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
Thursday, April 13, 2006
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.
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