Man! Time just keeps slipping away and once again I am a week behind! I think it’s probably just because I’m on holidays at the moment and doing so much. Once I start uni (still in two weeks time), things will settle down a bit I think.
Monday, 22nd August
On Monday morning, Joey and I searched the area for somewhere new to eat breakfast. But because it is nearly lebaran (when everyone goes home to their villages/goes on holidays, like Christmas time) everything we found was shut. But it was still nice to have a bit of an exploration of the area we live in. We eventually ended up eating gudeg. Gudeg has become a staple when we can’t find anything else to eat, as there is a big gudeg place 10min away that always seems to be open when nothing else is. Once Ramadan and lebaran are over though, food places will open up galore and it will be much easier to find open warungs (a warung is like a small, cheap food place), burjos (a burjo is kind of like a smaller, extra cheap warung) and rumah makan. Although it might actually be harder to get seats at the food places as everyone will actually be eating.
Not long after breakfast we (along with Jack) met Rachel and Eli to discuss our travel plans around Java. But it kind of all fell by the wayside, mostly because most of us (including others who already pulled out), just decided to stay in Yogya and explore around here, but also because the traffic at this time of year is crazy as (think Easter times a million).
For the rest of the afternoon I just caught up on people, emails and the blog (which is now behind again, which doesn’t matter too much I suppose, I just like to be up to date). In the evening we went to salsa (again), this time at a different place. We stopped by Bread Talk (same as Bread Top) at Amplaz for some dessert and there we saw the super enthusiastic guy from the Yogya Plaza Hotel. And of course, being bule, he recognised us and chatted with us for a bit. I think his girlfriend was a bit antsy to get going, but he seemed to enjoy chatting away to us. When we eventually got to salsa we learnt how to do some crazy circle salsa, which we always sit and admire the excellent salsa dancers doing. We were terrible at it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun! J
Tuesday, 23rd August
Tuesday morning was nice and lazy, I finally had a chance to sticky tape all my photos and cards onto the boards I bought when I first moved into my kos. I decided to sit in the gazebo, as my room doesn’t get much sunlight in it; which meant that Maisy (the family’s 5 year old daughter), all her friends and Bu Agus asked me all about my photos. But that was ok, I really enjoyed showing them my friends and family.
I’m just starting to realise so many of my accounts of each day revolve around where and what I eat. But that is a big part of culture over here, even if it is Ramadan, we’re just practising. And for some reason, days just seem to go so quickly that sometimes I feel like I eat, sit, chat, look for more food and repeat. Which is pretty much exactly what happened on Tuesday. I had lunch with Jack, Joey, Red (Rachel Daymond, from WA) and Teal (Rachel Teal, from Vic) at a Surabayan restaurant. It was quite yummy, and not very spicy. Then we had desert/arvo tea at Chocolat (that yum as chocolate cafe) with Tim as well. I felt bad for eating at Chocolat 3 times in the last 3 weeks, but after being told that when it’s not Ramadan there are 20-30 minute waits for tables sometimes, I didn’t feel so bad. We might as well make the most of it while we can! We headed home to mandi before walking to Myoozik for salsa. It only took half an hour and it was nice walking in the cool air for once (rather than the middle of the day when you want to sit down after 5 minutes). I had always thought it was crazy how Indonesians don’t like walking anywhere and never understood why. But I think once you live in Indonesia you realise why.
Myoozik was lovely for our weekly dose of western food, although expensive (not by Australian standards, but I’m starting to think in rupiah rather than dollars – I was so confused the other day when the atm showed my balance in dollars rather than rupiah!). We then learnt a bit more circle salsa. It was lots of fun, and oddly enough the part we found the hardest was clapping hands with the people on either side. No-one seemed to be co-ordinated enough to turn the correct direction and we spent half our time high ten-ing the air.
 |
| Tea at Myoozik Cafe |
Wednesday, 24th August
As one of the main topics of conversation tends to be where everyone’s kos is, we decided to have a bit of a kos tour of a few of our places. We met on campus, then becak-ed to a few of our kos, to get an idea of the areas everyone lives in and what their kos is like too. It was also just fun scooting around in a becak. (For those of you unsure of what a becak looks like, see below, or google it). It was good to see the facilities at my friends’ kos as it made me feel a bit better about the niceness of mine too.
 |
| Rachel (Red) and Chihiro looking excited in their becak |
 |
| Joey and Jack looking a little less enthusiastic, but enjoying the ride none-the-less I'm sure. |
 |
| Rachel (Teal) and I smiling away in our becak |
After exploring for a bit we decided to head to Jalan Malioboro (jalan means street) (also, Jl. Malioboro is a massive, busy main street where a lot of the tourist shops/just a lot of shops are) for some lunch and to see a travel agent. We had been discussing McDonalds, so when that was the first thing we saw, that became our lunching destination. I just ate chips and an ice-cream though, because I don’t want to eat their burgers (I have decided to even try and avoid it in Australia anyway). But it was ridiculous how expensive it was (once again, in rupiah terms, not so much dollar terms)! It’s interesting how McDonalds can be a cheap food in Australia, but more like a treat in Indonesia. And really, half their menu consisted of fried chicken and rice, which I’m sure you could get anywhere for a much cheaper price, and which is yummier.
We went to a travel agent to ask about getting to and from Borobudur, as well as costs and accommodation. We found out we didn’t have to book anything which was lovely and meant that we could just go whenever.
In the evening we headed off to play futsal. I am terrible at it. But I channelled my inner wing-defence from netball and just tried to stop other people from getting the ball. I even scored a goal! That was snaz! (It was also a tad of a fluke and the goalie wasn’t paying super attention, but hey, it counts). It was a bit odd though, because girls don’t tend to play futsal or soccer, so I think it was an odd sight to see four girls joining in with the guys playing. It was a lot of fun though and a good chance to do some much needed exercise.
I think that is enough for now. Over the next few days I hope to get up to date again, and then hopefully I won't be writing essay-length posts.
Sampai jumpa,
Katrina
