DC Part III: Where Everyone Breaks Into Dance and Song

    Ok now for the awesomeness of the final part. Just to recenter us right now (in my story) I am in Washington DC at a hotel that is very in love with escalators and strange angles with tons of exchange students at about 9pm. We're all dressed in our culture's finest. For the US this means red,white, and blue - but for everyone else this meant amazing gold things, with fancy head pieces, and colors colors everywhere. First I'll get all the not so great parts out of the way.

1. There were no YES Abroad tables created so we were randomly scattered. Tenaya (to India) and I ended up sitting all alone with these random volunteers. It was fine though. She's an awesome person and we actually have a lot in common. But it was weird sitting amongst all those volunteers.
2. The YES Abroaders United States of America cultural performance. It was a mess. Allen (the head guy) made us square dance which isn't all that American. (How often do you square dance? Yeah.) You couldn't hear the directions so we had to guess at what to do. And remember how I said we only had one practice with everyone there. Well it showed. Horrible horrible. Worst of the night and everyone knew it (you could tell by the lack of clapping or standing up).

Anyway on the rest. Germany got us all standing and jumping and squatting to their special German songs. Here listen watch:

    Then came a flurry of different spectacles. Mozambique showed us the break down dance. It was a crazy butt dance. Crazy! but amazing! Ghana explained to us their legal system. South Africa did some gumboot. India went all super fun dancing time. Then they started a fashion show. Tenaya is super lucky, all the India people are. The Saudis interestingly did the YMCA. And the Philippines. The Philippines did a whole story dance that I can't even explain but it was awe inspiring, jaw dropping, breath taking. This whole time I was thinking: these are the same people I've just been hanging out with. Why are they so awesome?

And my Indonesians. These were the people that were so incredibly nice to me at the Embassy. They taught me to say I love you; Aku cinta kamu. They write on my wall about how we should hang out when I'm there. They were the last and the largest group (101) to perform and they did an amazing job. Somebody told me they were scared the stage wouldn't hold up, they saw it sagging beneath them. I have major Indonesian love now.

After this we went back to our hotel where YES Abroad had a short meeting to wrap up our time together. This was our last time together for a year; Thailand was leaving early the next morning and India later that day. We really are an amazing group. I have super love for all these people too.
    The next day I woke up to send my roommate Elizabeth off to Thailand. The rest of this day was just spent hanging out around the pool with Angelina, Cee, and Sarah (more cool people). It was the most relaxing moment of the weekend. Then off to our planes, heading home or to India. I wish the best for everyone in DC; the YES people, the Germans (CB), and all my YES Abroaders. And I can't forget to thank all the volunteers and staff who made everything so wonderful. Never has being an exchange student been so cool :)
    Now I can finally write about current news. And I do have some. (If you're interested in watching more videos here's the link to a youtube channel. It's the same user as above: Kimchi Dragon. Sadly you can see the US's performance there too.)
Til later A.

DC Part II: Where we go to Important Places

Maybe I'll actually finish this today.

On Thursday we went to the offical important places. In the morning we went to visit representatives of our state's senators. So all the Californians (including exchange students who had stayed there) met with Diane Feinstein's financial something. Her helper, assistant; I don't know her title but she was nice. She listened to all the lessons they talked about and stuff.

Next place we went was the Indonesian Embassy. Which meant lots of Bahasa Indonesia speaking going on and Indonesian food! Woot woot! The ambassadors were there (is that what they're called?) and gave a nice speech (I didn't understand but there was good vibes from everyone else). Everyone was so nice talking to me about Jakarta and traffic and Indonesian school and the language, everything basically.

Then on to the US State Department for us to ask questions. They are the ones who fund the program so I guess they wanted to talk. People asked questions. Other people on stage answered, not much to say here. Then all the YES Abroaders went to hang out all the YES Abroaders whose hosting organization is not AFS but Amideast or American Councils.

It was great to see everyone again. Group 6 was reunited, as we're split evenly between AFS and Amideast & American Councils. I wish all my YES people good luck as we head to our different countries. Thailand, India, and Malaysia (tomorrow I believe) have already left. Check out their blogs.

Group 6 (again)

Then AFS YES Abroaders had to leave. It was time for a cultural performance from all the countries in the program.  This was one of the more amazing performances I've ever been too. In my life. Ok you know what, it's so awesome it deserves it's own post. (Truly I just want to split up this mass - same thing though.) To be continued ... again (but for the last time really). 

DC Pre-Departure Orientation

I have returned from an amazing, crazy fun, pretty inspiring - enlightening week in Washington DC for a YES Abroad PreDeparture Orientation. For the 500 people that weren't YES Abroaders, this week served as their Exit Orientation (or whatever you call it). This includes regular YES people (aka Saudis, Egyptians, Malaysians, Indians, Turks, South Africans, Ghanians, Indonesians ect.) and Congress Bundestag people (aka Germans). They were on there way home and us YES people were just getting started.

So what did we actually do? Well Tuesday was just an arrival day (also my birthday, but you know who's watching that?). I heard some people got there as early as 4am others as late as 7pm. I got there around 3pm, had a nice laydown, hung around with some YES Abroaders. Then came dinner with all the people from you're country, and by this I mean all the people who are going to Indonesia. So this was me, Katy, Andrew, Amy, Natalie and Nathan (and our group leader Josh). We're a pretty cool group, you know.

Then the workshops started. They included such topics as

• Different ways to Journal to express those complicated exchange feelings. Some ideas were a regular diary/journal, vlog/blogs, picture a day, calender where you jot down what you did that day, sticky notes, and a postcard calender thing where after your exchange you ask people for all the postcards you sent them then you photocopy it into a poster. Then they gave us special YES journals. Prezzie time.
• How to talk about religion in a truthful hopefully unawkward way
• Cultural expert time aka Talk with cool people from Indonesia time!!!
• Not good not bad just different
• An interesting and funny talk with Imam Arafat. He's a cool guy. Look him up.

So that was the gist of the seminars. Some were boring, some repeats of Denver information. Our group (what do I call us, Indonesia group?) did a skit about classmates asking if Americans were promiscuous and drunken partiers like in Jersey Shore and then the host mom finds her 'skimpy' swimsuit. It was pretty awesome. Katy played the exchange student. Good thing. Did I tell you this day was also my birthday :) Or wait hold on I think it was the day after my birthday. Whatever now I'm 16 yeeaaa.

Indonesia people woot woot! Party in Indonesia. Andrew, Katy, Natalie, Amy, me <3, Nathan. (Did you like how I linked that up for you?)

Anyway the rest to come later. This is already like a week and a half late.

Also I'm the youngest person to Indonesia. Do I look it?

Secret Whisperings (Except not actually secret nor is anyone whispering)

Hello

What is Indonesia like? How is Indonesia? (Not sure that second question even makes sense) These are the type of questions that don't really mean anything and also kind of make you sound stupid. But they're kind of legitimate questions when you're about live in a country. So instead you have to ask about the specifics or just trust that the person you're asking will somehow know that you want to know everything about the country and knows how to give you those answers. (major run-on. I try but not really)

So here's what people like Ella, past foreigner exchange student Flan (here's her blog), the AFS booklets and others have told me about my new country .

• Time is different. "Rubber time" is what they call it because it's all flexible and bendy (like rubber ;) ) So if I'll have to be patient and get used to waiting I guess. I don't think I'll mind but who knows. Being late - that I can do.
• Hugging is not cool. At least with the opposite sex.
• Students will kiss their teacher's hands to show respect.
• Traffic is bad. I read this one blog where the lady was whining and practically crying over how bad it was. I hope she was exaggerating.
• I'll probably have a maid.
• The food is good. Ella described it as being similar to Indian and Thai food. They have lots of different kind of rice dishes, not just the usual white rice. I'm expecting good things.

Those are some of the things I've heard. I'll be able to tell you how true they are when I get there. Less than two months from now I'll be leaving. I still don't have a departure date or visa and haven't finished my shots. I leave for DC this Tuesday though (my birthday) for 4 days of learning how to be a great open minded exchange student. Also there will be square dancing. I'll be sure to post about it after I come back in July.

I also might have a host family. But I don't know how sure it is so I'm keeping a bit mum. I'll tell you all I know once I know for sure.

What you want to know

So yesterday (and by that I now mean a week ago) I met with Ella. She's an Indonesian girl here in LA on the YES scholarship. That makes us opposite twins of course. She's going to be in Indonesia when I am and we'll also see each other on the plane to DC on the 28th and at the actual conference too.So in honor of having met her (and also because I haven't said much about Indonesia yet) I will give you guys some information (just the official stuff not the random hearings. that'll come later) about the country I have to spend 10 months of my life in.

The Republic of Indonesia

Geography

Located in Southeast Asia. Borders Malaysia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea

It's an Archipelago. Made of 17,508 islands

Jakarta is the capital.

I'll be in either Jakarta or Surabaya.

People

Language: Indonesian (with some local dialects)Has a population of ~245.6 million people. The Island Java is the most populous in the world and Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world. O_O

Religion: 6 religions are offically recognized. Indonesia is 86.1% Islamic (has the world's largest population of Muslims) 5.7% Protestant, 3% Roman Catholic, 1.8% Hindu, and 3.4% other (Buddhist, Confucianism, animist ect.)

History. Really quickly (and horribly) because I don't feel like just repeating stuff

Obviously it is very long.

There was a period of Dutch rule. Then a period of Japanese rule. Then there was complicated times where the Dutch wanted to rule but Indonesia wanted it's independence and there was some wars/battles/rebellion. Anyway the end result was Indonesia was independent with Sukarno as it's president.

The current president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

And because I've learned the importance of citing I will tell you I've learned this from the CIA factbook and wikipedia pages on Indonesia. Also I'm reading lonely planet's book on Indonesia. So yes.

What to do now

I didn't mention this but I'm already out of school. Yup I've been finished with my sophmore year at Archer for about 4 days now, not counting the weekend. I have already read all my yearbook comments (that thing was full as heck let me tell you). I've hugged all my teachers, some of them for the last time. So now I'm sitting at home, sleeping, reading, and eating. I can't do anything. I'm not old enough to drive. My friends can't either. My whole family is still at school/work so they can't take me places. And my school is one of the earliest to get out so it's not like I can hang with non-Archer people either.

But I do have plans/ideas/wishes for this summer so here they are...

1. Learn some Indonesian. Yeah it's not a language that's really in right now so I have to do some searching for the right place to get all the info. But there's always Live Mocha and BYKI (which I've started, terima kasih (that means thank you))
2. Find a job. Maybe possibly ... I'm not even 16 until the end of June so this is a real hopeful plan.
3. Find out everything about Indonesia. I'll need to go to the library, do some more hardcore internet searching, ect.

And for my actual calender here's what I have:

1. Friend's birthday this weekend.
2. Hang out with a girl from Indonesia who is actually here on the YES Scholarship. It's great. We'll be at the Pre-departure Orientation (PDO) together (well her farewell one) and then in Indonesia at the same time.
3. My brother graduates middle school soon.
4. Father's day. My grandpa is visiting that week too.
5. Then that last week of June it's my birthday and the PDO.
6. In July I'll hang out with all the people I won't see next year.
7. My mom's birthday comes the 17th.
8. Finish getting the rest of my shots. I was one of the kids who's never had shots before so I'm getting all of them now. I've done 10 shots/ rounds so far and have at least 4 more. So that's fun
9. August- Time to pack, buy gifts for my host family, and go.

So that is everything on my schedule. Once everyone gets out of school work The Summer of Beautiful Things will start. People that actually want to read about my exchange might not be so interested until I actually leave in August. But for the life of me, I can't stop messing with this blog. Yea I'm really bored. So until the next time. Have a nice exciting day for me.

YES Abroad Love and Explanation

So I'll explain the YES Abroad Program because when I throw those words around nobody actually knows what I'm talking about.

So the Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad program is a scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State for American high school students to live for a year in a predominantly Muslim country. YES Abroad students are ambassadors of their home communities and become connections between the US and the country they receive. When choosing students to receive this scholarship openness, flexibility, an interest in other countries, and a commitment to sharing the experience and knowledge they've gained abroad are key factors. While the YES Abroad program administers the scholarship, there are specific exchange programs that manage the students within the country. These programs include AFS, American Councils for International Education, iEarn, and Amideast. YES countries include India, Morocco, Thailand, Ghana, Mali (the only semester program available), Oman, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt (except not this year) and Indonesia. What administering program you get really depends on what country you get. I'm an AFS kid.

Now there is also a YES program which is much the same but reversed; Muslim students come to the US to be hosted. The YES program is also much larger. The inbounds come from so many more places like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Kenya, the Philippines, and Yemen just to name a few.

To be eligible for the YES Abroad program you have to be between 15 and 19 years old and either be in high school or have just graduated. You have to be open to being placed in any of these countries because there is no guarantee you will get a specific one. If you're interested in applying this website will be your best friend. They also can put much more elegantly what YES Abroad is all about.

Just to give you a picture of what YES has looked like so far. Here are some pictures of the In Person Selection Event (aka interview) in Denver that I talked about last time. Super fun.

This was Group 6's tower. One of our tests was to build a tower without talking. Obviously we were great. Our whole group recieved the scholarship and are going different places. There are 2 Omans, an India, a Malaysia, a Turkey and me to Indonesia. Oh and I'm second to last on the right.

Every semi-finalist for YES Aborad program. 50 of us are going abroad. I wish all 74 of us could have made it.

I'm so glad I applied. I've met so many wonderful people already, both YES and YES Abroaders. Some of the YES Abroaders have blogs too which I have helpfully linked over there -->. You're welcome. The next time I see everyone will be in DC in about 2-3 weeks. We have a Pre-departure Orientation and then Thailand and India students will be traveling to their countries after that. I'm really nervous-excited for them. I leave some time in August so a perfect amount of time to soak in California wonderfulness.

Oh how I will miss thee <3.