Wednesday, 7Jun06
I’ve been trying to think of a polite way to describe the,, uh,, loud man singing,, chanting perhaps- muslim call to prayer that comes blasting over the community loudspeaker system at 4:30 in the morning. To the uninitiated, it might bring to mind the sound of an Indian chief dancing around a fire,,, his voice fluctuating intensely in the rhythm only he understands… I am told it’s a beautiful sound. At 4 in the morning, it’s hard to appreciate its melody. I know there is significant religious meaning behind it- and I want to be respectful- while at the same time describing the new sights & sounds I am surrounded with at all hours of the day… and uh,, night.
We left Jakarta today & flew to Yogyakarta (51min flight). I took one step off the plane & could see an entire section of the airport terminal crumbled from the earthquake… roof caved in, wood beams exposed. Amazing. But I’m excited to be here. On the far side of the tarmac was a U.S. Marine C-130 unloading pallets of aid. Made me proud of my boys (= ha ha. Hopefully I’ll meet them tomorrow. On the bus ride to our hotel most everything looked normal. Only a few crumbled/damaged houses or buildings in Jogja proper.
(there are 3 spellings for this place, by the way,,, but it’s pronounced Jogja… so I’ll just spell it like that, instead of Yogyakarta- as it’s written. )
Jogjakarta Plaza hotel is awesome. It’s like walking onto the set of fantasy island… has that big, Hawaiian, luxurious feel to it. $17 gets you a 60 min massage by the way (= I had to look that up. I’m sitting in the lobby now, with my laptop (where I get wireless internet now), listening to live music, and surrounded by foreigners of all stripes & colors,,, who represent the gambit of NGOs… red cross, UAE red crescent, WHO, UNICEF, Indonesia cares, etc.. funny. They’re all wearing shirts or vests with their organization in big letters… makes this place feel like Hotel Rwanda. The subject of NGO overload has crept into several conversations we’ve had over the last few days.
Speaking of the last few days- I’m impressed how organized they’ve been. Here’s a taste:
Mon
- Danamon Peduli & SOKOLA school for Life: this is the organization we’ll be doing earthquake relief work with. Habitat for Humanity was there too, showing us how they’re involved here & around Indonesia (Aceh too). Danamon is a big bank that started with a community outreach program in 2003,, which grew into a full-time outreach organization to improve sanitation in traditional markets, overcome rural Indonesian market traders aversion to big city folks with their fancy business plans, trying to tell them what to do, and help them develop from a grassroots direction.
- DKT Indonesia: this was funny- because we had a meeting with Chris Purdy- one of the chief executives of this sexual awareness/family planning agency. They’re also one of the leading sellers of condoms (durian flavor included! Ha ha) anyways- we learned a lot.
- Briefing with H.E. Sri Mulyani Indrawati,,, THE Finance Minister. She couldn’t make it at the last minute because President SBY called her into a meeting,,, so we talked with the Secretary General of Finance.. a smily guy who looked like an Indonesian version of Bill Kristol (from Fox News/Weekly Standard political commentary fame). Ha ha. Anyways- we had 40 minutes to shoot any question that crossed our mind. I wish I thought to ask about how they collect taxes though. We learned the next day that only about 2 million Indonesians pay tax. I couldn’t explain why- but its part of the reason there are economic difficulties here. Interesting!
Tue
-Asia Foundation: Doug Ramage gave us an interesting overview of what’s happening in Indonesian politics. Great class actually. 40 minutes or so. Stirred up a debate over how President SBY is raved about overseas, but many Indonesians are cooling their enthusiasm towards him. He has a 36% approval rating,, down from 65% last year. But that has a lot to do with reducing subsidies on gas & oil late last year,,, driving prices up for the average joe at the pump.
- VanZorge-Heffernan & Associates: met with Dennis Heffernan,,, a very funny guy, who gave us another view of what’s happening in Indonesian politics and the economy. This guy is like the Wolf, from Pulp Fiction.. a facilitator. He’s the guy in the tux and the lotus who could drive across a crowded city during rush hour in 15 minutes… he gets things done. Ha ha. Serves a great lunch too!
- U.S. Embassy medical: got the skinny on all the diseases we can catch. I’m afraid of striped mosquitos and people who cough now.
-American Studies Center, University of Indonesia: this was cool. We met a group of Indonesian undergrad & graduate students who are mostly working on thesises about America. (immigration issue, President Harry Truman, largest truck stop in the world is in Iowa…) ha ha. Pretty diverse.
Wed
- flew to Jogja
- got cell phones! Finally, I have something to put in my right pocket again! Felt semi-naked for a while there (= my new phone # is: 081 392 114461 but from America you dial: 011 62 81 392 114461.
Tomorrow
- we take a language placement test
- meet our tutors & take a city tour
- meet our host families over dinner
Fri
- we go home with our host families
- start earthquake clean-up work for the upcoming week.
So that’s the latest & greatest in this adventure in progress (=
I hope all of you are having a great day & finding things,, big & small to be excited about. Talk to you later!
Much love-
Jonathan
Thurs, 8Jun06
Whew,, today has been a busy day. In a snapshot, we took our language placement test, felt a couple minor earthquakes, met our tutors from the university, went on a bus tour around the city, and met our host families for the first time over dinner.
For those who enjoy cliff notes,, I thought you’d appreciate the summary up front. (= ha ha. Here are the details:
Today is the first time I’ve been able to sleep all the way until 5:30am. No chanting outside my window (= no alarms needed these days either,, my eyes just pop open at ridiculously early hours. I don’t ever remember having this problem at any point in life,,, but hey! There are worse things.
After waiting for the kitchen to open for breakfast, I took my usual post in the lobby, where there is wireless internet access, armed with my lap-top. I think I found a way to post all my pics on a website, so you can see. It might even have blog properties, so I can explain each foto. Cool huh? I’ll tell you when I’ve got it figured out.
We took placement tests at the University to separate the 13 of us into groups based on language ability. Ugh,, another test. Took about 1 ½ hours.
Right in the middle of it, 11:45 or so- we felt a pretty good little ground shaker. It only lasted a minute,, I think the earthquake measured at 4.0
My reaction was more, “hey look at that!” than of panic or scare. The floor felt like small ripples at the waters edge of the beach for a few seconds. I just rolled back into finishing my test when it was over.
Of the 13 of us in the USINDO summer studies program, 7 of us have some previous Indonesian ability and the others have never spoken bahasa Indonesia. (only the 7 of us took the test, the others waited outside) I’ll introduce my new USINDO friends to you in a minute. It’s a fun group.
After our test we met our tutors. All of us were assigned individual tutors, who are mostly 5th year students at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). They all look so young, but are friendly and fun. My tutor is Sinta; a 23 year old English literature major who lives 10km from Merapi (the volcano that’s creating a little stir). She’s funny- I asked if she was worried about her house, or thinking about evacuating,, she says no- the evacuations only go out to 7 km from the volcano,, “I live 10 km away”. hmmm. Sounds like solid logic to me (=
She’s like a new little sister.
After being introduced, we all paired up & took a bus tour around the city. Jogja is cool- filled with colorful shopping streets, carts full of food, crafts, homes squished together… and thousands of motorcycles.
Traffick here is strange. Maybe a touch scary even, to the uninitiated (such as myself). Those lines painted in the middle of the road, you know- we call them lanes. They pretty much have no meaning here. Vehicles of all shapes & sizes fill any space they can fit into. And clearance? 2 inches is plenty. Whew- my international drivers license is going to collect much dust before this trip is over.
Thankfully we had a couple hours to rest before going out to meet our host families. Getting dressed up & arriving at this beautiful outdoors restaurant felt a bit like walking onto the set of the Bachelor, or some reality tv show. It was nice though. My host family name is Rochmadi. Both mom & dad are chemical engineers and professors at UGM. They have 3 kids (all boys) between the ages of 7, 16 & 20. should be interesting! (=
I meet them tomorrow.
News about Merapi is filtering about,, there was a minor eruption- but the volcano is 30 km away (19 miles), so I haven’t seen anything. No ash or anything is falling out of the sky here in Jogja. I’ll take a picture tomorrow when I actually see it (=
We have an evacuation plan in place, just in case… which is to take a bus to Surabaya (4 hours East of here) and wait out any danger. If things go to hell in a handbasket, we’ll shift our study abroad program to Bali… and press on.
Gotta love flexibility!
Ok. We’re about to have a teleconference with the U.S. embassy, so I’ll let you go for today.
I hope you all are having a great day! Don’t worry too much about me just yet. If anything bubbles up with regards to earthquakes or eruptions- you’ll hear all about it later (=
We felt a few small earthquakes this morning… and it’s funny, you can tell the people who just got here from the ones who were around 2 weeks ago. I’ve seen two stampedes for the door,,, and I couldn’t feel a thing. It’s just a part of the scenery around here.
Talk to you later!
Jonathan
Friday, 9Jun2006
Daily snapshot: consulate conference, went home with host family, Prambanan, watched lava at night
We had a teleconference on UGM campus with the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya this morning, giving us a basic safety brief: stay away from political demonstrations, beware of relief scams, drink bottled water, accept diarrhea (happens to everyone), and pack a light emergency kit at home to grab & go...
After lunch today, we all checked-out of the hotel, met our host families & went “home”. It’s exciting to go home with my new family, and a little sad not living together with my group of USINDO friends- who have been becoming my new best friends over the last week. I just remembered, I haven’t “introduced” you to them yet. Ran out of time yesterday. Here we go.
There are 13 of us in the USINDO summer studies program. 8 guys, 5 girls, from a wide variety of backgrounds.
- Marty Thiry is a history major at Univ. Hawaii. 28 years old, he was a New Orleans cop for a few years. Fun guy.
- Dan Bottomley is a Poly Sci major from Eastern Illinois Univ. at 6’8, he’s a monster when he stands next to Indonesians. Ha ha. Really nice guy. friendly
- Eric Smith is from New Orleans. Endured Katrina from his house- which wasn’t destroyed or anything. He says he’s stay home again if another hurricane came. I think he’s crazy (= but other than that- good guy. He’s got an easy going way about him. He’s showing me how to set up a blog site.
- Yancey is an anthropology & agriculture major from Berkley. Little bit of a dry sense of humor. Has a look about him, like he’s always one of the smartest guys in the room. Could be the glasses. (=
- Jessica Marscetti is also an anthropology + Southeast Asia major at Northern Illinois Univ. her boyfriend was in this summer program 2 years ago. She’s a bit quiet at first. Into fencing.
- Christian Waugh is a law student from Univ. Florida (gators). Funny guy. Used to be a card carrying member of Star Trek fan club (= hard to tell if he was kidding. He’s entertaining because he’s never afraid to take his jokes across those lines of etiquette, you know- the terrain beyond “comfortable conversation”,,, and after a few jaws drop, everyone looks to see what happens next. Ha ha.
- Bryan Barshinger is a computer science + Southeast Asia major, also from Northern Illinois U. a bit heavy, and also a fencer, he has a look about him which suggests he’s slightly more comfortable around computers than people. Aside from being a little quiet- good guy.
- Tandi Tuakli is a recent fashion merchandizing graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute U. she’s visited Indonesia before,,, very independent girl. Friendly, but seems to prefer keeping to a small circle of friends.
- Stacey May is a development studies major from Berkley. Cautious about everything. A little quite at first, but a nice girl
- Wendy Miles is a biodiversity management major at Oxford U. (the one in Britain). She’s done a lot of research on birdlife, which has taken her all over God’s green earth… which includes 2 month stretches of living in the forest chasing various species of wildlife, and peeing in the woods. she’s been to Indonesia before too.
- Jeff Wolf is a PhD candidate from U. Washington in Seattle,, I think Poly Sci. He was my roommate in Jakarta, speaks bahasa very well already, and has the Java traditions down, from previous trips to Indonesia. Very smart guy, dry humor- and delivers all his jokes with a completely straight face.
- Karen Bryner is an international education + anthropology major from New York. Not yet 30, but her hair is almost completely silver-grey. Quick to smile,,, she has a studious look about her- like the quintessential teacher.
So that’s the gang. It’s hard to describe first impressions- they’re all great. We all make a pretty diverse group, and so far- everyone has been fun to hang out with. You’ll see them all in the pictures I put up on the web soon. (jonb-one.blogspot.com )
My family is great too.
Bapak (“pak” for short) = father or sir.
Ibu (“bu” for short) = mother or maam.
Pak & bu Rochmadi are both chemical engineers and both professors at UGM. Very friendly & welcoming. They are a Muslim family. Ibu is originally from Wonosobo (in central Java) and Pak is originally from Surakarta (a few hours East of here by car). In the house they speak Javanese (bahasa Jawa) amongst themselves, but Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia) to me.
I have 3 new younger brothers (adik), ha ha (= :
- Adi is 20
- Sani is 16
- Fauzi is 10 (goes by Ojik)
Their aunt Nana (ibu Rochmadi’s younger sister) lives with us too. She’s quite a bit younger than bu Rochmadi though. And we have a live-in housemaid – mbak Yuti.
So,, including me, there are 8 of us.
Everyone was excited to welcome me, but I think Fauzi was the most excited to have “the Marine” living at his house (= ha ha. I feel like a walking-talking G.I. Joe around him,, haha. He is glued to my side the second I walk in the door. He’s funny. We’re watching world cup soccer together these days.
Oh! Here’s my address:
Gg Mulia 1/02 Plemburan
RT. 04 RW. 25 Sariharjo
Gg Timor Timor
Jl Kaliurang KM 7
Yogyakarta 55581
I’ll explain the street address code later (= I’m just getting my head around it myself.
Anyways- (sorry this is running on so long).
My little brother (Adi) and Nana picked me up from the hotel today,, and after showing me the house & dropping my stuff off, we went on a drive around town to look around.
The streets are starting to look the same to me,, scooters & motorcycles zipping around- weaving wherever there is space (either side of the center-line is normal…), food stalls every few feet along the sidewalks, and boutiques of all sorts- which is to say small stores that maybe 8 people could fit into at the same time.
It’s a very colorful city. Oh, in case I forgot to mention- Indonesians drive on the left side of the road… right side of the car… and traffic rules are somewhat optional,, or at least “negotiable”, by appearances.
My head was swimming a little bit- so we went to check out Prambanan temple, a 9th century Hindu temple… fabled to have been built in scorn of a beautiful woman who, thought she set an impossible task upon an unwanted suitor. The story I heard was, a relatively unattractive, common man fell in love with this princess, and would do anything to marry her. Unable to take a hint, he was told he could have her if he built 1,000 temples in one night. He got to work right away,, and was finishing his 999th temple, when the princess, scared she might actually have to keep her promise, sabotaged him. She tricked the roosters into crowing an hour before sunrise,, thereby waking everyone up (I can attest to the effectiveness of roosters…) and thus making the next day start an hour early; before he could finish the 1,000th temple. The scorned man cursed the woman, and she herself, is said to have become the 1,000th temple,,, which is the largest. I’m not sure what lesson is offered here exactly… maybe- don’t piss off motivated ugly guys. (=
There are a few tents & tarps set up around Prambanan, where earthquake victims are living, until they can rebuild. There is a bit of damage here- collapsed arches, walls, a few roofs- but it’s still pretty far north. Most earthquake damage was done in the south.
Merapi happened to be putting on a bit of a show today,, throwing up quite a bit of ash & lava. The volcano is still about 20 miles away (30 km to the north), so it’s far, but dominates the skyline. It was kind-of beautiful actually. People were saying today was the biggest cloud of dust & ash Merapi has thrown up in the air yet.
From here it was hard to tell if it was just a cloud, or if it was ash.
After going home & having my first dinner with the family, we went outside at night to watch the lava. At night, when it’s dark, you could see the glowing red lava flowing down the sides of the volcano. I got on the back of Adi’s scooter & the two of us drove up to the north part of town to get a better look, away from the city lights.
(maman, don’t worry- we only went a couple miles, and were still 18 miles away)
Sometimes we could see the lava splash up, like it was bubbling out the top of the volcano. It would glow bright for a minute, then get dark again. It was amazing. Something straight out of a storybook. I tried to take a picture at night to show you the lava- but it was too far away & too dark.
I was exhausted by then though,, and almost fell asleep on the back of Adi’s motor scooter on the way home.
You know,, it gets dark around here by 6pm! A lot earlier than I expected. It’s pitch dark by 7.
Saturday, 10Jun2006
Highlights: 1st bath; 6 hours of digging out a house in Bantul that had become a pile of crumbled bricks from the earthquake; group dinner in town
Last night was my first night sleeping at “home”. Let me revisit an earlier subject,, the daily Muslim calls to prayer. I am told it’s not “singing” per se, but words from the Koran “spoken beautifully”. Well- I live right across the street from a mosque now, and those words were spoken distinctly at 4 am again. And in addition to that, we have dueling roosters in the back yard who do some “speaking” in the wee hours as well. Eh,,, I am a firm believer that we, as human beings, are capable of getting used to just about anything. This little philosophy is being put to the test. I’ll report back later how the morning thing is going. Needless to say, however- no alarm clocks were needed this morning. I was up a 4. no amount of tossing or turning was adequate. (papa- I know you’re laughing at me now,, but wait, it gets better.)
So, uh- the Indonesian bath is a new experience as well. I’ll post a picture of our bathroom soon- but to describe it quickly for you… well- there’s no bathtub, nor shower. Just a small room with a tile floor and a deep tile sink,, and a toilet (gravity operated),, meaning no flushing- you have to dump a bucket of water in to make the dirty stuff go away
And speaking of buckets, that is how the Indonesian bath is operated as well. Ie. Dunking a bucket into a tub & pouring it over your head. Kind-of felt like a throwback to Little House on the Prairie,,, minus the walking to the river to fetch the water. There is plumbing. Cold water only- though. So this is interesting… since I’m not a big fan of cold showers- I have to heat a kettle of water in the kitchen, then add the hot water to a little blue 5 gallon tub of tap water- until the temperature is ok, and then the bath is ready. (= ah- this is an experience I won’t soon forget. I was mentioning my theory of getting used to anything a moment ago? Yeah.
So my little brother (Sani) took me to school (UGM campus) on the back of his motor scooter by 9am. 12 of us from the USINDO gang jumped on a bus & drove down into Bantul,,, the area hardest hit by the earthquake 2 weeks ago.
Bantul is a suburb of Jogja. Hard to tell where one city ends & the suburb begins- but it took us about 30 minutes to get to where we were going. One of the UGM professors lives in Bantul, and her house was completely destroyed… so we set about digging the rubble out & doing what we could to get her back on her feet & help the rebuilding effort by cleaning up the mess first.
The sun is hot down here, first of all… and it’s gulf coast humidity too- so I lifted my first shovel full of bricks & debris, and I’m sweating already. (I hear the “not in shape” jokes already. Trust me, it’s hot) ha ha.
Ok- so,,, last week I was making some commentary about efficiency, and how it made sense to me to do what it takes to clear the destruction quickly, and rebuild something.. even temporary, until permanent homes can go in.
I must admit- it sounded good to me at the time- but today we put our feet in the place where rubber meets the road, and it doesn’t look like brother government will make it down to these little places off the main road where we went today to help these people out.
I don’t know where to begin to describe what was a home… “rubble” doesn’t paint the picture I want to convey. I’ll post a pic on my blogspot soon… but to describe it,,
There was a tile roof sprawled at an awkward angle across a fallen wall of bamboo, brick & mortar. A few walls (portions of them anyways) were still standing- but nothing taller than 4 or 5 feet. We had to dig to find the floor. Everything was covered with bricks.
Our goal for the day was to clear as much of the debris from the original foundation, and disassemble the roof.
The underlying goal was to salvage as much of anything deemed “re-usable”… furniture, roof tiles & bricks that were still whole… whew- we put a lot of effort into salvaging this stuff. They really intend to use it again when they rebuild. I don’t think a U.S. contractor would be allowed to get away with that.
When I say “brick”,, it’s not like an American brick. It’s basically sand & dirt that is baked. It’s chaulky sort-of… brittle. Drop it from 3 feet, and it breaks. We’re not talking about sturdy stuff here. And the mortar- we could knock off the remaining mortar by knocking two bricks together- and it would become dust again. Same with the roof tiles… very brittle.
We threw ourselves into the job… one group of guys working the roof, another clearing piles of rubble from the living room, then the remains of a bedroom, and kitchen.
This house was small. Maybe 500 square feet.
The outside wall fell out into the road. This road was narrow- 6 feet across maybe,, and un-navigable by car with all the rubble there, so we set upon clearing that too.
The only tools we brought were gloves & a few shovels. These shovels were aluminum,, and about as thick as a coke can. Seriously- I don’t want to call them useless, but they were bent inside of 5 minutes. Granted, they weren’t designed for scooping up bricks- but as the best thing the hardware store had available- the tools that Indonesians have to dig themselves out of this are pretty,, eh,, not sturdy.
About 4 hours later,, it was time to call it a day. We made a lot of progress- and there are other people on our list to help,, but we weren’t done with this place yet- and we felt a sense of ownership. We all wanted to come back tomorrow & finish the job… so we did.
I think the first game of the World Cup started tonight,, but I was too exhausted to watch it. Everyone went home, took a “bath”, and then met up a few hours later for dinner together. Katy Rys, our program director was treating,, so hey! I’m in! (=
After that- I went home & straight to bed.
Getting home was a challenge though. I still don’t know my way around at all really- and when I jumped in the cab, armed with the address I wrote in my notebook, it only got me to the first alley-way, but I couldn’t find the 2nd,,, where the house is at.
Had to make the call of shame & tell pak Rochmadi I was lost =/ I got within 3 blocks or so. =)
Sunday, 11Jun2006
Highlights: 6 more hours of “gotong royong” (working together to dig a house out of its own rubble), best head-neck & shoulder massage ever, world cup
We got an early start (7am) on getting down to Bantul to start work today. Trying the beat the heat. We bought more shovels (slightly more sturdy,, but not much), and two wheel barrows. Again- these wheel barrows were aluminum,, and weren’t much thicker than the shovels. One broke within 20 minutes. The other wobbled its way through the day-
It was invaluable having “tools” today though. We moved stuff a lot quicker- and had all the bricks off the road, the whole foundation clear, the roof completely disassembled, several piles of re-usable bricks & tile stacked-up, and all the unsafe walls fully knocked down & cleared.
This house was in a small, humble neighborhood maybe a mile off the main road,,, in a jungle of palm trees.
Dozens of kids from the neighborhood played & sat on a rusted out car watching us,,, amused. The slang word for “westerners” is: bule. I don’t think any of them ever expected to see so many bule working,,, in their neighborhood of all places,, on a neighbor’s house. (= they particularly liked playing with Dan,,, the 6’8” bule. (=
It occurred to me several times that a back-hoe & a dump truck would be perfect here. (could have done our work in 30 minutes)… but there aren’t even garbage trucks that come down these small roads. And it doesn’t seem like any are coming. I have no idea how the cleared rubble is going to get taken away.
Whew- that’s a feat that’ll be a long time in coming. We finished our job today though- and felt pretty good about all we accomplished for one of our instructors.
On the way home, we stopped at a Pizza Hut,,, seriously- we stunk so bad, it was like being at the zoo. I can’t believe they let us in,,, but we stuffed our guts a bit. Tasted good (= I think that was my first American style food here. Oh! Can I tell you how much I love the exchange rate here? The bill,, covering food for 18 of us, came to the equivalent of $55. not bad huh? Katy treated.
After another “bath”, a few of us met up to get head-neck & shoulder massages… called a cream bath or something. Sounds girly- but man,, it was the best 60 minutes of living (= whew… and cost 25,000 Rupiah, (or $2.50). (= I love this place.
Fauzi was waiting up for me to get home so we could watch World Cup soccer together… I tried hanging with him through half a game- but was too exhausted to make it all the way. Off to bed.
Monday, 12June2006
Between the calls to prayer & the roosters in the back yard- I woke up 3 times before finally popping wide awake by 5, and started boiling my bath water in the kitchen.
We got another early start today (7am), and went to a different house in Bantul to do similar work as we did yesterday.
Today we dug out the house of another professor from UGM who works closely with the USINDO program. Half of his house was still standing,,, and the other half was laying in rubble. By day #3, we had our routine down & set to work.
No palm trees here though, so working under the direct sun made things feel hotter. In 4 hours we cleared about 300 square feet of brick, mortar & bamboo. This place was a bit closer to some main roads- but still, there are going to be big mounds of brick here for a while.
We had chickens and ducks running around today, as well as kids and curious onlookers.
So many people were camped out under tarps or tents along the road, in their front yard, or anyplace there was room. I almost don’t know what my reaction to all of this is. The poverty here is hard to describe- but the people here are so quick to smile… I’d love to be Bill Gates for a day & take them all to Disneyland, and hire the extreme home makeover team to do a number on this place in the meantime. Their homes were tiny before the earthquake. Some were probably no more than 200-300 square feet.
They’re proud,,, and don’t want sympathy. So I wasn’t thinking about feeling bad about them so much as feeling glad to be here, throwing my back into an effort to help them recover. That’s the most rewarding thing.
We ate box lunches after finishing today,, and I almost fell asleep on the drive home (I was wiped out.) I’ve got a lot of pics to show you… I’ll get them up on the blogspot soon.
We actually felt a little earthquake today, as we were finishing up work here,, and sitting down with our box lunches in the shade. It doesn’t feel right to say it was cool- as we’re standing in the middle of an earthquake disaster zone- cleaning up its wake of damage… but the thought crossed our minds.
Oh! We got some bad news today… we’re losing one of our group of USINDO friends. =/ Jeff decided at some point yesterday that this program isn’t for him,, and he got a ticket together & flew home today. For only knowing someone a short while- it feels like losing a brother. Jeff- you’ll definitely be missed. Take care & write me when you get a chance.
Katy Rys is going back to Washington DC tomorrow as well, so tonight is our last dinner together. After that, I’m going to try & track down this group of U.S. Marines who are in town somewhere. I haven’t had the chance since getting here- but I’ve figured out which hotel they’re staying at, and plan on dropping by the bar later to meet them & introduce myself. (Marines are easy to find… look for the nearest watering hole.) ha ha.
Tomorrow is a free day, and Wednesday we’re going on our first field trip to Solo (Surabaya) for an overnight trip. Classes start next Monday.
I’m sorry this novel of a letter was so long! Seriously- I’m going straight to the publisher with this draft of War & Peace.
Apologies for those who have contracted chateracts reading this…
I promise to keep future updates under 5 pages. (=
Miss you guys! but having a ball out here.
jonathan
Tuesday, 13Jun06
Highlights: free day today, so didn’t do much other than walk around town & get another head-neck & shoulders massage for $2.50. ha ha. I love this place.
Last night I managed to track down the U.S. Marines that are here for earthquake relief efforts at their hotel on the far side of town. It was good meeting them. They’re based on Okinawa, and about 180 of them (including Navy docs) were sent here specifically for medical aid. Would have been nice to hook up with them earlier, but,,, my plate was full.
Here is an interesting lesson in international military cooperation, and the sensitivities it kicks up. There are political-military agreements which specify what we can & can’t do,, how long we can stay,, where we are to operate from,, etc. And that makes sense. U.S. Marines got here over the course of the last two weeks (some mobilized the day after the earthquake) and the docs said 2 weeks was enough to treat the majority of earthquake related injuries. When non-earthquake injuries started becoming the majority of cases, their time was up. Very successful disaster relief mission- and the Indonesian army was anxious to get U.S. forces out. 2 ½ weeks is all the work we were allowed. All the Marines I talked too were excited about opportunities to create goodwill between our countries, and looking for ways to help.
We had Marine combat engineers here, (for security) and I was thinking how great it would have been to have their help with some heavy equipment… back-hoe, bulldozer, trucks… to move debris and help the locals here clean up the mess, even if only to haul away some rubble. There are thousands of homes here in various states of disrepair or ruin - but even if we could work with a few neighborhoods, the effects would long be felt & appreciated I think. People appreciate getting patched up,,, but nobody forgets who helped rebuild their home. (in my opinion)
The short answer to this wayward thought seems wrapped around this perception: no-one is quite sure what the Indonesian forces are capable of, with regards to rebuilding efforts- and they wouldn’t appreciate being upstaged by U.S. forces coming in & getting more done than them. So political calculus would suggest it is better for no-one to help beyond medical aid, rather than use available external aid to rebuild (or clear debris from) thousands of homes. I’m sure someday this will make sense to me,, I just haven’t gotten there yet. To be fair, and play my own devils advocate- I don’t know how much military effort is going into clearing up the mess from Katrina.. so maybe we do the same thing at home.
On another note,, did anyone watch the U.S. team get spanked by Czech Republic in the world cup? 3-0! Ouch… I was holding out hope that the U.S. could pull out an Australia-style comeback until the last few minutes. No such luck.
It’s a little strange having a family to come home to again,, and all that comes with it. (ie. The gate was locked when I got home, and pak had to come out at 1:30am to let me in) I have to let them know where I am,, when I’m coming home… it’s been 14 years since I’ve had to do that.
The morning routine around the house is a little funny. Bu Rochmadi likes to watch morning gossip tv, while doing some sort of low impact aerobics in the living room. (= hey,, it’s her house!
Breakfast is, eh,, a little different too. Usually I skip past the leftovers from last night (rice, fish, vegetables…) and get a couple slices of bread with butter & jelly. Mbak Yuti (our house-helper) usually makes “orange juice”… which, uh- I’m not sure how exactly it is orange juice. It’s a concentrate drink, colored orange, with sugar added. Close enough (= all glasses usually come with a lid to keep flies out.
Today was our first day with absolutely nothing planned- and after all my younger brothers went off to school, I had no way of getting around, so I hung out at home, watching the gossips and world cup highlights with bu until someone came home.
I found my way back to that salon that gives the meanest head-neck & shoulder massages,, laid my $2.50 on the counter & entered heaven for an hour. Seriously- I may be coming back here on a regular basis. This place was so much better than the hotel in Jakarta,,, and for 25,000 Rupiah? (exchange rate is almost 10,000 Rupiah per $1)
Then I walked home, which took about an hour & a half.
The roads here are still confusing to me.
1. street signs are hit or miss, (usually missing) and rarely found at big intersections
2. all the main roads look alike to me,,, little shops lined up mile after mile, sprinkled with food stands (warung) every 50 feet.
3. speaking of shops- if the whole town was compared to a super-Walmart, the streets would be like aisles, filled with similar products. Dozens of tiny shops lined up next to each other,,, all selling the same thing. one street has phone shops, another sells wood, another sinks, another tile, another shoes, mopeds, electronics… and they’re tiny, so no one is underselling his neighbors. I don’t get it.
4. I think I mentioned traffic- seriously, it’s scary,,, more art than science. Mopeds outnumber cars roughly 8-1, I’d say. Cars & busses swerve to whatever side of the road is convenient to get around them, and often drive straddling the middle. Oncoming traffic? No worries. Darwinian rules apply- the biggest vehicle has right of way, regardless which side of the road he’s on. On-coming mopeds just hug their side of the road. I am amazed there aren’t more accidents.
5. a lot of moped drivers wear bandanas to filter some of the dirt in the air. Girls,, boys,, they look like moped bandits. And 80% of them are sporting flip flops.
6. gas is often sold in 1 liter jars on the side of the road, because gas stations are too inconvenient or something.. they fill up the jars at a normal gas pump, then sell it in front of their house or store for a 500 Rupiah markup (roughly ½ a cent profit). It’s like lemonade stands around here.
7. “moped wash” stands are all over… car washes are more rare
8. and a side note: they re-use coke bottles here, so when you buy a coke on the side of the road- you can’t walk away with the bottle. They pour the coke into a skinny clear plastic bag & give you a straw. It’s usually warm too. Just a funny little observation.
By the way,, it’s hot. I think the humidity is what gets you though. It’s like Florida, gulf coast weather. 85 degrees with 85% humidity.
A former USINDO student from last year flew in today from a month long visit to China to say hello to the Rochmadi family & stay a few days. Parker, from ASU. After dinner & a little family world cup time,, I couldn’t keep my eyes open & peeled off to bed.
Wednesday, 14Jun06
Highlights: overnight field trip to Solo (Surakarta)
I found the wireless internet room at school this morning! Woo-hoo!
All 12 of us met up with our tutors & ibu Rose (Jogja program coordinator), piled on a bus & drove 1 ½ hours East to Solo.
Like Jogja, Solo is a city of about 4 million people, and is well-known in central Java for making batik (colorful Indonesian material, from which sarongs, shirts, blouses and scarves are made). It’s also where the last of the ancient Javanese Hindu temples were built in the 15th century, before Islam came to this region.
After checking-in at the hotel, we set off for Kraton Mangkunegaran, the royal palace of the king of Solo. It’s a bit of a living museum. There still is a king & his family living here though,, traditional descendants of the royal line- though they have no official power anymore… it’s a tradition-rich society. There was live Indonesian dancing (tarian) going on in the main pagoda with gamelan music. It’s not your high school prom style dancing,,, more a performance, telling a particular story. This one was about this kingdom fighting some invaders from the east, I’m told. Gamelan is harder to describe. It sounds like a room full of grandfather clocks chiming together in a sort-of bell orchestra. They look like a set of thick copper pots and heavy zylophones that chime in concert. Ah,, (maaf, kalau saya salah mengembarkan musik gamelan, teman teman saya yang orang Indonesia!) ha ha,, it’s hard to describe.
The set of gamelan in the Kraton here dates to the 15th century though,,, so it’s old!
After that we went to two Hindu temples up in the mountains. Candi Sukuh looked like an ancient Mayan temple,, built with large stone blocks in the shape of a pyramid with a flat top,, and lots of carvings. Eh, about those carvings- this must have been a temple to the sex gods… because there was nothing modest about these 600 year old statues & relief carvings! Some of the men were rather well endowed, and the female form,, well let’s just say homage was paid. Ha ha. At least the Hindus didn’t lack for sex education. Makes you wonder what offerings were like around the altar back in the day…
People still come here to pray, make pilgrimages and make offerings to the Hindu gods (Kyai Sukuh). There happened to be a Dutch tour group up there at the same time as us.
Next was Candi Ceto, a different looking 15th century Hindu temple on the side of Mount Lewu, a 10,000 foot mountain here in central Java.
Driving here was an experience,,, not unlike that scene in Romancing the Stone, when Joan Wilder was in a bus headed to Cartagena, Colombia… very narrow roads, hairpin turns, steep hills (we’re talking little bus that could,,, 1st gear- and straining to make it up…). Did I mention the sheer drop-offs just feet from our tires? Seriously- Joan Wilder’s got nothing on us now (=
I’ve been trying to think of a polite way to describe the,, uh,, loud man singing,, chanting perhaps- muslim call to prayer that comes blasting over the community loudspeaker system at 4:30 in the morning. To the uninitiated, it might bring to mind the sound of an Indian chief dancing around a fire,,, his voice fluctuating intensely in the rhythm only he understands… I am told it’s a beautiful sound. At 4 in the morning, it’s hard to appreciate its melody. I know there is significant religious meaning behind it- and I want to be respectful- while at the same time describing the new sights & sounds I am surrounded with at all hours of the day… and uh,, night.
We left Jakarta today & flew to Yogyakarta (51min flight). I took one step off the plane & could see an entire section of the airport terminal crumbled from the earthquake… roof caved in, wood beams exposed. Amazing. But I’m excited to be here. On the far side of the tarmac was a U.S. Marine C-130 unloading pallets of aid. Made me proud of my boys (= ha ha. Hopefully I’ll meet them tomorrow. On the bus ride to our hotel most everything looked normal. Only a few crumbled/damaged houses or buildings in Jogja proper.
(there are 3 spellings for this place, by the way,,, but it’s pronounced Jogja… so I’ll just spell it like that, instead of Yogyakarta- as it’s written. )
Jogjakarta Plaza hotel is awesome. It’s like walking onto the set of fantasy island… has that big, Hawaiian, luxurious feel to it. $17 gets you a 60 min massage by the way (= I had to look that up. I’m sitting in the lobby now, with my laptop (where I get wireless internet now), listening to live music, and surrounded by foreigners of all stripes & colors,,, who represent the gambit of NGOs… red cross, UAE red crescent, WHO, UNICEF, Indonesia cares, etc.. funny. They’re all wearing shirts or vests with their organization in big letters… makes this place feel like Hotel Rwanda. The subject of NGO overload has crept into several conversations we’ve had over the last few days.
Speaking of the last few days- I’m impressed how organized they’ve been. Here’s a taste:
Mon
- Danamon Peduli & SOKOLA school for Life: this is the organization we’ll be doing earthquake relief work with. Habitat for Humanity was there too, showing us how they’re involved here & around Indonesia (Aceh too). Danamon is a big bank that started with a community outreach program in 2003,, which grew into a full-time outreach organization to improve sanitation in traditional markets, overcome rural Indonesian market traders aversion to big city folks with their fancy business plans, trying to tell them what to do, and help them develop from a grassroots direction.
- DKT Indonesia: this was funny- because we had a meeting with Chris Purdy- one of the chief executives of this sexual awareness/family planning agency. They’re also one of the leading sellers of condoms (durian flavor included! Ha ha) anyways- we learned a lot.
- Briefing with H.E. Sri Mulyani Indrawati,,, THE Finance Minister. She couldn’t make it at the last minute because President SBY called her into a meeting,,, so we talked with the Secretary General of Finance.. a smily guy who looked like an Indonesian version of Bill Kristol (from Fox News/Weekly Standard political commentary fame). Ha ha. Anyways- we had 40 minutes to shoot any question that crossed our mind. I wish I thought to ask about how they collect taxes though. We learned the next day that only about 2 million Indonesians pay tax. I couldn’t explain why- but its part of the reason there are economic difficulties here. Interesting!
Tue
-Asia Foundation: Doug Ramage gave us an interesting overview of what’s happening in Indonesian politics. Great class actually. 40 minutes or so. Stirred up a debate over how President SBY is raved about overseas, but many Indonesians are cooling their enthusiasm towards him. He has a 36% approval rating,, down from 65% last year. But that has a lot to do with reducing subsidies on gas & oil late last year,,, driving prices up for the average joe at the pump.
- VanZorge-Heffernan & Associates: met with Dennis Heffernan,,, a very funny guy, who gave us another view of what’s happening in Indonesian politics and the economy. This guy is like the Wolf, from Pulp Fiction.. a facilitator. He’s the guy in the tux and the lotus who could drive across a crowded city during rush hour in 15 minutes… he gets things done. Ha ha. Serves a great lunch too!
- U.S. Embassy medical: got the skinny on all the diseases we can catch. I’m afraid of striped mosquitos and people who cough now.
-American Studies Center, University of Indonesia: this was cool. We met a group of Indonesian undergrad & graduate students who are mostly working on thesises about America. (immigration issue, President Harry Truman, largest truck stop in the world is in Iowa…) ha ha. Pretty diverse.
Wed
- flew to Jogja
- got cell phones! Finally, I have something to put in my right pocket again! Felt semi-naked for a while there (= my new phone # is: 081 392 114461 but from America you dial: 011 62 81 392 114461.
Tomorrow
- we take a language placement test
- meet our tutors & take a city tour
- meet our host families over dinner
Fri
- we go home with our host families
- start earthquake clean-up work for the upcoming week.
So that’s the latest & greatest in this adventure in progress (=
I hope all of you are having a great day & finding things,, big & small to be excited about. Talk to you later!
Much love-
Jonathan
Thurs, 8Jun06
Whew,, today has been a busy day. In a snapshot, we took our language placement test, felt a couple minor earthquakes, met our tutors from the university, went on a bus tour around the city, and met our host families for the first time over dinner.
For those who enjoy cliff notes,, I thought you’d appreciate the summary up front. (= ha ha. Here are the details:
Today is the first time I’ve been able to sleep all the way until 5:30am. No chanting outside my window (= no alarms needed these days either,, my eyes just pop open at ridiculously early hours. I don’t ever remember having this problem at any point in life,,, but hey! There are worse things.
After waiting for the kitchen to open for breakfast, I took my usual post in the lobby, where there is wireless internet access, armed with my lap-top. I think I found a way to post all my pics on a website, so you can see. It might even have blog properties, so I can explain each foto. Cool huh? I’ll tell you when I’ve got it figured out.
We took placement tests at the University to separate the 13 of us into groups based on language ability. Ugh,, another test. Took about 1 ½ hours.
Right in the middle of it, 11:45 or so- we felt a pretty good little ground shaker. It only lasted a minute,, I think the earthquake measured at 4.0
My reaction was more, “hey look at that!” than of panic or scare. The floor felt like small ripples at the waters edge of the beach for a few seconds. I just rolled back into finishing my test when it was over.
Of the 13 of us in the USINDO summer studies program, 7 of us have some previous Indonesian ability and the others have never spoken bahasa Indonesia. (only the 7 of us took the test, the others waited outside) I’ll introduce my new USINDO friends to you in a minute. It’s a fun group.
After our test we met our tutors. All of us were assigned individual tutors, who are mostly 5th year students at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). They all look so young, but are friendly and fun. My tutor is Sinta; a 23 year old English literature major who lives 10km from Merapi (the volcano that’s creating a little stir). She’s funny- I asked if she was worried about her house, or thinking about evacuating,, she says no- the evacuations only go out to 7 km from the volcano,, “I live 10 km away”. hmmm. Sounds like solid logic to me (=
She’s like a new little sister.
After being introduced, we all paired up & took a bus tour around the city. Jogja is cool- filled with colorful shopping streets, carts full of food, crafts, homes squished together… and thousands of motorcycles.
Traffick here is strange. Maybe a touch scary even, to the uninitiated (such as myself). Those lines painted in the middle of the road, you know- we call them lanes. They pretty much have no meaning here. Vehicles of all shapes & sizes fill any space they can fit into. And clearance? 2 inches is plenty. Whew- my international drivers license is going to collect much dust before this trip is over.
Thankfully we had a couple hours to rest before going out to meet our host families. Getting dressed up & arriving at this beautiful outdoors restaurant felt a bit like walking onto the set of the Bachelor, or some reality tv show. It was nice though. My host family name is Rochmadi. Both mom & dad are chemical engineers and professors at UGM. They have 3 kids (all boys) between the ages of 7, 16 & 20. should be interesting! (=
I meet them tomorrow.
News about Merapi is filtering about,, there was a minor eruption- but the volcano is 30 km away (19 miles), so I haven’t seen anything. No ash or anything is falling out of the sky here in Jogja. I’ll take a picture tomorrow when I actually see it (=
We have an evacuation plan in place, just in case… which is to take a bus to Surabaya (4 hours East of here) and wait out any danger. If things go to hell in a handbasket, we’ll shift our study abroad program to Bali… and press on.
Gotta love flexibility!
Ok. We’re about to have a teleconference with the U.S. embassy, so I’ll let you go for today.
I hope you all are having a great day! Don’t worry too much about me just yet. If anything bubbles up with regards to earthquakes or eruptions- you’ll hear all about it later (=
We felt a few small earthquakes this morning… and it’s funny, you can tell the people who just got here from the ones who were around 2 weeks ago. I’ve seen two stampedes for the door,,, and I couldn’t feel a thing. It’s just a part of the scenery around here.
Talk to you later!
Jonathan
Friday, 9Jun2006
Daily snapshot: consulate conference, went home with host family, Prambanan, watched lava at night
We had a teleconference on UGM campus with the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya this morning, giving us a basic safety brief: stay away from political demonstrations, beware of relief scams, drink bottled water, accept diarrhea (happens to everyone), and pack a light emergency kit at home to grab & go...
After lunch today, we all checked-out of the hotel, met our host families & went “home”. It’s exciting to go home with my new family, and a little sad not living together with my group of USINDO friends- who have been becoming my new best friends over the last week. I just remembered, I haven’t “introduced” you to them yet. Ran out of time yesterday. Here we go.
There are 13 of us in the USINDO summer studies program. 8 guys, 5 girls, from a wide variety of backgrounds.
- Marty Thiry is a history major at Univ. Hawaii. 28 years old, he was a New Orleans cop for a few years. Fun guy.
- Dan Bottomley is a Poly Sci major from Eastern Illinois Univ. at 6’8, he’s a monster when he stands next to Indonesians. Ha ha. Really nice guy. friendly
- Eric Smith is from New Orleans. Endured Katrina from his house- which wasn’t destroyed or anything. He says he’s stay home again if another hurricane came. I think he’s crazy (= but other than that- good guy. He’s got an easy going way about him. He’s showing me how to set up a blog site.
- Yancey is an anthropology & agriculture major from Berkley. Little bit of a dry sense of humor. Has a look about him, like he’s always one of the smartest guys in the room. Could be the glasses. (=
- Jessica Marscetti is also an anthropology + Southeast Asia major at Northern Illinois Univ. her boyfriend was in this summer program 2 years ago. She’s a bit quiet at first. Into fencing.
- Christian Waugh is a law student from Univ. Florida (gators). Funny guy. Used to be a card carrying member of Star Trek fan club (= hard to tell if he was kidding. He’s entertaining because he’s never afraid to take his jokes across those lines of etiquette, you know- the terrain beyond “comfortable conversation”,,, and after a few jaws drop, everyone looks to see what happens next. Ha ha.
- Bryan Barshinger is a computer science + Southeast Asia major, also from Northern Illinois U. a bit heavy, and also a fencer, he has a look about him which suggests he’s slightly more comfortable around computers than people. Aside from being a little quiet- good guy.
- Tandi Tuakli is a recent fashion merchandizing graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute U. she’s visited Indonesia before,,, very independent girl. Friendly, but seems to prefer keeping to a small circle of friends.
- Stacey May is a development studies major from Berkley. Cautious about everything. A little quite at first, but a nice girl
- Wendy Miles is a biodiversity management major at Oxford U. (the one in Britain). She’s done a lot of research on birdlife, which has taken her all over God’s green earth… which includes 2 month stretches of living in the forest chasing various species of wildlife, and peeing in the woods. she’s been to Indonesia before too.
- Jeff Wolf is a PhD candidate from U. Washington in Seattle,, I think Poly Sci. He was my roommate in Jakarta, speaks bahasa very well already, and has the Java traditions down, from previous trips to Indonesia. Very smart guy, dry humor- and delivers all his jokes with a completely straight face.
- Karen Bryner is an international education + anthropology major from New York. Not yet 30, but her hair is almost completely silver-grey. Quick to smile,,, she has a studious look about her- like the quintessential teacher.
So that’s the gang. It’s hard to describe first impressions- they’re all great. We all make a pretty diverse group, and so far- everyone has been fun to hang out with. You’ll see them all in the pictures I put up on the web soon. (jonb-one.blogspot.com )
My family is great too.
Bapak (“pak” for short) = father or sir.
Ibu (“bu” for short) = mother or maam.
Pak & bu Rochmadi are both chemical engineers and both professors at UGM. Very friendly & welcoming. They are a Muslim family. Ibu is originally from Wonosobo (in central Java) and Pak is originally from Surakarta (a few hours East of here by car). In the house they speak Javanese (bahasa Jawa) amongst themselves, but Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia) to me.
I have 3 new younger brothers (adik), ha ha (= :
- Adi is 20
- Sani is 16
- Fauzi is 10 (goes by Ojik)
Their aunt Nana (ibu Rochmadi’s younger sister) lives with us too. She’s quite a bit younger than bu Rochmadi though. And we have a live-in housemaid – mbak Yuti.
So,, including me, there are 8 of us.
Everyone was excited to welcome me, but I think Fauzi was the most excited to have “the Marine” living at his house (= ha ha. I feel like a walking-talking G.I. Joe around him,, haha. He is glued to my side the second I walk in the door. He’s funny. We’re watching world cup soccer together these days.
Oh! Here’s my address:
Gg Mulia 1/02 Plemburan
RT. 04 RW. 25 Sariharjo
Gg Timor Timor
Jl Kaliurang KM 7
Yogyakarta 55581
I’ll explain the street address code later (= I’m just getting my head around it myself.
Anyways- (sorry this is running on so long).
My little brother (Adi) and Nana picked me up from the hotel today,, and after showing me the house & dropping my stuff off, we went on a drive around town to look around.
The streets are starting to look the same to me,, scooters & motorcycles zipping around- weaving wherever there is space (either side of the center-line is normal…), food stalls every few feet along the sidewalks, and boutiques of all sorts- which is to say small stores that maybe 8 people could fit into at the same time.
It’s a very colorful city. Oh, in case I forgot to mention- Indonesians drive on the left side of the road… right side of the car… and traffic rules are somewhat optional,, or at least “negotiable”, by appearances.
My head was swimming a little bit- so we went to check out Prambanan temple, a 9th century Hindu temple… fabled to have been built in scorn of a beautiful woman who, thought she set an impossible task upon an unwanted suitor. The story I heard was, a relatively unattractive, common man fell in love with this princess, and would do anything to marry her. Unable to take a hint, he was told he could have her if he built 1,000 temples in one night. He got to work right away,, and was finishing his 999th temple, when the princess, scared she might actually have to keep her promise, sabotaged him. She tricked the roosters into crowing an hour before sunrise,, thereby waking everyone up (I can attest to the effectiveness of roosters…) and thus making the next day start an hour early; before he could finish the 1,000th temple. The scorned man cursed the woman, and she herself, is said to have become the 1,000th temple,,, which is the largest. I’m not sure what lesson is offered here exactly… maybe- don’t piss off motivated ugly guys. (=
There are a few tents & tarps set up around Prambanan, where earthquake victims are living, until they can rebuild. There is a bit of damage here- collapsed arches, walls, a few roofs- but it’s still pretty far north. Most earthquake damage was done in the south.
Merapi happened to be putting on a bit of a show today,, throwing up quite a bit of ash & lava. The volcano is still about 20 miles away (30 km to the north), so it’s far, but dominates the skyline. It was kind-of beautiful actually. People were saying today was the biggest cloud of dust & ash Merapi has thrown up in the air yet.
From here it was hard to tell if it was just a cloud, or if it was ash.
After going home & having my first dinner with the family, we went outside at night to watch the lava. At night, when it’s dark, you could see the glowing red lava flowing down the sides of the volcano. I got on the back of Adi’s scooter & the two of us drove up to the north part of town to get a better look, away from the city lights.
(maman, don’t worry- we only went a couple miles, and were still 18 miles away)
Sometimes we could see the lava splash up, like it was bubbling out the top of the volcano. It would glow bright for a minute, then get dark again. It was amazing. Something straight out of a storybook. I tried to take a picture at night to show you the lava- but it was too far away & too dark.
I was exhausted by then though,, and almost fell asleep on the back of Adi’s motor scooter on the way home.
You know,, it gets dark around here by 6pm! A lot earlier than I expected. It’s pitch dark by 7.
Saturday, 10Jun2006
Highlights: 1st bath; 6 hours of digging out a house in Bantul that had become a pile of crumbled bricks from the earthquake; group dinner in town
Last night was my first night sleeping at “home”. Let me revisit an earlier subject,, the daily Muslim calls to prayer. I am told it’s not “singing” per se, but words from the Koran “spoken beautifully”. Well- I live right across the street from a mosque now, and those words were spoken distinctly at 4 am again. And in addition to that, we have dueling roosters in the back yard who do some “speaking” in the wee hours as well. Eh,,, I am a firm believer that we, as human beings, are capable of getting used to just about anything. This little philosophy is being put to the test. I’ll report back later how the morning thing is going. Needless to say, however- no alarm clocks were needed this morning. I was up a 4. no amount of tossing or turning was adequate. (papa- I know you’re laughing at me now,, but wait, it gets better.)
So, uh- the Indonesian bath is a new experience as well. I’ll post a picture of our bathroom soon- but to describe it quickly for you… well- there’s no bathtub, nor shower. Just a small room with a tile floor and a deep tile sink,, and a toilet (gravity operated),, meaning no flushing- you have to dump a bucket of water in to make the dirty stuff go away
And speaking of buckets, that is how the Indonesian bath is operated as well. Ie. Dunking a bucket into a tub & pouring it over your head. Kind-of felt like a throwback to Little House on the Prairie,,, minus the walking to the river to fetch the water. There is plumbing. Cold water only- though. So this is interesting… since I’m not a big fan of cold showers- I have to heat a kettle of water in the kitchen, then add the hot water to a little blue 5 gallon tub of tap water- until the temperature is ok, and then the bath is ready. (= ah- this is an experience I won’t soon forget. I was mentioning my theory of getting used to anything a moment ago? Yeah.
So my little brother (Sani) took me to school (UGM campus) on the back of his motor scooter by 9am. 12 of us from the USINDO gang jumped on a bus & drove down into Bantul,,, the area hardest hit by the earthquake 2 weeks ago.
Bantul is a suburb of Jogja. Hard to tell where one city ends & the suburb begins- but it took us about 30 minutes to get to where we were going. One of the UGM professors lives in Bantul, and her house was completely destroyed… so we set about digging the rubble out & doing what we could to get her back on her feet & help the rebuilding effort by cleaning up the mess first.
The sun is hot down here, first of all… and it’s gulf coast humidity too- so I lifted my first shovel full of bricks & debris, and I’m sweating already. (I hear the “not in shape” jokes already. Trust me, it’s hot) ha ha.
Ok- so,,, last week I was making some commentary about efficiency, and how it made sense to me to do what it takes to clear the destruction quickly, and rebuild something.. even temporary, until permanent homes can go in.
I must admit- it sounded good to me at the time- but today we put our feet in the place where rubber meets the road, and it doesn’t look like brother government will make it down to these little places off the main road where we went today to help these people out.
I don’t know where to begin to describe what was a home… “rubble” doesn’t paint the picture I want to convey. I’ll post a pic on my blogspot soon… but to describe it,,
There was a tile roof sprawled at an awkward angle across a fallen wall of bamboo, brick & mortar. A few walls (portions of them anyways) were still standing- but nothing taller than 4 or 5 feet. We had to dig to find the floor. Everything was covered with bricks.
Our goal for the day was to clear as much of the debris from the original foundation, and disassemble the roof.
The underlying goal was to salvage as much of anything deemed “re-usable”… furniture, roof tiles & bricks that were still whole… whew- we put a lot of effort into salvaging this stuff. They really intend to use it again when they rebuild. I don’t think a U.S. contractor would be allowed to get away with that.
When I say “brick”,, it’s not like an American brick. It’s basically sand & dirt that is baked. It’s chaulky sort-of… brittle. Drop it from 3 feet, and it breaks. We’re not talking about sturdy stuff here. And the mortar- we could knock off the remaining mortar by knocking two bricks together- and it would become dust again. Same with the roof tiles… very brittle.
We threw ourselves into the job… one group of guys working the roof, another clearing piles of rubble from the living room, then the remains of a bedroom, and kitchen.
This house was small. Maybe 500 square feet.
The outside wall fell out into the road. This road was narrow- 6 feet across maybe,, and un-navigable by car with all the rubble there, so we set upon clearing that too.
The only tools we brought were gloves & a few shovels. These shovels were aluminum,, and about as thick as a coke can. Seriously- I don’t want to call them useless, but they were bent inside of 5 minutes. Granted, they weren’t designed for scooping up bricks- but as the best thing the hardware store had available- the tools that Indonesians have to dig themselves out of this are pretty,, eh,, not sturdy.
About 4 hours later,, it was time to call it a day. We made a lot of progress- and there are other people on our list to help,, but we weren’t done with this place yet- and we felt a sense of ownership. We all wanted to come back tomorrow & finish the job… so we did.
I think the first game of the World Cup started tonight,, but I was too exhausted to watch it. Everyone went home, took a “bath”, and then met up a few hours later for dinner together. Katy Rys, our program director was treating,, so hey! I’m in! (=
After that- I went home & straight to bed.
Getting home was a challenge though. I still don’t know my way around at all really- and when I jumped in the cab, armed with the address I wrote in my notebook, it only got me to the first alley-way, but I couldn’t find the 2nd,,, where the house is at.
Had to make the call of shame & tell pak Rochmadi I was lost =/ I got within 3 blocks or so. =)
Sunday, 11Jun2006
Highlights: 6 more hours of “gotong royong” (working together to dig a house out of its own rubble), best head-neck & shoulder massage ever, world cup
We got an early start (7am) on getting down to Bantul to start work today. Trying the beat the heat. We bought more shovels (slightly more sturdy,, but not much), and two wheel barrows. Again- these wheel barrows were aluminum,, and weren’t much thicker than the shovels. One broke within 20 minutes. The other wobbled its way through the day-
It was invaluable having “tools” today though. We moved stuff a lot quicker- and had all the bricks off the road, the whole foundation clear, the roof completely disassembled, several piles of re-usable bricks & tile stacked-up, and all the unsafe walls fully knocked down & cleared.
This house was in a small, humble neighborhood maybe a mile off the main road,,, in a jungle of palm trees.
Dozens of kids from the neighborhood played & sat on a rusted out car watching us,,, amused. The slang word for “westerners” is: bule. I don’t think any of them ever expected to see so many bule working,,, in their neighborhood of all places,, on a neighbor’s house. (= they particularly liked playing with Dan,,, the 6’8” bule. (=
It occurred to me several times that a back-hoe & a dump truck would be perfect here. (could have done our work in 30 minutes)… but there aren’t even garbage trucks that come down these small roads. And it doesn’t seem like any are coming. I have no idea how the cleared rubble is going to get taken away.
Whew- that’s a feat that’ll be a long time in coming. We finished our job today though- and felt pretty good about all we accomplished for one of our instructors.
On the way home, we stopped at a Pizza Hut,,, seriously- we stunk so bad, it was like being at the zoo. I can’t believe they let us in,,, but we stuffed our guts a bit. Tasted good (= I think that was my first American style food here. Oh! Can I tell you how much I love the exchange rate here? The bill,, covering food for 18 of us, came to the equivalent of $55. not bad huh? Katy treated.
After another “bath”, a few of us met up to get head-neck & shoulder massages… called a cream bath or something. Sounds girly- but man,, it was the best 60 minutes of living (= whew… and cost 25,000 Rupiah, (or $2.50). (= I love this place.
Fauzi was waiting up for me to get home so we could watch World Cup soccer together… I tried hanging with him through half a game- but was too exhausted to make it all the way. Off to bed.
Monday, 12June2006
Between the calls to prayer & the roosters in the back yard- I woke up 3 times before finally popping wide awake by 5, and started boiling my bath water in the kitchen.
We got another early start today (7am), and went to a different house in Bantul to do similar work as we did yesterday.
Today we dug out the house of another professor from UGM who works closely with the USINDO program. Half of his house was still standing,,, and the other half was laying in rubble. By day #3, we had our routine down & set to work.
No palm trees here though, so working under the direct sun made things feel hotter. In 4 hours we cleared about 300 square feet of brick, mortar & bamboo. This place was a bit closer to some main roads- but still, there are going to be big mounds of brick here for a while.
We had chickens and ducks running around today, as well as kids and curious onlookers.
So many people were camped out under tarps or tents along the road, in their front yard, or anyplace there was room. I almost don’t know what my reaction to all of this is. The poverty here is hard to describe- but the people here are so quick to smile… I’d love to be Bill Gates for a day & take them all to Disneyland, and hire the extreme home makeover team to do a number on this place in the meantime. Their homes were tiny before the earthquake. Some were probably no more than 200-300 square feet.
They’re proud,,, and don’t want sympathy. So I wasn’t thinking about feeling bad about them so much as feeling glad to be here, throwing my back into an effort to help them recover. That’s the most rewarding thing.
We ate box lunches after finishing today,, and I almost fell asleep on the drive home (I was wiped out.) I’ve got a lot of pics to show you… I’ll get them up on the blogspot soon.
We actually felt a little earthquake today, as we were finishing up work here,, and sitting down with our box lunches in the shade. It doesn’t feel right to say it was cool- as we’re standing in the middle of an earthquake disaster zone- cleaning up its wake of damage… but the thought crossed our minds.
Oh! We got some bad news today… we’re losing one of our group of USINDO friends. =/ Jeff decided at some point yesterday that this program isn’t for him,, and he got a ticket together & flew home today. For only knowing someone a short while- it feels like losing a brother. Jeff- you’ll definitely be missed. Take care & write me when you get a chance.
Katy Rys is going back to Washington DC tomorrow as well, so tonight is our last dinner together. After that, I’m going to try & track down this group of U.S. Marines who are in town somewhere. I haven’t had the chance since getting here- but I’ve figured out which hotel they’re staying at, and plan on dropping by the bar later to meet them & introduce myself. (Marines are easy to find… look for the nearest watering hole.) ha ha.
Tomorrow is a free day, and Wednesday we’re going on our first field trip to Solo (Surabaya) for an overnight trip. Classes start next Monday.
I’m sorry this novel of a letter was so long! Seriously- I’m going straight to the publisher with this draft of War & Peace.
Apologies for those who have contracted chateracts reading this…
I promise to keep future updates under 5 pages. (=
Miss you guys! but having a ball out here.
jonathan
Tuesday, 13Jun06
Highlights: free day today, so didn’t do much other than walk around town & get another head-neck & shoulders massage for $2.50. ha ha. I love this place.
Last night I managed to track down the U.S. Marines that are here for earthquake relief efforts at their hotel on the far side of town. It was good meeting them. They’re based on Okinawa, and about 180 of them (including Navy docs) were sent here specifically for medical aid. Would have been nice to hook up with them earlier, but,,, my plate was full.
Here is an interesting lesson in international military cooperation, and the sensitivities it kicks up. There are political-military agreements which specify what we can & can’t do,, how long we can stay,, where we are to operate from,, etc. And that makes sense. U.S. Marines got here over the course of the last two weeks (some mobilized the day after the earthquake) and the docs said 2 weeks was enough to treat the majority of earthquake related injuries. When non-earthquake injuries started becoming the majority of cases, their time was up. Very successful disaster relief mission- and the Indonesian army was anxious to get U.S. forces out. 2 ½ weeks is all the work we were allowed. All the Marines I talked too were excited about opportunities to create goodwill between our countries, and looking for ways to help.
We had Marine combat engineers here, (for security) and I was thinking how great it would have been to have their help with some heavy equipment… back-hoe, bulldozer, trucks… to move debris and help the locals here clean up the mess, even if only to haul away some rubble. There are thousands of homes here in various states of disrepair or ruin - but even if we could work with a few neighborhoods, the effects would long be felt & appreciated I think. People appreciate getting patched up,,, but nobody forgets who helped rebuild their home. (in my opinion)
The short answer to this wayward thought seems wrapped around this perception: no-one is quite sure what the Indonesian forces are capable of, with regards to rebuilding efforts- and they wouldn’t appreciate being upstaged by U.S. forces coming in & getting more done than them. So political calculus would suggest it is better for no-one to help beyond medical aid, rather than use available external aid to rebuild (or clear debris from) thousands of homes. I’m sure someday this will make sense to me,, I just haven’t gotten there yet. To be fair, and play my own devils advocate- I don’t know how much military effort is going into clearing up the mess from Katrina.. so maybe we do the same thing at home.
On another note,, did anyone watch the U.S. team get spanked by Czech Republic in the world cup? 3-0! Ouch… I was holding out hope that the U.S. could pull out an Australia-style comeback until the last few minutes. No such luck.
It’s a little strange having a family to come home to again,, and all that comes with it. (ie. The gate was locked when I got home, and pak had to come out at 1:30am to let me in) I have to let them know where I am,, when I’m coming home… it’s been 14 years since I’ve had to do that.
The morning routine around the house is a little funny. Bu Rochmadi likes to watch morning gossip tv, while doing some sort of low impact aerobics in the living room. (= hey,, it’s her house!
Breakfast is, eh,, a little different too. Usually I skip past the leftovers from last night (rice, fish, vegetables…) and get a couple slices of bread with butter & jelly. Mbak Yuti (our house-helper) usually makes “orange juice”… which, uh- I’m not sure how exactly it is orange juice. It’s a concentrate drink, colored orange, with sugar added. Close enough (= all glasses usually come with a lid to keep flies out.
Today was our first day with absolutely nothing planned- and after all my younger brothers went off to school, I had no way of getting around, so I hung out at home, watching the gossips and world cup highlights with bu until someone came home.
I found my way back to that salon that gives the meanest head-neck & shoulder massages,, laid my $2.50 on the counter & entered heaven for an hour. Seriously- I may be coming back here on a regular basis. This place was so much better than the hotel in Jakarta,,, and for 25,000 Rupiah? (exchange rate is almost 10,000 Rupiah per $1)
Then I walked home, which took about an hour & a half.
The roads here are still confusing to me.
1. street signs are hit or miss, (usually missing) and rarely found at big intersections
2. all the main roads look alike to me,,, little shops lined up mile after mile, sprinkled with food stands (warung) every 50 feet.
3. speaking of shops- if the whole town was compared to a super-Walmart, the streets would be like aisles, filled with similar products. Dozens of tiny shops lined up next to each other,,, all selling the same thing. one street has phone shops, another sells wood, another sinks, another tile, another shoes, mopeds, electronics… and they’re tiny, so no one is underselling his neighbors. I don’t get it.
4. I think I mentioned traffic- seriously, it’s scary,,, more art than science. Mopeds outnumber cars roughly 8-1, I’d say. Cars & busses swerve to whatever side of the road is convenient to get around them, and often drive straddling the middle. Oncoming traffic? No worries. Darwinian rules apply- the biggest vehicle has right of way, regardless which side of the road he’s on. On-coming mopeds just hug their side of the road. I am amazed there aren’t more accidents.
5. a lot of moped drivers wear bandanas to filter some of the dirt in the air. Girls,, boys,, they look like moped bandits. And 80% of them are sporting flip flops.
6. gas is often sold in 1 liter jars on the side of the road, because gas stations are too inconvenient or something.. they fill up the jars at a normal gas pump, then sell it in front of their house or store for a 500 Rupiah markup (roughly ½ a cent profit). It’s like lemonade stands around here.
7. “moped wash” stands are all over… car washes are more rare
8. and a side note: they re-use coke bottles here, so when you buy a coke on the side of the road- you can’t walk away with the bottle. They pour the coke into a skinny clear plastic bag & give you a straw. It’s usually warm too. Just a funny little observation.
By the way,, it’s hot. I think the humidity is what gets you though. It’s like Florida, gulf coast weather. 85 degrees with 85% humidity.
A former USINDO student from last year flew in today from a month long visit to China to say hello to the Rochmadi family & stay a few days. Parker, from ASU. After dinner & a little family world cup time,, I couldn’t keep my eyes open & peeled off to bed.
Wednesday, 14Jun06
Highlights: overnight field trip to Solo (Surakarta)
I found the wireless internet room at school this morning! Woo-hoo!
All 12 of us met up with our tutors & ibu Rose (Jogja program coordinator), piled on a bus & drove 1 ½ hours East to Solo.
Like Jogja, Solo is a city of about 4 million people, and is well-known in central Java for making batik (colorful Indonesian material, from which sarongs, shirts, blouses and scarves are made). It’s also where the last of the ancient Javanese Hindu temples were built in the 15th century, before Islam came to this region.
After checking-in at the hotel, we set off for Kraton Mangkunegaran, the royal palace of the king of Solo. It’s a bit of a living museum. There still is a king & his family living here though,, traditional descendants of the royal line- though they have no official power anymore… it’s a tradition-rich society. There was live Indonesian dancing (tarian) going on in the main pagoda with gamelan music. It’s not your high school prom style dancing,,, more a performance, telling a particular story. This one was about this kingdom fighting some invaders from the east, I’m told. Gamelan is harder to describe. It sounds like a room full of grandfather clocks chiming together in a sort-of bell orchestra. They look like a set of thick copper pots and heavy zylophones that chime in concert. Ah,, (maaf, kalau saya salah mengembarkan musik gamelan, teman teman saya yang orang Indonesia!) ha ha,, it’s hard to describe.
The set of gamelan in the Kraton here dates to the 15th century though,,, so it’s old!
After that we went to two Hindu temples up in the mountains. Candi Sukuh looked like an ancient Mayan temple,, built with large stone blocks in the shape of a pyramid with a flat top,, and lots of carvings. Eh, about those carvings- this must have been a temple to the sex gods… because there was nothing modest about these 600 year old statues & relief carvings! Some of the men were rather well endowed, and the female form,, well let’s just say homage was paid. Ha ha. At least the Hindus didn’t lack for sex education. Makes you wonder what offerings were like around the altar back in the day…
People still come here to pray, make pilgrimages and make offerings to the Hindu gods (Kyai Sukuh). There happened to be a Dutch tour group up there at the same time as us.
Next was Candi Ceto, a different looking 15th century Hindu temple on the side of Mount Lewu, a 10,000 foot mountain here in central Java.
Driving here was an experience,,, not unlike that scene in Romancing the Stone, when Joan Wilder was in a bus headed to Cartagena, Colombia… very narrow roads, hairpin turns, steep hills (we’re talking little bus that could,,, 1st gear- and straining to make it up…). Did I mention the sheer drop-offs just feet from our tires? Seriously- Joan Wilder’s got nothing on us now (=
posted by jonathan adventures at 12:49 AM
4 Comments:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)
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