The Shansi Index
By Patrick Gilfether ‘15, Syiah Kuala University (2015-2017)
Year One
Days of waiting: 217
Weeks of orientation: 3
Bags packed: 2
Hours in transit: 29
Longest lay-over: 6 hours
Number of airport showers: 2
Days in Vietnam en-route to Indonesia: 12
Bowls of Pho: 12
Hours on the back of Phuong’s motorbike: 27
Flat tires: 1
American’s met on Fourth of July: 2
Flights to reach Jogjakarta: 2
Longest lay-over: 6 hours
Episodes of in-flight diarrhea: 2
Hours of Indonesian language study: 134
Visa Extensions: 1
Visits to Immigration office: 3
Number of motorbike crashes: 0
Visits to Borobudur: 0
Surprise birthday parties: 2
Arak mistakes: 2
Days in the ocean: 4
Hours in Singapore: 144
Hours in air conditioning: 122.5
Visa applications: 1
Trips to Indonesian embassy: 4
Singapore Chili Crab: 1
Strained Mandarin conversations with migrant Chinese construction workers on public transit: 3
Gold-dispensing ATM machines spotted: 1
Original Warhol’s in shopping malls: 3
Bags checked: 1
Bags on baggage claim: 1
Kilograms of curry at welcoming party in Aceh: 6
Classes sessions taught over the course of the year: 124
Contact hours with students: 216
Visa Extensions: 1
Trips to immigration: 1
Videos produced for a rainforest conservation campaign in Aceh: 5
Days on shoot: 5
Districts visited during shooting: 12
Hours on project: 187
Hours of English language use during production process: 16
Total views: 45000+
Dollars raised for campaign via videos: 12,000
Hours spent en route to Jogjakarta for Christmas: 35
Nights without sleeping in a bed or room: 2
Friendly Batak police officers at Dunkin Donuts: 1
Theatrical viewings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens: 3
Hours returning From Jogjakarta: 5.5
Days in a tuna processing plant: 7
Hours on a tuna fishing boat in the sun: 16
Time I got up to go to a Tuna auction in Osaka: 3:45 am
Time I went to bed the night before: 2:30 am
Carafes of sake graciously ordered by our host that night: 7?
Meals of Sushi: 11
Total audience at premier of Fin: 125
Formal surf lessons: 1
Days spent surfing: 9
Green waves I stood up on: 0
Major wipeouts: 1
Unbelievably bad sunburns: 2
Other surf-related injuries: 0
Total visits to Pulau Weh: 6
Scuba dives: 8
Total bottom time: 286 minutes
Shark sightings: 6
Jellyfish plagues: 1
Underwater volcanoes:1
Total quantity of video shot over the course of the year in Gigabytes: 779.18
Minutes and seconds of finished video content produced: 41:29
Total students taught: 153
Flights over the course of the year: 20
Countries visited: 5
Cups of coffee: 656