I Swear I'm In Indonesia to Work....

Yesterday was a national holiday in Indonesia so today was Suraiya and I's first day of work at Dian Interfidei. We woke up and lounged about the house, finally leaving for work around 10:30am. After all, yesterday being a holiday, no one at the non-governmental organization (NGO) would be there early in the morning. We went to drop Sarah off at PKBI first and arrived to find the place pretty much deserted. There was only one or two people out of the entire office, and they most definitely did not speak English. So we hung out on the front porch waiting for her supervisor to arrive.

While on the front porch I watched young school children running to and from their school just down the street. They excitedly responded to my greeting in bahasa Indonesia and talked quickly in their native tounge about the strange foreigners on the street (us). I watched some older men frequent in and out of this tarp covered booth on the side of the street. Almost every one reemerged with a glass of glistening iced tea. I watched even Pak Pomo (our driver) go over and complete this beverage ritual before turning to Ayu and asking if I could go over and try out my bahasa and order iced tea. After reminding me about the saftey hazards of street food she armed me with some new vocabulary and I excitedly ducked under the tarp myself. An hour into my first day of work I was sitting on the front porch of a different NGO sipping iced tea and enjoying the warm weather.

We managed to arrive at Dian Interfidei about noon, just as the rest of the organization was finishing up from lunch. We hadn't even been there five minutes before I was dining on fresh papaya, chicken, and rice. When we finished we got a tour of the office. The structure is that of a small house. There are lots of windows and desks are tucked throughout. Books sit on tables, counters, floors, and they fill walls of bookshelves... even outside of their library. There's a small hole in the roof of the back porch from a falling avacado. Wening warned me that if I hear crashing it's probably just from the avacado tree in the backyard. I think it is also important to note that a specific stop on our tour is a small closet like room with a prayer rug and small cot. Wening explained she used the room for her daily prayers, but we were welcome to use the room to rest anytime we felt tired during our work day (aka, the office has a nap room). After our tour we ended up heading back because Dian Interfidei was closing early. After all, there's a national holiday tomorrow.

So Suraiya and I headed back after our whole hour at the office well fed and informed that we shouldn't show up until late on Friday due to the holiday. Such is the life of a NGO in Indonesia.