MUN musings

Model UN team around the UN Flag

(we actually met at the UN Offices in Asia)

About 20 Years ago (in January of 1990) I visited Bangkok Thailand on my way to Vietnam for a Calvin College interim study tour. Almost all of the members of my group were immersed into a developing country for the first time. Scooters and Tuk-tuks (dilapidated three wheel motorized vehicles) crowded the streets and pollution hung in the air. Ramshackle houses crowded along dirty rivers. We were quite amazed at the poverty of the place, until we landed in Vietnam a few days later, where dirt roads and an even greater absolute poverty were the norms.

SPH student presents Speech in Committee

About 10 years ago (1998), Bangkok and Thailand imploded during the Asian financial crises, which started here. What started as a real estate and currency bubble popping (sound familiar) led to chaos all over Asia including riots in Indonesia.

I just returned to Thailand this week and the change is quite amazing. Pollution seems much better, economic growth evident and prosperity obvious. While I am sure there is a side I am not seeing (including the inequality found between those in wealthy cities and the poor in the country side), nonetheless, the people of Thailand have more options for a strong education, good employment, quality housing and decent healthcare than ever before. Although environmental sustainability is still a huge question all of these formerly mentioned items indicate strong development.

Entire Delegation

The reason I am in Bangkok was to spend 4 days with 10 of my students at a Model United Nations (MUN) conference with kids from all over Asia (Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Thailand) where we simulated the real United Nations and their mandate to stop war and foster cooperation and development between nations. In this way, Thailand was a fitting place for this conference, not to mention we held the event in a real United Nations building (The UN building in Southeast Asia).

Model U.N. ends with the writing of superlatives, which are fun descriptors of the events and delegates. Here are MY superlatives from the trip:

• Proudest moment: Despite being ESL and having no prior experience, watching my students engage in debate with refined, experienced and older International students (many of whom are the children of diplomats).


• Most embarrassing moment: realizing my attempt to taxi to dinner with 5 of my students has left us in a seedy neighborhood… in Bangkok (known as the sex capital of the world)!


• Most bothersome moments: watching wealthy but frugal (nice way of saying it) students haggle with poor street vendors over a few pennies.


• Most unnerving moment: watching wealthy but CHEAP students ARGUE with ME over how much they should pay following a meal!
  
• Longest moments: Sitting in an airport and an air plane, typing this blog and wishing to be home with Janet and the kids after 4 very long days!

A world in itself

My homeroom in costume

For the second straight year, I enjoyed Bulan Bahasa at SPH. Bulan Bahasa literally translated means "language month" and could be thought of as heritage month (or cultural awareness month) where the language (Bahasa), cultures, and histories of Indonesian peoples are celebrated in dance, song, poetry, drama and dress.

Tari Saman Dancers

To see this facinating dance, go to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqO8N3oX4c

It culminated on Friday, November 13 with everyone coming in the native dress of an area of Indonesia (My homeroom was Aceh). This was followed at the end of the day of with a two hour program.

Another performer in the Dance program

It's quite cliche to say something is "a world in itself", however the 16 months of living and traveling in Indonesia has proved to me that Indonesia truly is "a world in itself" with amazing differences in cultures, music, and traditions. This doesn't even begin to cover all the geographic diversity found here (coastal regions, mountains, rainforest, reefs).

Balinese Dancer

It's amazing what you can learn at school. Even as a teacher!

Jammed Jakarta

My fellow Economics teacher at SPH put together an assignment for his students about traffic in Jakarta for the students to consider government policies to alleviate traffic congestion. The assignment had some amazing statistics (gathered from the Jakarta Globe). Among them:

• 650 new cars and 3,400 new motorbikes are registered each day in Jakarta.
• There are 1.5 million vehicles (including scooters) on the road in Jakarta every day.
• Each year there is 9% more vehicles on the roads, but only 0.9% new roads.
• A vehicle traveling in Jakarta will spend 60% of its time stopped in traffic.
• The average speed of vehicles in the city is 13 MPH (20 KPH).
• If solutions are not found Jakarta will come to total gridlock by 2014.
  

Taking a break

Last Saturday, I went on my first long distance mountain bike ride on the outskirts of Jakarta (I was invited by a parent of one of Hope's classmates). We wandered through small villages, rice paddies to a small lake. As you can see below (from the GPS display), our average moving speed was similar to most motorized vehicles in Jakarta (without all the frustrations).


It was a great ride!

Ever wonder what people think?

I do, especially in situations that where people don’t realize what they are seeing or in situations where what is observed bends the rules of what is expected.

.

Take for example…

.

One of my students recently returned from a trip to the Holy Land with her church. It seems that tours of the Holy Land are increasingly popular by Christians throughout Asia. What do Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims think when these tour groups come through?

.

When 50% of the world’s Mattel Barbie dolls in the world are made by Indonesia workers, what do the workers that make them think?

.

Ibu Warhsi (our maid) hosted a woman from her village today, as the woman was moving to Jakarta for work. After we met her we commented how old she looked (55+ in our opinion). Turns out she is 40, has been widowed twice, has three children and has lived in absolute poverty her whole life. What was she thinking as she met us and saw our house? Better yet, what should we have thought (and done) about her situation?

.

This week we attended a church started by new missionaries from Michigan. For many of us, this would conjure up pictures of a Dutch CRC family from Hudsonville, Michigan arriving in Indonesia for a stint working overseas. However in this case, the pastor, his family and the 8 others who came along are Asian Americans who recently graduated from the University of Michigan. You can check out the web page of their church and mission at http://jakarta.hmcc.net/ . The church started 13 years ago and has 4 daughter churches already. What do you think of that?

.

Sumatran Trip

Here is a brief summary of our trip to North Sumatra:

Trekking through Sumatra

Wild Orangutan

Rainforest wet

After arriving in Medan (the third most populated city in Indonesia at over 2 million) and realizing there wasn’t much to do there, we headed out to Bukit Lawang (Boo keet La Wong) which borders an Unesco World Heritage site that protects wild Orangutans and tries to reintroduce other ones back into the wild. When we arrived, we hired a guide to take us across a river and into the rainforest to possibly see wild Orangutans. Despite a soaking rain, we had great luck as we saw two Orangutans in the trees above us within 1.5 hours of walking into the canopy.

Driving through Sumatra

Quiet Country road

Driving in Java is intense for the following reasons:

1. Roads are bad and have no shoulders or guard rails.

2. Center lines are merely a suggestion as many vehicles cascade over the center line at every possible moment to pass or turn.

3. There are no rules of the road or traffic lights. I honestly think that Gallup, New Mexico (with around 30,000 people) has more traffic lights than Jakarta (with more than 10 million people). No one is ever pulled over for speeding or driving recklessly.

4. Cars, scooters, and pedestrians are everywhere and often within inches of many other fast moving vehicles.

5. It is routine to see a whole family of 4 or 5 on a scooter with daily life continuing while they drive (talking on cel phone, breast feeding a baby for example).

As bad as this seems, we found out this past week that riding in a car in Sumatra is actually worse for one reason. The island of Java is so over populated that speeds usually hover between 5 -30 MPH. Because Sumatra is more spread out and less populated, speeds routinely double (therefore, more than doubling our anxiety)!

Sumatran trip (cont.)

Relaxing in Sumatra (at Danau Toba)

Batak Church

Sunday we drove from Medan to Danau Toba (Lake Toba). As mentioned in a previous post, Lake Toba is the Largest Caldera Lake in the world and the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It is also the home of the Batak, tribal hill people of Sumatra (6 million of them) who gave up their cannibalistic animist ways about 150 years ago for Christianity (after eating their first missionary). Very traditional churches now dot the landscape surrounding the lake, which seem odd in Muslim Indonesia.

Batak houses

Kids on the lake (notice the Batak house in the background)

Apparently, in the early 1970’s, Lake Toba became a popular hangout for Australian hippies who communed and caroused with the Bataks (who love music and wine). These days seem long gone as the hippies have gravitated to Hindu Bali or Buddhist Thailand (Hindu and Buddhist worldviews match a little closer to hippies than Batak) and all there is left are local Sumatrans on holiday, young German and Dutch backpackers, and oddball Australians and Americans (not us, of course)..

Who are these weird people?

The lake is at 900 meters elevation (3000 feet), so no air conditioning is needed (highs in the mid eighties, lows in the 60’s) and the lake is deep and crystal clear. We had a great time swimming, renting bikes and a scooter, shopping for Batak arts and crafts, relaxing at our hotel, and providing hours of entertainment for locals who rarely see a whole family of white people.

Holiday Adventure

It's Lebaran break!!!!



Friday morning, September 18, we fly out to the sumatran city of Medan. We are flying on an Indonesian carrier-- see logo below.

Indonesian Airline logo and motto.

We are just thankful it isn't "Life is Cheap"

Actually, this is the logo for the sister airline

of the one we are flying.

After landing in Medan, we will spend one day in Medan, one day in Bukit Lawang (an Orangutan forest) and then head on a 5 hour trip to Lake Toba. Lake Toba is a 62 mile long lake formed some 70,000 years ago by a huge exploding volcano, and is today the largest caldera lake in the world.

Satellite image of Lake Toba

We will stay on the Island(actually it isn't an island as there is a very small isthmus running between the mainland and the penisula) in the middle at a resort called the "Carolina Hotel"

Carolina Hotel

We have heard this lake is very remote but beautiful and that:

• the nearby town consists of a dirt road an a couple of buildings.
• Dining out involves arriving at a restaurant and having a couple kids run off to find the owner who then comes and cooks you dinner.

We will keep you posted.