The weekend, and other musings

A week back now, and life is settling into its familiar routine. We had initially intended to stay in town this weekend, but soon changed our minds and headed to Tretes, which I've heard described as a resort town.

While there were several hotels, it wasn't really a resort town, since the people seemed surprised to see tourists.

The town lies high in the hills, so the weather offers a coolness that is far different than Surabaya. Some of us packed sweatshirts, and we actually needed them.

This is the view from one of the terraces of our hotel.The hotel was only $10 a night per room. That price and the view made up for the amount of cockroaches roaming the premises. As Rowan said, at least none of them crawled into the bed.

***

When we had visited nearby Trawas several months back, our friend Dr. John informed us that Tretes has a relatively large Australian population, mostly because the Australians visit on vacation and eventually end up marrying their prostitutes.

We randomly met an older male coworker of ours in Tretes. (Rumor is that he also married a lady of the night. Surabaya is home to southeast Asia's largest red-light district, which draws many men seeking certain nocturnal activities.) He tried to get the men in our party to join him in his quest for women. "The girls are just 200 meters down the street," he said. "Come on, it will be educational."

I politely informed him that I wasn't interested in that sort of education.

***

During Christmas vacation, people spoke English almost everywhere we went. While there were occasional breakdowns in communication, things mostly went smoothly.

Back in East Java, though, communication is a little more difficult. However, I feel like I am picking up enough of the language to function a little more ably here.

At the hotel, I asked the staff how late they served food. They just stared at me. I then asked in Indonesian, and got an immediate answer. I felt victorious.

Later, my friend was not so successful. The hotel offered breakfast, including separate options of toast and jam, or eggs. I mused to my friend whether they could do toast and eggs.

When I found him later, he told me that he had asked and it was "no problem," according to the waiter. When his food arrived, he had only toast and jam.

I believe that humans are, mostly, communicative creatures, and I tend to get frustrated when communication breaks down. I wonder if we are just that poor at communicating in this strange world, or if there are broader cultural aspects at work. We've often lamented on the seeming inability of some of the people here to "think outside of the box." If we make any requests, no matter how reasonable they seem to us, we have no idea what to expect. But I don't want to label an entire group of people as uncreative.

We've learned not to expect anything to ever be done the way we expect. That way, when things do work, we feel elated. A strange way to think about the world? Perhaps. But it is what I do to keep my sanity. And I like my sanity.