torrential rain and lost bags

wow! it feels like i left about 10 days ago and it was only wednesday that I embarked upon this crazy journey...

for those of you not in the know- i was without luggage for a full 36 rather stressful and unclean hours, as my bags, along with Lisa's got left in Sydney. We arrived in Bali and watched for 15 minutes as the luggage carousel went around and around with no sign of our bags. we got stuck in bali for the night which was a bit crap, but we were lucky to be helped out by some lovely Malaysian business people (a husband and wife) who helped de-stress us somewhat by offering to share their transport and taking us to a hotel.

bali was a bit sad- there are no wisatawan (tourists) there and the hotels are only at about 3% of capacity. we drove through kuta and had a look at the memorial which was also quite sad, but interesting to see. but honestly, i don't feel too compelled to return to bali on this trip anyway. i think there is plenty here in java to explore!

so anyway we arrived in the same clothes we flew from australia in, to meet for the first time, our fellow ACICIS students at the Wisma Gadjah Mada. i must admit, having only had 2 hours sleep, wearing the same gross clothes for 36 hours and being generally out of sorts was not conducive to producing my sparkling best, but i struggled through and eventually our bags arrived (well 3 out of 4 anyway) at 9.30 pm last night. Lisa's other bag will arrive tonight.

last night we met our pendampings - our indonesian helpers who help us to find accomodation and just generally be our friend. mine is called dini- she is a regular little princess- a self-confessed "bad muslim" who wears stilleto heels and blue contact lenses!!!! but she is well in the know about all the important things such as where i can get my nails attended to and which is the best gym. she also took me looking at kos today which are boarding houses for students. i looked at 6 ranging from $50 per month to $100 per month. i have found a nice one which i will go and look at again- there are two rooms attached to the family house for "bule" - foreigners, and then about 20 rooms where indonesian girls live. it seems friendly and there is a servant who will apparently cater to all my culinary requests! it is a bout 10 minutes walk from uni....

speaking of uni- it is going to be an interesting experience methinks. we enrol next week and dini said i should try to take some law classes in indonesian. i think i would be hopeless, but apparently you adjust pretty quickly. my indonesian is going ok- there are some people here who are really fluent and some a lot worse than me- so i am not a complete dunce...... i can understand much more than i can say, that is for sure. so i will update you as i am further immersed- bearing in mind that i am currently staying in a hotel with aussie students and therefore able to speak english......

aside form that- the ACICIS crew are quite cool- there are actually 2 families here and quite a number of mature age students too. we did administrative stuff today- got finger-printed by the local police, and filled in very tedious visa forms- we also got the low-down on health- an assurance that we will get sick at least once! apparently people have had typhoid even with the innoculation- which is a worry. dengue fever is endemic here too- carried by these enormous very scary mosquito's- so you have to wear long pants and sleeves at dawn and dusk...... but it is really isn't that bad if you are sensible. and the health system is very very good for people who can pay...... sad, but true.

there has been torrential rain today and i have got three lots of soggy clothes in my room now. it is unbelievable- reminding me that yes, i am in the tropics in the wet season.

anyways, this is rather long and probably boring, so i will go. but please comment, i will try to get on here again soon with some updates on my indonesian learning and other things.

but here is a parting thought- yesterday i went to the supermarket and bought 3 litres of spring water, some ice tea, a gatorade and some snacks, all for 11000 rupiah- or about $1.50. so yeah, money goes far!~