Okay okay! I am going to blog about something! Geez..... *Talking to myself

Hey boys and gurlsss how is it goinnnn overthereeeeee? Can you believe?! I survive for 7 months in Utah! It's not "I've been here for XX months" anymore! Now it's "I only have XX months left..."

So to avoid the awkwardness of using Bahasa Indonesia, I'm going to write in English. I hope you guys still want to read my blog even though it's in English... Okay... I felt so awkward because lately I always talk using "Saya" and "Anda" when I talk in Indonesian. I also use a really proper Indonesian grammar... (If you don't speak Indonesian, "Saya" and "Anda" is the most formal way to say "I" and "You" in Indonesian, and teenagers kinda not say it..) Aca-awkward!

My sociology teacher, Mr Barth offers us a really cool extra credit opportunities: watch Amazing Race! Oh my heck, it's my favorite tv show all the time, I start watching it like million year ago and now I can get extra credit for watching it! (It's not something you can get in Indonesia..) My host family don't watch tv a lot, so I asked my dad to record the show. And usually at the end of Monday or Tuesday we will sit down and watch it, ah.. good days. I watched the very first episode with Sarah, my sister. They went to Bora-Bora and I was like almost crying when I saw the crystal clear beach in there. I promised myself that I am going to something super tropical at the end of my exchange year.

Then.. I skipped the next 2 episodes..... Too busy! No time! But still I kind of saw the Instagram photo of one of the group. This girl updates alot about the places, so I always had up-to-date details about the race.

Then one day, I saw this girl updated that they.... WENT TO FREAKING BALI! I was so excited that I threw my iPod and smile as wide as I could. Oh. My. It's our Bali! It's Indonesia! It's one of the happiest moment that I've ever felt. I always feel that my heart beats faster when I watched any Amazing Race episodes about Indonesia (they went to Yogyakarta last season). We watched the show that day, and I kept telling my host family: "I'VE BEEN THERE! I'VE BEEN THERE!" (sorry guys, I was just too excited). And they went to Uluwatu, made me feel that I really have to go to somewhere tropical and exotic after all of this coldness of United States. YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT BY YOURSELF I WON'T WRITE A SPOILER HERE :D

Anyways...

My family knows another family that used to live near our house. They moved somewhere but somehow they're still a really good friend of ours. And one of their son served on an LDS mission to Indonesia. So last week they visited our family, and he was there. His name is Xander and He. Was. Speaking. In. Fluent. Indonesian. I was like: "HOW CAN SPEAK SO GOOD???"

We talked for like couple hours, about the absurdness of Jakarta, like the way Indonesian people called him "bule masuk kampung!" (He asked me: "Anda tahu tidak lagu Bule Masuk Kampung? Kalau saya masuk kampung biasanya anak-anak akan nyanyi itu!) and Jakarta most random traffic jam. (Saya disini jadi pengemudi yang sabar, karena kalau di Jakarta bisa macet 3 jam sendiri...)

We discuss the really cheap Indonesian food like Nasi Uduk with Tempe Goreng ("Saya ketagihan!!) and Nasi Padang that he could get under $1 with a lot of variations (we talk about the abang-abang restoran padang yang bawa banyak piring di tangan, dan dia komen: "THAT'S A TALENT! No one can do it without a talent!!"), and Taman Anggrek Mall, Ragunan zoo with million komodo and a lot of places.

Oh my gosh, we just talked and talked and talked. We have one thing in common: we love Jakarta, and Indonesia. The conversation kept going and my host mom was like: "Wow you guys are talking like an old friend!". I really had a great time talking with him and it made me wanna go home, a little bit.

I only have 3 months left. How sad.

/Tasya