5-8-11/First Morning and Surprises!

I woke up around 0613, Realizing that family is a bunch of early risers, most likely because they follow the schedule of the calls to prayer, its a stark contrast to my usual sleep schedule, which I guess isn't that regular but w/e, still a bit jet lagged but I'm recovering surprisingly fast. After I woke up we took a tour of my uncle's neighborhood, where we got a good look at Bandung from the hills above it. I also learned that the neighborhood had a gold course, rec center, all the bells and whistles, and was also the home to Indonesia's upper echelons from generals to CEOs.

The Sleeping Giant

Breakfast with the fam!

The View of Bandung from the Hills of Dago

We got our cell phone today, at a used cell phone shop, and bought a sim card and loaded it with some minutes, unfortunately with my mom not understanding Indonesian telecom policies, and my lack of understanding of Indonesian, it would end up being a temporary source of irritation for me. I also was able to get some Internet access which was really nice as I got to facebook chat with Simone and update my facebook status, and check on somethings, though I was still a bit frustrated with my phone that I wasn't able to call her yet, apparently it takes up to 48 hours for the phone to fully activate, and I'm pretty convinced it wanted to take the full 48 hours to activate, which was another minor annoyance. But while I was browsing the web my mom was trying to hurry me off the computer, claiming that we were going to have lunch with my family, me being the ultra plugged in person that I am was trying to absorb as much Internet time as possible but I reluctantly got off the Internet in a huff, and made my way to my grandmother's house (oh yeah I forgot to mention, I had to go into one of the dormitories to get Internet access which isn't that far of a walk, but it would have been easier if my grandmother had Internet access.) I got dressed in a huff, and then went into a car with my cousins, Kanigara, Ichsan, and 'Windy, and went on an adventure.

Our Cellphone (which I would soon replace)

As I got to know them a bit better, we went back into the hills around bandung, saw a strawberry farm where you could pick your own strawberries, and also went to a petting zoo, which would be our final destination. All the while my cousins were telling me that we lost a few cars and since we were ahead of them we had to wait on them which I figured was ok, apparently the petting zoo we arrived at wasn't really a petting zoo but a nice outdoor restaurant/resort. We met up with my uncles and took pictures to pass the time “until the girls could catch up” however we reached the top of the restaurant, only to find that the rest of my family was there and all along this was a surprise party planned by my mom since January of this year, where she coordinated a time where my entire family would be in one place, and what a surprise it was. To have 30 people sing happy birthday to you was pretty awesome, I think it was one of the biggest parties I've ever had, and this party was just with family!

However it was slightly awkward for me and I would later learn for my cousins also, because they felt self conscious about their english, and I about my lack of understanding Indonesian and the fact that I didn't remember everyone's names, and just that there were so many damn people. I wish Simone was there with me, she always helps me with my shyness/awkwardness, but we eventually bridged the gap and it got more comfortable, we had a big family picture, which I can annotate for my dad, who's been asking for an annotated family picture for years. But in anycase the lunch was nice, everyone had goody bags and seemed to have a good time, and then we went back to my grandmother's house where the families regrouped and went back home. After I got home I would unwrap some presents that people would give me.

The Family, still missing 3 members of the family lol

One particularly nifty gift I got was from my cousin 'Zela, which was a travel bag, or what most americans would call a murse or an “urban shoulder bag” lol, but I thought I would use it (so most of the pictures I'll take from now on will have it in there) and I was thinking about growing out a beard to look like Zach Gallifinakis a la The Hangover, but I thought against it and would embrace the travel pack. I would go on to use the internet again, and try to call Simone by all means but our Pingo card didn't work, our cell phone wasn't working either, and texting wasn't even working so I was pretty peeved and eventually went to bed, hoping that the phone would work and I could talk to Simone.