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