Sometimes you feel inspired to go out of your way to add to that list. You know, the list of things you can say you’ve done in your life. But other times, experiences just append themselves to the list unexpectedly. Yesterday was a prime example of the latter.

Indonesia takes April showers very, very seriously. For a week it won’t rain and you could even start to suspect the rainy season had burned itself out. But that’s what they want you to think. Silently the smokey clouds roll in, and before you know it, dusk seems to be falling at noon. The air is almost unnoticeably cooler and has barely begun to blow when the first raindrop collides with the smouldering ground, punching a hole in the dust membrane left by premature building work. Another follows close behind, and soon the cavalry arrives and the onslaught begins. People snatch clothes from lines, bushes, the floor – wherever they’d been drying – before retreating within and leaving the street deserted, but by no means silent.

The rain roars and the first thunder rumbles. Within minutes the roads become rivers and rivers become torrents. This is the rainy season in miniature, and it’s in this setting that a memorable experience sprung itself upon me.

Rather typically of me, I had done something very silly and forgotten my (rather expensive) camera in a warung (eating place). But it was raining, I mean really raining, and it was at least one of my regular haunts, so perhaps the owner had recognised it and kept it safe for me, but then perhaps not, and I wasn’t taking the risk, so I had to go there trotz des Regens und der Regen zum Trotz (i.e. überemphatic German version of rain or no rain, despite the rain, rain be damned etc.).

I was soaked to the skin before I’d even started my bike engine, so after that I didn’t really care about being wet. I managed to avoid aquaplaning on the near constant flow of water between my wheels and successfully navigated the steep slopes that were an inevitable part of my route, and so I arrived, streaming rather than dripping wet, to find my camera safe and sound. Yay!

Wet as I was, it wasn’t yet cold, and with my lifted spirits, I embarked on my Heimweg (way home). I climbed the hills I’d descended and descended those I’d climbed until I reached a bridge at the end of my road – a concrete construction straddling a drainage ditch, which is a couple of meters wide and at least a meter deep. Such are its dimensions that the designers saw fit to equip it with iron bars/hand railings on either side to prevent people and motorbikes alike from careering into the chasm below. On a typical day there was but a trickle of old washing up and toilet water dribbling down the centre, but quarter of an hour’s heavy rainfall had already exceeded its capacity and a torrent of water was now flowing both over as well as under the bridge, fordifying it.
Perhaps there was another way round, but I was so close to home now, and feeling adventurous, so I steered the bike over the bridge without investing as much forethought as I otherwise might have done. The torrent felt stronger than it looked, but the tyres held their grip and a second or so later I had traversed the rapids.

What lay in front of me, I hadn’t anticipated. The other side of the ditch was lower, and what could probably now be referred to as a river had burst its banks and spilled out onto the next 20 or 30 meter stretch of road. Still, I had started along this road, and looking down I realised the water level had risen above that of my exhaust pipe, so I elected to plough on, keep the revs up and hope that would suffice to keep the water out of the engine.

It was far from a home straight, as a couple of cars had suffered waterlogged deaths and a van was risking its own and had set about trying to haul them out. Avoiding these vehicles, a submerged concrete flowerpot bashed into my pedals, knocking me out of gear. Blindly fumbling around underwater with my foot, trying to rectify this, my sandal was almost swept away, and with high revs and only an automatic clutch, my recovery was far from smooth, but I nevertheless emerged on the other shore in one piece and with a full complement of apparel.

I blasted out a little water with a few revs, careered up our newly (and rather unwisely) ceramic tiled ramp and skidded across the equally slippery floor into my usual parking spot. I changed my clothes, and perhaps it was the adrenaline, but at no point was I cold. I sat down and continued playing gamelan.

A short while later, the rain eased and I ventured out to observe the aftermath. The street had drained and left only an earthy sediment, possibly originating from a row of roadside flowerpots, now strewn the length of the street. Looking at this, it’s surprising I didn’t hit more. The only other sign I saw was an umbrella detached from its handle, but this is a yearly routine for these people, and this morning the street was as dry, dusty and disorderly as the day I arrived.

Rob

Hello all,

This is Rob reporting from lovely warm, sunny Java!...

OK, I lie. The sun is not shining, in fact all I can hear is the faint echo of another call to prayer almost drowned by the roar of torrential rain. I’m sure the dry season is just around the corner though, mind! I hope so – my washing’ll never dry otherwise. And what about my planned trip to tropical white sands and bowed, coconut-bearing palms in Sumatera? But aside from the slightly depressing concept of never-ending rain, life’s not treating me too badly. I’ve thus far (and here’s hoping it stays that way) avoided contracting any major tropical ailments, the snakes and lizards have neither strangled nor eaten me, and the very large, poisonous spiders are yet to tie me up and leave me hanging between the bamboo and a banana tree.

The good news doesn’t stop there either. Despite the fact I have to eat it every day, I still haven’t gone off rice. Somehow I avoid sunburn, and then there’s that little thing I came here to do – gamelan, my abilities and knowledge of which are progressing nicely too.

I’ve just been (or at least so it seems) given permission to stay up to an additional year, and I’ve not yet specified a return date, so I guess I’ll just take things as they come. It turns out a good friend who intended on coming to visit me is now unable to do so, but I maintain hope that my immediate family will make it out here this summer, and if any of you lot decided you wanted to tour south-east Asia and take me along with you as a guide, I would happily oblige.
As for the rest of you, I guess I’ll see you upon my return. I’m very much looking forward to seeing who and what’s changed while I’ve been away, but if any of you feel like spoiling the surprise, you could always drop me a line while I’m out here.

Love to all,

Rob

...and so I uploaded some more photos. And the links to those albums, they were presented in this very blog post.

Album 4
Album 5
Album 6
Album 7

Enjoy...

Rob

Posted 01/01/09

Hello all, it's been a long time acomming, but finally here's another update.

First of all, I'd just like to say a big thank you once again to anyone who sent me any form of Christmas wishes, greetings, or even who spared a thought for me.

Christmas this year was almost a non-event.
After a small, informal party on Christmas eve at which we (myself, a few white people and some locals) consumed strawberry fanta, fried tofu and all manner of other un-christmassy things, I spent most of the 25th day of the final month of the christian calender darting around town and going into any open motorbike dealer I could find. Call it Christmas shopping if you will, albeit with extra stress. Happily though, it ultimately resulted in the purchase of the best Christmas present I could imagine - a rather funky motorcycle, complete with new brake pads and battery. The whole process was rather taxing, and I'm eternally thankful to Yanika, who dedicated numerous hours of her day to aiding me in the pursuit of two-wheeled transport.
Having forgotten all about Christmas, I finally started to get back into the mood when I returned home and was given a present to unwrap. I didn't linger at home long, however, as I had to head to the airport, where I received my two brothers, who visited me for a painfully short 5-day period between Christmas and new year.

Yes, that's right - I have a motorbike.
Yes, that's right - I've had visitors already.
So, where have YOU been?

Rest assured that my thoughts were with all of you back home - my Bristol friends, school and university classmates, family, and other assorted people who fall in to either none or several of the above categories. Post invariably takes at least 2 weeks to get here, so it's possible there's more stuff to come. So thanks in advance.

Before getting into details of other things I've been up to, I'd like to wish you all both a Javanese and a western happy new year. Javanese new year's day fell on 29th December. So now you know.

And so onto the time I spent with my brothers. Check out photos for visual documentation. Read on for verbal description of the highlights...

The first day featured a late start for Tim and Phil to aid adjustment to the time difference. Meanwhile, I sorted remaining bike business, pottered around and dealt with other bits and bobs that needed seeing to. I broke them into the local cuisine gently at a nearby restaurant, and we then returned home to celebrate the Christmas we'd all managed to evade the previous day.
Father Christmas seemed to be able to cater to our adjusted plans, and sure enough stockings had appeared on our doors on their first night here. So naturally we started by opening them, followed by a combination of presents that my brothers brought and those that had arrived in the post and we had stashed under the house Christmas tree. All in all, it was a far more festive experience that I had anticipated, which came as a pleasant surprise.

With that, Christmas was done however, and we set about making the most of the remaining time we had together. We headed to town, albeit a little late, arriving at one of the solonese palaces just as the museum had closed. The lack of museums was not something my brothers had trouble coming to terms with. Next we headed to a market, except that wasn't there either, as some construction work had forced it to move to the other side of town.
Determined to glean some form of Javanese experience from the day, it was becak (bicycle rickshaw) time. In a convoy of 3, we headed to near where the market had moved to, but rather went sandal shopping in the large, air-conditioned shopping mall. We also had food while we were there. "Spicy?" the girl at the counter asked. "Er... Yeah, ok, just a bit" Tim replied. This answer turned out to be erroneous, as not only Tim, but also Viane, of Indonesian origin, found the food to be too hot. We took extra measures to specify food as not spicy for the remainder of the week.
Upon our return home, and with an evening to spend, we headed to the so-dubbed 'crazy mansion'. Dwelling place of several other exchange students, the atmosphere is relaxed and the door almost always open. The evening in question was particularly well-chosen, as one of the residents had a troop of friends visiting from Jakarta, and in combination with my brothers and various other spontaneous visitors, the evening turned into quite a gathering. So there we stayed until sleep called us the retire to bed.

And so to day two. After another late start and a certain amount of faffing, it was time to put my new bike to the test. We slung Phil on the back with me, and Tim jumped on the back of a bike with Yanika, who had once again offered to accompany us for the day. As a tandem tandem, we headed for the hills. Specifically towards a waterfall. I had advised them to bring a change of clothes. Little did they realise they might be wanting it before we even reached the waterfall. Within minutes of our departure, Tim and Phil had their first tropical shower, leaving anything uncovered soaked to the skin. The rain eased off however, and in the warm equatorial air, we dried as we drove. The cool mountain air was less kind though, and it was chilly at times to say the least.
Shortly after our arrival at the waterfall, it started raining. Then it rained, continued to rain, and rained some more. And it wasn't light rain either. Phil sums it up nicely: "I can't believe this much water can actually fall from the sky."
Having left later than intended, and with our progress marred by falling water, we failed to make it to another waterfall and a couple of small temples that were on our possibles list. On the plus side, we headed back down the mountain at a leisurely, safe speed considering the roads were wet, but still managed to make it home before dark.

The next day was temple day. I figured we'd head to Borobudur, the worlds largest Buddhist monument, and then visit Prambanan (a similarly impressive sight/site), which was on the way home if we had time. A taxi took us Davieses into town, from where the first step was catch a train to Jogjakarta. For Yanika and another friend who joined us, the whole day was nearly a non-event as they almost missed the train in a spectacular fashion as I thought only I was able - the train almost pulling away as they jumped on. This was all a rather exciting start to what was otherwise a rather long and somewhat tedious public transport experience.
Numerous bus rides later, and we arrived at Borobudur, which, due to it being peak season, was utterly thronging with people. We nonetheless had a wander around, and on numerous occasions were stopped by Indonesians asking us to feature in pictures of 'me and the white person'. Then there was the school trip with hoards of kids asking anyone vaguely foreign-looking if they could, as though they hadn't already, disturb and take up a moment of their time. An affirmative answer lead to "Where are you from?", "Do you like Indonesia" and "Could I have your signature?"
As we escaped the throng, we figured we'd best get going if we were to make it to Prambanan. And make it we did. Admittedly it took longer to get there than calculated, and we did so with a mere 5 minutes until closing time, so we settled for wandering the market for such cool items as carved wood place mats and a rather lethal blowpipe. For ornamental use, of course... well at least that's what we told customs. :-p
Upon our return to solo, we still managed to stop by a wayang orang (go look it up) for a while before we grabbed some fried noodles and collapsed into bed.

After a visit to the diarea museum... I mean... one of the solonese palaces (see photos if confused), and not satisfied with the previous day's lethal weaponry, Monday featured another market trip. This time, it was Indonesia's largest batik market, where, ironically, Phil and Tim discovered batik wasn't really their thing. Bold Indonesian women squawking Javanese at an alarming rate and intense volume wasn't really their thing either, so we moved on to
the antique market, which sold, amongst other things, worthless old currency, pulse dialing telephones and spiritual ceremonial blades.
while the day resulted in a poor haul, it was a taste of the everyday happenings of solo, and the way of life here.
My brothers' day continued in the relaxed vein as I organised and they had an early night in preparation for the day to come.

And so to the final day, and the climax of the Javanese experience. As though to prove that Java is indeed a tropical island, we hired a car and went south. And south we continued until we found ourselves presented with the open expanse of the pacific ocean. It's not like the scenery on the way there wasn't spectacular enough, but with banana trees to one side, and palms on the other, as we summited the crest of a hill, the view left us awestruck. Against a sapphire sky, rolling green hills cease abruptly and cliffs cascade into the foamy waves pounding at their base.
We soaked up the scenery and atmosphere as the headlights ran our car battery flat, which of course we realised upon our return when the car wouldn't start. With six grown men however, we calmly push-started and continued merrily along our way. We also got stuck half way up a hill and all had to get out to make the vehicle light enough to make it. Fun, fun, fun.
And on the topic of fun, we arrived at our second beach for the day - this one was for swimming. The waves were large but forgiving, the currents strong but not off-shore, and most importantly, the water was as warm as the air we were breathing. The sun, even through the clouds, was warm too, mind, and we all caught the sun - even the Indonesians had tan marks :-D.
After that, we sook fuel, both for ourselves and the car, before heading back to solo via a man-made lake. At dusk, the atmosphere there is serene, almost romantic despite the lack or apparent privacy. No wonder it's a popular making out spot amongst the locals.
We moved on and admired the fiery sunset as we arrived back in solo. A fitting cadence for the week.

The following morning wasn't quite so fun, mind - alarm clocks at 4am, but I'm reliably informed my brothers have safely arrived home, and haven't been complaining too much, so I guess it can't have been too bad an experience.

To take a step backwards, other things I've been up to since my last decent update include watching various gamelan performances as well as performing in one, the odd trip here and there, and the acquisition of both a girlfriend and a motorbike. See pictures for more details.

As one of my longest updates, I guess that'll do for now, but I have a month of holidays before me, which means anything's possible - I might do a tour of Indonesia, I might become a gamelan meister, and you never know - I might even post another update.

Stay tuned.

Pelog that is.

Rob

P.S. What is pelog? Answers on a stamped, addressed comment...

Posted: 26/11/08

It takes the slightest trigger and a chain of events cascades through your brain. Yes, it’s time for another of my philosophical gems/rambles.

Don’t you just love it when you remember the dream you had last night? I do, and that’s precisely what I was thinking about earlier today. That very thing happened to me this morning. It was a good dream but it needn’t have been to have the same effect. It set me thinking, and here’s the conclusion I came to (preceded by a certain quantity of preparatory explanation).

I love learning. Perhaps it’s always been that way but I’ve only come to realise it over the last few years as I did my degree. Now I’m not saying I love sitting through tedious lectures, locking myself up and revising or spending solitary hours taking exams – these are all processes associated with (and intended to facilitate) learning, but they themselves are not learning. For this reason, you cannot teach someone who does not wish to be taught.

The act of learning, as I presently understand it, is the assimilation of information by some means, consciously considering and appreciating its meaning and incorporating it into one’s own knowledge for later retrieval. This is the process I enjoy.

Be it reading a book, listening to music or a tape, watching a film, attending a lecture or concert or whatever, the speed at which the information can be absorbed is limited by some factor. In some cases, if the concepts are complex or unfamiliar, this factor is the brain’s ability to process the information, realise its implications and become comfortable with them. If the brain is simply unable to keep up with the flow of information being fed to it, it leads to confusion, then despair or boredom, possibly both. In most cases however, the brain is prepared to take in the information and the limiting factor is the speed at which said information can be fed to the brain - the speed at which a lecturer speaks, or the student’s eyes scan over words for example. If the lecturer speaks patronisingly slowly, or a text passage is excessively verbose, the brain lacks enough to keep it occupied and loses interest.^1

Now consider the sudden recollection of a dream. In one instant, the brain is fed with the entire contents of a dream which may have lasted minutes in real terms and perhaps days or weeks in terms of the timeline within the dream itself. Taking my dream last night for example, while the combined ‘scenes’ containing events, images and conversations that I could accurately recall would amount to less than a minute if collated into a rocky-style montage, they took place over a progression of at least a few days in dream terms, and there are assumed events connecting the scenes that make you feel like you’ve dreamed more than just the sum total of the recallable scenes.

All this information is dumped on your conscious from your subconscious in an instant, and because it’s all handled within the brain, it enters your consciousness almost infinitely faster than would be possible with external sources like reading or listening. Because it has already been dreamt, your brain is already familiar with the information, but now it’s presented to your conscious mind for the first time, leaving it to do its favourite bit (well it’s my brain’s favourite) at full tilt: consider and appreciate the meaning and implications of it all. Well, go on then.

^1This plagued me both in the first year of my degree where we were spoon-fed basic concepts and in the last, when we ceased to be taught and were asked to demonstrate what we already know.

17/11/08

First of all, I'd like to say hi to the Javanese readers of 'Rob's in Java' - particularly to the one who often asks me if I've posted recently - you know who you are :-p

Well, I was going to start this update by saying I've fared pretty well in a medical respect, but the last 12 hours have changed that slightly. Curiously, I felt fine for most of yesterday. Then, within a matter of minutes at about 10:30pm, I started to feel less well and met the day's lunch for the second time. Getting it out of  my system made me feel better for all of 2 minutes before my temperature soared, so I went to bed. Due to my current sleep pattern, I couldn't actually get to sleep at that time, so I simply lay there. By 1:30am, I could tell my temperature had dropped, I felt more comfortable and drifted off to sleep. I woke at 6:30 of my own accord this morning, and while my digestive tract is still flushing itself out, I generally feel little more than fatigued, which, frankly, I was before I got ill. Essentially, I've just fallen foul of one of the shortest-term illnesses I can recall.

So it's a lazy day for me today, and the first for a while. On top of my lessons, people have a tendancy to say "wanna go there?", and my response is invariably yes, which results in a lot of spontaneous 'Ausflüge' (anyone got a good translation for that word?), especially on Sundays, my only free day, but also in the afternoons, as lessons are already over by 9am on some days. Typical destinations include a reservoir, various temples and a tea plantation. Thus this may be my first free day in a few weeks.

The trips sometimes constitute a form of dating, but I wouldn't want to bore you all with details of my romantic life now, would I?

While I do enjoy zooming around the isle (not that I get the feeling it's an island as I've not yet once been to the coast, something now high on my list of priorities), it's fair to say the novelty of being in Java is wearing off. It was a positive relief when the day before yesterday, I didn't see the sun all day and the weather was for the first time reminiscent of ye olde UK. Being equatorial and all, Indonesia is quite warm - I even catch myself sweating from time to time. The mountains are cooler, and thus a popular escape from the heat and the mossies amongst the locals.

I'm not sure what else to say really, so I'll leave it at that for now and add more bits and bobs as and if I think of them.

I hope you're all well, and please do drop me a line to let me know what you're up to - I'd be interested to know what's going on back home.

Until time next,

Rob

08/11/08

I'd like to start by saying that this semi-palindromic date is Fee's birthday, so woo for her! And rest assured that I'm slowly working towards being in the mood to write another update. But in the meantime, here is a lone morsel of info for you all, my holiday dates:

27th Dec - 16 Feb
6th Jun onwards
I may have exams or perfomances within these periods, but they'll be occasional, you're welcome to come and watch, and the result of the assessment will be largely inconsequencial.

So there you have it.

I'll update again soon.

Rob

A proper update shall follow when I feel in the mood, but for the moment, just to let you all know I'm alive, healthy and speaking the lingo. I've been busy finishing some things and immersing myself in the culture, everything except sleep actually. Which probably explains why I'm presently feeling rather down, but the phase shall pass.

Until then...

Tata.

Rob

Well, it's taken most of the night, but I've finally managed to upload the rest of my multimedia offerings. Follow the links below to view them:

Photo Album 1 (15/09 - 30/09 2008)
Photo Album 2 (30/09 - 01/10 2008)
Photo Album 3 (02/10 - 11/10 2008)

Well, I figured I'd just post an update to let you all know I'm officially a foot (--> end of a leg --> leg-end --> legend). I just put bob the builder out of business, because I don't care if he can fix it, I can too. What am I on about? Well, you know that degenerative loose connection I mentioned my computer had? I spent a spare afternoon on wednesday and used it to take the computer to bits and seek out the problem with the help of a screwdriver, a pair of tweezers and a pair of pliers. The whole process was rather painful as I accidentally stabbed, grazed and bruised my hands. I had it on life support for a couple of days, and by that I mean it was wired up, but the screen, hard drive, keyboard and the rest of the laptop weren't necessarily screwed together. Today it checked out of hospital. I'll admit I had a couple of screws left over after I'd put it back together, but the point is that my computer now works again. Oh yeah, and I fixed my webcam and my dodgy mouse button while I was at it, so it's practically good as new. Hooray!

While I'm here, I might as well fill in a couple of gaps in my previous post, as indicated by asterisks:

* Monday night was the darmasiswa student latihan (gamelan practice) at Sylvie's place (she has her own gamelan). It was organised over a series of meetings, which were overly bureaucratic, discussing everything from time and day to food and payment. The event itself was no less bureaucratic, but nothing like discussed. We had agreed to pay 170,000Rp for a month, practising twice a week under the guidance of at least two teachers, perhaps three. On the night, only one teacher was there, seemingly with the sole intention of persuading as many foreign students as possible to be displayed as part of a performance he's putting on this coming thursday. Most of the evening was occupied discussing said event. Joe smelt a rat and put his foot down, pointing out that this wasn't what we'd signed up for, and certainly not what we'd paid for. Others gave mixed responses and the event culminated with everyone's money being refunded on the grounds that Sylvie needed to rethink the whole shebang. Meanwhile, she's been hosting separate rehearsals for this thursday on other evenings, which I have since been going to.

** As you may have been able to tell from wednesday's reports, my mood has been liable to swing from one extreme to the other, sometimes several times in one day. This has only been the case in a few days of the last week - I suppose I must be on my period. Joe had a similar experience in the previous week, blaming the weather here. Knowing myself as I do, I'm less ready to jump to that conclusion, but the fact remains that my mood has been semi-volatile.

Signing out,

Rob

I feel like documenting the last few days, but it almost feels like too much effort, so here it is in a very matter-of-fact, diary entry-like fashion.

- Today is Wednesday 8th Oct 2008

- On Saturday I was practically told Sen was taking me to Jogja the next day for a photo trip. I wasn't complaining, and so agreed.

- On sunday I got up and was ready for 8am as agreed. I felt slightly ill and underslept, but constructive, so I practiced some ciblon until Sen got up at 9. Chek photos for Jogja. We came back around lunch time, and had 'Mie ayam' (noodles with chicken) on the way home. Mashed up chilis are often provided in a little bowl so you can spice things up as you like. I partook and mananaged to make it too spicey, decided I don't really like mie ayam, and had the first of several recent occasions on which I felt I needed 2 drinks rather than 1. I spent most of the afternoon resting and had an early night because I felt like I was coming down with something.

- On Monday, I knew I was ill. I made it to lessons, but skipped singing, which I slightly regret, then ate breakfast, eating for the first time on my own because Joe sneaked off as he wanted a quiet, solitary breakfast. The Woman who owned the warung at which I ate asked after Joe, who usually accompanied me. I felt pretty ill, and after eating, I spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon on my bed, half-dazed, too hot and feeling rather sorry for myself as I drifted in and out of consiousness, plus the computer graphics card died (as it had been playing up more and more often) just as I was writing the very last one of 50+ unsaved facebook photo captions. That evening was latihan, which was a saga all of its own. I'll write about that another time.*

- Yesterday, my throat was worse, but I was feeling much better in myself and faced the 7:30 start with a smile. A timetable alteration meant I could head for a drink a bit after 9 with Maeg and Rachel. I chatted. A lot. Possibly the most talkative I've been since I've been here. I was generally in high spirits, though the thought crossed my mind that I talk too much. I wrestled further with the computer... unsuccessfully, but that was only a minor annoyace. I ate alone once again in the afternoon, tackling a warung situation single-handedly and even attempting the simplest conversation ever. Bowling evening rounded off a generally positive day in a somewhat anticlimatic manner. Not that it wasn't enjoyable.

- Today I felt a lot less well slept this morning, though considerably healthier. The plan was to catch breakfast before class, but joe was up late, so we made do with a drink. I skipped singing once again. I need to decide what to do about that, though Maeg and Barbara are in a paralel class, so I might join that one instead. I like Barbara. At a loose end, and after too much faffing with the laptop just to make it work, ***SECTION OMITTED AS SOME PEOPLE AREN'T ALLOWED TO KNOW ABOUT IT***. I got about a third of ***OMITTED* done. When the computer once again played up, I decided to take to it with a screwdriver. I'd just taken the back off, then it rained. And I mean it rained. After two weeks without a drop, this country has been remembering how to rain over the last week. The house started flooding, water came in through the roof, and it wouldn't have mattered if we'd had a power cut, as the sky was constanly ablaze with lightning. The laptop situation became ever-more depressing as I had to delve ever deeper and bruise my hands more and more on a fiddly screwdriver as I was thwarted by a screw meaning I couldn't use the keyboard or mouse, nor could I take the computer further apart to allow me to connect them. Sen cooked food, I I discussed my mood with Joe as we ate.** The computer took a better twist and is now at least temporarily useable, and as I use the computer to write this, I notice how it's far too late, and I'm still fighting off the tail end of a cold, so good night.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly                            03/10/08

It could be that the pace of life has slowed in the last week due to the end of Ramadhan; it could be that I'm becoming more accustomed to the everyday happenings around here. Whatever the cause, my predictions were correct: I feel like I have less to report that when I first arrived. That’s not to say there’s nothing to tell, as you shall discover.

**THIS JUST IN**

We interrupt this report to bring you news of Joe. He has asked that you all be informed that:

“Joe lagi adhus” (Joe is currently having a shower)

**And now back to the scheduled programme...**

Were it not for my audio and visual records of my time here, I swear it would all merge into one, so I shall use my photos to orient myself, and go from there...
Ah yes, since my initial shopping trip, I have returned to various large commercial shopping centres, and while photography within seems to be discouraged, I managed to snap enough shots to illustrate my point, which is: Shop assistants are predominantly female, especially in clothing stores, be they men’s or women’s, and frequently outnumber customers by several multiples. I’m sure it’s a different matter in the markets, but as I’m as yet inexperienced in such places, I can’t comment.
My experiences of Javanese nightlife thus far are best summed up by my first video, so I’ll skip over that topic. The same goes largely for the Ooga-booga men, although I’ve uploaded some of the better pictures separately as well.
I planned to report on my first full week of lessons, but that was cut short by the end of Ramadhan. What I do have is documented in my first video and my pictures – yes! Pictures of a gamelan, for those of you who couldn’t be bothered to find out what one was for yourselves.
Due to some bad information, I missed a wonderful opportunity last week to see a kleningan (gamelan performance) by turning up after it had finished. I’ll have to catch the next one, as I’m sure there’ll be. There was a shadow puppet show afterwards, so we stayed and watched a bit. These things tend to last until 4am so, unsurprisingly, we left early.

The day before yesterday, Sen (the landlord) decided to organise a second trip to the mountains. A propper one this time - further up. Obviously, I'm not affected by minor temperature variations, but I'm reliably told it was actually cold up there. Check photos for more.
And last night, I was practicing the gender when sen comes home in a hurry and says "get your camera and come with me." (or javanese words and gestures to that effect). Intreagued, I jump on the back of a bike. Ten minutes later, I find myself in a javanese palace, where a dance is evidently about to be performed. No one seemed to mind as I snapped away, nor was I the only one doing so, so check out the photos! The music was familiar too - Something to do with drumming a dance before, I'm sure.

So what's the title of this post all about then? Well... The good is that I've been up to quite a lot, the bad would have to be that I think I'm coming down with a cold, and I'm not the only one who's sick - my computer's on the blink too. Loose connection in the graphics card. Most likely degenerative, so I'm being very careful with my laptop at present, I hope it lasts the year! Finally the ugly: the state of my finances. In the last week, everything has cost double what it normally would, if not more, and that combined with the stuff I've been doing with the english lot means that believe it or not, I'm going to have to cut back on my expenditure!

That's about all for now, but I hope it's enough to keep you going.

Tata for now.

Rob

Hello all,

Sorry, no updates in the last few days - there's not a huge amount to report. I'm just coming up to the end of my first full week of lessons, and it's dawning how ariving a week or two late has given me a fair bit of work to do. I shall comment on my timetable and the gamelan sessions I've got when I get round to it. There is audio and photographic evidence of various intersting/ammusing lessons.
Now I know how many of you lack lives and spend your saturday evenings online. Well, now here's a good reason to be online THIS saturday night: From about 7pm-ish (english time) I intend on being here on facebook, as well as online on ICQ for the purposes of chat as well as uploading a fresh load of multimedia goodness. Woo! If I can manage the lack of sleep, I may try to stay on until midnight, or at least 10-ish, so any questions, just catching up, want the inside story - whatever - Saturday night's the night. I don't plan on doing this too often, so don't miss out - I hope to see you there!

Until then,

Rob

I was going to tell you to brace yourselves for a less upbeat email because pete just caught a plane outta here, and of course, it's not ALL smiles in Java. but I went out this evening and a few things changed.
Now I've only been here two or three days and Pete, who has thus far been my lifeline, has now fled and left me to fend for myself with a few ends left untied. For the last two evenings, I've had to borrow shirts and trousers off pete until I kit myself out, but this fabled shopping trip was moved further and further back, and now I'll have to tackle the potentially daunting forray out into Javanese culture without Pete's support.
So I've probably been asking a little too much of myself, but I've not been entirely content with the way my life's taking shape here. I feel like I should be speaking the lingo (not that I could be with 2 days learning it) and feel guilty having to start, let alone continue conversations in English. I'm meant to be having individual language lessons (amongst others), but that's not even being arranged until the day after tomorrow. More on idividual lessons later.
When I was in Germany, I used to steer clear of non-native german speakers, and endevoured to use as much german as possible. I even went so far as to refuse to speak English on workdays. Extreme, I know, but it was the best way to get english out of my head and allow me to further my german, think in it, dream in it without reverting back to my native tounge. It frustrates me not to have the ability to do that here, but give me a few months...
So while I'm still hanging around in groups of exchange students (when I feel like I should be mingling with the locals), I might as well hang around with the right ones. People tell me there's a German girl around here somewhere, who'd be glad to find someone to speak some German with, yet our paths don't seem to have crossed. Meanwhile, I repeatedly end up seeing Sylvie. She's french, and represents almost everything I hate about the french. It's not her fault her language sounds silly, but she insists on speaking it, and I mean insists. She can actually speak some very basic english, which is better than my french, but she refuses to use it. I even tried my VERY limited Javanese and she just repeated "Francais, Francais" at me, so it would seem she's visiting a foreign country and expects everyone to converse with her in a language which is neither the world language, nor taught in schools here. She's either very stubborn or very stupid, possibly both.
I still haven't been shown the location of a cash point, which means I'm reliant on someone else for the simplest of things like food and water, and I already mentioned the clothes thing. SHOULD I get some money however (and eventually I'm supposed to get some from the government), it would surely all dissapear again to pay for various individual tutition sessions that I've either already been signed up for, or am meant to be doing. Some are sensible and voluntry, such as the language lessons. Others are unneccessary, like drumming lessons, where I'm perfectly capable of learning the patterns without extra help, and would practically put my costs above my revenue each month before I've even bought food. Earlier on today, Joe and I both put our feet down and said no to the latter, so it seems we can express a certain amount of control over our own lives out here.

</rant> (that means 'rant over' in HTML for the less geeky of you)

So right at the beginning I said we'd been out, and a few things had changed. Let me explain:
Firstly, We had some amazing food, which always cheers my mood (that rhymes). Then we went to... wait for it... a cash point, so I have my own money! Or had, should I say, because we then went and spent some of it on clothes which I dearly needed. The shopping experience was not at all what I expected. Why? because it reminded me of home. We went into a big mall, wandered into a clothes shop which looked very familiar, except the shop floor assistants were all female, shorter and better-looking. I was expecting things to cost peanuts, but you can still quite easily spend £15 on a shirt. Mind you, we're talking top range stuff here, whereas you'd need to be in TKMAXX or Primark to find prices like these at home. One fundamental difference was that each shop assistant had her own territory (which could be anything from one to a few rails of clothes), and you can't take clothes out of that department and carry them elsewhere in the shop, aside from trying them on in the changing rooms. It was otherwise a disconcertingly comfortable expeience (contradiction alert!), and I look forward to learning a little more of the language and heading on a shopping spree, eiher on my own, or with others (possibly you?).
Then we headed to the 'Wayang', a puppet show which lasts hours, and is accompanied by a gamelan. While we arrived too late to get close enough to get some great pictures, I took a few, and there'll be one every couple of weeks, so I'll get some good shots another time. Then Christine arrived avec friend. Christine is Javanese and a right flirt. Thus far she's been giving Joe a fair amount of attention, though she turned her eye to me a little more tonight. Her friend was called Rossy, and we ended up chatting for an hour or two. She taught me lots of new words. I can now say morning, day, evening and night in both Javanese and Indonesian, also butterfly, and the liguistically related 'night butterfly' which translates as hooker. I may have picked up a few more words too, such as the very convenient 'already', which is multi-use in both Javanese and Indonesian. So... may my languages continue to progress at this rate. Perhaps I'll be chating with the locals within a month or two.

In summary, I'm not as discontented as I was when I decided to start writing this update, and things are begining to fall into place.

It may be another few days before my next update as I try to fit fully into the rhythm of life out here, but I'll post again sometime soon

Off to bed now, it's far too late, and the stupid cockrel's started crowing for no reason. That's a story for another time, so long!

Rob

Hello all,
To keep you up to speed, it's the evening of day 2 (I might stop counting the days about tomorrow) and this could be the most informative update thus far, for I grant you not one, but 2 different ways to reach me!
Firstly, post can go to:

Robert Davies
d/a ISI Surakarta
Kentingan, Jebres,
Solo 57126
Jateng
Indonesia

AND you can phone/text me on:
006285867056083

So there y'all go.

In other news...
Last night and this mountain thing: We headed to the foothills of one of the nearer volcanoes. Now, I know my mother won't be too fond of this, but motorbike is THE way to get around here. Allow me to explain: The town is too big and a little on the warm side to walk, many of the side streets are simply too narrow to allow a four-wheeled vehicle to pass, and the public transport system consists of 3 bus routes. Consequently, the Javanese will just as happily fit five on a bike as in a car - something which I will have to try to document visually during my stay. Technically one drives on the left here, but the other side works too, provided you keep to the side or drive far enough out into the middle of the road to swerve back to your side at short notice. I'll admit I witnessed 2 road accidents within my first 24 hours here, but you've got to face it - there's just something nice about the wind in your hair. So Where was I? Ah yes, the foothills...

We headed out of town in motorbike convoy. Who're we?
Pete - My Gamelan teacher, legend.
Sen - All-round Javanese handyman, jack of all trades, lives in and looks after the house, even when Pete's not in the country
Maria - Polish, just finished studying out here, lives in the house but goes home next week
Joe - my housemate for the coming year, arrived a week or two before me, doing largely the same thing.
Me - Me
Some other javanese bloke, whose name I don't know, and who I assume is a friend of Pete and Sen.

My previous experience with hot/tropical countries is limited to Tanzania and Sudan, so I was pretty surprised when we left town (there's no gradual transition - you're just driving along and suddenly notice you've left the buildings behind) to find myself surrounded by lush green paddy fields, rather than the brown expanse of desert that awaits in africa. But of course, Java is an island, part of an archipellago. Nowhere on the island are you further than 50 miles from the sea, then there are the mountains which rise up from the sea, so it therefore rains a lot. For somewhere so hot, water is incredibly abundant here, and we're reaching the end of the dry season! The road weaves along and over huge crevasses wih nothing more than a trickle at the bottom.
Suddenly you're surrounded by buildings again, then more paddy fields, and you realise that there's not a spot of unutilised land on the island. Dark cones loom against the horizon, shrouded by the hazy atmosphere and crown of clouds they generate. "can you see where we're going yet?" half-shouts Pete, upon the back of whose bike I'm riding. "I believe so."
We didn't actually venture far up the mountain, but rather found a scenic spot, where you felt like you were witnessing the very bottom of the Javanese food chain and the birth of the Javanese staple diet: rice. Here, tiered fields cascaded down the side of rolling hills, thier architechture replacing the sharp, angular rooves of the city. How's that for a bit of descriptive writing? Take a look at the photos if your imagination's feeling lazy.
I asked where the water came from up here. The answer was of course mountain springs - with the island being volcanic and all, the springs provide a constant source of water throughout the year. Water which keeps the fields wet, water which is pure and drinkable, and the only reason there's anything in the crevasses at all.

Having spent too long admiring the view, we came up with some excuse about a burst tire, and used it upon arival at the house of the ex-rector of ISI Surakarta (that's where I'm studying), where we were invited for a meal. I could really get used to the food here. There's spicy stuff, bland stuff, weird stuff, doughnuts and fried chicken. It seems much food, which I would previously have naively labelled as Japanese or Korean, is in fact consumed primarily by the Javanese. The drinks here are seriously good stuff too - I've drunk concoctions that beat a milkshake or slush puppie paws down.

So to provide some additional context, and I realise most place would look good vs Sudan, but I feel it's time for:

SUDAN VS. JAVA (places to vist)

- FIGHT! -

Temperature: Java isn't quite as blisteringly hot as Sudan, 1-0 to Java
With the lesser tempuratures, so too decreases the abundance of ceiling fans and air conditioning, Sudan eaqualises 1-1
While Java's toilets look more like a western loo, and less like a hole in the ground, I've yet to find the convenient mini shower-hose for 'washing afterwards', so Sudan sores there 2-1
Chances of getting maleria: While Java has mosquitos too, evidence seems to indicate they're not malarial in this neck of the woods, so Java definately scores there 2-2
Variety and aesthetics of landscape goes straight to Java: 3-2
And for a storming finish, java takes the title for better architecture too, and I've not seen that much of it so far.

Final score: Sudan 2 Java 4

JAVA WINS!

What an official endorsement.

So come visit me.

The planned shopping for this afternoon/this evening didn't happen, so that'll have to to be postponed until tomorrow, but for now I'm pretty tired, and have started going to classes, so I'll finish up for now, and give you some more tomorrow after a session of kendhang.

Night all,

Rob

(Oh, one last thing: we're 6 hours ahead at this time of year, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't decide to call me after 7pm english time (or wait until gone midnight), and it'll become 7 hours when the clocks change in England, so call me before 6pm in the winter)

Woo, day two, and I'm starting to get to know the area. The plan was to go shopping, but for now it's too hot, so it's been postponed 'til later. Instead, I'll spend part of this afternoon in the cyber cafe and possibly buy myself a SIM card. The rest I'll probably spend trying to cram more languages into my head until it gets cooler outside.
So I'm off... tara.

Rob

OK, so it's my first day here, and there's a lot to sort out, some paperwork, getting to know the area, spending time with Pete while he's still here etc. but I'm just dropping a line to say I'm alright. We'll be leaving soon to go up a mountain, and as it's afternoon, we're heading east so as to keep the sun out of our eyes. On the second half of the flight here, I modified my German vocab self-tester and used some Javanese numbers to try it out. The Javanese I'm likely to be using most later on (the lower, more coloquial form) is useless for addressing and meeting new people, so I'm either going to have to learn Indonesian for that purpose, or learn a higher form of Javanese, and quickly at that. In any case, basic knowledge of both Indonesian and Javanese in its most common forms would/will be useful in the long run, so I'm throwing all my languages I want to learn into one unified vocab testser to prepare myself for the fact I'll probably have to be able to switch on the fly. To give you an idea, even the Javanese numbers are different depending on who you're talking to, so it's 'gonna be tough'.
Anyway, we're off, so that's all for now.

Rob

So I'm in Java and in one piece! :-) My baggage all arived and now I'm sitting in the understated terminal 1B departure lounge depicted in my photos. It smells and feels like a cross between camden market and a sauna - The smell of the wood that the building's made of, nice and warm, and just a hint of spices or insence. Even the newsagent smells like that - proof that they don't all have to stink of newspaper. I've been travelling without any local currency, which in some ways is wise, and in others risky. It was a good excuse not to get ripped off by people who wanted to charge me to change terminals, even a free shuttle service exists, and I thought I was going to manage to make it from leaving heathrow to seeing Pete's (my gamelan teacher) face in Solo (where I'm studying). But alas, there's a 'passenger service charge' when leaving Jakarta, and in this case, 5 of those U.S. Dollars that my mum gave me saw me through until I can get to somewhere with a better exchange rate than an airport.
Considering I need to go, I wonder if I can use my lack of rupiah as an excuse not to pay for the toilet, but I can't be bothered with the hassle, and there'll hopefully be a loo on the plane :-). As you may be able to tell, I have nothing better to do than write this report. I have a feeling that's about to change as soon as I step off the plane in Solo, so don't be too surprised if I don't write for a day or two, but rest assured I'll write soon to let you know how my life's shaping up over here.

Oh, one other thing. There's a woman working on a charity stall next to me. She says the same thing in Indonesian every time someone walks past, so I reckon if I tried, I could learn it off by heart. I'll post a short mp3 (somehow) if anyone's interested in what this sounds like.

Think of me, I'm thinking of you back home (and by home I mostly mean europe).

Rob

Phew, well, I just had my first adventure so far in the form of a raw green chili, which I inadvertantly ate whole. It's officially the hottest thing I've ever eaten. I was physically unable to stop crying for the next 5 minutes, sipping at what drink I had left, and eating constantly to try to mask the flavour, but not too fast, lest I run out of food before the burning subsided. It would seem my cheeks had absorbed the spiciness by osmosis, and whenever I ceased eating, it returned as potent as before. Mango juice and unflavoured yogurt helped a little, water was a waste of time. Once it was over, I realised the yoghurt tastes naff.
Kuwait Airport, by the way, was nothing special, except that I met some americans on their way to Irak, got some more arabic reading practise and discovered free wireless Internet, allowing me to upload my previous report.
Getting on the plane, I lent several people a hand putting luggage in the overhead lockers, and I imagine I'll end up helping with the reverse upon arrival. I fear this may become a regular thing where objects above head hight (or chest height in my case) are concerned.
Reading through the Indonesian phrasebook I have with me, I'm a little nervous about the fact I know next to no Indonesian OR Javanese, and I'm sure some awkward situations will arise. On the flipside, I'm really excited to be headed to a place where I'll be able (and indeed expected) to play gamelan with the natives. So cool!
The only other thing I feel right now is tired, and considering I'll be losing a total of 8 hours in jetlag this journey, I should probably get some sleep while I can. I bet Indonesia and the whole Archipellago look amazing from the air, and I'm fortunate enough to have a window seat for this leg of the flight, so with any luck I'll be awake and try to get some photos when we pass over later today (what feels like tomorrow). Unfortunately, I'm above the wing, but I'll do my best. I think my swanky new zoom lens should come in handy. I'll post this update, along with any others I get around to writing, as and when I get the opportunity.

Until then,

Rob

This is my first blog post regarding Java. Any previous posts concern Germany or previous adventures. Please ignore the time/date I posted these, as I post them after I've written them.

I've been on a plane for the last 5 hours, and happen to have my laptop with me, so I've decided to humour you all with an update.... or an introduction.

Some of you will know I've been studying Music for the last 3 years. Fewer will have a clue what a 'Gamelan' is, and an assortment of you will be aware I played one at uni and have now gone half way across the globe to study one for a year, so I'll start by answering a few questions:

- Where is Java? It's not a programming language (well, it is, but... yeah, that's a different Java), it's an island in Indonesia. A few facts: It's the most densely populated island in the world (half the size of the British isles with 130,000,000 people!), It's mostly Muslim, it's tropical.
- Where's Indonesia? Take a look on a map/globe: East of the pacific ocean, Indonesia is those islands stretching between Asia and Australia.
- What is a Gamelan? A gamelan is an 'orchestra of native Indonesian instruments'. Check out the pictures in this group. I'll be taking plenty and uploading them here, and they're bound to be full of gamelans.
- Why do you feel so tall there? Because all the natives are so small there!
- What's with the 'saga' thing in the title of this post? There were some 'complications' with my application for the scholarship that's allowing me to study in Java. My application was lost in the system, and my gamelan teacher pulled some strings in person in Java itself (for which I'm eternally grateful) and after being told 'you've been rejected', 'no, there's still hope', 'it doesn't look good', 'don't give up', and 'you'll know for sure if you're going by... last week', I finally ended up with a fortnight's notice to cancel any plans for this year, tie up loose ends, pack my things, say my goodbyes and leave the country. The last two weeks have thus been a bit of a mission, and I'm sorry to anyone who I didn't manage to catch before I left, but hopefully the coming Year will be a far greater adventure!
- Did you say a year? Yes. I'm studying at a gamelan academy as it were for one accademic year. Or that's the plan at least. My return flight is presently booked for late July 2009, though that's likely to shift a bit.
- Can I come and visit you? Yes! And please do. Visas are cheap and can be obtained at the airport upon arival, living is cheap and it's hot here (though I can't guarantee dry) the whole year round. The down side is: A good deal on return flights costs around £500 and I'll be studying, so I can't be hostly the whole time.

So, now that you're in the know, check back for more updates. I'm stopping over in Kuwait for a few hours on the way, and my plane is about to land there, so I've got to go, but if you're reading this message, then I must've found a way to upload it, so I guess I'm probably in Java and in one piece. Congratulations to me! I'll post another update as soon as I find the time!

Love to everyone back home!

Rob