Category: culture
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A visit with Ibu
The other day, I had the great pleasure of visiting an 85-year old Indonesian deaconess, Ibu Gultom (“Ibu” translates to “mother” in English, and in Indonesia is used as a term of respect. Perhaps it’s equivalent in English would be “m’am”). She helped start the HKBP deaconess school and also spent nearly 6 years living […]
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Arrival and Orientation
I have been in Indonesia now for 5 days. Much has happened in such a short time. After a long journey from Medan—through towns, forests, and a pot-hole covered road—I arrived in Balige. I was tired from the day’s journey, and the previous day’s journey from the US to Indonesia. As I stepped out of […]
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The Single Story and Mission
In my previous post, I wrote about the danger of the single story through the words of Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian author. Adichie says, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” I will […]
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The Danger of a Single Story
My season of waiting continues. Even though I am still in the US waiting for a visa to Indonesia, I can share important stories. Today I will share a video I first encountered a few years ago, which is from a TED conference in 2009 (click to learn more about TED). In the video below, […]
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Sumatra Blue Batak
I originally drafted this post at the end of December, but have not been able to finish and post it until now. I was out for a walk and decided to stop at the Peet’s Coffee. In the shop I ordered some tea, but a sign caught my attention. The sign, drawn in chalk said […]
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Preparing a Lesson
I am currently in a seminar about teaching English to speakers of other languages. The third and final intense weekend is fast approaching, and tomorrow I, along with the 17 others in the course, will teach a 20 minute lesson of our choosing. My lesson is “going to the market”, teaching about quantifiers and count/noncount […]
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The Adventure of Learning Languages
Halo! Apa kabar? I have a confession to make. No, I haven’t committed a major sin or anything like that. This is actually the good sort of confession. In preparation for living in Indonesia, I am currently teaching myself Bahasa Indonesia. There are over 300 distinct languages spoken across the country, an archipelago of more […]
Megs the Wanderer 