A Day in Malang

My journey to Malang seemed everlasting. In the past week, I've met the 26 other brilliant American students who are in Malang with me now, spent a day in Washington D.C., heard from people with careers that use the Indonesian language, explored the monuments of Washington (one of my very favorite U.S. cities) with new friends, then embarked on a strenous 30-something hour journey to Malang in which I watched 8 films. It's been quite the experience already, and I've only just gotten started!

For the CLS program, the other students and I study Indonesian language intensively. Although we have various cultural activities on the weekends, our Monday - Friday schedule stays the same.

Every morning, I jelan-jelan, or take the walk, to school. It's about a 20 mintue walk through the busy Malang streets, saturated with motor bikes and cars that seem to drive on any part of the road that is available at the time. The walk is quite scenic, as Indonesia has many varieties of beautiful plants, and one particular street is l just lined with colorful caged birds for sale as pets that chirp as I walk past.

Once I get to UM, or Universitas Negeri Malang, I head to D8, the building that houses the CLS program within UM's Faculty of Literature. It's a gorgeous large building that certainly welcomes learning. At 8 AM, class starts, so I take my seat in the Musi class. All the classrooms are named after Indonesian rivers.

There are several class levels in the program, including three beigginer classrooms, each consisting of five people or less. In my class, I study with Mbak Lourdes, Mbak Margarethe, Mbak Mariam, Mas Chase and Ibu Christine Su, the director of Southeast Asian Studies at Ohio University and the coordinator of the program, who is sitting in on our class for the first two weeks. (Mbak, Mas, and Ibu are polite ways to address people in Javanese culture, and it is rude to not use them.)

The class is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. with short breaks , complete with snacks and tea or coffee, at every hour. We learn at a very accelerated rate compared to a typical university language class, which is a challenge,  but the gurus, or teachers,  are incredibly patient with us. There are four gurus in the class (for five students!). Needless to say,  individual attention isn't a problem in this classroom. Our main guru, Mbak Nissa, is both delightfully funny and very knowledgeable of the Indonesian and English languages. In our class, we've been learning a variety of topics,  from vocabulary to grammar to linguistic pronunciation.

After our fun yet intense classes, we have lunch, which is catered to D8 everyday and is always a treat. It's a good time to catch up with the students in the other classes and the D8 cat.

When lunch hour is over, we meet with our peer tutors to study and to practice speaking Indonesian. We go to anywhere I choose to go. So far, we've gone to the enormous mall across fron university called MATOS, and we've gone to the perpustakaan,  or campus library.

My peer tutors are the most helpful and friendly people, and I don't know what I would have done without them. They've helped with to communicate with my Ibu,  host mom, they've taught me the route to and from my house, and they've been really really helpful and patient with my beginning level of Indonesian. Their names are Mbak Ririn and Mbak Tyas, and I get to spend lots of time with them!

When peer tutor time is over, I walk home to meet Ibu Arif. Sometimes I practice what I've learned in class with her, other times I hang out with her niece who is often over to visit. She is about 10 years old (I don't know how to ask yet), and she reminds me so much of myself. Yesterday,  we sang Indonesian patriotic songs that she learned in school, and I helped her practice English.

At around 6:30 p.m.,  I eat dinner with Ibu Arif, then complete my homework and head to sleep. It's definitely an intense program, but I feel so happy,  comfortable, and fortunate to be here in Malang.