the "Kost" girl...and her firend.
Today's story I'll call "Violating Rule Number One for Living in a Foreign Country"
When I moved to live in Italy, I created a set of rules for living that helped me to survive...the first of which went something like
"When getting involved with a local girl that does not speak your language, make sure she does not have a boy friend as big as the countries National Monument"
The other night, a girl that lived in my "Kost" (a sort of rooming house in Indonesia) had seen me setting in the lobby and had asked, in her broken English, if she could borrow one of my DVD's (the people in my Kost know that I have a fairly good collection of DVD's because when you do not know the language, and books in English are as expensive as they are here, watching cheap DVD's (which you can buy off the street for about 5000 Rps. or about 60 cents US) becomes a serious past time).
She then asks if I would like to go up to her room and watch it with her....
Duhhh. She was beautiful...OF COURSE I wanted to go up to her room and watch it with her....so what if I had already seen it a dozen times!
To make a long story short, I ended up staying most of the night....
No. The movie was not that long 
.
Anyway...when you do not know the language, the world often passes you by and you have no true idea of what is really happening around you. For the brave (or foolish) at heart, this can be quite interesting. In the case of this "Kost girl" I did not know if this was
A.) A one night stand
B.) We were now dating
C.) I was expected to give her family a few goats and chickens as a dowry and marry her!!!
I decided to handle it as I do most situations where I do not know what is going on….that is to say, do nothing!
For the most part, doing nothing has always proven to be the wisest course to follow in most any situation.
She sees me on the day of the big Indonesian Independence celebration (more about this in possibly my next blogg posting), and pulls me aside and tells me "Jac...my boy friend in town...he is shit, but do not tell him ok?"
I translate this to mean "My boy friend is in town, and while I'm not that fond of him, I have no plans to ditch him for you, so look, just keep your mouth shut and all will be cool" or something to that effect....
I say to myself "that’s cool...no problem", and proceed to enjoy myself climbing a greasy pole and doing untold damage to my body in the process (part of the games I took part in during the celebration). While standing on a stack of Indonesians about 3 or 4 people high, hugging the pole, I look out and find myself face to face with the BIGGEST Indonesian I have ever seen! Here I am standing on top of three people and I am looking him in the eye!!!!!
Yes. You guessed it...OF COURSE this wall of a human being is Mayang's boy friend! (I mean, come on, who ELSE could it have been, right?)
Now, I'm thinking to myself, hey, no problem, surely she's going to keep her mouth shut, and I had no plans to inform him of what an enjoyable time I had spent with his girl friend so I figured everything was still cool right?
Well, nothing was said that night, and I figured everything was ok...but foolish me, do I not ever learn? Of COURSE things were not alright...things were simply only brewing under the surface, ready to explode at the next inopportune occasion!
Naturally.
To have expected anything else is to live in a world where the glass is half full right?
You and I both know not only is it half empty, but leaking besides!
Looking back, there were some hints that had my big head been doing the thinking instead of my little head I would have caught...things such as common sense should have told me that a girl this good looking, carrying a hand phone that cost more than most people in this country make in a year, would not have been alone!
But, alas, being bright has never been my strong suite!
So, here I am, on the bus heading home yesterday, when my hand phone rings...looking at the number, I see that it was someone I did not know. I answer it, not knowing who it could be. You guessed it friends...it was Mayang's boy friend...speaking perfect English!
Dear god, I would not even be able to play the "I do not understand" game!
Could it get any worse?
(Of *course* it could...silly question!)
The conversation goes something like this....
Me: Hello?
Him: Jack? This is Mayang's boyfriend...how are you?
Me: Great...yourself?
Him: I am good...where are you? Are you home?
Me: I am heading home now, why?
Him: I want to talk to you...when you come home can you come to my room?
(dear god....this was not going good)
Me: (stalling) I need to stop and eat...(imagine me stalling more as the conversation continues)
Later that evening, I was setting in the lobby of my apartment building when in walks this wall of a human being...he walks up to me, stretching out a hand as big as a ham, shakes my hand and says to me "It is ok Jac, earlier I was angry, but now I am ok"
Now, I have no idea what calmed this beast of a man, but once again I skated by what could have been a very bad situation.
And life goes on......