Week 3: Obama Fever

The homesickness has, thankfully, almost entirely disappeared this week. It happened almost without me noticing - I suddenly realised that I hadn't felt bored or homesick in days. Hannah, Kamran and I have joined a gym in a hotel near our kost, which not only gives us something to do in the evenings, but provides a welcome source of warm showers (what luxury after three weeks of showering by throwing cold water over my head!). The hotel is amazing and we have access to a gym, sauna and outdoor swimming pool. There are also classes and the three of us have taken up yoga and pilates. The only problem is that the instructor, used to teaching people of a different body type to me, tends to confuse my inflexibility with a lack of understanding. His subsequent efforts to correct me contort my body into some interesting, often painful, positions.

On Tuesday we all went to an inauguration party in a hotel thrown by Democrats abroad. They had big screens showing the ceremony - he was sworn in at midnight Indonesian time - and the atmosphere was amazing. Jenna, my American friend, a self-confessed politics addict and dedicated Democrat, was ecstatically happy. The news this week has been totally monopolised by the inauguration. Indonesians are very proud of their Obama connection and there have been a number of interviews with Obama's sister's counsin's dentist etc. The only Indonesian not to be obsessed with Obama, it seems, is Anggrek, who took one look at the hotel room - with its floor length posters and red, white and blue banners - and asked "what are we celebrating?"

The highlight of this week was definitely yesterday, when we went white water rafting at Citarik river. It was a bit of an epic journey, not because it was geographically far away, but because of the sheer density of traffic. Driving in Indonesia is an interesting experience and road etiquette is rather different here. When you are stuck in a queue of traffic (which is almost always) it is acceptable to start driving in the other lane if it is free. Because we were in a bit of a hurry we spent most of the journey driving down the middle of the road, which was somewhat startling to begin with but I soon got used to it. After a while I stopped noticing entirely and just stared out of the window at the beautiful mountain scenery.

After getting in the boat we were given some quick safety instructions ("if you fall in the rapids just try to keep your head above water and relaaaax"), learnt some important new words: "mandir" (paddle forwards), "mondar" (paddle backwards) and "boom" (danger! get down in the boat), and then we were off. The rapids at Citarik are level 3 (of 5), so they're not too dangerous but neither are they an easy ride. We were pretty much in hysterics the whole time. You're never quite sure how the rapids are going to carry you and each time you hit a rock you go careering off in a different direction. Every time we hit a big rapid I fell into the middle of the boat with my legs in the air, laughing too hard to get up. Occasionally our instructor would shout "move to the left/right" and we would all have to jump to one side of the boat to dislodge it. As you can imagine, with my spatial ineptitude this was a bit of a challenge, and I merrily threw myself to the wrong side of the boat a couple of times. After we'd finished the 8km route, which took about 2 hours, we were presented with fresh coconut and fried bananas (so bad but so good).

A few of you have noted my change of name on facebook, so I should probably explain. For some reason "Madeline Nightingale" is very difficult for Indonesians to pronounce. After suggesting that they might like to call me "Maddy" I was designated the name "Maudy". My initial displease at being allocated such an ugly name was somewhat mitigated by the fact that it was chosen because it is the name of a tall, beautiful Indonesian celebrity.