Oh man, how time is slipping by.. I can't believe my last post was three weeks ago!
The good news is that I've been busy again. The last two weeks at SMKI were semester exams, most of which I didn't have to take, so I had quite a bit of free time. I did participate in three dancing exams with my basic dance class, though- tari gagah, alus, and putri. I didn't know that I was supposed to take part in ulangan umum until the second week of exams, so my American high school cramming skills came in handy- I didn't get to practice until the morning of each test. I'd go through the routine with my classmates before the period started, and since I was always the last on the list I could sit and watch the others dance and memorize the progression then, too. This worked out pretty well- I'm surprised that I was able to finish each routine. So as far as semester exams go, I've had two relaxing weeks at school. On the days that I wasn't scheduled for a test, I hung around and watched the other class's exams. I mostly watched dancing tests, but there were also exams in choreography, karawitan, pantomiming and face painting (part of the traditional dress and make up class) which were fun to see. At first I was wishing my semester exams at Northfield had been like this- but after seeing how detailed a student painted the fish scales on his face, I'm pretty sure I would have a lot harder time passing these tests than the theory ones at NHS.
The busy part of the last two weeks have been the extra practices for all the dance students at SMKI. There is a performance at Prambanan Temple on December 19th that everyone is preparing for (including me!), and I've heard that the president of Indonesia will be there watching. So practices are very important- the school has even been giving out free lunches as extra incentive for students to attend- and they last for about two hours or more after exams are finished. This is the tiring part, but of course fun as well. The other Yogya inbounds who are going to public schools get the whole month of December off (because they don't have to attend semester exams, and then there two weeks of Christmas break), but I rather enjoy hanging out and dancing with my friends. Really, going to school at SMKI doesn't compare to any other school.
Plus, I have an extra dance lesson every day to attend! This is a classic example of the general confusion that comes from not knowing the native language very well. In one of my very first weeks of school at SMKI, a teacher (Pak Totok) came up and talked to me and I really had no clue what he was saying- something about his son. I thought he was inviting me over to his house to meet his son sometime, so I employed the usual 'smile and say yes'. A few weeks later he came and talked to me again- this time I heard that his son was getting married in December and would I like to come? Why, yes of course! Now that December has finally arrived I've figured out that Pak Totok has actually been asking me to dance at his son's wedding, which will be held at the pendopo at SMKI at the end of the month- so now I'm taking lessons every day with a tari putri teacher Bu Ratri in order to prepare. Wow, what a surprise. There are other SMKI students performing at the wedding as well (but I'll be dancing alone) and I am very excited. My dance is pretty easy as far as traditional Javanese dances go- it's only a few minutes long (I think some parts have been simplified for me, too)- and it's a welcoming dance, so I have a plate full of flowers that I get to throw in the air throughout the dance.
The best part about this is that I made a goal of learning at least one full traditional dance routine during my exchange year (one that I can remember and perform by myself), and I can already check tari putri off my list! Yes, it's a short, simple dance, but it feels like I'm making some progress. One thing I've learned from my lessons with Bu Ratri so far- if my body position ever feels comfortable, then I'm doing the dance wrong. Even after almost three months of school, I'm still not flexible in the right places... Hopefully I can't get the techniques down within the next two weeks.
In addition to my new dance, I've been trying to tackle a little bit of bahasa Jawa lately, though with a much lower success rate. Yesterday one of my theatre friends, Vian, was quizzing me on my Javanese vocabulary: bibir (lips) = lambe, mata (eye) = moto, hidung (nose).. I started out saying "ang-" and everyone around me cracked up. Through their pantomiming (they were too busy laughing to explain in Indonesian) I figured out that the word for "booger" starts with ang- and the word for nose is something completely different. Sigh.
As a follow-up to the plans I mentioned in my last post- Pauline (IB from Belgium) and I finally made cookies! They're called sable, which is French, and Pauline says she makes them all the time in Belgium. It turns out that it wasn't too hard to find real butter, but it was more of a challenge to find white sugar- the sugar used here is unrefined, so it's coarse, brown, and not good for baking sable. After awhile of searching, we were able to find a fairly close match- and the cookies turned out pretty well, too. Pauline recently changed host families, so we took advantage of their functional oven within the first few days of her moving there.
Sable!
The long-awaited oven
This is my newest fruit find- rambutan. The word 'rambut' in Indonesian means 'hair', so the name is very fitting. In order to eat, you split open the skin and inside is like a big peeled grape with a pit in the middle. It's very sweet, and there are rambutan trees all over the place here.
I spent this past weekend at the home of a Yogya Tugu Rotaractor, Mas Ronny. We had a busy weekend, but my first highlight was getting my palm read at Malioboro. The palm-reader was an elderly man who only spoke Javanese, so Ronny translated what he said first to Indonesian, then to English for everyone. To start, the palm-reader explained that he must first look at seven points on my body (he pointed to my neck, my forearms, and my knees, but I don't know what the other ones were) but that he can only interpret a few of them, and that the prediction isn't from him, but straight from God. Then he asked what I wanted to know about my future- I was stuck for a little bit. Of all the things that are ahead of me, what should I ask? I decided to ask about my future husband, cliche yes, but the most entertaining I think. The palm-reader said that my husband would be rich, that he likes to travel, and that his career will have something to do with the Air Force.
Me getting my palm read, and Mas Ronny explaining.
A quick side note, because I don't think I've explained this yet- in Indonesia it is common to use words equivalent to Mr., Mrs., Ms., in English in front of people's names, even if you are close friends. So when talking about adults you use the identifiers Bapak for men or Ibu for women (shortened to Pak and Bu), and for people who are younger (or less than 10 years older than you, if you're a kid/teenager) you use Mas or Mba. I'm still trying to get the pronunciation of Mba right- it's important that there's a clear "m" sound, but you can't hold on to the "m" to long or it's wrong. Sulit. Difficult.
After getting my palm read, Mas Ronny, the other Rotaractors and I walked to Pasar Malam ("Night Market" in English), which was a carnival in the park near Kraton. I used to think that the Zipper at Jesse James Days was the scariest ride in the world because it looked like it would bust apart at any given moment- but perhaps that opinion has changed now that I've been to Pasar Malam. I went on a ride similar to a kid's ride in the U.S. where you sit in a big 'boat' and swing back and forth, fairly high into the air, but this time there were no seat belts. It looks simple, but it sure is odd to feel your stomach drop at the top of the swing and there's nothing holding you to your seat but your own hands.
Then on Sunday, after church, the Rotaractors and I went fishing. They took me to a restaurant where you can fish in man-made ponds and then directly grill or fry whatever you catch for lunch. It seems like a great idea, but more difficult than it sounds. The poles for rent didn't have reels on them- just a section of PVC pipe to wrap the fishing line around- and my fishing wire was kinked and knotted in several places, so I would cast out about two feet of line until something would catch, and that's about how far my bobber ever got from shore. There were other people at the restaurant who brought their own fishing equiptment and a kind of bread-dough bait (we were using worms), and so the Rotaractors and I watched as they would each haul a bag of four or five big fish to the kitchen for lunch. After about two hours our pack of worms was finished, and we had caught three fish that were well suited for Ronny's aquarium at home. Needless to say, we bought normal entrees for lunch.
My one and only catch of the day.
We just finished learning the routine for the performance at Prambanan today at school, so we're going to start practicing at the temple on Friday. It's hard to believe the performance will be on Monday- it feels like we've only just started practicing. Then about a week after that is the wedding! How time flies when you're an exchange student. And as for the upcoming holidays, I think I'll have enough on my mind that I can blow past my usual white Christmas without too much difficulty. Fingers crossed. It will be interesting to see how people celebrate here with Christianity being a minority- I've already seen a few stores at the mall with decorations, but I'll keep you posted on how things are at home. Until then- I hope everyone back home is enjoying the snow (and the shoveling, and scraping the ice off your windshield every morning).. It was about 100 degrees and sunny all day today. I'm working on getting my holiday tan :)
