That's a wrap for FIB!

It's 1:19am and I've just completed my speech for my mata kuliah Sejarah Indonesia. This means, until my exam for this subject on the 6th of January, 2011, 3/4 classes in FIB ( Falkutas Ilmu Budaya) are officially finished! Yay!

The past two weeks have been absolutely chaotic! I've had the opportunity to visit Dieng Plateau, attend a World Class Conference free of charge (Thanks to ACICIS) called WISDOM, 5-8th December, performed in PSM UGM Konser Kecil, a photography excursion using an analogue camera with black and white film, 3 final exams in a row: Terjemahan Inggris - Indonesia, Karawitan dan Basa Jawa and Friday officially marks the end of INCULS(Indonesian Culture and Language Services), where I'll be the MC of the Closing Ceremony and then the ACICIS Christmas/Farewell Party. So naturally, I've been keeping out of trouble but it is definitely a lot more difficult to juggle a few commitments in a day here, which has made me realise I need to stop over-committing myself. Who would have thought I would FINALLY click onto this apparently well-known fact of life?


I'm a little sad to say that my time as an FIB student is coming to a close, especially since that faculty was home to my favourite subject here  - Basa Jawa! Or to say in Javanese, kula remen sanget sinau basa Jawa wonten ing UGM!


It's also hard to believe that it is less than 10 days to Christmas and this also means that I'll be heading to Bali soon to meet up with Ari, Mez and my mum - very excited! A whole group of us ACICIS kids will be heading to Bali too so I think it is safe to say, it will be an awesome Christmas/New Years!

So here are a few snapshots of the things that have been keeping me busy. Enjoy!

Danau Warna di Dieng Plateau on a rainy day!

My photo-hunting partner in crime - Dita! My first attempt at capturing the beauty of film.

A silhouette captured at Taman Sari. Despite the beauty of the shadows, I can't help but laugh at how defined my nose is!

The banner at my first and last choir concert with PSM UGM!

A few pictures to fill the blanks!

Hey all!

So I'm still being super slack in posting a decent length entry. I should tell you all about: a fantastic 21st spent in both Singapore and Bali, returning home to Jogja with my family, going to Semarang for a night and staying at the very posh Novotel, visiting the Royal Cemetary at Imogiri, teaching some English at an evacuation centre, joining and recording with the band - Jogaroos! Or perhaps, moving into a new home and being fed various Indonesian cakes by my Ibu Kos, making traditional dishes for Idul Adha with my Pencak Silat friends and the final month of semester at UGM :(. I also should fill in the missing chunk of my life that includes Pencak Silat, Choir, Krakal Beach, Pagar Alam and Palembang, Sumatra, Dimas, Ina's and Putri's graduation and the multitude of other things that seem to be lost in time!

I'll post up some pictures since a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

ACICIS Semester 31 + some friends - the male ACICIS students at Imogiri, the royal cemetary. We are all wearing traditional Javanese dress. 27th November, 2010

The close to 400+ stairs we had to climb to reach the top of the entrance of the cemetery. We were then told the cemetery was closed. Sigh. 27th November, 2010

Alex and Fikri - Contenders for Javanese traditional dress models of the year? 27th November, 2010

Dad eating some delicious Roti Canai in Little India, Singapore. 7th November, 2010

Singapore City by night! Glen, Tude, Alit and I rode the Singapore Flyer - was a perfect way to see Singapore city in her glory. 8th November, 2010

Still the same old Katrina! I might of just turned 21 but I'm still really good at losing things! This instance, my ring fell into the grates of a water fountain on Clarke Quay. 9th November, 2010

So there's a teaser of what's to be told in my next post or if I'm super slack still, an a-bridged version of the tales of Katrina. As I am now in my last few weeks of studying here at UGM, Yogyakarta, I already know that it is going to be so difficult to leave but I am looking forward to doing some travel in the other islands of Indonesia :)

Made it out of Jogja. Next stop, Surabaya-Jakarta-Singapore!

Heya!

So perhaps blogging of my hope to still arrive in Singapore today may have slightly jinxed my flight to be cancelled almost an hour after posting. Now I know from my years of studying Psychology that correlation does necessarily equate to causation but I'd rather have my crazy superstition be responsible for Jogja's airport to be closed down, rather than it's current precautionary action because of an extremely active and cranky volcano. I often like to imagine that Gunung Merapi is much like a toddler having a tantrum; throwing around molten lava, rocks, burping hot gas, grumbling over not getting that new toy and asking her playmate, Gunung Anak Krakautau to come play in the only way that volcanoes know how - in eruptions!

Perhaps my imagination is a little active at this point of time after a 7hr drive from Jogjakarta - Surabaya? Yes? No?

So what has happened in the past 24hrs to find me here in Surabaya? Well, it all started at 5pm yesterday afternoon when I received a text message from Air Asia stating that my flight had been cancelled.

Every traveller’s favourite message! Photo: Katrina, iPhone

It kind of sucked because not only did that mean I was grounded in Jogja, it also meant that clearly the situation in Jogja was becoming much more severe than originally anticipated. As the airport became a no-go zone, it meant that every other form of transportation increased in demand which of course, added to the already exsiting chaos in the city. I had plans to try to get to Jakarta by train in order to get to Jakarta by the morning for a booked 11am flight to Singapore. $100 AUD later, that dream was dashed as there was no physical way I was going to make it to Jakarta in time unless I happened to stumble across a magic carpet. Train tickets were snapped up quickly and others desparately tried to find calo, our equivalent to a scalper, and heading to the bus station down south also seemed futile since it is very much a first-come, first-serve sort of business. Not something my frazzled state could deal with, let alone the stress of these alternative forms of transport’s affect on my poor father’s nerves.

So with a heavy heart, a sore-ear after trying to communicate with my family in Australia and Jakarta to come up with an alternative plan, I was pretty set on giving up and staying in Jogja. You could even say my heart was heavier with guilt more than sadness because as much I wanted to see my family and spend my 21^st with them, a greater part wanted to stay in Jogja to be some sort of use to aid the current situation with Merapi.

Just as all hope was soon lost, I did what every person addicted to notion of social-networking, I hopped on facebook to see what everyone else was doing, since I decided I was pretty much at a lost as to what I needed to be doing. What happened next was as if the social-networking Gods were praising my insatiable curiousity or probably more so addiction. My dear, life-saving friend Sophie had posted up a message to see if anyone wanted to get travel(kind of like hiring a private mini-van) to Surabaya for Saturday morning. This was my window of opportunity to try to get to Singapore!

After Sophie’s 8 hour negotiation with a driver, me resorting to nursing my nerves over dinner at Special Sambal with Sam (totally the person I wanted to see in my frazzled state; Sam’s one of those one-of-kind guys who seems to be able to make up the funniest jokes or provide the necessary comic relief at any time of the day) - we had found a car to take us to Surabaya! The even better part of the story was that we were leaving that night! Hello to beating traffic and getting a 7 hour snooze to the east side of Java!

By 7:15am this morning, one minute before the time I had predicted that we would arrive in Surabaya, our kind driver dropped us all at the airport. We were a funny group squashed into a mammoth of a people mover – Aussies, Dutch, Austrians,Germans, back-packs and surfboards all trying to get to Bali, Singapore, Batam or Surabaya.

I raced to the Lion Air counter with Thomas, my Austrian friend, to try to get on an 8am flight to Jakarta in order to prevent forfeiting the flight I had purchased the night before. Unfortunately, the flight was already full but I was able to buy a ticket to Singapore from Surabaya that will be leaving in the next 4 hours. Of course, another $100AUD later! Thomas sadly had to fork out more money too to get his flight since the promo fairs were sold out and he already left a ticket behind in Jogja with the same fate of mine.

We’re all wondering how friendly our travel insurance is planning to be since we aren’t entirely sure were natural disaster falls into our policies. How often does an angry toddler-like volcano choose to erupt in a state this devastating since 1870?

So now I write to you with hope replenished, a lighter heart and excitement to see all my family in Singapore. Although my body has left Jogja physically, my thoughts are still and will always be with those left behind in Jogja. I am lucky because I am able to leave Jogja and see my family as the people we only on Tuesday distributed aid to, are now one of the thousands currently taking shelter in a Stadium only 20km away from Merapi with no news as to when her activity will return to her normal state.

Just one of the many cars covered in Ash – the state of Jogja the day I drove out. Eeerie like snow isn’t it? Photo: Katrina, iPhone

Let’s hope for the sake of Jogjakarta and her people, the toddler tyrant that is Gunung Merapi, soon has what she wants to settle her temper. I may return to Jogja this coming Wednesday but that still is pending on whether or not the airport will be re-opening her tarmac. I’m hoping so as there is nothing more I’d rather be doing than lending a helping hand.

Over and out but safe as always x

Don't eat the yellow snow or in Jogja's case, don't eat the ash.

Heya!

So once again, Jogja finds herself covered in a blanket of ash-like snow and us Jogja folk are donning some seriously sexy face masks. Unfortunately early this morning, Gunung Merapi had her biggest yet eruption which has resulted in lava flowing to about 13km from the centre. Bad news for the refugees who had only yesterday been evacuated to a camp about 15km. Since then, the refugees have since been moved to 20km away from Merapi at the Ring Road Utara, which is about less than 5km from my kos has been closed off to aid evacuation operations. So all and all, living in generally exciting, dusty and an ever-increasing natural disaster. On a more positive note, we are all okay here in Jogja but most of us are looking to seek for the beach, Bali, Jakarta or in my case, Singapore to escape the ash, especially since we all have the week off from uni due to the ash and assist evacuation/recovery up north.

It's been pretty cool leaving here in Jogja at the moment since there have been plenty of opportunities to assist as a volunteer to help out with the current situation at Merapi. Two of my friends, Hari and Lana, set-up an expedition to deliver needed supplies to Merapi on Tuesday, 2nd November with money donated from friends, family and other-interested folk from Australia, Indonesia and ex-ACICIS students too. Together, a total of 10 million rupiah was raised which went to buying things like water, rice, medicines, toys, baby clothes and supplies, detergent, milk and other things to immediately assist an entire refugee camp up at Kinaharjo. I was extremely lucky to help out in the shopping of all these items and head up the camp to distribute them up. It was amazing to see that despite enduring something so traumatic and harrowing, we were still greeted with smiles, children learning some songs and such gratitude for helping out in such a small way. Truly magical really.

Lana and Fajar un-packing the ute filled with supplies for refugees of Merapi. Photo:Hari Lodwick



Everyone happily drinking milk after distributing the supplies to the camp at Kinaharjo. Photo: Hari Lodwick

Last night, Fickri had organised a really cool opportunity for us ACICIS kids to get on the local radio - Geronimo 106.1FM to have a chat about what it is like to be an ACICIS kids, our funny moments in Indonesia and our views on the current situation of Merapi. Oh and of course, they let us sing on the radio! It was a fun little hour of talking about experiences as international students in Indonesia, our interest for studying here, confessing our love for Jogja but most importantly, a way to broadcast our concerns for the current situation of Merapi and tell our story of helping in any way possible with delivering some much needed supplies to a refugee camp in Kinaharjo and the perils of not being able to get to a second camp but only a distribution point of Aid. Experiences like these are just one of the great aspects of living in Jogjakarta since there are always unique and unusual experiences that are hard to come by back home - whether they be good or bad!

Hari, Lana and I - happy little ACICIS vegemites on the air on Geronimo 106.1FM! Photo: Fickry Adequate

Us little vegemites wouldn't be anywhere without Fickri - Thanks for the opportunity! Photo: Fickry Adequate

There are ever-increasing opportunities other to get involved in assisting the refugees and hopefully, there will also be long-term management of these large-scale disasters. It's something I'm definitely keen to look into once I'm back from Singapore - if I get there. I'm looking forward to heading to Singapore to meet me Mum, Dad, Glen and my family in Jakarta, Tante, Tuaji Bagus, Tude and Alit! It's looking to be a crazy family holiday in a different part of the world - exciting!

So yes, I've yet to fulfill my promise of my other adventures and pictures but something to come - most likely in my transit to Singapore tomorrow morning! Hopefully by tomorrow the airport might not be grounded or too massive delays but must wait and see. But of course, more importantly, hopefully this ordeal will come to end so Jawa Tengah and her people can have a chance to recover, as well as Indonesia after a ridiculous natural disaster week.

Thinking of all the families and friends out there who are suffering due to any of the natural disasters in this terrifyingly beautiful part of the world.

Over and out but as always, safe x

It's been over a month... Apologies and a call for Donations to help Merapi's victims

Hello! So it's been close to a month without a peep from me - I am still alive, amidst all of Indonesia's natural disasters! It's been a very tragic week for Indonesia ranging from earthquakes or gempa bumi, tusnami, letusan Gunung Merapi dan Gunung Anak Krakatau or the eruptions from Mount Merapi, Central Java and Mount Krakatau Jr, Sumatra.

These two pictures were taken by my friend Matt Burgess and they show the devastation of Merapi's sadly, numerous eruptions. To see more of his photos, check them out on BBConline - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11657801. It's very exciting having his work published worldwide!

The first image is what the streets of Jogja looked like from Saturday morning, 1am. The volcanic ash had managed to reach as far as 38km away from the actual eruption thus creating a somewhat feeling of falling snow in Jogja. It was incredibly eerie - it made a lot of us wonder whether or not the Apocalypse was nigh!

This photograph is the area about 8km away from the initial eruption, 26th October, 2010. The surrounding area was completely destroyed by clouds of hot ash, hot gases and the occurrence of molten mud and rock. About 38 people have sadly been killed by the eruptions of Gunung Merapi and about 50,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes which are within the 10km radius of Indonesia's most active volcano. A lot of cows and other animals have been petrified in the natural disaster too but true to the Indonesian spirit, so many people have begun distributing aid, assisting the displayed people and trying to rescue as many people as possible.

Rest assured, although I am in no danger in Yogyakarta, it's been a great opportunity to begin plans to assist the displaced people from Gunung Merap's eruptions. On Friday 29th-30th October, Gadjah Mada hosted their annual GamaFest 2010 - A display of international culture, food and the Gelanggang Mahasiswa Expo.

So what did that mean for us Aussies/ACICIS students? We were inivited/conscripted into creating a 'uniquely' Australian performance and selling traditional foods of the land Down Under. All in 4 days. Oh Indonesia, how you make last-minute plans an art form. So I managed to rope Yasmin (officially adopted as Australian despite being a Brit) into performing 'Waltzing Matilda' by ukelele with us singing, Sam on the didgeridoo making the sounds of a Bule riding a motobike in Indo, before inviting three brave Indonesians to try and eat as many Weetbix as they could within 90 seconds. Despite the simplicity of our performance - the crowd loved our performance, especially the zinc we wore proudly on our noses and cheeks and the hilarity of the revolted looks on the Indonesian's faces as they ate ultimately dry weetbix.

Now, you are probably wondering how making dicks of ourselves on stage is relating to helping the victims of Merapi, right? Well, the following Saturday, despite the volcanic ash that covered Yogya in an eerie-like snow, our next challenge of GamaFest2010 was to create enough Australian food for 200pax. So of course, no Aussie menu is complete without having a vegemite sandwich, damper with strawberry jam (since honey was too expensive) and a non-alcoholic tequila sunrise (yes, not particularly Australian sans alcohol). After a struggle of waking up to start preparing food and decorations at 10am at ACICIS house, we managed to decorate our stall, sell some mediocre but well-received food and raised 320,000 IDR($40) for the victims of Merapi. I know $40 seems like a meagre amount but considering you can buy a decent meal for about 50c-$1AUD - a little goes a long way!

Mas Phil manning the Aussie stall complete with our flag, little koalas, vegemite sanga's, damper, a flopped Australian tourism campaign slogan and neighbours with various countries around the globe with much better tasting food than us! Thanks to Matt again for the photo!

It was an extremely successful day of selling and trying different food, as well as most stalls donating their takings of the day towards helping buy supplies for the victims of Merapi. Currently ACICIS is also putting together a drive for necessary supplies to Merapi like blankets, nappies, sarongs, non-perishable food, clean water, medical supplies and face masks so for those who want to donate from home - please contact me via katrina.steedman@gmail.com or alternative join the ACICIS facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158804084159330&index=1

So that's my current mission, alongside my final two mid-semester exams this week! Please help out in anyway you can because every little bit does go a long way in this country :)

Promise to update the past month as there is still to come: My week in South Sumatra - Pagar Alam + Palembang, PSM UGM Choir audition, Perisai Diri Pencak Silat, Yasmin's 22nd birthday Jogya style, the European 80's party and nightclubbing throughout Jogya, Strong winds, black outs, no water - oh my! As well as my account of my Journey to Kalisuci and Gunung Kidul for caving and Pantai Krakal!

Oh, I've also moved out of my Kos Waswan Way, Deresan - tear but have find a very happy new home in Gang Jeruk No. 3, Pogung Baru! Pictures of the move out and the move in to come... gosh, I seem to be making a lot of promises that I have yet to deliver... Becoming more Indonesian; always something to do for tomorrow!

x

A very overdue blog post, that will lead to more blog posts!

Wow, I do apologise at how slack I've been at blogging! It's nearly two weeks since my lost post! I guess you could say they have been action-packed or I'm trying to get over my addiction...?

As it has been quite some time, I've had to refer to notes in my diary to be able to construct this post so things may not be a true representation of the actual time frame! I'll divide the past two weeks into three small blogs and put lots of fun pictures up :)... Hmm, that reminds me, I still need to get some photos uploaded onto facebook for anyone out there who has me on facebook! So slack!

So let's go back two weeks shall we! Alex and I decided that as

we have Mondays free, we would spend the day being all rajin or diligent, doing some homework/bludging free wif-fi/eating lunch together. As we were ordering, my friend Fajar sent me a message saying that he would like to take Alex and I to watch the sunset at Bukit Bintang or Star Hill. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to be taken somewhere within Jogya that I hadn't been before and with good company, how can you refuse?

So Fajar met us at Foodfezt with his friend Adi and we were off on the back of their motorbikes for about a 40min-1hr journey to the East of Jogyakarta. Well, it was only that quick since the boys were zooming along the streets which was fun until we had to turn corners and or approaching the inclining hill! We arrived safely of course, thanks to their expertisé haha!

A picture of Adi and Fajar guilty as charged for being speed fiends! Afraid they don't look too remorseful!

The four of us sat on a hill-top lesehan and ordered some teh jahe or Ginger tea - sooo yummy! Very addictive and really warms you up. We just chatted, shared some jokes, laughed at each other's attempts at English or Indonesian whilst the sun began to set. It was a spectacular sunset despite some cloud but the real beauty was at night-fall since the lights of Jogya looked like stars. It was easy to see how Bukit Bintang received it's name!

The pictures do not truly capture the beauty of Jogya from Bukit Bintang but it's a nice attempt!

Our other friends then invited us to Nanamia's, a very delicious woodfire pizza restaurant. Us, some other Aussies, some Indo's and some Europeans all dined on a selection of pizzas which were reminiscent of home. Very tasty! The next stop of the night was the free Monday Jazz concert outside Kompas. This has definitely become a regular haunt for some of us ACICIS students as it's very cool to watch some local Jogya musicians jam together with a mixture of jazz standards, as well as some cool fusion jazz. Also, one of the cool things is you get to sit on bamboo mats - I really am becoming fond of bamboo mats!

Something else that is becoming routine here for me in Jogya is going to the gym! Alex, Steph and I decided to become members of Jogyakarta Plaza Hotel since they have a very swank gym, a pool, morning and afternoon classes and probably the best part of the deal - a hot shower! We decided that we should try every class they have on offer as a way to gauge what works and what doesn't, as well as the fact we were beginning to feel a little too sluggish in our very cruisy lifestyle!

First up was Classic Aerobics! We arrived on Monday morning at 7am, a time that has been foreign to us for quite sometime, to only be greeted by blaring 80's electro music. Always fun right? To top things off, our instructor soon arrived in only a bikini top and bottom with a little skirt in bright yellow - it was as if we had fallen back into the 80's! Little disappointed at the lack of leg warmers but the pace of the class and calibre of the routine certainly made up for it!

After our hour of twirling, punching, grape-vining, marching on the spot, the class was over with a quick cool-down and no longer was our instructor making strange noises with her commands. It was sort of the love child between a seagull and a monkey. Very odd!

Since that Monday, I've indulged in many luxurious hot showers since most of our kos's here only have cold water, Body language, Taebo and have plans to try the step class. I think I'm a keeper to the gym and hopefully in 4 months time, I'll be super aerobics lady as currently I'm much like my highschool counter-part - Captain Unco!

In my next blog: PSM UGM Choir audition, Perisai Diri Pencak Silat, Yasmin's 22nd birthday Jogya style, the European 80's party and nightclubbing throughout Jogya, Strong winds, black outs, no water - oh my!

This will then be followed by an account of my Journey to Kalisuci and Gunung Kidul for caving and Pantai Krakal!

Stay tuned :)

Mudik'ng to Bekasi and my 40th day in Indonesia!

Today marks my 40th day in Indonesia. That's exactly 10 days past a normal tourist VISA which confirms the fact that I'm not a tourist but indeed, a temporary citizen of the country. I suppose you can say that it's finally settling in that I am here to stay yet, each of these 40 days have already started to blend into one another. I never thought that I would start thinking - What did I do yesterday? A remarkable change for someone who has lived so vigilantly by a diary for the past three years.

Alas, enough of my internal dialogue and epiphanies, time to move on to my recent adventure in Bekasi and brief stop in Bandung, West Java.

Sam, Timmy, Steph and I managed to score really cheap tickets with Garuda to Jakarta over Idul Fitri/Lebaran/End of Ramadan. It worked out be about $100 return and also meant free food! That clearly is the most important part of the tale, not the fact that we were flying with the now-safe again company, extra baggage allowance or actually having a flight fly on time. Of course, the food wasn't free but it was nice change to be given food unlike my usual budget airline flying. We arrived in Jakarta safely, despite the fact that I have never been so afraid of a take-off in my life. It was a really wet, drizzly day so I think the take-off was a wee bit faster than I'm comfortable. I don't think my occasional yelps during turbulence added to the ambience of the rather quiet and rather empty plane despite it being one of the biggest mass migration of people the world sees each year. Timmy and I were greeted by Tude, my distant cousin and good family friend. He and his girlfriend treated us to dinner and we were soon off to Bekasi.

It was so odd seeing the highways and streets of Jakarta so quiet and empty; quite a shell of it's usual self to be honest. As we left on September 8th, most Indonesians would have already begun their journeys to their hometowns or at least on transit hence Jakarta being so quiet. Tim and I soon arrived at Tude's house and Tim was warmly greeted by their dog, Klewan whilst he sniffed at me hesitantly. Tude and Tim bought us each a longneck of Bintang which sparked conversation until the wee morning as sadly, the call for Sahur marked that we had been up far too long although, my aunt had not come home yet as she was still on call delivering two new babies into the world. Unlike Christmas back home, Ramadan changes each year due to the calendar they use so those children may not always have their birthday during Ramadan. Wonder what it would like to have a birthday during ramadan. I imagine eating would be even more exciting because you would probably be not only eating delicious food but also made to wait the whole day until you were allowed to eat cake!

After a slow start to day, it was nice to be greeted by the sight of a home cooked meal and for once, not everything was deep-fried or overly sweet. Not saying that I haven't been eating healthy here whilst in Jogya but it is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of eating things that have been 'digoreng' which means, fried or 'manis' which means sweet. After a delicious meal prepared by Mbak Min, we were off to meet up with Sam and Steph at Citos - a cool mall/place to hang out. We wondered around the vast size of the mall before settling into a cool little Arabian themed cafe and indulged in apple tobacco shisha with orange juice filtering through. A Shisha or Hooka really makes you feel like a dragon when you blow out the smoke whilst the tingling taste of apple lingers in your mouth.


Things like that really highlight the fact that Jakarta is an interesting city since on one hand you have all the elements of Western Modernity: Shopping malls, expensive cars, tall high-rise buildings but yet, this is contrasted with Indonesian culture, Mesjids, shanty towns and extreme poverty. Mix in crazy traffic, big cars, little three-wheeled cars and a smattering of motorbikes, you have quite a crazy Capital city. This picture was taken by Tude of the view over-looking Jakarta from our Danish friend, Dani's Uncles apartment. Just after Lebaran, we attempted to check out the Jakarta nightclubbing life but sadly, as it was still Lebaran, all of the clubs were closed but we did have fun drinking with Dani's uncle and Tude chauffeuring us around the streets of Jakarta. Got to say, German Schnapps is rather lethal without any flavouring like it's butterscotch or peach counterparts and gila tequila from Mexico is really quite gila aka crazy.

After two nights living like a young person in Jakarta would, Tim and I were off to Bandung with Tude's family. It really was like a classic family holiday car trip. We all piled into two cars since Tude's cousin and her young family - such a cute 6month old!, the nanny, the cook, the two bule's and the rest of Tude's family were all coming for the adventure. In true Indo style, no accomodation was booked since it was too difficult to find somewhere due to everyone mudik'ng. After a few hours, outside our window were the rolling green hills of Bandung and we had arrived in the city centre. Tude's parents managed to secure a cute little roadside motel and we all dropped our small bags into our respective rooms. If the trip couldn't become more family like, my aunt began dishing out what I can only describe as the equivalent of an Indonesian picnic in her room. After eating a quick but still homely meal, we were off in the car again to drive the streets of Bandung.

Bandung is famous for it's factory outlets and we were off to our first mall. Tude,Alit, Tim and I split from the main group to go find Timmy some shoes which didn't take long since we have 220,000IDR ($30) Chucks - Score! I bought myself a pair as well since, who can resist a bargain like that? After some serious shopping, we were in the cars once more and on our way to Tude's family friend's house up in the mountains in Bandung. This was a real treat as we were actually Mudik'ng to a Muslim families house during Lebaran! After driving through the windy hills, we had arrived at a beautiful house with a matching bungalow in the front. Of course, true to Lebaran, visiting someone's house means that delicious food awaits and we were not disappointed. There was a vast selection of traditional Lebaran food like 'tupat', 'opor', a potato dish, 'Rendang' and a HUGE amount of biscuits and cakes! It was all so tasty and if the night couldn't get better, we got to let off fireworks! During Lebaran, you can buy fireworks off the side of the streets and it's not un-common to hear fireworks going off each night during the month of Ramadan and especially afterwards!
Tude was showing me how to capture photos at night on manual settings with my D90 and I managed to fluke one awesome picture of our fireworks. The other picture is of the Bandung skyline that Tude managed to capture. It was simply beautiful to be up in the mountains as the air was so fresh or in Indonesian, 'sejuk'.

We were only in Bandung for the one night and after one last stop for some shopping at the factory outlets, we were on the road again bound for Bekasi as Alit, my younger cousin needed to get back for a band practice since he was performing at Mal Metropolitan the next day. Watching him sing at his concert with his band was actually the first I had seen Alit perform as I had only heard his beautiful voice in many karaoke sessions, recordings or his obvious talent on display in the forms of many trophies at their house. For someone who is usually so quiet, the stage is really his element and he and his band definitely drew a big crowd. Alit's band performed an awesome two hour set of a mixture of Indonesian and English songs and the MC managed to get Tim on stage to act our a love story with a shy, teenage Indonesian girl. This was highly entertaining to watch both parties mutual embarassment, as well as the fan girls that followed Timmy around the mall to try and get a picture of him as a product of his five minutes of fame. Times like these really makes me love Indonesia and how I wish I had yelled out that Tim was actually Justin Beiber because of the Beiber Fever this nation has!


This photo was taken by Tude and I'm posting it because it's cool because of the composition and lighting! The next photo is of Alit singing whilst trying to encourage a fan to join in with him. I mean he was also offering chocolate, how do you resist that?This is a photo I took too :P

Post show, Alit and his friends invited us to watch the second instalment of the Indonesian Trilogy - Merah Putih II: Darah Garuda. This film was excellent! Tim and I were really chuffed since it was the first Indonesian film we had watched without subtitles and we understood the story! I was really impressed by the quality of the film, the storyline and the fact it is a film about the Independence movement in Indonesia and the conflict with the Dutch leading up to the Independence of Indonesia.

Just when we thought our last day in Jakarta and Bekasi was going to be relaxed, we were soon ushered off to Ancol - It's sort of like the Gold Coast of Jakarta since they have theme parks and it's on the harbour/beach. As time was of the essence since Timmy and I were flying out that evening, we only had time to go to Samudra - the theme park with a 4D Cinema, live watersports shows and aquariums. That was fine with us since had never been there before and as much as we love Dufan, it was nice to check out something new.

We watched the hilarities of Scorpian Pirates - a waterstunt drama with water skis but we avoiding being sprayed by water which was awesome since it was a gross brown colour, were jolted around in our seats whilst watching a film in 3D which made things seem just that more real, looked at crazy fish in the aquarium including Pirañas that suspiciously had no teeth. We soon found out that if Pirañas lose their teeth, they can grow them back in a day - hectic! Sadly, our day as big kids soon came to an end and Timmy and I had to bid farewell to my family at Ancol. We managed to find a taxi to take us to the airport, which was pretty tricky since traffic was picking up because of people both returning to Jakarta from their villages, as well as the fact that since it was a public holiday, everyone was at Ancol!

Tude and Alit helped us negotiate with the driver to not to rip us off and use the meter but unforuntately, the instructions they sent to me to watch the meter and not to tip him was promptly read out loud by yours truly. To make matters worse, the message was in Indonesian so the driver was bound to understand everything I said. I'm not sure if he was listening to me but Timmy shook his head; I was pretty embarrassed.

Tim and I arrived at the airport safely and not ripped off - hooray! We met up with Steph and Sam and boarded our flight relatively on schedule. I must say, the touchdown in Jogya really felt as if we were returning home. I decided I happily call Jogya my home after Sydney and Tabanan.

So that concludes the chapter on Mudik'ng to Bekasi. The week ahead looks to classes going back to normal, without interruption and I'm currently trying to organise a hike of Gungung Merapi, the tallest mountain in Jogyakarta. A possible weekend at Karimunjawa - these beautiful and idyllic islands off the coast of Java, is also on the drawing board too. Of course, there will also be uni work once classes are in full swing. I'd hate for you to think that all I am doing here in Indonesia is having fun and not actually to study here :P

Jalan Malioboro, Candi Prambanan and Ramayana Ballet

After a party at Joel's and Nic's, followed by a late night coffee session at Kedai Kopi, I found myself at home at about 3:30am - just in time for Sahur (the first meal during Ramadan before the sunrise) meaning that the gate was open! I did feel sort of dodgy for wandering in just as some of the girls in my kos were waking up but it didn't keep me up so to speak.

After a snooze, Alex, Steph and I headed to Jalan Malioboro, most likely the famous street in Jogyakarta. Our mission was simple: to buy Batik, Shoes and presents for my family in Jakarta and for Ina's family in Sumatra. It is a lot of fun wandering down the long street since it is filled with street vendors, andong (traditional horse and carts; form of transportation) and Becak's (A bike with a passenger cart). Of course by wandering, it is more like being heckled down the street but it's something you just need to laugh off.

Our first stop was Mirota Batik - This giant store that has the first floor dedicated to Batik and the second floor dedicated to souvenir-like things. Another welcomed aspect of this store is that prices are fixed, unlike it's counterparts on the street where you can bargain for a better price. Perhaps we were cheating the Indonesian culture but the weather was so hot and it was crowded. These conditions meant that we were happy to pay a little more only for the comfort of staying sane. Spending the day shopping with Alex and Steph was probably the first girl-only day that we've had in a while. We enjoyed being able to try different batik shirts, look at touristy souvenirs without worrying about someone becoming bored. We all settled on a few batik shirts and moo-moo's (oversized batik dresses) and a secret stash of Monggo chocolate (it is a Belgium-style chocolate that is heavenly and made in Indonesia). You may notice that batik appears to be a motif within the blog but Jogyakarta is famous for it's batik and it's a tradition to wear it on Fridays, sort of like our casual Friday, as well as in formal situations. It's a must in every Jogykartan wardrobe!

We then had a mission to find both Steph and Alex shoes which we find in no other place like Bata (A staple Indonesian shoe store). We also found out that we all have the same feet size - uncanny! After a successful shoe hunt, Steph had a brilliant idea to get frozen yoghurt so we headed our way back to the shopping mall and indulged in fro-yo with the healthy option of fruit toppings and then the bad yoghurt, with oreos', chocolate caviar and lychee jelly. Both were excellent choices. The photo above is of Steph and Alex with our delicious frozen yoghurt. We bid farewell to Alex for she was leaving for Sumatra the next morning and was unfortunately unable to join us, along with the other ACICIS students, to the Ramayana Ballet at Candi Prambanan.

Steph and I decided that we would catch the TransJogya bus, Jogya equivalent of STA back in NSW but a fraction of the price - It is only 3000 IDR for wherever you want to go on the bus route! We piled on to a crowded bus but thankfully it was air-conditioned! After a few stops, Steph and I managed to get seats and were able to enjoy the passing scenery of Jogya or in my case, have a little power nap. We arrived at Prambanan and met up with our other ACICIS friends. They had taken refuge at some seats next to a Martabak vendor (kind of like an Indonesian egg filo pastry, v. tasty!) and were munching on freshly made martabak. Steph and I eagerly joined them, it's something that you can't get at home unless my mum makes it occasionally :P

With filled tummies, we crossed the road to Prambanan, just in time for the last tour. The best part about being a student here is the discounts to what is mainly tourist sites. Instead of paying 120 000 IDR for a ticket, we only paid 20 000 IDR = awesome! a lovely man showed us around the temple grounds and explained the history of the temples. I asked whether women were allowed to enter the temple after they built it but the answer to my question began more a story. Legend has it, there was a Princess that this King wanted to marry but she wasn't too crash hot on him so she told him that he would have to build 1000 temples before dawn in order to marry her. The King managed to get to 999 temples just before day-break but the Princess said the challenge was over since there was no way he could have finished the temples. So in return for her insolance, he changed her into the main temple that still exists today, as the temple for Siwa, as well as marking the 1000 temple. Story has it that if a young couple enters that temple, their time together will be cursed since the King and Princess could not be together, so neither should they.

Pretty cray huh?

It soon became sunset and we bid goodbye to the beautiful temples and our lovely tour guide. He showed us how to get to the Open Air Theatre for the performance of the Ramayana Ballet that evening. We paid for our tickets, although no student prices and decided to eat some dinner at the Buffet Restaurant conveniently next door. Dear Yasmin thought she heard that the dinner was 20 000 IDR (about $3) but when we received the bill, it was actually 70 000 IDR (About $10). Yasmin was shattered as she was so excited for a cheap dinner but it became more of a reminder to practice her numbers. It made for a good laugh and for the food we ate, there was no way a meal like that would be cheap back home!

We then went in search of our seats and we were positioned towards the left of the stage but in the slightly elevated section which made for a great viewing of the show. The story of the ballet is the love story between Rama and Sinta, as well as the perils that occur because of the rival King, Rahwana who kidnaps Sinta because he wants to marry her. The costumes of the ballet were all so intricate and so vivid in colour. The ballet had a live Javanese gamelan playing which really helped the story come to life! I wish I could have taken some photos but I only had my iPhone on me, which was useless in the dark.

If you are interested in the story, I'd recommend looking it up as it is quite a famous story in both Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Though I'm sure with the migration of the story between the countries, there are bound to be different interpretations.

All 10 of us were lucky to find cabs on the main street, with the help of a nice man who helped us usher them, though, I think the taxi drivers gave him some money for helping us. In the taxi on the way home, I couldn't help but think I'd like to learn more about Hinduism because of the history of the temples, the Ramayana Ballet, as well as a personal interest with being half-Balinese.

Today was most definitely a culture-packed day and I'm hoping for a few more days like these. I think the next culture trip is to visit Affandi Museum, followed by an episode of the Ramayana Ballet but in Wayang Kulit form (Javanese shadow puppets).

:)

Get your Angkot on!

Thursday night began with chilled beers at Bar Bintang and Lucifers on Jl Sosro, bailing out of Republik, a nightclub to only end-up chilling outside a convenient store. Whilst my friends drank on the streets, it soon became 2am. It was time to head home, or at least Yasmin's floor for the night as we had a 9am INCULS opening lecture and we both were not going to make it unless we had each other's motivation. I have a feeling that her floor might become my surrogate home away from my kos over the next six months.

After a struggle to wake up, Yasmin and I had to speed our way to Jl. Kaliurang, thankfully near her kos, to meet Steph and Dave to catch an Angkot! I'd never taken what I can only describe as a minibus except the doors are always open to allow people to jump on and off the bus quickly. The Angkot we boarded was the magical no. 7 - it apparently goes everywhere in Jogya and for only 2500 IDR (about 30c?). It was a fun experience watching people pile on and off the bus, nearly falling out of it when the bus stopped and chatting with the kids on the back seat who would burst into fits of giggle when we asked them their names or how they were. Indonesian kids are some of the cutest kids you can find!

The bus arrived at our stop or rather, came to a sudden holt and we swiftly jumped off as usually the bus will continue it's course if you aren't quick enough! We arrived to the lecture theatre, all a little worse for wear I might add and the lecture soon began. The lecture was on a basic overview of Indonesian history, culture and food, tips to stay healthy, what to avoid wearing at uni and what to do and what not to do at uni. The lecturer was this lovely, smiley lady who gave the lecture in a mixture of Indonesian and English. Made it just that little bit easier to understand which was nice. The lecture finished an hour early - woohoo, and Yasmin and I, along with some of the European International students headed off to the food court! After some delcious and cheap food, a plate is roughly 6000 IDR (less than a dollar), I headed home and ordered my first Aqua galon!

The above photos are the insides of the bus, the mad seat covers and my beloved Aqua galon and pump from Carrefour :)

Kebon Village - Hello Batik!

On Saturday, Yasmin, Gen, Liss, Sam, Steph and I decided to check out a free tour to Kebon Village organised by IOM - International Organisation for Migration. Nothing is more sweeter than a free car trip to a village that makes Batik using only natural dyes and resources, especially since this NGO is working with local people to empower them to recover on both a micro and macro level!

We met at Via Via Cafe on Jl. Prawirotaman, a very cool cafe located in the South of Jogyakarta - this area of town is decked out with vibrant street graffiti, live music, jazz and home to Jogyakarta's art scene. I've come to really enjoy heading down south whether it be for an art gallery or chilling at bar with some live music (although, since it is Ramadan, every chance has sadly ended in failure). It was also really funny to see how my perception of foreigners has changed too. Where I live, if you see one or two bule -foreigners, you think that is quite a lot, however, down south is a prime destination for foreign tourists. Perhaps this is a sign that I am becoming more and more Indonesian as each day passes?

Our guide, Mbak Ratnih came at 10am, decked out with promotional brochures about the village we were going to visit and a friendly smile. The jaffles we ordered promptly arrived in bungkus - takeaway packaging, so we all were set to pile into the car and head off to Kebon Village.

For a little background info, in 2006, there was a devastating earthquake in Central Java that was responsible for the destruction of not only the physical environment but also of people's main means of income. Many people were forced back to their villages due to a lack of work in the big cities. The village we were visiting is just an example of how an NGO has enabled 5 groups of women to produce Batik within their village, as well as creating ties to sell this Batik both locally and internationally.

We arrived at the village and were greeted by a group of Batik Painters or rather, a group of friendly smiles and offers of water, boiled peanuts and boiled bananas. My friends and I were overwhelmed by the kindness of the ladies, especially since they were all most likely to be puasa-ing but the water was a well welcomed gesture after our car ride. Here we were shown each of the steps involved in making Batik: the first being the materials they use to make the dyes, drawing the pattern onto the fabric with a stencil, using hot wax to trace the pattern with a suntik and then the washing and dying of the fabric. To make one piece of Batik, whether it be a curtain or a sarong, takes anyway from 9-12 days! This is because of the hours it takes to not only trace the intricate design on the fabric but also the number of times the fabric needs to be dyed in order for the colours to remain strong and beautiful.

The Ibu-ibu (group of women) then invited us to make a small swatch of Batik and only asked for a donation of 25,000 IDR ($3.50 AUD) to cover the costs. Yasmin, Gen, Steph and I eagerly accepted and were soon choosing patterns, tracing them and then applying the wax to the fabric. It was a lot of fun but also an eye-opening experience because tracing patterns with hot wax is damn hard! The ladies made it looks so easy with their fine,graceful and quick movements with the wax. This was an amusing contrast to our quivering hands, blotches and the occasional yelps from hot wax landing on our skin. The Ibu-ibu just laughed and watched us over us as if we were their keen apprentices while sharing tips and demonstrating techniques along the way. I am glad I am only a humble university student, as I left quite a few blotches of wax on my fabric. I imagine if I were an apprentice, my month's wages would have been gone right there and then!

After soaking our batiks in the natural earthy brown dye, we hung them out to dry and as typical city kid, we were clucking over the chicks and ducklings running around the village. I think one of the Ibu said that the massive ducks we saw were for Idul Fitri (the gathering of the whole family to eat massive amounts of food that occurs at the end of Ramadan) but I hope she meant for their eggs...

On our journey home after group photographs, bids to return, Mbak Ratnih was so kind to drop us at the local chemist for our friend Steph needed to see a doctor since we worried about how quickly her health had turned into a nasty fever. Luckily for Steph, it wasn't Typhoid or Dengue Fever like one of our other ACICIS friends had fallen victim too. Whilst Steph was at the doctor, Yasmin, Sam and I decided to get something to eat. This was probably not a wise decision as decided to check out this Warung Padang Makanan. It looked harmless enough, the food was pretty tasty but when it came time to get the bill, each of us had to pay 30,000 IDR (about $4-$5). I know that seems nothing but compared to normal prices, it was a bit of a shock. It didn't help that as soon as we left the restaurant, Yasmin told us that the kitchen didn't seem to have running water and neither did the toilet. So, if I write that I am sick in a week's time, it probably was the 30,000 IDR price of Typhoid. It's been 2 days and touch wood, I'm not home to an incubating case of Typhoid.

Later that night, the girls in my kos, Dita and Novi invited me to the midnight sales at Amplaz. Boy, was that a reminder of the Boxing Day Sales at home! We walked around the huge department store of Centro ( Kind of like Myers) and tried on silly hats, head scarfs, shoes and oggled handbags. Dita and I decided to buy a pair of shoes which was easy to try them on, it just meant that when it came to buy these said pair of shoes, we had to line up for close to an 1 and half to pay for them! By 1am, we had left Amplaz but the night was merely starting. We went and met up with their friend, Erlian and went in search of food. By about 2am, we had found a lesehan ( large woven bamboo mats on the side of the road where you can buy food) and the wait for dinner/sahur began! The funny thing about Jogya is that you don't often get hassled to buy things of street vendors but rather, are treated to travelling buskers and bencong - crossdressers. This makes road side eating a lot more fun and enteraining, especially when you have a cross-dresser impersonating a Vietnamese actress. At least, I think that is what he was doing.

Before we left the lesehan, a group of Volkswagon Beetles and vans drove past us in a convoy, followed by a group of Jeeps. Apparently there are many car clubs in Jogya that love nothing more than to drive in convoys at about 2:30-3am! I wish I had taken a picture but unfortunately was a little too delirious with fatigue.

I wrote earlier that I was going to the beach on the Sunday past. Sadly, that was cancelled. So in it's place, I met up with Yasmin, Alex, Sophie, Steph, Dimas and Timmy for Japanese! Mmm, delicious bento boxes with Terriyaki chicken, raw tuna sushi, miso soup, croquetes and melon! After lunch, we decided to head to Movie box to watch Karate Kid (Japanese-themed day anyone?). Movie box is a cool hang-out place where you can rent a room with a projector, comfy cushions, delicious chocolate milkshakes and watch whatever you like - newly released films, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, American movie and sit-coms, cartoons etc. The new version of Karate Kid was a perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday though, I'm still unsure as to why they needed to call it Karate Kid, would have been better with Kung-Fu Kid. Though saying that, I love nothing more than a Jackie Chan film! By the time the film ended, we headed off to get some Mie Aceh ( it's like mie goreng with a sort of kare twist - cheap and delicious) and finished the night with a quiet beer at Leker Jé, a quirky rock and roll themed cafe on Jl. Ciroditiro.

So that was the weekend that was.

x

Teater Boneka, classes, NGO's - Oh my!

Yeah, if you can guess the reference in the title of this blog - you are awesome!

So what have I been up to in the past 4 days, quite a bit actually! I started classes on Tuesday with Indonesian history and boy was that a mission to find the classroom! Turns out, my lecture was on the other side of campus meaning I was late by about 10minutes. Class had already begun and I could not understand a word of the lecturer despite being in the first row. We were given an assignment on what I could only understand as pre-historic Indonesian history and were promptly dismissed, 30minutes into the class. No one moved from there seats so the lecturer then decided we should introduce ourselves by passing the microphone around. Naturally, when the microphone was passed to me, the 100 people in the room went silent. Talk about instant celebrity status! I'm afraid I have since moved to another history class since that one was simply too hard, I hope my classmates aren't offended :P

I'm also enrolled in Karawitan a.k.a Gamelan! Our first class was merely introducing all the instruments in the orchestra, followed by Mas Bimo explaining that his grading structure ranges from A-C, as well as mainly practical over theory :). Looking forward to learning in his class since he seems pretty cool and chilled! I had my first class kosong in Bahasa Java so I'm hoping that happens next week and my translating English to Indonesian class will hopefully be helpful too! Last but certainly not least, my Journalistic Photography class! Gosh, did that class send me round the bend since I was happily waiting in what I thought was the class room but turns out, I was the wrong building. I thought I had then gone to the correct building but soon found out I was meant to be on the other side of campus! By this time, I was already over an hour late and must have missed my class. Twas a little annoyed with myself but I blame it more of my state of puasa (fasting), so was more than happy to meet up with Yasmin to "buka puasa" on Jalan Olah Raga. Here we ate some banana sticky rice cake and a delicious lumpiang with fresh chilli. We were also treated to the singing and jangling bells of some bencong-becong aka cross-dressers. Highly entertaining and hilarious to be honest! They were very friendly too but as soon as we gave them 1000 rupiah ( about 10c), they were off to another crowd.

Yasmin and I then headed off to forage for dinner and we stumbled across the heavenly smell of bakar ( grilling/burning is the best translation). We sat on lesehan (mats on the ground where you take your shoes off) and feasted on some grilled chicken, rice, this yummy lemon/mint and this beautiful mushroom and veg soup. Whilst we ate, we also entertained by some passing buskers but who too left as soon as you threw some change. Shame too, since they were more than welcome to stay.

The best entertainment of the night was Teater Boneka - Puppet theatre! My friend Anthony from uni had introduced me to a friend of his he had made whilst he was in Jogya - Mas Bintang. He had invited me to watch a puppet show, although it was aimed at children, I was delighted to come along! The show was called Monyet Loe! It has been so long since I have seen a puppet show and I can't say I was disappointed! It was rather poignant as the story line was about these two orang utans whose jungle had been taken over by a mean man who set up a bar. He then proceeded to kidnap the younger sibling and he subjected to learn how to dance for the bar. Luckily, the local street kid who sought refuge in the jungle every day, befriended the older sibling orang utan and it became their mission to save the jungle and teach the mean man a lesson! Which they did - Hooray! It was such a great medium for the kids because they became so involved with the story which was great as there aren't many theatre productions aimed at kids. If my synopsis doesn't quite make the grade, you can follow it up here: www.theatrelakon.wordpress.com

After the performance, Mas Bintang and his friend Bu Bridget told me about the volunteering opportunities at a school down in the South of Jogyakarta. This sounds like a really good opportunity as the school is quite like a Steiner school and is keen to have Yasmin and I are board to help out. It would only really need a day or two of us to come help out in say teaching english, organising games, helping out in the organic markets or in my case, teaching some music. I believe this is a post Lebaran operation to work out since it is about 20mins by car from where I live - Oh how I miss you Pinty!


Tomorrow's plan is to visit Klaten Village to see how this village makes and sells Batik! It's a free tour organised by an NGO called IOM which I am really looking forward to seeing. I'm hoping that to make up for the free-ness, I might be able to come home with some cool handicrafts, as well as help a village get back on it's feet after the devastating eruption of Gunung Merapi! Sunday's plans so far is to head to the beach with a Climate Change NGO. I'm trying to see and interact with as many NGO's whilst I am in Jogya to see if there are any means by which I can help out! Far too long since I've been involved in humanitarian initiatives!

Of course, true to my nature, I've also been trying so many different restaurants and types of food that I haven't even had a chance to miss cheese and other foods of home! So much delicious food in Jogya but sadly, a lot is fried or very sweet so Monday's agenda is to check out some more martial arts, dance lessons and the gym. Another thing I've been doing lately walking everywhere around Jogya - I give thanks to the wonderful flat terrain!

Also could see Merapi faintly in the horizon today which was a nice touch to a grouchy afternoon :)