’t get any more American than that. But I did Indonesian-ify them a little bit by drizzling chocolate and vanilla sweetened condensed milk over them. The girls loved the fried Oreos, and I have been instructed to make more. We have also been bonding over this television show that they all watch called Cinta Fitri. It’s the craziest soap opera I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and I get way too emotionally involved in this show. More updates on this another time.

Later today I’m going with Ibu Eka to FBA, Forum Bangun Aceh. From what I know of it, it’s a volunteer organization that works with people in the kampung, or villages, to provide economic sustainability and whatever else their needs are. I can’t wait to see what all they do.