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
No comments:
Post a Comment