Well, I’ve now been in Indonesia for one week.  It’s hard to believe that my months of planning and preparation are over and I’ve magically found myself “here.”

With the help of the wonderful people I will be spending my year with, I have settled in pretty quickly.

My first morning in Indonesia, after being woken up by the Call to Prayer from the local mosque, I was (thankfully) able to go back to sleep.  But sleep wasn’t very restful.  The 12-hour time difference, combined with the guards in our development banging metal poles together every hour and the street vendors that wander through our development as early as 5am to sell a plethora of items to anyone who may be awake, or the Muslim wives who can’t leave their houses, prohibited me from sleeping past 6am on that first day.  But at least our complex is never deserted and if I have the need or desire for fried food, fruit, ice cream, balloons or toilet bowls, I know that these items will eventually pass by my door.

On my first day of work, I was picked up by one of the office boys on a motorbike.  It’s about a 25 minute walk through the neighborhood (to avoid the main road which has no real sidewalks) to get to my center.  I was very thankful that I was not expected to just guess where I had to go.

For about a week I was in training.  With the help of my fellow teachers, I learned the way to and from work, where the other two teacher’s houses were located, I became familiar with our local hangout, tried lots of amazing and delicious new foods and made a trip to the mall so I could set up my room and feel at home as soon as possible.

It didn’t take long for me to adjust to my new surroundings, but there are lots of differences from the life I have just left.

I live in a house with three other teachers.  There are two men upstairs with their own bathroom and small common area and I’m with another woman downstairs with our own bathroom, the kitchen and the actual living room.  Everyone has a private bedroom, and the arrangement is great, but it has been so long since I’ve lived with roommates.  Not that I’m complaining.  It’s great not to be alone in a house all the time.

I have a maid named Martini.  I wasn’t expecting this as part of the arrangement, and have a hard time getting used to this concept, but she’s a doll.  She speaks no English and I don’t speak Bahasa Indonesian yet, so we do a lot of smiling and nodding, but the house is always clean and our clothes are always washed and pressed for us.

Remembering I live in a developing country is a daily task.  I live in a “gated” community and still have cockroaches.  It seems like almost everyone can afford a car of motorbike, but the roads cannot accommodate the population.  Jakarta is known for it’s traffic so if it’s possible to walk (like from home to school, or to run errands) I usually just walk.  Not to mention that many of the roads are crappy anyway.  There is always trash on the sides of the roads and in front of buildings, and some “streams” I on my walk are not tributaries, they are sewage systems.  Hot water doesn’t exist…there is just water.  If you are hot and want to take a shower, the water will feel cold.  If you are already cool from being in air conditioning all day, then the water will feel like it’s room temperature.  But being in a developing country also means a more simple way of life.  I don’t have internet at the house and am having trouble setting up my phone, so I’m much less connected and it’s been really nice.  There are always lots of people out an about and everyone is happy to see you, say hello and practice the few words of English they know.

We are also in the rainy season now, which means early in the day it’s hot and humid, then a gray cloud rolls in and BAM…there is a downpour and instantaneous flooding.  At some point in the evening the rain stops or slows to just a drizzle.  The temperature is always hot or warm and skin is always sticky, but I’m happy to not be in the cold of New England for a change.  This adjustment is fairly large, but one that I am happy to make.  The other night I was walking to the food court to meet up with everyone from work and realized how lonely I’ve been for the past few years.  Nothing but work and sleep.  Now I was unexpectedly gleeful.  I let the warm, gentle rain splash on my face, instead of shuddering and turning away like I was used to doing.  I smiled silently at the moment of recognition that this was now my home.  When I go away on a trip and someone asks me where I live, my answer will be Indonesia, with all it’s interesting beauty and simple imperfections.

This is going to be a great year, filled with challenges and surprises, which is exactly what I have been craving.