Going Solo

Right now, in all hemispheres, it is my birthday. I have had some notable birthdays over the past few years, including brunch in Berlin, leaping off waterfalls, swimming in sinkholes, and always enjoying the wonderful company of my family and/or friends. This year I was ready for a new adventure – an Indonesian adventure.

So I went on an exploratory adventure to the city of Solo in Central Java. Solo has much to offer in the way of art and culture, but my goals for this first, celebratory birthday foray into the great Javanese unknown were simple and few: figure out how to get there, scope out hotels for future visits, drink coffee at Starbucks, eat Italian food, and return to the desa with a yoga mat. Two fellow brave and patient Peace Corps souls joined me in my endeavors, and thanks to the help of some well-placed, extremely helpful Indonesians who pushed us onto busses and pointed us (eventually) in the right direction, we returned home satisfied and victorious. And with our success we bridged yet another gap between our new Indonesian lives and the coffee dates, fitness habits, and dietary choices of our past.

The following is an inventory of our success…

1. Traveling “Naik Bis” (By Bus)

A popular, convenient, cheap, and sometimes hair-raising mode of transportation, buses are seen throughout Indonesia speeding over mountain tops, swerving around motorbikes, and barreling through rice paddies. We stood for an hour in the aisle, got to know our fellow passengers, and even heard a cat. Can’t get much more Indonesian than that.

Tickets in hand and on the bus!

2. Finding a Hotel

After being pointed in many directions by many friendly and helpful Indonesians, we finally found our hotel for that night and probably for all future visits. Rumah Turi, a self-proclaimed eco-hotel, felt like a home-away-from-home with its air conditioning, comfortable and clean beds, hot showers, western toilets, TV’s with American channels, friendly staff, and inviting sitting areas. With their eclectic array of potted plants and environmentally-minded hotel design it was love at first sight. Not to mention a huge vote in their favor: getting to watch the first 20-minutes of the U.S.A. v. Germany soccer game before passing out between my crisp, clean sheets (because let’s be real, at the age of 24 I have become a true old lady here in Indonesia who never misses her bedtime at 8:30pm).

3. Drinking Coffee, Eating Pasta, and Being Merry

When we first entered Solo’s Grand Mall and later the Solo Paragon Mall – home of one of Indonesia’s few Starbucks!!! –  we felt as if we were immerging from the desert expanse and entering a refreshing oasis of coffee, pizza, yoga mats, and almost American groceries. We laughed, we smiled, we were giddy and probably looked a little crazed to our fellow shoppers. We drank coffee, bought much more than we can afford on our Peace Corps budget, and felt a growing sense of contentment.

An oasis.

Celebrate? Why yes, I think we will.

A taste of home…

Riding our wave of elation, we found our way to O Solo Mio, a favorite of ex-pats in Indonesia. We ate pasta smothered in cheese, finished off with apple pie and molten chocolate lava cakes, and stared at other westerners while whispering and giggling to one another about how funny they looked. Bellies full, palates happy, and sleep encroaching, we wondered what was happening to our lives.

Dinner at O Solo Mio

So much pasta, so much cheese.

Some call it love…

4. Bringing Home the Spoils

As I have justified this entire endeavor as my birthday gift to myself, I thought it only fitting that I return home with some presents. One yoga mat, two 3kg weights, one bottle of olive oil, one jar of honey, an assortment of spices, and one bottle of nail-polish remover later, I have returned to my desa.

***

Looking back over our exploits, I recognize that this adventure was both Indonesian and not. In many ways it was an attempt to reconnect with our former selves – the people we were and the lives we lived pre-Indonesia. And I think that is good sometimes, because that will always be a part of who we are, even as we continue to be changed by our experiences here. Addictions die hard, and my addiction to Starbucks is far from dead. I will always adore cheese, and I will always have a soft spot for hot showers and western-style toilets. What we’re about here isn’t giving up our old selves, but bridging the gap between our lives in the U.S. and our new lives in Indonesia. And that is just the reminder I needed as I enter upon my 25^th year of life and the next two years of it that I will spend in Indonesia.