Complaining in the rain

My internet has been down lately so I've had a bag log of posts. This one was written on 25.02.10:

I don’t think there are many experiences like watching a lightning storm…in the middle of nowhere Indonesia…in a downpour…with a power outage. The only way to top it? Go shower in that downpour! Consider that life adventure checked off my list after last night. No power meant no water, and I needed a shower! I did manage to keep from singing while I was out there.

Other than that there hasn’t been a large amount of news, though I was invited to a university in Pare Pare next week. I was intending to go there that weekend anyways to visit a retired bule couple I had met earlier (any bule contact is good bule contact!). Going caused a little bit of strain with Imran who is worried to share me with anyone after he promised Nelly he would take care of me so that he could get an ETA in the first place. He seems to only remember that when it serves him, but maybe it’s just me being overly sensitive; we all know how I feel about people trying to control my life!

That has been a hard thing for me to get used to here. In Indo it seems to be pretty standard that your parents or your family play such a large part in your life that they basically control you until you’re married. That lack of independence here has bothered me some and I think it really does hinder both individuals’ personal growth as well as the development of Indonesia. For the individuals I’ve found that on average kids through young adults are much more immature than their US counterparts. Whether it is the lack of independence, laughing at childish things or an inability to perform daily actions on their own Indonesians just don’t seem quite as mature. A perfect example: Yusran, who is 27 years old, and thus presumably been driving a motorcycle for at least a dozen years (probably closer to 20), had no clue the other day on how to renew his license (I’m not sure he even knew he needed to). And when he asked Daya she responded by saying that her brother always takes care of that.
Now I know that the US is particularly independent and people strike out on their own far earlier than elsewhere, but I some point I think that everyone needs a certain level of maturity for them to be their own person, regardless of cultural norms. That’s very much a western perspective, but hey I’m Western born and raised!
No real big grandiose thoughts here to sum things up…just a topic I had been thinking about and had talked about with other ETAs.

Hope everyone is doing well back home, and Dad get back on both your feet as soon as you can!