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.
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| The guys all squished into the back of the ute. |
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| 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.)
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| Grilling the fish on the coals (and waving a fan to keep the heat going). |
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| Indra, Niko, Indra, Red and Teal enjoying the yum as fish (in the foreground). |
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| The 'campfire' immediatley after lighting... |
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| ......Not long afterwards. |
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.
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| A wave decided to crash our 7am beach photo session. |
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| Posing at the caves at Wonosari beach |
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| 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.
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| Vremita and Teal all prepared in their ponchos and hats |
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| Brett with performers from another act. Notice the diversity in costumes.... |
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| The performance before us..... Their colourful hats were snaz as! |
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| Rockin' out! |
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| 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
