So the program ended in a whirlwind (unfortunately for me, it was a whirlwind of tummy troubles and illness that ended up requiring antibiotics). We said our goodbyes at a festive cultural dinner, all decked out in whatever batik we had acquired in our host communities.
We had a great group of educators in the group with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we had some important conversations in our debriefing sessions. I hope that we all (myself included) make time to continue our inquiries that we began in those sessions. I look forward to continuing to connect with teachers from our cohort and their classrooms. As the trip came to a close, many of us headed home to our families, and a few members of the #adventurecohort decided to extend our travel and continue adventuring. My husband came to meet me, just in time to be greeted with swollen glands and my sparkling sick personality. Thankfully, after two miserable days I decided I needed to try antibiotics, and my illness started clearing up almost immediately. PSA: always go to the travel clinic and get what you need before leaving the country! I've been sick abroad with and without the necessary provisions, and one way is definitely preferable to the other. Though going to hospitals in foreign lands always makes for a good story... My husband and I flew west to Sumatra, then traveled another two hours on land to Lake Toba, a giant natural lake in the corona of a supervolcano. The lake is a donut, with the island Samosir, our destination, in the middle. While most tourists board ferries and head straight across to Tuk Tuk, the village set up for tourism, I can't do anything the easy way, so we instead spent three entirely unpleasant, sick hours waiting on the dock for the small passenger and cargo boat that was passing by our farm homestay, ten miles down the road from Tuk Tuk. We were first told the boat would leave at 2, and I really need to adjust myself to "Indonesian time," as I'm struggling in a culture where time is elastic and waiting for things is no big deal. At 2:30, when I asked some people on the dock where the boat driver might be, they told us he was down the street drinking beer. When I mentioned that we were told we'd be leaving at 2pm, they just laughed. I whimpered that it wasn't funny and laid back down on the ground feeling sorry for myself. The driver finally showed up and we were off! It's a very beautiful ride; I know because I took all these pictures 4 days later on the way back. On the way there, I passed out on the deck and sunburned my face. Travel is fun y'all!
At the farm, we were greeted by the blended family that is Thomas, an expat from Germany, and Ratna, a local whose whole family lives together working the farm of 500 year old mango trees, led by their 88 year old mother. We were also met by the family dog, their cat, who when she wasn't snuggling was constantly and very vocally searching for male companionship, and a gaggle of free-roaming chickens and ducks. Needless to say, this was my kind of place.
If you're willing to ride a motorcycle, this farm isn't nearly as isolating, but jacob and I were not interested in being part of the 30% of foreigners who get in motorcycle accidents on the island, so our main mode of transportation was a pair of old mountain bikes that had seen better days in Germany. Once I had recovered fully, we decided to attempt the 10 mile trek out to the tourist town of Tuk Tuk to see what all the hype was about. Jacob had gone out running the day before, and he warned me that the children of the island were going to be very interested in talking to us. The shock on my bike was very bouncy, and the first 7 miles of road can only loosely be called road, so I was getting pretty jostled, but I still managed to keep a smile in my voice as I said hello to all 639463821 groups of children that were so excited to have foreigners on their side of the island. There were a lot of kids on this island. They were coming out of the woodwork to shout "hello! Hello!" And "what is your name!" And "how are you!" At us as we rode past. They wanted answers, but these were never said with the inflection of questions; kids just screamed them at us as if they were imperatives. Two little munchkins didn't even say hello, they just yelled "money money money" and burst into giggles, but the most interesting greeting of the day was a chorus of sing-song little voices saying "f*** you! F*** you!" They sounded far too sweet to know what they were saying, so I stopped my bike for that one and used my best teacher voice to say "tidak! Dilarang!" (No! Forbidden!) hopefully they don't practice their English with that one again. The kids must have gotten pretty fed up with us speeding by with cursory greetings, because the next day, one innovative group of about 6 kids linked arms to create a human chain across the road, forcing Jacob to stop on his run, and they wouldn't let him pass until he had formally introduced himself to each of them. The future is full of bright young problem solvers!
We learned a lot in our time at the farm, like the fact that mango trees communicate with each other through their root systems, so doing something like putting a road through a grove can destroy the trees without killing them if it interrupts their central brain. We also learned that palm oil is actually one of the most sustainable oils when grown responsibly because it takes up less land and grows faster than other oils, so well-meaning consumers' blind boycott of all palm oil can actually harm the rainforest more because farmers here switch to growing soybean oil and other kinds that clear more rainforest. What we really need to do is 1. Insist on only sustainably and responsibly grown palm oils, and 2. Stop buying and creating products like cosmetics and soaps and packages foods that unnecessarily use oils at all. If we just used oil to cool with like in the good old days, we could coexist with the rainforests much better. It wasn't the easiest travel experience, but it's one I'm definitely glad I had. Next stop, the jungles of Bukit Lawang to see orangutans!