I just realised it has been nearly a week since I posted. Ooops! It doesn’t really matter, but the longer I leave it the longer the post, and the more I forget (so maybe that cancels out the length, but anyway).
Friday
After such a busy few days, we all thought that Friday would be a nice, relaxing, unplanned day. It was still unplanned, a little less relaxing though. At 9.50am I received a text message telling me to be at the Immigration Office in 40 minutes! So I shoved on official-occasion appropriate clothing (collared shirt, below the knee skirt and closed-toe shoes), checked if the guys upstairs were ready to head off in five and we all rushed to the main street to catch a taxi. As we were calling to order one, another drove past. So we jumped in, and thanks to quieter than usual traffic, actually made it at 10.30 on the dot. Once we got there, we just sat around for a bit, because, of course, there is jam karet (literally: Rubber time, also known as Island time). I think though for official things (and the cinema) you need to try and be on time though, even if the person behind the desk isn’t. After being photographed, fingerprinted and autographed, and a bit more sitting, we were allowed to go again.
On the way home we stopped in at Gramedia (this time the massive central Gramedia), to get kid’s books to take to the beach on the weekend. The community in the area is very poor and people cannot usually afford to buy books. So the four of us went quarters in the complete collection of Roald Dahl in Indonesian. We all thought it was brilliant (and just hoped that the translations are reasonable).
Nick and I had planned to meet our friend, Vandi, for lunch on campus. It was near enough, but a tad far, so we decided to catch a becak, the first time I’ve done that! I think we may have been ripped off a bit, but oh well, it was lots of fun. As it turned out, Vandi had a class, so we just decided to have lunch ourselves at Bonbin (the Fakultas Ilmu Budaya (Arts Faculty) canteen). On the way we came across a tunnel made of paper and bamboo set up by some students as an assignment. Within the tunnel were different sections depicting Indonesia through the ages (such as pre-history, Buddhist, Hindu, Dutch Colonial and Muslim/current day periods). It was very impressive and a lot of effort was put in. I even got to hold an old VOC (Dutch East India Company) jug! How snaz!
In the afternoon Nick, Joey, Jack and I met Sinta and Mita (who work for ACICIS) and a couple of others at a place called “Kaki kita” (Our Feet) for a reflexology massage and fish spa. I’ve never had a massage before, and reflexology was far from relaxing (which I knew, but didn’t realise it would be so painful), so that was an interesting experience. I think I preferred the fish spa, which involves putting your feet in a pool/pond full of tiny little fish that eat all the dead skin off your feet. It was very ticklish at first (Sinta, Mita and Nick were all having a good little giggle), but really nice to have clean feet. It was very reasonably priced too, I think maybe Rp.70.000 for the two (about $8).
With our body all loose and feet freshly eaten, we headed off to salsa at the Sheraton. You may be wondering if salsa is popular in Indonesia, as we have been going a lot. I don’t think it is at all, it’s just that Dimas invited us and it is lots of fun. It’s also a good way of trying to work off all the sugar rice and fat I eat! While we were at salsa I checked out the garden/pool at the Sheraton. It was amazing! What amazed me first of all is that the lobby, and where salsa is, is actually on the 7th floor. I hadn’t even realised! But it definitely explains the massive driveway you go up to get there. The garden was so amazing. I really liked it. But then, I don’t understand why someone would come all the way to another country just to close yourself up in a mini world away from everything. But oh well, it gives me something nice to look at once a week.
Saturday
On the weekend we had an ACICIS beach trip. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to get to know the people I will be studying with, as well as relax. The guys and I were on the way to campus after breakfast when Dimas and Mita drove past and asked if we wanted a lift. It’s not like its far, but we accepted. They just said we need to pick up the camping gear. So we drove to the camping shop, which happened to be right across the road from our breaky spot! After squeezing several tents, 30-odd sleeping bags and sleeping mats and the four of us into the back of the SUV we headed off to ACICIS house.
Everyone departed in two buses from ACICIS house around 9am. While I really didn’t mind, I wonder whether the buses would be considered roadworthy in Australia. There was a bit of rust around the place, the suspension was interesting and the gaps in the roof were covered with sticky tape. But hey, it’s all part of the petualangan! We stopped off for an hour and a bit for lunch around 11am at a little fishing area with heaps of warungs all lined up for several hundred metres. We got to pick the seafood we wanted and then how we wanted it cooked. So three of us went in for some ikan bakar and cumi-cumi goreng (which I think also included a bit of octopus too). Enak sekali!
When we got to the beach, not long after lunch, everyone got into their bathers pretty quickly and set about staking out a bit of sand or going for a swim. Surprisingly the water wasn’t as warm as I thought it would be, but after swimming around for a little bit you warm up. Silly me, I forgot to put on sunscreen, so by the evening I was red as (and it’s only just started to go away!). But aside from the worst sunburn of my life (I don’t usually get sunburnt... maybe because I usually remember sunscreen), it was a lot of fun. A bit of frisbee, more seafood, chatting, Bintang, fire-crackers/fireworks and exploring the rockpools and a cave (not in that order though) made it a lovely afternoon/evening/night.
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| The boats at the fishing beach we stopped at for lunch |
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| My attempt at a panorama of the beach we were at |
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| Some interesting rock pool critters that I think look like the jellies in es cendol |
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| My snaz as shade cloth |
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| Viewing point on the cliff and the swimable part of the beach. |
Sunday
After a surprisingly bad sleep in a tent on the sand (I don’t understand how sleeping on the sand was so hard!) I got up for some rice, egg and fruit for breakfast. Yummo! I had a bit of a swim and a bit of a rest, under a shade cloth that I made from my bed-sheet. Then a few of us just sat around and chatted over some mie goreng (packet style) until it was time to head off.
When I got home the first thing I did was have a shower to see if I could get all that sand off! It just doesn’t work in a mandi! This was when I realised my back looked like the Swiss flag (thanks to my cross over the back bathers). Must remember sunscreen next time. Luckily (or maybe not, if you want to be a glass half empty person), Yogyakarta is covered in a thick layer of smog (visible when we bussed up over the hills) so sunburn is much less likely (so, I still think this is a positive aspect).
Jack, Joey and I went off for tea soon after, leaving Nick behind as he was being picked up to visit Banjarnegara. Jack and Joey have been going on and on about “Mr. Burger” and had been wanting to visit it for ages. On Friday they ate it twice. So what did we have for tea on Sunday? Yup, Mr. Burger. They have about six or seven options, all starting with “Mr”. Such as “Mr Sunny” (with egg), “Mr Juicy” (with pineapple) and “Mr Prosperity” (I’m not too sure what that is supposed to have in it). So after our nice healthy meal of burgers, we had a nice healthy desert of Dunkin Donuts. Regardless of how bad they are, in reality they probably have as much fat and sugar as any other meal here. So now I have tried it, I know what they are going on about. But it doesn’t end there. Joey and Jack are such fans they may be starting a blog about their burger-y experiences. As Yogya is not only home to “Mr Burger”, but also “Black Burger”, “Real Burger”, “My Burger” and I’m sure some other “Burger” too. It should be a bit of a chuckle if it actually happens.
When we got home, I was all ready for a nice quiet night, when I got a phone call asking if I wanted to have Bintang and peanuts on the gazebo. So I did. It was quite nice chatting to Pak Agus, Pak Hari (who lives in the kos with his wife), Joey and Jack. But after a while I was super ready for bed.
Instalments for Monday to Wednesday are on the way. But I think this is definitely plenty to read for now. Hope you’re going well.
Sampai Jumpa,
Katrina
