{"id":2175,"date":"2017-10-31T02:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/?p=2175"},"modified":"2017-10-31T20:23:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T20:23:32","slug":"the-art-of-pulkam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/the-art-of-pulkam\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Pulkam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013 by\u00a0Grace Wivell<\/strong> \u2013<\/p>\n

This fall, Fulbright ETAs share their experiences adjusting and adapting to new cultures \u2013 and the challenges, humor, and new ways of seeing the world that come with diving into life in another country.\u00a0 Read the full series here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This piece was written by Grace Wivell,\u00a0<\/em>a 2016-2017 ETA at CIn Jakarta, Indonesia. This article was originally published in Indonesiaful.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Pulkam\u00a0<\/em>is short for\u00a0pulang kampung<\/em>, or \u201ca return to one\u2019s hometown.\u201d As a Fulbright Researcher\/Coordinator, I travelled to placement\u00a0sites across Indonesia in order to find ways to improve the Fulbright program for both ETAs and schools.\u00a0 My work brought me back to both of the sites where I served as an ETA: Malang in East Java, and Gorontalo in Northern Sulawesi.\u00a0 While the visits were primarily research-oriented, I was able to make time to visit the people I had met during my time as an ETA.\u00a0 These were whirlwind trips, and there were certainly people I missed, but I managed to spend at least a little time with most of the people I wanted to see.<\/p>\n

Last year, as an ETA in Gorontalo, I made my first pulkam\u00a0<\/em>to Malang.\u00a0 Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to re-visit the various places that I have called home here several times, something few ETA alumni have the chance to do.\u00a0 I\u2019ve noticed a few patterns that hold true across my pulkam<\/em> experiences, and so I offer my observations as a sort of \u201cGrace\u2019s Guide to\u00a0Pulkam<\/em>\u201d (with the caveat, of course, that these are based only on my own experiences, and may not apply for everyone).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Expect to eat a lot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>It sometimes seems as though Indonesians express their love through food (this is something I have found to be true across the archipelago).\u00a0\u00a0Ibu-Ibu<\/em>, or Indonesian matriarchs, insist that they cannot send me back to my mother thinner than I was when I arrived (regardless of how I might be feeling about my own bodyweight), because that would mean they had not properly cared for me.\u00a0 Every time I\u00a0pulkam<\/em>, it feels almost as though people are trying to feed me as much during the few days I am there as they did during my nine months as an ETA. \u00a0Not that I necessarily mind.\u00a0 Each region of Indonesia has its own cuisine, and heaven knows I miss the foods from the places I lived in. \u00a0 I had been craving the\u00a0ikan bakar\u00a0<\/em>(grilled fish),\u00a0binte biluhuta\u00a0<\/em>(fish and corn soup), and\u00a0tinutuan\u00a0<\/em>(pumpkin porridge)\u00a0of northern Sulawesi ever since I left. And until you visit Malang, you won\u2019t understand why bakso\u00a0<\/em>(meatballs, usually served in broth) is the best thing since sliced bread (which really isn\u2019t all that great in comparison), why I worship\u00a0tempe\u00a0<\/em>as the goddess of all proteins, or why I make my best apple crisp in Indonesia using just a toaster oven (those\u00a0apel Malang\u00a0<\/em>are just magical).\u00a0\u00a0 Just as I miss dishes from the States when I am in Indonesia, and miss Indonesian food when I\u2019m in the States, I also miss these\u00a0daerah\u00a0<\/em>(area)-specific dishes when I move from one Indonesian city to another.\u00a0 I am not all that bothered by the excess of lunch and dinner invites I receive (so long as I get to treat my friends to one or two) or the few pounds I put on every time I\u00a0pulkam.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bring gifts, but more importantly, bring stories.<\/strong>\u00a0 At least for Fulbright Indonesia ETAs, there is an expectation that you will bring gifts or\u00a0oleh-oleh<\/em>\u00a0(souvenirs) back for friends and acquaintances.\u00a0 I have always tried to oblige as best as my budget and suitcase-space will allow.\u00a0 This gift-giving is a way to show people that you have remembered them, and I am one hundred percent in favor of that kind of thoughtfulness.\u00a0 But because I\u2019ve always struggled with what I perceive as the materialism so prevalent in Indonesian culture (Why does the size and cost of a gift matter so much here?), I try not to simply bring gifts, but gifts that come with a story.\u00a0 Last year I brought\u00a0kerawang<\/em>, the traditional fabric of Gorontalo, to my friends in Malang, because it allowed me a chance to talk about the ways in which Gorontalo culture differs from Javanese culture, something which had made an enormous impression on me.\u00a0 This year, in addition to some trinkets from Jakarta, I brought souvenirs from Korea, which allowed me to talk to about my time there visiting the South Korean Fulbright Commission and learning about the ETA program.\u00a0 Ultimately, the stories you tell matter more than the gifts you bring.\u00a0 If your oleh-oleh<\/em> doesn\u2019t have a story attached to it, you will find that people\u2019s attention will quickly shift as they ask you a million questions about what you have been up to, and fill you in on the latest gossip on their end.\u00a0 There is a cultural expectation that you bring something material, but people are still more excited about you than anything you bring.<\/p>\n

Anticipate a lot of selfies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Selfies are a bit like food.\u00a0 They are a way for people to show you that they missed you, and that they are excited to see you again.\u00a0 While requests for photos may come from teachers and other adult friends, they will probably come from your students more than anyone else.\u00a0 Be prepared to smile for so many selfies that your face hurts.\u00a0 Then make sure that someone sends those photos to you.\u00a0 One of my housemates, a Fulbright Research Alumna and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (in Indonesia both times), often says that no matter how many photographs she has of beautiful vistas, it is the\u00a0foto-foto<\/em>\u00a0of the people she met that she values the most.\u00a0 At home I have beautiful fabrics and USBs full of photos from the places I visited in Indonesia, but it is the class photos I took at the end of each year, and the group shots I have with fellow teachers and friends, that I treasure most from my two years as an ETA.\u00a0 Though you might have the opportunity to\u00a0pulkam\u00a0<\/em>once, you may not have the opportunity to do so again.\u00a0 Those sweaty selfies will be priceless later.\u00a0 Make sure someone sends them to you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Prepare yourself for the less-pleasant parts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>It won\u2019t all be bliss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>You may see people you had hoped you would never see again.\u00a0 I breathed a sigh of relief when I narrowly escaped meeting a particular teacher during my first\u00a0pulkam\u00a0<\/em>to Malang; when I ran into him\u00a0<\/em>during my most recent\u00a0pulkam<\/em>, it was a moment of panic.\u00a0 My\u00a0pulkam\u00a0<\/em>to Gorontalo had its share of awkward interactions with men from my neighborhood.\u00a0 The\u00a0bentor<\/em>\u00a0(becak motor<\/em>, a rickshaw with a motorbike instead of a bicycle) drivers in Gorontalo are still amongst the most persistent harassers I have dealt with in Indonesia, and it only took one\u00a0bentor\u00a0<\/em>ride on my way to rent a motorbike for me to remember why I rode a motorbike as an ETA.<\/p>\n

I spent my nine months in Malang navigating the politics of my school\u2019s two campuses, including the poor treatment of my Papuan students, and was yet again smacked in the face by notions of Javanese superiority during my\u00a0pulkam\u00a0<\/em>by a group that mostly consisted of teachers who did not work at the school when I was an ETA there and did not know of my ardent stance against racism. When I mentioned my work in Sulawesi, they began making derogatory jokes about the people of Sulawesi.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0The more exasperating characteristics of my former locations have not disappeared just because I moved away.\u00a0 But in the end, all of these irritations were like mosquito bites from an incredible hike: I noticed them and was highly displeased, but I did not regret my decision to go.<\/p>\n

Assume there will have been changes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Whether you were gone for a few months or a few years, you will not be going back to the same place where you lived as an ETA.\u00a0 In Gorontalo, one of the few placements last year that had no Indomaret or Alfamart convenience store, there is now one or the other on every corner.\u00a0 This change has happened in the mere nine months since I left.\u00a0 Gorontalo also has more traffic lights now, some of which play audio recordings reminding motorcyclists to wear helmets.\u00a0 I had been accustomed to hearing these only in larger Indonesian cities.\u00a0 I found myself exclaiming over and over, \u201cGorontalo so mo jadi kota besar!\u201d (\u201cGorontalo is already becoming a big city!\u201d).\u00a0 In Malang, the two campuses of my school split into two schools, one of which is a military academy.\u00a0 If I do have the opportunity to visit Malang again, SMAN 10, as I knew it, will not even exist.\u00a0 In both places, some of the teachers I loved no longer teach at my school; a few have passed away.\u00a0 My students are older, and some of them have graduated.\u00a0 And I have changed.\u00a0 I\u2019m no longer the fresh-faced ETA that came to Malang her first year in Indonesia: I\u2019m a little more haggard, a little wiser, though somehow still just as stubbornly optimistic about my kiddos\u2019 futures in spite of what other teachers may say (some things never change).\u00a0 Though I\u2019ll never call myself a city girl, living in Jakarta has changed me, and it shows in everything from my confidence to my accent, as noted by my friends in both of my old sites.\u00a0 These changes in your school, in your community, and in yourself, are often, though not always, positive.\u00a0 They are almost always jarring.\u00a0 Take them all in: you\u2019ll have time to digest them when you are finished with your\u00a0pulkam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Know that it will not be enough time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>You will probably not get to see everyone.\u00a0 Even if you do, you will likely feel you did not get to catch up with them fully.\u00a0 You will not be able to visit all of your favorite haunts.\u00a0 You will not get to eat all of your favorite dishes.\u00a0 The fact is, there is a reason this is\u00a0pulkam:\u00a0<\/em>you no longer live in this place. And you cannot fit nine months of an ETA experience into a few days.\u00a0 Pulkam\u00a0<\/em>is bittersweet.\u00a0 If you are the crying type (and I am) you might cry harder when you leave than when you first left at the end of your grant.<\/p>\n

Breathe deep.\u00a0 Take it all in.\u00a0 It is an emotional rollercoaster, but it a privilege of a ride. In the end, my advice is this: feel what feelings come, and then feel lucky to have felt them.\u00a0 That is the art of the ETA\u00a0pulang kampung.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>It is also the art of being an ETA.<\/p>\n

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From 2016-17, Grace Wivell was the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) ETA Researcher\/Coordinator in Jakarta. Prior to fulfilling that role, she completed two years as an ETA, first in Malang, East Java, and then in Gorontalo, Sulawesi. A 2014 graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied English Education, Grace is currently a graduate student at Stony Brook University, where she is pursuing an MA in Applied Linguistics (TESOL).\u00a0 This post first appeared on her personal blog, which you can follow at\u00a0https:\/\/allfortheloveofwandering.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>*Binte biluhuta<\/em>\u00a0is Bahasa Gorontalo; in Bahasa Indonesia, this dish is known as\u00a0milu siram.<\/em><\/p>\n

*Tinituan<\/em>\u00a0is Bahasa Manado; in Bahasa Indonesia, this dish is known as\u00a0Bubur\u00a0<\/em>(porridge)\u00a0Manado.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2013 by\u00a0Grace Wivell \u2013 This fall, Fulbright ETAs share their experiences adjusting and adapting to new cultures \u2013 and the challenges, humor, and new ways of seeing the world that come with diving into life in another country.\u00a0 Read the full series here. This piece was written by Grace Wivell,\u00a0a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[60,205],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/malang-2.jpg?fit=362%2C210&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2200,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions\/2200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fulbridge.org\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}