Ulangan Umum, Karawitan, dan Bakti Sosial

My first two weeks back in my normal schedule (after all the excitement of Karnaval) have been good ones. However, there wasn't much time to relax- semester exams are starting, which means all the students at SMKI are practicing and studying extra hard. The semester dance tests are done one by one (so far this year they've all been group tests), which is what I'm most worried about. All the other students are very serious about semester exams, but I am still not able to perform an entire routine. It's more apparent than ever how much I have to catch up on.

After school on Monday I had a karawitan lesson with Pak Haryo, the SMKI vice principle. It was very interesting, but like my dance classes, also left me feeling intimidated by everything I still have to learn about gamelan. I found out there are two different scales in gamelan- slendro and pelog. So, there are actually two kinds of each instrument in the gamelan set, one for playing slendro, and the other for peloq. So far I have been practicing on the bonang, which is the low coffee table instrument with the acorn pots all in a row, suspended by strings. The slendro bonang is easier to play, because it only has two rows of 6 pots, while the pelog bonang has two rows of 7 pots.

An example of the sheet music we use in school looks like this:

Ketawang Madumurti Laras Pelog Pathet Barang

Umpak

7 5 6 7 3 5 3 2

5 3 2 7 3 2 7 6

Ngelik

7 7 . 7 6 6 7 2

6 7 2 3 6 5 3 2

6 7 3 2 6 3 2 7

5 5 6 5 7 6 5 3

6 7 3 2 6 3 2 7

3 5 3 2 3 7 5 6

Each number is a different note (pelog uses 7, or 'pi' in Javanese, while slendro only goes until 6 'nem') and with the bonang you play each set of two notes twice (like above would go- 7575 6767, etc). There are different variations for the bonang, too, where you play different notes whenever there are certain pairs grouped together. I also newly learned that there are two tempos for the bonang. Irama I (tempo I) is played like I just described above, but in Irama II the pattern is syncopated and you play each pair of notes four times, instead of two. Irama II is used during the singing sections of the song, so it is much slower than the first tempo and the sarongs play quietly (otherwise the sarongs are usually the dominant sound). What I find most interesting is the role of the drum in gamelan. In order to switch the whole gamelan from playing Irama I to Irama II, there is a certain drum sequence (that everyone is supposed to recognize- I still can't think about the drum sounds and my own sounds at the same time, though) which signals everyone to switch.

As I have learned so far in class, there are four different sounds when playing the drums. These are pronounced tak, ket, thung, and dhang. I haven't tackled playing this instrument yet, but I hope to learn sometime during my exchange because it seems like useful knowledge. Whenever there are dance sequences which are difficult to time with the music (like head and arm movements) the teachers and students at SMKI always recite the drum sounds- ket tak ket tak ket thung dhang (this is the only sequence I can remember, from my tari gagah routine)- to help the dancers get it right. And the drum leads the gamelan ensemble, too, so it would be a good skill for me to learn.

My poor attempts at explaining gamelan certainly don't do it justice- you have to hear it in order to appreciate the complexity, I think. However impossible it seems that I'll ever understand it all, I'm still enjoying my gamelan lessons immensely. There's always something new to learn! Another addition to my to-do list here: bahasa Jawa. I've come to realize that no one uses straight Indonesian except when they are talking with me- otherwise it's a mix of Javanese and Indonesian. Frustrating. I feel like I'm almost getting the hang of the language here, but now there's a whole other language to learn, and I don't even have a head start. Javanese is much more difficult than Indonesian. There are three different levels (each has a different vocabulary), and the level you speak depends on the age of the person you're talking to (if you are speaking with your parents or another elder, you use a higher level than if you were speaking to your friends or someone younger than you). Lately in my bahasa Jawa class we've been singing songs in Jawa kromo (the highest level in Javanese). I asked a few times what the translation to Indonesian was, but everyone said that it was "odd language" and they didn't know. Apparently, only the first level of Javanese is used on a daily basis (according to my bahasa Indonesia teacher) and many don't know the upper levels. It seems odd that students are required to memorize lyrics/words that they don't know the meaning of- but I guess it's a means of keeping Jawa kromo alive. I was speaking with the husband of a Yogya Tugu Rotarian earlier today, and he said that one year is not enough to learn Javanese (crap...), and that if a foreigner wants to really learn it they should live in a rural village where Javanese is used almost exclusively, as opposed to in the city.

Today I spent a little bit of time in a village outside of Yogya (and indeed, after I introduced myself I was almost always asked "Sudah bisa bahasa Jawa?" Can you speak Javanese? "Belum." Not yet...) There was a social service event put on by the Yogya Tugu Rotaractors, where they donated goods to a village in need, and I was allowed to tag along.

We started off the day by packing plastic bags with rice, noodles, cooking oil, towels, and undergarments. There were over 150 bags when we finished (and the towels all had the Gucci monogram on them. Fake brand name products are popular here). Then we packed everything in two vans and took an hour and a half drive outside of Yogya.

At the village we set up a clinic in one of the buildings where three volunteer doctors performed basic check-ups for anyone who wanted one (it ended up being over 200 people), and there was also a huge assortment of medications (supplied by Yogya Tugu Rotary club) which were distributed accordingly to villagers in need.

There was also a used clothing sale going on at the same time as the clinic- each article

was priced at 1000 rupiah (6 cents US).

This is an unrelated picture- but I just figured out (after three months of living here) that I can see the Merapi volcano from the front of my house. About a year ago, Merapi erupted and the maid told me it 'rained gray' all over the neighborhood from the ashes.

There hasn't been much going on the past two weeks, but time is still flying by (the reason why I haven't posted a blog entry in awhile). It's almost December already! Hard to believe. The other Yogya inbounds and I have plans to make Christmas cookies near the end of next month, but we have yet to find an oven (all of our host families have them, but none are in working condition) and real butter to bake with. Until then, I plan on buckling down in school and trying to make some progress on everything that I have to learn here- dance, karawitan, bahasa Jawa, dan lain-lain. Semoga sukses. Lastly, a belated tribute to the recent American holdiay: I am very thankful to be here, in Indonesia, and thankful that I get to attend SMKI. Cultural exchanges aren't always a walk in the park, but I feel incredibly lucky that I'm able to take part in this challenge. I never thought I'd be learning so much! I am anxious to see what the next 8 months will bring, and hopefully I won't forget to blog :) Selamat hari berterima kasih! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Idul Adha, Masakan, lalu Karnaval!

This past weekend many Indonesians celebrated Idul Adha, a Muslim holiday where an animal is sacrificed (usually a cow, sheep, or goat). After I got out of church, my host father Pak Handono took me to his office where some of his coworkers prepared a goat for sacrifice. We arrived a little late- I didn't get to see them cut off the head, which I was bummed about- but I did see the beginning of the skinning process. Idul Adha, as I was told, is based on the Muslim tradition that more fortunate families sacrifice an animal once a year and share the meat with the poor. The animal has to be male and also cannot be deformed or sick. Pak Handono also said that before the animal's throat is cut, everyone says the equivalent of "Allah mahabesar", which means "glory of God". My host family is Catholic, obviously, so I didn't get to learn much else about Idul Adha, but I'm glad I was able to see a bit of the sacrificial process. We had to leave the office fairly quickly to go make rice for lunch, but the goat meat was all made into sate (a traditional Indonesian food, like small meat kabobs). The sate part isn't important to Idul Adha; just a personal preference for how to prepare the meat.

The leftover goat sate- we grilled it in the backyard Sunday night for dinner. Delicious.

While on the subject of meat, I should share my latest culinary adventure- cow lung. Is that considered meat? I finally got to eat at a masakan padang restaurant Sunday evening. I've seen these types of restaurants all over (they always have dishes stacked in the front window for display), and I was told that the food is very spicy (which is why I was anxious to try it). Now that I've been to a padang restaurant I think the title refers to the style of dining rather than the extra-spiciness of the food, though. Instead of getting a menu, the waiters just place a bunch of dishes on the table, each with a different type of food, and you can choose what you want to eat. I suppose it's like a buffet where you don't have to leave your seat. The plates were small- only about two servings to each one- and you only pay for the ones that you try. And of course there are big bowls of white rice to accompany your meal. I spotted the cow lung because it had a lot of chili peppers on top of it, and once I knew what it was I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it. It looked like a mushroom- black and somewhat shriveled. I picked up my spoon to try and cut off a piece, but turns out the whole thing was stiff. Like a piece of bark. Relief came when I saw my host bother using his hands to eat, so I followed suit and picked up the lung to take a bite. It was like a Triscuit cracker- very hard and fibrous- and didn't taste like much except greasy from being fried. I was surprised that there was a grain to it- like beef jerky- so that when you bit down it would only come off in strips. Overall, a bit of a letdown for as odd as it sounded.

There was fish brain there, too, which I wanted to try so bad, but I was too full. I have accidentally eaten fish brain before (this was before I knew "kepala" meant "head"- I ordered snapper head soup at a restaurant) and it doesn't taste bad at all, but I stopped eating once I figured out what it was. I guess it was the whole experience of thinking casually I wonder what I'm eating right now, this looks a little odd... and then figuring out that's a fish skull in my bowl and I'm eating its brain, that freaked me out and I couldn't take another bite. I'm still waiting for a chance to redeem myself and eat brain like an adult.

On Tuesday, I came home from school smelling like a barbeque. All lessons were cancelled at SMKI and there was a cooking competition between the classes instead. I cooked with students from XT3, my basic dancing class, and we made bakso (Indonesian meatballs), sate, meat that was breaded and fried, green beans, carrots, and french fries. We lucked out with perfect cooking weather, too. The sun was out all morning, which is a rare occurrence since the rainy season has started, and there was a slight breeze to keep cool. It was a nice, relaxing day.

The clay cooking pots everyone used. Here, we're boiling water for the vegetables.

French fries- made from real potato chunks.

Class XT3, who I take most of my dance classes with.

Cooking sate (pronounced sah-tay)

There were a lot of festivities this week at school because this year is SMKI's 50th birthday. Every night from Sunday to Thursday there was a different event at Pendopo- a karawitan performance on Sunday, a dance performance the next day, then wayang (traditional puppet show), and then theater. On Thursday there was a fancy reception where the sultan of Yogya came to speak. I got to see the karawitan and dance performances, which were great. Groups from all over Java came to perform, and I don't think there was an event that ended before midnight. (The wayang performances went until 2 am I heard.) Needless to say, I was tired from staying up so late two nights in a row. I'm used to going to bed really early since I get up at 5:30 every day. However, it wasn't a problem because most of my classes were canceled this week at school so that everyone could prepare for Karnaval- a parade put on by SMKI and other dance companies (maybe alumni of SMKI? Not sure) Thursday afternoon to celebrate 50 years of teaching the traditional arts. Each class choreographed a short dance routine, but I don't know if anyone got to perform their whole number; the parade setup was a bit disorganized so many classes weren't accompanied by a truck of gamelan players for music.

A children's group that performed gamelan on Sunday night. They were so talented! I was in awe watching them play. The performers were in elementary school (not sure what grade), and it seemed incredible that kids that young could play so fast and memorize a whole set list of songs. Fun to watch.

This is another elementary group that performed, but they were a bit older. This group had kids

singing Javanese, too, to accompany the karawitan (sitting in the front). They were very good

as well.

This is the SMKI student karawitan performance, the group on the left sang and there are students playing gamelan to the right.

A traditional dance performance with live gamelan music (this was during the karawitan event Sunday night). This style of dance, if I remember right, was from Surakarta, a city in central Java sort of close to Yogya. (Notice the different way the dancers pin their sampur: up over the shoulder instead of tying it around the waist like the style I learn at school.)

This was one of the first dance performances on Monday night- a dance/theatrical performance put on by cross gender dancers. I was a little surprised at first, considering the generally conservative culture here, but they were great entertainers and the crowd loved it. At the end of their performance they walked off the front of the stage into the audience singing in Javanese about gender/sexual equality (as I was informed by Bu Ami, the Rotarian I went with), and everyone gave them a huge round of applause.

I quickly got over my initial reaction at the brazen performances- this was a modern dance/theatrical number done by three men wearing only briefs and body paint. I don't have the slightest clue what the performance was supposed to convey- there was a lot of rolling around on the floor and fire crackers exploding.

Another traditional dance performance, with live gamelan.

I woke up Thursday morning at 4:30 in order to shower and make it to school by 6:30 for upacara (and I was also really excited for Karnaval, so I couldn't sleep any later). After the flag raising, everyone went into the dance studios to get ready for the parade. I was dressed up as Sarpokenoko- raksasa perempuan (female giant- very fitting of my stature here). My face was red and I had fangs painted on my chin, but I ended up not looking that scary. The costume was so hot (but so worth it)! I wore leggings, pants, a kain, jacket, sampur, belt, headdress, jewelry, and keris. Thankfully it was cool with grey skies on Thursday, or the parade would have been a struggle.

Students getting ready in one of the large dance studios

Everyone packed onto six buses and a handful of trucks (for the gamelan players, mainly) and headed over to Malioboro. Buses here don't have doors- riders just hop on and off when the bus comes to a stop- so all the monkeys on my bus, with their teased hair and painted faces, were hanging out the doors and windows hooting and hollering at everyone we passed. Other buses had soldiers painted gold who were brandishing their swords at pedestrians. We were quite the sight- everyone stopped to stare. For Karnaval, the performers walked the whole length of Malioboro street and ended in the plaza at Kraton. It was a long couple of hours. Some of the groups danced their way down the street, I just walked with my male giant counterpart. There were several other karawitan and dance groups in the parade, not from SMKI, that I wish I could have seen, but it was great to walk down the street all done up like a giant. I would definitely do it again.

After Karnaval we took the buses back to SMKI- it felt great to take off all the heavy makeup and clothes. Everyone was pretty tired, and most students went home shortly thereafter, but I stayed at SMKI with some teachers to get ready for the reception later that night. I didn't really understand why I was invited to the reception (none of the other students were going)- it was something about carrying a mountain of rice somewhere- and I had to get all dressed up. My hair was dyed black with colored hairspray and put into the traditional updo, and I wore traditional Javanese dress: a kebaya (lacy shirt), corset, stogen, and kain. The reception ended up being much shorter than the other events. There was a tari putri performance by professional dancers with live gamelan, then the sultan of Yogya made a speech. Yogya is special because the city is under government regulation, but also has a sultan that rules over the city, separate from government control. I'm not sure how it all works out, but the royal family certainly is a big deal here. After the sultan spoke, there was a long prayer and then I heard my name mentioned and was ushered onto the stage. A school official took a spoonful from a cone shaped "mountain" of rice and dished some other food from a platter onto a plate and gave it to me. I thought I was supposed to present the plate to the sultan, so I started heading toward his table, but then the headmaster Pak Sunardi redirected me towards me own seat. So I received a plate of food at the fancy reception, but I still don't know why. It was delicious, though, and I was hungry from my long day.

Pak Sunardi (in white- headmaster at SMKI), Pak Handono, and the Rotaractors who came

to see me! I was required to wear short heels, so I was ridiculously tall. The kain (skirt) is

wrapped tightly, too, so I would walk like the mom from the Adams family. I hope I didn't look

as awkward on stage as I felt. I didn't trip though, syukur Allah, thank God.

Today there is no school for SMKI students because of all the events earlier this week, so I'm using my extra time to blog and then catch up on some much needed sleep. I think I need to start writing more often- these long entries take a lot of energy. Overall, it's been a great two weeks. I've been busy and tired, but I'm sad to see SMKI's birthday celebration come to an end. Now, back to normal life. Sigh. I'll have to start studying hard on my Indonesian- I'm still waiting on my first dream in another language!

Selamat Ulang Tahun SMKI!