If I'm Dreaming, at Least it's a Funny Dream

Even now, after almost two years, I'm not really sure if I'm awake or dreaming. 

Things that happened to me this week that contribute to this feeling:

#1. I volunteered to speak at a children's school (already surreal; I NEVER interact with anyone under the age of 18) and after the kids screamed with delight through my entire presentation they tried to attack me. Why? All 30 of them wanted my autograph. I may as well have been Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber for all the excitement I caused. Especially since they couldn't hear me explain that I wasn't famous because their hysterics were too loud. I had to pry them off me to get out the door of the classroom.

#2. I had a very small amount of alcohol on Friday night and was as good as dead all day Saturday, not even able to eat plain rice and gatorade without throwing up. Slept 15 hours. Absolutely unbelievable.

#3. After coming back to life on Saturday evening, but before eating, I ran out of gas (this is very common because my gas gauge doesn't work), and had to push my motorbike across a highway in the pouring rain. Some men assembled on the side of the road as spectators, so I asked them where the nearest gas was. Shrugs. Then, when I told them I was out of gas, they laughed at me. Obviously then I started crying and then they felt really bad (meanwhile, a car almost runs me over by backing into my bike. I have to slam on the horn to keep from being flattened). So what did these men do? One of them pushed my bike up out of the rain because I was too weak to do it myself and the other SIPHONED GAS FROM HIS OWN MOTORCYCLE into a water bottle and GAVE it to me and wouldn't let me pay him. It was probably the nicest thing anyone's ever done.

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It was comforting to talk to one of my friends back in the US and confirm that life in general is bizarre and that dream-like (or nightmare-like) things happen just as easily in New York as in Jogja. It also reminded me of Takashi's wise words that we are never in control, only that sometimes we are more arrogant and think that we are in control once we're comfortable with a situation. When he said that, almost two years ago, we were comparing life in Indonesia to life in our native countries. But now, it also applies to my life here. I've gotten so comfortable here that I forget how damn crazy everything is, and then every now and then I get a funny little reminder.

That's it. No umbrella anecdote this week, just one point: life is weird. I think that's what makes it fun.