more snippets of my life in Banda Aceh

• A couple times waking up not remembering where I am for the smallest instant of drowsy half-reality, forgetting about Indonesia, about floating over oceans and ‘Stans, about geckos and white rice, expecting to open my eyelids to find my sunlit DC apartment, my stomach grumbling for my morning bagel
• Attending a soirée at the German Embassy, where I (feeling cleaner than I have in a very long time in my white traditional Acehnese blouse and – wonder of wonders! – high heels) flattered and was flattered by the best of Aceh’s European diplomats, young and old
• Getting a traditional Acehnese massage from a blind woman who slapped and tugged and rubbed and oiled my body for less than $3 per hour – the sweet torture was like watching “Saving Private Ryan”: if you can get through the first 10 minutes, you’re fine
• Having to bite my tongue in front of the churchies every time I get the urge to swear
• Working to get the next Batavia crew out the door to meet the ship at a port further south down the coast of Sumatra, the volunteers chomping at the bit to get aboard, me excited to see what’ll happen on its next run and what miracles Rick will pull off this time
• Calling our counselors out to an IDP camp after one of our doctors reported that a woman who had lost five children in the tsunami was talking about slitting her wrists with a piece of glass
• Jackie Chan and Miss China visiting Banda Aceh, speaking to the local people at the tsunami site through 2 interpreters (one for Acehnese to Indonesian, one for Indonesian to Chinese)
• Unimaginable relief as the organization rids itself of the old-thinking and the inefficient, making room for change and growth (i.e., my least favorite staffmembers have returned to the US)
• Needing a wool blanket at night so that the AC doesn’t freeze me – it’s too hot if I turn it off, and I can’t seem to control the temperature
• Me and one of my co-workers stopping at the “supermarket” on the way home from a boring meeting to stock up on chocolate, Pringles, ice cream and cookies
• Sleeping well knowing that my first paycheck has been deposited, most of my bills paid, and I’ve hardly spent $200 since I got here
• My fantasy of meeting lots of hot doctors being dashed by the arrival of each team of retired and/or married docs
• The black stubby-tailed kitten with white booties who’s taken up residence at our house, despite numerous evictions and dousings with water (the only way to get rid of him would be to keep the door closed, which none of us want to do) – he’s burrowed his way into our lives and can be found several times a day waiting, dog-like, at our feet while we dine
• A trio of cheerful local girls (aged 10) sitting on our porch before dinnertime singing Acehnese songs
• Hearing about the black scalding waves that gave some tsunami survivors third degree burns – they say that in certain areas the magma from the underground volcano which caused the earthquake which caused the tsunami heated the water above 100ºC
• Using Muhammad’s birthday and our day off as an excuse to plow through 300 pages of an escapist novel
• Finally having someone come out here from HQ who actually knows what she’s doing, despite her seeming youth and easygoing nature
• Getting a little sick of Raskolnikov’s paranoid ramblings in “Crime and Punishment”… OK, so you killed the old pawnbroker – why do you keep trying to get caught?
• Conspiratorially setting up a “business” meeting with my friend Natascha just so we can get away from our offices and relax a bit at a coffee shop (I met Natascha here in January when neither of us had jobs – we both went home in February with a burning desire to find a job back in Aceh, and we finally ran into each other at the UN last week, not at all surprised to find each other here again and gainfully employed)
• Thinking about where I’d like to go on my week off in June (Phuket? Bali? Cambodia?), and where I’d like to venture to when I’m done with my contract in September (New Zealand? Nepal? Madagascar? South America?)