Yogyakarta!
I arrived in Yogyakarta (Yogya-pronounced jok-cha) Saturday evening and was welcomed warmly by five other Shansi fellows. Indonesia is shaping up to be everything I had hoped for - spicy and incredibly delicious food, cheap, well, everything, tropical plants, and warm weather. I have yet to see any monkeys, but I'm hoping Aceh will have more of those. I'm feeling pretty lucky to have all these other Obies around to help translate both menus and cultural differences, that's probably why I'm not feeling too much of culture shock. The homestay is great, and actually much more accurate to its name than the others I've been in. The family is very nice, but I see them little, and am simply living there. I have my own very nice room, and am served breakfast and dinner (both great). There are two other language students staying there - one from Japan and one from Australia. Like most of the language students here the Australian is studying for a brief time before starting work with an NGO- she's focusing on socio-economic research. The Japanese student is studying Indonesian before heading to Bali to write her PhD thesis on eco-tourism.
The most exciting thing I've done so far was last night. We headed up to a village on the nearby volcano to see Jahtilan. This is an Indonesian trance dance performed to get rid of nasty ghosts. The dancers are trained and then hired for events. This one lasted about four hours, but I'm told it was incredibly tame and short for how these things usually are. It was quite interesting though and I'm going to try to post some footage, though hopefully I'll have some better ones soon. Jesse captured some sweet footage of one of the dancers being taken down by a Shaman. The Shamans basically stand guard around the dancers to help them when the ghosts take over.
Other than that, though, things are pretty relaxed. I have school from 10-1 and then am free the rest of the day. Tomorrow is a holiday and I'm hoping to go to a beach not too far away.
I hope you are all doing well! Enjoy the pics!
The most exciting thing I've done so far was last night. We headed up to a village on the nearby volcano to see Jahtilan. This is an Indonesian trance dance performed to get rid of nasty ghosts. The dancers are trained and then hired for events. This one lasted about four hours, but I'm told it was incredibly tame and short for how these things usually are. It was quite interesting though and I'm going to try to post some footage, though hopefully I'll have some better ones soon. Jesse captured some sweet footage of one of the dancers being taken down by a Shaman. The Shamans basically stand guard around the dancers to help them when the ghosts take over.
Other than that, though, things are pretty relaxed. I have school from 10-1 and then am free the rest of the day. Tomorrow is a holiday and I'm hoping to go to a beach not too far away.
I hope you are all doing well! Enjoy the pics!
Labels: Indonesia
posted by Michelle Ahmad at
July 29, 2008
5 Comments:
So are the pics on here somewhere? Or are they coming later?
later, i'm working on it...apparently i have to create an online album first...
Great blog--I must learn how to set one up when we go on our next adventure. Tell us more about the food. We would like to try. There must be several Indonesian restaurants in this area.
glad you like it! its super easy to set up. this one is through google, its called "blogger" if you google that itll help you set it up. i'll work on the food- as soon as i get all the names straightened out i'll let you know. for now though if you get any fish "gado" thats fried and with "sambal" which is hot sauce, it'll be amazing! also, the water spinach is really really good as is the tempe, mmm. did i tell you my host mother owns a restaurant? her food is incredible!
Guess you're destined to be around "foodies" your whole life. How cool is it that your host mom is a restauranteur . . .
Lucky you
Laurie
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