Happy Holidays!

This week, as you might've gathered from my first day of work post, is full of holidays. Tuesday was the Muslim holiday Isra and Mi'raj and Thursday was Ascension Day in Catholicism. Indonesia makes all religious holidays national holidays. So everyone in Java has been out of work for a good portion of the week. This of course makes life (and traffic) a little more hectic, but we've been adventuring around nonetheless.

Our free days mix a combination of religious and cultural exploration, lots of eating, and some free time as well. For Ascension Day we traveled to Gereja Ganjuran, or The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was established in 1924 by a Dutch family who owned a sugar factory in the area. It is particularly interesting because the church blends Roman Catholic tradition with the already existing Javanese culture of the area, which makes for some pretty interesting architecture and motifs.

This is a statue of Mary and Jesus depicted in Javanese style.

A Catholic temple outside of the church.

The inside of the church.

And clearly, the only way to follow up any outing in Indonesia, is by getting food. In the case of the Gereja Ganjuran trip, it was Pecel Lele. We went to this very pretty Javanese cultural center and hotel where I decided on the fried catfish with chili sauce. Ayu said it was "very student of me" to order. Plus, it's fun to order (it's pronounced peh-chel lay-lay).

Lunch.

Somehow, despite our excusions and copious meals, we still manage to find some extra free time during our days. On Tuesday night we decided to head to Yogyakarta's Southern Square after dinner. A park by day, at night it lights up with illuminated pedel-cart rides, different venders, and street musicians. 

Sarah, Tanto, Fye, Suraiya, and I in our elephant pedal-cart.

Sarah rode on top (behind the "Jogja" in the previous picture) and took this picture of some of the other illuminated "cars".

Also, a trip to the Southern Square wouldn't be complete without trying our hand at a little local myth. In the middle of the square there are two large banyan trees.

We visited at night, but here's a photo from Google of the trees during the day.

According to the myth, if you can walk from the north side of the trees through the path between them while blindfolded then you will get a wish granted. You start from pretty far away from the trees, and (particularly on holiday) have to wade through the crowd of other hopeful wishers trying to walk straight while blindfolded. 

This is a photo Sarah took of me as I walked blindfolded toward the trees.

Although it sounds relatively easy, people are limited to three attempts per night. Apparently it is really common for people to start walking straight toward the trees only to suddenly start walking to their right or left without any recollection of having turned. Out of Sarah, Suraiya, and myself I'm the only one who managed to make it through the trees while blindfolded. 

So despite not necessarily getting all of our wishes granted, we did manage to make the most of our holiday(s) and got the chance to get a little more acquainted with Yogya.