3 weeks ago I arrived in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia. The drive from the airport to my host
family’s house was absolutely stunning with green rolling hills, Sentani lake,
and various tropical plants I can’t explain.
I was nervous to walk into the cute pink house that was to become my
home. I met my shy host siblings in the
doorway and sat down for tea.
In Salatiga (where I lived for language school) I was beginning
to feel confident in my Indonesian language skills because there were always
English speakers around. However, my
confidence went down the drain when I moved to Jayapura and realized my family
life, volunteering life, and almost every part of my life will be in
Indonesian. There seems to be less
people in Jayapura compared to Salatiga that speak English fluently. So why is that a big deal? Trying to communicate in a different language
is like learning a foreign code and realizing that your thoughts are
incomprehensible unless you use the foreign code. Because my Indonesian is still basic, I’m not
able to express abstract ideas and have to settle for simple conversations.
The 3 core areas of service and learning for SALT Indonesia are host family, church, and volunteer
placement. I like that there’s 3 realms
of responsibility because if one realm is disappointing, stressful, or
monotonous than I can enjoy and build relationships in the other realms. So far at P3W (Women’s Empowerment
Organization) I’ve been doing simple tasks such as making cards, creating
labels for books in the library and accompanying my coworkers to the stand
where they sell crafts. I go to church
every Sunday and to a young adult service once a week.
Most Papuans here are very shy with me so making friends
happens slowly. In Salatiga, Indonesians
were excited to see me and would ask for a photo (or 5). But here, when I meet Papuans, I am puzzled
because I often (not always) see shock and apprehension in their body language.
In some ways it feels like people are
scared of me.
I’m enjoying getting to know my host family. I have 2 younger sisters (18 and 16) and 2
younger brothers (12 and 2). My sisters
like to sing American songs with me and take selfies. They add new Indonesian words to my
vocabulary while I also teach them English.
Lately, I borrowed some picture books and my host siblings pointed at
the pictures and labeled the items in Indonesian. My 2-year-old brother is full of energy and
his favourite activity with me is giving me his toy gun and running away,
hoping that I will follow with pretend gunfire.
Overall, the last 3 weeks of transition has been stressful
at times, but also very exciting and awesome to take in how beautiful this part
of Indonesia is. I am posting some
pictures, but there are many more beautiful places I would like to show you.
Hamadi beach - One of the many beaches in Jayapura
