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!

Puncak dan Main di Pendopo

This past weekend I flew to Jakarta for the District 3400 Inbound Orientation! There are 25 other exchange students spread out across 4 different islands (Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Bali) and we all met in Jakarta for a little sightseeing, then stayed at an inn in Puncak for next two and a half days. It was interesting to hear the different experiences people are having based on where they are staying and who their host families are. Jakarta sounds like an intimidating place to exchange- a very large city with horrible traffic all the time. One girl told me it takes her two hours to get home from school every day- she said she'll fall asleep on the bus, wake back up and see that traffic hasn't moved an inch. How frustrating! Another inbound living in Medan (northern Sumatra) has a host family that owns the high school he attends, so he actually lives in the school. The school mosque is right outside his bedroom window, too, so he can never sleep through the call to prayer at night. The students staying in Bali seem to really like it- though they say learning Balinese is very hard. It's a challenge for me to learn words in Indonesian and Javanese at the same time, but at least there are some similarities between the languages. I asked one of the exchange students to speak in Balinese, and he said a simple greeting, but it sounded entirely different from bahasa Indonesia. Again, I'm glad I'm staying in Yogya :)

Hearing about some of the public schools made me even more grateful that I go to SMKI (I think I really lucked out on that one) especially since I'm taking a gap year. I'm glad I have the motivation to participate and learn new things in school, or the weekdays would definitely get monotonous. Most of the students I talked to said that everyone generally sleeps through classes or goes on Facebook or Twitter, and that teachers often don't show up to class. (Very different from high school in the US) One other exchange student, Brenda from Canada, is really enjoying her school, though (like me). She is staying in Lampung (in southern Sumatra- she's the only Rotary inbound in her city) and attends a small private school where there are only 13 kids in her class, but they go on all these amazing trips like to Bali, camping, and staying in a traditional village. So all of our Indonesian exchange years are already different in many ways, but perhaps that's what it's like in every country.

As for the orientation part, after everyone introduced themselves in Jakarta we went on a short tour of the city to see a few museums and Monas, a monument. It was so hot! Everyone was dripping sweat and we started to loathe big group pictures because it would take so long to get through everyone's cameras. That afternoon we all packed into two coach buses and started the trek to Puncak, which is a few hours outside of Jakarta. I had been told that Puncak was cold, so I made sure to bring a jacket. Surprisingly enough, I barely took my jacket off once I got there, and even layered leggings underneath my jeans the last two days of Orientation. It was freezing. Probably not by Minnesota standards (I should say definitely), but it felt very uncomfortable to be cold after two sticky, sweaty months in Yogya.

Group picture! I'm pretending to be from Belgium, with Pauline.

Monas, in Jakarta

At one of the museums we visited there were a bunch of kids on a field trip that were very excited to see a big group of foreigners- so just as we were about to leave they started asking us for autographs. This is Julia (Brazil), who is a Yogya inbound, too.

We also stopped at a park outside of Jakarta where there were traditional houses from Makassar on display.

Once in Puncak, we spent the next two days hanging around the hotel, meeting the 2010-2011 D3400 Rotex as well as several members of the District Youth Exchange Committee, going over rules and emergency procedures, team building activities, and an inbound talent show. There were two parts to the talent show, which took place on the last night of orientation. The first part was a regional performance, where the inbounds from each city dressed in the traditional costume of their region and usually sung a song, except for the two girls from Makassar who did a traditional dance. The Yogya kids and I sang a Javanese children's song, and the lyrics go like this:

Yo prokonco dolanan ning njobo

Padang mbulan, padange koyo reno

Rembulanene sing awe-awe

Ngelingake ojo podo turu sore

The song is about children who play at night by the light of the moon. Mbulan is moon- in Indonesian it's bulan (the same word for month), so that's easy to remember. I think the title is Padang Mbulan, but I'm not sure.

For the other talent- the one from your country of origin- the other Americans and I (there are five of us) recited the Pledge of Allegiance, for lack of any better ideas. Each one of us had to go through it and make sure we remembered all the words because no one had recited it since gradeschool. So it was a good refresher for us, despite being a boring performance. The talent from Canada took the grand prize, in my opinion- they had no idea what to do for their talent either but they ended up showcasing some Canadian wildlife charades-style and it was quite hilarious. I should go to Canada more often- the people from there are a lot of fun :)

Speaking of wildlife- right as I opened the door to the room I was sharing with Yessi, from Mexico, we found a praying mantis waiting in front of the bathroom. Those things are big. Much bigger than I thought, and much more frightening. From all the pictures I've seen, and maybe just from the name, I thought praying mantises were peaceful insects, but I could barely take a step into the room. Whenever I moved closer to it, it would circle its front legs (arms?) like a boxer getting ready to strike. I was worried that it would jump on me (just thinking of those long poky legs gives me the shivers) but it flies, too! I was surprised by my own scream. The centipedes in my basement in Minnesota won't seem half as bad now. Eventually we got another inbound to take it outside. She just walked up to it and covered it with a trash bin- no fight necessary. I felt a little childish after that.

Overall, Orientation was a nice, relaxing weekend. Despite the cold, it was great to escape city life for awhile. Everyone was reluctant to leave, of course. On the drive back to the Jakarta airport on the third day we stopped at a zoo for one last group activity. There were almost no fences for the animals, only large areas partitioned off which you drove through in your car (or in our case, a big bus). The animals could walk up to your window, and families in cars could buy carrots and things to feed them with.

Here are a few photos:

Sunbears- unique to Indonesia, and almost extinct.

There were all these signs outside of the wild cats area saying that you shouldn't

get out of your car, complete with a picture of a lion attacking the back of a car.

None of the cats seemed interested at all in approaching the cars, though. I bet they make

sure to feed them really well.

An example of my photography skills- there was a man riding an elephant past our bus window.

Just like home :) It made me hungry for a bison burger.

Following my long weekend in Puncak, I saw my first student dance performance at Pendopo, the pavillion at SMKI. It was great. And did I mention that I got to perform three karawitan songs? I played with 1T3, the lower class that I have lessons with, so we actually performed before the real show started (which meant there were only about three parents in the audience). But I was still nervous and excited! I played the sarong (the xylophone one- I've learned one name so far), and I messed up a few times but hopefully it wasn't too noticeable. Mistakes or not, it felt good to show off what I've learned so far. After, I stayed to watch about an hour and a half of the dance and theatre performances. I so wish I could have stayed for the whole thing- the theatre performance was unlike anything I've seen before. It was performed by the highest class at SMKI and it was like a combination of everything that is taught here. All the movements were dance numbers, but the characters would sing their lines in Javanese while dancing and illustrating the story. There was a prince and princess, maidens, a few different warriors, and goblins, from what I saw. I couldn't tell what exactly was going on, except for the fight scenes. I enjoyed seeing the extravagant costumes and makeup; it must be so hot to perform with all those layers and accessories.

This is where I played karawitan! I was sitting right behind the big wooden pole on the right. From the front of the stage, I was just about in the center of the gamelan set up.

The first dance of the night- tari putri.

Second dance performance- tari gagah (correct spelling this time).

The beginning of the theatre performance. This is the prince I believe, in the middle of dancing and reciting Javanese. I wish I knew who he was in real life- he had a great, jolly voice. Fun to watch.

Here the goblins, or some sort of scary-looking creatures, are attacking the prince. The princess is the one sitting to the side.

A close up. My favorite part was the dreadlock wigs, I think. It had a nice scary effect when they

would shake their heads and act menacing.

The maidens, as I'm going to call them, getting ready to dance. I forgot to mention that there was live gamelan being played throughout the whole performance (as you can see in the back). There were a few teachers from SMKI playing, but mostly students from the upper class.

Tari putri number, with a masked character sneaking around in the background. He may have kidnapped one of the women? I'm not really sure- but one of the dancers did follow the masked guy offstage. Then later there was a fight scene between him and the prince, all within a dance of course.

I'm supposed to know how to wrap the kain (the skirt part) like this, but I don't know the details of how everything goes yet. This is a good picture of how you leave extra fabric hanging down on one side though. I wear a kain like this for my tari putri tests in school (put on with the help of my friends).

The masked guy is back. This was probably before the fight scene with the prince, who entered on the other side of the stage.

Whew, that's the most pictures I've ever posted I think. Perhaps I'm just getting new-culture-happy, but I'm excited to share a little bit of the performance at Pendopo. It's much better in person, but at least you can get to see the different costumes. I'm so glad I go to SMKI :) (And I hope you're not sick of my saying that yet). I never thought I'd have a particularly unique exchange- yes, I am the first one from my Rotary district to exchange with Indonesia- but I never imagined I'd be able to attend a well known arts school. After talking with the other inbounds I know that I am very lucky to be able to learn and see so much of the traditional Javanese culture. And it's all because I mentioned learning traditional dance was a goal for my exchange year in my first email to my host family. (Perhaps a good tip for any prospective exchange students :) Good luck.) So, up until now in my exchange, I've performed my first gamelan song, survived my first illness away from home, and now all I have to do is have my first dream in bahasa Indonesia and I think the initiation process will be pretty much complete. I've been waiting on that last one for awhile now... Semoga datang seturusnya. I hope it comes soon. Until then, sweet dreams everyone! Mimpi indah!