Differences

Since so many people enjoyed my 'comparison'-post I decided that I will do a post like this from time to time. It will also help you to get a pretty good picture of Indonesia.

And, believe me, there are so many differences between Indonesia and Europe, I surely won't run out of things to write on this subject! ;)

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 A European and American favorite: Fast Food!

People just love Fast Food. Whether it's McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King or Pizza hut. 

So much to choose from and don't those huge Fast Food buildings look luxurious nowadays??

The Indonesian Fast Food, or more specific, the Lombok Fast Food doesn't have as much variety and clearly isn't as luxurious.

Bakso is probably the most favorite. A soup with meatballs.

These little wagons, like the one on the right, are called 'Warungs' and sell traditional Indonesian 'Fast Food'. That includes not only Bakso but also Nasi/Mie Goreng, Tahu Tek Telur and other dishes.

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We also like to cross a river a little more luxuriously.

No stone- hopping needed in Germany!

Indonesians however don't care so much about bridges.

This is the 'bridge' next to the Oasis. 

Human or animal, young or old, nobody here has a problem with this 'bridge'!

And I bet these three bamboo sticks were much cheaper than those fancy little wooden bridges we have in Germany..

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 Where we store our trash....

  Where Indonesians store their trash...Haha just kidding, Indonesians don't store their trash, this is just a sidewalk.Though there might be a container underneath...we'll never know.

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In Germany everything works with machines. If they fail, we are srewed. And they are expensive, too! Thats why...

...Indonesians rely on pure muscle strength to till the rice fields. These cute little animals are the Indonesian version of a tractor.

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For the transportation of goods, we have these big trucks. They are fast, safe and can hold tons of goods.

In Lombok people seem to have almost as much to transport, unfortunately the distances are way too short and the streets to small for big trucks. Turns out that little trucks work just as well.

And of cause the most important thing when transporting something is security! Load is not secured? Sorry, no can do in Germany.

 But then again, people in Indonesia don't really care. I've seen so many scary things on Indonesian streets, you wouldn't belive it. Unfortunately I don't always have my camera with me. This one time, I saw a man transporting a fully grown goat on his moped. Safety distance! Thats how you survive Indonesian traffic. No garantees...

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Singapore

Singapore is right next to Indonesia. 
A very small, very clean, and very rich country; so basically the complete opposite to its neighbour Indonesia. 
Last week I had to leave the country to get a new visa and I decided to go to Singapore. I couldn’t have been more surprised by an Asian country. Singapore is by far the most western city/country I have ever been to and I did a lot of travelling already, even though I am only 20 years old. 
The population is very multicultural and hard working. Everything is expensive but the people can effort it, everybody owns an iPod, iPad and some European luxury car. Of cause there’ve got to be some very poor people, too, that can barely effort their living, but for some reason, you never get to see them. The city has a beautiful skyline which looks just amazing at night time. Attractions like Universal studios, the biggest ferries wheel and the biggest fountain of the world, huge laser shows at night and skyscrapers that seem like masterpieces of architecture and so many other breathtaking things should lead people to believe Singapore is situated somewhere in California instead of Malaysia.

Even though I can’t imagine Califonia to be as clean as Singapore. People literally mop the sidewalks every night.  The reason why this country is so clean is fairly simple.

Fines! 
 Singapore is not called a ‘fine‘-country for no reason. Littering will cost you 500 Singapore Dollars, eating in the subway also 500. For Spitting it’s 5000 Singapore Dollars if I remember correctly. And those are just some examples. I almost had to ‘donate’ 500 Sing Dollar because I ate in the subway without knowing it’s prohibited. Fortunately someone warned me before I was caught!

In Singapore everything is extremely expensive. A beer is usually between 10 and 15 Sing Dollar, books between 20 and 30 Sing Dollar and I didn’t have the courage to enter any of those Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Prada places that you can find everywhere in Singapore but I bet clothes are also extremely expensive.

People in Singapore shop in malls. I would guess there are probably up to a hundred malls that are big enough for people like me to get lost in. Craziness!!!
Everything in Singapore is just so impressive it seems almost a little unreal. And when you walk around downtown it's a little like a scene in some cheesy movie,  probably because of the background music.
There are speakers on the street that actually play classical music while you are walking in some pretty park or passing by a war memorial. Gives the City a nice flair! :)

Singapore was a very interesting experience for me, but after 5 days there I probably spend more money than I spend over months living in Indonesia.

However, I got my new visa and now I’m glad to be back in Lombok and at the Oasis

There are so many prohibiting signs, it's impossible to remember everything...

An amazing laser show at Marina Bay.

The skyline is breathtaking!

The Merlion, Singapores symbol.

My backpacker hostel was in Little India. Lots of Indian people and beautiful little flower shops. The Indian food was also pretty good, and cheap...which is hard to find in Singapore!

The biggest fountain in the world. Also a light show. It was beautiful!

The Universal Studios in Santosa. I would have loved to actually enter...too expensive!

There is something to sight-see on every corner in Singapore. This reverse fountain is right under the Marina Bay Hotel and underneath another giant, fancy mall.

Part of the lazer show is a movie projected on water. With music and all kinds of cool effects.

Just a muffin shop in a mall. Please, take all my money!!! :D

Shopping Tour

 

Last week we went shopping with my class. Everybody whose grades got better over the last year got a new school uniform as a reward. Since almost all of the kids got better grades than before almost all of them got a new uniform. We also bought new books for the SMP kids and ate Ice cream afterwards. The kids are always happy when we go on trips…even if it’s only for shopping.

All of us in the Mataram Mall

This was probably the most disgusting looking ice cream on the planet...they loved it ! :D

 

The Oasis rented a Bemo, a little bus that is usually used for public transportation.

 

It is actually smaller than it looks like with all the tiny indonesian kids inside. :)

This is them in their new uniforms.

The plastic-initiative

The kids with their bunch of plastic flowers.

What is “trash”? What is “plastic”?

For us those questions might seem ridiculous. Everybody knows what “plastic” is. Before I came to Lombok I really did believe that.

Proudly presenting their plastic...

But many people in Lombok have quite a different understanding of “trash” and “plastic”. You wouldn’t find the same things in an Indonesian trash container as you would in a European. For example, everything that is unaesthetic is trash, like leaves and sticks that fell on the ground. Those are things that they neatly pick up and throw in a trash can. But what we think of as “trash” they’ll just throw on the streets, behind the houses and in the rivers. If you tell people to pick up all the plastic in the village, most of them will only pick up plastic bags, like the one you get at a grocery store, because the Indonesian name is ‘tas plastik’ – ‘plastic bag’. Everything else is not plastic because it’s not called plastic.

Of cause those are some extreme cases but unfortunately in Lombok they are not as rare as you would hope them to be.

At the Yayasan Anak Oasis the children learn to distinguish between real trash and things that are harmless for human and nature. They learn about how dangerous plastic can be and how they can positively influence their own surroundings by recycling and simple things like reducing the consumption of plastic –wrapped products and refusing to take plastic bags.

Wisnu, holding the plastic trash of 7 children of only one school day.

This week the kids collected plastic trash around the village, washed it and made plastic-flowers out of the trash. They looked great and I bet we made some moms really happy this week. :)

For the next Week all of the kids have to bring all the plastic trash they produced in school to the Oasis. We collect all of it so that the kids will get an idea of how much plastic trash they produce in only one week and only in school. We hope that they will get a better understanding of how huge the Indonesian trash problem has become.

At the first day they came running right after school and proudly presented to us their collected plastic. So cute!

I feel that we are really making progress with the children and I hope that the parents learn a little, too.

Wayan,

Desak Kadek and

Galir with their bunch of plastic flowers.

 

A good education is the way to a better future

Hello everybody!

Bunter

I had a great time with my family. After two weeks of power travelling they flew home yesterday. I enjoyed this time very much but I am also very happy to be back at the Oasis and to my class. The three oldest kids in the Oasis and in my class are Putu, Bunter and Astawa. They are 15 years old and in their last year of SMP. In Indonesia there are 6 years of junior high school(SD) and 3 years of middle school(SMP) and high school(SMA).
Putu is the best student of the school and Bunter and Astawa are also outstanding students. Everyday they come to the Oasis to study and play. They have been at the Oasis for such a long time already that they are almost part of the Oasis team. Putu and Bunter love balinese dancing, they are really good at it and give classes to the smaller kids. Astawa is really good at playing the guitar or drums and enjoys teaching everybody who is interested how to play. They all like to help at the Oasis where ever they can!


Putu



 All three of them were part of the first group that joined the Oasis but after one year Astawa had stopped coming to the  Oasis. He had to work to help feed his big family. He was only 10 years old when he started to work on the ricefileds. One year ago, at the age of 14 he finally returned to the Oasis and started living a  somewhat  normal childhood. During all this time he somehow managed to keep up with his studies and is still a good student. They are very smart and ambitious which is a rare thing to find here. Putu wants to become a doctor, Astawa would love to work in the tourism business and Bunter still hasn't decided on what she wants to become yet. But she is really creative and would like to do something with design or teaching.

Astawa

To achieve these wishes they would have to go to the SMA which shouldn't be a problem since their grades are more than good enough. The only problem is that there are no decent SMA's close to Jagaraga. They would have to go study in Mataram and the transport as well as the study fees are so high, that none of the families can effort to send their kids to a school in Mataram.
People who don't have an SMA education don't stand a chance in getting a real job here. Thats also a reason why there are so many unemployed people here. Their education is just not good enough. People who haven't been to an SMA won't even get a job at a supermarket.
These kids have so much potential and it would be such a pitty if it went to waste. The Oasis feels responsible to help Putu, Bunter and Astawa get a proper aducation but we will need the help of sponsors since the costs are just too high. If anybody is interested in sponsoring one of them or contributing to the costs just a little, we would be very greatfull! Anybody who is interested can contact me at my e-mail address. Lara.Desinger@gmx.net

Guests in the Oasis

I apologize for not having posted anything recently, but I have been a little distracted. My father and my brother have come to Lombok to visit me and the Oasis. I’ve been giving them a private tour through Lombok. It is unbelievable how much I have experienced in only 5 months here. I never realized before, but now, that I get to tell my family in person everything I know about Lombok, I can’t believe how many stories I have to tell them.

Last Week they also visited the Oasis and convinced themselves personally of what a great place the Yayasan Anak Oasis is. They brought 2 leather soccer balls from Germany. Since the kids just love soccer a new friendship was born and my father and brother immediately felt comfortable. As you can see soccer connects people all over the world.

During the last week we traveled a lot and visited all kinds of places. We visited the capital of Lombok, Mataram, the monkey forest, the Island Gili Trawangan, some waterfalls and we went to the Rinjani, the volcano on Lombok. They are going to stay here for one more week. We’ll probably visit another small Island called Gili Gede and Bali.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I got to see my family once again after almost half a year. Half a year is a long time if you are staying in Lombok!

They are also overwhelmed by this beautiful place. They, too, have experienced so much in just one week. Now I’ll get back to showing them around the Island. I hope you don’t mind having to wait a little for the next real post.

My Dad and my brother at the beach.

My brother, Ade and the kids were playing soccer all day!

In my english class we went to the rice fields. The kids love to study in the rice fields. Siti, the dog of the Oasis, always follows us where ever we go.

English class in the Berugak.

My brother and me.

We also went shopping in the traditional market in Cakra.

This cheeky monkey stole the entire bag of peanuts while we were feeding the peanuts to them.

We went everywhere by motorcycle and every now and then we had a very nice view along the coast of Lombok.

A refreshing bath under a waterfall. So cold...

Mammoth trees.

The Hindu temple 'Batu Bolong'. It is build on top of a cliff. The view from up there is also very nice.