Taking Down Tongues: The Culture of Language Documentation (Watson Report 2)

The rain that fell on my face, created the tears that my ever dry eyes could never release, as the heavy drenching rain freed me from the heaviness of my heart and mind. After weeks of utter agony, I had finally got back in touch with that love for traveling and it was in this moment that it happened. I could not hide, I could not close myself off from the rain and from the reign of new joy, that joy of making the world my home. I was on a small boat scooting along the Brunei river heading back to the city. I was coming from no more than a mile or two down river where my water taxi brought me to see the Proboscis monkeys after having visited the nearby floating village. With the evening rain, the water of the firmament above and the water below sandwiching the idyllic, verdant rainforests, I affirmed that I had landed in Borneo.

As we took to land, I stepped out of the boat and a breath of fresh wind rushed in as I inhaled the taste of comforts that you find in no place like home. I gained the courage and felt in control of the uncertain chase and destiny of my task in the region.

Only a month before, was I sitting enclosed in my hostel with the foreign world outside ready to disappointment me at every turn. I was in Indonesia and, although I was enjoying making new friends, and making small talk or having little conversations in Indonesian, I thoroughly found myself in solitude and living aimlessly. At this point I was a bit over four months into the trip and I had made very little success in observing directly what I set out to discover, language documentation.

Bangladesh was a blast and I discovered so much about what a language can mean to a community. I gained a new and important perspective on language conservation through the history of their nationalist struggle, but I still had not been able to deal with that which I specifically planned to work with: communities involved in language documentation. I hid there for a while until Indonesia gave me the boot on Christmas.

Just days before the holiday, I discovered that I had overstayed my visa. I thought that I had a two month visa, but really it was a one month visa with a one month renewal option. I went to the immigration office and they explained that it would be better to leave Indonesia and come again later rather than apply for an extension that had to undergo investigation since I had already overstayed. I ran home and booked the next possible flight out, a flight to Singapore.

My flight was on Christmas day and as I landed in Singapore, I felt like I had been given one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. I entered a beautiful, multicultural city which turned on once more my love for being in Asia. I also met many travelers from all around the world with whom I had conversations in Indonesian, spent New Years, and talked about life. One of those friends was a guy from Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), a place that I wanted to travel in order to reach the Wehea Dayak, a group that speaks a minority language that has interested me for years. I canceled my Borneo trip earlier in my plans, because I did not think I had the savoir faire to navigate such a land and there is almost no information out there on how to get to this people group in the remote rainforest. My friend became my new found courage. He just so happened to know exactly where I needed to go and how to get to this remote corner of the Borneo rainforest. Although communication ceased with him, it gave me the strength to jump out there. I did a bit of online research and found an obscure rough description of how to get there. I purchase the cheapest ticket to Borneo which sent me from Singapore to Brunei and headed for the unknown.

I spent a few days in Brunei, where I found my traveling groove and then headed toward Kalimantan, my ultimate Bornean destination. I hopped on public transit and after a few buses and boats, I found myself in Sabah, Malaysia. I ended up in the ultra-rat and roach infested town of Tawau on the Malaysian-Indonesian border, waiting for my visa. The day I arrive was a holiday celebrating Mohamad’s Birthday, as I was told, and it was great to see the festivities happening all around town. The next day, I went in for my visa, but the online system was down for the day due to inclement weather in Jakarta during this Southeast Asian rainy season. On that third day, I finally picked up my visa and caught a flight over to Tarakan, Kalimantan (Indonesia).

After landing, I took a taxi and then boat to the town of Tujung selor where I chartered a car to Wehea. This ride consisted of about 9 hours on one of world’s roughest roads, before finally reaching Wehea. In Wehea, I met with the chief of the Wehea Dayak people, a people group that had always interested me linguistically, and we talked over lunch as he freely welcomed me in his home. We exchanged contact information and I hope to keep in contact for years to come. After exploring the village a bit, my driver and I headed for the regional capital city of Balikpapan, on that 15 hour brain-tossing, stomach-twisting journey.

From Balikpapan, I flew to Makassar, Sulewesi where I stayed for a few days, before entering the paradise of West Papua. I’m currently here in Papua where I have already seen great progress in terms of my project. I have had the opportunity to participate in some language documentation while interviewing many linguists about their projects in various parts of New Guinea. I was invited to Papua New Guinea (the eastern half of the Island) by linguists from the University of Goroka, but time and funds, unfortunately will not allow for what would have been an amazing side trip.

Now that I have spent a few weeks, exploring the diversity of languages in Indonesia, I will finish my trip here by visiting one of the most biologically diverse areas of the world, the Arfak mountains. Only 1 ½ hours, outside of Manokwari, I will be heading to the Vogelkop Rainforest tomorrow morning in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the famous Birds of Paradise.

Here and now in Papua, in this Oceanic paradise, I feel, for certain, that I’ve made the world my home. Bitten by the travel bug, as this oceanic chapter of my trip opens, I can’t wait to see what’s next!