An Open Letter to all NGOs in Banda Aceh

YOU'VE BEEN HERE TOO LONG. YOU WERE VERY HELPFUL RIGHT AFTER THE TSUNAMI. EVERYBODY KNOWS IT, YOU SAVED A LOT OF PEOPLE AND HELPED OTHERS GET ON THEIR FEET FASTER. THAT WAS 3 YEARS AGO. NOW IT IS OBVIOUS THAT YOUR JUST HERE TO TAKE 70% OF THE CONSTANT FLOW OF MONEY INTO THE AREA. IT WILL BE PROFITABLE TO BE HERE FOR A VERY LONG TIME, BUT IT IS NO LONGER HUMANITARIAN WORK. YOU'RE JUST USING SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE MAD BANK. THE ACEHNESE ARE RESOURCEFUL PEOPLE. THEY CAN GET ON WITHOUT YOU NOW.

GO BACK TO YOUR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES, OR QUIT PRETENDING THAT YOU'RE HERE TO "HELP IN POST-TSUNAMI COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Signed,

John

In other news I went to the most phenomenal beach today just west of Banda Aceh: Lampu'uk. The water was azure and crashed against beach and cliff in ways I've never dreamed. This is the reason people are beach scientists. Every coastal process was there: dunes on the back shore that stung your shins with windblown sand, beach cusps, riptides and particle sorting by density. This is an area where the Tsunami claimed 90% of human lives, basically everyone who wasn't away for some reason. Now its flush with European bistros serving the NGO community. I had a fantastic brick-oven pizza Napoli.

I've asked a few folks about their tsunami experiences, and they have been quite nonchalant in talking about the loss of their loved ones. When I express my condolences they just say that sometimes life is tragic. Wow man.

On the juice front, I've now had cucumber and lychee. I also did what I said I would never do. I bought some of those apples from the states. They were for an apple crisp for an NGO party (btw, I love at least 1/3rd of the NGO people I've met), which came out quite well despite the lack of brown sugar. My secret was adding some passion fruit to the filling. Yes! As for the avocado shake, I think that it would work out perfectly with avocado, chocolate milk and some ice cream.

Since a rice based meal costs between $.80 and 1.50, Jesse Sarah and I find excuses to eat out most of the time. A typical take out parcel will be rice, a fish or two, a jackfruit sauce, maybe some eggplant or quail eggs, all perched in a banana leaf cone. As we say here: Enak Sekali!

I'm in the middle of the Omnivores Dilemma right now. It's a transformative book. Having grown up in such a liberal atmosphere, I rebelled by being cynical of many of the causes my parents fought for. We think this way because we're affluent academics, I said. I thought I would get more of the same from a professor of Journalism at Berkeley, but not so. This book strikes me as simply an objective look at the food industry. He points out over and over again how industrial farming has created so many problems that did not exist until 30 years ago. I hope Austin has as vibrant a coop scene as the cities.

Don't look now, but I may be getting some photos online soon. If I can get a thumb drive (and not demolish or loose it), hopefully the internet here will tolerate some uploads.

"Work"

btw, I had an Avocado/Chocolate shake and it was heavenly! I think avocados should always be used as sweet fruits rather than in salad.

OK about the supposed saving the world that I set out to do here: So far I have saved one printer and cleaned one set of windows. The idea that I could come here and just build boats for helpless Acehnese is flawed for several reasons:

• Boulay (frriners) don't build the boats. They show up to Aceh and intercept all the cash and take 70% of it administrating everything. They explain it as transfering the skills to the Acehnese, which is legit, I guess, but lame for me.
• They builders don't speak english or indonesian. They use the local dialect called Acehnese. Two languages in a month?
• It is a huge liability if I mess up, which will probably happen.
  
• The boat building site is 45 minutes away in a Labi-Labi, or a small and random-routed minibus. Outside Aceh is still dangerous because of a 10 year civil war that has only been civil since the Tsunami.

Because of these reasons, I was asked to paint a bathroom yesterday. I almost did it (cleaned the windows), but then I turned around and said that my time could be better spent elsewhere so I went home and played basketball with Jesse and the locals. Let me tell you, I'm still really bad at basketball, but I think this is my chance to break into the scene. I can play center here and the skills of my peers aren't as high as they would be in the states, so I can finally play without being laughed off the court.

I still have some work prospects. If I can show that I am useful out at the boatworks, I can show up 3 or 4 days a week no problem. There's also the prospect of working with another guy who is doing bathymetric surveys of the area. That might be fun.

Thats it.

On Fruit

I like fruit, I always have. I remember living in southern California and eating 6-8 oranges from our tree everyday in January. It was good, but the fruit here is on a whole new level. I would imagine that this is because tropical fruits grow here, as opposed to Minnesota. Near Jesse's is a street devoted exclusively to selling fruit. Apparently, Acehnese business models ascribe to the logic that if one guy sets up a profitable coconut shed on a street, this is the only place where coconuts will sell. The street will soon sell coconuts exclusively and will be the only street in town to do so.

Jesse thinks that I can sample a new fruit every day while I'm here. So far I have had Guava, Mango, Pineapple, Papaya, Oranges, Jackfruit and Passion Fruit. I notice that the stalls also have apples imported from Washington State, and I haven't tried any of those. I've seen Avocado on juice menus. I think that will be my next experiment.

Culture Shock, Friends Shock, Nature Shock.

No amount of Britney, Barrie thinking I'm bumbling and unexperienced high schooler, or airplane food could prepare me for stepping off the plane in Medan at 10pm with only the directions to a hotel. Enormous billboards, dead rats, and prostitutes all steamed passed me on a current of completely random motorbike movement. All I could think of was a video game like Cruisin' USA where it doesn't matter where you drive or how narrowly you avoid crashing. Even with my jetlag, I arrived in my steaming room hyperventilating. And I brought running shoes? And I just left the comforts of the suburban United States for three months? WHAT WAS I THINKING??????

No amount of new things, incomprehensible language, or terror can ever hope to stand up against finally seeing the good friend you set out to see. When I saw Jesse at the Banda Aceh airport, I had been traveling for about 40 hours. I hadn't spoken to someone I knew or really communicated anything in just as long, so it was a relief to say the least. He quickly biked me into Banda Aceh where I saw Sarah Newman as well as Mia Walton and Guy Brown who were up for the week from Yogyajakarta. I really like seeing my friends.

No amount of dislike for carbonates environments, Midwestern lakes, or fresh water aquaria can prepare one for snorkeling on a coral reef of a secluded jungle isle. In my first glance under the waves, I saw two angelfish chasing each other between my legs. It was all there, from corrals, urchins, and anemones to puffer fish, parrot fish, eels and gars. It was such a traffic jam of fish that it felt like Medan all over again. Even the terror element was still there: you try swimming in the same ocean as an eel as thick as your arm. This is not an activity for Uncle Rob.

I'm missus OH MY GOD THAT BRITNEY'S SHAMELESS

Greetings. I'm at a Burgerking in the KL airport. How did that happen?

Well lets see, there 20 hours in the dark. That gets old after a while. I stayed awake for most of it doing a number of things:

• Getting the digits of the two elderly ladies from LA who flanked me. They also taught me some Chinese. I can now say hand, finger, watch, fingernail and joint. Thats all I really need, right?
  
• Watching Juno. I thought for sure that I would be the last Minnesotan to see that, but I guess now uncle Rob is. It was very very good, although the road between St. Cloud and the Cities does not look like that.
• Scoring 150,000 at Bejeweled II
• Changing the song that is running through my head from The Bird and the Bee's cover of "How Deep is your Love" to "Piece of Me;" the new one my Britney. Not only is this song BANGIN', it is also a nastier satire than Belle & Sebastion could ever muster. Brit is laughing at the entire world for having nothing else to talk about than what a mess she is. I listened to it on repeat for several hours.
  

I also somehow ended up in Taiwan. I though I was supposed to transfer in Tokyo, but I guess not. I guess those hours of perusing airline sites really payed off. It is 5.5 hours until my flight to Medan, but I am not going to go into KL proper because it would cost ~$100. Please. I think I'll have a better chance to see it on my way out.

Packing List

After consulting Jono and Sophie about packing, I have decided to pack absurdly light category.

• Pack: Lowe, light blue. Purchased at REI: Seattle in 1985 by my dad. Has slightly more capacity a day pack.
• Camera: Canon Powershot 540, no stories.
• Journal 8.5"x6.5" Black n' Red 24lb notebook. Complements of Bonnie Jean at SAFL
• Passport: For some reason it says I was born in Minneapolis. This hasn't been a problem in the past, but still...
• Books: Paradise Lost, The Omnivores Dilemma, and Lonely Planet Indonesian Phrasebook.
• Toothpaste, Razor, NEW Toothbrush, Gel, Malaria meds, Diarhea meds.
  
• Footwear: ~550 mile old Asics GT-2120's, Flip-flops
• Guilty concession: 25 mile old Asics GT-2130's. How are you not going to bring running shoes?

For mes amis,

• 3 data CDs of Western Music that contain, among other things, Dr. Dog, M.I.A. and White Rabbits
• Three books on To Kill A Mockingbird for Jesse, as well as a West Side Story DVD for Jesse.

For Wearing:

• Jono will try to outdo me by packing just two pairs of quick-drying undies. However, I will undercut him by bringing just one (1) pair of boxers.
• 2pr running shorts/boxers standby
• Swimming Trunks
  
• 1pr Jeans purchased from that thrift store in Oberlin.
• 3pr socks, running and otherwise.
• 3 Shirts Maroon Plaid button up, Verein Berliner Austauschschuler T, Oberlin Racing Jersey
• Marmot Raincoat I stole storage in Tank in 2006. It was in a box labeled 1986.

Thats it!

Rotation

So I'm about to travel around the world. I am traveling towards the west. Because I will not retrace my steps, I will end up having experienced one less rotation then all of you. Its like I will be a day younger. 

Since I will not be retracing my steps, my friend Albert (Einstein) will have to admit that my movements will actually speed up the rotation of the earth. Look forward to shorter days, sorry.

Tell me, O muse,

of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.

Yes yes, this is the telling of the epic of the Shawdyssey. I am that ingenious hero Shawdysseus, however, the opening passage breaks down into metaphor after the bard refers to me. By sacking the famous town of Troy, our bard means that I successfully navigated the perils of a choosing a graduate school (this still has yet to be done). The many cities that I did (will) visit are Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Kunming, China and every dorf between Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey and Berlin. Continuing into the second half of our bard's introduction, she completely looses touch with reality, as I can save my men even if they eat the brisket of those delicious cattle.

As the daughter of Jove weaves they story, and your wine makes the corners of the room hazy, we slip into present tense. We find me tying up various ends in the Twin Cities after a lovely 8 months there fighting them Trojans. At this point I have one last snag in my plan. It appears to me now that I should get an Indonesian Visa before I leave the US, rather than hanging around Kuala Lumpur for a few days getting it there. This would allow for three extra days in Indo which would be taken up by snorkeling with Jesse Sarah Mia and Guy Brown. There is no consulate in the Twin Cities, so I have to send away for such a Visa. If it doesn't return in 9 business days, then I'm hosed for the entire trip.

Find out what happens...