Pengalaman baru, menarik dan menyenangkan

As always, the last couple of weeks have slipped by so quickly I feel like the rock performance was just yesterday. But it was two and a half weeks ago!

In the last fortnight I have learnt more snaz salsa moves, had lovely skype conversations with family and friends, witnessed interesting contemporary dance at Taman Budaya (Culture Park), sung RAN songs in the international student tea room with Red, watched the grand final on a fuzzy TV, tried a new church, eaten pizza while watching the Lion King, handed in my first assignment, started learning Javanese, eaten mie Aceh (Acehnese noodles), ronde,  real vegetables and famous nasi goreng from a ridiculously popular lesehan, laughed until my stomach was sore, sung karaoke, seen amazing kites at Paris, played futsal, went swimming, had a couple of massages and finally watched ‘Chicken Park’ (a C-grade, Italian, dubbed to English film that Nick had been insisting we all watch). Oh, and of course, uni.

Oddest moment of the fortnight: Seeing the Yogyakarta International Performing Arts Festival (a continuation of the Street Performance that we did with the rocks) at Taman Budaya. A couple of performances, such as the interpretive dance that was supposed to represent the Mount Merapi explosion last year and another by a Korean guy who just ran around a lot, were really odd. That’s the best way I can describe them. However, there was a funny performance by a Chilean guy who did a lot of miming and had snaz as music.

Funniest moment of the fortnight: Playing spoons with Brett, Red and Swantje for Brett’s birthday was a lot of fun. Red tried to say both the Indonesian and English word for spoon/sendok at once and came up with ‘spendok’. From there we just laughed so much. I was then talking about when I went along to a laughing club in Bendigo once and was describing the lawn-mower laugh. Jolly good!

Moment when I felt a bit homesick:  Watching the AFL grand final at a café was lots of fun….especially explaining the rules to Wahyu, Vremita, Rennie and Paul (who are from Indonesia, Holland and USA respectively) who had no idea about the sport. But watching the footage of the MCG, Melbourne and even the Australian ads made me miss home a bit. It was also odd that here I was, in the heat, watching everyone in Melbourne with jumpers and rain coats.

Moment when I got to see something new: On Saturday I went to Parangtritis Beach, known colloquially as ‘Paris’, with Wahyu. To be downright honest, the beach is really ugly. The sand is brown, so it looks like dirt, and it is so wavy that you can’t really swim. Regardless, people flock there, as it’s the closest beach to Yogya (only one hour away). We went there for the “National Kite Festival”... I’m not sure who dubbed it ‘national’, as it wasn’t as big as I expected. But it was neat as to see all sorts of different kites that I had never seen before. There were some amazing 3D kites, such as bugs, dragons and planes, with body of bamboo and paper/plastic and wings. In the traditional category there were kites that reminded me of moths, with something similar to a bow (as in bow and arrow) that made a sound like cicadas when it was flying.

One of the traditional kites (the thin stick you can see at the front is the part that made the sound). I also really like the colours of this kite.

One of the dragon kites in action.

Check out the size of this kite! It's bigger than me!

Kites high in the sky!

Moment when I felt most at home: Eating pizza in the gazebo and then watching, and singing along to, The Lion King with wonderful friends was a lot of fun. It was also good motivation for me to knuckle down and get my assignment done before everyone got here.

(L-R) Red, Me, Jack, Teal, Vremita, Calvin, Cindy, Rennie, Eli and Wahyu all ready for The Lion King!

So there we are. The last two weeks in a much more succinct fashion than usual. I hope you’re happy and healthy.

Salam hangat,

Katrina

Update bagian 2: Tiga hari yang besar itu

To follow on from my previous, essay-length post, here is part two of my attempt to get back on track. In case you didn’t put the title of my previous post into Google Translate, the previous week involved a lot of preparations for the next three days I am about to write about. So here I present the massive three days in which I didn’t get heaps of sleep but had a lot of fun.

On Saturday morning I got up at 5.05am, ready to leave at 5.20am. I had gotten things ready as much as possible the night before so that I could “sleep in” as late as possible. After stopping for a quick purchase of chocolate bread (a mini loaf of bread with generous servings of nutella-like chocolate pumped into the middle) with Nick, we had the sugar-kick we needed to get us on our way to meeting Pak John by 6am at Mirota Kampus (mentioned several posts ago). The three of us waited for a biskot (city bus), and were at Kenteng by 7.10am. We then travelled by ojek (like a taxi but on a motorbike) to the village of Pendoworedjo. Riding on the back of the motorbike on a thin little road through the rice paddies, with the hills in the background was such an amazingly beautiful and wonderful sight!

When we got to Pendoworedjo, most of the family were heading off/had already left for school and scouts. But we sat down and talked to Pak Dirjo, who was the son-in-law of Pak Kromo (who invited Herb Feith to the village in the first place) and good friends of Herb. We all talked over lots of food and some tea. Nick and I were a bit uncertain about eating and drinking though, as on one hand guests are offered food first, but you should wait for everyone older than you to eat first. Admittedly though, I did eat the yummiest banana I have ever eaten in my life! Pak John also gave Pak Dirjo the biography and the translation, and I think he appreciated it a lot.

After the snacks and yum-as banana we Pak Dirjo showed us around a bit of the village. We walked along the “river” (more like a channel) for a bit and found a spot to sit down and chat again. It was interesting hearing a little bit about Herb, the family and the times they had had together, as well as what the village and life was like back when Pak Dirjo was younger. It was also interesting meeting random people from the village who walked past and then spoke to Pak Dirjo in Javanese.

The tour then continued to Pak Dirjo’s house. I think it was amazing! Not amazingly opulent, but I really liked the layout of it and imagining what it would have been like full of people when Herb stayed there. I really like that a lot of houses that I have visited tend to have a communal area and then all the rooms from that. I’m not entirely sure why, to be honest. Anyway, for lunch (at like 10.30am) we had rice, jackfruit curry and tempe.... all from the farms in the area – which made it taste just that much better. I just thought it was extra cool that I was eating rice right next to the field in which it was grown.

Not long afterwards, the whole family returned in dribs and drabs, and eventually everyone was sitting down looking through the book and a photo album which had been brought out. I think everyone enjoyed reminiscing about times gone by, and I’m sure Pak John enjoyed his annual visit to his good friends. Nick and I were also invited to come back some time.... so who knows, we might ride our bicycles there next time!

When we had to head off, there was of course time for the mandatory photos and then Pak John, Nick and I all got lifts back to Kenteng to catch the bus. I know Pak John reads my blog, so I just want to say thank you for letting Nick and I come along with you and thanks for sharing this experience with us.

Once we were back in Yogya, around 2.30pm Nick and I had to rush off to quickly pack our bags and go to the beach for our “Get to know our kos-mates trip”. Everyone was waiting for us (the bus had taken a while to arrive  back in Kenteng), and cheered when we got back. After a very quick pack Teal, Red (who came along to increase the girl ratio) and I hopped into the back of one of Pak Agus’s cars, also with the family of one of the people who works for Pak Agus. The Agus family were in another car and the guys were all packed into the back of a ute (all wearing motorbike helmets, of course). I do not envy them. At all. Two hours in the heat along winding, pot-holed roads does not seem like fun. But good on them.

The guys all squished into the back of the ute.

Group photo in the sunset!

By the time we got to the beach it was about 5pm. So we unpacked the cars into the three walled hut-thing we were staying in and walked over to the beach (a whole 70m away) and cracked out the cameras and soccer ball. It was a bit difficult playing soccer on the massively slanted beach, but it was still a lot of fun. After many mighty goals were scored it was time to start cooking our fishy dinner. We had a few coal pits going with wire racks over the top to grill the massive amount of fish, chicken and tempe we had (but mostly fish).

After yum as rice and ikan bakar it was time for the massive as “campfire”/bonfire. There was a lack of paper and kindling, so someone thought pouring petrol on the fire would be a good idea. Don’t worry, everyone stood back. But after the spectacular display at the beginning it eventually fizzled out. So they got some rubbish (mostly paper, a bit of plastic) and added a tad of petrol just for good measure and it eventually got going ok. Now that the fire was going super strong we played some ice-breaker games.

Pak Agus had told us (really, me) to organise some games and that the guys in the other part of the kos were organising some too. Honestly, we didn’t think it would be that well planned, so I had thought of one game. But Anom and Abi had several good, teamwork games all prepared. So us bule had a quick huddle and eventually settled on playing “Duck, Duck, Goose”, “Musical Statues” and teaching everyone the Hokey Pokey. Everyone had a good time, and especially enjoyed the “Whoa, the hokey pokey” part as they all went into the circle towards the campfire. But it was interesting to note how the Indonesian games all involved teamwork and co-operation, whereas the little kid games we learn in kinder are all individualistic, with each person for themselves. (Just delving into Managing Intercultural Communication, a subject Nick and I did last semester, it was an interesting example of collectivist vs individual societies.)

Grilling the fish on the coals (and waving a fan to keep the heat going).

Indra, Niko, Indra, Red and Teal enjoying the yum as fish (in the foreground).

The 'campfire' immediatley after lighting...

......Not long afterwards.

We then all had a beer or two, sang a few songs around the campfire until it rained and headed off to “bed” (straw mats on the dirt floor) around midnight. I actually had a really good sleep as I had little sleep the night before. All us bule then woke up at 6am to find that all the Indonesians were already up and playing soccer. I think I have mentioned that Indonesians get up early on Sunday morning for exercise. But I still think it’s odd. Eventually we decided we should get up and join them. So at 6.30am we were all up and paddling around in the water. It wasn’t really the best swimming beach, but it was still ok enough to lie down in the water to get completely wet and then attempt to wet other people too. It was decided that it would be a good idea to bury Indra and then Nick in the sand, with a few more photos in between. We then all had nasi goreng and super sweet tea on the beach for breakfast. I don’t often really feel like I’m in another country, I just feel comfortable being here. But eating nasi goreng  on the beach for breakfast made me realise how far away from home I really am.

Not long afterwards we headed home, with a quick stop off at Wonosari beach. There were so many little rock pools with interesting and cute little critters. A few more photos and we really headed home for some much needed rest for the remainder of the afternoon. In the evening it was time for our last rock practice before the big day on Monday. We got it all down pat and we also got our snaz as hats! When I eventually got to bed that night I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had here.

A wave decided to crash our 7am beach photo session.

Posing at the caves at Wonosari beach

Ibu and Bapak kos in the middle, with Synta and Msisy and the kos crew, and Eyang at the right.

Monday was just a usual day at uni – had class in the morning then hung around the inky-dinks (the nickname I have given INCULS) tea room. In the sore (afternoon, between 3-6pm) we all met on Jalan Kaliurang, which had been closed off for the Yogyakarta International Street Performance Festival. No-one of us really realised how big the whole thing would be. There were a lot of performances with amazingly colourful and elaborate costumes. Although I still think our colourful rain ponchos and farmer’s hats were an awesome costume, I likened the situation to being the dodgy public school surrounded by the private school kids who could afford good costumes at the rock eisteddfod.

Vremita and Teal all prepared in their ponchos and hats

Brett with performers from another act. Notice the diversity in costumes....

The performance before us..... Their colourful hats were snaz as!

Rockin' out!

Teal, Joey and I chilling on the VIP stage after everything was done.

When it was our turn to go we were all super excited, albeit a tad nervous as part of the routine was scrapped because the distance was a lot shorter than what we were told. But mostly excited as we were about to perform in front of the sultan of Yogyakarta. I shouted ji, ro, lu pat (1,2,3,4 in Javanese) and we were on our way. It was an exciting and surreal experience; walking along, making our rock music. It was over so quickly! But was a lot of fun. At the end we were given a box of yummy Indo snacks and while we were chowing down on them we discussed who we thought might have been the sultan. We were then informed by Wahyu and Vremita that the sultan wasn’t actually there. That was a bit disappointing. But I wasn’t too upset because we got to keep our ponchos, hats and rocks!  So if you want a performance when I get back to Australia, I am ready to rock your socks!

I think that’s plenty for now.... I’m still a fortnight behind, but I’ll get there eventually.

Hope you’re going wonderfully!

Salam hangat,

Katrina

Update bagian 1: Persiapan untuk tiga hari yang besar

So you thought the “Great Blog Drought of Lebaran” was big (the last time I was severely out of date)…. Well here I am to break the “Great Blog Drought of no other reason than I’ve been having fun”… which is fair enough, don’t you think?

Since it has now been over two weeks since I last posted, please forgive me for the likely long post that will ensue. However, I will attempt to recap as succinctly as possible, with extra detail given for my premiere as a “rock star”!

All the way back on the 18^th September, Red and I went along to a church I had been invited to by a guy I met at a warung, David. The service started at 8am! That’s right 8am! Oh golly…. That’s a tad too early for me on a Sunday morning… but apparently not for Indonesians. As Red and I rode our bikes there, we saw soooo many people out and about exercising and chatting. I’m not entirely sure when Indonesians sleep though, because everyone seems to stay up late then get up ridiculously early!

But anyway, we got to the church, sat down and I noticed the massive screens, massive band, massive stage and abundance of chairs. “Red,” I said, “I think this is a charismatic church”. Just putting it out there that I don’t have any issues with charismatic churches, but I think I’m incapable of that much energy at 8am. After the service David found us and we joined him and his friends for lunch, while being bombarded with questions about Australia. It was nice though sharing stories about each others’ cultures, including attempting to explain AFL with cups.

The rest of that Sunday involved a fair bit more bicycle riding, to Nanamia’s Pizzaria (where their vegetarian pizza is pretty much tossed salad on a pizza base - yummier than you’d think!) and to Chocolat (where a fair bit of time was spent explaining why a certain gesture made by Indonesians in many photos is quite inappropriate in the west).

Monday involved my second class of Antropologi Ekologi . I didn’t quite understand as much this time, but it was still interesting. I then rushed off to what I thought was my praktikum (lab) for Pemuliaan Pohon Terapan (Applied Tree Breeding). I asked for directions to the lab and was led to one of the lecturer’s offices. The lecturer wasn’t sure when or where the lab was either (positive sign), but her workmate offered me “cake” (really, just sweetened bread) while my lecturer searched for the answer. She had a quick break though to chat to me a bit and offered me more cake when I was only halfway through my first piece. I was then offered a seat in a random lab directly outside her office door while she continued her search for the answer. In the meantime, a past student of the other lecturer brought her some chocolates, which she promptly offered force-fed me as soon as the student left. After a bit more of a chat with the two lecturers and another chocolate I was sent on my way. Apparently the lab just didn’t run because I was the only student that turned up.

On the way home from uni I had the most amazing juice I have ever tasted in my entire life! It’s just from a little stall run by a super-husband-wife team. As Nick put it “It’s like juice is their life”. I can’t describe anymore how awesome that juice is, aside from saying if you haven’t had this juice you haven’t had real juice. If you visit me in Yogya I promise I will take you there! Also on Monday we had a meeting with everyone from the kos to discuss a “get-to-know-everyone” beach trip for the weekend.

Tuesday was a massive as day. From 9am until 2.40pm I pretty much had straight classes, Bahasa Indonesia untuk Riset, Pemuliaan Pohon Terapan and Gamelan. My only breaks involved walking from one end of the campus to the other and my bum was extremely sore from all the sitting I did. Needless to say I decided to drop a subject – Pemuliaan Pohon Terapan – mostly due to the subject material, with the decision sealed by the massiveness of my day. Gamelan class was a lot of fun though, it’s hard to remember the instruments, and they have a weird as notes/counting system, but it’s nice to have a relaxing practical class.

A sketch of the instruments that make up gamelan music.

My classroom is a lot more compact than this, but it gives you an idea of the layout of a gamelan performance.

In the evening I had tea with Teal, later joined by Tim, Joey and Jack, at “Cowmad” – such an odd name for a restaurant but anyway – before heading off to rock practice. We were asked to volunteer for a rock performance, the only information we were given prior was that it would involve clapping rocks. I thought this meant we would just be sitting down tapping rocks to different patterns and that was it. It turned out that we were divided into three groups, all with our own rock clapping pattern. That was ok, we managed. Then the dance moves were introduced. And finally, when we had “mastered” clapping our rocks to the pattern while doing our dance moves, we were “informed” (actually figured it out from what we were doing) that we would be in a parade!

On the Wednesday morning Nick and I went to meet Pak John around Malioboro (the tourist area of Yogya). Pak John is a lecturer from Monash in the chemical engineering department who frequently visits Indonesia. He is a good friend of our lecturer Bu Yacinta, who were both friends of a man called Herb Feith. Herb was an amazing guy whose family were German Jew refugees in WWII who moved to Melbourne. Herb came to be a renowned Indonesian academic, worked to foster relations between Australia and Indonesia and was the first ever Australian volunteer overseas, which happened to be in Indonesia. Herb stayed in a village, called Pendoworedjo, and became very close with the family he stayed with there. Herb passed away in 2001, but a biography was published about Herb just before Nick and I left for Indonesia. So Pak John asked if Nick and I would like come along with him to Pendoworedjo to give the family a copy of the book and a translation into Indonesian of the pages about the village. So we  chatted with Pak John a bit, ate some yum as banana bread and organised to meet at 6am on Saturday morning to go to the village.

On Thursday I went to Moviebox for the very first time! I was pretty excited! Moviebox is a place with a whole heap of lounge rooms with screens and dvd players that you rent out to watch a dvd you have brought along or that they have there. We chose “Julie and Julia”, which was quite apt as I went with Red and Teal (who both love food), Wahyu, Paul (who is from New York) and Vremita and a few of her friends who all study French. Watching all the yum as dishes, and especially desserts, being cooked made our mouths water! (And our stomachs miss home just a little bit).

Friday marked the end of the second week, meaning that it was the last day to chop and change subjects. In the end I dropped my FISIPOL and Forestry subjects and so now am only studying in FIB (Arts Faculty). My updated subject list is:

Antropologi Ekologi – Ecological Anthropology

Bahasa Indonesia untuk Riset – Indonesian for Research

Karawitan – Gamelan (The best way to describe Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian orchestra consisting of percussion instruments... I particularly like playing the gongs!)

Sejarah Australia dan Pacifik -  Australian and Pacific History

Linguistik Historis Komparatif – Comparative Historical Linguistics

Aside from study, Friday just involved skyping and more rock practice.

Pracitcing the rockin' routine!

Teal and I trying on part of our snaz as costumes!

So that’s it for part one of my update. Stay tuned for part two (which may or may not be today or tomorrow). Hope you’re going snazzily :)

Salam hangat,

Katrina