masuk angin

hello ppl. my apologies for recent lack of posting. had first week of classes last week and then weekend away. all quite full on!

so whats the news? first, the title- masuk angin is essentially the equivalent of the english "under the weather" except here it is used to describe virtually anything that involves coughing or a bad chest! translated literally it means- entered by the wind!i have had a bad chest since i arrived, due largely to the fact i live 10 metres from the most polluted road in Yogya. however it has been niggling, and my issues with masuk angin culminated in a bizarre incident at the accomodation at krakal beach which basically meant that as soon as i tried to sleep, my chest tightened like that of a chronic asthmatic. after three hours of trying to resolve my apparent allergy to the very um, SIMPLE accomodation standards, i ended up sleeping on the beach with a bunch of our indo friends and some other bules! there were about 15 of us out there= and it was the only place i could breathe!

anyway, i ended up buying some ventolin to try and resolve this masuk angin issue, and it has worked partly but i think i just need to really chill for a while.....

but the story continues- last night i stayed at the house of the rich aunty of my friend wawan because she asked me to stay there (and she is not the sort of person you say no to......) to accompany another friend who has been really sick. anyway, she had organised for a masseuse to come to her house and give him a massage for general health, and then perform this traditional indo ritual whose name i have forgotten, but which basically involves repetitive dragging of copper coins over the skin until the "wind" gets out. anyway, i also was offered a massage but didn't want to coin thing, but wawan fell asleep and i couldn't understand the masseuse- an old lady who spoke Javanese not Indo- and I couldn't politely communicate to her at 1am in the morning my desire to remain red welt free. so i had a 2 hour session- one hour of mssage and one of coin dragging therapy. and all i can say is, wait till u see the pics. i have a red skeleton on my back- it is bloody awful, and i am meant to be going out with the girls on friday, and now it looks like i will have to wear a mu-mu or something to conceal my awful red lashes! aaargh. actually quite horrible.

the aunty btw, is really nice. she has offered for me to stay at her Jakarta house when i go there, but apparently it will be a 2 bour commute, so..... we will see. but they are very generous people, certainly significantly more well off than the average indonesian, and with 2 cute little kids!

anyway there is so much news and so much homework to do, and so little time!

what else....

i am singing in a band on saturday night apparently- weird things like this just happen to white people here- some random marketing guy got my number and called me to say he hears i am interested in singing and would i like to sing at valentines day gig. because i am still masuk angin- i couldn't sing, but i am practising saturday and singing sat night! hilarious eh? another example of random weird stuff happening to white people is the fact that about 15 ACICIS ppl were in an ad for a paintball place last week. i was invited but i had class! what a nerd huh!

i start japanese tomorrow. classes so far are good. teachers are great too.

might be going to lombok (island next to bali) in a couple of weeks for a friends bday. its either that or a weekend in a plush hotel with a bunch of us, but i would really like to get out of Yogya again- I love it here, but the pollution is something else.

oh and i moved into my PROPER room last Friday- have bought nice new sheets etc for the bed, and some awesome laptop speakers with a sub woofer, so i can compete with the other kos girls for space on the airwaves! i was going to get a tv but my experience of indo tv so far is hmmmm, not so good, so might think of something else to get instead! i have to exit my room for 2 days while one kos girls parents come for her graduation, but after that continuous personal space. i might go stay with "aunty" for those 2 days! she goes back to jakarta on monday with the kids leaving her amazing house empty, and she has said that we can stay there, with the 5 servants (its so full on i can't get used to it) whenever we want! what a person to know hey.

still haven't had the trotskies (new name for squidge belly!) but its gonna happen any day= everyone else has been sick (including lisa. i haven't been particularly finnicky about what i eat, but so far so good. other people have contracted strep throat, lung infections, weird gut worms etc! mainly form partying to hard! its bound to happen to me soon. i am just waiting with bated breath!

oh and PS- my USB drive got swiped the other day (my own fault- it was in my glasses case which i left at the net place) so i haven't yet worked out how to get my photo's onto the internet computers yet, so you will have to wait for the red welt pics and the krakal sunset/ liquid horizon pics! sorry!

ok till next time!hopefully next time i will be sans masuk angin!