first impressions

Now that i have gotten some sleep, perhaps i can string together some sentences about my first impressions of indonesia!
when we landed in medan, we were quickly ushered around by a man who promptly took our - baggage tags and wanted our plane tickets. i asked him for some ID or to identify himself - i didn't need to lose my luggage and ticket in the first hour. turns out he was legitimate but wanted to be heavily compenstated. he acted insulted with my two dollar tip - however his wage is five dollars a day - so i just shrugged and boarded the next plane.
in medan i was disappointed to see a dunkin donuts the minute we stepped out of the terminal. unfortunately, some of the worst western things are imported here. i have seen "california fried chicken" KFC and burger king. but i am a bit of a hypocrite because i like fanta pop, and they have strawberry and lime flavours here!
after we slept for awhile, mike (a canadian consulting with the crwrc or locally known as genassist) took us for a tour to see some of the town, and where the most destruction occured. if you think your house needs some reno's you should see some houses here. one place has a 70 foot steel boat resting on the roof. it looks like the locals plan to leave it there for awhile as a type of memorial. or they don't have the resources to move it. probably the latter. there is also a large steel barge that was brought 3 kilometres inland by the tsunami and it now rests in the middle of several houses. we also went closer to the beach where they are trying to rebuild. many still live in wooden temporary shelters, but mike said they are making good progress, all things considered. there is still alot of debris to clean up.
tomorrow we head to lloong, a smaller town where we will be based for the month. it sounds like we will be helping with some house foundations. it will be nice to get settled and into a routine.
the weather is hot and sticky. at night when i turn over in bed, i can literally feel the burning imprint of where my body was. and we have a fan in the room! in lloong there is no electricity, so that luxury will be gone. i am hoping i will acclimatize soon!
i am also getting used to squat toilets. it isn't too bad, but lets hope i don't get sick with some bug - i don't think that will be pleasant. there is no shower, we bathe using buckets, which when it is so hot, feels pretty good to dump a bucket of cold water on your head! so enjoy your shower heads there, because my arm doubles as the shower faucet:-)
i like most indonesian food so far. we went out for some real food - nasi goreng!! lekker! (yummy). the fruit is tasty too. the "hairy" fruit looks like garlic when you peel it, but it is sweet. i tried the "stinky" fruit. it lives up to its name. it stinks like something resembling poop and has a strange consistency that i will not attempt to describe. the taste is "unique" - enough so that i will tell my indonesian friends i have a weak stomach the next time it is offered. i had to chew some gum to get the taste out of my mouth. i am usually pretty flexible and open to trying new foods, but stinky fruit is worth trying only once.
i will only have access to internet here in banda aceh, i think we will be coming here on the weekends. so i will likely have a weekly posting on the blog site.
have a great week! shalom alida