60+ English Teachers Await My Return to Tana Toraja!

Apparently Deceased Family Members were Avid Smokers!

No, friends – that is NOT a photo of the teachers…

By 10:00 Saturday morning I had ridden a motorbike, an airplane, a bus, a taxi, another taxi, and another bus in just the FIRST part of my trip to Tana Toraja. I was exhausted. And then the ten hour bus ride began.

Getting to Tana Toraja is no small feat. I am, however, learning that by Indonesian standards, travel from Bali to TT is pretty easy and fast. There is a direct flight from Bali to Makassar and a host of “luxury” bus lines that run between Makassar and TT several times daily. These conveniences make the trip downright simple.

But it’s a long trip to make in one day – made longer if you can’t find your bus and your Indonesian skills are embarrassingly lacking.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful even though I almost missed it. Once again an angel took time out of his day to make sure I got my lost ass to the right bus station.

The bus was comfortable; the driver played funny old Indonesian comedy videos that reminded me of American shows from the ‘70s (think: “Love, American Style,” only in Indonesian). He also played American and Indonesian pop music.

We wound our way through the lush landscape, escaping imminent death by narrowly missing every cliff, car, motorbike, truck, chicken, dog, child and tour bus in our path. We managing to run over only one soccer ball – POP!

Reflecting back on the seven Indonesian lessons I’ve had in the last two weeks, and listening carefully to people speaking and reading signs all around me, I feel like I’m FINALLY learning Indonesian. I still need a ton of practice, especially in speaking and “thinking fast.” But I’m starting to feel less stupid and out of it.

In Bali, where most people speak good English, I’ve not had to practice Bahasa Indonesia that much. Here in Makale and Tanah Toraja, I will not have the luxury of that ignorance.

The mountains in Tanah Toraja are every bit as beautiful as I remember. It’s difficult to look out at them and realize that it’s 80+ degrees outside. They look so much like the Colorado mountains that I expect the mountain air to be at least brisk. But I know that this week is going to be a hot one, and I’m prepared for that.

About 10 kilometers from Makale our bus pulled over to pick up the passengers of another bus that had mechanical issues. Our bus was suddenly very crowded. Interestingly, the other bus had many tourists on it, while mine only Indonesians and me – and they were from the same bus company.

My new seat-mate was a man a little older than me from Holland. He and a group of people came to Sualwesi from Bali the night prior and were working their way through Tana Toraja to the Togean Islands, an incredible part of Sulawesi. He told me about his early childhood in Jakarta, where his father had been a diplomat. His tales of being a child in Jakarta  shortly after the Dutch and Indonesians had re-established  diplomatic relations were fascinating.

As we entered Makale I kept my eyes peeled for the hotel where my host had told me to meet her. She suddenly appeared in the doorway of the bus to greet me and make sure I got there! What a pleasant surprise that was, as I was pretty sure I would get lost again.

Merda treated me to dinner and made sure I had all I needed to rest after the long travel day. I watched a DVD on my computer for a bit before discovering that my hotel has more channels of English-language television than I’ve ever seen in Indonesia! I was so tired that not even English TV could keep me awake.

I slept the sleep of the dead (quite appropriate in Tana Toraja, the land of the endless funeral). I woke up at 8:00 Sunday, ready to plan for the training and even have a little fun.

Merda picked me up around noon, and we went for a nice lunch in downtown Makale. Lonely Planet Indonesia insinuates that Makale is not worth a second glance.

I have my opinions about Lonely Planet books in general. I’ve found the lack of information and mis-information in the Indonesia guide to be annoying and even maddening.

Makale and Rantepao are the two main “towns” in Tana Toraja, the places to stay for day-tours to local sites. Rantepao is LP’s town of choice as it does seem a bit more set up for “tourism,” but Makale is where you get more of a feel for local life.

After lunch we went up into the hills to “surprise” one of last summer’s training participants. Randy, another American, is here working at an Adventist school. It was great to catch up with him and to hear about all the projects and dreams he has for his school. We will definitely collaborate more in the future on training, grant writing, and other joint ventures with Merda.

Seeing him and meeting with him and Merda today reminded me about why I am here, and have chosen to pursue the rather unconventional life path I’m now traveling. The three of us have big plans for the teachers and students of Tana Toraja!

Tonight I will look over and attempt to learn the introductory “speech” my Indonesian teacher helped me write for the opening of training tomorrow. I’m very nervous to deliver this speech, but think it will be good to begin training with me making a total ass out of myself by attempting to speak my little bit of Indonesian.

I’m hoping that watching me go out on a limb like this for them will help the teachers become comfortable speaking English to me and their colleagues during this training. Or maybe they will just think I’m a complete fool and attempt to make the most of having a good time during their “release” from school.

Either way, I’m looking forward to getting started – to challenging the teachers to think differently about the ways they teach English, and to help their students REALLY engage in the challenge. I have over 60 teachers this time – gulp!!! Updates to follow…