Homestays and More

Last night was the first night at our homestays, and most of us were unsure of what to expect. As we gathered together this morning to discuss our first experiences with our families, it is clear that there is a dynamic array of households. Religion, family size, and student interaction with their host family is widely variable. In one home, girls and boys are not allowed to be in each other’s bedrooms, while in another home the family invited their GIEU student to watch the finale of American Idol. Something that caught my attention was the amount of families that have servants. My household is the home of a professional photographer in Indonesia, and when he first introduced us to his female companion, we did not understand that she was a servant. While our host father is very hospitable, he does not converse with us often. Agustini has explained to us that it is customary for guests to be treated as royalty in Indonesia, and they are given the best the family has to offer. While maids, butlers, and other forms of service are common in the United States, this experience is my first when it comes to having someone nearby that is dedicated solely to meeting any needs that I may have. My American instinct tells me that, as a guest, I am always expected to treat my hosts with respect and gratitude by always offering my assistance. It is hard for me to understand what kind of interaction I am expected to have with the servant and whether it should be different than the interaction I have with my host father. I am most curious about her history and how she came to be at this job, but I cannot ask her because she is truly invisible. We have met her once, and while she arranges our breakfast and takes care of the house, we have never seen her again. Now I often wonder how many invisible people exist in the United States whose voice is never heard.

Today was a beautiful day. My accomplishment was finally figuring out how to flush the toilets at the restaurant. We had quite an interesting lunch at a seafood restaurant. Some of our braver GIEU students ventured out of the box and ordered fish. It seemed like an innocent idea at the time until one student received her tray of “succulent morsels.” We still aren’t sure what kind of fish they were, but we hypothesized that they were plucked directly from the pond next to us and cooked mid-swim due to the fact that each fish came fully intact. Eyes, head, fins, bones, and spikes included. Students had to put up quite a fight to dig out what little meat was available. At times it was a dangerous task to work around all the sharp bones. I never knew a dead fish could be so frightening.

Afterwards we received one of the greatest workouts of our lives as we climbed up about 400 steps to the top of the Imogiri Royal Cemetary on the way to the beach (believe me, we counted them all). Sadly, our effort was not well rewarded because once we reached the top we discovered that you had to pay a fee to enter the tombs in order to obtain traditional Indonesian clothing that is required to see the graves. We concluded that with the limited amount of time we had, our exhaustion, and the heat that we would not enter. We walked around, saw some very big spiders, and were able to meet our guide’s niece as she was present at their tomb site to pay respect to their family since they are Indonesian royalty. We saw many priests in traditional garments, and we watched his niece arrange flowers as an offering. After we lumbered back down the steps, taking in the gorgeous view around us, we went to what is supposedly one of the most dangerous beaches on the island. In conformation of this claim, the first sign we saw said “no swimming,” but it didn’t stop some brave few (lead by our very brave guide) from venturing into the water to wade. It was truly breathtaking on the beach. The sun was setting, there were cliffs around us, and the water was stunningly warm with awe inspiring waves. We quickly understood why swimming was not allowed because the force of the waves could easily drag people under and far out from shore. Eventually a lifeguard came to instruct us that it was important to stay out of the water, and we returned to the vans after a remarkable day.

:) Kellie