Belanja, Memasak, Menari, Belajar

Some exciting and fun things from the last few days:

Resource Shopping:
Monday night I went to Gramedia (book shop) to buy teaching resources. Ifra came with me, taking the pete-pete there (what Makassans call the angkot or minibus) and a taxi home… because I bought so much! I think it was the first time in my life where I just picked things up and thought, “Yep, that’s good and useful, I’ll buy it.” Usually I talk myself out of buying something, even if I really need it and it is the reason that I went to the shops.

My resource haul from Gramedia

Cooking together:
Last night I had my first cooking class. We cooked Sop Ubi (Cassava Soup) and [can’t remember the name at the moment, but something very similar to Es Pisang Ijo]. I thought it would be just Kak Herul teaching me, but it ended up being pretty much the whole staff from Pusat Bahasa, as well as my homestay family and Alisa (an American student at Pusat Bahasa who also lives here). So it ended up being a very busy kitchen, but a very fun evening.

Learning to cook (Photo: Kak Uni)

All the bits and pieces

The final product: Sop Ubi

Learning to dance:
As part of my cultural studies, as well as learning to cook Makassan food, I am also learning a Makassan dance called Tari Paduppa. So far I have had two lessons with Ifra and Alisa. It is apparently the easiest local dance, but that doesn’t mean it is that easy for me – a very unco person. But I’m getting there with it and doing the dance will be part of my final project.

The first lesson (Photo: Kak Jum)

Starting to get the hang of it (Photo: Kak Jum)

Discovering new things about Indonesian and Indonesia: 
Probably the most exciting thing that I learnt in my lesson today is that colours can become verbs! For example jingga (orange) can be used in the sentence “Sebelum matahari terbenam langit menjingga” (“Before the sun goes down the sky becomes orange”) and hijau (green) can be used in the sentence “Pohon menghijau” (“The tree turned green”). It has also been really interesting to continue to compare both the language and culture with Java. For example, I have noticed that “the magic hand” (putting your hand out to stop the traffic) is much less effective and people in vehicles are a lot less patient to get where they’re going. 

Variasi Bahasa Indonesia

Today I had my first class at Pusat Bahasa (Language Centre) – my first formal language class since before I studied in Yogyakarta. I was (probably a bit too) excited to learn about some variations in Indonesian, particularly between Indonesian in Makassar and Yogyakarta. I think it is amazing how much variation exists and it really shows how much of an influence local languages and cultures have on the national language.

For example, mbak and mas are used all the time in Java to address people a bit older than you, but not as old as an ibu or bapak (which I am thankful for because I tend to forget names a lot). But in eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Ambon, Papua and Nusa Tenggara Timur), mbak and mas are only used  for people who work in service areas like shops, restaurants and hotels. Instead, kak (or kakak) is used in the same way that mbak and mas are used in Java.

So if you want to address someone as “you” in Makassar, in general, the options are kak, ibu or bapak. Anda is only for very formal situations and kamu is considered too informal so isn’t used as often. The happy medium for “you” in Makassar is kita (which in Indonesian outside of Makassar means “we [including the people you are talking to]”). If you want to say “we” in Makassar, regardless of if you are including the people you are talking to or not, you just use kami. I was a bit devastated to find this out because one of the many things that I love about Indonesian is that when saying “we” you can distinguish between who is included or not. But wait, there’s more…  If you go to Manado (in northern Sulawesi) kita doesn’t mean “we” or “you”, but means “I”! What an amazing, and confusing, pronoun!

Learning about the variations has made me a lot more aware of how I use Indonesian. For example, I am much more used to referring to myself as aku not saya, because most times I am talking in Indonesian is with friends. But in Makassar aku is apparently barely used, with saya being an all-purpose “I”. I also learnt that while sudah and saja  are shortened to udah  and aja  in Jogja, in Makassar they like their full words. It is similar with base words and prefixes; I had never really thought about it like this before, but in Jogja often a word can be shortened by “chopping off” part, but not all, of the affix. For example, in Makassar someone might use the base word obrol (to chat) or with the prefix mengobrol, but in Jogja it is perfectly fine to sit on the fence and use ngobrol.

Then there is also a whole bunch of little two-letter pronouns that come from Makassan and are used in Indonesian here, but their use ends up changing the sentence structure. I won’t go into that too much for now though, other than the fact that I was very excited to find out some extra meaning behind a shirt that I bought here a couple of years ago.

What I always thought said "Don't be afraid" actually says "Don't you be afraid"

Sampai jumpa!

Sudah lama nggak ketemu!

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

Sinopsis: Semester 1 di UGM

It has been really odd writing assignments in January. But today I handed in my last one! So that’s it, I am done at UGM. This last 5 months has gone so fast, but it feels like forever ago that I first arrived in Yogya. I have done and learnt so much! I haven’t been as many places as I thought, but that will change next semester. Regardless, I have had a super duper fantastic time!

I couldn’t think of any other way to express the awesome time that I’ve had so far other than a list (anyone who knows me well knows that I really love lists). So below are some of the highlights, places I’ve been, interesting things that happened in class and things I have learnt (in no particular order, I might add).

Highlights:

• Learning how to make klepon with Red at Dede’s house (See above).
• Dressing up in traditional Javanese clothing at Imogiri Royal Cemetary.
• Visiting Bu Yacinta’s family in Semarang, especially making our very own es kelapa muda (‘iced young coconut’, a type of drink) with coconuts that we picked off the trees ourselves.
• Moviebox and Happy Puppy (karaoke)!
• Good times at the alun-alun kidul.
• Becoming familiar with the different sounds different kaki-lima (like a food cart) make. Especially ronde! Yum yum!
• Being a literal ‘rock star’ while wearing colourful ponchos and farmers hats in the Yogya Street Performance Festival.
• Exploring the streets around my area.
• Becoming confident riding a bike in Asian traffic – actually, becoming confident riding a bike full stop.
• Listening to the call to prayer and realising what the time is.
• Playing futsal. Especially playing at the oval with some kids we met there.
• Learning to salsa.
• Learning how to make bracelets from the girls at an orphanage.
• Beach trips
• Being able to show around the people who have visited me.
• Showing off Anzac biscuits and Vegemite at Gama Fest.
• Accidental double date with Wahyu, Dede and Jack.
• Receiving some super snaz parcels in the post – especially the surprise one!
• Seeing people’s reactions to Vegemite.
• Tea parties and corn baking gatherings
• Trying so many wonderful and interesting foods.
• Meeting Wahyu.
• Meeting wonderful friends, not just from Indonesia, but from Australia, America, Germany and Holland as well (see below). 

Places I’ve been:

• Borobudur (largest Buddhist temple in the world, about 1200 years old)
• Prambanan (impressive Hindu temple complex)
• Taman Sari (water palace)
• Kraton, Yogyakarata (Sultan’s palace).
• Kraton, Solo
• Imogiri (Royal cemetery)
• Mount Merapi (a volcano that exploded in 2010)
• Parangtritis beach (affectionally known as Paris)
• Other beaches
• Kaliurang
• Semarang
• Denpasar (visiting my family there, Gayle, Wayang, Jess and Josh).
• Solo
• Dieng Plateu

Interesting Happenings in class:

• Being told by two of my lecturers that having white skin is better in front of the entire class and that everyone wants skin like mine. I definitely do not agree with that! I think everyone should be happy with the skin they’re in!
• Having it stressed by the lecturer that recent references are needed for our papers, yet his own paper had references from the 1800s.
• Discussions with other students about copyright laws in Australia. They were surprised to find out we usually have to buy the books, not just borrow them from the library, copy the entire thing and then return it.
• Having a watch drawn on my arm because I didn’t have one and there was nothing else to do.
• Having the lecturer use ‘what makes an ideal partner’ as a metaphor and then all the girls in the class agreeing that ‘being rich’ is on the top of their list.

Things I’ve learnt:

• Indonesians are wonderfully patient, kind and talented people, and they’re humble about it too!
• If it starts pouring down here, it won’t stop for a long time.
• It is possible for roads to turn to rivers and for the water to seemingly disappear not long after the rain stops.
• To slow down and just go with the flow. Also, that being on time is not the most important thing in the world.
• Gadjah Mada campus is MASSIVE!
• A good golden syrup replacement can be easily made with honey and palm sugar.
• How to play the djembe... kind of... ok not really, but I can a little bit.
• How to speak Javanese – again, kind of... but I plan to improve next semester!
• Batik making is much harder than it looks.
• There is a very good reason why durian is banned from hotels and public transport.
• I really don’t need that much stuff. I think it is important to have a few homey, comforting and familiar things around you, but I am definitely having a massive clean out when I get back to Australia.

 By the way, I decided to do this post in Times New Roman. Since all my assignments have been in this font all semester I feel weird writing in anything else at the moment!

Hope you're going fantastically. Enjoy your holidays (if you have them). And Happy Australia Day for next week (because knowing me it will be a while before I post anything, in particular because Emily arrives tomorrow!)

Sampai jumpa,

Katrina

Pengunjung-pengunjung

Since the start of October I have had a number of people visiting Yogya. It has been wonderful being able to show my friends and family around, where I live, where I study, as well as the amazing things that attract people to DIY (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta). With my Mum having arrived safely back in Australia last week, I can take my tour guide hat off, pack it in my bag and bring it out when my friends from Indonesia visit Australia.

It was lovely having my mum here for two weeks. We went to Borobudur, Mt Merapi (although it was cloudy so the volcano wasn’t actually visible), on a massive mystery walk up a very tall hill, the alun-alun (my favourite place to chill in Yogya), the kraton, Tamansari, a wayang performance, caught the train to Solo and went to Candi Cetho and Candi Sukuh. By far I think the highlight for both of us (other than spending time together) was drinking tea and eating sweet potato and banana whilst overlooking the tea plantation that our tea was grown in, nearby Candi Cetho. So yup, I think we did it all!

My Dad was the very first visitor that I had here. He came to visit for just a week, especially or my 21^st birthday. Within that time we squished in a lot, including Borobudur, Prambanan, Tamansari, seeing the Ramayana Ballet, Mt Merapi, trying to see the Sultan’s daughter’s wedding and my birthday party. It was really nice to be able to share my 21^st with really great friends and my Dad.

In between my parent’s visits there were a number of friends who came to Yogya, whether just stopping by for a couple of days or a couple of weeks. Lisa came late November, Laura in December, Sammi, Mel and Kelly in January, Emily in January-February and Suzie in February. Thanks to everyone who came, it was lovely seeing you all.

Dad and I at Prambanan

Visiting the alun-alun kidul with Lisa.

At the Kraton (Sultan's Palace) in Solo with Laura.

At the alun-alun kidul with Sammi and Mel (although I couldn't find a picture with Sammi too)... btw nice face Red...

Chillin' at Mt Merapi with Emily. Teal's boyfriend, Konrad, was also visiting for a bit before they both headed back to Oz.

At Borobudur with my Mum.

So if you happen to bump into someone who has visited Indonesia (not just Bali) ask them about it. You might just find out how wonderful it is and want to come yourself :)

Hope you're well, 

Salam dari Yogya, 

Katrina

Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru 2012!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Yes, I know I'm a bit late with that greeting, but I'm immersing myself in the Indonesian concept of jam karet (rubber time) ie: time is flexible and things will get done when they get done. I hope you are all enjoying your holidays, whether you are travelling somewhere or simply beating out the heat wherever you live. Just remember while you eat your yummy tossed salads and dips with bikkies that I am still at uni at the moment. Classes are all done (they finished two days before Christmas), but I still have assessments to hand in. I'm actually quite lucky that they're assignments/take home exams, which means that I can get them done whenever I want before the due date. It also means that I won't have sat an exam the entire time I was studying at UGM (except for my gamelan exam, but that was actually kind of fun). So as I procrastinate from finishing my hardest assignment, due tomorrow, I decided that updating my blog would be a good use of time.

Yesterday, I learnt how to use bluetooth. I have been called tech savvy because I can do things like rename folders and use 'print screen' to copy images, but the truth of the matter is that I'm really not. So figuring out how to get all the photos off my phone and onto my computer (as I'm pretty sure the data cable is still in Australia) was pretty darn exciting. 


So following are a jumble of photos from various occasions:

These are the tiles at a friend's kos, I really liked them because they look like broccoli soup! Yummo!

This is at Via Via, a restaurant found in various places around the world including the south of Jogja. The food was really nice, however I thought it was hilarious that fish and chips comes with french fries.

You can see Mt Merapi in the background of this photo, not particularly clear here, but on that day it was the clearest I had seen it in four months. This photo is taken at the northern edge of UGM campus.

Teal trying on a batik hoodie at the Sunday market near my campus.

Just an example of the English found on signs around Indonesia. Another example that I saw at Ngurah Rai Airport (Bali), where they are currently doing renovations/expanding: "We apologizes for the inconvenience".

This was taken way back in August during Ramadan. I thought it was a cool play on the words ngabuburit + bowling. Ngabuburit is the act of hanging our with friends, looking for food to break the fast at sunset.

This was taken at my first ever wayang performance. Wayang is a type of Indonesian theatre, the most well known is this style, known as wayang kulit because the shadow puppets are made of leather. Even though they are shadow puppets though they are beautifully decorated. The dalang (who is the puppeteer and voice performer who decides what will happen in the loosely planned plot) sits in the middle of the screen. All the other people on the stage make up the gamelan (kind of Indonesian percussion orchestra). 

There is a very, very, VERY good reason why durians warrant a ban from many places, including hotels. I think durians are a fruit that taste quite gross and smell horrible (however I realise that many Indonesians feel the same about Vegemite).

The Malioboro Mall was crammed full of people for a couple of kilometres, waiting to see the Sultan's daughter and her new husband on one of the days of the wedding. We stood in the hot and sweaty crowd for an hour and a half without seeing anything before deciding to got home. 

Check out the size of this snail!!!! It's massive! We were walking home after Javanese tutoring one day and were amazed at how massive it was!

Cute little smiley sun in my hot chocolate :)

Dede trying Vegemite...

Mas Rachmat (Java) and Swantje (Germany) trying Vegemite. Neither of them really liked it, Mas Rachmat is just pretending....

So there's just a few random things I've been up to the last 5 months. Now that I know how to get photos off my phone things will be so much easier! Hope you're going snazzily! 


Selamat Natal dan Tahun Baru 2012, 


Katrina

Negara yang Unik

Indonesia is a country full of wonderfully friendly people and quite unique things. I've decided to share a few things that I still find amazing about my second home. 

This first photo is the view of Mt. Merapi from the second storey of my kos. Mt. Merapi is a massive volcano that exploded October last year and caused a lot of damage. Because of the smog layer that is usually covering the city, Merapi can't usually be seen so clearly (it was actually clearer after I took this photo). But it rained a lot on Thursday morning, so for the first time in the whole four months I have been here Merapi was clearly visible. Even locals were stopping to take photos!

On the way home from a recent trip to Imogiri (the royal cemetary) I noticed that the powerlines were quite close to the buildings along the street. Then I realised that the powerlines must have been there before the buildings, because there were many buildings that had powerpoles sticking through the verandah, or even the middle of the house.

There aren't really gardens in Yogyakarta. Instead, many people have large collections of pot plants casually sitting outside their homes. 

Speaking of pot plants, I especially like how this "Butter Cookies" tin is used as a pot... makes me want biscuits every time I walk past it. 

This picture demonstrates two very Indonesian things:

1. Indonesia's love of Sponge Bob Square Pants (which has been dubbed into Indonesian, appearing on TV several times a day, and which is apparently pronounced 'spong').
2. Zero tolerance of copyright laws, I have even heard this explained as: copyright = right to copy. My uni friends were shocked to learn that you can only copy one chapter, or 10%, of a book back home. Here your textbook is borrowed from the library, copied for all your friends, then returned. Cartoon characters are particularly susceptible to this right to copy. You can see them used, and changed, everywhere. Does a yellow bear who loves honey and has a friend that is a piglet sound familiar? It may not be who you think it is... many warungs have cutlery holders with a stylised Winnie the Pooh called "Wendy Bear".

Several sections of the 'median strip' were removed a couple of months ago so cyclists could get through a lot easier (the background is one of the entrances to my uni). Then three bars were added in to stop motorbikes - this change was for cyclists only apparently. But many motorbikes could still get through. Last week I went to uni at 9.30am and there were three bars. I returned at 1pm and there were another two added. I find it amazing how fast this could happen, regardless of the infamous jam karet. Also, notice the big word "Hippies" ironically graffiti-ed onto the Forestry Faculty.

Rooves are useful for many things, including drying your food (I think this is rice). But just be careful your roof doesn't fall off or fly away. Placing other bits of corrugated iron or roof tiles on top may prevent this..... maybe....

Trucks are not only a good means or transporting large quantities of stuff (in this case, potatoes), but also the workers who will load/unload these goods. Please note that this is only a small load and it is perfectly acceptable to pile your goods twice as high as the actual truck.

If you don't have a truck to transport your things, motorbikes are a good substitute. Need to get several chickens from one place to another? Simply hold a few upside down in each hand and you're on your way.

"Sorry your journey has been disrupted. There are sewerage pipe works. Please use a different road." 

There have been a lot of roadworks around my area recently. I love that the signs informing people of this actually apologise for causing inconvenience - not that anyone really cares anyway. People continue travelling along roads that have massive machinery and gaping holes right through the middle.

Petrol stations are actually kind of a rare sight. In stead you can get your petrol from your friendly side street stall vendor. This particular "petrol station" is two doors down from my house.

One of my favourite things about the buildings in Indonesia is how colourful they are. This one is the Pos Rondah in my kampung. It's like a little security post, found in all kampungs, but not generally so colourful and dice-looking. The older men in the area sit around playing dominoes or watching the soccer while keeping an eye on the happenings of the kampung. 

I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to some unique things in Indonesia. Hope you're happy and healthy :)

Sampai Jumpa, 

Katrina