"Thank God I found the GOOD in Goodbye!" - Beyoncé

It happened. We threw our going away party last night. But for all intents and purposes it was more of a gathering of friends to break the fast. It was absolutely wonderful having all our friends, and those who have practically become family, all together in our house. We got to gather together, give thanks, and celebrate; because these past six weeks have been well worth celebrating.

We had our first Selamatan. A Javanese tradition celebrating the unity of everyone participating in it, sort of like an Indonesian Thanksgiving. And what would our first Selamatan be without a tumpeng? It's a giant food platter shaped geographically like the mountains (which are spiritually and culturally important in Java). The tumpeng is a symbol of gratitude and there's a ceremonial practice in how it is cut and served, honoring a particular person (or people, in our case).

Our tumpeng.

As Wikipedia so eloquently explains, "with tumpeng, people express the gratitude to God and appreciate togetherness and harmony" and I don't think I could find a better example of what occurred last night. I am so thankful for everyone who's been a part of this trip. Hands down my favorite part of Indonesia is the people I've met here.

And by no means could we end without a bang... but thanks to Nana and Ayu we ended with quite a few, as they bought us fireworks as well.

Ramadan Mubarak!

It's my last weekend in Yogyakarta! Ramadan started last night (technically the start date is disputed, but that's not the important part here). So life's definitely interesting for myself. This is my first Ramadan in a Muslim country. Near sundown the streets fill up with different food carts. Everything you could think of lines the roads, particularly near mosques. The weather was beautiful last night so I walked a few kilometers looking at all the delicious food and chatting briefly with the occasional curious local.

Eventually I got the courage to actually walk into the mosque near my house. It was absolutely packed with people. There were vendors selling Qur'ans and prayer beads and other miscellaneous religious items. A booth in the middle of the courtyard had young university students handing out drinks and food for those who started Ramadan the day prior to break fast with. 

This is a picture I found online of the UGM mosque. The food booth was just to the top right of the little pond.

Per usual I drew some interest from those around me, and I was strongly encouraged by some people at the mosque to help myself to the previously mentioned food and beverages. After finally accepting a water I sat down on the edge of the courtyard and just took in the whole scene. This was it, the beginning of Ramadan. I've heard people talking about the holiday for months now. Learning about the holiday in my Intro to Islam class seems like eons ago from sitting here in the mosque surrounded by it. 

I'm still not comfortable going into the mosque during the prayers. I clearly have no idea what to do and I feel like watching from the back is sort of weird. As two older men got up to go line up for prayer they offered me their mat in the courtyard and I sat there and watched as the courtyard suddenly emptied and the mosque filled with lines of people on both stories. 

So that's how my Ramadan started. Sitting in the beautiful mosque courtyard in the evening with Arabic filling the air around me like a now familiar hymn. It's interesting how in six weeks I feel so comfortable with the Islamic culture, and yet still like such an outsider. 

My view from where I was sitting in the courtyard.

And of course, being my typical self in this inter-faith experience I'm living in Yogya, it couldn't end there. I was up bright and early at 6:00AM on the first morning of Ramadan, but this time it was so I could meet my friend Leo for church. Earlier in the week I had expressed my regret at how despite being here for six weeks and working in an internship that's all about the religious culture in Indonesia, I had yet to actually attend a worship service for my own faith in the area. So Leo sacrificed his Sunday morning and escorted me to a service in Javanese. 

We went to Gereja Hati Kudus Tuhan Yesus (Sacred Heart Church of God is my rough best-guess at a translation). The service was in very formal Javanese and was unique in the fact that you'll really only find such a service in Java. They used traditional Javanese music to accompany the choir. It was a beautiful chaotic mix of percussion and vocals that was every bit as moving as any hymn I've heard at home. 

Leo decided a picture with the church's statue of Jesus was necessary. And of course, he's hiding behind the camera.

So, whether you're in America, Indonesia, a mosque, a church, or anywhere in between: Ramadan Mabaruk! Do with this month whatever you see fit, and may it bring you whatever you seek from it.

Indonesian Summer Camp

Friday AUA took us on a little field trip to a village to try our hands at a few traditional Indonesian activities. The whole time we said it felt very much like summer camp, doing crafts all morning. We started with making batik, and got a turn trying to make traditional ceramics, but the best part of the trip was getting a chance to plant rice!

Me watching her use the pottery wheel... things went downhill anytime I was given a chance to try.

Dyeing the batik.

Plowing a rice paddy.

Planting rice.

It was super fun. And super muddy. Overall a great day.

The AUA gang taking a horse and buggy ride after the day's events.

Interesting Airfare

Tonight we finally made the pilgrimage out to a location our friend Leo had told us about a few weeks ago. The owners took an old plane and transformed it into a bar. It was really cool and made for some great photo opportunities...

Follow the departure sign to take off to your destination (aka enter the establishment).

The front of the plane doubles as a stage for their acoustic sets on weeknights.

Sarah and I climbing on board the plane.

It's absolutely impossible to tell, but this is our group crammed into the cockpit.

A view of the rest of the bar from the plane-cockpit-stage. You can see the serious detail they put into the decoration.

That's pretty much it! It was amazing sitting around tonight as we reflected together on all the stuff we've done in the past few weeks. We're getting a little sentimental with the end of the program approaching only a week from today. Still, so blessed to be able to share such awesome moments and locations like these with the group.

Safety and Setbacks

Sometimes things don't go according to plan. Actually, that's what happens more often than not, but sometimes it's significant enough to the point it's worth mentioning. Like today.

First, I got to go to the hospital. I'm fancy, I have an official plastic hospital patient card and everything. I apparently ate something that made me sick (insert some more stuff here that got lost between me being distracted by my headache and the language barrier) but I'm essentially okay. I walked out of the doctor with four prescriptions, and have been sleeping soundly since 3PM, so I'm anticipating being up to speed again tomorrow. Although I'm not allowed to eat spicy foods or drink coffee, which has sort of been my life since I got to Yogyakarta.

The second significant thing to happen today was Suraiya and I's work presentations being cancelled. We were scheduled to travel to the local Shia community and give presentations this afternoon and then hold a discussion forum with the community. There were even Shia Muslims in from other provinces. The community here is in the minority, and they're struggling with intolerance from both Muslim and non-Muslim communities. However, because of the community being controversial and the recent rise of intolerant attacks in Yogyakarta, the discussion/presentation was strictly secret. Only Dian Interfidei and the local Shia group was to have information about the (closed) gathering. Despite our precaution, this morning the media showed up at the community, which meant somehow the greater public knew about the event. So we had to cancel for safety and security reason both on our side and for the Shia community.

So a few setbacks, but nothing that's going to drastically affect the scheme of things. Thankfully I'm in (somewhat) good health and I'm safe, so I guess at the end of the unproductive work day, that's what really counts.

My Second Pink Pangea Article!

My second Pink Pangea article was published today! In it I juxtapose the expat nightlife with a little unique local Jogja culture. You can read the story here:

Nightlife in Indonesia: Going Out in Yogyakarta

FIFA from Afar

With the start of the World Cup we've gained a new opportunity for entertainment. We've attempted to find a variety of the games on our television, but anytime one's on you can absolutely guarantee that our news and sports stations will be playing golf, badminton, or rugby. But that's not the only setback to our enjoyment; as you've probably realized, Asia is in a slightly different time zone than Brazil. So the World Cup games play at 11PM, 2AM, and 5AM. But that hardly stops us.

So far we've only made the effort to watch the Netherlands and the United States play. Thankfully the Netherlands games have been at 11PM. So, after work, dinner, and a bit of a nap, we reconvene to catch the game. The Netherlands games are particularly fun not only because our friend Leo is such a huge fan, but also because Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony. So there is still a bunch of Dutch influence in the region, including a lot of Dutch themselves!

Leo and his friend took Sarah and I to see the Netherlands-Australia game.

Hanging out with some Dutch friends at the internet cafe where we were all watching the game.

This morning we made it to our first United States game! Sarah and I woke up at 4:15AM to get dressed in our red, white, and blue and caught a taxi to our closest 24 hour McDonald's. It was empty when we arrived and through outlandish gestures and pointing they discovered we wanted them to turn on the sound on the television. I'm sure they regretted it when moments later Sarah and I had our hands over our hearts and were belting the national anthem right there in the lobby. And the trend continued, for every point the US made we would proceed to belt our American-themed song of choice. The first goal was Proud to Be an American and the second followed with Party in the USA.

Early morning soccer and coffee at McDonald's.

Leo seemed to enjoy our patriotism and the staff of McDonald's was certainly entertained. And once normal morning hours arrived a more steady crowd of people hung around in the lobby. Unfortunately most of them were Portugal fans. But we out-cheered them, so it was okay.

The three of us hanging out in the lobby. Clearly you can see the die-hard Portugal fans behind us.

At the end of the game we went back home to catch a quick nap before work. After all, we have to be at least a little rested. Netherlands plays at 11PM again tonight!

Interfidei Article about our previous Presentations

In case you have a burning desire to learn more about how Suraiya and I's presentations and discussion two weeks ago went, Wening mentioned that she published the article/summary Suraiya and I wrote about it on Dian Interfidei's webpage. So here's a link :

Human Rights and Religious Democracy Topics Spark Conversation at Dian Interfidei

Solo's (Freaking Awesome) Batik Carnival

A few weeks ago our friend Tanto invited us to his hometown, Solo, for the batik carnival. Not really sure what we were in for, we woke up today excited and ready to hit the road. A few hours in the car later and we had arrived in what looked like a smaller, and slightly greener, Yogyakarta. We still had some time to kill so after picking up Tanto from his house we headed to downtown to stake out a spot for the parade and do a little sightseeing.

Downtown Solo. The palace is a ways back through the white gateway on the right and you can see people lining up for the parade.

The palace closes early afternoon for tourists, but Tanto led us on a tour of the outskirts of the grounds. While circumnavigating the outside I noticed the guards had failed to securely close one of the back gates, and with a quick look at Tanto he and I were slipping onto the property. Understandably our tour didn't last long, but it was an enjoyable few minutes on the premises. After which we decided to finally take our own place in the crowd.

There were street vendors selling food and drinks sprawled throughout as locals gathered all over. It looked like the set up for a Fourth of July parade in America. My favorite though was a vendor who had little bright colored cups hanging on his stand.

The cups for sale.

After we had taken our spot in the crowd I couldn't help wondering what they were. So I asked Ayu. Turns out, it's bubble solution. So, after debating my self control and admitting the fact that I'm inwardly still a kindergartner, I disappeared from the group and went on the search for my own cup of bubbles. I arrived at the stand and a man was there blowing bubbles much to the delight of passing children. I stopped to take pictures, and of course this caused both the vendors, kids, and surrounding Indonesians to get all interested in my presence in Solo. 

The kids gathered around the vendor blowing bubbles. Aka, the picture that broke the ice.

The vendor to the right of the bubbles (I think he was selling a toy, or tea, or something) started asking me questions rapidly in bahasa. It took me a second to realize he was speaking to me, but eventually I picked up the word "dari" (which means "from") and I found my entry point into the conversation. We chatted about me being from America (although the only state he was familiar with was California, which he excitedly asked me lots about), and how I was just up in Solo for the carnival with a friend, and what I was doing with Interfidei in Yogyakarta. At this point in time both him, the bubble vendor, and myself were impressed and amused with how much this American bule (white foreigner) was able to chat cheerfully with them. So I handed over my 300 rupiah (Ayu didn't believe me. She said it was impossible they gave it to me for that cheap of a price. That's roughly three pennies by the way.) and returned to everyone excitedly with my new purchase.

The rest of the wait before the parade went quickly, as I made local friends with my new toy. An older woman who was sitting near Ayu on the curb showed me how to un-knot the baggie and pour the liquid in the little cup without making a huge mess and soon I had my own posse of children enthralled with the glimmering bubbles. Even Ayu, Tanto, Sarah, and Suraiya joined in on the fun.

Ayu, Tanto, and Sarah, just as amused with the bubbles as the small children and myself were.

But we didn't drive all the way for me to buy three cent bubbles. Before long the parade began. The parade showed off different batik from the area and a lot of local groups. It was led by a few groups of martial artists which I thought were really cool.

What was even better is that we were right next to the booth where the famous local government figures sat, so they all did demonstrations or performances right near us.

One of the martial arts groups doing a demo.

And I really love the local martial arts culture, I do. But it was completely overshadowed by what came next. Hundreds of men, women, and children dressed up in costumes that were all kinds of bedazzled. They had wings, trains, headdresses... it makes the Victoria Secret fashion shows look absolutely pathetic. They all danced down the street in their costumes, but I managed to still catch some decently clear shots of some of the people and costumes...

Some of the models parading/dancing down the street.

And because, we're in Indonesia, we're the type of people who break into palaces, and we had our very own local who knew the usual routine of such an affair, we were able to reconvene after the parade where all of the models and dancers had ended up.

So this happened.

And this.

Oh, and me being my usual self, I ended up in the middle of a group from the parade for a picture. I turned to them and thanked them all in bahasa after the photo which made them freak out. They responded in such an enthusiastic chorus of "sama sama" (you're welcome) and excitedly thanked me back. Easily one of my favorite photos from Indonesia so far.

And again, because taking things only one step further is just not enough for us, the evening culminated in this moment:

Yeah. I have wings.

The girl in the purple dress was both the designer and the model for the ensemble. And yes, she let me try on her wings and headdress. She was extremely cool.

So, when in Solo...

"Our work is directly proportional to the distances our dreams travel across." - Israelmore Ayivor

This week due to my inability to be productive while navagating my visa renewal and getting news about my roommate being sick, I got ridiculously behind on my actual work. But now it's Friday, and I've finished my writing for America's Unoffical Ambassadors, Pink Pangea, and my translations of some articles from bahasa Indonesia to English for Dian Interfidei. And my non-work activities this week were actually just putting in work to plan my copious amounts of play at the end of this trip. Here's a teaser:

Just kidding. That's my friend's bike and I was just posing on it to take a picture to scare my program coordinator (we're not allowed to get on motorcycles during the program for safety reasons). However, post-program I'm traveling to Bali. Where I'm actually renting a bike very similar to that one and it's going to be me, my backpack, and the island. (Oh, and a helmet.) I can't wait. 

Afterword I'm heading to Bangkok to visit Santisuk English School and friends before staying in Jakarta for a few days until I'm headed back home. But I've still got over a week left in Yogyakarta, and I'll keep passing along the anecdotes as they come!

Java Girls

First off, optional mood music for this blog entry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmg4rnQ968s

And second, a warning that this is not an intellectual post by any means...

Usually my blog updates stories about my time abroad or contains something actually pertinent to my life at the time. However, this blog is really none of those things. This blog is just me entertaining a comment I made once saying that our AUA group in Indonesia reminds me of Totally Spies. Except, I've chosen the title of our series to be Java Girls, based off the Facebook group chat I created for Suraiya, Sarah, and I to communicate in before we left America.

I direct quote from the Totally Spies series overview on Wikipedia:

The series centers around the adventures of three teenage girls - Sam, Alex and Clover - who live a double life as spies working for the World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP). The girls are recruited by the organization's leader, Jerry Lewis, to solve crises that arise around the world.

My new description for Java Girls:

Our time on the island of Java centers around the adventures of three young women - Winona, Suraiya, and Sarah - who live a double life as unofficial ambassadors working for the World Organization of Human Protection (AUA). The girls are recruited by the organization's leader, Ben Orbach, to intern with organizations that solve crises that arise around the world.

See? Pretty much the same thing. Also, we've totally got the hair colors down. So here's a breakdown of the Totally Spies / Java Girls characters:

 Suraiya (Alex): Although originally from Canada, she is a citizen of the world who puts her passion and enthusiasm toward promoting tolerance in the interfaith community. (Ironically, for part of the show Alex is voiced by a Canadian.)

Winona (Sam): When she manages to stay in one place long enough, she gets involved fighting for international causes; the most current of which is alongside Suraiya for the freedom of religious pluralism in Indonesia.

Sarah (Clover): The leader of the group, an ambitious and passionate world traveler who is fighting injustice against women's health and LGBTQ rights (amongst other causes through PKBI).

So, without further ado, I present to you.... Java Girls!

I was on top of things, and then I wasn't....

I'm really sorry about the lack of updates recently. I'm running a little behind on absolutely everything this week. Sunday at Prambanan I hurt my ankle and spent 3 days limping around, icing it, and trying to figure out why Indonesia doesn't believe in ace bandages. Then, I remembered my visa expires this week. And renewing a visa is a three day process. Two of the three days are actually spent at the immigration office for hours. (Only bright side, there was a Dunkin Donuts across the street from the immigration office.) Oh, and if that wasn't enough, my fellow intern and housemate Suraiya came down with typhoid fever. So on top of all these events I've been trying to keep up with work, submitting blogs and articles for other outlets, and occasionally getting a little sleep watching the World Cup. I promise more updates to come! I have quite a few posts in weird stages of partially written. I just beg a little patience this week.

Here, enjoy this bit of graffiti I found on the side of a house in Kampung Taman in the meantime:

I Want Candi

This weekend we did a little more touring around Jogja. Saturday the three of us went downtown to tour the water castle. Also known as Taman Sari, it was built by the first Sultan of Yogyakarta and was used as a resting area, meditation area, defense area, and hiding place. So welcome to Cribs: Javanese Royalty Edition.

At the ruins of the watercastle.

The three of us at the center of the underground mosque, where the azan used to be performed.

Some local kids were flying kites on the roof of the structure leading to the mosque.... so our guide showed us where they climb up and we went up too!

The entrance to the sultan's pool.

So the story goes that the balcony was for the sultan to watch his multitude of women essentially strut their stuff to the pool. He'd fill his pool with concubines and then toss a single flower from the balcony into the pool. The girl who was able to get it would be taken into his "final room".

The bedroom that the sultan would bring the winning concubine to. And you know, me just being my casual self.

Outside of one of the sultan's guest houses with our adoring fans *cough* personal male concubines *cough*.

And Sunday was no less exciting. Ayu took us to Prambanan. At this point I feel like I'm racking up UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but Prambanan held its own amongst the others. It is a Hindu temple compound originally built around 850 CE but has had an interesting history of natural disasters and historical take overs between now and then that has influenced the current appearance. Now only a few temples have actually been reconstructed. Hundreds more lay in rubble in the surrounding area.

The main temples dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva surrounded by the rubble of other temples.

The three of us in front of Prambanan.

A statue of the god Brahma inside one of the temples.

Also, as usual, we were more exciting to the local students than the actual temples. (Shout out to my parents: hundreds of Indonesians apparently think you created something cooler than UNESCO Heritage Sites that took centuries and dynasties to create. So I guess props to you.) This is a picture of students taking pictures of us.

We managed to avoid the paparazzi every now and then for a photo of our own though.

Not too far off from the main Prambanan temple complex are ruins of some other Buddhist temples that we got to visit as well.

One of the Buddhist temples.

Also if you're worn out from all the touring you could buy an iced cold Bintang (or mineral water, if you're into that) from this guy.

Overall it was a fantastic (and exhausting) weekend. My next few days are full of other adventures... just of the more mundane variety. Tomorrow I'm off to the immigration office to renew my visa. Also, I'm going to try and apply for an Indonesian drivers licence... so, that could end well....

A few after-notes...

1. The title is something that popped into my head as we were touring Prambanan. "Candi" (actually pronounced ch-andy) is the Indonesian word for temple. But the chorus of "I Want Candy" wouldn't get out of my head after I thought of it.

2. Happy father's day Dad!

3. The caption on the last photo is a joke. I'm being sarcastic about alcohol being sold at such a prestegious religious site. I don't support drinking... particularly at such locations (unless it is mineral water).