Making Connections

GeoTagged, [S6.29119, W106.88064]

March 7, 2012
I still cannot believe it's already March. How time flies by! The "Selamat Datang Amy" letters still hang over my bed in my host bedroom. The sister whose room it used to be hand made and colored the message so that I would feel more at home. Many a times I feel like beginnings are much easier than endings. At the start of any relationship there are no hurt feelings, broken promises, miscommunications, or hard feelings. All these things happen over time and by the end of something they can be very hard to surmount or let go of. Every relationship worth an owl's hoot requires both parties to contribute to the well-being of the other party. I don't know how many times I've heard the saying that a relationship is "give and take." The parties function best in their relationship when they are mutually supportive, understanding, caring, kind, and forgiving. Each party should value the other's opinion and accept the other's abilities and limitations. These are not easy things to do, so really a relationship only holds together if the two parties like each other and enjoy the relationship dynamic. This is my nineteen-year-old knowledge of the workings of relationships. I've never been married or even in a serious relationship, but I've learned a thing or two from observation of those closest to me. When I think about the relationships I'm making here, the friendships that connect me to Indonesia, I realize how hard relationships anywhere in the world are; what I mean is that I'm here to live with a completely new family for an entire year and I'm still trying to get a hang of this relationship business with my own parents. I'm thankful to be able to have such personal insight into another culture and see displays of common humanity show through a culture that seems so different from the one I've grown up in. While it can be excruciatingly frustrating to try and blaze a path of cultural understanding, one of the best balms is to remember the beginning and the fount of people's actions; I've found that people's intentions are usually good and though their actions may not accurately execute their intentions, the important thing is to remember where a person is coming from--her or his context--and know what one values in a relationship; hopefully one will choose to accept the good intentions and value peace and understanding over indulging pride or revenge.
Why am I such a serious teen, ugh. Hahah :)
Funny anecdotes:
•My geology teacher is impressed that I can name the continents...
•I lost my AFS phones somewhere along my journey down from Tangkuban Prahu...oopps!
•My friend added me on Skype today at school & he saw my skype picture. I had forgotten that my profile picture is a me with a towel over my wet hair wearing my pajamas, I look really goofy in the picture and I'm making a funny face too--they thought my picture was funny and I was a little embarrassed for still having up such a güber picture--originally I had taken it to show my mom a super recent image of my face while the skype video wasn't working.
•I have a bizzillion and one hilarious stories from times when I hung out with the other YES scholars! Ask me about them when I pulang kampoeng!

I am excited to graduate with my class! I plan to order a formal kebaya for the occasion and my friend Mila promised to do my hair traditionally, wahoo!