So this week has been quite full on too, lots happening. But I finally had a chance to unpack and settle in… today. I have been in this kos for nearly a week and until today I was living out of a suitcase!
On Tuesday there was a small NGO expo kind of thing at uni for us ACICIS students. I would love to volunteer for an hour or two a week and now it just a matter of picking one! I am tossing up between three: an organisation that teaches English to both school kids and adults, one that you spend time with kids who don’t really have a family and one that teaches science and does workshops with kids. I’m leaning towards the last one, as it sound like lots of fun and something similar to when I worked at Discovery. After the NGO thing a few of us went to have lunch (I just had es campur – mixed fruit and jellies with lots of ice and syrup! Yummo!) at the uni canteen. The canteen/food court is quite quiet at the moment because there is no uni and most people are puasa. So we may as well enjoy it while we can because I think it will be quite busy during semester.
A few of us then headed over to the ACICIS house (which is also on campus, UGM is massive if I haven’t mentioned that already) to borrow a Lonely Planet and plan a trip along the south coast of Java. We now have a rough plan, which mostly involves seeing how it goes! So we’ll see how it goes. Not long after being at ACICIS house, David Hill, the director of ACICIS came to talk to us. David is usually just in Perth at the Australian end of everything, but since he was in Yogya he wanted to meet the current semester kids. There was a good turn-out actually and he just went around and asked why we came on the program and for any positive or negative feedback.
On Tuesday night we headed to Myoozik Café for some western food and more salsa. I hadn’t wanted any western food until I saw spag bol on the menu and I had to have it. Enak! We also tried “country potatoes” as per Nick’s and my Yogya guide by Sammi and Sam. Good choice too! After some yum pasta we hit the dance floor for our second (first for some) salsa lesson. It went well I think, particularly compared to last time. I especially didn’t get pulled up as much, but I’m still pretty bad. The guys got double practice because there were twice as many girls, so they’ll all be champions at it soon I’m sure.
After getting home late and only about 2 hours of sleep, Nick, Jack, Joey and I got up at 2.30am to sahur (eat breakfast before the sun comes up during Ramadan) with our kos mates. It was so ridiculously early, but a good experience. I was super tired and fell asleep straight away at about 3.30am when I got home. Then I was up again at 7.30 to get ready for church with Pak and Bu Agus and Rachel. I know, it was a Wednesday, why in the world was I going to church on a Wednesday? (Not that odd now I think about it, as church is Thursday night back home.) Because it was the 17th August – Hari Kemerdekaan! This year marked Indonesia’s 66th year of independence. Church was quite snaz. It wasn’t just your average organ or guitar/drum/piano/voice ensemble… we sang to gamelan music! How super exciting! Apparently there is a gamelan service once a month, so maybe I will definitely go to those services. I didn’t actually understand as much as I thought… but I think I got the (very) general gist of the sermon. There was one point where I nearly fell asleep though. The prayer was so long, and I was so tired, with my eyes closed it was not a good combination. Luckily, when I got home at 10 I went back to sleep for an hour or two.
At midday we got up and got ready to go bowling. I was reminded how bad I am at it. I think the last time I went was when I was at Flora Hill, and we were all crummy at it so it wasn’t so bad. But this time, apart from one strike on my second turn, it was quite obvious how bad I was. I at least got a score of 52 in the first game and 49 in the second. Most people got in the 70s, 80s or above. But oh well. One guy, Paul, did get a lower score than me, so that made me feel better. At bowling there was the neatest sign ever! “Ngabububowling”! In Indonesian, ngabuburit is to walk around finding food to break the fast. So I thought it was quite a clever play on words! After ‘ngabububowling’, we went to Choclat (kind of like Koko Black is probably the closest similarity). Over our chocolatey delights I learned how to play Indonesian poker (I think that’s what it was anyway), and I won the first game! (Something I can finally do!) After a few hours of chocolate and poker we then all moved on to Milas. Milas is a super awesome vegetarian restaurant. Don’t let ‘vegetarian’ put you off. If you are ever in Yogya, go to Milas. We sat on mats at a low table in a gazebo kind of thing and ate some very yummy and creative vegetarian dishes. I wasn’t too adventurous, just mie goreng telur dan sayuran, but it was still yummo. After such a disturbed sleep on Tuesday night I had my first full night of sleep since my first night in Bali on Wednesday night. It was really good. But I am still so tired.
This morning, we had a placement test for INCULS (Indonesian Culture and Language School) to determine if we are beginners, intermediate or advanced. I’m not sure when we find out results… some time. Part of the test was to write a (short) essay on one of three topics. I (and a lot of others) picked the dangers of smoking to health. After it though, I realised the marker will probably sit there, with a cigarette in their hand, reading all these essays dissing smoking.
After lunch at a warung that does not make good es cendol (I love es cendol!) I came home to finally unpack! It is so nice to finally have everything in place. I also sat down and arranged my photos and cards onto boards to stand in my room, as blue-tac doesn’t seem to exist in Indonesia.
 |
| A view of my room (with my snaz Disney Princess sheets provided by my Ibu and Bapak kos... I don't like pink, but lucky I do like Disney). |
 |
| Another view of my room (trying to sort out photos on my floor). |
This evening all the ACICIS kids were invited to the Yogyakarta Plaza Hotel for a welcome party, to try and convince us to join up at their gym/pool. It is so luxurious there. We were shown the rooms as well as the gym, spa and pool. It was nice, but soooo expensive. Membership for gym and pool is Rp. 750.000 per month! That is the same as my room at the kos! Ridiculous! All I really wanted to do is aerobics classes anyway, so I will go to a different hotel, or my uni, for that at a much cheaper price. A couple of us enjoyed rice, fish, chicken, salad and super duper spicy sambal with our hands for dinner. It was very yum, but the sambal was soooo spicy! (Must remember to take Inni there when she comes to Yogya!)
Now though I am off to bed. Hopefully for another good night’s sleep. (I have a lot of catching up to do). Sorry about the essay proportions of this blog, but oh well, it is for me too. I hope you’re going well :)
Sampai Jumpa,
Katrina
