I Lived

I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places and things that I did, and with every broken bone, I swear I lived...

Well everyone, as impossible as it seems, this is my last blog post about my exchange year in Indonesia. I truly can't believe my time here is done (well almost done, I go home in 2 days) and it all happened so fast. So bare (or is it bear?) with me throughout this scattered brained post.

Kate Holman's List of Accomplishments

1. I survived living in Makassar, Indonesia for almost an entire year. If you can make it in Makassar, you can make it anywhere.
2. I literally survived. There were multiple times on this exchange when I wasn't engaging in the most...safe...ventures (see Waterfall story for example).
3. I tried bakso, cow tongue and liver, various parts of the pig that are certainly not meant to be eaten (Chinese new year...big mistake), and durian AND I lived to tell the tale.
4. I have lived the celebrity life and discovered that I kind of hate it. There are almost no white people in all of Makassar, so everywhere I went people would do a double take and stare. There were also the people that would chase me down in the mall, on the street, especially at the water park/pool to get a photo with the "bule". 
5. I have seen some of the most beautiful beaches and the dirtiest streets and have learned to appreciate both.
6. I have made friends for life, whether they want me for life or not, they are gonna have to keep me around.
7. I was pretty faithful on maintaining a blog. All you other exchangers should be put to shame.
8. I have resisted the urge to death-glare everyone who asked my why my skin was white, my hair was blond, and my eyes are blue.
9. I can go outside on a 100 degree day in jeans and a long shirt without melting.
10. I can pronounce Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh no problem.

I would love to continue a list of my accomplishments but I am afraid that we are getting to the point where I am getting proud of the littlest things and I don't want to bore the readers.

Indonesia, you have been a great (well most of the time) host and I will truly miss living here but it is time for me to head home. For those of you who were expecting more insight, jokes, laughs, or just a longer post in general, we can just have a good chat when I get back to the states. 

"It isn't a year in life, it is a life in a year."

Thanks and see you soon,

Holman

P.S. Here is one last joke. Fernanda was writing the "goodbye" letter to our friend Lucas, and she was trying to write a meaningful quote on the envelope. She accidentally misspelled a word and demanded a new envelope, I felt that she was being too much of a perfectionist so I jokingly took the envelope and ripped it in half. She then screamed at me that the letter was still inside of the envelope I had just torn in two. Needless to say that she was not too pleased so I had to tape it back up and my taping skills are nothing to brag about as it would seem. Sorry Nanda. We'll all laugh about it in 5 years, right?

P.S.S. I have been thinking about what to write for my last post since the beginning of the exchange and yet this is so short and perhaps my worst post! So ashamed.

Goodbye to my favorite Russian, I love you Lino and wish you all the best!

Goodbye to the best Brazilian, thanks for all the laughs Lucas!

Nands, we haven't had to say goodbye yet but I love you and I don't know what life will be like without you!

Beach Baby

I never thought that it would end...long hot days, cool sea haze, juke box plays...

Sorry for the delay, but can you believe that April is almost over? Well I can't. It seems like yesterday my mom was playing an April Fools joke on me (it was a terrible joke, she told me my beloved dog had died), and now there are just a few days left until May. Let's review the month, shall we?

At the beginning of April, Fernanda told me and Alina that she had organized a special trip to Bali with our other friend Lucas to celebrate Alina's and my birthday early. So on April 3rd, we were off. I think every time I go to Bali, I have more fun than the last time I was there. This trip consisted of a lot of swimming, general fun having, elephant visitations, a trampoline park, late night clubbing, and long walks to find food. Here is some photo evidence:

Send me to the beach and all my troubles will go away

Alina, Nanda, and I before our day at the safari

Me and a REAL lion (sorry about the bad photo quality, apparently flash irritates the beast)

Fun at the elephant park

Me and my new friend

Me singing the elephant march song from the Jungle Book

The boys and there new pal

On another note, this year was my first birthday away from home. My sweet friends surprised me at midnight with cake and singing, my parents took me to lunch and then I wrapped up the day singing karaoke with Nanda and Alina. A few days later was Alina's birthday, so Nanda and I set up a surprise for her with our other friends which was quite the success! Perhaps I have a future career in surprise party co-planning. 

Unless I am mistaken, I have only actually spent 3 days and nights alone at my house this month. It seems that almost everyday I try to see my friends and most nights become sleepovers. As June is quickly approaching, we (Alina, Nanda and I) have been trying to see each other as much as possible. I don't think anyone warned me about this part. The part when you realize that your time with all the wonderful people you have met on exchange is limited. At the beginning of exchange, a year seems like an impossibly long amount of time, it seems like forever. It isn't until you only have a few months left (in my case, two) that you realize how short a year really is. 

Well, for those of you who were hoping for a longer post, I am sorry. This time, a short and sweet one will have to do. Also, no promises about when I will be able to post again. It seems that May will be just as busy as April was, and then it will be June already!

Until next time,

your wandering Holman

Could It Be Another Change

Could it be another change, to come and rearrange...

AND WE'RE BACK! Hello to all, sorry I haven't blogged more recently. The wifi situation at my new house isn't exactly stable but better late than never, right?? Seeing as it has been over a month since my last post, let's see what kinds of stories I can remember.

For starters, I switched to my second host family at the beginning of February. My new host family happens to be my friend Fernanda's first host family, so they already knew me (Fernanda and I aren't new to the concept of sleepovers). They are great people and I feel quite comfortable here. I must admit that I miss lunches with ibu Merna (my first host mom) and going out with Kak Diah but otherwise things have been going well. Here is a picture of my life on exchange packed into a few suitcases and some shopping bags:

I have recently taken up a new traditional Makassar dance class (to consume some of my free time). My class is led by our instructor, Mimi, and it consists of me, a 6 year old, a 10 year old and a 22 year old. Quite the group. It isn't my usual style and not as...entertaining...as some of the dance routines I learned back at home, but it is fun nonetheless. I think the 10 year old is better than I am, but I am just a bule. The hope is that I can return home and impress all my peers with my mad hand and fan skills. Also, for those of you hoping that I would come back a muay thai master, I am sincerely sorry but that ship sailed in November when I realized how expensive it was.
At the end of February, I went on the first Rotary trip. To say the least it was not as I had expected and to keep the tone of this blog light and positive, I am only going to tell you the highlights. Highlight number one: it was a great opportunity to socialize with the exchange students from other cities (Surabaya, Solo, Semarang and Bali). We all certainly had plenty to talk about (most of it Rotary and Indonesia related). Highlight number two: I got to see a sunrise will on a mountain. Never mind the fact that it was extremely cold, I was sleep deprived and hungry. I got to see the sunrise. Highlight number three: I got to see a volcano and it was pretty impressive. It did require going up that more than 240 stairs and a considerable amount of walking but a volcano is a volcano, right? I do have another story, it is however the opposite of a highlight (a lowlight, if you will). One of the days, we had to check out of our hotel around 4 a.m. and load our bus. After driving for 6 or more hours, we got off the bus to find ourselves at a lake. We drove 6 hours to see a lake. WE DROVE 6 HOURS TO SEE A LAKE. As you can imagine, I wasn't too excited about this, being from Minnesota (the land of 10,000 lakes) and all, but I was trying to be a good sport. After staying at the lake for about an hour, we were told our next stop was to a strawberry patch to pick some of the berries. For those who don't know, I worked at Lorence's Berry Farm for a while during the summer picking, you guessed it, strawberries. I was completely speechless that we had driven 6 hours to see a lake and pick strawberries. However, before we could get picking, the rain started so we decided to drive back. That's right, drive back...6 hours back. 12 hours, for a lake and strawberries. That is my life folks.

waiting for the sunrise

the volcano and me

What to say about this March so far...it has been pretty good, I can't complain. I can't believe that I have already been here for more than 6 months now and will be leaving in less than 100 days. Time certainly does have a way of flying by when you're not looking. Going home feels so far away when I think about seeing my family again but it also seems much too close when I think about having to leave my family and friends here. Exchange has given me feelings I guess!

Last minute funny story: On Chinese New Year I went around with my friends Alina, Fernanda, and Fernanda's mom to different temples. All I remember from that evening was smoked everywhere, a kid tripping and almost burning down the temple, and never wanting to hear "Gong xi fat choi!" ever again. That's all I got for now, so da da for now!

Until next time, 

your wandering Holman

P.S. I have been having dreams in Indonesian...for those of you keeping track, cross that off the bucket list!

Life in Color

The sun bursts, clouds break, well this is life in motion...

Hello everybody! I figured another blog post is appropriate since I just got back from Bali, again. You know what they say, when in Indonesia, visit Bali multiple times. It was my friend Fernanda's birthday on January 16th so we decided to celebrate it in style with a mini vacation. So Fernanda, Alina, Lucas and I packed our bags and got going. While we were there we got to do all kinds of cool stuff like visit a water sport beach with jet skis, a turtle island and a fly fish raft thingy (think of tubing but instead the tube goes in the air, like mini para sailing). We also got to visit some restaurants that we don't have in Makassar, like La Hacienda (Mexican food), Slavyanka (Russian food) and Hard Rock Cafe: Bali. On the second day we met up with our friend Will who lives in Bali, and on the third day we all traveled to northern Bali together. The villa house we stayed at was gorgeous, had a private pool and was really close to the beach! We even got to go snorkeling. Let me tell you, I am terrible at it. I am really bad at swimming with the flippers and whenever I went underwater I would accidentally suck in a bunch of saltwater. I finally got the hang of things afterwards though and then it was really fun. We were snorkeling in an area where they are trying to regrow/grow coral, so when you looked down you could see all the coral and little fish swimming around. Also, the structures used to regrow coral reminded me of that one James Bond movie (maybe Thunderball?) when he is looking for the missing plane in the ocean and it is camouflaged. I felt very spy-ish even though I was basically floating on top of the water. This Bali trip with my friends was so much fun, and though I don't have nearly as many pictures as my first trip there, I have all the memories (Alina, Nanda, Will and Lucas...byeeeeeeeeee Alex) and the sunburns to prove it. Here are some of the pictures I did manage to get (though most of them are from Fernanda's phone):

(me at Hard Rock)

(Nanda and I visiting Turtle Island)

(Makassar team)

(naturally it is gloomy when we decide to go to the beach)

(farewells)

(sometimes I clean up nicely)

 

(the Russian and American are a nuclear family now...ahhh jokes)

Other than my fantastical trip to the Land of Beautiful People and Places (that would be Bali, there are a lot of beaches and Australian guys), not too much has happened to me. I move to my next host family in about two weeks and I am facing the problem of having too many things and not enough room in my suitcase...looks like I may be coming back to America with a few extra bags. And on that note, I'll be signing off. Uffda this is a short one.

Until next time,

your wandering Holman

P.S. If there is anything you guys want to read about that I haven't mentioned, send me a message on facebook or email and I will try to slip it in the next post :)  

To Be Surprised

Baby, be prepared to be surprised, it's all I know...

Happy New Year to all! I can't believe I haven't posted since last year (haha I made new year joke, so clever). That being said, let's get you all caught up to speed.

As far as stories go, I only have a few to report (not because I lead a boring life, but because if I told you everything that I do then there is nothing left for just me to know). Let's start with a wedding tale. Though my parents are invited to at least 4 or 5 weddings a month, I haven't actually been to the wedding ceremony. I am beginning to think that only the family is invited to that and all the friends and extras are supposed to attend the reception only. The reception itself is rather different (and less fun in my opinion) than a wedding reception in the good ol' USA. There is a stage for the groom's parents, the bride and groom, and the bride's parents to stand while all of the guests go and greet/congratulate them. Once done, the guests can help themselves to some food, maybe listen to the music playing for a while and then leave. Guests can come whenever and leave whenever (my record for staying at a reception for the shortest amount of time is 25 minutes...enough time to say hi and eat). There isn't any dancing, which is why I think American receptions are more fun but that is unfair of me to say since none of the reception guests seem to want to dance. So to enjoy half an hour of a wedding reception, I must prepare myself for an hour (according to my sister and ibu). I figured I would just have to shower and wear a nice dress and then I would be set. Oh how simple minded of me. I like to think of myself as a Barbie, because my ibu and sister love to do my hair, makeup and dress me up. My lack of knowledge about makeup astounded my ibu, and she told me I must learn sometime since I will put it on a lot when I am an adult...eh, I got time to learn. I don't think I will be adulting for quite some time now. 

Christmas time in Indonesia...oh what a sight. Though most of Indo is Islamic, there is a small proportion that is christian which means that there are stores and places you can buy Christmas-y stuff! So my friend bought a tree and decorations, and together we got into the festive spirit of decorating, making paper snowflakes, listening to the holiday songs (on Youtube naturally), etc. When Christmas eve came around, Fernanda and I decided to go to one of the churches here (I only know of two in Makassar, and the other one is far away I think). The church we went to is the biggest one here (though it isn't that big) and also catholic. So for that night, I was catholic too. The service itself was all in Indonesia, even the Christmas songs, so we were pretty lost throughout the TWO HOUR LONG service. It was extremely hot and rained, we didn't understand anything (except for the Jesus birth story, but I only understood that because I basically have it memorized), but we went to church for Christmas.

jolly old saint Kate-olas

our humble tree

On Christmas day, I left on a trip to Tana Toraja with Fernanda and her family (my second host family actually). For those of you who don't know what Toraja is (which I am assuming is a large portion of you), it is a famous village on my island that is about 9 hours, by car, from my city. It is famous because it has traditional houses that people can still use and for its burial methods. When a person dies, they can be buried in a rock, in a cliff, in a tree (babies only) or in a wooden box shaped like the traditional house. Also, bulls are super popular here (though the people call them buffaloes, I am pretty sure they are just bulls), which makes bull fights pretty popular too. I got to watch one of these and I can safely say that I am not a huge fan. However, the Toraja people get super into the fights. It's kind of a big deal. Toraja is also surrounded by mountains which is absolutely gorgeous, and also extremely terrifying. Driving on the narrow roads, up the side of a cliff...I said my prays more than a few times. And since there aren't speed limits, the driver was driving like we were in a get away car! Astaga. There is more I could tell you about Toraja I suppose, but to be honest, my understanding of it is that it has beautiful views, lots of dead people and death-defying roads.

Real talk time. I know that I have mainly been using this blog to rattle off my tales and misadventures but lets talk about exchange and all those deep, personal things. I hope that by reading this, you all have become at least a little more interested in seeing the world or traveling because it truly is the best thing that has happened to me. It still feels like I am living in a dream, after all, I have never had this much luck before in my entire life. I have been learning so much here about Indonesia, myself and life. It is so hard to describe what I mean to you guys, but anyone who has gone on exchange knows what I mean. To those of you going on exchange this summer, you will have the time of your life. To those of you who are considering exchange, do it. DO IT DO IT DO IT. Living in another country is scary, wonderful, difficult, amazing and so rewarding all at the same time. So, to sum up what I am attempting to say: I love exchange. These past few months have been amazing and I wish that everyone got to go on exchange! Real talk done.

Until next time,

your wandering Holman