In July we moved from Ambon to Ubud, Bali, where I started studying the language again. I finished up my work with Mercy Corps and my capstone project to complete my Masters, so now I am officially a Master!! I created a website to display my work, so if anyone is interested you can check it out at – tappmeyer.weebly.com/

It was great working with Mercy Corps – Ambon, I was very lucky to have a great group of co-workers!

Last day of work with Mercy Corps Ambon

After Ambon, we took a quick trip to Vietnam to renew our visas before settling into Ubud. We were able to travel from the Ho Chi Minh City in the south up to Hanoi in the north by bus and train. We both really enjoyed exploring Vietnam and learning about the history of the country. We explored the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. We took an all day cooking class where we learned to shop for and cook 10 tasty Vietnamese dishes. We took a cruise through Halong Bay and rode a motorbike through the amazing rice fields of Sapa in the far north.

Little cutie we met on our drive through Sapa

A woman from a hill tribe in Sapa

Cooking up some delicious Vietnamese cuisine.

Emma…a lovely shop owner we befriended in Hoi An, Vietnam.

After Vietnam we came back to Ubud and I started language classes. Ubud is a very interesting place full of people seeking spiritual enlightenment, yogis, a plethora of organic restaurants, and cheap spa treatments on every corner. After living on a small island with little to no tourism it has been nice to have so many options for entertainment, food, and pampering. We are definitely thankful for our time living in Ambon and Yogyakarta and getting to know the culture and people of Indonesia as living in Ubud lends itself to meeting far more foreigners than Indonesians. However, we do live in the guesthouse of an amazing Indonesian family.  The owners always have a smile on their face and their adult son and wife live with them with their two young boys.  Yasser has of course befriended the son because he is a fisherman, so they both sit around making fishing lures together at night. It is definitely understandable why Ubud is a popular destination for many longterm travelers.   We will miss the interesting yoga classes, wide variety of fresh and tasty food, and of course the $7 massages and facials!

Sunset over the rice fields of Ubu

I am now finishing up the last requirements of my Boren Fellowship assignment and we are headed back to Missouri in October and hoping to visit Nicaragua in the near future as well.

Jumping for Joy..we’ve had an amazing year so far!

It has been awhile since my last post. This has been because of poor internet connectivity due to daily blackouts and torrential downpours and also because I’ve been focused on finishing my projects with Mercy Corps and for my Masters of Public Administration capstone project. However, I’m now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I’ve almost completed my capstone project and today is my last day at Mercy Corps Maluku. Tomorrow we will be flying to Bali and will be staying in Ubud taking additional language classes for the next few months. We will need to renew our visa once more so are planning a trip to Vietnam in early July for a little exploration.

I’ve been able to work on many interesting projects with Mercy Corps and last week was able to participate in the business capacity training that I designed for rural nutmeg

All the participants of the business training

farmers. It was a three-day event and farmers from five different villages around the island came to the city to share ideas and obtain relevant business skills. They participated in activities to create a mission and vision statement for their collectives, learn proper accounting techniques, think of stakeholder engagement strategies and collaborate with each other to create a strategic plan for the future of their communities. It was a great experience and the farmers were a lot of fun. I was originally worried because I had planned a lot of interactive and participatory activities and was unsure about how engaged the older gentleman (and 1 woman) would be in these types of sessions, but they were exceptional. I was very impressed with their dedication to creating a better future for their agricultural initiatives and their community. There were many lively conversations and they fully embraced the use of flipcharts and markers!

A group of farmers at the business capacity training

Card and Chart!

Other than work, Yasser and I have been taking advantage of visiting the beaches on the weekends. We have made great friends on my favorite beach about 1 hour away. The first time we arrived at the bus terminal near this beach we asked an Ojek (moto-taxi) to drop

Me With our new friends David and Jana

us off at the beach and instead they dropped us off at a private house on the beach, not the public access beach area. It turns out the residents of the house are a couple from the Czech Republic that are taking a year off work and living on a beautiful beach in Ambon. They ojek driver assumed since we were foreigners and they were foreigners we must be friends so dropped us of there. We ended up becoming good friends with them and have spent many a weekend BBQing fish and enjoying the local drink sopi while taking dips in the ocean at their home.

Jana and David

We also renewed our visa in March by taking a lovely trip to Malaysia. We visited the jungles of Borneo spent 3 days exploring the wildlife in a remote river town. Yasser of course proved to be an adept wildlife spotter and we were able to see orangutans, proboscis monkeys, baby crocodiles, pythons, and a variety of birds and had a great time spending the rainy nights meeting our fellow travelers and partaking in some karaoke sessions. We were also fortunate to have a friend whose father lives in Kuala Lumpur and was a wonderful host for our few days in the city before flying back to the island. Thanks Stefan and Bruce! We were treated to some wonderful Mexican, Belgium, and pork dinners before returning to our fish and rice diet on the island.

Orangutan at a rehabilitation center

On a boat safari

So know we are off for another adventure and hope to get settled and find our place in Ubud, Bali. Below are a few more photos of our time in Ambon, Maluku or as they call it Ambon Manise (Sweet Ambon).

The most popular mode of transportation called Angkut…around 20 cents for a ride

Yasser fishing with local boys.

So I mentioned I’m living in the spice islands in previous posts, and I’ve now been fully immersed in the world ‘o nutmeg.   Ambon region’s main spices are nutmeg, mace, and cloves so yesterday I went on a work field trip to the main company on the island the buys, processes, and exports spices.  I was of course excited to learn about the spice that was so integral into the early development of the region, and my coworkers are so nice they invited Yasser to come along with us.

Nutmeg storage containers

The main importer of nutmeg is Denmark and the company is now also setting up some partnerships with Australia and a coffee shop in the USA.  I realized I knew very little about nutmeg, basically pumpkin pie and that’s it, so I had a lot to learn.  The farmers bring their harvests to this facility and then depending on the quality level they are paid between $8.00-$9.50 per kilogram.  The mace is the red lacy substance that covers a nutmeg nut.  It is more valuable and more delicate and is exported as a spice but is also used in perfumes.  The shells are also exported, although no one knew what people use them for, I thought maybe to create an exfoliating scrub but the workers didn’t seem convinced.  Maybe because I tried to explain exfoliation by rubbing whole shells over my skin and saying ‘now pretty’…might have been lost in translation.  My other thought was to use the shells while grilling or smoking food to impart a different flavor into meats.  But it’s a mystery.

Nutmeg closeup.

Dried Mace.

The mace (pronounced ma-che, not like the mace you spray into attackers eyes) is separated sifted to separate small pieces and larger, more valuable, pieces.  The Mace is then examined by a team of local women to separate out foreign objects, dirty unusable mace, and clean sellable mace.   The factory employees 77 community members, mostly women.  These women work Monday-Thursday 7:30am-4:00pm, Friday 8-11:00 and Saturday 8:00-noon with an hour lunch break and a 15 minute snack break.  The oldest woman working there is 70 years old and they were a lot of fun to talk to.  Especially for Yasser, as the ladies told him he was quite a handsome man so he spent the rest of the time walking around like the Brad Pitt of the nutmeg plant.  To be clear, he was wearing a face mask and hairnet so they didn’t even get to see his full handsomeness….ha.

Yasser’s fan club. Women sorting the mace.

Yep…this is one handsome dude!

The nutmeg seeds and mace are packed and labeled for export from here.  Who knew there were so many things to do with nutmeg – here there is nutmeg juice, nutmeg soup, nutmeg jam, nutmeg soap, nutmeg everything!

We then visited a nutmeg farm and the local farmer showed my his plants as we walked

Farmer explaining how to open the nutmeg plant properly.

through his plantation tasting fruit from the trees.  It takes about 9 months for a harvest and during the harvest season farmers sleep in little shacks in the middle of their trees to protect them from theft.  It is evident that it takes a lot of work to pick and shell all this nutmeg as only handpicking and traditional methods are used, there are not machines to do any of this work, very impressive.

The opened nutmeg plant. Beautiful.

Nutmeg!! The red part is the mace.

I found an article with these health benefits of nutmeg so let’s all start a nutmeg craze…although I’ve also found out too much nutmeg can cause hallucinations so maybe a nutmeg in moderation craze.

1. Brain Tonic

During ancient times, Roman and Greek civilizations used nutmeg as a type of brain tonic. This is because nutmeg can effectively stimulate your brain. As a result, it can help eliminate fatigue and stress. If you are suffering from anxiety or depression, nutmeg may also be a good remedy. Nutmeg can also improve your concentration so you can become more efficient and focused at work or at school.

2. Pain Relief

Nutmeg is also an effective sedative. In fact, nutmeg is a staple in ancient Chinese medicine. The Chinese used the spice to treat inflammation and abdominal pain. Use nutmeg if you are suffering from aching joints, muscle pain, arthritis, sores and other ailments. To relieve the pain, apply nutmeg oil to the affected areas.

3. Indigestion Relief

If you suffer from digestion-related problems like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, flatulence and so on, nutmeg can effectively offer you relief. Nutmeg oil relieves stomachaches by removing the excess gas from your intestines. Nutmeg can also boost your appetite.

4. Bad Breath Treatment

Because of its antibacterial properties, nutmeg can also effectively treat halitosis or bad breath. As you probably know, bad breath is usually caused by a build-up of bacteria in your mouth. Nutmeg can rid your mouth of these bacteria. This is the reason why nutmeg is a common ingredient in many brands of toothpastes. Nutmeg can also be used to treat gum problems and toothaches.

5. Liver and Kidney Detox

Detoxification is an important factor of good health. Diet, pollution, stress, tobacco, medication and other external substances can lead to the build-up of toxins in your organs. The liver and kidney are two of the organs where this toxic build-up usually develops. As a tonic, nutmeg can clean your liver and kidney and remove these toxins. If you are suffering from a liver disease then nutmeg can also be beneficial. Nutmeg is also effective in preventing and dissolving kidney stones. When your liver and kidney are successfully detoxified, they can perform their function better.

6. Skin Care

If skin care is one of your priorities then you might want to incorporate nutmeg into your regimen. Nutmeg can actually help you achieve smoother and healthier skin by helping you treat several skin problems. A scrub made from nutmeg powder and orange lentil powder can help you remove blackheads, a type of acne characterized by pores clogged with excess oil and dead skin cells. If you suffer from acne marks, nutmeg can also help make your scars less noticeable. What you need to do is mix some nutmeg powder with some honey to make a paste, which you will then apply to the acne marks.

7. Sleep Aid

If you have difficulty sleeping at night, drink a cup of milk with some nutmeg powder. This will help you achieve relaxation and will induce sleep.

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/7-health-benefits-nutmeg-provides.html#b

Happiness at the nutmeg farm!!

I am now in my second week of work with Mercy Corps and we are feeling more settled and finding our way around.  I thought I’d share a bit about our new city, Ambon, and about the work I will be doing with Mercy Corps.

AMBON

Ambon is a small island in the Molucca straight.  It is the most remote place I have ever lived, you can drive across the island in an hour and there is not much to do other than enjoy the beautiful beaches and explore the jungle covered hills inland…..and eat a lot of fish!  We were able to explore a nearby beach last weekend and had a lovely day of snorkeling and lounging in the hammock.  We were the only foreigners, as usual, so I attracted lots of attention from curious kids and some local teachers that wanted to practice their English.

Me reading a book in my hammock near the beach….kids that climbed the tree to perch like spider-monkeys and watch the bule (bule = gringa or white person. It’s actual meaning in albino but it used primarily to describe light skinned foreigners these days.) Later a few other kids arrived and all climbed the tree and performed an Indonesian rap for me…a lovely serenade!

View from our weekend beach excursion.

A History of Conflict

The entire Maluku region was trapped in a horrific conflict between Christian and Muslim communities from 1999-2002.  This conflict was said to have killed 5000 people and displaced around half a million.  (I will be working on projects assisting the communities that were displaced from these conflicts).  The fighting began in Ambon after a minor dispute between a Christian and Muslim individual, and it quickly spread like wildfire throughout the province.  Now the area is peaceful but the scars from the conflict remain and Mercy Corps is one of the few NGOs that are in the area to provide direct support.

A History of Abundance

It has been very interesting learning about the history of this little remote area of the world.  Most people have never heard of it and will most likely never visit it, but once upon a time it was the most sought after area of the world.  Yes, this little dot in the middle of a vast ocean was known as the ‘Spice Islands’ and was the destination explorers searched for and countries made lucrative deals to obtain this land.  One such deal, was that the Dutch traded Manhattan to the British for one of the little islands in this area to gain control over the lucrative nutmeg production (nutmeg was apparently more lucrative than gold in this time).  At that time Manhattan wasn’t nearly as ‘happening’ as my new home….although things have changed and nutmeg while still plentiful is not in such high demand anymore and these little islands have once again been forgotten by the masses.  This is a project I will be working on, how to find new value and opportunity for the spice farmers of this region.

MERCY CORPS

Well Mercy Corps was the obvious next stop for me – after completing both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps I needed to find a new Corps to immerse myself into and I wasn’t quite ready for the Marine Corps!  So here I am in rural Indonesia working for Mercy Corps.  Mercy Corps is a large development organization based in Portland, Oregon with offices in more than 80 countries worldwide.  Mercy Corps-Ambon is a small office of about 10 staff working on various development projects.  The main office is in Jakarta with other regional offices in the island of Sumatra.  I will particularly be working on economic development initiatives and will be producing many program design and management tools to complete my graduate work at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

One project I will be working on is ‘Spice Up the Deal’, which attempts to revitalize the local agriculture sector, mainly spice farmers.  I am going to be developing an exit strategy to assist with the project culmination in November 2013.  In August Ambon will be hosting an International Spice Conference that will invite all spice related entities (importers, exporters, spice lovers etc.) to the city to discuss all things spice related and create an open dialogue about the industry with a special focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility.  I will be creating a business focused training series to assist local farmers to plan and manage their ventures more effectively.

Also, I will be working with a project focused on IDPs (internally displaced people) as a result of the recent conflict.  I am working with the women of these communities to plan a participatory needs assessment and identify current programmatic gaps and possibilities for Mercy Corps continued work with these groups.

There is also a project that is finishing that has targeted the cocoa sector in a nearby island.  The project had seen success but there have been multiple challenges as Mercy Corps tries to remove itself from the project and turn it over to the community members to continue.  I will therefore be creating a stakeholders engagement strategy to harness the leadership and interest of those already working in the project to carry on with less outside support and to reach out to community stakeholders for additional assistance if needed.   I will also be developing a scale up and sustainability plan for this project to assist the project become internally maintained and create a plan for similar projects to be undertaken in other communities.  I personally would like them to stop exporting the cocoa and start producing amazing chocolate here on the island…but that’s just a selfish recommendation as there isn’t much chocolate on the island and I Love Chocolate…especially since I need it to fuel me through my final capstone project for graduate school!!

Lastly, I will be working with the office staff to share the development tools I have learned in my studies, such as results framework, intervention plans, solution trees.  And I will also conduct a strategic partnership plan to assist the office assess its core competencies and identify areas in which partnership would be beneficial.

Now that I write all of this down I realize the massive amount of work I have ahead of me, but it is sure to be interesting and my professional growth will be outstanding!

….I better get to work….later!

The view from my hammock.

Public Transportation.

I am now in my second week of work with Mercy Corps and we are feeling more settled and finding our way around. I thought I’d share a bit about our new city, Ambon, and about the work I will be doing with Mercy Corps.

AMBON

Ambon is a small island in the Molucca straight. It is the most remote place I have ever lived, you can drive across the island in an hour and there is not much to do other than enjoy the beautiful beaches and explore the jungle covered hills inland…..and eat a lot of fish! We were able to explore a nearby beach last weekend and had a lovely day of snorkeling and lounging in the hammock. We were the only foreigners, as usual, so I attracted lots of attention from curious kids and some local teachers that wanted to practice their English.

A History of Conflict
The entire Maluku region was trapped in a horrific conflict between Christian and Muslim communities from 1999-2002. This conflict was said to have killed 5000 people and displaced around half a million. (I will be working on projects assisting the communities that were displaced from these conflicts). The fighting began in Ambon after a minor dispute between a Christian and Muslim individual, and it quickly spread like wildfire throughout the province. Now the area is peaceful but the scars from the conflict remain and Mercy Corps is one of the few NGOs that are in the area to provide direct support.

A History of Abundance
It has been very interesting learning about the history of this little remote area of the world. Most people have never heard of it and will most likely never visit it, but once upon a time it was the most sought after area of the world. Yes, this little dot in the middle of a vast ocean was known as the ‘Spice Islands’ and was the destination explorers searched for and countries made lucrative deals to obtain this land. One such deal, was that the Dutch traded Manhattan to the British for one of the little islands in this area to gain control over the lucrative nutmeg production (nutmeg was apparently more lucrative than gold in this time). At that time Manhattan wasn’t nearly as ‘happening’ as my new home….although things have changed and nutmeg while still plentiful is not in such high demand anymore and these little islands have once again been forgotten by the masses. This is a project I will be working on, how to find new value and opportunity for the spice farmers of this region.

MERCY CORPS

Well Mercy Corps was the obvious next stop for me – after completing both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps I needed to find a new Corps to immerse myself into and I wasn’t quite ready for the Marine Corps! So here I am in rural Indonesia working for Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps is a large development organization based in Portland, Oregon with offices in more than 80 countries worldwide. Mercy Corps-Ambon is a small office of about 10 staff working on various development projects. The main office is in Jakarta with other regional offices in the island of Sumatra. I will particularly be working on economic development initiatives and will be producing many program design and management tools to complete my graduate work at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

One project I will be working on is ‘Spice Up the Deal’, which attempts to revitalize the local agriculture sector, mainly spice farmers. I am going to be developing an exit strategy to assist with the project culmination in November 2013. In August Ambon will be hosting an International Spice Conference that will invite all spice related entities (importers, exporters, spice lovers etc.) to the city to discuss all things spice related and create an open dialogue about the industry with a special focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility. I will be creating a business focused training series to assist local farmers to plan and manage their ventures more effectively.

Also, I will be working with a project focused on IDPs (internally displaced people) as a result of the recent conflict. I am working with the women of these communities to plan a participatory needs assessment and identify current programmatic gaps and possibilities for Mercy Corps continued work with these groups.

There is also a project that is finishing that has targeted the cocoa sector in a nearby island. The project had seen success but there have been multiple challenges as Mercy Corps tries to remove itself from the project and turn it over to the community members to continue. I will therefore be creating a stakeholders engagement strategy to harness the leadership and interest of those already working in the project to carry on with less outside support and to reach out to community stakeholders for additional assistance if needed. I will also be developing a scale up and sustainability plan for this project to assist the project become internally maintained and create a plan for similar projects to be undertaken in other communities. I personally would like them to stop exporting the cocoa and start producing amazing chocolate here on the island…but that’s just a selfish recommendation as there isn’t much chocolate on the island and I Love Chocolate…especially since I need it to fuel me through my final capstone project for graduate school!!

Lastly, I will be working with the office staff to share the development tools I have learned in my studies, such as results framework, intervention plans, solution trees. And I will also conduct a strategic partnership plan to assist the office assess its core competencies and identify areas in which partnership would be beneficial.

Now that I write all of this down I realize the massive amount of work I have ahead of me, but it is sure to be interesting and my professional growth will be outstanding!

….I better get to work….later!

It’s been a bit since my last post. We have finished up language training in Yogyakarta, took a quick trip to Perth, Australia to renew our visas and visit my dear friend Sharne that I haven’t seen in over 10 years, and moved to our new location in Indonesia – Ambon!

We decided to focus just on grammar during our last couple weeks of language study at Wisma Bahasa, so we rushed through the two intermediate books without learning the sentence structures or vocabulary and were exhausted by the intricate prefixes and suffixes that change the meaning of any given word. This was all more formal forms of speech and different ways to articulate any given meaning, but from my understanding the day to day communications will be much more informal. We will have to go back and learn the parts we skipped on our own, but are happy to have made it to the intermediate level with the books. For our last day one of our professors prepared us a dog dish, since we spoke about eating dog so much.

Anging Rica Rica – The meal made of dog meat…yum!

I’ll try anything, so I had a few bites and Yasser actually liked it, but I couldn’t fully get past thinking of a cute little domesticated pet and couldn’t enjoy it to the fullest. Wisma Bahasa was an amazing language institute and I fully recommend it to anyone thinking of studying Bahasa Indonesia (they also offer e-classes). The variety of instructors meant that you never got bored and were always practicing different manners of speaking. The curriculum is top rate and the helpfulness of all the staff members is stellar.

Our amazing teachers at Wisma Bahasa on our last day of classes!

From Yogyakarta we headed to Perth for a visit to Sharne. I met Sharne during my study abroad program in undergrad. She was quickly my closest friend in Australia and it was so amazing seeing her again after more than 10 years, and to meet her amazing husband and daughter. It was great to hang out and even were visited by Troy, another great friend from my time in university there.  The luxuries of a developed country were nice, we ate a lot of great food, including Kangaroo and of course fish and chips!  Perth was still a great city and we took a roadtrip up North along the coast to Kalbarri and Coral Bay. The Indian Ocean is spectacular and these little gems are still the same as they were 10 years ago. Other than getting massively burned by the brutal sun, we had a great time relaxing by the water and Yasser caught us a few fish for dinner!

Yasser catching dinner at Exmouth!

Sunset at Coral Bay.

Me and Sharne playing in the Ocean.

Our trip from Australia back to Indonesia was a long one. We flew on Monday from Perth to Bali and arrived around midnight so had to spend the night in the airport to wait for our 6am flight to Yogyakarta (where we had left our bags). We arrived in Yogyakarta at 6am and didn’t leave on our next flight until 8pm so had the entire day to hang around in the city. At 8pm we left in a torrential downpour for Jakarta where we landed at 9pm and left on our last leg of our journey at 1:30am. We finally arrived in Ambon Wednesday morning at 7am. A driver from Mercy Corps was there to pick us up. We stopped by the office to meet my new boss Eldo and he took us to our homestay at Ms. Junes. We have been mostly sleeping since we got here and both have colds (I’m sure from the lengthy trip), but are happy to be in our new home. Everyone we have met so far have been extremely friendly. Our host family is very sweet and speak quite good English. Ms. June owns a coffee shop in town that was rated highly by Lonely Planet and is a recipient of a small business loan from Mercy Corps, so I am excited to learn more about that process and how she successfully built her business. We went for a walk around town yesterday and since there are rarely any ‘white’ people that come here (it is quite far off the tourist path) I was treated like quite a celebrity – school children followed me around yelling there few English words they knew and often calling me Mister.

Ambon is in the Maluku region of Indonesia, also known as the Spice Islands.

Everyone waved at us as we passed and the people we tried to speak Indonesian with were patient with us and very pleased that we were trying to communicate with them in their language. The town is on a small island and lies right by the sea. There is lush forest area right up to the beach area. The city beaches are quite littered, but we can tell the water is gorgeous and are looking forward to finding some beautiful beaches outside of the city to visit on weekends. I start work on Monday so will report more on the organization and my specific projects then and more on the town of Ambon as we venture out more. For now we’re getting settled in our new home resting up for our next adventure!

Jogjakarta is known as the cultural heart of the Java Island in Indonesia.  So Yasser and I were excited to delve in and discover the local arts and not only eat the yummy food but learn how to cook it as well….so we can keep eating it when we return home.

BATIK

As part of our language study, Yasser and I were able to learn the art of Batik.  Batik is cloth made through a process of applying wax and then dying (where the part of the cloth with no wax takes on the color and the waxed portion is protected from the dye) multiple times to produce patterns or an image.  Batik shirts and dresses are popular and are worn in day-to-day life by many Indonesians.  Historically, the style of batik signified social status and lineage.  When we visited the Sultan’s palace, we were able to see the various patterns reserved for royalty and different cloths for various activities such as weddings.

We were excited to try our hand at this art (well I may have been more excited than Yasser, but he went along with it anyways).  Below are our masterpieces…along with an actual masterpiece we saw at a Batik school downtown.

First we drew our design with pencil and then traced over it with wax. Yasser’s is on the left and mine on the right.

Our tools. Wax and a wax dispenser.

After dying the original drawings we then boiled the cloth to remove the wax, reapplied wax where we didn’t want dye to enter and dyed again (and repeated until we had our finished product)

Finished Products!

An actual, beautiful batik we saw at a batik school in downtown Jogja.

COOKING

We also have been able to take part in a cooking course.  Yasser was much more excited about this activity since the end result was a delicious dinner.  We learned to make Pepes Ikan (steamed fish in banana leaf), Wedang Jahe (ginger, lime and palm sugar tea), and Kue Carang Gesing (banana and sweet coconut milk steamed in banana leaf). This was a lot of fun and all the food was amazing, we are looking forward to recreating these items when we return home for our friends and family!

Preparing the coconut milk (this is the real deal, not the canned stuff!)

Yasser grinding the spices into a rub for the fish.

Bananas and coconut in banana leaf packages and ginger tea…yum!

Steamed fish with spice rub (spices include; lemon grass, ginger, red onion, lime leaves, garlic, and many others I’m still trying to figure out in English) We also learned to make the tomato rose as a garnish. Yasser made an amazingly intricate rose, while I pretty much mutilated my tomato…so we have now designated Yasser as the tomato rose maker of our marriage!

There are many other amazing foods here that we’re hoping to learn how to cook before leaving.  And some interesting uses of classic ingredients, for instance, one of the most popular drinks here is an avocado and chocolate shake.  They don’t eat avocados in the form of guacamole, on a salad, or just plain with a little salt, they much prefer it sweet drizzled in chocolate.

We had also noticed that there were hardly any street dogs here, which was extremely common in Nicaragua.  During a conversation with an instructor we found out that dog meat was a ‘somewhat’ typical ingredient used by many people.  I don’t think I’ve eaten dog yet, but you really never know what you’re getting served sometime.  Somehow this ‘dog eating’ conversation was in the same class session where I asked if there was an Indonesian saying that was similar to the English phrase ‘piece of cake’.  In Spanish the saying is ‘pan comido’ (eaten bread) so we figured there would be something similar in Indonesian.  Turns out there’s not but Yasser and my professor have coined the term ‘makan anging’ (eat dog) and now this is what we say when something is very easy….although I’m not sure eating dog is quite as easy as eating cake (or bread), at least for me, but it’ll do I guess!

This is my first blog post documenting my eight months as a Boren Fellow in Indonesia.  As a Boren Fellow I will be studying the language Bahasa Indonesia as well as working with Mercy Corps on several economic development projects.  The Boren Fellowship is a program that provides opportunities for language immersion opportunities for graduate students.  The Fellowship has a focus on national security and targets geographic areas, languages, and fields of study that are deemed critical to U.S. national security.  It is a wonderful opportunity and allows me to finish my graduate capstone project by working with Mercy Corps, which will add a unique dimension to my studies.