This also means I am leaving the bubble of the hotel, a rather gargantuan one, much too large for my taste and too removed from everyday life, for a place in a house with a family that was arranged beforehand by my friend and companion, Nelly van Doorn-Harder. I met the family, "Oma," the mother of Farsijana, Margaret, or "Iit," the sister, and some assorted helpers, one a driver and two cooks and cleaners. To say they were kind and hospitable is to put it too mildly. Their kindness was overwhelming and disarmingly sincere. They had been praying for us to arrive safely, and prayed with us before we left. Living with the family will give me a chance to practice my "bahasa," the word for "language," which implicitly refers to the Indonesian language.
It has been hard to keep up with this blog because so much is happening, and because the jet lag keeps me from being alert enough to think. But a few days ago I met the woman who will be the guest lecturer for my class. Her name is Dewi, and she edits a journal for women. Her brother drove and accompanied us to a fine organic restaurant. He works at an NGO which helps battered women as well as those who have been trafficked. I am so impressed with these people, and seem to be meeting more activists in this country than I had met five years ago. Tomorrow, after the first class, I am invited to go to Borobudur, the enormous Buddhist stupa, where a ceremony held by villagers will demonstrate their desire to preserve the land from further development and expansion of this ancient site. I sense so much more consciousness of these values of gender equality and ecological harmony.
In the next blog I will report on my first class and the students, as well as the trip to Borobudur. That ought to take up several blogs, but one will have to do, if I am to be faithful to this.
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