Well, it's my last night in Manado. Tomorrow I fly to Jakarta, the next day to Singapore, and the following day to America.
Am I glad to come home? YES. Of course. Will I miss it here? Some things, yes. We'll see. But nine months is kind of a long time, and I'll be very glad to start something new. There are a lot of things I'm looking forward to, including but not limited to:
good bread!
friends who live in my city
a comfortable chair to read in
family
the wonderful St. Louis Public Library system!
driving a car, putting things in the trunk
having a little anonymity / people respecting my sense of self
Maybe I should clarify the last. The thing is, the other teachers at my school generally treat me like a puppy. They have loved having me around to take pictures with, or to dress up in Manado batik, but I could have been a horrible teacher and none of them would have minded. The last few days have made my position especially clear; I've been pulled around for one picture after another, people taking hold of my arms or shoulders or cheeks without asking for or expecting to need permission. "Miss Anna," they'd say. "What?" I'd respond. They'd stare at me for a moment before mouthing "FOTO" and waving me over to one place, then another (depending on the light). They even encouraged strangers to take pictures with me. "Anna, they want to take pictures with you." "I don't know who they are." "Yes, it's ok."
People in this country LOVE to take pictures of themselves and other people, and everyone sort of went crazy at their last chance to have a picture with this lovely specimen of whiteness. So right now, I'm thrilled to be going home. Please note, Mom: I don't bother taking pictures of myself because a million other people take pictures of me. After that, there's hardly energy to care what I look like.
Anyway. I'm coming home, leaving a horde of adorers and sweet people behind. My students love me, and I will miss them. I'll miss this city, too; it's been my city for eight months. But! I'm moving on to bigger and better, back to a job I love and then, in the fall, graduate school! (Which may not sound like a happy, exciting thing, but trust me, it is.)
P.S. Family, don't be upset that you're on the list after a chair. The list is in no meaningful order!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Ghosts
One day at school, there was a disturbance. I don't mean like a disturbance in the force (as if a million voices cried out and were suddenly silenced), but rather a bunch of students were running to and fro and making a lot of noise.
"Is there... an animal in the classroom?" I asked Ibu Vera.
"No," she replied. "A student... has a ghost inside her. How do you say it?"
"Possessed," I told her. "A student is possessed?"
"Yes. Do you want to go see?"
Well, why not. Vera confessed that she'd never seen this in person before, only on tv, so she was very interested. We worked our way through the crowd, but when we got to what was presumably the epicenter, we learned that the girl had already been moved. So we headed over to the Osis Room (I have never understood why it has that name). Waiting outside with the other teachers, I saw an unconscious girl being carried by a couple of boys to the nurse's room. But it was hardly important that a girl had fainted; everyone was anxious to get into the room to see the possessed girl.
As for me? Well, I never believed she was actually possessed. My Indonesian students seem very... impressionable. Seriously, Indonesians scream when power goes out in the mall. THIS HAPPENS NEARLY EVERY DAY. As for this poor girl, she was lying on the floor, being held by a couple of teachers who talked to her as she cried and spoke, seeming very out of it, nervous, and distracted. There was absolutely nothing supernatural about it; the girl just looked like she was having a nervous fit. I couldn't understand what was being said, but Vera explained it.
"They are praying and counseling her on her problems," she said. "Because when you are weak or have problems, it is easy for the ghost to get in."
Well, it was time for class, so I left the Osis room and headed over to class 10-J. We weren't far into our discussion about telling time when two girls sitting in the front of the room screamed and jumped up from their desks. One ran to the back of the room and more or less collapsed; the other ran to the door (presumably she was only reacting to her friend's actions). Immediately the teacher hurried to the girl in the back, holding onto her and talking to her. I felt pretty useless, just watching and making sure the other students stayed back. The girl was moving her legs around, and another student came up to hold her legs together (because she was wearing the uniform skirt, of course).
"What's going on?" asked a class 11 student, appearing by my side.
"Well, I guess she's possessed by a ghost," I told him, and he nodded in understanding.
It was later explained to me that the earlier girl had been filming a horror movie in the woods with her friends, so it's obvious where the ghost came from. The second girl? Who knows. When she first screamed, I thought maybe she imagined seeing a ghost outside the classroom, and that combined with the anxiety of the day might have caused her to become hysterical. I don't know. In any case, I was thinking that we should really get her some medical attention. Another teacher appeared and lifted the girl's feet. Oh, good," I thought, "lifting the legs is good treatment for people in shock." But in fact, he just removed the girl's shoes and socks and pulled on her toes (which is something that happens in massages, so it's not out of nowhere, but still odd).
Shortly, the girl was being carried out of the classroom for her round of prayer and counseling. Several other students were crying, one or two looking sort of hysterical themselves. As a class, we took some time to pray, and I tried to put some semblance of a lesson back together, but everyone was wound very tight.
I tried to help. "She keeps crying," I told the other teacher, indicating a student who wouldn't even lift her head from her desk. "I'm afraid she's going to make herself sick." Another girl had her eyes closed, and I was afraid she had fainted. At the end of class, every student but her stood up (which is normal for every class), and I insisted that the other teacher make sure she was conscious. She lifted her head and blinked a bit, which was not entirely reassuring.
That was the end of it. I think the two girls' parents were called, and they were taken home (imagine that call at work: "Your daughter's been possessed; please come get her."). No doctors were involved, either for them or for anyone who fainted (at least two people, I would say). What really surprised me, though, was how everyone seemed to accept what was going on. No one had any problem accepting that ghosts were the cause of all this trouble, and they even knew what to do! How on earth were they prepared for possession? That's my question. How did they know what they were supposed to do about it?
This country can be weird, weird, weird.
"Is there... an animal in the classroom?" I asked Ibu Vera.
"No," she replied. "A student... has a ghost inside her. How do you say it?"
"Possessed," I told her. "A student is possessed?"
"Yes. Do you want to go see?"
Well, why not. Vera confessed that she'd never seen this in person before, only on tv, so she was very interested. We worked our way through the crowd, but when we got to what was presumably the epicenter, we learned that the girl had already been moved. So we headed over to the Osis Room (I have never understood why it has that name). Waiting outside with the other teachers, I saw an unconscious girl being carried by a couple of boys to the nurse's room. But it was hardly important that a girl had fainted; everyone was anxious to get into the room to see the possessed girl.
As for me? Well, I never believed she was actually possessed. My Indonesian students seem very... impressionable. Seriously, Indonesians scream when power goes out in the mall. THIS HAPPENS NEARLY EVERY DAY. As for this poor girl, she was lying on the floor, being held by a couple of teachers who talked to her as she cried and spoke, seeming very out of it, nervous, and distracted. There was absolutely nothing supernatural about it; the girl just looked like she was having a nervous fit. I couldn't understand what was being said, but Vera explained it.
"They are praying and counseling her on her problems," she said. "Because when you are weak or have problems, it is easy for the ghost to get in."
Well, it was time for class, so I left the Osis room and headed over to class 10-J. We weren't far into our discussion about telling time when two girls sitting in the front of the room screamed and jumped up from their desks. One ran to the back of the room and more or less collapsed; the other ran to the door (presumably she was only reacting to her friend's actions). Immediately the teacher hurried to the girl in the back, holding onto her and talking to her. I felt pretty useless, just watching and making sure the other students stayed back. The girl was moving her legs around, and another student came up to hold her legs together (because she was wearing the uniform skirt, of course).
"What's going on?" asked a class 11 student, appearing by my side.
"Well, I guess she's possessed by a ghost," I told him, and he nodded in understanding.
It was later explained to me that the earlier girl had been filming a horror movie in the woods with her friends, so it's obvious where the ghost came from. The second girl? Who knows. When she first screamed, I thought maybe she imagined seeing a ghost outside the classroom, and that combined with the anxiety of the day might have caused her to become hysterical. I don't know. In any case, I was thinking that we should really get her some medical attention. Another teacher appeared and lifted the girl's feet. Oh, good," I thought, "lifting the legs is good treatment for people in shock." But in fact, he just removed the girl's shoes and socks and pulled on her toes (which is something that happens in massages, so it's not out of nowhere, but still odd).
Shortly, the girl was being carried out of the classroom for her round of prayer and counseling. Several other students were crying, one or two looking sort of hysterical themselves. As a class, we took some time to pray, and I tried to put some semblance of a lesson back together, but everyone was wound very tight.
I tried to help. "She keeps crying," I told the other teacher, indicating a student who wouldn't even lift her head from her desk. "I'm afraid she's going to make herself sick." Another girl had her eyes closed, and I was afraid she had fainted. At the end of class, every student but her stood up (which is normal for every class), and I insisted that the other teacher make sure she was conscious. She lifted her head and blinked a bit, which was not entirely reassuring.
That was the end of it. I think the two girls' parents were called, and they were taken home (imagine that call at work: "Your daughter's been possessed; please come get her."). No doctors were involved, either for them or for anyone who fainted (at least two people, I would say). What really surprised me, though, was how everyone seemed to accept what was going on. No one had any problem accepting that ghosts were the cause of all this trouble, and they even knew what to do! How on earth were they prepared for possession? That's my question. How did they know what they were supposed to do about it?
This country can be weird, weird, weird.
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