The lies I tell my village.

Many of you probably do not know this, but I have two books written in my head.  I hope to someday get them down on paper and use my book sales to supplement my research costs, but until then, I will just keep writing away in my little brain (I just wish my brain had a better backup).  The first book is entitled, "Mom, I shouldn't tell you this, but..."  It is a book about all my adventures abroad that my mom really doesn't want to know, but I tell her anyways (snakes, scary men, etc) .  My second book is entitled "The Lies I Tell My Village."  This book is still a work in process and I haven't quite decided the form it will take.  Basically, the idea is that both intentionality and unintentionally, I start telling a web of lies, until I don't even know the person I am.  It starts out simply, I don't know a word for something, so I use a different word (for example, I can't remember the number 9, so I tell everyone I am 30... really not a big deal, since I am quickly approaching 30)... and then there are things that I just don't want other people to know..."You have a handyphone (in America you call them cellphone), can I have your number?"  "Oh, I am sorry, this phone only works with numbers from the United States."  "Where are you staying?"  "I am staying at a friend's house, but I am leaving here first thing in the morning."  But after awhile (or not that long), the lies get bigger and better, till I almost forget reality.  Today I told someone I have a husband in the States.  I sat there thinking in my head what does my husband do? and what should his name be? and why isn't he here?  I almost invented a couple of children so that I would have something else to talk about.  I decided against it so I would not be judged as a bad mother for leaving my children motherless in America.  (By the way, I am taking suggestions on the story of my husband...if anyone has any good ideas.)  I justify all my lies as a way of protecting myself, but after awhile, when are the lies a protection of me and when am I just a lier.  For someone whose identity is in some ways worn on my sleeve (I can not hide the fact that I am not Indonesian), and represents so many things bigger than herself,  "I am an American, I am a Fulbrighter, I am a Borener, I am a scientist, I am a foreigner", what does it mean when I express my own identity as a falsehood?

Where in the world is Katie San Diego?

I will give you a few clues.  She is on the 3rd largest island in the world (if you don't count Australia...which I don't, it is a continent, hence it forgoes its island status). She is on the equator. She is not in the forest.  For a non geographical clue, she is running back and forth between offices.  If you guessed Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, you are correct!  If you didn't, well you better brush up on your Indonesian geography by reading this blog.

I have attached a map to help you understand where I have been and where I am going.  I need to work on my editing skills, so places of interest are circled by yellow.

Places of Interest

1. Jakarta: Capital of Indonesia, Island: Java.  I fly into Jakarta.  It is where I start my permit process.  I was there for 4 days, and will return for a few more days sometime next week.  Highlights of Jakarta, lots of traffic, lots of juxtapositions (really nice sky scrapers next to shanty towns, big hummers next to bicycle carts,  etc), and fancy malls.   

2. Pontianak: Capital of West Kalimantan, Island: Borneo. (where I am right now).  Before I describe Pontianak, I want to clarify something.  If people ask where I work, I might say, Borneo, Indonesia, or Kalimantan.  They all mean slightly different things.  Borneo is the name of the island, it actually is made up of three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.  Indonesia is the country, and Kalimantan is the Indonesian part of Borneo.  To make it more complicated, West Kalimantan is the province, which is kinda like a US state.  

Fun facts about Pontianak.  Well, it is located on the equator, which is pretty cool.  Also, it has so much traffic... but I can't figure out why.  It took me 30 minutes to cross the street, and even then it was a game of Frogger.  Also it is home to University Tanjungpura, the university that I work with.  

3. Yogyakarta: Capital of Yogyakarta, Island: Java.  So I was going to say that I do not know much about Yogyakarta, except that I will be going to language school there... and  that is all I will know until I get there because my Indonesian Guidebook was left in the San Fran Airport, but then I remembered this fun thing called Wikipedia.  According to Wikipedia, it has over 100 Universities, and is a cultural center.  Sounds like a fun place.

4.  Circle with no names: Ketapang, Sungai Tolak and Batubarat: Capital of Bekantan Land, Island: Borneo.  This circle is the location of my sites.  It is where I will actually be studying monkeys.

So just to clarify, I was in Jakarta, I am currently in Pontianak, I will fly back to Jakarta for a few days, then fly to Yogyakarta for a month and some change, fly back to Poontianak, take the boat to Ketapang, and go find some monkeys.   

Just in case you follow World News... I am safe

I turned on CNN yesterday when I couldn't sleep.  In a 2 minute period, they talked about the earthquake in Sumatra (and the tsunami warning), the volcano that is about to erupt on Java, and the ferry that sank near the island of Flores.  Just in case you did not realize from reading this blog, I am still safe.  I did not feel the earth quake, I am currently not near the volcano, and was not traveling on the boat.  The only disaster that I was close to was the flooding in Jakarta due to a rainstorm.  I even missed that, because I have a 5th floor hotel room, and slept through the storm.  A reminder to all the worriers out there.  Indonesia is a large country made up of 17,000 islands.  I spend the majority of my time on the West side of Borneo that has no volcanoes, no earthquakes, and doesn't experience Tsunamis. Also, I have brought enough stuff to deal with all emergencies, life jacket- check, motorcycle helmet- check, water purifier - check, machete- check, anti volcano suit- check, okay that last one is not true, but if worse came to worse, I could maybe fit in my pelican case and I would be safe.

Jetlag

Indonesia is 12 hours ahead of Central Standard Time and 10 hours ahead of Pacific Time. This is a significant time adjustment. As my computer (which is still set to California time) tells me it is 2:15pm on Monday afternoon, my watch is telling me that 4:15 am on Tuesday morning. If my electronic equipment can’t keep straight of what time it is (yet what day); how is my body? Right now, my prime awake time is from about 1am to 6 am. I am getting a lot of work doneat that time. Today though, I am going to try to stay up until at least 7 pm, and see what happens..... update, I stayed up till 7, but I am still up at 1am. Maybe next week I can sleep on a normal schedule.   

Disclaimer

I am currently reading Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lacuna”. In the book, the main character is working for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, when Kahlo and Rivera take in Leon Trotsky (the hottest Russian Revolutionary). The main character is allowed to keep a historical log of the events that occur during the visit of Trotsky, however, he is “to harbor no opinions, confessions, or fictions.” Throughout the log, he often states things that are somewhat opinionated, and then make a statement that this is a mere observation, and therefore a fact. Much like the main character in the book, I will try to make this blog about facts… and try not to opinionated or fictionalize my recordings. However, if an opinion does present itself, I would like you to know that…this is not an official State Department website. The views and information presented are of my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program, the Boren Program, or the State Department.   

Stuff, oh the stuff!

I often pride myself on the efficiency of my travel.  I have developed a very specific routine to go through airport security, which includes, among other things, proper dress to minimize the removal of metal, and selection of bags for ease of removing computers, etc.  There are other things I do, to make sure I travel efficiently.  Today, I was the least efficient traveler ever.  I was ashamed at my skills... and probably had the bulls eye of a novice traveler.  What caused this change?  Stuff, way too much stuff.  I have over 200lbs of stuff that I am bringing with me.  This amazes me since I only brought one large backpack when I moved to Costa Rica for one year, and only 100 lbs of stuff when  I moved to Paraguay for 27 months.  I often look at people like me today, and wonder, where are they going?, and why could they possibly need that much stuff?.  Well, I still do not know how I ended up with 200lbs of stuff.  This is why I was extremely shocked when the lady told me that I had one bag that was 69 lbs, and one bag that was 63, and another that was 43....that will be $800 please.    Wait a minute, I can lift these bags, that means they are under 50lbs, your scales must be wrong.... or maybe I have just gotten a lot stronger.  I have to give a giant shout out to Amy and Stephanie for helping me dig through and move all my stuff at the San Fran Airport, so I could lower my extra baggage costs (also shout out to Owen for helping me back all this stuff till 2:00, and dealing with the little nervous breakdowns of dealing with all my stuff).
So you might think, how do you get over 200lbs of luggage?  Well I am blaming the Pelican Cases.  Pelican Cases are a necessary evil of field work, they keep all your important gear from the dangers of humidity, rivers, the occasional elephant stampede, and/ or truck that runs over your stuff.  They are large and heavy and bulky, but boy do they work.  I know right now I am cursing bring 3 pelican cases, but I know that I will be happy to have them when my stuff goes swimming in the river.  The other things that are on a 'field biologists' packing list include: boots (I destroy boots, so I brought 3 pair), tents, botanical plot measuring devices (including the worlds largest tape measure), rain gauges, thermometers, Rite in the Rain notebooks, flagging tape, life jacket, motorcycle helmet, field clothes, office clothes, snacks, and books lots and lots of books.  I guess all that stuff adds up quickly.  So the next time you see someone struggling with too much stuff at the airport, rather than a poor packer or an inexperienced traveler, maybe they are going on some crazy adventure that needs a lot of gear.  Lets just hope that everything makes it safely to Jakarta. 

Welcome to the land of Bekantan

Welcome to all,
This is the spot where I will track my adventures of studying proboscis monkeys in Borneo. 
First off, you might ask, what is up with this work bekantan?  Thanks for asking, for those of you that do not know, bekantan is the Indonesian word for proboscis monkey (that is Nasalis larvatus, for the science nerds).  I will be studying the proboscis monkeys for the next chunk of my life.  I will be studying how they respond to changes in their environment, both natural and manmade.. but more on that later. 
Warning to all blog followers: For those of you that know me well, I write in Katie-ese.  I will often use the wrong words or forget to use common grammer.  Please forgive me, as many times as I will read this over, I am sure I will make mistakes... I have a hard time translating Katie-ese back to English.  I can only imagine this getting worse as I start speaking in only Bahasa Indonesia and monkey (honk honk).