From Hokey Pokey to Hip Hop

Everyday is still an adventure here in Jakarta. Getting though the first week at Sebasa was fascinating all on it's own, but when I come home from work, everything begins anew! Here's a sampling from this week:

There are several programs throughout Jakarta and Indonesia that are sponsored by our State Department; teaching English, spreading diplomacy, and all that. One in particular is called the Access Program, and it's geared toward 14-18 year-old, non-elite/underprivileged youth. This sounded like a fun opportunity to get involved with a younger audience, so I emailed the director and was soon scheduled to go in and meet the staff and kids. On Tuesday afternoon, I was ushered into a small room of about 15 shy, giggly students. Their teacher, a wonderful Indonesian woman, prompted the students to ask me questions. We talked about everything from Ohio, hobbies, Justin Beiber, boyfriends and girlfriends (giggle giggle), more Beiber, to my thoughts on Indonesia. They told me about the latest YouTube-Indo craze - two girls lip-syncing to a song called "Poisonous Snail." Which you can check out here.

From what I've gleaned about the Indonesian culture thus far, the people here love to sing and dance (see the last blog RE: line dancing). There are karaoke places all over, and it's a typical weekend activity. I don't sing. I'm actually pretty awful at it, but how can you refuse 15 bright, eager faces when they implore you for a song? Luckily, I have a favorite silly song always in reserve that lasts about 3 seconds. I stole it from a made-for-TV version of Alice in Wonderland. The white queen (played by Carol Channing) sings the song to Alice: (youtube!)
Jam tomorrow,
Jam yesterday,
But never ever jam today. 

The song is short, but it's great because there are crazy hand/head movements that go with it. And, they learned what jam is, so....everyone is a winner ;).

In return for my performance, the whole class got up and taught me their version of the hokey pokey, which turns out to be very similar to our version, only much, much cooler. Seriously, you get to walk-like-an-Egyptian. I'm totally introducing it at my next American wedding. So, all in all, it was great fun to meet the kids. Hopefully, I'll be seeing much more of them soon!

Early in the week, Sebasa and I received an invitation from the US Embassy to attend an American-Muslim hip hop concert at the Hard Rock Cafe. The band, Remarkable Current, is from California, and they did a mix of rap, R&B, and reggae, including one amazing version of Amazing Grace. So, about 80 of us took up the offer and checked it out. What a night! It turns out that the students from the Access program were also in attendance, so I spent the night bouncing back and forth between the kids, staff, and students. It was hard not to feel like a celebrity with the amount of pictures we took. (everyone wants a picture with the bule!) Hopefully, I will be able to steal some of those from fb soon, so I can post them here (I know, camera failure #2). It was a ton of fun getting to dance and laugh with everyone.

Alright then, that's enough for now. I'm going to go rest and recoup for next week! Jam tomorrow...Jam yesterday...