Diving into Indonesian Life!

Hello my friends! Greetings from Jakarta Indonesia!

 

I am sorry that it has taken me almost a week to write my first blog post. I’m sure that all of my friends and relations have spent many sleepless nights this week refreshing my blog over and over in anticipation of a post…Or maybe you were sleeping soundly in bed. Either way, I am posting!

 

It took 23 hours of travel and two days for me to get to Jakarta from Seattle. The trip wasn’t pleasant. I was experiencing stomach pain as well an acute case of long-distance relationship heart-ach. I endured the 16 hours of airplaning.

 

It was 11:30 PM when we landed in Jakarta and about 12:45 when I arrived at the place where I am staying. (And the taxi driver got lost several times. We even knocked on the wrong door. Quite embarrassing at that time of night and when you can’t speak the language).

 

I secured my lodging by emailing the pastor of an Assemblies of God church in West Jakarta (where I am) and asking him if any of his congregants would be willing to host me. A very wonderful couple named Milla and Sebastian opened the magnificent home to me. I live like royalty.

 

If I hadn’t experienced live-in servants in India my current situation would have taken more getting used to. I’m not allowed to wash my dishes or my clothes or even fry my eggs. And I have to jump and make my bed first thing unless I want that done for me as well. The living situation for the servants looks awful to us westerners (an tiny room with a cot in a garage-like area separate from the house) but in comparison to the village situations that the servants came from it is posh. Sebastian is French, and he said that he also had to get used to it. To him it looked like slavery. But Milla teaches the servants basic accounting and how to cook as well as paying them, and it is her hope that they will move up in the world as a result. One of their maids recently got married and now is a shopkeeper.

 

Anyway, I arrived early Thursday morning and Milla and Sebastian rolled out the red carpet. They and their son Dion are so welcoming. Thursday I got a haircut and went to the mall to buy some black pants for work.

 

Indonesia is similar to India in some ways, but this lulled me into a false belief that it was similar to India in every way—which it isn’t. But one thing remains the same all over Asia: the traffic is awful. I am one of the very few people here who rides a bicycle, and while it is much faster than driving a car (because you can fit through small spaces) it isn’t very safe. All the little children point and laugh at me when they see me flying by.

 

I wish that I had a GoPro so that I could film by Jakarta Bicycle Antics. All the main roads don’t have 4 way intersections. Instead there are medians and you have to turn left (because you drive on the left side of the road of course) drive for several hundred meters, do a U tern, drive back several hundred meters and then turn left. That is how you cross an major street. Why?

 

It is even worse at night.

 

On Friday I began my internship. I was so worried that I would get lost on the way to Siloam Hospital (a valid concern) that I left 30 minutes before I needed to. After sitting for 30 minutes I met Ibu Grace Imelda—the head of HR at the hospital. For about 2 hours she showed me orientation slideshows, translated paperwork for me to sign, and showed me around the hospital. My orientation at the school in India took about 10 minutes and was wonderfully relaxed—this took much longer and was wonderfully structured and professional. I like both ways.

 

Siloam Hospitals is a Christian chain of about 14 hospitals stretching across Indonesia. They are the most advanced hospitals in the country and the first to be granted international accreditation. Siloam Kebun Jeruk (where I am) has one of the most advanced Urology departments in the nation. They are overtly Christian.

 

At about 10 I finished my orientation and went to the Rehabilitation department. I entered a world that I knew and loved. Everyone was wearing tennis shoes and there were balls and treadmills and colorful equipment. Oh how I want to be a Physical Therapist. Ibu Grace introduced me to Dr. Tetty, who is my supervisor. She is a very kind an smart woman and made me feel right at home.

 

There are about 23 PTs in the Rehab center, and they take two shifts. Some speak better English than others but they are all eager to show me how to do things. So sometimes it is really difficult when they are attempting to explain processes or modalities which include lots of medical terminology. Do I want to be polite and nod or understand and have them repeat it 5 times and/or ask for someone to come over and translate?

 

I eat lunch in the Hospital café where I get treated to Indonesian cuisine.

 

The first two days I mostly stood around and observed. I felt very useless—everyone else was so busy. Then Dr. Tetty started having me record the wait time of every patient. At the end of the month I will add up and average the wait times and we can see how the department is doing. This job keeps me on my toes.

 

Today (Monday) I learned was introduced to many machines. The E-stim, Micro-Thermy, and Ultrasound machines. There is also a system of chords (called RedCord) which the PTs used to help in exercising the patients. I haven’t seen it in the states but it is highly effective.

 

After work on Friday and Saturday I went back to the house and sat in my room and worked on applications for PT schools. I was afraid that if I left I would get lost and would have to pay for a taxi to show me the way home. I admit that I was also very lonely and homesick—(I still am, but I know more people now).

 

Things got a lot better when I went to Church on Sunday with Milla and Sebastian. It is an international English-speaking church (not like in India where I didn’t understand the sermons) and the people were so welcoming! There were several Americans who teach at international schools here and they immediately invited me to join their Life Group, which is just like Community Groups at Mars Hill. The Life Group meets at 7 PM on Wednesdays and I am SO looking forward to it!

 

After church and chatting Milla and Sebastian took me and Pastor Lew and his wife Monica out for lunch. As an American who has lived in Indonesia for 15 years Pastor Lew was able to give me lots of helpful advice. He is a really swell guy.

 

Then, while Milla went grocery shopping, Sebastian and I dropped in at ACE Hardware to look at manly things. Haha tools are so different (and wimpy) here.

 

I’ve been having a difficult time so far because my stomach has been hurting almost non-stop. Today I caved and went to see a Doctor. This was complicated in itself because the appointment desk people didn’t speak English and the paperwork was in Bahasa Indonesian. But Dr. Tetty and Yuri (one of the PTs) helped me.

 

The stomach Dr. spoke very good English and told me that I most likely had gastritis caused by too regularly taking Ibuprofen. It wasn’t too satisfying since I already had come to that conclusion. It just seems to me that after a month of not taking Ibuprofen I should see some healing. But I will take the medicine that he prescribed and pray. Please pray for my healing. I would find it much easier to thrive in this foreign place if I wasn’t constantly clutching my gut in pain.

 

Today I spent almost 12 hours at the hospital. I stayed late because Rocky, another of the PTs, offered to begin teaching me a technique called Myofascial release, which is all the rage, both in Indonesia and America. As an Intern I am not allowed to touch patients, but if the PTs have gaps where they are not treating anyone they let me practice on them. I learned a whole lot today from Rocky. He is a great guy. We have also gone out the last few days at lunch time and tried different Indonesian foods.

 

So there you are! I can’t believe how disjointed this blog post is. I also apologize for not taking pictures. You know what the inside of an airplane looks like and I am not supposed to take pictures inside the clinic without Dr. Tetty’s permission. I guess I could take pictures of the road as I bicycle to work…. But only one picture for now:

 

 

Me, Pastor Lew, Monica, Milla, Sebastian

 

 

Please pray for me!

 

1.      That my body would heal

2.      That I would be cheerful and thrive here (I miss home a lot and am tempted to wallow in loneliness)

3.      That I would make lots of friends at work and church and be a witness