May 24, 2009

Up until today the above stated fears were becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. But no more! I’ve had my break from Yale and had 1 ½ days of absolute vegging in the South Jakarta guest house, Grya Patria, I’m staying in. Today is the first day of not only my internship but research AND actively trying to converse in Indonesian.

For some reason when I stepped off the plane all the months of training with Pak Indryo went out of my head and other than “terima kasih” I couldn’t remember much of anything in Indonesian. I don’t know if it was from exhaustion or nerves or overwhelming chaos at the airport and customs, but something freaked me out of being able to speak basic bahasa Indonesian.

To get myself out of this stupor and odd vegging mode I had to yell at myself: “No Excuses Kasey! Fac id ("just do it" in Latin)”. I thought that if Christian missionaries could live most of their lives with the Dyalo in Thailand (influenced by my book companion: Fieldwork) than I can spend 3 months as an Indonesian. Even if it turns out I suck at this and am not meant for developing country fieldwork, at least I gave it my all. No regrets allowed on August 19th!

And so today is the day I woke up and realized I am in Indonesia and this is the first real day of my masters thesis research fieldwork summer.