The New Normal

As I write this, I am listening to the sounds of rolling thunder and heavy rain mixed with a cacophony of voices blaring through loud speakers, “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great). The power was out a few moments ago, but is back on now. The coolness created by the downpour that is normally allowed to spill in through the open windows has been halted by closed curtains. Only a few lights are permitted in the dorm tonight because the termites are swarming. Dozens have already made it through the wire screening, drawn by the warm glow inside. The winged insects writhe on the floor unable to fly as small cicaks (house lizards) scurry from underneath the furniture to enjoy this rare buffet. Our new daughters are cracking jokes and eating snacks as they sit at the dinner table during “study” time. And I can’t help but think once again how different my life is compared to just a few months ago.

To begin with, Salatiga is considered to be a sleepy, one-horse town compared to the larger, bustling cities in Java like Jakarta, Yogyakarta, or Semarang. Salatiga has no mall, no movie theatre, no museums or parks, and KFC is the only Western fast-food restaurant and no English is spoken there. For comparison, Amy and I came here from Richardson, Texas which is a city about 28 square miles in size and has just over 100,000 people, while Salatiga is only about 7 square miles yet has a population of over 200,000.

Because of the extreme crowdedness, Salatiga (and Java in general) is excessively noisy and polluted. Perhaps that’s one reason why Amy and I are so horribly homesick right now. Of course we desperately miss our friends and family, but we’ve come to realize just how tremendously important things like peace and quiet, comfort, and convenience had become to us. The things we once took for granted are now considered rare luxuries and we seek them out wherever we can.

Back home, it was normal for us to hang out with friends on the weekend. We took it for granted that we would be going out to eat at least twice a week. We could rely on new movies appearing in our mailbox every few days to watch at home each evening after work. Whether we were sick, out of frozen pizzas, or wanted to kill some weeds, it was easy enough to hop in the car and run over to Super Target to pick up pretty much whatever we needed. Big Macs, cherry Cokes, M&M Blizzards, chili cheese fries, and Chick-Fil-A sweet tea were all available just around the corner. What was assumed before, I ache for now.

Here in Salatiga, we have a new normal. Now, I can count on the Internet being painfully slow (when it’s working at all). I know each day will be hot and humid, power outages will be frequent, and some variation of chicken and rice will be on the menu every day. I can also be confident that my day will begin around 4:30am as the first of five calls to prayer wakes me from my sleep.

On an average week, we have our language lessons every Monday, Thursday and Friday morning. Tuesdays are reserved for dorm and teacher meetings. I teach my Graphic Design class every Monday and Thursday afternoon (next semester will be Photography) and Amy helps with the Yearbook class each Tuesday and Friday. I have also become the unofficial photographer for school pictures. In addition, we lead two devotionals for the girls each week; one on Sunday and the other on Thursday. Every weekday morning I get up at 7am to make sure the girls get off to school on time. The rest of the day runs on a rigid schedule -- lunch at noon, the girls come home at 3:00, dinner at 5:30, study time from 6:30 to 8:00, curfew at 9:00, and lights out at 10:00.

On the weekends, half of the dorm girls go home while we stay in the dorm to watch over those that remain on campus. Basically our purpose is simply “to be here.” As dorm parents, we are to be a steady constant for the girls – providers of stability. To spice up our routine a bit, Amy has volunteered on Sundays to help with the Awana Bible Club and I am training to run sound for the church. We’ve also become involved with a local group that is striving to end the problem of human trafficking which is rampant in this country, starting with Salatiga.

Unfortunately, the rigidity of the school schedule allows for little freedom or flexibility; as a result, Amy and I are having a hard time dealing with the isolation and loneliness that comes with being confined to the dorm for such long periods. We do get 6 hours off every two weeks and one weekend off every quarter, but right now we are limited in what we can do during those times by our lack of language skills and personal transportation. And while we have made some new friends, they are mostly teachers whose schedule is completely opposite from ours. They have evenings and weekends off which are precisely the times we are most restricted to the dorm, so we don’t have nearly as much contact with grown-ups as we would like.

Nevertheless, it is amazing what you can get used to when you have no other choice. It’s simply a “given” that our apartment will be overrun with ants, the water in the shower will go from scalding to ice cold at its whimsy, and lizards will poop on our walls. Conversations inevitably turn to what American comfort food we are missing the most. We know that local grocery shopping will be an excursion requiring two bus rides and lots of walking. Getting a parasite is inevitable, traffic is always insane, and if we REALLY want to see a movie or get some McDonald’s french fries – we know it will require a nearly two-hour drive to get there.

But then there are days when things just seem to work out, you learn something new that makes life easier, a package arrives from home, or you make a real connection with the girls on a heart-to-heart level. Suddenly everything is okay again. On our worst days?...well, we must be content that although we don’t always know why we’re here, we do know God. And He knows why we’re here…and I must trust in that.

P.S. If you would like to see some recent shots, you can go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93095&id=1407240335&l=5261917fc9 to see them.