Bali

Just got back from Bali yesterday morning, and I figured if I don’t get a blog up this weekend I never will, so here is the news!

            The trip to Bali was with the freshman class at SMKI (which happens every year).  Bali is also called Pulau Mimpian or “Island of Dreams”, and it was indeed very beautiful.
     I thought the best part was all the Hindu temples- they are everywhere.  The most common temples are small and consist mainly of a shelf to place offerings; there are many along the side of the road to give safe travels. Offerings are placed in small wicker baskets, and can contain flowers, sweet bread, and other things. Offerings are supposed to be given every day, and I only saw Balinese people doing this in the morning (always in traditional dress) but I’m not sure if that’s a rule or just routine.

The temples in Balinese homes are even more remarkable. There are usually four or more temples built in the yard or on the roof, and they have statues of various Hindu gods above the offering shelves. The most stunning ones are topped with gold and sparkle wonderfully in the hot Balinese sun. Temples are generally wrapped in a sacred cloth, either plain yellow or black and white checked. I was told that the black and white symbolizes the daily presence of good and bad, but I'm not sure the meaning of the yellow. Occasionally there will be tree trunks wrapped in black and white checks, and this is where a new temple is going to be built. If there are regular unusual occurrences (for example frequent recurring deaths) in a certain area, Hindus believe this is because not enough offerings are being given to the gods, so they wrap the cloth around the trees to make the place sacred and then build a temple there.

SMKI visited a notable temple during the trip called Tanah Lot. Tourists weren’t allowed to walk up and enter the actual temple, but could make flower offerings (for the price of few thousand rupiah) either in a cave on the beach or in a cave on the temple island, though the last one requires a short wade through the ocean. After tourists make an offering, the temple-keepers (there is surely a special name for this, I don’t know it though) stick some grains of white rice on the tourists’ foreheads and put a flower behind their left ear. Perhaps this is just to entice people to make offerings, but it still looks lovely.

Temple surrounded by ocean.

This is the entrance to the cave where tourists could make offerings for Tanah Lot.

Despite the thrills of touring, the main event of our trip was to visit SMKI Bali and share performances there. Their school campus is gorgeous and clean, even the outsides of buildings, which is a rare occurrence in Indonesia. There is also an SMM (music school), and SMSR (‘seni rupa’ it’s called; “looking arts”. Maybe there’s a word for this in English but I don’t know what it is, or don’t remember. Anyways, it’s a school for painting, graphic design, woodwork… Macam-macam, many kinds).

The SMKI Bali karawitan performances were mesmerizing- you can see the drummer and first row of players on the left side of this picture- I simply love the dynamic quality of Balinese gamelan. Here is a two-man costume that was incredibly intricate and surprisingly life-like; the dancers inside were great at expressing the different moods of the character.

We also stopped at a traditional Balinese house that belonged to one of the SMKI Yogya teachers. There were around eighty students on the trip and we were all fed lunch here- a delicious (and fiery!) rice dish with salak for dessert.

And of course you can’t visit Bali without going to the beach! We visited two: Tanjung Benua and Pantai Kuta. The first was filled with mostly Asian tourists, and most everyone was there to go parasailing or boating. I went out on a glass bottom boat ride with a few friends where we fed bread to some small fish above a reef and then boated to a petting zoo on a small island offshore.  

Tanjung Benua

The glass bottom boat with Bu Yati and some of my XT1 classmates.

On the way to the petting zoo, we passed a temple with its entry opening to the ocean.

A large bird and I at the island petting zoo...

Pantai Kuta was so different- packed with tourists from around the world and almost everyone was surfing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time at the beach (even got a pretty good farmers tan) but it made me want to be an American again so badly (figuratively speaking). Good thing I didn’t bring a swimsuit with me or I may have been overcome by temptation- I was incredibly jealous of everyone wearing bikinis, swimming, and tanning… Sigh. But there will be time for that later. I sat in the sand with my Indonesian buddies- they were wearing sweatshirts, sweaters, long jeans, and hats to protect their skin from the sun- and we people- watched for awhile. A few girls paid 10.000 rp to have their nails painted by an old Indonesian lady working the beach, and a group of students played in the waves (the teachers weren’t very happy about this, later the buses were full of sand and smelly with all the damp clothing).  Overall, a nice visit. I’m excited to show off my not-as-snowy-white skin when I go to school again J

A quick note about bahasa Bali, before I move on. Bali is a 45 minute ferry ride at most from Java, but Javanese and Balinese sound nothing alike. If you take the Javanese alphabet HA NA CA RA KA (pronounced ho no cho ro ko) and say it with a Balinese accent it becomes huh nuh chuh ruh kuh but with an odd nasally sound, like when you say une in French. Odd, no? So for example when our tour guide would say Pantai Kuta it sounded like Kutuh.

Near the end of the trip, we visited a beautiful lake in central Bali. I have painstakingly racked my brain for the name of the lake, and even requested an itinerary sheet from the trip, but to no avail. We all stopped to eat lunch at a lakeside restaurant and then visited a nearby fruit and traditional Balinese snack market. I bought a kilo of salak Bali (Balinese snakefruit- just found out it was called ‘snakefruit’ in English; I had never heard of it before) and a small carton of teeny strawberries, grown just down the road.  All the students say salak Yogya is better because it’s sweeter, but I like salak Bali because the first time I tried it, the taste reminded me of the very tip of strawberries in Minnesota, a bit sour. Surprisingly enough, the Balinese strawberries had no taste at all. So I’ll stick to salak from now on.

After mentioning the fruit market, this also brings up another recent undertaking of mine in my Indonesian exchange: haggling. Eeeeveryone haggles here, and I’m just starting to get the hang of it, though more often than not I still pay more than the average Indonesian. I find that, in general, people don’t want me around when they’re haggling a price. If I do happen to tag along, they manage to make a deal so quietly I always miss the selling price, and when I ask what price they settled on I usually don’t get a response. At first this was frustrating- a big problem for me is that prices are usually so cheap anyways (compared to the States) I don’t haggle as low as I should, but I can never figure out what a good deal is because everyone is so secretive when I’m around. And then after my purchase is done people ask me what I payed : “Andrea! Tidak usah sampai harga itu!” everyone says, "You don’t have to pay such a high price! I got the same for… (always lower than what I paid)…" I did have a few successes while on the Bali trip, thankfully. There was a theatre student who paid 8.000 rp for a carton of strawberries which I got for 5.000 rp, and I managed to get the same price for a souvenir at a large arts market as another student as well. Ha! So it is possible, though surely difficult. The key is to not look rich and not look foreign. Everyone started telling me I need to dye my hair black in order to blend in, but somehow I don’t think that would help much…

We also visited Patung Garuda Wisnu Kencana- an unfinished park of statues that also holds Balinese dance performances for tourists. 

This is an incomplete Balinese gamelan (or perhaps a different type of traditional music ensemble) that performed at the tourist shows in the park. We watched a phenomenal theater performance by a group of students from a school for the deaf. They were perfectly coordinated and very expressive; it was a treat to watch. At the end, there was a female Balinese dancer in traditional garb that would dance and invite different spectators to come on stage and dance with her. She was pleasantly surprised when an SMKI Yogya student walked onstage and began dancing tari Bali with her! I suspect that they rarely get audience members that are able to dance traditional Balinese-style. 

Looking back to when the Bali Rotary Inbounds visited Yogya, I remember they said that the Balinese like three types of food: really spicy, really sweet, and peanuts. I have yet to try the spicy and the sweet, but peanuts are definitely a big hit there. Every souvenir shop sold several different kinds but the most famous is kacang asin, which is said to help women conceive and produce milk. I didn’t try any, but asin means salty, so I’m guessing it’s not far from, well, the average salted peanut. Things on my list to try when I go back to Bali (and this is indeed going to happen, someday): ayam betutu (Bu Yati said it is like opor, which means the chicken is boiled in coconut milk but it’s very spicy) and babi guling (pork).  It was odd to see signs advertising pig meat at first- I’ve never seen a sign for pork in Java and whenever my host family talks about it, they always bring it up in a whisper (because of the Muslim majority). Anyways, I don’t know what guling means, but I hope it means ribs. Yum.

While on the subject of food, I’m going to back track a ways and throw in the latest adventure: eels. Maybe baby eels, since they were so small. This culinary opportunity came about when I went to the restaurant Pecel Solo with a few Rotarians about a week ago. At first sight I knew I wanted to try it. I thought it was snakes, but when I asked what it was “belut” was the response and Bu Clara clarified ‘a type of fish’ in English. I figured it meant eels. Sadly, there was no taste, like the cow lung. I think this was the result of the eels being so small to start with and then deep fried.

Pecel Solo

To wrap up, my lovely Balinese experience is over, and now I’m back to my regular school schedule. We’ll see what the next few weeks bring- final exams are coming up at the end of May so my days at SMKI will most likely be business-only for the rest of my time here. But can I really say that traditional Yogya dance classes are strictly business? Every day here feels average, but when I take the time to stop and think I’m always reminded of how luar biasa this experience is. Certainly out of the ordinary J

Hope to write again soon, there’s still more I have to catch you up on.

Sampai jumpa!

Sudah Lama...

It’s annoying how easily time slips by- it has already been over a month since I’ve last posted. We have a lot to catch up on, so let’s get right to business, starting with February.
          About a month ago, there was a large ceremony for the closing of Sekaten at Kraton. I think I mentioned before that there has been a carnival set up outside of Kraton called Pasar Malam. This fair has been going on for about the last month, and the final week is called Sekaten. The whole celebration is to commemorate the spread of Islam to Indonesia. There is a gamelan set that is kept in Kraton and brought out only during Sekaten- so it's only played during one week each year. Last Saturday afternoon I watched the last performance using the special gamelan set, then on Sunday watched the closing ceremony. This consisted of five large 'mountains' of fruit (like the the one at Bekakak, but much bigger) that were carried through the street that circles Pasar Malam then taken into the palace at Kraton. I was waiting outside the gates of Kraton, so by the time the mountains of fruit passed by, one was already completely finished (the pieces all given out to spectators). The majority of people that come to watch the closing of Sekaten are Javanese villagers who come with hope that they'll catch a piece fruit- not to eat, but to plant in their fields at home, to make the soil rich and fruitful.

  As for the Chinese New Year, my performance for Imlek fell through but I did get to see a little bit of the celebration. There were several big paper dragons waved around by a crew of men in Chinese costumes, as well as furry dragon suits filled by two men each (these were more lifelike- flapping ears, eyes that blink, a working mouth) that you 'fed' a small envelope of money to give you good fortune for the coming year. 

          Also at the end of February, the Rotary Club Yogyakarta Malioboro (I am hosted by Yogya Tugu) held an arisan with Tahun Naga as the theme, and all the Yogya inbounds performed a dance together. An arisan is like a small lottery where a group of people gets together and everyone contributes a set amount of money to make the ‘pot’. Then one of the group member’s names is randomly selected (pulled out of a hat or whatnot) and that person wins all the money. Arisans are quite common here, usually held once a month and attended by mostly old ladies as I’ve been told, but I have seen classes at SMKI hold arisans as well. The Yogya Malioboro club’s arisan is a bit out of the ordinary because it’s held once a year, has over 400 participants, and there is a raffle for gifts as well as the grand money prize. The raffle was preceded by an assortment of dancing and singing performances (including the inbounds) and a seven course dinner (definitely not your average arisan).

For a recap of ordinary events here, in school we have finished the super slow tempo dances and moved onto ragam routines. Ragam means "style" and in dance is used to describe a combination of moves that are always done in the same order (same as a time step in tap or a do-si-do in square dancing). Usually one ragam consists of eight or sixteen counts. For example, one of the most basic combinations in Yogya style dance is called sabetan, or ngabet in Javanese, and it’s used in male dances (so tari gagah and tari alus) but there are different versions for each style of dance. The first count you bend your knees then shift your weight to your right leg. (This is why it is so much harder to learn Indonesian dance while counting in your head in English, because each count is often split into two parts: sa-tu, du-a, ti-ga, em-pat, etc and you can’t split up one, two, three…) The second count you shift weight to your left leg then lift your right foot (always lifting the leg straight out, then bending the knee once your foot is in the air), for the third count put your right foot down and lift the left leg (straight, then bend the knee) and this goes on for eight total counts, with specific hand and arm movements, too. Most of the time a ragam will end with both feet back on the ground, but not always.

Now that was the first part of sabetan described in English, but in all my dance classes at school the combinations are explained using Javanese. Mendet= bend at the knees/squat; gedruk= tap the ball of your foot on the ground directly behind your other foot; ngoyok kiri/kanan= shift weight to left/right; tekuk= bend your elbow; njimpit= pick up sampur; seblak= flick sampur; catok=wrap sampur around your hand; kipat= unwrap sampur (comes after catok); cul= let go of sampur… So there’s an expansive vocabulary for dance moves that I’ve been trying to learn. Generally the teachers yell out these terms as we’re dancing to remind the students of what to do. It’s taken awhile for me to connect the words with the right movements (since you’ve got hands and feet going at the same time) and I still have lots more to learn.

The hardest by far, though, is memorizing the ragam names. If you write down the first part of the tari srimpi pandelori routine, it looks like this:

Sembahan sila

Ndodok

Panggel ngregemudet

Janokung miling

Nduduh wuluh

Lampah sekar tawing

Pendapan cangkel

…

So each of these names represents a set of eight or more counts (one ragam), but I admittedly don’t know where each ragam starts or ends in the dance. I’ve just memorized the series of individual movements. For tari putri, this method works well for me, but in my freshman tari alus class Pak Toro likes to yell out a progression of ragams (“sembahan sila jengkeng, impur jugag dua kali, gidrag, sabetan, kambeng dewa, tayungan tiga langkah, ombak banyu…) then put on the music and the class dances according to what he just said. This, I have trouble with. A week or two ago we had a tayungan test (which means you do a lot of ‘walking’ around, but the style of walking changes depending on what ragam the routine is based on) and each student drew the ragam they’d be tested on out of a hat. This was before I had started memorizing ragams- the piece of paper I drew had ‘kambeng’ written on it, but it might as well have been written in Arabic for how much meaning it had to me. I had absolutely no clue. So I used the first ragam I could think of (which was impur, not kambeng) and failed miserably (though I had a get out of jail free card since I’m the foreign kid). After that I decided I should start paying attention to the ragam names, at least for Pak Toro’s class.

Now that we’ve moved on to a routine designed specifically for teaching a bunch of different ragams (there’s got to be over a million, I swear) we’re learning about two or three new ragams a day. I have about three quarters of each freshman routine memorized so far (complete with the ragam names J) but it gets tough for me towards the end when certain ragams combine the foot movements of one ragam with the arm/hand movements of another. I think my muscle memory works with all my limbs paired together because the mix-and-match ragams are hard for me to master. Hopefully I’ll have a mental breakthrough by the time we have our mid test.

As for sophomore dance classes, I think I’ll be having a final test in tari srimpi pandelori in the next week or two (all 35 minutes finished!) and I just had a sophomore tari alus test where we used fake bow and arrows as props. In gagah we’ve started learning a 25 minute routine (which is a total killer for tari gagah) where we use a shield and club, and there are four dancers depicting a fight, just like the previous tari putri and alus routines. Needless to say, I’m tired at the end of each day, but I’m really enjoying my lessons.

As is routine, my most recent interesting food find is sate keyong or snail kabobs. Delicious. Sate keyong can only be found in angkringans (tent-like food stalls set up at night on the side of the road, they usually have a wide variety of dishes, gorengan, and snacks to choose from) meaning you can’t order it in an actual restaurant. It’s made with a spicy sauce, and the texture reminds me of cooked oysters. I’d like to see what color it is (I imagine a swampy green), but there’s never good lighting at an angkringan so I have yet to find out. Quite the opposite of my odd food ventures, I had my first bowl of milk and cereal last week since coming to Indonesia. I may be trying my very best to become Javanese, but there’s still some American left in me- a nice bowl of corn flakes and milk sure does hit the spot.

Since I’ve last blogged, I’ve gotten the chance to see Borobodur temple and a closer look at Merapi. (If you remember, I visited Kaliurang, the Merapi area, with Rotex one of my first weeks in Yogya, but that was at night and we didn’t get to see the volcano). This Kaliurang visit was especially memorable because we got to go with the Bali inbounds, who came to tour Yogya for a few days.

Inbounds and some Rotarians at Kaliurang

Merapi

Speaking of guests from Bali- one of the last weeks in February students from SMKI Bali came to visit their sister school in Yogya (there are eight SMKI’s throughout Indonesia I believe). There was a performance at pendopo with dance and karawitan in both Yogya and Bali style, and everyone got out of class to watch. It’s incredible how different the styles are. In general, I find that the gamelan music we dance to in class is muted and repetitive, the different sounds and instruments easily melt together (I actually nod off sometimes in class when I’m watching other kids testing- biar ngantuk, it makes me sleepy) but Balinese gamelan has just the opposite effect. There’s lots of Clang-Clang and Cheng-Cheng sounds of metal mallets pounding on sarongs and the drum beat is so fast I don’t know how on Earth the dancers can make sense of it (assuming they follow the drum like Yogya style, but perhaps not). And it is Loud.

When I first got here I was told Javanese dance is the most difficult of all Indonesian traditional dances, and once you learn this style everything else is easy. This came from an SMKI Yogya teacher so it could very well be biased, and after watching the Balinese dancers I’m not so sure I’d agree with that opinion. Balinese dance is much faster and uses eye movements as well as facial expressions which generally aren’t choreographed in Javanese dance. If I think adding head movements is hard, I’m sure eye movements and facial expressions would be a challenge to memorize as well. I’ve also never gotten the chance to study Balinese dance, so I suppose I’m not an accurate judge of which style is harder anyways.

Either way, I am Pumped to go to Bali and see more of the traditional arts there. I’ve heard it’s like another world in Bali- the culture and atmosphere is completely different than the rest of Indonesia, mostly due to the prevalence of Hinduism and large population of foreigners. But until then, I’ll try to keep you better updated on the happenings here in Yogya. I sure do wish time would slow down; I hope to savor these next few months like I’ll savor my first bowl of milk and cereal back in the States.

Sampai jumpa!

Terapi Ikan, Pantai, Tari Srimpi

It feels like it's been forever since I've last blogged, though three weeks doesn't sound that long. Nothing extremely new or exciting has happened since my last post, but I'll fill you in on how life has been in the desa :)

A few weekends ago I visited my host mother's family in Kulonprogo, which is a village about an hour west of Tamantirto. This was my first 'road trip' on a motorcycle, and was quite enjoyable even though it started to rain about half way there. Once in Kulonprogo we sat on the porch and chatted while eating fresh durian, then in the afternoon went out for some terapi ikan (fish therapy). At the terapi ikan place there were three small pools of minnow-sized fish where you could dip your legs, or hand/arms too if you wanted, and the fish would come and bite your skin. It hurt a bit more than I expected, so it was hard to resist the urge to jerk and twitch (which you weren't supposed to do- I think it stresses out the fish). After awhile I got used to the sensation and it felt more like a bad case of pins and needles for the next hour or so. I resorted to laying my feet flat on the bottom of the pool so that the fish couldn't get underneath and bite between my toes, which tickled a lot. Everyone said that terapi ikan is very healthy for you, but the following night no one in my host family could sleep well, so I'm not convinced yet. I suppose it was a pleasant experience- mostly because it's out of the ordinary for me- though I did start bleeding at one point because a group of fish kept going at a mosquito bite. I'd certainly do it again if I got the chance. No pain, no gain.

Terapi ikan

There was also a Javanese holiday in January called Bekakak. I went with my host father to Batu Gamping, where the main event was held, and the streets on the way there were packed with spectators and vendors. This holiday occurs once every year, and the date always changes because it is based on the Javanese calendar. The main event consists of a mock wedding; there are two dolls made of rice that represent the bride and groom, and each one has it's throat cut (the dolls are filled with a red sugar syrup to look like blood). The 'blood' is then collected in a bowl and someone drinks it I think, though I didn't see that part. After the mock sacrifice the dolls were taken apart, along with a mountain of fruit that lead the procession, and the pieces thrown out to the crowd surrounding Batu Gamping. For the first time in awhile I was glad to be six inches taller than most everyone around me- I caught a banana, some green beans, chillies, and even a piece of the dolls (which was a big deal). Right after the ceremony ended it started to poor rain, so I returned home soaked and shivering but content with my winnings.

The 'wedding procession' on it's way to the sacrifice (where all the flags are in the very back of the picture). There was a marching band, soldiers on horseback, and of course a lot of spectators.

The fruit tower being carried up Batu Gamping.

This past week at school we had Monday off because of the Chinese New Year, or Imlek as it's called here. My host family isn't Chinese so we didn't celebrate, but did take advantage of the holiday to take a trip to the beach. We went to Pantai Baru, and it was so windy that day that we technically weren't allowed to get close to the water because the waves were too high, but I did go get my feet wet before we left.

The beaches around Yogya are generally dangerous, so swimming isn't allowed. You can't really tell from this picture, but all the beaches I've been to near Yogya are very steep, and so the water gets deep fast and it creates a nasty undertow. I don't mind not swimming at the beach- Indonesians don't use swimsuits and getting soaked and sandy with regular clothes on isn't that fun (especially if you have to hand wash them afterward)- so I'm content with just dipping my feet in and enjoying the view.

Last Wednesday I left for my first real Rotary trip to Pangandaran, a beach area outside of Bandung. We went body rafting in Green Canyon (which was fun and so beautiful, though we weren't allowed to bring cameras), and visited Pantai Pangandaran and Pantai Batu Hiu. The trip went by fast; we all arrived late on Wednesday night and had to leave after lunch on Friday, but I still managed to get a little bit of a tan.

Thursday morning all the exchange students went to the beach to watch the sunrise (we technically missed it since no one wanted to wake up at 5 am). Still beautiful, though.

What I'm most proud of from the last three weeks is my progress at school. All of my classes now (except for sophomore tari gagah) are working on dances that use a painfully slow tempo. This is nice for tari alus and putri, which have smooth, graceful styles (it looks sophisticated and serious with the slow tempo, I like it) but makes a tough workout out of my freshman tari gagah lesson. You have to keep one leg and both your arms held out at a 90 degree angle (for correct tari gagah form), and if dancing to a normal tempo this isn't so bad because you often switch legs/switch positions, but when it's slowed way down and you have to hold each position for a long time, the six minute routine takes forever. All my muscles burn by the end. My favorite lesson is still tari putri. In my sophomore class we're learning tari srimpi, which uses four dancers. I've been able to memorize the routine so far, and we're about ten minutes in, but the complete dance is a half hour long. I'm excited to finish it all and see how I do. We have our first mid-way test on this dance next Wednesday (everyone will wear a jarik and kebaya of the same color); I hope it goes well.

As for other upcoming events, there is an Imlek celebration led by one of the Rotarians from Yogya Tugu the first week of February. He asked me to perform, so I've been perfecting tari persembahan as well as practicing traditional Javanese singing for the event. I feel pretty good about the dance, but I'm nervous about the song. In America, the only singing I ever did was either in the shower or alone in my car, and so performing in front of a large crowd in Javanese is quite the step up for me. Needless to say, I'm intimidated. Ideally, traditional songs are supposed to sung in sort of a nasally, slippery way (similar to what Indian music sounds like to an American), and I have a long way to go before I can make my voice sound like that (if it's even possible). I've memorized all the words so far, so at least I have that going for me. I will certainly let you know how it goes- wish me luck.

Now for my latest food update. This one was the most shocking so far in my time in Indonesia I think, mostly because I wasn't aware (similar to the fish brain before). I stopped at a small warung makan (small food shop) with my host father on the way home from school one day and we ordered tongseng, which is chopped up meat served in soy sauce with spices and cabbage (and rice; this should go without saying). It was okay, not my favorite, mostly because the cuts of meat aren't up to my picky American standard. Later that night I was sitting in the living room with my host family and Ibu Haryo asks me if I knew what type of tongseng I ate that afternoon. "Kambing?" I reply (goat?). Nope, she said: dog meat. I couldn't help it- I clapped a hand over my mouth and let out a squeal in English (Oh my gosh!). Just the other evening I was talking with my host father Pak Haryo about when he visited Japan, and I had asked "Don't they eat dog there? Did you try it?" and so this was a little twisted joke of his- no one told me that they eat dog in Indonesia, too. I decided I would eat it again if I had to; it's just meat. Everyone in my host family has eaten it before, and my host brother is pursuing a veterinary degree to take care of pets, so I figure it's okay. Whew, quite the surprise.

That's about all that's been going on lately. I have a small confession to make before I sign off (it doesn't sound as bad as eating man's best friend though)- I took my first sack of clothes to the laundry shop next to my house last week. Over three kilos of laundry (washed and ironed) was 6900 rupiah- exactly 75 cents. Tempting, yes? I still wash all my underclothes myself, so I'm not losing the wholesome experience of domestic labor. Just gaining a longer afternoon nap :)

That's all for now! Happy Chinese New Year! (And sometime in the next few weeks give your dog an extra treat for me, to help my conscience...)

Menari dan Cuci Baju!

It certainly has been a while since I last posted (I apologize), and now I have a lot to catch you up on! On the 18th of December I changed host families- and what a big change it was. I now live in Tamantirto, a village that is actually not part of Yogyakarta but much closer to my school. I am living with Pak Haryo, the SMKI vice principle, and his family.

To start off- the performance at Prambanan temple went really well, though the president of Indonesia didn't show. Bummer, but it was still a lot of fun. All the dancers met at school at 4 am that morning to get dressed and do make up for the show. The event at Prambanan started in the morning, but we didn't dance until around noon- and it was easy waiting in a closed tent for 4+ hours before performing. There were a few fans going, but it didn't help much when the afternoon sun came out.

Prambanan temple, from outside of the dancers tents. Hopefully I'll visit the temple for

real one day and get better pictures.

After the performance at Prambanan, Christmas break started. Two whole weeks! I was pleasantly surprised- I had heard before that we would only get three days off for Christmas, which I thought was reasonable since most of the students at my school are Muslim. Even though there weren't any classes I still went to school every day to practice the persembahan dance with Bu Ratri. On the actual wedding day I had my hair sprayed black again (though there wasn't any teasing this time, so it was easier to wash out, thankfully) and danced to live gamelan music. I was very excited to use live music, but I ended up losing the drum rhythm half way through, which was a fairly big issue. I ended up facing the wrong direction for the rest of the dance, though I did get back on track with the gamelan after a bit (I think the drummer pulled a few tricks for me so I could catch up). It was quite obvious that I screwed up, but everyone was still happy I tried. I'm glad I didn't see the bride and groom sitting right behind me until after I danced or the mix up would have been much more distressing. I'm continuing my lessons with Bu Ratri as well, so I still have time to perfect my dance.

Me dancing at the wedding. I could tell you several things that are wrong with my form in this picture, but I'll refrain :)

Ibu Ratri and I

Spending the holidays in Indonesia wasn't as difficult as I expected- my host family and I stayed busy with church events (in addition to the dance lessons). My host mother and sister help lead the church choir so there were several evening practices, and then three days of Christmas celebration. We didn't have a Christmas tree, special foods, or presents, but I still felt holiday spirit singing Silent Night and Come All Ye Faithful in Indonesian.

Christmas Day morning mass at the 'big' church in Madukismo. The teenagers in the white chairs were all baptized that day, which is why they were in traditional Javanese clothes. Christmas Eve mass was at the smaller church close to home. About fifty people attended, and the church room was filled as well as the front porch area outside.

My new host family and I on Christmas Day

Not including the holidays, regular life in a village has been much different than with my first host family. There is no shower here, just one wash room (which consists of a non flush toilet and a big basin of water), and no hot water as well. This sounds awful, but isn't a big deal- I almost always wake up sweaty since it's so warm here, so a cold "shower" is quite refreshing. The real kicker is no air conditioning.. But I'm happy here, so I'm not going to complain :) My host family doesn't have a washing machine either (or a maid), so I've learned to hand wash all my clothes (and do so almost every day). The three days of Christmas celebration I didn't do any washing though, which ended up being an awful gift to give myself for the holidays- I had a mountain of dirty clothes to attend to. My arms and hamstrings were sore for awhile after that one..

My first time hand washing! I remember thinking of the song "Whistle While You Work" from the Snow White, and thinking there's no way the forest animals were that happy washing someone else's clothes. I employ a new definition for the word 'dirty' now.

There also isn't a car at home, so I ride a motorcycle everywhere. This is a bummer when it rains, but for the most part awesome :) The biggest difference with living in a desa (village) is that everyone uses bahasa Jawa. This is good, because I'll get to learn the language faster, but also a little frustrating because I'm back to not knowing what people are saying. The toughest part for me is having to learn two different levels, ngoko (for people your own age) and krama (for speaking to people older than you). Its hard for me to remember to use a different level than is being spoken to me. For example- if my host mother asks me "Uwis maem durung?" (Sudah makan belum? in Indonesian, Have you eaten already? in English) I should reply using bahasa Jawa krama "Sampun" (yes, already) or "Dereng" (not yet), but it's still hard for me to remember to switch to using krama rather than replying "uwis" or "durung" (already and not yet, in ngoko). It's also frustrating that the two levels can be so different. Even numbers are different; in ngoko: 1 siji 2 loro 3 telu 4 papat 5 lima, but in krama: 1 setunggal 2 kalih 3 tiga 4 sekawan 5 gangsal. I have a lot to learn- bahasa Jawa, dance, karawitan... It's time to call up my Rotary club and ask for an extension.

Despite the new challenges I am very content in my new life in desa Tamantirto. I stay busy at home (with washing dishes, clothes, and helping cook meals) and now that I have almost completed my first week of semester two at SMKI, there are more dance classes in my schedule, too. I find that it's increasingly hard to remember to blog now that I'm really enjoying my new life here. Perhaps it's because I don't think of home so much. No offense. So I hope to keep you updated as best as I can. There's so much more to learn and share! Sampai jumpa!

Sable!

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 :)

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!