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!
A Christmas Tree in Asia 