I know you will make a fool of yourself if you think that nobility of teaching in Indonesia’s most rural and underdeveloped region is enough to ensure everything is going well. I am telling you, IT IS NOT. You have to be ready for its twists and turns, its surprises. If you expect things go smoothly as Jagorawi road, you get dissapointed, and you get dissapointed fast. When you think that things are settled, put your relieve in check. As Pak Anies said, you need to get the tough gets going. This was particularly the case in my house (should i simply say “accomodation”?) placement. Pada awalnya, fasilitator kabupaten saya, Mas Imran, sudah mengatakan bahwa ia sama sekali belum mengetahui dengan siapa saya akan tinggal di Desa Labuangkalo. Ketika bertemu dengan Kepala Desa, Ketua Komite Sekolah, dan Kepala Sekolah, saya juga tidak mendapat penjelasan apapun mengenai dengan siapa saya tinggal. Well, they seem to be confused too. At the end of that day (when we still at Tanah Grogot, the capital of the Pasir district), i keep assuring myself, “there’s gotta be a place for me to stay”. Lalu tibalah hari dimana para pengajar muda di Pasir “didistribusikan” (lebih tepatnya mungkin “diantar”) ke desa penempatan masing-masing. Kebetulan desa saya berada di urutan paling terakhir untuk diantarkan, jadilah saya baru dapat melihat Desa saya setelah saya melihat seluruh Desa dan rumah penempatan teman-teman Pengajar Muda saya, dan langsung ditempatkan (beberapa dari Pengajar Muda ada yang sekadar men-drop barang-barangnya dahulu di rumah/desa penempatannya dahulu lalu pergi mengantar Pengajar Muda yang lain). Pada saat mengantarkan, keadaan beberapa rumah penempatan teman-teman saya memang bervariasi, ada yang ditempatkan di rumah yang seperti rumah barbie (seriously, they painted the Pengajarmuda’s room in purple, how in the world...but anyways), ada yang ditempatkan di rumah yang cukup basic (to make it politically correct), dan ada yang ditempatkan di tempat yang mirip dengan hostel: bersatu dengan warung makan, nyam). So Basically, they were placed in a house with seperate room and some of them are equipped with computers and printers. Then I thought, there must be a house for me in Labuangkalo, no? Arrival Then the D-Day come au mon petit village. Ketika kita sampai dan naik dari kapal, i can sense something is going on. Pertama, kita ke rumah Pak Kepala Desa. The funny thing was that not only his house is right in front of the sea (if there was ever a tsunami, his house would be the first to hit), but there was loud music going on and musical and stage equipment around. I thought it was some Labuangkalo rockstar’s house or something, turned out it was Pak Kades’ (dissapointed,haha). Lalu Pak Kades meng-escort ke salahsatu rumah di perumahan guru. Pada saat itu, tidak ada satu orang pun yang tinggal di rumah tersebut dan memang tampak kosong. Dalam Hubungan Internasional, saya ingat security adalah aspek utama yang harus dipenuhi oleh state, and at the time i felt insecure: no one to talk to, no equipment to help me out, no nothing. Saya lalu mengatakan pada Bu Yundri (dari Yayasan Indonesia Mengajar) untuk pindah dan tinggal sementara di rumah Pak Kades saja dulu, agar minimal saya merasa aman. Kebetulan memang Pak kades dari awal memang tampaknya tidak keberatan bila rumahnya dipergunakan saya tinggal. So i moved again to the Frontline house, Pak Kades’. I have to tell you that at the time, uncertainty still lingered. I didnt know how long I will stay at Pak Kades’, I didnt know how I can  share room (Pak Kades’ family all live in one room, not separated), I didnt even know where the heck I was gonna put my stuff. All I knew is that I only have the option to survive and thrive, I knew I will. Things got a bit awkward when some of my friends were like in tears when on their way leaving on a jetplane, uhm,,,boat. I didn’t think they cried at all when leaving Mansyur, Sahabat, and Gilang. Even Bu Yundri was in tears. I thought, c’mon guys, no one said this was gonna be easy. I could sense that Bu Yundri and Pak Imran would want to put more certainty to my placement, and nothing I could do to show them that I will be ok. Settle in Malam pertama tinggal di rumah Pak Kades was better than I thought It would be. It was comfortable I should say. Alat-alat musik yang ada di rumah itu sebenarnya adalah alat-alat yang digunakan sekampung bila ada hajatan. Terdapat empat bagian rumah: ruang tamu yang juga tempat storage alat-alat musik; ruang tengah yang mencakup 2 tempat tidur (satu di lantai, satu lagi tempat tidur dipan), meja kerja Sang Kades, dan tempat nonton TV. I stayed in this room, sharing bed with Pak Kades’ 10 year old son. It was weird because Pak Kades and Bu Kades tidur di kasur lantai sementara saya dan anaknya tidur di tempat tidur dipan. Lalu ada ruang makan (di lantai) merangkap dapur, dan di belakang adalah tempat mencuci dan tempat (mind you: tempat, bukan kamar) mandi. Yang lucu adalah tidak ada tempat buang air besar. Pak Kades berjanji menunjukkan saya tempatnya, tetapi saya keburu pindah tempat sebelum ia menjelaskan. I took a bath (man it was cold), a half-outdoor bath (quite an experience). The dinner was good: ikan tongkol, udang, sayur, sambal, dan –saya lupa namanya, mirip dodol tetapi berasal dari bekas memasak udang-. I never seem to have problem with food. I had 2 piring nasi I think. There was also a TV but the host keeps watching sinetron so it was not quite useful for me. I slept around 11 that night and it was a good sleep. Ternyata, walaupun berada di ruang yang sama, ketika tidur malam, kelambu-nya dipasang. Yang lucu adalah kelambu Pak Kades dan Ibu tidak dapat dilihat dari luar,,,I thought,,,well-planned guys! In short, Pak Kades dan Ibu gave a good hospitality. Dissetle Hari pertama, saya ke sekolah bersama anak Pak Kades. Detail mengenai sekolah akan saya berikan dalam post selanjutnya. Di hari itu, saya hang out (mind the language) dengan Pak X (28), Pak Mahathir (21) dan Kepsek saya Pak Maskur. Dalam pembicaraan di antara kami, pada intinya mereka menyarankan agar saya tidak tinggal di rumah Pak Kades. Selain karena tidak enak bagi warga ketika ada seorang bujangan (that is: saya) berada di rumah berdua dengan Ibu Kades ketika Pak Kades sering berada di luar kota/desa (yang mana sering dilakukan) dan ketika ada putri Pak Kades (SMK) pulang sehingga sulit untuk sleeping arrangement, juga karena agar saya lebih dekat dengan guru-guru sekolah (rumah-rumah guru berada dalam satu komplek). Pak X sendiri (akan ada post tersendiri tentang dia, wonderful witty big guy, he’s Labuangkalo’s Roy Brawirapati) menawarkan tempat tinggalnya untuk saya. It was a tough call. I have to give up all the luxury of Pak Kades’ house. There’s no TV, no musical instrument (ahaha, for this one, I dont give a crap), and no ready-eat food all the time at Pak X’s. However, it was a long-term call. I thought it would be easier to blend in with the school comminity (teachers) and stay away from unnecessary public buzz (let alone my staying at the house without Pak Kades’ presence, Pak Kades’ himself is prone to public opinion and gossip). So I decided I had to move. I told Pak Kades about this and he said it was ok and he asked me to visit regularly, especially to help his 6th grade-son studying as he wants to get him accepted at SMPN1 Tanah Grogot (that’s like Jakarta’s SMUNDEL). Affraid of getting Pak Kades upset, Pak Maskur, the principle made a courtesy visit to Pak Kades later that night. So I moved out at the second night to Pak X’s. Pak Maskur even helped me carrying my bags. It was around 10pm. Fiuuh... Re-settle Jadilah saya tinggal di rumah Pak X. Beliau sudah berkeluarga dengan putri yang baru lahir sekitar dua bulan yang lalu. Istri dan putrinya tinggal di Blitar, Jawa Timur. Jadilah ia tinggal seorang diri. Ia adalah guru honorer selama 2 tahun terakhir. His house looks more like an extended kost-kost-an to me. There are 3 rooms, one living room (where there’s a TV and 2 playstation sets –he has PS rental for heaven’s sake!-), one sleeping room where I share room with him (there’s another TV, DVD player, wish there was antena parabola for TV), and one washing-bathing room. Each room is around 4x4 meters wide, made all of woods, pretty basic and simple. There’s only one beds to just put our head untill chess; the rest of our body lies on the carpet (I plan to buy another mattress). The other thing is that we have to cooperate (lord my language) in cooking. Pak X is a pretty good chef I should say, not bad for a 28 year old perantau yang tinggal terpisah dengan keluarga). He has 2 bandeng fishes hung on 2x1 meter-wide-kitchen and some rice. So umm, we have to work outselves out for this cooking arrangement. So far, I helped him a bit in cooking (I can cook rice, yay!), cleaning the house a bit, and washing. Pak X is a really nice and open guy. For the first time in Labuangkalo, I find a seems to be reliable friend. I know this seems to be too soon, but at least I have passed the stage security concerns. It is not a family, it does not have separate rooms, and we have to work out our own food as the Indonesia Mengajar hopes, but I got a friend, a good friend that is (man, this X guy talks quite a lot! Explained things that every new-comer needs to know), and a handfull of social involvement experience that i would not have had I stayed in regular family. So, things are far from perfect I know. I even just found a place to put my stuff (Pak X emptied his wife’s cabinet for me). But things are getting better. I am also aware that things can change again easily. But i’ve put a simple banner that my afs friends gave me –and Nisa Ims- in our departure day, it says “See the Future”. *new updates: Bu Yundri and Pak Imran just came up with the idea of resettling me again to another family. The reason is pretty robust, I think: living in a family will give me a better security in a long term as Pak X’s settlement in Labuangkalo might change in the future (he could move out, as did previous teachers). If I settle in a family, i could manage a relationship further after my one year stay at Labuangkalo. Zaki’s (other Pengajarmuda) hostdad would help me in negotiating with prospective hostfamily...so hopefully this work-out well. See? God’s twist and turns really overwhelm me sometimes, but I should be ok.