A Man Fishing Under the House

Well it is most definitely the rainy season here. The most obvious of tell tale signs is… well it rains a lot. Sometimes it rains so hard that it pounds in the tiled roofs while I'm teaching. It can be so loud that all I can do is quickly yell out some group work directions and put the students into groups to talk amongst themselves. It makes it much more difficult for me to monitor their English output… or was that Banjarese for a moment? They are supposed to monitor each other… I've set that into their group work job descriptions but you know how language learners are. Those silly students will always gravitate towards the easiest path and the L1.

It was one of those intense rainy afternoons that I saw one of the best heart warming sights of my visit here. The rain had stopped and I was on my way back to the house after teaching. A young girl about the age of 6 was proudly stomping through puddles of water that had accumulated on the road leading into campus. She was happily occupying her time while waiting for her parents to finish their conversation with some other boring adults. Sadly I only had my camera phone to immortalize this joyous celebration of Kalimantan's famous rainy season. Just this last week I saw an article that the plain wooden 'stick' has been inducted into the toy hall of fame. This and the cardboard box are universal toys that open the child's imagination to wonders beyond our mere planet. Right? I too remember sitting in my cardboard space ship with my wooden light saver pointed at my annoying older brother. Well I nominate the mud puddle for the next round of inaugurations. That and a pile of autumn leaves. This girl was so simply happy jumping from the sidewalk's edge making the biggest splash imaginable followed up by her own "whoa!" of amazement and personal discovery… yes some things are universal.

But the highlight of the week was the man in the title… fishing under my house. Oh I know, it's bizarre but true! I couldn't stop laughing at the notion of someone fishing under my house. A rough translation of Kalimantan is "land of rivers." So what happens when you have this much water flowing everywhere? Well we basically live in a swamp, marsh, whatever you want to call it. The houses are built over this water, at one time on high stilts. Now the modern day house is built only a few feet from the ground. There is water under my house as with all other buildings here. I can hear fish splash and I'm sure other animals as well… under my living room! On Thursday afternoon last week, after I finished teaching, I saw a man standing next to my house, with a fishing pole pointed towards my foundation. Yes, fishing under my house. But really, aren't they my fish… on my property??? I didn't know whether to pretend to be incensed or just break into laughter. Actually I was not angry at all, it was the most surreal thing that I could think of to tell you about. And so that you would believe me, I got some photos from both outside and through my window. I have to say; so far this was the wildest cultural thing I could have ever imagined here! I certainly hope he was able to feed his family after trolling under my house!