Chi Chi

It took me over three weeks to learn everyone’s names at the orphanage. When I first arrived, I couldn’t tell anyone apart by how they looked, and so I had to depend on recognizing their earrings or hairstyle. Now, I laugh at myself for only seeing brown skin and black hair because everyone looks so different to my trained eye. But that’s what I required: training. Now that I know everyone’s names and stories, I thought it would only be right to introduce you to some of the people who I have spent so much time with for the last ten weeks.

Chi Chi was my first friend at the orphanage. The evening I arrived, jetlagged and blurry-eyed, she came right up to me and asked for help with her English homework. From that point on though, she’s been helping me. Because she has some of the best English of the girls here, I constantly ask her for translations, and she and I would often sit up on the balcony exchanging English grammar for Indonesian vocabulary. Chi Chi goes to a vocational school close by where she learns all about multimedia.

She loves computers and technology in general. Her dream is to own an iPod, and she often comes into my room to listen to mine. Everyone here loves pop music; it is the only type of music they listen to, and I don’t think Chi Chi is particularly impressed with most of the songs on my iPod. When Chi Chi has a CD or tape cassette (who knew those still existed) she listens to it over and over again. One evening she listened to “21 Guns” by Green Day three times in a row before I had to ask her to change the song. Besides Green Day, Chi Chi loves Justin Beiber, and because of her multimedia background, she is able to take pictures of Justin and photo-shop herself into them.

Besides her music preferences, I go to Chi Chi whenever I have a problem. She helped me pick out my outfit the first time I went to church and reminded me to bring a few thousand Rupiah to put in the basket they pass around; she has killed the countless cockroaches that live under my desk and find their way into my bathroom; she even helped me de-lice my hair with minimal humiliation.

I’m not sure what Chi Chi wants to do with her life. She is only 15, but with her English skills and knowledge of computers I am confident she can create a good future for herself. She has a family who loves and supports her and good friends. I know that she will do fine without me, but already I am beginning to worry what I will do without her! She helped me transition to life in a different country, with a different language and customs, and I will miss her and, as much as I make fun of them, her photo-shopped pictures of Justin as well.