“Krasan?” Everybody wants to know: does the bule feel “at home” in Lumajang? Someone once told me home is where you hang your hat. I don’t wear hats. But back home I used to keep a garden.
Gardening is primal. My garden back home started from just dirt, seeds, and sweat. Two months later I was holding my first harvest of heavy, juicy tomatoes and jalapeños and cilantro. Minutes later and those veggies transformed into my Tía Blanca’s salsa roja. The heat and the aroma used to bring memories flooding of backyard barbeques in California, of burrito picnics in Dolores Park, of street tacos in Mexico City soaked in the spicy sauce. All of the people and places I hold closest are somehow connected to the stuff that grew in the dirt in my yard. I don’t know if I can compare gardening to anything other than home.
Moving is never easy. I’ll be real; moving to Indonesia has not been easy. On top of adjusting to the culture I haven’t had food that tastes like home since March. This might explain my urgent messages home requesting seeds (thanks Mom and Dad!). Or better, how I instinctively began casing my new neighborhood for places to put my plants.
We planted on a Thursday. The neighborhood kids were playing soccer in the street. I hadn’t met them yet but I wanted them to be in on it from the start so I walked up and said something like: “Hello, my name is Mister Matt. I am an English teacher from America but I live here now. Do you want to help me make a garden?” All 14 of them nearly knocked me over swarming into my front yard.
The kids are now helping me water the seedlings and they are helping me develop a sense of home. Every Monday and Thursday afternoon I meet my new students, all 14 of them, for English lessons in the yard not far from the new seedlings. I can’t see much difference day by day but then one doesn’t feel at home overnight either. It’s slower than that and more subtle.
“Krasan?” Ask me again once the cilantro is ready!
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- Thanks Mom and Dad!
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- Repurposed Water Containers as Planters
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- Labeling
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- Pumped about Planting
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- We lost a few when they figured out “work” was involved.
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- Tomato
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- Basil
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- The New Kid
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- First English Lesson
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- The Seedlings
mattinindo 
very cool, way to get involved! i’m in thailand now, headed to vietnam and laos, but maybe i’ll come through indonesia too. i met you once at Shani’s house, I worked for the Leviathan in 2011. I did the graphic novellas, did you ever read them? I like your blog a lot, its a very different layout than mine. Are you required to keep one for the Peace Corps or are you just doing it for fun? Mine is mostly for fun and so I can reflect and share my experiences with my friends/family.
Yes I remember you and I loved your work in Leviathan! Wow, you are really seeing a lot of SE Asea. Please let me know what you like best from your trip. And the blog is just a place to put my words and pictures because they have to go somewhere, right?
So far my favorite place has been Cambodia, although I only got to spend 3 weeks there. The locals there are so sweet and welcoming, a huge percent of them know English and are usually happy to talk to you. I pretty much just stayed in Siem Reap where the Angkor Temples are (so amazing!) but I also got out of town for a yoga/meditation retreat in a really cool, authentic village. I would love to go back for a few months to see more and volunteer for an NGO.
Oh, Matt. This is too sweet for words. LOVE the photos. Keep posting!
u make me think again that plenty of indonesian actually dont realize that krasan is actually ‘feel at home’ in bahasa jawa, its not originally bahasa indonesia.. …
I found ur site accidently,,, i like to read i always want to know what do foreigner think & feel about indonesia when they live here for a long time not just for short vacation???
Keep writing!!!!! i’ll bookmark it… Gbu
It’s never too early to think about the Third Goal. Check out Peace Corps Experience: Write & Publish Your Memoir. Oh! If you want a good laugh about what PC service was like in a Spanish-speaking country back in the 1970’s, read South of the Frontera: A Peace Corps Memoir.