Hello everyone. First you all know, through my dad that I am ok. Saturday morning privided 2 of the most terrifying experiences of my life- first 57 seconds of magnitude 6 earthquake and 2 hours later, crazy panic as people fled from an imaginary tsunami. it wasn't clear at first how severe the damage was, and I did contemplate leaving on Saturday afternoon. However, yesterday I headed out with some friends to Bantul. We spent a lot of our own money on buying food, water, medicine to take to the people down there who have lost everything. The pattern of devastation is random, buildings stand with no damage next to piles of rubble. I went to a refugee camp and what I saw was so sad. However amongst all the horror the people down there are still smiling. Aid is filtering through and international NGO's are getting in slowly. Sadly, the Indonesian Government response is, as yet, not very visible.
Today we have set up emergency response convoys to start sending medicine down to Bantul and also to Prambanan and Klaten which are badly damaged. Between us we put together 12 million rupiah or about $1500-1700 dollars. By we I mean the ACICIS students, along with other international students here. We have put together a letter which i have attached to this post with account details should you wish to donate some money. Rest assured every single cent will go toward helping people, as our only interest in asking for this money is to help the community that has been so generous with us while we have lived here.
I just got back from the hospital and donating blood. They are in desperate need of blood. Circumstances at the hospital are mixed. There are people in the corridors and walkways, but all seem to have water and food and none seemed to be in pain. It was surprisingly clean, and people are calm.
As for the rest of Yogya, people are getting back to normal. Shops are open, and in my area at least, there is hardly any damage. And of course, I have my exams starting tomorrow. Though I am not sure what standard our teachers are expectin given that all the international students are pretty much out in the field helping people.
Will try to upload some photo's and elaborate more on what has happened. Rest assured- I am fine, I am healthy, I am now able to go to sleep without leaving the door open and light on and my kos is a fortress where I feel very safe. Luv you all, miss you all. Please read the letter below.
Dear Friends and Family
As you would all already know, Yogyakarta and surrounding areas have been severely affected by a major earthquake early Saturday morning. Medical supplies, water and food are severely lacking in those villages which have still not been able to receive emergency assistance.
There are currently many emergency efforts being organized. If you have already donated thank you! – you have probably already saved some lives.
For those of you who would like to make a direct contribution now, we at ACICIS (Australian Consortium for In Country Indonesian Studies) in conjunction with other international students are currently coordinating an emergency response effort to organise direct relief to the most remote villages which are currently receiving little assistance. We are purchasing supplies that we think are most needed, based on information from those of us who have visited those areas, and advice from other contacts here.
At this stage, we believe supporting ACICIS directly is the most effective way to support our efforts because we have a committed team of young Australians on the ground, with language skills, knowledge, and local contacts. We are also coordinating our efforts with other groups and organizations.
ACICIS students are spending all the personal cash we currently have in our bank accounts, but are desperately in need of more. If you are in a position to donate funds, it would be greatly appreciated. A few Australian dollars can make a big difference.
The easiest way for us to get cash to buy medical and other emergency relief supplies is for you, our family and friends, to make transfers directly to our Resident Director’s account in Australia. This avoids unnecessary fees for transferring to foreign accounts, and avoids the confusion of receiving transfers to a number of different accounts. Phil King, the Resident Director, will be able to supply an account statement to show that all funds arriving into this account have been spent in the next few days.
The details of Phil’s account are as follows:
Philip King
Illawarra Mutual Building Society (IMB)
BSB: 641 800
Account No: 200171941
Keep in mind the time lag on bank transfers- at least one day, so please make the transfer as quickly as possible. We would appreciate if you could forward this email to those you think may want to help.
Yours faithfully
Adelle
Monday, May 29, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Polygamy in the Key of White Knickers
OK- I am only going to offer you an abbreviated version of the mountain story to supplement my 11 ½ steps to mountain climbing heaven/hell, as we did it nearly a week ago and I have other stuff to talk about.
Basically what happened was this. We left at 1pm to head in the direction of Mount Ungaran by AC’d bus. We arrived at 4pm in a little town at the foot of the mountain and changed transport to mini-vans. They were rather useless transport as with 10 Aussies in each they continuously stalled on the steep bits (being a mountain that was most of it) and we had to unload, run up the hill and get back in.
We stopped at base camp 1 to focus on the mammoth task ahead, drink coffee, eat instant noodles and rest. It started to absolutely p down with rain at this point which was a rather depressing prospect- scaling a mountain in torrential rain, erm no thanks. Anyway, it stopped about half an hour before set off time. We then climbed for three-four hours (the easiest bit by far) until we got to Base Camp 2 which is a kampung/village half way up the mountain. It’s a shame I will only ever see it by night as it sounds pretty interesting- don’t ask me why but there are 60ppl who live there- and if a baby is born someone has to leave, and if someone dies someone has to move there. Don’t ask why I have no idea- all I know is it is an easy place for the Indonesian Government to conduct population census.
Anyway we stayed there until abt 1.30 am. I had about an hour’s sleep, and several coffees, and more instant noodles. We then set off in our two groups hiking up the mountain. I should mention here that I was listening to music all the way up, on the first leg it was a combination of Madonna and Hottest 100 2005. On the second leg I was listening to an 80’s mix given to me by Ray, and was as such scaling cliffs with such classics as Grease Is The Word, Now That We’ve Found Love by Heavy D & The Boyz (yes hello keith), as well as classics from Tiffany, Bananarama, The Cars, Duran Duran and New Order. I am not sure because I had a backpack on my back, but it is likely that people trekking behind me launched such projectiles at my back as Tango wafer biscuits and Silver Queen chocolate wrappers. They probably reached breaking point when I started singing Ghost Busters. Oh my goodness, and how could I forget, Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News was in the mix too. (I am listening to it right now hence the absent minded additions to the list!) Hey mum, what is the song that goes “"Oh I-I, I'd do anything that you want me too-oo-ooo, but I can’t go for that, no can do, no, I can’t go for that, can’t go for that, no can do”. I am sure Aunty Helen or Uncle Kevin will know if you don’t. That’s in the mix too. Such a comprehensive memoir of 80’s cheese.
Anyway, back to the mountain. So this leg was tough. Lot’s of climbing up rocks. Lots of lactic acid. It wasn’t aerobically tough, but physically tough. And the worst bit is, the Indonesian strategy for keeping us moving was to say “only 15 minutes more”. When they continually say it for the last 2 hours of the climb, it induces murderous thoughts of death by strangulation…… whoops, did I write that. Only kidding. It makes you love them even more.
So we got to the puncak, the top, at about 4.30am. Apparently for the last half an hour everyone in the first group who was already at the top could hear me squawking and/or singing 80’a music. It’s nice to know my voice carries that far! It wasn’t overly cold at the top, but the problem is that you are doused in sweat and that makes the wind feel freezing. I deliriously changed my clothes, and at this point, a clean pair of white knickers that I didn’t even know I had in my backpack fell out, and were discovered at the door of the tent by our Indonesian guides, whom I found out hours later, threw them around for a while and then threw them onto a nearby tree. Delightful. Anyway, we watched sunrise, ate more instant noodles, drank Milo, coffee and other goodies, and at about 8am (no sleep for me) commenced the descent.
All I will say about the descent is this- 3 and a half hours, ½ dense jungle, ½ on a path on the edge of a cliff suitable for passage by such animals as goats and dogs, not people, 100% of the path made of clay, me falling over so many times I lost my sense of humour and almost cried (if it wasn’t for Ryan I would have probably set up a camp there and stopped descending, living a solitary mountain life forever), last half an hour descending in torrential rain, a hand covered in leeches after touching some weird plant. It was tough. I am now in a position to reflect on the descent and say that it has somehow strengthened my character, however there are now 5 days, a 90 minute reflexology massage and a "night out" between me and the mountain.
Anyway, it was good, although I threw away the yellow jacket that you may have seen in the photo’s because it resembled the loin cloth of a mud-wrestler. Lucky I bought it second hand for $1.
So that was that.
Oh I forgot to mention that the night before on the Friday night, myself and the band (as yet unnamed) played 4 songs at Bintang (Passenger-Powderfinger, Holy Grail again, Ku Tak Bisa and Steal My Kisses- Ben Harper). As a consequence I had a mild hangover on the climbing day because of the confidence beer I drank prior to singing….. hehehe.
Since last weekend a few things have happened. A week has passed. I have just three weeks left in Yogya. I had my last class for uni and have exams next week. I completed my 1500 word assignment for International Security, excerpted below. (Yes, I am not just here climbing mountains and singing in bars……. I actually know how to write stuff!) Although according to Agnes, my assignment bore the hallmarks of a student who has tried hard to make the best of their limited vocabulary. I am still unsure if that is a compliment or an insult…… Last night I ate in a restaurant owned by the leader of Polygamy in Indonesia. I am not sure what you do to become the leader of polygamy, aside from having 4 wives, but nonetheless that was what the menu said.
Polygamy is an interesting issue to talk about here. Nearly everyone here thinks that men who use the Koran as justification for having multiple wives is mis-interpreting the actions of the Prophet Mohammed, whom I believe took his other wives because they were widowed and therefore he was doing them a good deed by protecting them from stigma that existed at the time. Hardly anyone agrees with it, and it is hard to carry out I think, while still being true to the Koran which demands that each wife be treated exactly equally in terms of love, maintenance, companionship etc. Anyway, the restaurant guy clearly thinks he can do it, although no-one I speaks to thinks he can.
Ok enough random ranting.
To my wonderful, one-of-a-kind grandparents who have just set off on their round the world trip. Selamat jalan, hati-hati, I love you lots and have an absolute ball.
And I am going to start copying Keith and Becky and do “what I am listening to”:
Haste 80’s mix (at this very moment, Phil Collins- Invisible Touch), Portishead-Dummy, Massive Attack-Blue Lines, random drum and bass, and some hot Indo trance.
And this is the proof I can "do Indonesian"
Menurut Buzan, Weaver & de Wilde “security is about survival”. Tegasnya, proses sekuritisasi akan terjadi kalau pemerintah nasional (atau aktor sekuritisasi lain) mengatakan bahwa ada ancaman atau existential threat untuk sesuatu yang harus dilindungi, yaitu referent object.
Esei ini akan mempertimbangkan isu terrorisme dan cara isu ini sudah disekuritisasikan antara Australia dan Indonesia. Terutama, tindakan-tindakan dan kebijaksanaan pemerintah Australia sebagai securitising actornya dalam hubungan dengan existential threat ini akan diperhatikan. Walaupun referent object di Australia yang menghubungkan terrorisme masih kurang jelas, kalau kita melihat speech actnya yang sudah dilakukan oleh Pemerintah Australia, proses analisis ini menjadi lebih sederhana. Dengan kata lain, speech act yang dikatakan oleh Pemerintah Australia mengungkapkan fokus dan tujuan-tujuannya.
Basically what happened was this. We left at 1pm to head in the direction of Mount Ungaran by AC’d bus. We arrived at 4pm in a little town at the foot of the mountain and changed transport to mini-vans. They were rather useless transport as with 10 Aussies in each they continuously stalled on the steep bits (being a mountain that was most of it) and we had to unload, run up the hill and get back in.
We stopped at base camp 1 to focus on the mammoth task ahead, drink coffee, eat instant noodles and rest. It started to absolutely p down with rain at this point which was a rather depressing prospect- scaling a mountain in torrential rain, erm no thanks. Anyway, it stopped about half an hour before set off time. We then climbed for three-four hours (the easiest bit by far) until we got to Base Camp 2 which is a kampung/village half way up the mountain. It’s a shame I will only ever see it by night as it sounds pretty interesting- don’t ask me why but there are 60ppl who live there- and if a baby is born someone has to leave, and if someone dies someone has to move there. Don’t ask why I have no idea- all I know is it is an easy place for the Indonesian Government to conduct population census.
Anyway we stayed there until abt 1.30 am. I had about an hour’s sleep, and several coffees, and more instant noodles. We then set off in our two groups hiking up the mountain. I should mention here that I was listening to music all the way up, on the first leg it was a combination of Madonna and Hottest 100 2005. On the second leg I was listening to an 80’s mix given to me by Ray, and was as such scaling cliffs with such classics as Grease Is The Word, Now That We’ve Found Love by Heavy D & The Boyz (yes hello keith), as well as classics from Tiffany, Bananarama, The Cars, Duran Duran and New Order. I am not sure because I had a backpack on my back, but it is likely that people trekking behind me launched such projectiles at my back as Tango wafer biscuits and Silver Queen chocolate wrappers. They probably reached breaking point when I started singing Ghost Busters. Oh my goodness, and how could I forget, Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News was in the mix too. (I am listening to it right now hence the absent minded additions to the list!) Hey mum, what is the song that goes “"Oh I-I, I'd do anything that you want me too-oo-ooo, but I can’t go for that, no can do, no, I can’t go for that, can’t go for that, no can do”. I am sure Aunty Helen or Uncle Kevin will know if you don’t. That’s in the mix too. Such a comprehensive memoir of 80’s cheese.
Anyway, back to the mountain. So this leg was tough. Lot’s of climbing up rocks. Lots of lactic acid. It wasn’t aerobically tough, but physically tough. And the worst bit is, the Indonesian strategy for keeping us moving was to say “only 15 minutes more”. When they continually say it for the last 2 hours of the climb, it induces murderous thoughts of death by strangulation…… whoops, did I write that. Only kidding. It makes you love them even more.
So we got to the puncak, the top, at about 4.30am. Apparently for the last half an hour everyone in the first group who was already at the top could hear me squawking and/or singing 80’a music. It’s nice to know my voice carries that far! It wasn’t overly cold at the top, but the problem is that you are doused in sweat and that makes the wind feel freezing. I deliriously changed my clothes, and at this point, a clean pair of white knickers that I didn’t even know I had in my backpack fell out, and were discovered at the door of the tent by our Indonesian guides, whom I found out hours later, threw them around for a while and then threw them onto a nearby tree. Delightful. Anyway, we watched sunrise, ate more instant noodles, drank Milo, coffee and other goodies, and at about 8am (no sleep for me) commenced the descent.
All I will say about the descent is this- 3 and a half hours, ½ dense jungle, ½ on a path on the edge of a cliff suitable for passage by such animals as goats and dogs, not people, 100% of the path made of clay, me falling over so many times I lost my sense of humour and almost cried (if it wasn’t for Ryan I would have probably set up a camp there and stopped descending, living a solitary mountain life forever), last half an hour descending in torrential rain, a hand covered in leeches after touching some weird plant. It was tough. I am now in a position to reflect on the descent and say that it has somehow strengthened my character, however there are now 5 days, a 90 minute reflexology massage and a "night out" between me and the mountain.
Anyway, it was good, although I threw away the yellow jacket that you may have seen in the photo’s because it resembled the loin cloth of a mud-wrestler. Lucky I bought it second hand for $1.
So that was that.
Oh I forgot to mention that the night before on the Friday night, myself and the band (as yet unnamed) played 4 songs at Bintang (Passenger-Powderfinger, Holy Grail again, Ku Tak Bisa and Steal My Kisses- Ben Harper). As a consequence I had a mild hangover on the climbing day because of the confidence beer I drank prior to singing….. hehehe.
Since last weekend a few things have happened. A week has passed. I have just three weeks left in Yogya. I had my last class for uni and have exams next week. I completed my 1500 word assignment for International Security, excerpted below. (Yes, I am not just here climbing mountains and singing in bars……. I actually know how to write stuff!) Although according to Agnes, my assignment bore the hallmarks of a student who has tried hard to make the best of their limited vocabulary. I am still unsure if that is a compliment or an insult…… Last night I ate in a restaurant owned by the leader of Polygamy in Indonesia. I am not sure what you do to become the leader of polygamy, aside from having 4 wives, but nonetheless that was what the menu said.
Polygamy is an interesting issue to talk about here. Nearly everyone here thinks that men who use the Koran as justification for having multiple wives is mis-interpreting the actions of the Prophet Mohammed, whom I believe took his other wives because they were widowed and therefore he was doing them a good deed by protecting them from stigma that existed at the time. Hardly anyone agrees with it, and it is hard to carry out I think, while still being true to the Koran which demands that each wife be treated exactly equally in terms of love, maintenance, companionship etc. Anyway, the restaurant guy clearly thinks he can do it, although no-one I speaks to thinks he can.
Ok enough random ranting.
To my wonderful, one-of-a-kind grandparents who have just set off on their round the world trip. Selamat jalan, hati-hati, I love you lots and have an absolute ball.
And I am going to start copying Keith and Becky and do “what I am listening to”:
Haste 80’s mix (at this very moment, Phil Collins- Invisible Touch), Portishead-Dummy, Massive Attack-Blue Lines, random drum and bass, and some hot Indo trance.
And this is the proof I can "do Indonesian"
Menurut Buzan, Weaver & de Wilde “security is about survival”. Tegasnya, proses sekuritisasi akan terjadi kalau pemerintah nasional (atau aktor sekuritisasi lain) mengatakan bahwa ada ancaman atau existential threat untuk sesuatu yang harus dilindungi, yaitu referent object.
Esei ini akan mempertimbangkan isu terrorisme dan cara isu ini sudah disekuritisasikan antara Australia dan Indonesia. Terutama, tindakan-tindakan dan kebijaksanaan pemerintah Australia sebagai securitising actornya dalam hubungan dengan existential threat ini akan diperhatikan. Walaupun referent object di Australia yang menghubungkan terrorisme masih kurang jelas, kalau kita melihat speech actnya yang sudah dilakukan oleh Pemerintah Australia, proses analisis ini menjadi lebih sederhana. Dengan kata lain, speech act yang dikatakan oleh Pemerintah Australia mengungkapkan fokus dan tujuan-tujuannya.
Last Day of Lectures
Sophie (from Germany) and I pretend to study on the last day of Uni, whilst actually checking out the World Cup Timetable and organising a party at which we can gratuitously slander the efforts of the opponents of our respective nations..........
Actually, I am lying, we were contemplating the finer points of the memper-kan affixation...
Anyway, it was the last day of uni on Wednesday, and we celebrated accordingly later that night..........he he he.
Actually, I am lying, we were contemplating the finer points of the memper-kan affixation...
Anyway, it was the last day of uni on Wednesday, and we celebrated accordingly later that night..........he he he.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Five and a Half Reasons NOT To Climb A Mountain
1) Over 36 hours with only one hour of "sleep" and 11 hours of climbing.
2) It's bloody cold at the top.
3) Leeches
4) Trekking down 7Km of slick, wet clay is actually not very good fun, especially when you have not slept for 24 hours.
4.5) Trekking down 7Km of slick, wet clay is actually not very good fun, especially when you are exceptionally uncoordinated and spend the majority of the 7Km falling over, and/or sliding down on your backside.
5) There is a lot of pain the next day.
5.5) It is not a good way to prepare for writing a 1500 word assignment, in Indonesian, that is due the day after you get home.
Will tell the whole story when I have finished all my exams and assignments. Glad I did it, but my new philosophy on mountain climbing is "Yes, it's an option...... but not one that I end to choose again." Ha ha ha. I suppose you aren't surprised. I have some cool photo's though!
2) It's bloody cold at the top.
3) Leeches
4) Trekking down 7Km of slick, wet clay is actually not very good fun, especially when you have not slept for 24 hours.
4.5) Trekking down 7Km of slick, wet clay is actually not very good fun, especially when you are exceptionally uncoordinated and spend the majority of the 7Km falling over, and/or sliding down on your backside.
5) There is a lot of pain the next day.
5.5) It is not a good way to prepare for writing a 1500 word assignment, in Indonesian, that is due the day after you get home.
Will tell the whole story when I have finished all my exams and assignments. Glad I did it, but my new philosophy on mountain climbing is "Yes, it's an option...... but not one that I end to choose again." Ha ha ha. I suppose you aren't surprised. I have some cool photo's though!
Five Reasons To Climb A Mountain
1) Nice view from the top
2) Good for the muscles
3) Happy feelings of accomplishment
4) Pleasant group bonding experience
5) Did I mention the nice view?
2) Good for the muscles
3) Happy feelings of accomplishment
4) Pleasant group bonding experience
5) Did I mention the nice view?
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Merapi and Me
This is the volcano that is currently erupting!
And in other news I am climbing a mountain this weekend. I will surely die I am so unfit!
And in other news I am climbing a mountain this weekend. I will surely die I am so unfit!
Monday, May 15, 2006
Fortune Finds Me Fit and Able
Thus far in Indonesia, I have to say that there are few things from which I derive as much simple pleasure, as riding along on the back of a motorbike through the rural areas of the province of Yogyakarta, with my walkman in my ears. For some reason this combination of circumstances turns me into a goofily happy passenger.
Imagine escaping the city limits of Yogyakarta, experiencing an almost instant drop in temperature, cool wind rushing over your skin, picturesque “countryside” on all sides and a beautiful clear blue sky, shining sun and the silhouette of an angry angry volcano punctuating the view to the east.
This was my Saturday afternoon. The planets truly aligned, so instead of the afternoon rain blowing in at 2.30, an almost Adelaide-esque sun poked its face from behind a cloud and stubbornly shined until it set.
Saturday also happened to be the most important day for the Buddhist faith, that is the Waisak Festival, which celebrates Buddha’s birthday, day of enlightenment and his reaching of Nirvana. Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world converged on a point one hour from Yogyakarta which is one of the most spectacular and important pieces of Buddhist architecture in the world : Borobodur.
So Alana, Willy, myself, Ida and two other of Alana’s kos friends decided to join the pilgrimage. It really is a lovely ride from Yogya to Borobodur. We met a little misfortune however, because being improperly informed on the logistics of the roads that were open on the day, we arrived at the normal entrance and were told we would have to dismount and walk for 5Km. Instead we took an alternative route through a village which involved riding along on the narrowest of roads, crossing a river on a bridge reminiscent of an Indiana Jones film and also negotiating impossibly steep hills with the motorbikes. However it was also incredibly fortunate that we were forced to pass this road as we were able to stop with a perfect vantage point of Gunung Merapi, which that day began to erupt (I told you the planets aligned). I have some really good photo’s of the Mountain on the photostream.
Anyway we eventually passed the village and had a relatively clear run of traffic until we reached the main road into Borobudur, at which point traffic slowed to less than a crawl and it felt like we were going to be trapped in a throng of revving motorbikes for the rest of the day. Luckily, after half an hour of literally moving about 10cm a minute we made it. The journey took 2 hours, but it was of course, half the fun!
We walked up to one of the gates only to find that it had closed 1 minute earlier! So with just one gate open we had to walk for about 2 Kilometres along with all the other people who had been locked out but still wanted to make it in for the final ceremony. We got in eventually, and although there was literally thousands and thousands of people there, there was an unusually calm atmosphere, especially for a crowd in Indonesia! Being just about the only two blondes in the whole place apart from the odd backpacker, there was never any risk that Alana and I would lose our friends. We literally stuck out a mile. We listened to some of the ceremony and took photos of the monks, and then as the sun was setting we sat down to take some pictures of Borodbodur itself. Unfortunately we were unable to climb it because it was a special day, but we are going to return to get a proper look at the stonework which is spectacular even from a distance.
We then walked around the entire perimeter and as it got darker, we turned around to see a perfectly full shining moon. Absolutely gorgeous. The day could not have been more perfect. We waited for around half an hour just soaking up the view (Borobodur is perched atop a hill which is one side bordered by enormous hills and greenery, and on the other two mountains, one of them being Merapi.) Just as we were about to leave, there was a sudden burst of activity as all the pilgrim monks rounded to corner and descended upon the place for the evening function. I have a few photos of this, including one of the four token Tibetan’s who were there!
Anyway, the ride back was also trafficky but we were all so pleased at how the day had turned out, (even the Indonesians who had been to Borobodur before) that it didn’t matter.
So that was the weekend. However as you have no doubt heard, the volcano has started to erupt and last night from the roof of my kos we could see lava being spewed out from the top. Let me just repeat that- I saw lava! It is an amazing sight, and we are really lucky because the weather is so clear right now that even during the day the view is unobscured. I am perfectly safe. We would have been evacuated if not. So no worries, and you can all stop sending me SMS’s! Hahaha! I got 3 yesterday!
Oh and just quickly, I was a bit of an erupting volcano on Friday night. Alana decided to have her hair chemically straightened and I decided to get highlights done again. We went to the salon we have been to before. I was there 5 hours because the first guy, although he clearly understood my instructions, had no clue on what he was doing and gave me a head that was all the colours of the bleaching rainbow from bright white to golden yellow. I told him in no uncertain words that I was not leaving until his er, error was fixed, at which point the manager decided to provide me with a more competent hairdresser who proceeded to do a nice job, that is, after he dyed over the mistakes from the first idiot. Oh, and I also sang “Holy Grail” in Bar Bintang later that night with the band. All I will say is that dutch courage is a double-edged sword- it gave me the nerve to get up there, but also clouded my memory just enough that I missed a whole verse. Heh heh heh.
BTW- go Crows!!!!! Yeeeehaaaa!
Ps- Becky did you pick the Joanna Newsom reference in the title???!!! Injokesareusgituloh! Thanks 4 the phonecall btw even if the connection was dodgy!
Imagine escaping the city limits of Yogyakarta, experiencing an almost instant drop in temperature, cool wind rushing over your skin, picturesque “countryside” on all sides and a beautiful clear blue sky, shining sun and the silhouette of an angry angry volcano punctuating the view to the east.
This was my Saturday afternoon. The planets truly aligned, so instead of the afternoon rain blowing in at 2.30, an almost Adelaide-esque sun poked its face from behind a cloud and stubbornly shined until it set.
Saturday also happened to be the most important day for the Buddhist faith, that is the Waisak Festival, which celebrates Buddha’s birthday, day of enlightenment and his reaching of Nirvana. Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world converged on a point one hour from Yogyakarta which is one of the most spectacular and important pieces of Buddhist architecture in the world : Borobodur.
So Alana, Willy, myself, Ida and two other of Alana’s kos friends decided to join the pilgrimage. It really is a lovely ride from Yogya to Borobodur. We met a little misfortune however, because being improperly informed on the logistics of the roads that were open on the day, we arrived at the normal entrance and were told we would have to dismount and walk for 5Km. Instead we took an alternative route through a village which involved riding along on the narrowest of roads, crossing a river on a bridge reminiscent of an Indiana Jones film and also negotiating impossibly steep hills with the motorbikes. However it was also incredibly fortunate that we were forced to pass this road as we were able to stop with a perfect vantage point of Gunung Merapi, which that day began to erupt (I told you the planets aligned). I have some really good photo’s of the Mountain on the photostream.
Anyway we eventually passed the village and had a relatively clear run of traffic until we reached the main road into Borobudur, at which point traffic slowed to less than a crawl and it felt like we were going to be trapped in a throng of revving motorbikes for the rest of the day. Luckily, after half an hour of literally moving about 10cm a minute we made it. The journey took 2 hours, but it was of course, half the fun!
We walked up to one of the gates only to find that it had closed 1 minute earlier! So with just one gate open we had to walk for about 2 Kilometres along with all the other people who had been locked out but still wanted to make it in for the final ceremony. We got in eventually, and although there was literally thousands and thousands of people there, there was an unusually calm atmosphere, especially for a crowd in Indonesia! Being just about the only two blondes in the whole place apart from the odd backpacker, there was never any risk that Alana and I would lose our friends. We literally stuck out a mile. We listened to some of the ceremony and took photos of the monks, and then as the sun was setting we sat down to take some pictures of Borodbodur itself. Unfortunately we were unable to climb it because it was a special day, but we are going to return to get a proper look at the stonework which is spectacular even from a distance.
We then walked around the entire perimeter and as it got darker, we turned around to see a perfectly full shining moon. Absolutely gorgeous. The day could not have been more perfect. We waited for around half an hour just soaking up the view (Borobodur is perched atop a hill which is one side bordered by enormous hills and greenery, and on the other two mountains, one of them being Merapi.) Just as we were about to leave, there was a sudden burst of activity as all the pilgrim monks rounded to corner and descended upon the place for the evening function. I have a few photos of this, including one of the four token Tibetan’s who were there!
Anyway, the ride back was also trafficky but we were all so pleased at how the day had turned out, (even the Indonesians who had been to Borobodur before) that it didn’t matter.
So that was the weekend. However as you have no doubt heard, the volcano has started to erupt and last night from the roof of my kos we could see lava being spewed out from the top. Let me just repeat that- I saw lava! It is an amazing sight, and we are really lucky because the weather is so clear right now that even during the day the view is unobscured. I am perfectly safe. We would have been evacuated if not. So no worries, and you can all stop sending me SMS’s! Hahaha! I got 3 yesterday!
Oh and just quickly, I was a bit of an erupting volcano on Friday night. Alana decided to have her hair chemically straightened and I decided to get highlights done again. We went to the salon we have been to before. I was there 5 hours because the first guy, although he clearly understood my instructions, had no clue on what he was doing and gave me a head that was all the colours of the bleaching rainbow from bright white to golden yellow. I told him in no uncertain words that I was not leaving until his er, error was fixed, at which point the manager decided to provide me with a more competent hairdresser who proceeded to do a nice job, that is, after he dyed over the mistakes from the first idiot. Oh, and I also sang “Holy Grail” in Bar Bintang later that night with the band. All I will say is that dutch courage is a double-edged sword- it gave me the nerve to get up there, but also clouded my memory just enough that I missed a whole verse. Heh heh heh.
BTW- go Crows!!!!! Yeeeehaaaa!
Ps- Becky did you pick the Joanna Newsom reference in the title???!!! Injokesareusgituloh! Thanks 4 the phonecall btw even if the connection was dodgy!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
That Bird Has Flown
Good evening. I have now been in this country for 3 and a ½ months. It occurred to me today that there are loads of crazy things that happen around me, some not so crazy but still pretty weird, whose impact have been dulled by the passing of that time. With about 5 weeks left in Yogya before I move on to Jakarta, I have been reflecting once more on the many peculiar phenomena which are inherent features of daily life in Indonesia and in the life of foreign students generally.
For a start, I have mentioned on numerous occasions the fact that I have friends from many countries here including Japan, Germany, Korea, Turkey, New Zealand. The peculiar thing about our friendships however is that, excluding obviously the English speakers, we all speak to each other in Indonesian. Of course, that is probably rather an obvious thing to most of you, however picture this scenario; a bunch of Australians, Japanese, Koreans and a German go out for dinner and spend the whole evening speaking Indonesian. White people and foreigners generally already get stared at anyway by Indonesians without needing to draw further attention to ourselves by speaking their language in their absence! They seem to find that scenario rather hilarious, but in a nice way.
Another dominant lifestyle affecting characteristic of this place is the weather. I wake up in the morning usually to a clear blue sky and it feels about 30 degrees by about 9 am. However, more often than not, I get out of class in mid-afternoon and it is torrentially down-pouring which inevitably means, in a country with an average sewerage system, motorbikes as the dominant form of transport and a generally erm, flexible attitude to time, the only way to deal with such conditions is to either make friends with someone who has a car, or wait. An example- on the way to the movies the other day in a period of 5 minutes, a massive storm developed and purged itself with equally impressive speed. We were on Ben and Sophie’s motorbikes at the time and had no option to park them in the middle of nowhere and huddle under the eaves of a translation shop and plough through the usual questions (where are you from? Why are you here? Etcetc) with the owner. We waited for an hour and when eventually decided to resume to journey, still ended up quite soaked. You have no choice but to wait. I am developing remarkable patience in this country.
Other circumstances that require patience….
The bus continues to provide me with great amusement. A new phenomena that I have observed is the proclivity of the driver to just randomly stop for a rest and drink a cup of tea or chat to his fellow bus-driving mates for as long as he sees fit. This seldom occurs when I am on the way to campus (thankfully, because I rarely allocate enough time for such unexpected occurrences in my morning schedule) but often happens on the way home when I am about 1Km from the kos. I always have to toss up whether to just get off and walk or hope that his conversation is sufficiently boring that he drinks his tea quickly and gets moving!
It occurred to me the other day also, that when we all go home to Australia we are quite likely to develop psychological paranoia about being ignored by the people around us, because we will be able to once more walk down the street and not have anyone care less about where we have come from (Dari mana?), where we are going (Mau ke mana?), are we studying in Yogya (Kuliah di sini?) and why we are walking alone (“Kok sendirian?). It is absolutely mustahil, impossible, to go anywhere incognito in this place.
I went down to the bakery near my kos today, “Parsley” to buy some bread and realized how that although I used to find it weird to see cheese and chocolate used in the same baked good or to see for example cheese as a topping on cake, I hadn’t even thought about it for 2 months as being anything other than normal. In Bandung, where Brownies are apparently a specialty, they make a cheese version. (Ew). The absolute over-sweetness of everything here would also be normal if it wasn’t for the fact that I am constantly reminded when I smile at myself in the mirror how bad my teeth will be when I get home. The default taste of hot drinks here (Milo, Coffee, Tea, Green Tea) is hyper-sweet. Out of control, cavity-inducing, stomach churning sweet. Alas, being an adaptable creature and one who is not prone to being fussy, I have learned to accept it. This is in lieu of other options other than the rather unpalatable, “don’t have a drink” option.
Oh and by the way, I eat rice and sambal (chilli sauce) for breakfast. Did I already tell u that? The girls in the kos think it is hilarious. But they all do it too.
Anyway, that’s a pot pourri of random tidbits that I always forget to put in other posts.
The wedding was cool, if completely different from Australia. I was the only foreigner there apart from Taka, a Japanese girl and there were probably about 500 guests. The process is like this (at a Military Wedding at least), some talking and military plim-plom to start with and then everyone lines up to shake hands with the bride and groom. I can’t imagine what they thought when they shook my hand as they had never seen me before in their life! Everyone then converges on the food, eats as much as they can and leaves. It winds up at about 9.30 to 10.00. No dancing. Absolutely no drinking. All very matter-of-fact but cool nonetheless!
Not going to the Mountain this weekend anymore because ACICIS has organised a mountain climbing expedition for us all next weekend, so that combined with the expense of getting to Bromo, made Alana and I decide to hang around Yogya for the weekend instead. There is a big Buddhist festival on on Saturday, and given that one of the most important pieces of Buddhist architecture in the world is once hour from Yogya (Borobudur), I might head there instead…… Should provide some good photos!
Oh and I almost forgot- I met a Japanese girl yesterday called Naomi, who works for Mitsui (the Co. that sent me to Japan) and was an MPE helper for the 2003 group of Aussies who went! She will be posted to Jakarta in June so she is here learning Indonesian. How small is the world?!
Layta!
For a start, I have mentioned on numerous occasions the fact that I have friends from many countries here including Japan, Germany, Korea, Turkey, New Zealand. The peculiar thing about our friendships however is that, excluding obviously the English speakers, we all speak to each other in Indonesian. Of course, that is probably rather an obvious thing to most of you, however picture this scenario; a bunch of Australians, Japanese, Koreans and a German go out for dinner and spend the whole evening speaking Indonesian. White people and foreigners generally already get stared at anyway by Indonesians without needing to draw further attention to ourselves by speaking their language in their absence! They seem to find that scenario rather hilarious, but in a nice way.
Another dominant lifestyle affecting characteristic of this place is the weather. I wake up in the morning usually to a clear blue sky and it feels about 30 degrees by about 9 am. However, more often than not, I get out of class in mid-afternoon and it is torrentially down-pouring which inevitably means, in a country with an average sewerage system, motorbikes as the dominant form of transport and a generally erm, flexible attitude to time, the only way to deal with such conditions is to either make friends with someone who has a car, or wait. An example- on the way to the movies the other day in a period of 5 minutes, a massive storm developed and purged itself with equally impressive speed. We were on Ben and Sophie’s motorbikes at the time and had no option to park them in the middle of nowhere and huddle under the eaves of a translation shop and plough through the usual questions (where are you from? Why are you here? Etcetc) with the owner. We waited for an hour and when eventually decided to resume to journey, still ended up quite soaked. You have no choice but to wait. I am developing remarkable patience in this country.
Other circumstances that require patience….
The bus continues to provide me with great amusement. A new phenomena that I have observed is the proclivity of the driver to just randomly stop for a rest and drink a cup of tea or chat to his fellow bus-driving mates for as long as he sees fit. This seldom occurs when I am on the way to campus (thankfully, because I rarely allocate enough time for such unexpected occurrences in my morning schedule) but often happens on the way home when I am about 1Km from the kos. I always have to toss up whether to just get off and walk or hope that his conversation is sufficiently boring that he drinks his tea quickly and gets moving!
It occurred to me the other day also, that when we all go home to Australia we are quite likely to develop psychological paranoia about being ignored by the people around us, because we will be able to once more walk down the street and not have anyone care less about where we have come from (Dari mana?), where we are going (Mau ke mana?), are we studying in Yogya (Kuliah di sini?) and why we are walking alone (“Kok sendirian?). It is absolutely mustahil, impossible, to go anywhere incognito in this place.
I went down to the bakery near my kos today, “Parsley” to buy some bread and realized how that although I used to find it weird to see cheese and chocolate used in the same baked good or to see for example cheese as a topping on cake, I hadn’t even thought about it for 2 months as being anything other than normal. In Bandung, where Brownies are apparently a specialty, they make a cheese version. (Ew). The absolute over-sweetness of everything here would also be normal if it wasn’t for the fact that I am constantly reminded when I smile at myself in the mirror how bad my teeth will be when I get home. The default taste of hot drinks here (Milo, Coffee, Tea, Green Tea) is hyper-sweet. Out of control, cavity-inducing, stomach churning sweet. Alas, being an adaptable creature and one who is not prone to being fussy, I have learned to accept it. This is in lieu of other options other than the rather unpalatable, “don’t have a drink” option.
Oh and by the way, I eat rice and sambal (chilli sauce) for breakfast. Did I already tell u that? The girls in the kos think it is hilarious. But they all do it too.
Anyway, that’s a pot pourri of random tidbits that I always forget to put in other posts.
The wedding was cool, if completely different from Australia. I was the only foreigner there apart from Taka, a Japanese girl and there were probably about 500 guests. The process is like this (at a Military Wedding at least), some talking and military plim-plom to start with and then everyone lines up to shake hands with the bride and groom. I can’t imagine what they thought when they shook my hand as they had never seen me before in their life! Everyone then converges on the food, eats as much as they can and leaves. It winds up at about 9.30 to 10.00. No dancing. Absolutely no drinking. All very matter-of-fact but cool nonetheless!
Not going to the Mountain this weekend anymore because ACICIS has organised a mountain climbing expedition for us all next weekend, so that combined with the expense of getting to Bromo, made Alana and I decide to hang around Yogya for the weekend instead. There is a big Buddhist festival on on Saturday, and given that one of the most important pieces of Buddhist architecture in the world is once hour from Yogya (Borobudur), I might head there instead…… Should provide some good photos!
Oh and I almost forgot- I met a Japanese girl yesterday called Naomi, who works for Mitsui (the Co. that sent me to Japan) and was an MPE helper for the 2003 group of Aussies who went! She will be posted to Jakarta in June so she is here learning Indonesian. How small is the world?!
Layta!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Go You Mighty Crowz!
Go Adelaide! You bloody beauty!
Belting Port still feels good, even when there are no Port supporters here to give it to! He he he he!
Belting Port still feels good, even when there are no Port supporters here to give it to! He he he he!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Curiouser and Curiouser
Well I have been less than diligent with my blog lately, excepting the photo purge last week. I will try to rectify the situation a little right now.
It’s been a rather strange week. I spent the first part of the week, virtually four full days after I got back from KL, stuck in my kos, sick with flu and some weird fever thing. Took me a while to shake it, but I am on track again now. I rehearsed on Monday and Tuesday night with the ACICIS band that was playing at the closing of the soccer tournament on Wednesday. We practiced in a studio that cost a dollar an hour to rent. So much fun.
Anyway, we performed on Wednesday night. Much to my dismay I had to sing 2 songs in Indonesian as well as Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors which was of course, far easier. It was all done on a very dodgy PA and I am sure sounded like rubbish, despite the polite support of the watchers! I had a great time, and we are going to start jamming every Monday night. All for fun. I am constantly amazed by the out-of-the-ordinary opportunities that are available to all of us. It’s really up to us how prepared we are to risk looking stupid as to how involved we get in this sort of stuff!
I had more progress tests this week, or as several people call them, regress tests! I think I went ok, but as I have said many times on here, my grades are not a huge concern as long as I pass……
Um, what else? Next week I have made plans with a few ppl to go and climb Mount Bromo in East Java and watch the sunrise. I will then be able to say that I have been to West, Central and East Java which is pretty cool…….
I went to the brand new Cinema in Yogya the other day with Alana, Ben and Sofie and watched Ice Age 2. I strongly protested having to watch a cartoon because I normally don’t like them, but it turned out to be very funny. The cinema costs the equivalent of only $3 so it’s a nice air-conditioned escape from the busy streets of Yogya with the cleanest toilets I have seen here, except for the one’s in that Jakarta nightclub!
Oh and I went to fashion parade last night which featured my friend Esther from ACICIS as a guest model, and five other top indo catwalkers, modelling gorgeous Indonesian style clothes with a modern twist- there were some absolutely gorgeous clothes and Alana and I are looking into ordering something. Some of the fabric was the most beautiful I have seen here. Esther, of course, was gorgeous too.
Tonight I am going with Agnes to a wedding ceremony. I have asked numerous times whether I am invited, to which the answer seems to be “no”, but apparently it is good luck here to have as many people at your wedding as possible, so I am actually doing them a favour by going as opposed to the other way around! Anyway, all of my clothes are entirely inappropriate so I am going to have to hope that they make some dress code exceptions for the white girl……..
Aside from all that humdrum stuff, many of you may not know that I am actually living at the foot of an active volcano (30Km away anyway). The topography between Yogya and Gunung Merapi, as the volcano is known, is such that Yogya is more or less protected from everything except the ash that will eventually spew forth. When we first arrived here, it was on a pretty high warning level, maybe two levels from the top. But about 2 weeks ago the threat took a “naik” that is a jump, to the top level. This essentially means that it is only a matter of time before an eruption. However, we have now been waiting so long for it to blow that it’s going to probably be a bit of a let-down when it actually happens. Between terrorism, bird flu, active volcano’s and diplomatic disagreements it is surprising that I manage to live such a peaceful life here really.
Oh and just quickly, wanted to say thanks for the parcels that I got the other day, one from my family and one from Lauren. So nice to get stuff in the mail! Especially with such desperately needed contents!!!!! Oh, and the Bonsai Potato kit from Lauren deserves an extraspecial mention, although I am yet to find a potato suitable to take up the challenge of being cultivated in the Bonsai style. I shall continue searching……….
It’s been a rather strange week. I spent the first part of the week, virtually four full days after I got back from KL, stuck in my kos, sick with flu and some weird fever thing. Took me a while to shake it, but I am on track again now. I rehearsed on Monday and Tuesday night with the ACICIS band that was playing at the closing of the soccer tournament on Wednesday. We practiced in a studio that cost a dollar an hour to rent. So much fun.
Anyway, we performed on Wednesday night. Much to my dismay I had to sing 2 songs in Indonesian as well as Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors which was of course, far easier. It was all done on a very dodgy PA and I am sure sounded like rubbish, despite the polite support of the watchers! I had a great time, and we are going to start jamming every Monday night. All for fun. I am constantly amazed by the out-of-the-ordinary opportunities that are available to all of us. It’s really up to us how prepared we are to risk looking stupid as to how involved we get in this sort of stuff!
I had more progress tests this week, or as several people call them, regress tests! I think I went ok, but as I have said many times on here, my grades are not a huge concern as long as I pass……
Um, what else? Next week I have made plans with a few ppl to go and climb Mount Bromo in East Java and watch the sunrise. I will then be able to say that I have been to West, Central and East Java which is pretty cool…….
I went to the brand new Cinema in Yogya the other day with Alana, Ben and Sofie and watched Ice Age 2. I strongly protested having to watch a cartoon because I normally don’t like them, but it turned out to be very funny. The cinema costs the equivalent of only $3 so it’s a nice air-conditioned escape from the busy streets of Yogya with the cleanest toilets I have seen here, except for the one’s in that Jakarta nightclub!
Oh and I went to fashion parade last night which featured my friend Esther from ACICIS as a guest model, and five other top indo catwalkers, modelling gorgeous Indonesian style clothes with a modern twist- there were some absolutely gorgeous clothes and Alana and I are looking into ordering something. Some of the fabric was the most beautiful I have seen here. Esther, of course, was gorgeous too.
Tonight I am going with Agnes to a wedding ceremony. I have asked numerous times whether I am invited, to which the answer seems to be “no”, but apparently it is good luck here to have as many people at your wedding as possible, so I am actually doing them a favour by going as opposed to the other way around! Anyway, all of my clothes are entirely inappropriate so I am going to have to hope that they make some dress code exceptions for the white girl……..
Aside from all that humdrum stuff, many of you may not know that I am actually living at the foot of an active volcano (30Km away anyway). The topography between Yogya and Gunung Merapi, as the volcano is known, is such that Yogya is more or less protected from everything except the ash that will eventually spew forth. When we first arrived here, it was on a pretty high warning level, maybe two levels from the top. But about 2 weeks ago the threat took a “naik” that is a jump, to the top level. This essentially means that it is only a matter of time before an eruption. However, we have now been waiting so long for it to blow that it’s going to probably be a bit of a let-down when it actually happens. Between terrorism, bird flu, active volcano’s and diplomatic disagreements it is surprising that I manage to live such a peaceful life here really.
Oh and just quickly, wanted to say thanks for the parcels that I got the other day, one from my family and one from Lauren. So nice to get stuff in the mail! Especially with such desperately needed contents!!!!! Oh, and the Bonsai Potato kit from Lauren deserves an extraspecial mention, although I am yet to find a potato suitable to take up the challenge of being cultivated in the Bonsai style. I shall continue searching……….
Friday, April 28, 2006
Who is that idiot?
I really have no idea who this is.....
Anyway, loads more pictures on the photo stream and more to come. Using up my quota before the month is over!~
Anyway, loads more pictures on the photo stream and more to come. Using up my quota before the month is over!~
In front of the Travelling Library (perpustakaan keliling)!
I forgot to mention what I did on Monday!
I went out with USC-Satunama the NGO where I volunteer to the villages in the Parangtritis area. We went with the travelling library which lends out books to poor schools in the desa area (village).
I got to teach the kids in one class Old McDonald had a farm (they were very good at eeii eeii oh!), and also met the Principal of the school. On the way back we stopped off to meet the head of the village government which is the lowest level of govt, in Indonesia! Very interesting day!
I went out with USC-Satunama the NGO where I volunteer to the villages in the Parangtritis area. We went with the travelling library which lends out books to poor schools in the desa area (village).
I got to teach the kids in one class Old McDonald had a farm (they were very good at eeii eeii oh!), and also met the Principal of the school. On the way back we stopped off to meet the head of the village government which is the lowest level of govt, in Indonesia! Very interesting day!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Short of Time?- Use Dot Point Form
Well as we speak I am sitting in the Garuda Executive Lounge at JKT airport- gratis- because they cancelled both my flights in the last three days- that is the one to KL and the one from KL. I have had to stop in JKT on both legs of the journey. So they are sending me home from here in Business class.
Anyway KL was fantastic, mainly because I got to catch up with very dear family friends there. Although 2 nights and one day was hardly enough to make an assessment about KL itself, the shopping was rather good. I will post photo's when I am back in Yogya.
The last week has been out of control busy, hence I am going to use dot points to summarise cos all was interesting. Will also be posting loads of photo's before the end of April so keep an eye out y'all.
LastFriday- The famed DJ Tiesto CANCELLED, I REPEAT CANCELLED, his show here for a variety of reasons- extremists threatening to demonstrate, no permit obtained to use the beach for a rave, alternative venue too small etc. So we all drove an hour down to the beach only to find that we had to head back to Yogya very quickly to Hugo's the posited alternative venue which Tiesto took one look at and said "erm, no". Massive disappointment. We had all been looking forward to it for weeks!
Saturday- It was Sandy's bday! Aq homesick banget! First time I have been homesick- but it passed quickly. Fortunately.
Sunday- Mass Kos picnic to Prambanan. So much fun. We all paid about $1.50 each, and that included food transport and games. But possible the most hilarious bit was when we were on the way home. The car I was in decided to partake in a little corruption and use some of the left over money on an hour of karaoke! So now half the kos can't tell the other half about the karaoke! Aduh!
Tuesday- To KL. Direct flight from Yogya cancelled. Lots of waiting. Arrive in KL to find my hotel very luxurious. A true 5 star. Massive bed. HOT WATER. Nice pool! Sharon, Derek, Kim and Jase arrived later that night!
Wednesday- Good breakfast! Visit to Petronas twin towers- pretty cool, pretty big too! Lots of shopping, mainly because a tropical storm in the arvo ruled out the possibility of swimming. Evening swim after the storm. Drinks in the lounge bar. Exquisite Japanese food in the hotel for dinner. Sleep.
Today- Wasted day of crap travelling, cancelled flights etc etc. At least i get business class on the way home.
Anyway, the photo's will be far more interesting than this mundane commentary. I will post them ASAP with comments!
Anyway KL was fantastic, mainly because I got to catch up with very dear family friends there. Although 2 nights and one day was hardly enough to make an assessment about KL itself, the shopping was rather good. I will post photo's when I am back in Yogya.
The last week has been out of control busy, hence I am going to use dot points to summarise cos all was interesting. Will also be posting loads of photo's before the end of April so keep an eye out y'all.
LastFriday- The famed DJ Tiesto CANCELLED, I REPEAT CANCELLED, his show here for a variety of reasons- extremists threatening to demonstrate, no permit obtained to use the beach for a rave, alternative venue too small etc. So we all drove an hour down to the beach only to find that we had to head back to Yogya very quickly to Hugo's the posited alternative venue which Tiesto took one look at and said "erm, no". Massive disappointment. We had all been looking forward to it for weeks!
Saturday- It was Sandy's bday! Aq homesick banget! First time I have been homesick- but it passed quickly. Fortunately.
Sunday- Mass Kos picnic to Prambanan. So much fun. We all paid about $1.50 each, and that included food transport and games. But possible the most hilarious bit was when we were on the way home. The car I was in decided to partake in a little corruption and use some of the left over money on an hour of karaoke! So now half the kos can't tell the other half about the karaoke! Aduh!
Tuesday- To KL. Direct flight from Yogya cancelled. Lots of waiting. Arrive in KL to find my hotel very luxurious. A true 5 star. Massive bed. HOT WATER. Nice pool! Sharon, Derek, Kim and Jase arrived later that night!
Wednesday- Good breakfast! Visit to Petronas twin towers- pretty cool, pretty big too! Lots of shopping, mainly because a tropical storm in the arvo ruled out the possibility of swimming. Evening swim after the storm. Drinks in the lounge bar. Exquisite Japanese food in the hotel for dinner. Sleep.
Today- Wasted day of crap travelling, cancelled flights etc etc. At least i get business class on the way home.
Anyway, the photo's will be far more interesting than this mundane commentary. I will post them ASAP with comments!
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Happy Birthday to my Biggest Little Bro
Just want to use my soap box to send out an early birthday message to my brother Sandy. Wish I was there for your party tonight bro. :-( Have a good one.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Pre-Match Pleasantries
This week has been madly busy- checkpoint meetings, sick ppl going home, parties, tonight is the Tiesto concert, but possibly most importantly- there was an INCULS osccer match at Stadium UGM on Wednesday in which a motley crue of Aussie's who had never played in their lives, joined forces with an Austrian and a wiry East Timorese (Cipi's boyf) to lose 5-0 to a combined Turkey-Japan squad. Naaaasty. But hilarious. About 200 ppl came to watch.Very embarrassing!!!!
I got my exams back this week, and while the marks weren't nearly as nice as those from the tests, no gagal's, that is fails! So i was pleased!
Also- I am going to Kuala Lumpur next week for 2 nights to see Sharon, Derek, Kim and Jase. Weeoeooheeew!
Anyway, I promise a better update next week when I have more the 2 seconds to spare. Aq sibuk banget!!!! Dah!
I got my exams back this week, and while the marks weren't nearly as nice as those from the tests, no gagal's, that is fails! So i was pleased!
Also- I am going to Kuala Lumpur next week for 2 nights to see Sharon, Derek, Kim and Jase. Weeoeooheeew!
Anyway, I promise a better update next week when I have more the 2 seconds to spare. Aq sibuk banget!!!! Dah!
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Kalian dimana?
Aq tidak suka menulis blog ini kalo tak dibaca gituloh. Aku sedang merasa seperti aku dibuang waktu kalo kalian tidak menulis kommentar. Menulis aja dong!
I don't like writing this blog if no-one reads it you know. I feel like I am wasting my time when all of you don't write comments. Just write!
I don't like writing this blog if no-one reads it you know. I feel like I am wasting my time when all of you don't write comments. Just write!
Thursday, April 13, 2006
A Cerca Shaped Hole in the Universe, or, 8 Hours of Vomit (whichever u prefer)
Sorry, it took me a day longer than I expected to complete this post. Back on kampus after a 10 day break, homework to do (irritatingly enough), a very untidy room to clean up and many lost hours of sleep to catch up on.
Anyway, so I resume at the point where we had just driven away from the porn hotel on the way to Riskhy’s house. We were really very fortunate to be able to stay there. Not only is it in one of Jakarta’s best areas, it meant that we saved a packet on cabs cos Riskhy kindly drove us all around everywhere. His parents were also lovely, and took care of me when I had my acute bout of gut trouble. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, we headed out that night to sample the JKT nightlife, eating dinner at Chitos a big place full of loads of different very nice restaraunts. I ate some kind of noodle dish, which pleasantly I saw splattered on the ground later in the evening. But once more, I digress.
After that we hit up a place called Gillians, which is a billiard hall cum bar cum strip club. I was rather appalled to hear after we had been there for about an hour that Alana and I were to be cleared off the dance floor to make way for the “sexy dancers”. I have seen these supposed “sexy dancers” in Yogya, different ones of course, and apart from a few suggestive moves there ain’t much to see. The JKT breed on the other hand actually remove the vast majority of their clothes. You should see the Indonesian men. They love it. Come to think of it Ben and Daniel didn’t seem to mind to much either.
Anyway, that was soon over at which point I decided I was going to take it easy, mainly because of suspicious grumbling noises in my stomach and a general feeling of yuckiness. We moved on to a club called Vertigo which was hot, hot, hot. Two floors, the top floor dance and electro, and the bottom floor, R & B. It cost a ridiculous 85 thousand rupiah ($13) to get in (in Yogya we usually wheedle our way in for free) but that included a free drink of choice. I chose a vodka and gave it to Alana. By this time my gut was feeling as though someone was twisting knives inside it, and my friends were getting progressively more tiddly. I foresaw problems.
Anyway, I managed to dance for about half an hour, during which time I saw a THIRD actor from that same film “Mengejar Matahari” but was worried I might vomit on him if I spoke to him so I didn’t get a picture. Anyway, we decided to check out the R & B floor. The music down there was better and I managed a few more dances. Alana then used the power of bule to get us a reserved sitting area which usually requires a very expensive bottle of alcohol to be opened before seating rights are obtained. We got to go and sit there free. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mental case sitting there- a Chinese Australian called Andy, who according to him, is employed by the Australian Embassy and was accompanied by 2 bodyguards. I say he is full of it. We were then presented by him, with a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue label, which I believe is the best one you can get and had set crazy mental Andy back about $550. The connoisseurs among you will be appalled to hear I could barely manage one sip, such was the problem with my stomach. I had to SMS Ben who was upstairs to come down and drink it so that it wouldn’t be wasted. The following hours unfolded as follows. My friends partaking in absurdly expensive whisky with a nutcase while I became progressively more concerned about when, not if, I was going to throw up. In the middle of all this, a member of the Indonesian mafia, 19 years old and proudly bragging to have spent 9 million rupiah in one night ($1300?) decided to join us. He is apparently linked to the Suharto family and is related to one of Riskhy’s ex’s. He shook my hand twice and crushed it twice. I have a firm handshake, so he obviously felt the need to exert his 19 year old “something-to-prove” masculinity on my hand, twice. I was highly impressed by his strength, as I am sure you can imagine, but refrained from telling him so because he was accompanied by 9 body guards. 9! Anyway, around this time I ran to the toilet and am pleased to say they were the cleanest toilets I have ever seen, except maybe in Japan, and every cubicle had a 20th floor view of Jakarta. Alas, I couldn’t appreciate the view too well. But no vomit yet.
Anyway, by the time I left the toilet, Andy and mafia boy had become acquainted and discovered a mutual dislike for each other. Ben pointed out that there was likely to be a war. I just wanted to leave and curl up in a corner and die. Anyway, eventually we left the two mental cases and their 11 bodyguards to discuss their differences, but not before I had to fake vomiting to make Andy leave us alone. It sounds crazy, but as the member of our party with most perspective and no alcohol in my system, it was pretty mild.
Anyway, we stopped at Circle K (like 7-11) on the way home to get water, and as I was processing my transaction finally had to submit to the urge to vomit. There were my noodles at my feet. Gross. We got home eventually, Riskhy’s mum was already awake to read the Koran and go for her morning walk (it was about 5am) and we fell into bed. I then proceeded to vomit continuously until 8.30am. Riskhy’s mum checked on me around that time, and to my retrospective delight I managed to speak some relatively complicated Indonesian in response to her question about whether I needed to go to the Dr, all this off no sleep and a continuing urge to vomit. Something along the lines of “lets wait until the afternoon, if I am still sick then it’s relatively likely that the cause is not the food I ate yesterday, so at that time maybe we should think about going to the Doctor.” Of course, I have no-one to verify that it was correct, but she seemed to understand me!
Anyway, after that action packed evening and no sleep, I decided to pass on the opportunity to go shopping in the famous JKT malls with the others and slept all day to sleep off the bug. Riskhy’s parents got the maid to make me some plain porridge which was the best thing I could have eaten. Substance without flavour. Remember that.
Later that night I was feeling much better, and the others, in contradiction of their earlier promise for a “quiet one” decided JKT clubs it was once more. I decided to join them for dinner and then go home after that. Riskhy’s friend Ferri promised to drop me home. As it turned out, Risky plays guitar in a band that includes a pretty famous singer here. They are a funk-lounge group who were playing their second show at the Four Seasons bar. Hot ticket kids. That place has launched another famous Indo band called Maliq & d’Essentials, and if my ears have any credibility they might launch another. We watched them until midnight. That was the point where I was meant to go home, but having had a very lazy day, probably my laziest so far in Indo, I decided to join the others to another place called “Cerca”, a Moulin Rouge-esque lounge bar club thingo on the 47th floor of some building or other. Now Ben, Daniel, Alana and I all agree it is the coolest place we have ever been. It had beds (see the photo stream) and velvet high-backed chairs, velvet curtains draped everywhere and of course an absolutely fantastic view of JKT. The music was great (not the same trance you hear everywhere) and I met some more cool friends of Riskhy, all whom have studied in Oz and or speak great English. Unfortunately, for some stupid reason, that place is closing down and the night we were there was the last night. I am sure it will re-open, if not it is going to leave a big “cerca” shaped hole in the Universe that will need to be filled with something equally cool (my apologies to Arundhati Roy- those of u who have read God of Small Things know what I am on about). After that, we went to a place called Wonder Bar, which was less cool but had fantastic décor. At that point, I discovered an untapped source of energy, possibly in my elbow or little toe, and proceeded to amuse my friends by dancing for the next couple of hours.
Anyway, no mafia or overly rich mental people that night, but it was still a good night. I was especially surprised by my stamina given the previous night and morning. I attribute my success to the porridge.
The next day Ben and Daniel were off to Bandung, leaving Alana and I to lunch with Riskhy’s parents. My goodness, what lovely people. They bought us lunch and took us to our mall of choice for a good look at the shops. At this point let me just tell u something about JKT. It is a very hot place. It is dirty, but I have seen worse. In one place you see extreme poverty and fabulous wealth butted up against each other, literally next door. It’s main attraction is for business people, people who want to try and make their fortune, and for people who like clubbing and shopping. For people my age Jakarta is massive malls, (like eNoRmOuS malls) and a wide range of clubs.
That last day I sample both. I got some nice new sandles, finally in bule size and a cute little purple shrug from Zara, as well as some CD’s. JKT prices didn’t fit my budget, so thank goodness for my little credit card.
Anyway, I am going to cut this post short cos there are a bunch of people waiting to read this at my house in Australia. Hello Shaz, Dirk, Kim, Jase, Narn, Pop, Ma, Da, Nanoo, Chonnie, Gaborigine, Lennon, and anyone that I just forgot. Miss you all!! Enjoy the photo’s and don’t worry, everything here is going just fine! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anyway, so I resume at the point where we had just driven away from the porn hotel on the way to Riskhy’s house. We were really very fortunate to be able to stay there. Not only is it in one of Jakarta’s best areas, it meant that we saved a packet on cabs cos Riskhy kindly drove us all around everywhere. His parents were also lovely, and took care of me when I had my acute bout of gut trouble. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, we headed out that night to sample the JKT nightlife, eating dinner at Chitos a big place full of loads of different very nice restaraunts. I ate some kind of noodle dish, which pleasantly I saw splattered on the ground later in the evening. But once more, I digress.
After that we hit up a place called Gillians, which is a billiard hall cum bar cum strip club. I was rather appalled to hear after we had been there for about an hour that Alana and I were to be cleared off the dance floor to make way for the “sexy dancers”. I have seen these supposed “sexy dancers” in Yogya, different ones of course, and apart from a few suggestive moves there ain’t much to see. The JKT breed on the other hand actually remove the vast majority of their clothes. You should see the Indonesian men. They love it. Come to think of it Ben and Daniel didn’t seem to mind to much either.
Anyway, that was soon over at which point I decided I was going to take it easy, mainly because of suspicious grumbling noises in my stomach and a general feeling of yuckiness. We moved on to a club called Vertigo which was hot, hot, hot. Two floors, the top floor dance and electro, and the bottom floor, R & B. It cost a ridiculous 85 thousand rupiah ($13) to get in (in Yogya we usually wheedle our way in for free) but that included a free drink of choice. I chose a vodka and gave it to Alana. By this time my gut was feeling as though someone was twisting knives inside it, and my friends were getting progressively more tiddly. I foresaw problems.
Anyway, I managed to dance for about half an hour, during which time I saw a THIRD actor from that same film “Mengejar Matahari” but was worried I might vomit on him if I spoke to him so I didn’t get a picture. Anyway, we decided to check out the R & B floor. The music down there was better and I managed a few more dances. Alana then used the power of bule to get us a reserved sitting area which usually requires a very expensive bottle of alcohol to be opened before seating rights are obtained. We got to go and sit there free. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mental case sitting there- a Chinese Australian called Andy, who according to him, is employed by the Australian Embassy and was accompanied by 2 bodyguards. I say he is full of it. We were then presented by him, with a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue label, which I believe is the best one you can get and had set crazy mental Andy back about $550. The connoisseurs among you will be appalled to hear I could barely manage one sip, such was the problem with my stomach. I had to SMS Ben who was upstairs to come down and drink it so that it wouldn’t be wasted. The following hours unfolded as follows. My friends partaking in absurdly expensive whisky with a nutcase while I became progressively more concerned about when, not if, I was going to throw up. In the middle of all this, a member of the Indonesian mafia, 19 years old and proudly bragging to have spent 9 million rupiah in one night ($1300?) decided to join us. He is apparently linked to the Suharto family and is related to one of Riskhy’s ex’s. He shook my hand twice and crushed it twice. I have a firm handshake, so he obviously felt the need to exert his 19 year old “something-to-prove” masculinity on my hand, twice. I was highly impressed by his strength, as I am sure you can imagine, but refrained from telling him so because he was accompanied by 9 body guards. 9! Anyway, around this time I ran to the toilet and am pleased to say they were the cleanest toilets I have ever seen, except maybe in Japan, and every cubicle had a 20th floor view of Jakarta. Alas, I couldn’t appreciate the view too well. But no vomit yet.
Anyway, by the time I left the toilet, Andy and mafia boy had become acquainted and discovered a mutual dislike for each other. Ben pointed out that there was likely to be a war. I just wanted to leave and curl up in a corner and die. Anyway, eventually we left the two mental cases and their 11 bodyguards to discuss their differences, but not before I had to fake vomiting to make Andy leave us alone. It sounds crazy, but as the member of our party with most perspective and no alcohol in my system, it was pretty mild.
Anyway, we stopped at Circle K (like 7-11) on the way home to get water, and as I was processing my transaction finally had to submit to the urge to vomit. There were my noodles at my feet. Gross. We got home eventually, Riskhy’s mum was already awake to read the Koran and go for her morning walk (it was about 5am) and we fell into bed. I then proceeded to vomit continuously until 8.30am. Riskhy’s mum checked on me around that time, and to my retrospective delight I managed to speak some relatively complicated Indonesian in response to her question about whether I needed to go to the Dr, all this off no sleep and a continuing urge to vomit. Something along the lines of “lets wait until the afternoon, if I am still sick then it’s relatively likely that the cause is not the food I ate yesterday, so at that time maybe we should think about going to the Doctor.” Of course, I have no-one to verify that it was correct, but she seemed to understand me!
Anyway, after that action packed evening and no sleep, I decided to pass on the opportunity to go shopping in the famous JKT malls with the others and slept all day to sleep off the bug. Riskhy’s parents got the maid to make me some plain porridge which was the best thing I could have eaten. Substance without flavour. Remember that.
Later that night I was feeling much better, and the others, in contradiction of their earlier promise for a “quiet one” decided JKT clubs it was once more. I decided to join them for dinner and then go home after that. Riskhy’s friend Ferri promised to drop me home. As it turned out, Risky plays guitar in a band that includes a pretty famous singer here. They are a funk-lounge group who were playing their second show at the Four Seasons bar. Hot ticket kids. That place has launched another famous Indo band called Maliq & d’Essentials, and if my ears have any credibility they might launch another. We watched them until midnight. That was the point where I was meant to go home, but having had a very lazy day, probably my laziest so far in Indo, I decided to join the others to another place called “Cerca”, a Moulin Rouge-esque lounge bar club thingo on the 47th floor of some building or other. Now Ben, Daniel, Alana and I all agree it is the coolest place we have ever been. It had beds (see the photo stream) and velvet high-backed chairs, velvet curtains draped everywhere and of course an absolutely fantastic view of JKT. The music was great (not the same trance you hear everywhere) and I met some more cool friends of Riskhy, all whom have studied in Oz and or speak great English. Unfortunately, for some stupid reason, that place is closing down and the night we were there was the last night. I am sure it will re-open, if not it is going to leave a big “cerca” shaped hole in the Universe that will need to be filled with something equally cool (my apologies to Arundhati Roy- those of u who have read God of Small Things know what I am on about). After that, we went to a place called Wonder Bar, which was less cool but had fantastic décor. At that point, I discovered an untapped source of energy, possibly in my elbow or little toe, and proceeded to amuse my friends by dancing for the next couple of hours.
Anyway, no mafia or overly rich mental people that night, but it was still a good night. I was especially surprised by my stamina given the previous night and morning. I attribute my success to the porridge.
The next day Ben and Daniel were off to Bandung, leaving Alana and I to lunch with Riskhy’s parents. My goodness, what lovely people. They bought us lunch and took us to our mall of choice for a good look at the shops. At this point let me just tell u something about JKT. It is a very hot place. It is dirty, but I have seen worse. In one place you see extreme poverty and fabulous wealth butted up against each other, literally next door. It’s main attraction is for business people, people who want to try and make their fortune, and for people who like clubbing and shopping. For people my age Jakarta is massive malls, (like eNoRmOuS malls) and a wide range of clubs.
That last day I sample both. I got some nice new sandles, finally in bule size and a cute little purple shrug from Zara, as well as some CD’s. JKT prices didn’t fit my budget, so thank goodness for my little credit card.
Anyway, I am going to cut this post short cos there are a bunch of people waiting to read this at my house in Australia. Hello Shaz, Dirk, Kim, Jase, Narn, Pop, Ma, Da, Nanoo, Chonnie, Gaborigine, Lennon, and anyone that I just forgot. Miss you all!! Enjoy the photo’s and don’t worry, everything here is going just fine! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Jalan Braga- Bandung
This is me in Bandung! This was the old heart of the city in Dutch times, the cosmopolitan shopping strip. Now it is the seedy touristy bit with lots of bars, clubs and eateries, including a very nice Japanese place where Alana and I ate Sashimi!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
WEst JaVa WhirLwiNd!
Hello out there! I am pleased to announce that I have not disappeared, I have just returned from a rather frantic tour of the major cities of West Java, being Bandung and Jakarta, with Alana. Oh my goodness. What a whirlwind excursion it has been.
First some pressing turtle business. I had settled upon the interim name Richard Parker, and upon reading your suggestions last night had decided to go with my Pop’s suggestion, Maximillion. The unfortunate thing is, that I awoke this morning to the news that little Maxi passed away over night. I left him in the able hands of Ibu Kos and family while I was away, but it seems his indifference to food finally caught up with him……. So kasihan Maximillion. I will bury him tomorrow.
Anyway, back to the other stuff. Alana and I, idiotically caught an overnight train from Yogya to Bandung (Paris in Indonesia apparently) which arrived at 5.30am. We were freezing on the train because we went in the best class (which is A-V-E-R-A-G-E) but the AC was overly effective. The also didn’t turn the lights off on the train so I arrived having had about half an hours sleep. We then checked into a hotel right next to the hotel to sleep for 3 hours. I never want to see that establishment again. It cost about $8 so u can guess what it was like.
We then moved to a different hotel which had hot water (luxury, given that in my kos I wash with cold water from a bucket) and was well-placed. As the principal reason for heading to Bandung was to shop, we hit the outlets at about 1pm and spent about 5 hours shopping. While out we happened upon this funky little t-shirt boutique (Bandung has loads of amazing t-shirt designers) and met a bunch of really nice people. They just opened the shop and were talking to us for ages. In the end we made plans to go out with them the following night after another day of shopping.
The next day, on the advice of Adul, one of the guys, we went out to this big market about 30 minutes out of Bandung, but what our understanding of the place hadn’t included was that it was all second hand clothes. We couldn’t be bothered picking through the rubbish but we did chance upon a scarf shop where we bought 5 scarves for about $3.
We then went to Jalan Cihampelas which is a street full of shops selling jeans of every description for about $20 a pair. The feature of this street is that nearly every shop has a big cheesy statue out front- see the photo stream for me in front of Rambo. We also went to Jalan Cibaduyut which is shoes street- I was looking for a fake pair of yellow Asics Tigers that I have wanted for ages ( I saw a really good copy in Yogya) but I couldn’t find em and ended up with a pair of $2 sandles for Uni. Their main function is to stop me wearing out all my other shoes on the Yogya streets.
Anyway we received an SMS from Arinda telling us to come to the shop that night before going out with our new pals. We arrived at the shop at about 9pm to find that it was the official launch or as they call them here “soft opening (!)” of the shop and there was a DJ playing in the shop and lots of drinks from the café upstairs. Crazy stuff. We were dancing in a little t-shirt shop. Anyway they then took us to a bar on the top of a hill (Bandung is surrounded by hills) and we ordered an unusual concoction of beer, vodka and energy drink for everyone and proceeded to drink that while listening to The Smiths. I rather enjoyed that. We ended the night with a visit to a midnight warung in the middle of Bandung and ate a bunch of yummy food before going home to sleep.
The next day we did a little bit more last minute shopping then jumped on the train to Jakarta. The train ride was rather hair-raising as much of it was on tracks suspended 100 metres in the air of dense jungle. I shut the curtain and pretended I was on Swiss-engineered tracks rather than Indo ones……
Anyway we arrived late to Jakarta and were collected from the station by Ben, Daniel and Riskhy, Ben’s Indonesian friend who studied in Sydney for 5 years. We had a two hour intro to Jakarta traffic which was nice (?) in which time we got to know Riskhy. Anyway, turns out they had found a cheapish hotel for us just near Riskhy’s house……..which was going to be cheap enough for me and Alana. We pulled in there and immediately alarm bells started ringing in my head. There was no apparent reception, every room had a carport and there was no-one around. We got out and waited for one of the staff to come over to us, at which point we found out that it was a hotel where you “pay for 6 hours at a time” if you hear what I am saying. We checked out one of the rooms for a laugh. It looked like an amateur porn set, complete with velvet couch, mirrors on the roof and a see thru bathroom wall. We were in absolute hysterics that this was the best hotel the boys had managed to find us! Anyway, fortunately for us, Riskhy just asked us to stay at his home with his family, which turned out to be far better than any hotel we could have afforded in Jakarta anyway.
Ok, my eyes are shutting, I will resume this tirade tomorrow! With stories about the Indonesian mafia, drinking $500 whisky, a nightclub with beds in it and my first bout of “sakit perut” that is, sick stomach, which struck me in J-town!
First some pressing turtle business. I had settled upon the interim name Richard Parker, and upon reading your suggestions last night had decided to go with my Pop’s suggestion, Maximillion. The unfortunate thing is, that I awoke this morning to the news that little Maxi passed away over night. I left him in the able hands of Ibu Kos and family while I was away, but it seems his indifference to food finally caught up with him……. So kasihan Maximillion. I will bury him tomorrow.
Anyway, back to the other stuff. Alana and I, idiotically caught an overnight train from Yogya to Bandung (Paris in Indonesia apparently) which arrived at 5.30am. We were freezing on the train because we went in the best class (which is A-V-E-R-A-G-E) but the AC was overly effective. The also didn’t turn the lights off on the train so I arrived having had about half an hours sleep. We then checked into a hotel right next to the hotel to sleep for 3 hours. I never want to see that establishment again. It cost about $8 so u can guess what it was like.
We then moved to a different hotel which had hot water (luxury, given that in my kos I wash with cold water from a bucket) and was well-placed. As the principal reason for heading to Bandung was to shop, we hit the outlets at about 1pm and spent about 5 hours shopping. While out we happened upon this funky little t-shirt boutique (Bandung has loads of amazing t-shirt designers) and met a bunch of really nice people. They just opened the shop and were talking to us for ages. In the end we made plans to go out with them the following night after another day of shopping.
The next day, on the advice of Adul, one of the guys, we went out to this big market about 30 minutes out of Bandung, but what our understanding of the place hadn’t included was that it was all second hand clothes. We couldn’t be bothered picking through the rubbish but we did chance upon a scarf shop where we bought 5 scarves for about $3.
We then went to Jalan Cihampelas which is a street full of shops selling jeans of every description for about $20 a pair. The feature of this street is that nearly every shop has a big cheesy statue out front- see the photo stream for me in front of Rambo. We also went to Jalan Cibaduyut which is shoes street- I was looking for a fake pair of yellow Asics Tigers that I have wanted for ages ( I saw a really good copy in Yogya) but I couldn’t find em and ended up with a pair of $2 sandles for Uni. Their main function is to stop me wearing out all my other shoes on the Yogya streets.
Anyway we received an SMS from Arinda telling us to come to the shop that night before going out with our new pals. We arrived at the shop at about 9pm to find that it was the official launch or as they call them here “soft opening (!)” of the shop and there was a DJ playing in the shop and lots of drinks from the café upstairs. Crazy stuff. We were dancing in a little t-shirt shop. Anyway they then took us to a bar on the top of a hill (Bandung is surrounded by hills) and we ordered an unusual concoction of beer, vodka and energy drink for everyone and proceeded to drink that while listening to The Smiths. I rather enjoyed that. We ended the night with a visit to a midnight warung in the middle of Bandung and ate a bunch of yummy food before going home to sleep.
The next day we did a little bit more last minute shopping then jumped on the train to Jakarta. The train ride was rather hair-raising as much of it was on tracks suspended 100 metres in the air of dense jungle. I shut the curtain and pretended I was on Swiss-engineered tracks rather than Indo ones……
Anyway we arrived late to Jakarta and were collected from the station by Ben, Daniel and Riskhy, Ben’s Indonesian friend who studied in Sydney for 5 years. We had a two hour intro to Jakarta traffic which was nice (?) in which time we got to know Riskhy. Anyway, turns out they had found a cheapish hotel for us just near Riskhy’s house……..which was going to be cheap enough for me and Alana. We pulled in there and immediately alarm bells started ringing in my head. There was no apparent reception, every room had a carport and there was no-one around. We got out and waited for one of the staff to come over to us, at which point we found out that it was a hotel where you “pay for 6 hours at a time” if you hear what I am saying. We checked out one of the rooms for a laugh. It looked like an amateur porn set, complete with velvet couch, mirrors on the roof and a see thru bathroom wall. We were in absolute hysterics that this was the best hotel the boys had managed to find us! Anyway, fortunately for us, Riskhy just asked us to stay at his home with his family, which turned out to be far better than any hotel we could have afforded in Jakarta anyway.
Ok, my eyes are shutting, I will resume this tirade tomorrow! With stories about the Indonesian mafia, drinking $500 whisky, a nightclub with beds in it and my first bout of “sakit perut” that is, sick stomach, which struck me in J-town!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Name My Turtle!
Today I went to Dhafi's 2nd birthday party. Dhafi is the son of Tante ("the Aunty") and Om, and it was easily the most decadent 2nd birthday party I have been to. There was an MC, separate menu's for adults and kids, a melted chocolate fountain and every guest received a turtle as they left! A Brazilian turtle no less!
Anyway, I am going to coax all of my closet readers out of the closet by asking for naming suggestions for my turtle.
Tips on turtle care would be appreciated also!!! Heaps of photo's on the other page btw!
Anyway, I am going to coax all of my closet readers out of the closet by asking for naming suggestions for my turtle.
Tips on turtle care would be appreciated also!!! Heaps of photo's on the other page btw!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Agriculture Kidz
This is me earlier today, playing "guest English speaker" at a new discussion group in the Agriculture Faculty. I got to go on a tour of the cows and goats and pigs as a thankyou for my time!!!! He he he! See the photostream- I am not lying!
Anyway, this week has been very busy and I am quite sure that I am fighting some kind of virus right now which has made it just that bit better. Last night went to the opening of a new vego restraunt owned by Wawan's friend. It was all free, and very delicious!
Agnes just got a job this week in PR at the Novotel- it is her first job and she beat heaps of others to get it- congrats cewek! Alana and I got to hang at the Novotel with Ben the other night, paid way too much for a bowl of Carbonara (worth it!) and got to have a swim. We returned the following morning for breakfast which was delicious, fattening and included baked beans! OMG!!! Yay!
What else? Alana got sick so we aren't going to the Gili's (again) cos she has to sit her exams early next week. However we are planning now on hitting up Jakarta and Bandung..... keep listening for a change of plan! He he he.
Anyways, I had better go and think about dinner. Maybe even eat some??
PS- Becky- writing this here cos couldn't get on ur blog- that foto is amazing- and Edinburgh sounds rad. Keep at it m'lovely!
Anyway, this week has been very busy and I am quite sure that I am fighting some kind of virus right now which has made it just that bit better. Last night went to the opening of a new vego restraunt owned by Wawan's friend. It was all free, and very delicious!
Agnes just got a job this week in PR at the Novotel- it is her first job and she beat heaps of others to get it- congrats cewek! Alana and I got to hang at the Novotel with Ben the other night, paid way too much for a bowl of Carbonara (worth it!) and got to have a swim. We returned the following morning for breakfast which was delicious, fattening and included baked beans! OMG!!! Yay!
What else? Alana got sick so we aren't going to the Gili's (again) cos she has to sit her exams early next week. However we are planning now on hitting up Jakarta and Bandung..... keep listening for a change of plan! He he he.
Anyways, I had better go and think about dinner. Maybe even eat some??
PS- Becky- writing this here cos couldn't get on ur blog- that foto is amazing- and Edinburgh sounds rad. Keep at it m'lovely!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
PS
More photo's on the photo stream y'all. You may even be able to notice my haircut..... shaggy mullet but long at the front!
Unanswerable Questions
ts almost 5 oclock here on Saturday night. The weather has been threatening to rain all day. I am sitting on my bed in my kos writing this post waiting for the Lotes Kaki Lima to pass back by the gate to the Kos. A kaki lima is a man with a portable stall that he pushes up and down the streets of yogya selling a variety of different foods and drinks. Lotes is fresh fruit served with a spicy sauce. 2 thousand rupiah. There are also bakso kaki lima (meatball soup), roti kaki lima (bread), Chinese dumpling kaki lima and at night at about 10, a man comes around selling ginger tea and traditional Javanese drinks. Some of them are not too hygienic but the lotes man is fine. It’s all a matter of sensible judgment whether you eat from some of these places.
Anyway, it has been rather a long time since I properly blogged so I will try to catch you up on recent occurrences.
You may recall that last week was progress test chaos? No? Well anyway I had a million tests last week, 2 of them done on less than 5 hours sleep. Nonetheless, my marks were 89, 87 and 82. That’s the only ones I get marks for. I was pleasantly surprised given the minimal amount of time I spend at my desk. Next week is mid semester exams, and I have 6 in one week, including for International Security. However, after that is finished, I am going away with Alana. Hallelujah. We have around 10 days off on last calculation, so I think we are going to hit up the Gili Islands, Lombok and Bali. Depends on how long I can make my (I just ate my lotes, back now!) money last.
So, what else? I spent a sizeable chunk of this week hanging out in the hospital with Ben, who unfortunately had a 3 night stay for some mysterious, as yet undiagnosed, disorder. Initially, the word on the street was that he had typhoid, however, in true Indo style, the diagnosis changed to “belum pasti”, not sure, and on my last information the sickness remains a mystery. The good news is that after 48 hours continuous hydration and some antibiotics he felt much better and was discharged yesterday. His parents have now kindly put him up in a very nice hotel here for a few days.
However, I must say, my experience of the Indo hospital system was pretty good. The nurses were lovely, efficient and attentive and the hospital itself, dare I say it, is probably better than the Modbury Hospital in Adelaide, based on the recent experiences of my family in that place! As far as I can tell, the key to the Indo hospital system is money. If you have it, you get the best care, the nicest room and the swiftest recovery. It you don’t have it, well, essentially you get crammed into a ward with everyone else who has no money and wait your turn. Not unlike the American health system really.
Aside from that, I had my first lesson on a motor bike and got the hang of it after about 15 minutes. But I haven’t tried again, and certainly haven’t gone on the road. Nanti aja. Later!
Last night I went to 2 big Yogya nightclubs which are right next door to each other and which last night had a special event on called “Double Impact”. There were some great DJ’s from Jakarta there and of course, me and the girls were busting it on the dancefloor. We also got to meet Adjo (maybe wrong name!!) another star from that film Mengejar Matahari which had Winky in it (the DJ from a while back!) See photo’s! There were also some models from some dodgy mens magazine there, who were dancing on the bar and making all the men in the room gaga, and much to the delight of the bule boys who were there, they came over to me and the other girls after they finished dancing because they had seen us dancing earlier. They were gorgeous. The lads were in their element! He he he.
So that was a good night. But it is a quiet one for me tonight because of exams next week. A week off clubbing before I go away with Alana. Yay!
And finally, I have realized that I am becoming very good at positing unanswerable questions in this country. For example, why do people always say “hello miss” as I walk down the street, why do I almost always hit my head when I am walking down narrow stairways and why is shoe size 40 different here to in Australia. But my favourite unanswerable question of the day is, how is it that I receive my underwear in neatly ironed piles twice a week and it is never confused with anyone elses, even though there are 20 girls living in my kos? How does the maid know which are my underwear, when she never sees me put it out in the basket? It is an utter mystery. And the reason I am never going to know the answer to that question, is because I am never going to ask!
And with that dear readers, I bid you farewell. Selamat Malam!
Anyway, it has been rather a long time since I properly blogged so I will try to catch you up on recent occurrences.
You may recall that last week was progress test chaos? No? Well anyway I had a million tests last week, 2 of them done on less than 5 hours sleep. Nonetheless, my marks were 89, 87 and 82. That’s the only ones I get marks for. I was pleasantly surprised given the minimal amount of time I spend at my desk. Next week is mid semester exams, and I have 6 in one week, including for International Security. However, after that is finished, I am going away with Alana. Hallelujah. We have around 10 days off on last calculation, so I think we are going to hit up the Gili Islands, Lombok and Bali. Depends on how long I can make my (I just ate my lotes, back now!) money last.
So, what else? I spent a sizeable chunk of this week hanging out in the hospital with Ben, who unfortunately had a 3 night stay for some mysterious, as yet undiagnosed, disorder. Initially, the word on the street was that he had typhoid, however, in true Indo style, the diagnosis changed to “belum pasti”, not sure, and on my last information the sickness remains a mystery. The good news is that after 48 hours continuous hydration and some antibiotics he felt much better and was discharged yesterday. His parents have now kindly put him up in a very nice hotel here for a few days.
However, I must say, my experience of the Indo hospital system was pretty good. The nurses were lovely, efficient and attentive and the hospital itself, dare I say it, is probably better than the Modbury Hospital in Adelaide, based on the recent experiences of my family in that place! As far as I can tell, the key to the Indo hospital system is money. If you have it, you get the best care, the nicest room and the swiftest recovery. It you don’t have it, well, essentially you get crammed into a ward with everyone else who has no money and wait your turn. Not unlike the American health system really.
Aside from that, I had my first lesson on a motor bike and got the hang of it after about 15 minutes. But I haven’t tried again, and certainly haven’t gone on the road. Nanti aja. Later!
Last night I went to 2 big Yogya nightclubs which are right next door to each other and which last night had a special event on called “Double Impact”. There were some great DJ’s from Jakarta there and of course, me and the girls were busting it on the dancefloor. We also got to meet Adjo (maybe wrong name!!) another star from that film Mengejar Matahari which had Winky in it (the DJ from a while back!) See photo’s! There were also some models from some dodgy mens magazine there, who were dancing on the bar and making all the men in the room gaga, and much to the delight of the bule boys who were there, they came over to me and the other girls after they finished dancing because they had seen us dancing earlier. They were gorgeous. The lads were in their element! He he he.
So that was a good night. But it is a quiet one for me tonight because of exams next week. A week off clubbing before I go away with Alana. Yay!
And finally, I have realized that I am becoming very good at positing unanswerable questions in this country. For example, why do people always say “hello miss” as I walk down the street, why do I almost always hit my head when I am walking down narrow stairways and why is shoe size 40 different here to in Australia. But my favourite unanswerable question of the day is, how is it that I receive my underwear in neatly ironed piles twice a week and it is never confused with anyone elses, even though there are 20 girls living in my kos? How does the maid know which are my underwear, when she never sees me put it out in the basket? It is an utter mystery. And the reason I am never going to know the answer to that question, is because I am never going to ask!
And with that dear readers, I bid you farewell. Selamat Malam!
one of the models from hugo's
this is a cool photo don't you think??! can u understand why the boys were in their element now?
Bintang Film "Movie Star"
This is Esther and I with Adjo! He was in the same film as Winky (see previous entries)- he was the character who died. Kasihandeh!
This is a kaki lima
I took this pic ages ago, but it helps explain what I was talking about in the post!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Life is hard at Krakal!
Well people. Just got back from a night at Krakal. Beautiful. I was doing homework down there though, just so u aren't too jealous.
Commendations to all the closet readers, (special mentions to Julie-Anne, Vicki, Sandra and Frilly) who have come out and commmented (!), but there are still a few (a lot) out there, you will be named in the next week, friends who know who you are!
As for the bribery- santai. Its de rigeur. Massive problem, but unfortunately more endemic here than dengue fever.
And finally people- keep checking the photo stream cos I will terus-menurus put photo's on there ya-kan!
I have exams this week and next- wish me luck!
And well done SA ALP. Let's use the mandate too good effect ya!
Commendations to all the closet readers, (special mentions to Julie-Anne, Vicki, Sandra and Frilly) who have come out and commmented (!), but there are still a few (a lot) out there, you will be named in the next week, friends who know who you are!
As for the bribery- santai. Its de rigeur. Massive problem, but unfortunately more endemic here than dengue fever.
And finally people- keep checking the photo stream cos I will terus-menurus put photo's on there ya-kan!
I have exams this week and next- wish me luck!
And well done SA ALP. Let's use the mandate too good effect ya!
schwim schwim schwim
That little dot is me swimming! Beautiful weather, but the ride home was nerve racking- the clouds were grey and swollen with impending rain. Luckily we made it back on the bikes just as the first plops came down. 5 minutes later Jalan Kaliurang was like a river.
Friday, March 17, 2006
mempesona
Well it is Friday. The kos is a hive of activity because Friday is the day where all male Muslims MUST go to the mosque, but as far as I can tell, nearly all the girls here pay a visit to the mosque on a Friday too. They float out of the gate wearing their special jilbab for praying (I think it has another name but I have forgotten it) and float back in after half an hour or so. The jilbab is the head covering that many Muslim women wear here. For praying they have a special one that is white. Basically they just throw it over whatever they are wearing at the time and then go and pray.
The commitment of Muslims to the obligations of their faith is amazing. I don’t profess to be an expert in theology but to unfailingly pray 5 times a day, or more, is pretty devoted. That’s not to say that every Indonesian Muslim is like that, in fact, as far as I can see it is a minority that is that committed, but nonetheless in my living environs the family I am with and the girls quietly carry out their obligations to God in a way that is completely integrated into their daily routine. Unassuming and unobtrusive. It’s interesting to contrast the practicing of faith in this way with some of the in your face “new” Christians in America and even Australia, measuring their commitment to their faith with how sizeable their donations to the Church, or how profound their conservative impact on government policy. For every contrast there is a counter-contrast. Every faith has extremists and extremism. Tarring the whole of Indonesia with the muslim extremist brush, it is becoming increasingly apparent to me, is not only completely inaccurate but also lazy. Jihadists receive about as much affection from the average Indo muslim as from you or I. And that concludes Adelle’s pondering on religion 101. Where did that rant come from? I must be grumpy.
Terus. Moving on. I am supposed to finish telling you about my regular routine aren’t I? I might do it another time.
So what’s new with me anyway? I spent all week doing progress tests for my language classes. I got 86 for writing but haven’t got any other grades back yet. I am fairly sure my grades for Translation and Vocab will be mediochre. But regardless of how good (or bad) my marks here, it just translates back to 12 unmarked points on my Australian transcript. So my philosophy goes something like- every minute I spend sitting at my desk alone, is a minute I could be out with friends speaking Indonesian, talking to people on the street or volunteering or something like that.
Speaking of which, I am going to an organisation called Satu Nama on Monday to start volunteering with Esther. Not sure exactly what I am going to be doing there. They are basically an NGO that does community development activities across Indonesia. I may end up doing some work on a new law that has been passed which essentially starts a process of decentralization from the central government, and will give increased autonomy to the provinces. I think that there is a belief that corruption will be reduced if the regions have more control over their governments. I am not so sure. I am also going to an orphanage this afternoon. A lot of the ACICIS girls have been going there. Will try and get photos and stuff.
I have a funny corruption story as well. Actually, it is probably better described as alarming, but anyway. Corruption is so overt here. Just last weekend we had to pay bribes for riding without documentation. There was no documentation because it was stolen with Ben’s wallet the day before. I had mine, but I wasn’t a rider so I personally didn’t have to pay a bribe. Another guy I know got pulled over by the Narcotic police in another city and had to pay money for not having his documentation on him, even though, quite obviously, he was not carrying narcotics. When this guy offered 50 thousand rupiah, the policeman suggested he go to the ATM and withdraw more. I am sure that I will have many more stories like this one for you before my time is up.
Anyway, this is a rather schizophrenic post. My apologies. I am a little tired, a little narky, a little looking forward to going to the beach tomorrow. Am in the process of planning my traveling for the mid semester break, my only real chance to go far from Yogya. Hopefully to Lombok and the Gili Islands. Finally. But my expectations are low that anything will actually happen. It saves disappointment!
And finally, I really shouldn’t have been so quick to call the word mempesona a useless word. Since I blogged that comment about it being a waste of a neuron, I have seen it on a million advertisements for new housing estates. Rumah-rumah pesona. Enchanting homes.
See. What the hell do I know about this language?
The commitment of Muslims to the obligations of their faith is amazing. I don’t profess to be an expert in theology but to unfailingly pray 5 times a day, or more, is pretty devoted. That’s not to say that every Indonesian Muslim is like that, in fact, as far as I can see it is a minority that is that committed, but nonetheless in my living environs the family I am with and the girls quietly carry out their obligations to God in a way that is completely integrated into their daily routine. Unassuming and unobtrusive. It’s interesting to contrast the practicing of faith in this way with some of the in your face “new” Christians in America and even Australia, measuring their commitment to their faith with how sizeable their donations to the Church, or how profound their conservative impact on government policy. For every contrast there is a counter-contrast. Every faith has extremists and extremism. Tarring the whole of Indonesia with the muslim extremist brush, it is becoming increasingly apparent to me, is not only completely inaccurate but also lazy. Jihadists receive about as much affection from the average Indo muslim as from you or I. And that concludes Adelle’s pondering on religion 101. Where did that rant come from? I must be grumpy.
Terus. Moving on. I am supposed to finish telling you about my regular routine aren’t I? I might do it another time.
So what’s new with me anyway? I spent all week doing progress tests for my language classes. I got 86 for writing but haven’t got any other grades back yet. I am fairly sure my grades for Translation and Vocab will be mediochre. But regardless of how good (or bad) my marks here, it just translates back to 12 unmarked points on my Australian transcript. So my philosophy goes something like- every minute I spend sitting at my desk alone, is a minute I could be out with friends speaking Indonesian, talking to people on the street or volunteering or something like that.
Speaking of which, I am going to an organisation called Satu Nama on Monday to start volunteering with Esther. Not sure exactly what I am going to be doing there. They are basically an NGO that does community development activities across Indonesia. I may end up doing some work on a new law that has been passed which essentially starts a process of decentralization from the central government, and will give increased autonomy to the provinces. I think that there is a belief that corruption will be reduced if the regions have more control over their governments. I am not so sure. I am also going to an orphanage this afternoon. A lot of the ACICIS girls have been going there. Will try and get photos and stuff.
I have a funny corruption story as well. Actually, it is probably better described as alarming, but anyway. Corruption is so overt here. Just last weekend we had to pay bribes for riding without documentation. There was no documentation because it was stolen with Ben’s wallet the day before. I had mine, but I wasn’t a rider so I personally didn’t have to pay a bribe. Another guy I know got pulled over by the Narcotic police in another city and had to pay money for not having his documentation on him, even though, quite obviously, he was not carrying narcotics. When this guy offered 50 thousand rupiah, the policeman suggested he go to the ATM and withdraw more. I am sure that I will have many more stories like this one for you before my time is up.
Anyway, this is a rather schizophrenic post. My apologies. I am a little tired, a little narky, a little looking forward to going to the beach tomorrow. Am in the process of planning my traveling for the mid semester break, my only real chance to go far from Yogya. Hopefully to Lombok and the Gili Islands. Finally. But my expectations are low that anything will actually happen. It saves disappointment!
And finally, I really shouldn’t have been so quick to call the word mempesona a useless word. Since I blogged that comment about it being a waste of a neuron, I have seen it on a million advertisements for new housing estates. Rumah-rumah pesona. Enchanting homes.
See. What the hell do I know about this language?
Monday, March 13, 2006
Me and Nes
Agnes my champion pal who lives upstairs in my old room at the Kos. Party girl and legend. Smart, fluent in a bijillion languages, and always taking me everywhere on the back of her bike!!!
Berduduk Sendirian
Had a great weekend- went to Prambanan (loads of temples and stuff) on Saturday and Kaliurang (in the mountains) on Sunday.
This is me sitting at the entrance to a temple!
This is me sitting at the entrance to a temple!
Friday, March 10, 2006
I Am Usually Catatonic Till 10am
Well, it is the moment that you have all been waiting for- Part 2 of hum drum life in Yogya.
Where was I- that’s right, I have just arrived at Uni after suicide busride.
Moving along: I am not sure whether I posted on here the fact that I am in the advanced class for my language subjects. We sat a placement test here in the first week, and despite my abysmal performance (or so I thought) they stuck me in the Lanjut/Advanced class with all the people who have been studying the language much longer than I. The consequence of this is that I feel like I often make a fool of myself in class, and/or leave class feeling more confused than when I arrived. That said, I really enjoy my language classes.
I take Membaca (Reading), Menulis (Writing), Terjemahan (Translation), Kosa Kata (Vocabulary) and Tata Bahasa (Grammar). Classes are two hours long, with a 10 minute break just before the hour where all the INCULS students gather at the coffee room and discuss the gossip. There is usually plenty. It’s one of the consequences of being involved in a small community of ex-pats- everyone knows everyone else’s business.
Anyway, the classes. My current favourite is Menulis with Pak Rudi. He enjoys using me as an example in class. The consequence of this is that when I am falling asleep, I am jerked awake by the sound of my name being used in a sentence. Pak Rudi is very animated, and I am sure even an observer with no Indonesian ability would enjoy his overblown demonstrations of concepts, which become increasingly large the more blank the collective expression of the class.
My second favourite is Kosa Kata in which my vocabulary of both useful and useless words is being commensurately increased. (Just briefly, I am a bit of a fan of the word commensurate, but my current favourite English word is catatonic, because it is an apt description of my default mental state in this country!) An example of a useful word that I have learned is : terpinggirkan (marginalized) and example of a useless (low frequency) word is mempesona (a verb meaning “to enchant”).
So that is a brief summary of my INCULS classes.
Perhaps more interesting is my experience in my Immersion class “International Security Studies”. There are two lecturers for this subject- one who I can understand about 80% and one who I can not understand at all, largely because he likes to mix Javanese and Indonesian language in the way that only the Javanese can. We had a test in this class on Tuesday, which caused me to feel physically ill for a time until someone told me that no matter how badly or well u do in your immersion classes, as a foreigner the rule is “B for Bule” or in other words B for foreigner. So that was a load off.
Anyway, this particular test was based on some readings in English on the basic definition of security. One of these articles in particular was bloody difficult- I read it three times, and that was how many times it took for me to have a clear picture of what the author was trying to say. And English is my first language. So I felt very sorry for my Indonesian peers. 90% of Australia would not understand that article.
The structure of the test was as follows; the dosen wrote a question on the bored and then yelled “dua minut saja” or something, which meant “2 minutes only”. I then had to scrawl an answer in Indonesian to a question about which I seriously doubted my understanding. Anyway, we will see if the B for Bule theory holds up next week.
OK, so that’s my classes. However, I may have mislead you somewhat to this point, as to suggest that I have class every day would be wrong, in fact it would be a total lie. I have Monday’s and Friday’s off, one class on Tuesday and then 2 and 3 classes on Wednesday and Thursday.
One other regular study related activity is meetings with my tutor ReRe. INCULS allocates us with a tutor and by ACICIS rules we have to meet them 6 times. ReRe is an absolute champion so I have already met with her maybe 4 times and we are only 25% through the semester. Anyway, ReRe and I go through my Indo homework and usually knock off the tough stuff in the two hour meeting that we have, leaving me with the relatively simple remainder to complete. ReRe is fluent in 4 languages (Indo, Javanese, English and Japanese) and was originally allocated to me because I was going to be learning Japanese, but since that fell through (grrr) now we just do my homework and hang out.
Now, with study out of the way. What do I do with my weekends, spare weekdays and weekday evenings?
After my activities on campus are finished, I pulang (go home). I mandi (of course) and then I turn off all the lights in my room, shut the curtains and try to istirahat (rest). Sometimes this is like the impossible dream. If the Kos Family kids have just come home from school, I have no hope because they are running around, playing with their toys and squealing as kids do. Othertimes I can’t nap because of overconsumption of a) caffeine or b) sugar. Or, because I am trying to work out when, if ever, I am going to use a word like mempesona, and whether it is worth remembering. By the time my thought process has moved that far, it is usually burned into my long-term memory.
After my often futile attempt to sleep, I wake up (or not) and realize that it is time to head out on the nightly trek for food. One probably negative side effect of the low cost of food here, is that there is no incentive to cook for yourself. There is a kitchen at the kos, fully equipped, but I usually limit my time in there to the preparation of 2 Minute Noodles and 3 in 1 Coffee (sorry, yet to find easy to prepare replacement). Why would I bother buying ingredients, preparing them and cooking them and then washing up, when I can eat a complete meal for $1-$2 usually including a drink (hot lemon tea is my current favourite warung beverage). Anyway, I have a few favourite food spots.
1) Lesehan Wida- this is 30 seconds from the kos and is a permanent warung (as opposed to the thousands that are set up on the side of the road every night). My favourite dishes there are the Ayam Bakar (roast chicken) served with rice and cucumber and consumed without cutlery (actually- no cutlery is de rigeur in these kind of places) and all of the Noodle Dishes.
2) Hollywood Warung – fried chicken, or tofu or tempe, rice and veg. for 5000 rupiah – or about 75 cents. This is a sitting on the side of the road on mats, eating with your hands type restaurant. This is warung of choice when I am bankrupt.
3) Silla- this is upmarket for Yogya- and serves Korean and Japanese food in a Hyatt type atmosphere and in traditional Japanese style with the sunken floors. I ate delicious sukiyaki with unsweetened *hallelujah* green tea here for under $5. Worth every rupiah.
4) Ananda – this is about 2 minutes from my Kos and serves a mix of Chinese, Indo food. The only downside is that you often get smoked out by the dudes at the front roasting the fish on an open grill thingy.
5) Top Java – more of a lunch time establishment for me as it is far from my house but close to Uni. It is a self-service “as you can” type place with a variety of delicious food. I went there the other day to load up on red meat after I decided that I was anemic. It cost 9000 rupiah including lemon tea. Cheap.
Anyway, that’s some of my regular food sources. But I can once again sense your fatigue, so I am going to cut this post once more and continue at a later time, with such topics as the art of nongkrong, ngopi and clubbing.
But as an addendum- I am not officially a temporary resident of Indonesia! I got my KITAS visa last week which means that I can now get a motorbike license, open a bank account and get into the various monuments, temples and other attractions at an Indo price rather than a US dollars price. Yay!
PS Continue to share the blog love people- I am going to start naming the names of my regular readers who don’t comment, and shame you into participation. So ner.
Where was I- that’s right, I have just arrived at Uni after suicide busride.
Moving along: I am not sure whether I posted on here the fact that I am in the advanced class for my language subjects. We sat a placement test here in the first week, and despite my abysmal performance (or so I thought) they stuck me in the Lanjut/Advanced class with all the people who have been studying the language much longer than I. The consequence of this is that I feel like I often make a fool of myself in class, and/or leave class feeling more confused than when I arrived. That said, I really enjoy my language classes.
I take Membaca (Reading), Menulis (Writing), Terjemahan (Translation), Kosa Kata (Vocabulary) and Tata Bahasa (Grammar). Classes are two hours long, with a 10 minute break just before the hour where all the INCULS students gather at the coffee room and discuss the gossip. There is usually plenty. It’s one of the consequences of being involved in a small community of ex-pats- everyone knows everyone else’s business.
Anyway, the classes. My current favourite is Menulis with Pak Rudi. He enjoys using me as an example in class. The consequence of this is that when I am falling asleep, I am jerked awake by the sound of my name being used in a sentence. Pak Rudi is very animated, and I am sure even an observer with no Indonesian ability would enjoy his overblown demonstrations of concepts, which become increasingly large the more blank the collective expression of the class.
My second favourite is Kosa Kata in which my vocabulary of both useful and useless words is being commensurately increased. (Just briefly, I am a bit of a fan of the word commensurate, but my current favourite English word is catatonic, because it is an apt description of my default mental state in this country!) An example of a useful word that I have learned is : terpinggirkan (marginalized) and example of a useless (low frequency) word is mempesona (a verb meaning “to enchant”).
So that is a brief summary of my INCULS classes.
Perhaps more interesting is my experience in my Immersion class “International Security Studies”. There are two lecturers for this subject- one who I can understand about 80% and one who I can not understand at all, largely because he likes to mix Javanese and Indonesian language in the way that only the Javanese can. We had a test in this class on Tuesday, which caused me to feel physically ill for a time until someone told me that no matter how badly or well u do in your immersion classes, as a foreigner the rule is “B for Bule” or in other words B for foreigner. So that was a load off.
Anyway, this particular test was based on some readings in English on the basic definition of security. One of these articles in particular was bloody difficult- I read it three times, and that was how many times it took for me to have a clear picture of what the author was trying to say. And English is my first language. So I felt very sorry for my Indonesian peers. 90% of Australia would not understand that article.
The structure of the test was as follows; the dosen wrote a question on the bored and then yelled “dua minut saja” or something, which meant “2 minutes only”. I then had to scrawl an answer in Indonesian to a question about which I seriously doubted my understanding. Anyway, we will see if the B for Bule theory holds up next week.
OK, so that’s my classes. However, I may have mislead you somewhat to this point, as to suggest that I have class every day would be wrong, in fact it would be a total lie. I have Monday’s and Friday’s off, one class on Tuesday and then 2 and 3 classes on Wednesday and Thursday.
One other regular study related activity is meetings with my tutor ReRe. INCULS allocates us with a tutor and by ACICIS rules we have to meet them 6 times. ReRe is an absolute champion so I have already met with her maybe 4 times and we are only 25% through the semester. Anyway, ReRe and I go through my Indo homework and usually knock off the tough stuff in the two hour meeting that we have, leaving me with the relatively simple remainder to complete. ReRe is fluent in 4 languages (Indo, Javanese, English and Japanese) and was originally allocated to me because I was going to be learning Japanese, but since that fell through (grrr) now we just do my homework and hang out.
Now, with study out of the way. What do I do with my weekends, spare weekdays and weekday evenings?
After my activities on campus are finished, I pulang (go home). I mandi (of course) and then I turn off all the lights in my room, shut the curtains and try to istirahat (rest). Sometimes this is like the impossible dream. If the Kos Family kids have just come home from school, I have no hope because they are running around, playing with their toys and squealing as kids do. Othertimes I can’t nap because of overconsumption of a) caffeine or b) sugar. Or, because I am trying to work out when, if ever, I am going to use a word like mempesona, and whether it is worth remembering. By the time my thought process has moved that far, it is usually burned into my long-term memory.
After my often futile attempt to sleep, I wake up (or not) and realize that it is time to head out on the nightly trek for food. One probably negative side effect of the low cost of food here, is that there is no incentive to cook for yourself. There is a kitchen at the kos, fully equipped, but I usually limit my time in there to the preparation of 2 Minute Noodles and 3 in 1 Coffee (sorry, yet to find easy to prepare replacement). Why would I bother buying ingredients, preparing them and cooking them and then washing up, when I can eat a complete meal for $1-$2 usually including a drink (hot lemon tea is my current favourite warung beverage). Anyway, I have a few favourite food spots.
1) Lesehan Wida- this is 30 seconds from the kos and is a permanent warung (as opposed to the thousands that are set up on the side of the road every night). My favourite dishes there are the Ayam Bakar (roast chicken) served with rice and cucumber and consumed without cutlery (actually- no cutlery is de rigeur in these kind of places) and all of the Noodle Dishes.
2) Hollywood Warung – fried chicken, or tofu or tempe, rice and veg. for 5000 rupiah – or about 75 cents. This is a sitting on the side of the road on mats, eating with your hands type restaurant. This is warung of choice when I am bankrupt.
3) Silla- this is upmarket for Yogya- and serves Korean and Japanese food in a Hyatt type atmosphere and in traditional Japanese style with the sunken floors. I ate delicious sukiyaki with unsweetened *hallelujah* green tea here for under $5. Worth every rupiah.
4) Ananda – this is about 2 minutes from my Kos and serves a mix of Chinese, Indo food. The only downside is that you often get smoked out by the dudes at the front roasting the fish on an open grill thingy.
5) Top Java – more of a lunch time establishment for me as it is far from my house but close to Uni. It is a self-service “as you can” type place with a variety of delicious food. I went there the other day to load up on red meat after I decided that I was anemic. It cost 9000 rupiah including lemon tea. Cheap.
Anyway, that’s some of my regular food sources. But I can once again sense your fatigue, so I am going to cut this post once more and continue at a later time, with such topics as the art of nongkrong, ngopi and clubbing.
But as an addendum- I am not officially a temporary resident of Indonesia! I got my KITAS visa last week which means that I can now get a motorbike license, open a bank account and get into the various monuments, temples and other attractions at an Indo price rather than a US dollars price. Yay!
PS Continue to share the blog love people- I am going to start naming the names of my regular readers who don’t comment, and shame you into participation. So ner.
Samsons Concert Last Night
The live music scene in this city is amazing and there is ALWAYS something going on. In contrast to my crazy Goodnight Electric experience a few weeks back, Samsons are a relatively new, teen soft rock band. Admissions was 40thou ($6) at a club not unlike Heaven, and there were plenty of ABG's or teenagers packing the place out! That said, it was a decent show, that is until the final song (one of 2 that I knew), during which Ben's wallet got pinched from his back pocket, along with a heap of money and Wawan's motorbike registration (big problem- he has to go to Lombok to replace it cos he bought the bike there). So that sucked. But anyways- that's Indonesia.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
da desk
returning to the theme of photo's from "my room"- here is my desk. other riveting pictures can be viewed on the photo stream so do it y'all.
Hyatt Santai
Esther and I santai by the side of the pool at the Hyatt. Highly recommended for all you people who AREN'T coming to visit me. :-)
Cool Rumah Makan/ Restaurant
in lieu of any trip away AT all this weekend, instead, i went swimming at the Hyatt Yogya yesterday with chums, and today went with Wan, Ben, Tante (the aunty!) Om and the babies (and nanny) to lunch at this place- I think the name is Mangengking (or sumthin). Anyways, it was almost a good enough weekend to replace white sand beaches, but not quite!
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Hum-Drum Routine is Happiness on Stick with Sugar on Top
Well after being here over 5 weeks (5 weeks argh- time has actually grown wings and is flapping wildly in my face before flying by) I can proudly say that I have settled into some sort of a groove, and have, shock, a routine (!) which is becoming relatively consistent. I honestly never thought it would happen so I feel compelled to share. Hum-drum it is then.
So usually I wake up, somewhere between the hours of 6.30 and 9. Usually closer to 9. Depending on the mood of my fellow kos girls, I might wake up to hear someone shrieking at the top of her lungs across the kos, someone revving their motor bike for half an hour (usually after it has rained overnight) or someone inconsiderately blasting their stereo for all to hear. More recently, there has been someone staying in the house (quite possibly a relation of Ibu Kos) who enjoys playing the piano, about 5 metres from the door to my room, at indecently early hours. His saving grace is that he is a rather accomplished musician. At least, this is what I tell myself when I am laying in my bed, counting to 10, wishing I was still asleep and wondering how I am going to conceal the bags under my eyes when my MAC concealer runs out……!
Oh, and occasionally I wake up to hear the rare and precious sound of nothing. Occasionally.
After crawling out from under my sarong (that’s what I sleep under) I grab my coffee cup (tall, yellow, plastic) and a sachet of Nescafe 3 in 1 (sugar, milk, coffee) and go to the communal kitchen. I make my coffee. I say hello to Yuti, who is one of the Pembantu’s/house-help here. I grab a bowl and spoon from the rack and return to my room to eat cereal of some description. Of course, this is Indonesia, so that description usually includes obscene amounts of sugar. Often I eat out in the sitting area, where Ibu Kos has a daily warung/food stall. If I eat that food for breakfast I will usually consume white rice, some sort of vegetable dish, and a fish or chicken disk. If it is fish it is usually whole- like a sardine or something. Its’ eye stares up at you from the plate. You get used to it.
The other morning I also tried something new for breakfast, bubur hijau, green porridge- it is a runny green porridge with coconut. And at 1500 rupiah, what a steal. Enak sekali. Delicious. Only thing is I have to walk down and eat it in the warung down the road. So while that in itself is no problem, it has interrupted the flow of my current treatise on daily life….
After that I mandi in my kamar mandi. The psychology of mandi-ing is fascinating to me, and worthy of an entire post at a later date. Indonesian’s take their bathing very seriously. Often in my kos “belum mandi” is used as a conversation starter. It means, “you haven’t had a mandi yet?”. Sometimes I feel like retorting with a smart-alec comment in English. Not sure how much satisfaction I could derive from it though, when most of the kos girls wouldn’t uinderstand. I am developing a minor paranoia that I have a permanent appearance of being dirty. This is despite the fact that I mandi three times a day.
Anyway, terus, moving on- after brekkie and mandi I think about what I am going to wear, whether it has come back from being washed, hope that I have a clean collared shirt to wear to Uni (that is a non-negotiable- same with wearing rubber thongs- no-go on kampus), throw my various books into my bag and walk out to Jakal (the big road) and get a bus.
It may or may not surprise you to hear that Yogya buses are the polar opposite of for example, O-Bahn buses in Adelaide. To begin with you can catch them from anywhere, there are no bus-stops. You just stand on the side of the road and then as a bus approaches, you edge your way into the traffic. The reason you do this is that the bus doesn’t stop, it just slows down. You have to be adept enough to board the bus while it is still in motion. This is challenging. You then sit down in a seat close to the bus-driver- this is for safety and for avoiding pick-pockets. You then hold on for dear life.
I am not 100% clear on the go with the bus system, but it goes something like this. Buses follow a set loop, and do not follow a timetable. They have to make a certain amount in fares before they get back to the depot. “How do they do this?”, I hear you asking. Well, they do it by driving like psychopaths and overtaking other buses at high speed to attempt to collect the fares that lie ahead, that is, poach them from their fellow buses. In Yogya, if you are catching a bus, where possible avoid catching the second in two consecutive buses that are less than 100m apart. My rudimentary calculations have shown me that your chances of dying on the bus increase 10 fold if you catch the second bus. The ride on that bus may or may not involve driving at 80km/hr into oncoming traffic and indeed, other buses.
You may be fortunate/unfortunate enough to be serenaded by a Pengamen whilst aboard the bus. These are the buskers who scratch together a living by playing Top 40 Indo Soft Rock. Often they are very good, in fact the other day I had an excellent one. Other times you want to pay them to shut up. It is hit and miss. In addition to this, I once caught a bus that played techno music all the way to uni. I am yet to catch that bus again. It was much cleaner than the average Yogya bus, which I doubt have been cleaned since their manufacture in 1963.
Techno bus, where are you? I know I can wear white, board you, and end my journey without marks on my shirt……..
Anyway, then I get to Uni after about 5 or 10 minutes. The time frame depends on the extent of the driver’s borderline personality disorder and how strong his penchant for collecting fares at any cost. I leave the bus, trying not to get hit by a passing motorbike or fall flat on my backside after slipping down the stairs. I walk about 300m to INCULS for my classes, grab another coffee from the coffee room, find my buddies and go to class.
Now I think I might have to do installment 2 of this story at a later date as I know that the psychology of many of you will be “oh it’s too long I am not reading it!” So in anticipation of your laziness, I will end here.
However before I go, for your amusement, let me tell you a funny story.
I Did Something Funny on Thursday. A couple of my male friends had modeling photo’s taken here a few weeks back, and I happened to meet their ahem “agent” at dinner 2 weeks ago. He gave me his card and asked if I would be interested in doing modeling. He liked my hair and “proportionate” figure (it sounds a bit euphemistic no?). I pretty much laughed in his face and explained that the notion of me being a model in Australia is not only preposterous but wholly unrealistic as well and no, under no circumstances was I interested. I thought I had done enough to repel him.
Not so. He rang me 3 days later, insistent that he wanted to show me his portfolio and tee up an appointment. I dragged Alana along, and happened to rope in Esther and Zoe too. And to cut a long story short, we had a three hour studio photo session on Thursday night. We selected our photo’s for retouching and portfolio and pick up the finished product next Monday. The ironic thing in all this is that we can’t be paid for our work here because of our visa conditions, so it is all for a laugh. But our photo’s turned out really well, and if nothing else we have them. But Berend (agent dude) seems to think we are going to be asked to do jobs as SPG’s- special presenter girls (or something).
Anyway, many of you would be well aware how seriously I take myself when it comes to things like this, and how hilarious I find it all. But nonetheless, I thought what the hell, had a crack, and had a great time. So stay tuned for my profesh photo’slah.
So usually I wake up, somewhere between the hours of 6.30 and 9. Usually closer to 9. Depending on the mood of my fellow kos girls, I might wake up to hear someone shrieking at the top of her lungs across the kos, someone revving their motor bike for half an hour (usually after it has rained overnight) or someone inconsiderately blasting their stereo for all to hear. More recently, there has been someone staying in the house (quite possibly a relation of Ibu Kos) who enjoys playing the piano, about 5 metres from the door to my room, at indecently early hours. His saving grace is that he is a rather accomplished musician. At least, this is what I tell myself when I am laying in my bed, counting to 10, wishing I was still asleep and wondering how I am going to conceal the bags under my eyes when my MAC concealer runs out……!
Oh, and occasionally I wake up to hear the rare and precious sound of nothing. Occasionally.
After crawling out from under my sarong (that’s what I sleep under) I grab my coffee cup (tall, yellow, plastic) and a sachet of Nescafe 3 in 1 (sugar, milk, coffee) and go to the communal kitchen. I make my coffee. I say hello to Yuti, who is one of the Pembantu’s/house-help here. I grab a bowl and spoon from the rack and return to my room to eat cereal of some description. Of course, this is Indonesia, so that description usually includes obscene amounts of sugar. Often I eat out in the sitting area, where Ibu Kos has a daily warung/food stall. If I eat that food for breakfast I will usually consume white rice, some sort of vegetable dish, and a fish or chicken disk. If it is fish it is usually whole- like a sardine or something. Its’ eye stares up at you from the plate. You get used to it.
The other morning I also tried something new for breakfast, bubur hijau, green porridge- it is a runny green porridge with coconut. And at 1500 rupiah, what a steal. Enak sekali. Delicious. Only thing is I have to walk down and eat it in the warung down the road. So while that in itself is no problem, it has interrupted the flow of my current treatise on daily life….
After that I mandi in my kamar mandi. The psychology of mandi-ing is fascinating to me, and worthy of an entire post at a later date. Indonesian’s take their bathing very seriously. Often in my kos “belum mandi” is used as a conversation starter. It means, “you haven’t had a mandi yet?”. Sometimes I feel like retorting with a smart-alec comment in English. Not sure how much satisfaction I could derive from it though, when most of the kos girls wouldn’t uinderstand. I am developing a minor paranoia that I have a permanent appearance of being dirty. This is despite the fact that I mandi three times a day.
Anyway, terus, moving on- after brekkie and mandi I think about what I am going to wear, whether it has come back from being washed, hope that I have a clean collared shirt to wear to Uni (that is a non-negotiable- same with wearing rubber thongs- no-go on kampus), throw my various books into my bag and walk out to Jakal (the big road) and get a bus.
It may or may not surprise you to hear that Yogya buses are the polar opposite of for example, O-Bahn buses in Adelaide. To begin with you can catch them from anywhere, there are no bus-stops. You just stand on the side of the road and then as a bus approaches, you edge your way into the traffic. The reason you do this is that the bus doesn’t stop, it just slows down. You have to be adept enough to board the bus while it is still in motion. This is challenging. You then sit down in a seat close to the bus-driver- this is for safety and for avoiding pick-pockets. You then hold on for dear life.
I am not 100% clear on the go with the bus system, but it goes something like this. Buses follow a set loop, and do not follow a timetable. They have to make a certain amount in fares before they get back to the depot. “How do they do this?”, I hear you asking. Well, they do it by driving like psychopaths and overtaking other buses at high speed to attempt to collect the fares that lie ahead, that is, poach them from their fellow buses. In Yogya, if you are catching a bus, where possible avoid catching the second in two consecutive buses that are less than 100m apart. My rudimentary calculations have shown me that your chances of dying on the bus increase 10 fold if you catch the second bus. The ride on that bus may or may not involve driving at 80km/hr into oncoming traffic and indeed, other buses.
You may be fortunate/unfortunate enough to be serenaded by a Pengamen whilst aboard the bus. These are the buskers who scratch together a living by playing Top 40 Indo Soft Rock. Often they are very good, in fact the other day I had an excellent one. Other times you want to pay them to shut up. It is hit and miss. In addition to this, I once caught a bus that played techno music all the way to uni. I am yet to catch that bus again. It was much cleaner than the average Yogya bus, which I doubt have been cleaned since their manufacture in 1963.
Techno bus, where are you? I know I can wear white, board you, and end my journey without marks on my shirt……..
Anyway, then I get to Uni after about 5 or 10 minutes. The time frame depends on the extent of the driver’s borderline personality disorder and how strong his penchant for collecting fares at any cost. I leave the bus, trying not to get hit by a passing motorbike or fall flat on my backside after slipping down the stairs. I walk about 300m to INCULS for my classes, grab another coffee from the coffee room, find my buddies and go to class.
Now I think I might have to do installment 2 of this story at a later date as I know that the psychology of many of you will be “oh it’s too long I am not reading it!” So in anticipation of your laziness, I will end here.
However before I go, for your amusement, let me tell you a funny story.
I Did Something Funny on Thursday. A couple of my male friends had modeling photo’s taken here a few weeks back, and I happened to meet their ahem “agent” at dinner 2 weeks ago. He gave me his card and asked if I would be interested in doing modeling. He liked my hair and “proportionate” figure (it sounds a bit euphemistic no?). I pretty much laughed in his face and explained that the notion of me being a model in Australia is not only preposterous but wholly unrealistic as well and no, under no circumstances was I interested. I thought I had done enough to repel him.
Not so. He rang me 3 days later, insistent that he wanted to show me his portfolio and tee up an appointment. I dragged Alana along, and happened to rope in Esther and Zoe too. And to cut a long story short, we had a three hour studio photo session on Thursday night. We selected our photo’s for retouching and portfolio and pick up the finished product next Monday. The ironic thing in all this is that we can’t be paid for our work here because of our visa conditions, so it is all for a laugh. But our photo’s turned out really well, and if nothing else we have them. But Berend (agent dude) seems to think we are going to be asked to do jobs as SPG’s- special presenter girls (or something).
Anyway, many of you would be well aware how seriously I take myself when it comes to things like this, and how hilarious I find it all. But nonetheless, I thought what the hell, had a crack, and had a great time. So stay tuned for my profesh photo’slah.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
My Bed
This is the first in a series of foto's of my room in the kos! My traditional Javanese, wobbly, four-poster, dodgy mattressed and rather comfortable bed! I love it, and it serves as a couch too. The long pillow along the back of the bead head is an indo thing that u are meant to wrap urslef around to facilitate circulation of air etc. I just like it as a head rest m'self, but whatever. PS added some more photo's to the photo stream so just hit the link on the left of the page and check em out. And PS GIVE ME SOME LOVE ON THE BLOG PEOPLE- WHERE ARE UR COMMENTS???!!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Santai Aja! (Just Relax!)
Yo yo yo.
Well as I predicted I have bounced back and am once again atop the wave. Explicable how? I went out to a concert last night organised by the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta and found a new love- a band called Goodnight Electric. Funky synth pop, quite 80's, uplifting and very cool. The Indo's go off to it!
That wound up at 11pm and we headed out to a club TJ's with all the Japanese and Korean students from INCULS (the faculty for foreign students where i mainly study at Uni) and partied to the sounds of one of Indo's best DJ's who also happens to be the star of a very famous Indo film called Mengejar Matahari (or chasing the sun). He is ganteng dong! (You can look that one up yourself on a translator!!!) His name is Winky Wiryawan and he was fantastic. It seems like an unusual combo no? Film star and DJ. It works for him anyway!
Anyway, I slept until 2pm (I can hardly believe it)and was awoken only by Lisa at 10am who delivered me a plate of cheese toasties and a brew because she wanted to use the bread before it went stale. What a legend! Enak sekali. So I slept 10 hours, and am here with a few hours to kill before Wawan comes to get me on his bike and we naik motobike to Tropis!
We have also sorted out our weekend to secret island. Its costing about $110 for transport and accom. and we are staying in a 4 star hotel! Yay! Hopefully we can avoid violent storms and torrential rain long enough to enjoy some sunbaking!
Anyways, thats all from me for now. Just wanted to let u know not to worry cos all is
beres (sorted!).
Sampai nanti!
Well as I predicted I have bounced back and am once again atop the wave. Explicable how? I went out to a concert last night organised by the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta and found a new love- a band called Goodnight Electric. Funky synth pop, quite 80's, uplifting and very cool. The Indo's go off to it!
That wound up at 11pm and we headed out to a club TJ's with all the Japanese and Korean students from INCULS (the faculty for foreign students where i mainly study at Uni) and partied to the sounds of one of Indo's best DJ's who also happens to be the star of a very famous Indo film called Mengejar Matahari (or chasing the sun). He is ganteng dong! (You can look that one up yourself on a translator!!!) His name is Winky Wiryawan and he was fantastic. It seems like an unusual combo no? Film star and DJ. It works for him anyway!
Anyway, I slept until 2pm (I can hardly believe it)and was awoken only by Lisa at 10am who delivered me a plate of cheese toasties and a brew because she wanted to use the bread before it went stale. What a legend! Enak sekali. So I slept 10 hours, and am here with a few hours to kill before Wawan comes to get me on his bike and we naik motobike to Tropis!
We have also sorted out our weekend to secret island. Its costing about $110 for transport and accom. and we are staying in a 4 star hotel! Yay! Hopefully we can avoid violent storms and torrential rain long enough to enjoy some sunbaking!
Anyways, thats all from me for now. Just wanted to let u know not to worry cos all is
beres (sorted!).
Sampai nanti!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
The Inherent Changeability of Things
Well if one thing is certain in this country, it is that nothing is certain. Plans made are about as likely to maintain their initial shape as a chunk of plasticine sitting on a hotplate.
Some examples ya?
Last week a bunch of us made plans to go to the Gili Islands- you might have seen a fleeting reference to this “plan” in one of the comments on an earlier post. It is Ben’s birthday (my friend who was sick last week) and so Alana, Lauren, Chris, Jenna, Claire and Daniel (a friend of Ben’s living in East Java) and myself decided it would be cool to visit a tropical paradise. Apparently this could be done quite cheaply (under $100 return flight and cheap accomodation) and arranged with ease. HA~~! I made some initial enquiries with Ibu Kos, who with fingers in many pies also happens to have an interest in a travel agent. She got quotes on Garuda flights that were about $60 return but we had to book them that day. But oh no. We waited one day because of indecision from the male members of our little group, and sure enough, there is a Hindu festival on, and those flights were miracle prices that we SHOULD HAVE BOOKED. So now, plans have changed, and we are going to a little island off Java. We’re apparently just getting the bus there and then chartering a boat to the island. But why am I even telling you? No doubt tomorrow the plasticine will have melted leaving a demented, contorted version of this “plan”. Sigh!
Another example. I sorted out my timetable for Uni approximately 2 weeks ago. I decided to take Japanese, and International Security Studies along with my four intensive language courses, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Vocabulary. Once more HA~~! A quirk of the Indonesian University system is a tendency for classes to be “kosong” that is, empty- or that is, the lecturer for whatever reason, fails to show up to class. This is particularly recurrent early in the Semester where the usual process is that the lecturer starts coming to class in about the third week, when a threshold level of attending students has been reached (who knows what percentage this is). Fortunately for me, my language courses are never kosong because the lecturers are very good. For SKI (Security) the first week was well organised, the second week was kosong, and for Japanese the first week was kosong. The second week for Japanese was today, and the dosen (lecturer) has on a whim decided to move the class to 9am which creates a clash for me that is only rectifiable if I give up one of my days off uni, which I am not prepared to do! ;-) So looks like Japanese is off the daftar and Translation is on. Dammit. Fortunately, I can probably still pick up a little Japanese here, as my personal tutor arranged by the Faculty is fluent in Jap and English as well as Indonesian and Javanese, and, some new Japanese students arrived this week who are really nice.
Anyways, returning to my point about er, what was it….plasticine- don’t ever come to Indo expecting to work with Plaster-of-Paris. Nu-uh. Plasticine all the way baby.
I have actually had a pretty average week this week- nothing too dramatic- but enough to make be a little infuriated with the inherent changeability of things. I have also had a couple of run-ins with idiotic Indonesians which has ticked me off- I had one girl who I met briefly when I was out one night, hang out with me for a while one afternoon, then proceed to inexplicably ask for a loan of a large sum of money, to which I replied in a very flustered fashion “no”. This is my no means typical, and to my knowledge I am the only ACICIS kid so far to have this happen this semester, but it leaves you with a decidedly sour taste.
I am writing this post on my laptop before heading to the warnet because I have been feeling really really tired. I can only attribute this bizarre bout of extreme fatigue to bad sleep, cause by the fact that I was out of my room for three nights this week for the reason previously explained. One of the girls in my kos is a Doctor and she checked all my vital signs- BP fine, HR fine, temp fine so she reckons it is probably sleep disturbance. Let’s hope so ya.
I just finished reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Great book. Thanks Maude, if ur out there! And I also watched Brokeback Mountain last weekend- curious to hear ur opinions- I really liked it.
And before I go, I contemplated awhile about whether to write negative things about this place on my blog, given that Indonesia seems to receive so much bad press anyway. (Speaking of which, I hear another idiot has been caught with drugs in Lombok?) so please don’t use any of the above to vindicate your opinion that yes, Adelle is living in a hell-hole. Rather, think of this post like a shallow trough after a long time riding atop a wave. Thatsa what I’ma doin.
Oh and by the way, I have been here one month today lah.
Some examples ya?
Last week a bunch of us made plans to go to the Gili Islands- you might have seen a fleeting reference to this “plan” in one of the comments on an earlier post. It is Ben’s birthday (my friend who was sick last week) and so Alana, Lauren, Chris, Jenna, Claire and Daniel (a friend of Ben’s living in East Java) and myself decided it would be cool to visit a tropical paradise. Apparently this could be done quite cheaply (under $100 return flight and cheap accomodation) and arranged with ease. HA~~! I made some initial enquiries with Ibu Kos, who with fingers in many pies also happens to have an interest in a travel agent. She got quotes on Garuda flights that were about $60 return but we had to book them that day. But oh no. We waited one day because of indecision from the male members of our little group, and sure enough, there is a Hindu festival on, and those flights were miracle prices that we SHOULD HAVE BOOKED. So now, plans have changed, and we are going to a little island off Java. We’re apparently just getting the bus there and then chartering a boat to the island. But why am I even telling you? No doubt tomorrow the plasticine will have melted leaving a demented, contorted version of this “plan”. Sigh!
Another example. I sorted out my timetable for Uni approximately 2 weeks ago. I decided to take Japanese, and International Security Studies along with my four intensive language courses, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Vocabulary. Once more HA~~! A quirk of the Indonesian University system is a tendency for classes to be “kosong” that is, empty- or that is, the lecturer for whatever reason, fails to show up to class. This is particularly recurrent early in the Semester where the usual process is that the lecturer starts coming to class in about the third week, when a threshold level of attending students has been reached (who knows what percentage this is). Fortunately for me, my language courses are never kosong because the lecturers are very good. For SKI (Security) the first week was well organised, the second week was kosong, and for Japanese the first week was kosong. The second week for Japanese was today, and the dosen (lecturer) has on a whim decided to move the class to 9am which creates a clash for me that is only rectifiable if I give up one of my days off uni, which I am not prepared to do! ;-) So looks like Japanese is off the daftar and Translation is on. Dammit. Fortunately, I can probably still pick up a little Japanese here, as my personal tutor arranged by the Faculty is fluent in Jap and English as well as Indonesian and Javanese, and, some new Japanese students arrived this week who are really nice.
Anyways, returning to my point about er, what was it….plasticine- don’t ever come to Indo expecting to work with Plaster-of-Paris. Nu-uh. Plasticine all the way baby.
I have actually had a pretty average week this week- nothing too dramatic- but enough to make be a little infuriated with the inherent changeability of things. I have also had a couple of run-ins with idiotic Indonesians which has ticked me off- I had one girl who I met briefly when I was out one night, hang out with me for a while one afternoon, then proceed to inexplicably ask for a loan of a large sum of money, to which I replied in a very flustered fashion “no”. This is my no means typical, and to my knowledge I am the only ACICIS kid so far to have this happen this semester, but it leaves you with a decidedly sour taste.
I am writing this post on my laptop before heading to the warnet because I have been feeling really really tired. I can only attribute this bizarre bout of extreme fatigue to bad sleep, cause by the fact that I was out of my room for three nights this week for the reason previously explained. One of the girls in my kos is a Doctor and she checked all my vital signs- BP fine, HR fine, temp fine so she reckons it is probably sleep disturbance. Let’s hope so ya.
I just finished reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Great book. Thanks Maude, if ur out there! And I also watched Brokeback Mountain last weekend- curious to hear ur opinions- I really liked it.
And before I go, I contemplated awhile about whether to write negative things about this place on my blog, given that Indonesia seems to receive so much bad press anyway. (Speaking of which, I hear another idiot has been caught with drugs in Lombok?) so please don’t use any of the above to vindicate your opinion that yes, Adelle is living in a hell-hole. Rather, think of this post like a shallow trough after a long time riding atop a wave. Thatsa what I’ma doin.
Oh and by the way, I have been here one month today lah.
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