Yogyakarta Visit – Nomor Dua

So this past weekend I went to Yogyakarta again. I really do love Yogyakarta. I’m glad when I do research I’ll be staying there. Which, by the way my current plan is to work with Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta for my research. Hopefully they’ll still want me once I get a grant. 😉

So ya… We left friday at 1:30pm for Yogya after a trip to the coffee plantation! Let’s start there. The coffee plantation was fun. They produce coffee luwak there. Anyone know what that is? Oh it is delish coffee friends. It is also pooped out by a cat looking animal.

A Civet (American name) or Luwak (Indonesian name) – Coffee Luwak Makers

Besides seeing the ADORABLE Luwak we also went for a walk around the plantation. They export all of their coffee beans from this plantation which rounds out to about 3,000 tons a month. Crazy huh? They also employ about 1,300 people to work this plantation. And you know, the Luwaks. So what is coffee luwak. You’re dying to know huh? SO… what they do is they feed the luwak coffee beans and the luwak are particular about their beans; they will only eat the ripest and the best quality beans. Then they poop it out.

Luwak Poop!

Yes. They eat it and then poop it. Then the beans are placed in the sun to dry, then broken apart, then (thank goodness) removed from their shell and (HOORAY) cleaned. Then the beans are roasted and sent to you and me to enjoy. So, why is this coffee worth drinking? Why would you drink poop coffee? Because it is delicious. More on this later. After the walk about the plantation we got in a “train” to see more of the plantation. It was a car shaped like a train. Very cute. We drove about and saw how beautiful coffee plantations are.

Yes… I realize I write this as you are forced to look at a bucket of poop. But here come some pictures of pretty things for you!

Coffee Nursery

The View

The COTI and LTC group

After we drove around in the trains for a while we were showed the resort on the plantation. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. It was interesting… the rooms were nice and big. But why? So they had publicity photos (yes they took pictures) of bule at their hotel? Hoping we would come back? I dunno why. What I do know is we ran out of time and couldn’t drink and coffee while we were at the plantation. That was a bummer.

Then we went back to LTC picked up our bags and met our drive to take us to Yogya! Yay! First on the agenda was meeting Bu Juliana’s friend who is a pastor and a human rights activist. Why did we meet him? I’m still a bit hazy on that. We didn’t really get to ask him any questions about his work. We kind of just sat around and chit-chatted. No matter. We got to Yogya and we met a new nice person. All is well.  Following this Emma, Julia, and I went to our hotel. The name of the hotel is Tiga Lima (yes 35 to those who speak Indonesian). It was very cheap and very nice.

Our room at Tiga Lima

We got the deluxe room. Which meant it was about a whole $33 a night. I love Yogyakarta. Oh right, it was a little more because we put that extra bed you see in the room. That way all three of us could stay in the room. It was nice to be together. Then it was only $11 a person. Nice. Friday night we also went out to what may become my favorite restaurant in Yogya: Nanamia. It is western food and their pizza is good by American standards. I ate a whole pizza Friday night. It was called the Hawaiian. Very tasty. I think next time I’ll get the Nanamia special though. That pizza is amazing. After, it was too early to sleep so we went to a cafe named Cafe Chokolat. You can imagine what the sell. I had a nice hot cocoa with a chocolate spoon! Hooray! Then we all had a good, albeit cold, nights sleep. The aircon in the hotel was crazy. We turned it off the second night. I think we’ve all adapted to the temps here. It was too much. Then Saturday we went to Borobudur!

The stairs up to Borobudur

This Hindu temple was WAY up there on my list and so I’m so glad I got to go and I didn’t have to go by myself. Emma, Matt, and Megan have already been. A couple of times in some cases. So I was glad Julia went with me while Emma, a fellow nerd, went on a book finding and buying adventure. The temple was nice. Especially since my UKSW library card got me the local rate of $3 and not the foreigner rate of $18. Any student can get a $9 rate but it was sure nice to be a “local.” Julia and I put on our mandatory sarong and walked our way up to the temple. There were some stairs, not to many but then you could see the gorgeous temple in the distance. I was very excited. This temple as reliefs on all levels, over 1,400. The temple leads people through three levels of Buddhist cosmology: Kamadhatu, Rupadhatu, and Arupadhatu. The world of desire, forms, and formless respectively. It was beautiful. Here are a few pictures. There are more on my facebook.

Borobudur

A relief

The Stupas

Saturday night we went out to dinner (Matt, Julia, and I because Emma had plans) to an Achenesse restaurant. I had the martobak and curry and it is so yummy. I highly recommend. Emma came and joined us and we decided after dinner that it was again too early to turn in and we went to a coffee shop to get a quick coffee and hang out. It was nice to just sit on comfy couches and talk with people. I really do like all the COTI kids. Still! haha. They are wonderful.

The next day we checked out, left out bags at the hotel, and went shopping! We went to a big batik store and got lots of nice things. It was fun walking around the Malioboro area and shopping for things. After shopping at Merota Batik we went to the Malioboro mall. This is where we got the glory of all glories: Coffee Luwak. We went to Cafe Luwak (shocker that they sell coffee luwak right?) for some deliciousness. I ordered a 100% coffee luwak and a 5% coffee luwak. The difference was amazing. The 100% coffee was so smooth and has no bitter after taste. No wonder it is the most expensive cup of coffee in the world. Yes that is right. I have had the most expensive cup of coffee in the world. It was smooth, had no bitter after taste, and was just nice. The 5% was ok. There wasn’t anything special about it. But I needed to try it because it helped me decide souvenirs. Yes, that is correct. Three of you will be getting poop coffee. Who? I cannot tell you. But I have made up my mind and I know who is getting it. Three of you will be getting the most expensive cup (that is right they come in single servings) of coffee in the world as your oleh-oleh (gift you bring back for people when you travel, even just to another city). As James Shirmer would say: YOU’RE WELCOME. After a nice coffee break we went down to J.Co (a Starbucks alternative) so Julia could get some non-poop coffee and we had some donuts. We then went and bough Monggo Chocolate. Very nice chocolate made by around Yogyakarta and usually features wayang kulit characters on its wrappers. Love it.

Eventually we made our way to DayTrans to catch out ride home. DayTrans is a lovely company that will drive you between Yogyakarta and a bunch of cities. Including Salatiga. It is a comfortable and inexpensive way to travel. One way costs 40,000 rupiah or about $4.20. Worth it for the three hour drive. It has nice seats that recline, shades, aircon, and they give you a little snack box if you travel at 6pm. Which we have done both times because it is the last car out and we want to spend as much time in Yogyakarta as possible. The ride home was nice and we made it safe and sound and I fell asleep pretty fast.

Now I sit at Frame with my chocolate drink and wifi having a lovely day. I presented for our FGD or discussion group today about an article on female dalang. Even if I forgot a lot of words people said it went well because I knew a lot about what the article was talking about. Yay. Oh have I mentioned that COTI has themes by week. First was education.. or politics… or I don’t know. The first 5 weeks blended together as a mass of education, politics, religion, and more education and politics and religion. This past week, week 6, was about the environment… hence the coffee plantation visit. Now this week it is culture! HOORAY! This is my week. The theme I submitted. Yesterday we had a speaker about culture and discussed arts and culture. Today we discussed reog (a dance form) and wayang kulit! We even got to play gamelan today. It was AWESOME. I forgot how fun it is. It was fun to be thrown back into it. It was like riding a bicycle. And now to finish my lovely day… MORE CHOCOLATE.

See y’all later.

Big, Scaly, Ugly Monster

This is how I have felt lately. Why? Well, I am glad you asked. Let me explain a little. Big? Well that is pretty obvious… if you saw me here at least. I’m about a foot taller than almost everyone. I think Mas Indra and Mas James are my height and Mas Ara is taller than me. That is about it. I’m taller than everyone else. Everyone in COTI too. So that is the Big part. Scaly? Well the way everyone stares at me here you would think I was covered in scales. It didn’t bother me for about a month but now coupled with everything else and normal day to day stresses it has really started to bug me. Am I covered in scales? Can I just not see them? Is that why I’m so itchy all the time? Dry scales and not dry skin? Ugly. This is the big one. I feel ugly here. 1. Because people stare and 2. because I am not a normal body type here. I keep being told how funny my body shape is. Not funsies. People here don’t believe I eat. Even when they see me eat every day (house mom!). When I do eat, I don’t eat enough. I’m just some ugly little stick. In America I have a great, almost perfect figure. Here I am a freak of nature giant. *sigh* Just some ramblings I had to get out. I know I’m “attractive” by American standards but here I just feel funny. It’s an odd feeling.

Well ain’t that somethin

Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes someone feel stupider than having to have extra classes. Not only was I assigned extra classes today they also split up our normal discussion group into two classes. Because of me. And no, I am not exaggerating. And this is all after I was on such a stupid high because one of my teachers told me how much I have improved since I started. Then BAM a smack in the face that I no longer have FIVE freakin hours of class a day I now have 5 and a half. I have an extra 30 minutes of class because I am stupid. Yes. I know this is how I get better. Yes. I know I will benefit from this. Yes. I get that this is good. But you must understand that this means I miss going anywhere with anyone right after lunch. This means that I felt incredibly hurt and publicly humiliated this afternoon when the entire COTI class was dismantled because I “can’t handle it.” And with only three weeks left? Why all these changes now. They knew my Indonesian wasn’t great when I came in. It was just frustrating with three weeks left, while I’m waiting to hear back from grants I most likely WILL NOT get because I found spelling and editing mistakes because ONCE AGAIN I’m an idiot, while I’m waiting to hear back form conferences, while I’m trying to get my comprehensive exams set up…. aka I’m overwhelmed and having 30 minutes extra class made me feel like a royal idiot today. It was less than pleasant is what I’m sayin. Even if it benefits me in the end… today it makes me feel pretty stupid and vulnerable.

Solo and Sakit

This Friday we had a going away party for Taomo. It was sad. She is leaving a week early because he grandmother is really sick. This makes me sad. We are all going to miss her a whole bunch. Taomo is awesome and the program will be a little less awesome without her.

This Saturday a group of us (Myself, Emma, Jack, Julia, Matt and James) went to Solo. Emma, Jack, Julia and I had plans to visit the kraton (palace) and the batik museum. Matt and James had plans to visit a movie theatre and see The Dark Knight. So we all piled into a travel at 9am and made our way to Solo. We first dropped the boys off at a mall with a movie theatre (and J.Co Coffee mmm) and then we headed off to the kraton. It was honestly, kind of hot, kind of boring, and kind of hard for me to understand.

Entrance to the Karaton Museum

Maybe I was so bored because I was hot and having difficulty understanding the Indonesian. Ce la vie. It was nice to see and now I have been there. The best part was Jack was wearing shorts which are not appropriate for the karaton so he had to put on these awesome pants (and take off his flip-flops) while we were in the karaton. hehe.

Jack’s Super Pants

Then we went to the batik museum. Which was awesome. First we got there and there wasn’t any tour guide to show us around. So we went to go get lunch. This ended up being a poor choice. More on that later. When we finally got back we were allowed to take out tour. We weren’t allowed to take photos… not because the batik is copy-written but because the interior design is… stupid. However, the batik in the museum, just trust me, was freakin beautiful. They had batik from all ages and races. From the Dutch to the Chinese to the Japanese in WWII. They also had traditional batik from both the Solo and the Yogyakarta kratons. It was very neat. The gift store was just as neat… however, about 10x out of my price range. So we went to a pasar (market) to do some shopping after the batik museum. This was a much more successful shopping experience. Although both Emma and I felt a little iffy in our stomachs at the time. After shopping we went to pick up the boys at the mall and eat yummy donuts and drink yummy drinks at J.Co. We also went to a grocery store and picked up some food for the ride home. We all piled back into the car and headed home with our cranky driver. He had been cranky all day and I think he really wanted to get home because suddenly he was speed racer. I was not ok with this. Luckily it was a short drive. Not short enough for Julia though. She felt a bit sick mid way through the drive. For me it didn’t happen till later that evening. I got sick at about 9pm and it lasted all through Sunday. I still feel  a bit icky now. Stupid lunch.  Oh well. Live and learn. Now off to do some homework since I haven’t yet because I was too sick to use the internet Sunday. Hooray.

SO HAPPY!

So, a wonderful and kind dalang (puppeteer for the art form I study) I know was generous enough to give me the number of one of the female dalang I wish to study next year. So I got all super nervous and wrote my first text out in Word and had two people check it. Then I sent it off into the world of SMS. Then, TA-DA, the female dalang messaged me back and said she would meet me. SO happy, words cannot express. This means I can talk with her (hopefully my Indonesian will be OK) and maybe set up some time for next year to get together.  This could also open doors to many other dalang perempuan… haha I typed in Indonesian without thinking about it.  I mean other female dalang.

Also I got to talk to Lani today. That was pretty amazing. Everyone keeps posting these awesome hiking photos of Hawaii on facebook and it made me miss beautiful beaches and beautiful people. So I gave Lani a call and it made me feel revived. Thanks Lani!

WHAT A HAPPY DAY! Hence the adorable happy cat photo up at top. That is how I feel. Like a warm happy cat! HOOORAY!

Complete Awesomeness

Last night, and well technically this morning, was completely awesome. After a hard day of studying bahasa Indonesia and, for me at least, translating my final essay we set off for adventure. At 6pm we (Emma, Julia, and I) set off from the LTC in our handy travel (really a nice way to get from town to town, renting your own car and driver) to Solo. We were off to see another wayang kulit. This one by dalang Pak Enthus, who is a Sufi dalang and apparently very controversial.

The Dalang

He makes kasar jokes (I can’t think of an appropriate way to translate kasar right now) and is very outspoken. Last night he made many political jokes about both political parties and officials. I couldn’t understand all of it, I don’t yet speak Javanese, but I could catch some of the jokes and he was very funny. The crowd LOVED him. More on that later. Let’s start at the beginning.
We got in the travel and made our way to Solo. I again was scared for my life almost every minute I was in the car. The swerving and passing and craziness is just a bit much for me. I also got a bit motion sick because of all the swerves and bumps. Luckily Emma is a boss and keeps ‘Fishermans Friends’ in her bag. They are licorice flavored hard candies that help with motion sickness. They’re also good for your throat, so win/win. Once we got to Solo we realized there was way more going on than just a wayang performance. It turns out there was a celebration for the 78th birthday of NU and Ansor. Nahdatul Ulama or NU is a traditionalist Sunni group in Indonesia and Ansor is the military wing of NU. There were maybe 1000 people there. There were huge screens set up broadcasting this famous kyai (to simplify: Muslim leader) singing and music was playing… it was a hoot! Apparently they perform sholawat weekly but this was a special and very large performance. It was like a rock concert. This rockin’ sholawat was also broadcast on Indonesian TV and of course the large group of bule was not ignored. So Emma, Julia, Emma’s friend, and I were on Indonesian TV last night too. That was interesting. It was fascinating to see how similar this was to Lutheran youth gatherings I went to as a kid. The only difference was well… this was Islamic and it was outside. Everything else seemed so similar. 

Maybe 1/3 of the people

At about 10:30 the wayang finally started. It was beautiful. There were so many modern and fascinating puppets to look at. Which is good since because I don’t speak Javanese I was only picking up words or small phrases. It was also amazing how many people were crowded around to watch this dalang perform. Similar to the sholawat they were broadcasting the wayang to the crowds. After the sholawat the crowd died down a bit since that was the main attraction but there were still mass amounts of people watching this dalang either on the stages set around the grounds (you can see some in the photo above) or sitting on the ground watching the screens. We, through Emma’s connections with her former mentor, were put RIGHT up on the stage. We were sitting almost on the pesinden (singers in wayang). It was nice to be so close. It really felt like we were a part of the wayang.

Pesinden

They also treated us as such. They gave us free dinner (meant for the performers) and water. We tried to say no, but Javanese hospitality said “feed the guests.” It was very neat to be in the environment.  To feel the gamelan, hear everything clearly, feel the buzz, excitement and laugher of the performers, and to see clearly! I also got some pretty great photos out of the deal. Even if I ended up smelling of smoke it was awesome. We eventually went home around 1pm and got home at about 2:15pm. I felt really bad for getting home so late but at the same time it was kind of worth it because the whole experience was so amazing. We got a two for one deal with the sholawat and the wayang. I’m so glad Emma set it up and we got to go. It was complete awesomeness.

And now for some photos, check facebook for more:

The set up. We were real close.

Me and the gamelan (wayang orchestra)

Me and Emma

Me and Julia

Beautiful modern kayon

Puppet up in flames

What happens to you when you catch fire

Just chatting

I eat french fries like a sir… and other random thoughts

Close buttons in Indonesian elevators actually work.

I’m starting to feel very comforted by the call to prayer. Even if it wakes me up at 4:30am. At least I know it is 4:30am.

I miss real cheese.

I miss the PIBBI kids. A lot.

I wish the wifi would always work here.

I wish Bu Lanni wouldn’t have to serve her husband even when she is sick. It’d be nice if he got off his butt and got his own rice.

I really should take Emma out to dinner for all she has done for me.

My Indonesian is MUCH better. Still not where it should be, but MUCH better.

I’m cold. In Indonesia. I’m cold.

I get to see another wayang tonight! Huzzah!

I was so happy I ripped my pants.

Jack’s Coconut

So this weekend we went to Jepara so Emma could do some research. I also changed home-stays finally. Firstly, Jepara. It was a long trip and another scary car ride to Jepara. I just can’t get over how they drive here. Lanes and traffic laws be damned. However, we did make it there and back alive. Obviously. Jepara was fun. Emma, Jack, Taomo, and I went on this adventure. We first went to a masjid (Mosque) in Jepara where a saint Emma studies is supposedly buried. This particular saint, whose name always escapes me, has multiple grave sites. Each one of course claiming they have the real grave. So Emma, whose COTI paper is on this topic, wanted to interview the groundskeeper about people who worship there, the grave itself, and the story of this saint. Which she was able to do. Yay. I still am trying to set up my interview for my final paper. It has to be 10 pages. In Indonesian. I wrote it out in English first, just so my thoughts are clear because I’m not that good in Indonesian yet. It is 16 pages in English with 4 pages of citation. BAM. Now to translate it. Eek.
After the masjid we all hopped back in the car to eat lunch. I had Tom Kha Ga (Thai Soup) and it was super yummy. Then we went to the beach to hang out. We didn’t swim just because we had other things to do that day but it was nice to be by the beach and hang out. Jack even got a coconut to sip on and let us share.  It was also super yummy. I love coconut. I could eat it every day. This was also when I ripped my pants. We sat down on a bench to enjoy this coconut and when I stood up I ripped my pants on a nail. Right on the butt. Of course. Luckily for my my bag covered it for the rest of the day. Unlucky for me, these were my favorite pants. I didn’t bring many pants. Now I’m down a pair. Hopefully the pembantu, maid, at my new home-stay can fix it. I’m not that handy with a sewing kit and I doubt they’d let me try anyways. Besides the pants ripping the beach was ok. It is a bit of culture shock to see so much trash at the beach. In Hawaii that is about the worse thing you can do. Here it is normal, I guess… but it was nice to smell ocean air either way.

A Jepara Beach

Jack, Emma, and Taomo at the beach.

 After the beach we went back to Demak, a town we drove through on the way to Jepara and once a very famous kindgom in Javanese history. Look it up. We went to the Demak masjid for Emma to do more research. It was also just an interesting place to stop historically. The masjid is very old and said to house the body of the man who killed the saint Emma is studying (I think). It also housed the Sultan of the Demak empire. Very neat.

Second masjid of the day

Another interesting aspect of this masjid was the group of school children we saw. Apparently this group was on a state sponsored field trip learning how to properly worship at graves, which has a specific term that has escaped me. The kids were adorable and of course would not stop staring at us. One mother grabbed me and had me take a photo with her kids. She literally yelled “BULE” or “WHITE PERSON” and ran to grab her camera. This is something I have not gotten used to yet. It doesn’t bug me as much as it bugs others. It was interesting to see all these kids participating in something that in say Saudi Arabia would be looked down on. Another interesting aspect of Indonesian culture. Huzzah.

Adorable children.

Tomorrow we start week 5. How strange is that? And I get to wake up in a new home-stay. One that is already allowed me to have so much more freedom. I’m out and it is after nine. That is an amazing achievement. I’m also within walking distance from Frame. I can walk to and from internet. HOORAY! And now time to walk back since the rain has stopped and I’m hungry. See you all later.

Queen of the Riddles

Today was awesome. Thank you Julia for being born. My first class was ok. I think I understood about 3/4 which is a HUGE improvement. I still can’t speak but I can read faster and understand more. Our third class however was VERY difficult for me. Not because I couldn’t understand (well I didn’t but for different reasons) but because I was up most of last night and I could barely keep my eyes open. We had a gentleman come talk to us about the National Exam system in Indonesia and he was so monotone that I kept falling asleep a bit. However, I got over that real quick once the class was out and I could put some food in my belly. Then I had loads of energy. Maybe I caught my second wind. I ended up not going with Ara because I decided it was a better idea to walk. We (Matt, Emma, Taomo, and Jack) met up with Julia so she could show us the way to her house. She has quite a bit of a walk. Past stores, little restaurants, up a hill… It’s a little mini trek. We hiked up a little hill and made it to her home-stay. The house is beautiful. It is too bad she isn’t allowed to walk alone at night (All the women aren’t supposed to, but she isn’t allowed since someone was attacked walking to her home-stay last year… awkward) and that she has to move houses because her host mom is going to Jakarta and they don’t want her alone. We all gathered and helped Julia cook yummy Bi Bim Bop. She found a small store with korean ingredients and it tasted like home. Not just for Julia, but for me too. Korean fast food is what Meg and I would live off of. Yum yum yum. It was such a fun night! I even had fun with Ara. His crazy self. I still think he is mad at me or something, but whatever. We all sat outside at Julia’s and told jokes and riddles. It was so funny. I became the queen of riddles and whistles. Ara became a sociopath. It was just a lovely evening. The jokes and riddles were silly but I have to share some. I got the last two right:

How do you get an elephant the freezer?
-You open it up, put it in, and close the door.

How do you get a horse in the freezer?
-You take out the elephant and then put the horse in.

Two animals are in a race. A crocodile and a horse. Who wins?
-The crocodile, the horse is still in the freezer.

It was just too silly and too much fun. Then Julia told a riddle about Bobby’s World. It was hilarious because Matt did not get it but kept guessing things correctly but had ZERO idea why he was right. We all just laughed and laughed and it was wonderful bonding between COTI kids, some PIBBI kids, and the LTC friends. I got in some serious high-fives with Mas Indra and Mas Daniel.

Trip to Yogya and Incredible Guilt

So I should update y’all on my trip to Yogyakarta first and then I will get to the incredible guilt I feel at the moment. FIRST, Yogya was awesome for many reasons. 1. I got to go with friends 2. I got to practice and hear different Indonesian, more day to day stuff 3. I got to be inspired by scholars at the conference. 4. I got to learn many “what not to dos at the conference”

1. I got to go with friends. YAY! Emma, Megan, and Taomo are awesome. It was nice to go with Megan and Emma because they have both lived in Yogya for extended amounts of time. They were able to direct us to good food and around UGM (the University). That and they are just good fun and nice to talk with. It made time in the mini bus on the way there go by quickly. The minibus itself was nice only 40,000 rupiah or $4.25 for the 3 hour trip to Yogya and $4.25 for the way back.

2. It was nice to hear every day and travel Indonesian. Ordering in restaurants (something I don’t do in a home-stay), using taxis, using the minibus, and shopping in stores were all helpful. I also met several of Emma, Megan, and Taomo’s friends who spoke Indonesian and I could hear more accents, more conversational Indonesian, and well… I got to meet some super awesome people while I was at it.Especially their friend Colin. He was a whole heap full of fun and very into his PhD work which is always inspiring.

Hooray for Learning!

3. I do like conferences. When someone has a good presentation it really inspires me to write a paper and hold a good talk as well. Also, when someone has a really bad presentation (and there were a few) it makes me realize “I can do this!” So it really is a win/win. This conference inspired me to write up my preliminary dissertation research and submit it to the AAS conference. If I get the grant I want I can’t go to AAS, however if I don’t get the grant I can go to the conference (if they accept me of course). I also submitted my abstract to the ICAS conference in Macau in June to have something else to look forward to. Then hopefully I could go straight from Macau to Indonesia and begin my research. Woo.

4. There were many things I learned at this conference. A few were things not to do when presenting at a conference. #1 and the most important of all = DONT BE RUDE! So many presenters (Americans of course) were so rude the the moderators and conference organizers. You have 20 minutes. You knew you had 20 minutes. Don’t get snappy with people when they simply tell you have 5 minutes left and/or your time is up. Another is to not read and stare at the table while presenting. Don’t say “I’m sure you all know this but” If we all know it why say it? If not then don’t be so cocky. And finally, don’t be snappy or flat out rude when asking questions to panelists or in your reply to questions. Overall be nice and look at people when you talk to them.

Another element that made this trip so special is I got to see the UC Berkeley Gamelan Ensemble perform. This included Pak Midianto, the dalang. It was great to see him perform and even better to start emailing with him again about the performance and about female dalangs. He knows the woman I would like to be my main dissertation subject and hopefully he can connect us. That would be the coolest thing about this trip. Here is a picture from the wayang show. I will load more later, but now the internet is being slow and now allowing me to load anymore:

Dalang Midianto begins the performance

Now to talk about guilt. I feel incredibly guilty right now because I am switching homestays. I have to though. The house is so dusty and old and my room is  basically outside and I am COVERED in mosquito bites even though I sleep with anti-mosquito stuff on and I keep all the windows “closed.” I mean it is so bad Colin thought I had some sort of body modification thing going on. Aiya, right? So the LTC people suggested that I move so that I am healthy. So I went ahead and followed everyone (and I mean everyone in the program told me the same thing) and I opted to move home-stays. I feel so bad because Bu Riny and Bu Lile opened their home to me but I just can’t risk my health. Especially after Morgs got dengue fever. I don’t want to risk getting that. However, I’m also nervous about the new home-stay. What if it is worse? I guess we will find out. I’ll keep you posted.

Tonight is Julia’s birthday and she is cooking Korean food for us. She misses Korean food A LOT. She hasn’t really enjoyed the food here so she is super excited about cooking a Korean meal. And I’m super excited to let her. So in a little bit Ara is going to take me to her house since I don’t know where it is. However, he seems less than pleased to be taking me. I don’t know what I did but he seems less than happy with me. I hope he doesn’t leave me in a ditch somewhere. That’d be bad. I’m supposed to go to Jepara with Emma on Saturday before I move Sunday evening. Another full weekend in Indonesia here I come!