I have already been in in Indonesia for about three weeks and just now finally sitting down to reflect on coming back to our house in Medan after over a year. My family isn’t with me for this trip so the feelings of returning home were significantly dampened. Nevertheless pulling up to our house opening the gate and seeing the familiar surroundings did bring memories and thoughts of the roots we had established during the year and a half we lived here.
However, memories, my favorite coffee mug, and the loud echoes of tile floors were not the only thing to greet me as I walked in the door. The first day also presented challenge and opportunity to exercise and test my language abilities. The electricity was dead in half the house, the electric meter was not taking payment (a cool thing you can do in Indonesia is pay for power through your electric meter), and the washing machine was not working. Three issues that needed to be resolved with… phone calls. Ugh. If you have ever tried to learn a second language you may already know that phone calls are the absolute worst. Often the sound quality is not great, you get no visual cues, and the person you’re talking to cannot see the panic in your eyes as you realize you haven’t understood a thing. But I really wanted air conditioning in the bedroom, the meter was almost out of power, and I had clothes from four days of travel that needed washing.
I called the land lord who came over with an electrician—a friend with a screwdriver and plyers—and we worked out the house electrical problems. I called the power company and successfully explained the problems with the meter. Either that or I successfully confused them so they just told me that they will come over and find out for themselves what the issue was. They arrived surprisingly fast and we chatted about life as they fixed the meter. Then I called the manufacturer of the washing machine and scheduled maintenance for besok which in Indonesian is the future of “the other day.” So even though the dictionary says it means tomorrow it more precisely means something more like “sometime in the next couple of days” In any event solving these three issues within hours of arriving at the house was a big boost to my language confidence.
The day ended with a video call to Kali and the girls back in America. Laurel and Eleanor were excited to see their room, even if through a smart phone. Caroline excitedly said “Ayah” (Indonesian for Father) over and over and over and kept wanting to hug the phone. It is great and important to be here in Indonesia, but I do desperately miss my family back in the US.
I fell asleep to the familiar rumble of the 30 year old AC unit in our bedroom and the neighbor hood watch letting us all know that they’re making their rounds by loudly banging a metal hammer on the light posts outside.
The repairman for the washing machine arrived four days later.