so my teacher and i were talking and i said
"kalau ini satu hal itu saya seharusnya tahu sebelum saya pergi ke Indonesia, apa ini?"
(If theres one thing i should know before i go to indonesia, what is it?)
she said "ya."
("yes.")
So I asked again, with different words.
She said "Terima Kasih".
("Thank you.")
So I asked a third time. Before I figured out she was just telling me I should know the word for "Yes" and the word for "Thank You".
I think I've been nervous about leaving, not becuase I'm worried about anything, but because you never quite know whats going to happen sometimes, you know? And I forget that you never really know whats going to happen at any given time, its just that we fool ourselves into thinking we have a plan.
But I forget that theres so much to language that isn't verbal. We just finished this shadow puppet show where in ten minutes in a room full of people who speak english, indonesian, hmong, khamer, thai, laos, and some other things I dont even know what they are, we told a story that everyone got
using only visuals.
My teacher (Ibu Nona, in her amazing voice that means everything is fine) told me "Tidak kuotir. Anda akan menpunyai waktu baik. Tidak apa-apa."
("Dont worry. You will have a great time. No problem.")