The Wild Rain of Borneo

It's not the rainy season, yet, but it may as well be. It's been pretty wild all day long, the weather. Sadly, photos don't do it justice although I tried. The positive side to the rain is it has cooled down a bit. Did I mention that Banjarmasin has been hot and humid? Well now it's just humid.

I haven't had much to blog about lately since I've pretty much been holed up in the house reading through teaching materials. This is in part because Nida wanted to make sure I was registered with the Police Department before I go out wandering around unsupervised. Honestly, I'm not ready to go around without some company because my Bahasa Indonesia is not up to communicative standards and forget the local Banjarese dialect. So today was the last step in making sure the local government knows I'm here and clear for wandering. Nida took me to the prosecutors office where I met with him and his staff. We had a fun conversation translated between me and the boys who probably understood at least half of what I said.

Every where I've been where I've met someone in their office such as the prosecutor or the Rector at the university (IAIN), I'm offered water, sweets, other drinks etc. Here's where I've been facing my biggest cross cultural dilemma. Currently it is Ramadan, the month of fasting, and everyone who's Muslim is fasting until about 6:30 p.m. each day. Generally you don't want to eat or drink publically in front of a fasting population, definitely rude. So the question in my mind has been," Are they just being polite and hope I politely refuse or is it custom to accept graciously?" It's the latter. This is a very gift giving culture and it is important to bring gifts and receive gifts, all the time. So when the prosecutor asked if I wanted something to drink or eat, I started to say I was fine but Nida made a barely imperceptible nod type of body language that was probably even subconscious on her part, but I interpreted it as prodding me to "yes" and "thank you". I was then offered a generous array of drinks and candy dishes full of various sweets to choose from. Everybody seemed fine and happy that I took some water and was encouraged to bring the sports drink with me when we were leaving. And so the intercultural lesson learned during Ramadan here: if they offer and say its okay, then it's okay to politely and discreetly eat and drink in their presence.

We then went for a drive to the big bridge crossing the Sungai Barito, Banjarmasin's largest river. Continuing on this road would have meant going towards Central Kalimantan. The view was amazing, especially with all the rain and the moody sky. Looking out from the height of the bridge, I could also feel some pangs of sadness for the rainforest. There were big expanses of cleared land that are used for rice fields and other types of cultivation. Sadly, the rainforests of Borneo are disappearing and it's a complicated issue here as it is anywhere rainforests are being depleted. Seeing these flat lands that were likely once full of rich and diverse plant and animal life warns of what I am sure I will encounter when I venture to one of the national parks to search for the Orangutan later this year.

In the city of Banjarmasin during Ramadan, food vendors are set up pretty much everywhere you turn, more than usual. Near the city center is an area where booths with blue awnings lined the street all with Indonesian food: lots of fried chicken, fried tempeh, huge river shrimp (that I believe is a type of crayfish) and other Indonesian favorites that I'm still learning the names of. This was our last stop today. We were barely there 10 minutes when the rains began again, bigger and heavier than ever. I'd say that I'd worry about floods here, but Banjarmasin is already flooded. My house is built over a pond with fish flopping around, catching mosquitoes I hope.