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 :)

It's the best place to rest your Helmet!

Howdy all!


So where we left off, I had just come back from Jakarta after mine and Tim's adventure to the Australian Embassy to exercise our civil duty! On Saturday, it was a day of relaxing before meeting up with the boys: Joel, Tim, Gio and Matt to help them find some purple clothes for our friend's/the ACICIS program Manager's farewell party down south at Jl. Prawirotaman. It was a really fun night since we were all dressed up in Purple clothing and both old and new ACICIS students having a drink together. Very reminiscent of home! Of course, where there is alcohol, also brings games of "Would you rather" or "Never had I ever". The result, to put it politely, an education in fun facts that were both entertaining and eyebrow-raising to say the least :P

The lovely farewell party at Bu Ira's beautiful guesthouse ended and we were all off to an Indonesian bar called Lucifers. I found this highly ironic name since we are currently in the most holy and revered month of the Indonesian calendar - Ramadan. Our little crew of ACICIS students, that being: Sophie, Alex, Katrina, Maryke, Joel, Tim, Dimas, Sam, Matt and I, embarked on our first journey to an Indonesian night club or Dugem. No idea what that is abbreviated for though!

To be honest, the nightclub in Yogya was actually a lot of fun. It wasn't as busy as it usually was but at least the music was upbeat and followed through with a live band at about 1am. Nothing like a bit of Bob Marley mashed in with Lady Gaga and of course, the typical dancing on the speakers. Joel and I were left as stragglers at the club as everyone mysteriously disappeared. I later found out that they had made their pilgrimage to Macca's so for that, I was glad I missed out by default.

Sunday was a mixture of sleeping in, cleaning my room, picking up my laundry and checking out a Shotokan karate class with on of my teman kos, Tita. That was a lot of fun to learn a discipline that although similar to mine, it was still completely different. I was also treated to the feeling of sweat literally pouring out of you but sadly, it was more due to the sheer humidity rather than exertion. I think I'll keep it up regularly but have some links to Pencak Silat (An Indonesian Martial Art) and Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing except not so big on the crazy conditioning rituals) to check out and try. After class, Tita and I went and had dinner together. The food was delicious except for the confronting moment of poverty.

After our meal of bakso, I had left some noodles and fat from the soup and a lady came up to me to ask for some money before pointing to the food and asking if she could finish off, as well as give it to her small child. Being in such a state of shock, I could only merely utter a "Ya boleh Bu" and leaving the warung (food stall). In hinesight, I am so ashamed of my blatant ignorance, as well as not even offering to buy her and her child a meal. I mean, I did give her some money prior to her request for the remains of my meal but that still is pretty poor on my part. This experience, although meagre, has inspired me to get involved with some of the local NGO's here whilst I'm in Yogya. I only hope that if I am in a situation similar, I'll react with a more encouraging response than shuffling a few notes awkwardly.

My post now brings us to Monday and my first attempt at Puasa (fasting from food and drink from the hours of daylight, a Muslim ritual during Ramadan). I awoke at 3:30am and ate Sahur (first meal of the day) with my teman Kos, Dita and Novi. Despite our fatigue and nonchalance to food, we managed to drink some juice and eat some roti (bread). It was pretty tough seeing as my body's knee-jerk reaction was just to roll over to sleep once more, rather than feed it. I was grateful that I did eat something as all day, all my body was craving drinking, more so than eating.

Fasting or Puasa was definitely food for thought. Throughout the day, it made me realise that sometimes as Westerners, we forget the true meaning of food. Of course, food is for sustenance and a means for survival but it is also a privilege to have, as well as a great opportunity for community. In Indonesia, the time of breaking fast is such a communal event and full of colour and vibrance. This evening, my fellow housemates Dita and Novi, along with their friends from uni alongside my friends from uni, ate together in a Malaysian warung. It was a truly wonderful night, eating many delicious flavoured roti canai; some with curry dipping sauces, banana and cheese ( truly delicious, contrary to the combination), egg and of course, Chicken rendang and nasi lemak! Also no Malaysian experience would be complete without - Teh Tarik!!

Dinner tonight was definitely an eye-opening experience to how we as Australians can benefit from living like an Indonesian, even for just a day. Most of my Aussies friends joined in the fasting and were just as eager to eat alongside our new Indonesian friends while they explained the importance of fasting in Islam. They explained to us that there are many reasons why they fast: for health reasons to rest the body from over-consumption in the world, as a test of mental endurance, to empathise with those facing poverty each day and a chance to celebrate the time when you can eat for we are so fortunate to do so. I think it is also a chance for the Indonesian cuisine to burst to life with various sweets, drinks and food that are only during Ramadan too :P

I thought that to end this post, it would only be fitting to show off my new helmet that I bought since I have been and will continue, to be on the back of motorbikes in this country. Can't decide whether I look like a power ranger, a robot or an astronaut? Either way, my face feels pretty safe :)

My room with furniture!

Here are some pictures of my room! All it needs now is some photos and posters up on the wall and it will feel like my second home! In the third picture, the little hall way leads to my bathoom and also my little balcony but unfortunately the door is a little tricky to lock so waiting for that to be fixed. Bring on the tea times on the balcony though :)

Wandering is a product of Independence.

So warning, this is going to be not only a super post combining the past 5 days but could be a poorly written post since it is about 2am! So here goes and if possible, maybe even some photos!


Monday 16th August - This day began with a nice stroll to uni from my house at about 8:20am to test just how long it would take to get to campus for a 9am Language placement test. It was about 20mins at a casual place and once I get a bicycle, I think it will take about 10minutes. Super cool and it's quite a nice walk too, imagine will be more lively once Ramadan is over! The placement test was pretty fair but true to my nature, I was one of the last people to leave the classroom haha! At 10am that day, the other ACICIS students or rather, the ILTI (Indonesian Language Teacher Immersion) had their opening ceremony at Sanata Dharma University. It was a real treat to be invited to attend to the Upacara Pembukaan (Opening Ceremony) since the students had dances and singing from across the Archipelago! Very vibrant and colourful and of course - great photo opportunity!

Another positive of the day was that since it is a Catholic uni, they provided a free lunch! After being typical uni students and mooching, my friend Yasmin and I decided to go wandering the area as an attempt to familiarise ourselves with Yogya and of course, the elusive taboo of walking in Indonesia. After discovering we were close by to my kos, as well as buying my room a fan (yes!) we headed back to my kos and chilled out during the crazy onset of monsoonal rain!

The rain cleared which left Yasmin and I a chance to head to Ele's house, the Program Manager of ACICIS, for Yasmin to buy her bike off her. This was also my first traumatising calling for a taxi moment. Indonesian taxi phone calls were a little confusing since as they are talking to you, they page for a driver in the area so there are two conversations at once. This led to me repeating the same information to a number of different people + giving them the wrong address since I didn't realise my street changed at a certain point = one annoyed driver. I also nearly sideswiped his door on a passing motorbike; I've never been more happy to jump out of a cab I tell you!

To end a long, exciting, colourful, vibrant, scary day, Yasmin and I met up with Dave, another ACICIS student for Indian! It was heavenly to indulge on papadums, roti and chutneys and dhaal and beer! The place also has a yoga place next door so the plan is to check that out on Wednesday!

(since I'm too lazy to write things more eloquently, behold is the abridged version of the next four days:

Tuesday 17th August - Independence Day! Explored the famous Jl. Malioboro and Alun-Alun Selatan in Jogya with the girls next door to me and Yasmin. We rode a tandem bike and tried to walk behind the famous wishing/good luck trees blindfolded. Unsuccessful but was successful in buying some Tikar aka bamboo mats for my room!

Wed 18th August- enrolment into my classes of Indonesian History, Javanese, Journalistic Photography, Ethnic food appreciation and Karawitan (Javanese orchestra), bought some cleaning products and cleaned my room. This was followed by an excellent stretching and sweating class of yoga at 6-7:30pm, followed by fresh pineapple juice!

Thursday 19th August - Woke up at 3:30am to head to Borobudur at sunrise, our attempt resulted in a min bushwalk to a nearby village in Magelang and watched the sunrise there. Breathtaking and misty! Borobudur was amazing and inspired me to learn more about Buddhims but forgot my SD card and had to replace it haha! Attended buka puasa dinner with the kos girls - Dita, Uthie and Novi before embarking on a mad dash to buy tickets to Jakarta to vote at the Embassy. Success!

Friday 20th August - Excercising Civil Rights with Tim in Jakarta but also treated to the rain and traffic of Jakarta. Hectic security there too! After a delirious giggling/coffee high walk home from one of my new favourite cafes with decent coffee, I came home to some new Furniture! Exciting to have a proper bed frame now! My room feels like home :)


All in all, I think I'm really going to love it here in Yogya and time to get a bit of sleep before being woken up by the morning call to prayer xx

New friends, new food and new beginnings.

Today began with a knock at my door from my teman kos, or my next door neighbour in my boarding house. The girl next door, Tita and her little sister had invited me to go to their church which I had forgotten started at 7am on Sunday morning, luckily they had knocked on my door at 6:10am. So a quick shower and off I was on the back of Tita's motorbike to a church service. The night before I had gone drinking with the boys from my Indonesian class in Sydney but luckily I left before my night turned into watching them vomit about the streets and club, in might I add, the most holy month in the Muslim calendar.

So Catholic Church is nothing like it's counterpart back home, or maybe it was because I couldn't understand everything properly o the fact that there was so much singing that it was enough to keep me entertained? The church they took me to was St. Yohanes and it was about 10minutes by bike from our boarding house. There were over 100 people there that morning and the interesting thing was, there was no point of evangelism but just a group of people coming to worship every Sunday. Also had some gorgeous kids doing what I can only describe as a Catholic/Indonesian rendition of Glee Club. Very harmonious! Tita and her sister than took me to a local warung, an eatery of sorts, which was nice to just chat with them and laugh at how silly my Indonesian pronunciation can get at times!

From there, I headed off to Ele's garage sale or cuci gudang! From there I was able to buy some very cute vintage clothing, perfect for wearing at uni and A MILLION COATHANGERS... well, atleast less than a dollar's worth :D A new addition to my lemari or cupboard!

After the garage sale, I went to check out my friend's Gen and Liss's apartment by foot and got treated to swimming in a pool - with no one else but us! They have a very schmick apartment! Later on after swimming, we decided to go for a walk in search of vegetable based food followed by having a delicious drink at one of my new favourite café's in Yogya - Coklat! Nothing like chocolate and free wi-fi!

I met up with some other Australian students and chocolate, which I might add was delicious just incase you didn't realise my sentiment on the matter. Just to top off the day, Steph, Alex and I went stationary shopping at Grammedia! It's pretty much stationary and book heaven! They then invited me to dinner at a friend of a friend's restaurant north of Yogya so all five of us girls, at this point we have picked up Yasmin and Sophie and made way, very illegally, to a Sundanese (West Javanese) restaurant. I wish I had taken a picture of the food because as you can guess - it was so DELICIOUS!! Very traditional and excellent balance of fresh produce! Turns out Steph's friends is also a potential tutor of us in Bahasa Indonesia too!

After a long taxi ride home, after dropping us all at our various kos's and a good chat with the taxi driver, I finally made it home to see that my other neighbours were home! I made some new teman kos (boarding house friends) by the name of Uthie and Novi. Of course, no friend is officially made until you have exchanged phone numbers and FACEBOOK! It was also a great chance to get to know some of the other girls I live with and to no surprise, they too were either Dentists or GP's. I suddenly feel really silly saying that I'm only here to study the language in the social sciences faculty since they are clearly so clever but they are also super friendly. Novi particularly likes pulling my leg or cracking jokes. Somehow I think I'll have quite a few reasons to like my kos other than the fact it is bright yellow but rather, it is also home to some great girls!

Well, I best be off to study/sleep because tomorrow I have a placement test for our Indonesian classes. After the exam, all us Anak ACICIS, are going to head off to see our other ILTI friends, at their opening Ceremony at Sinata Dharma University. I hope to then go bicycle shopping as although walking is fun and exercise, I am itching to ride a bicycle around here after seeing so many old school bicycles!

I know I need to try and upload photos, so I will promise you some photos of my boarding house, some friends and anything interesting in my travels. Tomorrow I think it is camera day :)

xx

Ramadan and Rain.

At the moment in Indonesia, it is Ramadan, so the time of fasting! It means that most Muslim Indonesians wake up before the sun rises to eat and then do not break fast until about 5:45pm here. At that time, the streets burst to life with people selling food, sweets and drinks on little side road stalls - very cool! I'll need to take my camera next time I 'jalan kaki' or walking by foot. It was really bizarre yesterday because of the appearance of rain! I was walking around with my friend Tim, around our area, Karangayam/Deresan, which is about 20minute by foot north of my campus of UGM and it started pouring! Naturally, I was wearing white also. Fail.

Later that night, I went to a Vegetarian restaurant called Milas with Tim and Mat by motorbike. That was a lot of fun being on the back of a motorbike and braving the Indonesian roads. Also this adventure resulted in another night's worth of rain and being saturated! It's very strange for this time of year as this is usually the dry season.

Well today's adventure includes being woken up at 4:30am by the beautiful sound of the morning Adzan aka morning prayer. It's a lovely part of living in a local area that is surrounded by various Mosques or Mesjid in Indonesian. I'm also starting to get to know my various kosmates too which is really nice but a lot of them are still on holidays since semester doesn't start until the 23rd August, and will also be gone home during Lebaran. This makes me think I ought to book flights to Jakarta to visit some family during that time too before they all sell out because every other Indonesian has had that very same thought too!

I think it might rain again too so I am glad that I already took some washing to a local laundry and stocked up on water too. I think I'll wait until buka puasa aka breaking fasting time to walk down to buy some early dinner, as well as start to get to know the locals in the area too! As for this evening, I believe some plans are in the make for us Bule aka foreigners to hang out and get to know the nightlife!

:)

Feeling like a turtle.

Today marks the day that Orientation is over and now I'm off to move into my new Kos or in English, my boarding house! It was a bit of an ordeal to find a boarding house as right now, is the beginning of the first semester of university here in Jogyakarta, Indonesia. The Kos I found, after hunting many kos's that were already full, had super strict curfews or the perils of shared bathrooms with 20 other people, was a bright yellow building! It seems to have some nice girls in it as here in Jogya, a lot of the boarding houses are either Kos Putri (girls) or Kos Putra (boys).

So my first out of home experience has me living in a bedroom with a bed, a cupboard and a little desk and my own ensuite. Little sad that I don't have a mandi (a basin that you pour water over yourself) but rather a Western shower. I suppose I can replicate my own mandi with using buckets come shower time haha!

I'm pretty excited to start going shopping for things to furnish my room with and meeting the other girls who live there and buying a bicycle! I'm about 10-15minutes away from my uni by bicycle so would be say, 20-30 minute walk, so at least I know I have one source of exercise here!

So only fear right now is being alienated in my boarding house or my fear of riding on the roads haha! Uni starts the 23rd August so still time to chill out and get to know the area!

First day in Jogyakarta and a re-cap in Bali

I arrived in Jogyakarta at about 7am this morning, about 20 minutes behind schedule - a reason why I love this country, they are as tardy as me! Jogyakarta in one word: HOT! It's amazing just how warm it is, especially if you compare it against the cold weather we have had in Australia!

I'm really enjoying this country's free wi-fi spots, something that Australia needs to catch up on. I've been to a chocolate cafe and my hotel, both which have been free and not password protected! Very cool.

My only worry at the moment is forgetting to sort out my birth right; the gift to vote. So far, it looks like it might have to be a trip to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta or Bali but I won't have my passport. Declaring an absentee vote is looking mighty fine despite being a conflict of interest.

As promised, I will try to upload one picture a day of my adventures. I spent my first days in Indonesia in my mum's village in Tabanan, Bali. It was great eating a lot of my FAVOURITE Indonesian foods and also seeing my new baby cousin - Tugek Radmilla. So in celebration of her, it seems only fitting that I upload a picture of her, alongside my family :)

Until tomorrow, I'll be able to report news on my first day of Orientation!

Sampai ketemu besok,

Katrina