Selamat Hari
Natal dan selamat tahun baru 2016!
I have
recently re-discovered this blog. I wondered if it still existed and if I still
have access to the behind-the-scenes stuff and the answer to both of those
wonderings is yes. I started this blog to create memories for myself and keep
my family and friends back home informed while I studied in Indonesia for 6 months (which turned into eleven months) in 2011. I had grand
intentions to “post once or twice a week, or at least consistently”.
But as time went on I posted less and less, as you can see from the sidebar.
At the time
I decided it was better to live in the moment rather than spend a lot of time
writing everything. I am very happy that I made this decision. However I have
just finished reading all of my blog posts and have really enjoyed reading and
laughing about things that I had forgotten. I have enjoyed reading it aloud and
thinking “This is exactly how I would say this now” or “I definitely do not say
‘snaz’ as much as I used to”. It has also been really interesting for me to
compare my understanding of Indonesia then to what it is now. It is an
important reminder for me that my understanding of Indonesian language and
culture has been (and continues to be) built up over time through a lot of experiences and hard work.
I’ve been to Indonesia a number of times since then and now I am an Indonesian and science teacher! Hooray! I decided that I definitely wanted to be a teacher during my second semester of study in Indonesia, doing ACICIS’ Indonesian Language Teacher Immersion (ILTI) program at Universitas Sanata Dharma, also in Yogyakarta. A month after I got back to Australia in 2012, I booked a one-month trip to Indonesia for the following January/February. Later that year (2013) I returned to Indonesia from August to November to volunteer as an Indonesian tutor at UGM and teacher at SMPN 1 Depok (a local junior high school). The last time I was in Indonesia was June/July 2014 for three weeks – I left on the day that Jokowi was elected as Indonesia’s newest president in ten years. Since my first visit to Indonesia in 2010 (to visit family in Bali with my mum and brother), 2015 has been the first year that I haven’t been to Indonesia. Kangen.
But 2015 will only just miss out on being included in my list of Indonesian visits, because in a few days time, on the 2nd January I am heading off to Indonesia again! Hooray! This time I have a scholarship from the Department of Education and Training (DET) to brush up my Indonesian and collect teaching resources for three weeks. I will be studying at Universitas Negeri Makassar, studying language and culture and asking about a few linguistic mysteries that I want solved. I have been to Makassar twice, but only for a few days at a time, so I am really looking forward to exploring another part of Indonesia.
After reading through this blog I have decided that I would like to try and post a few times, or at least once, each time I go to Indonesia from now on. I have two intentions with this blog:
1. To
preserve some memories for future me, and
2. To share
with you a perspective of Indonesia other than that of the “Bali tourist”.
As is clear
from my previous attempt at blogging, I doubt that I will be regular or
consistent (which isn’t always my own
doing). But if you do happen to stumble across my blog every now
and then I hope you enjoy it and learn something new.
In the mean-time,
I want to share a few (actually, more than just a few) of my favourite photos that I have taken over the years in
Indonesia.
Sampai jumpa,
Katrina
Sampai jumpa,
Katrina
