sv evi

Indonesian people have been extremely kind and helpful. Often, when I ask where I can find something, instead of telling me how to get there, the person will stop what they are doing and take me where I want to go on the back of their scooter and refuse any payment.

One example of this was when I was looking for a black cloak and white button-down shirt for Jade’s Hermione costume. One of the vendors in the fruit and veggie market, Amir, hopped on his bike and commenced to take me all around town on the hunt for a costume. When the tailor agreed to make the cloak, he told me that I needed to bring Jade in. So Amir drove back out to Meridian Dive Resort and Marina, about 10 minutes outside of town, to pick up Jade with me.

Since then, I have made many trips to the town of Waisai for provisions. I buy all that I can from Amir’s shop, then do the rest of my shopping, and I leave my bags in his shop so I don’t have to carry them. He then takes me back out to Meridian. Sometimes, I have too much to carry on one scooter ride, so he drops me off with the first load, then goes back alone to get the rest of my bags.

Another example was when I lost my sunglasses outside of Cafe Dava, in Waisai. I went back in immediately to ask if they had seen them. No dice. I was bummed, but resigned to use my back-up pair. I came back to Cafe Dava two weeks later, after our visit with Steph and Nic, and the employee handed me my sunglasses when I ordered a mango sundae. He said they found them on the ground outside. Wow! So kind.

When I want to go into town, I start walking on the side of the road, and I put my hand out to hail any scooter that passes by. The first one almost always stops, and gives me a ride to town. When I ask, “mau uang? (do you want money?)” They say, “Tidak, (No”).

A few days ago I was out in town towards evening time. Many vendors were out selling street food. I tried tofu and a boiled egg in peanut sauce — yum!. (trick — don’t poke holes in the bag with your little stick or your sauce will leak out!). A man shouted out, “pisgor, pisgor” short for pisang goreng, or fried banana. He wasn’t the vendor, just a customer. Then he gave me one from his bag when he saw me debating whether to buy one.