Tuesday, 12Sep06
Highlights: the morning driver was prompt, Suzuki shop, efforts to track down some Bantul families I helped, American corner, Adi’s 3-min movie, dinner with Nina & Nana.
6:30 on the dot, I was in front of Nina’s Kos with scooter motor running… ready to carry her off to another day of class.
As a way of saying thanks- I took her scooter to the Suzuki motor shop & had it serviced. (oil change, new battery, fixed the started button, repaired a foot peg…) all of which cost under $15. still a lot cheaper than renting a scooter or paying for cabs everywhere! And more fun.
Her class ended early when the pastor threw everyone out for not bringing the right books. Whew,,, moody. She is experiencing culture shock as a Muslim student on a predominantly Catholic university campus (USD),,, even though this is still in the center of Yogya. It’s quite a different atmosphere there. She just transferred from UGM to USD.
After lunch, I went to visit the American Corner- a library on UGM campus dedicated to American studies. A little hard to find- but nice place all the same. Sometimes they sponsor events & speakers to talk with UGM students about American issues.
I succeeded in tracking down some of the Bantul families that I worked with a few months ago, when I volunteered with the SATPAM guys from UGM campus. At the time I just jumped in the truck & got out when we got there. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday I’ll be able to find those homes again & see how their progress is coming along,, cleaning up, then rebuilding their homes.
In the newspaper there are articles about progress being made with regards to local government response & determining who has rights to financial help,,, property owners who can produce some kind of written proof of title & land ownership, or the people who were renting…
After that I set up a meeting with the dean of the Political Science Faculty (for tomorrow) and went home.
Adi (my 20 year old younger brother) just made a 3-minute film for class & showed it to me. I’m impressed! Between 8 of them, it took two weeks to put together a 3-minute film. Lot of work. And for a 1st film, it was pretty good! A comedy,,, about a guy who appeared to be proposing to a girl on a park bench,,, who responds, “I’m sorry,,, but no.” In his pain, the boy turns his head- to find another pretty girl sitting one bench over- smiles & asks her,,, “will you?... help me complete today’s crossword puzzle?” Nice bait & switch comedic misdirection over an effort to fill in the daily crossword. (=
For dinner tonight, Nina & I took Nana (my host family aunt) to the same restaurant we ate at last night. (the finger food place) It was still a fun ambiance, but with a very different dynamic. The girls had a great time laughing,,, possibly at my expense (= figuring out ways to make my trip to Nina’s hometown this weekend as difficult a “meet the parents” experience as possible…
“He’s a Marine right? Make him do push-ups! No, no! run around the biggest soccer field in town. Oh wait! Get him to fix the car in the garage, then clean the gutters, shop at the market, and paint the back room!”
eh, yeah… Thanks Nana. “Don’t let me forget to invite you out to dinner next time!”
I’m glad someone was enjoying the moment for what is sure to be an interesting adventure coming up this weekend! (=
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t nervous about meeting Nina’s parents until the jokes started coming out. They seemed to enjoy that just enough to force the nervous laughter out of me,,, what Javanese ‘prospective boyfriend candidate harassment package” tradition am I about to encounter? (=
The icing on the cake came towards the end of dinner- when I got a chance to speak with “dad” on the phone. I walked out by the rice field & introduced myself,, and we talked for about 10 minutes. I’m wondering how to avoid the 3 landmine subjects you never bring up on first dates: religion, politics & marriage. (not that I have a history of following my own advice here- I usually get sucked into interesting & controversial subjects quite easily) It went pretty well though, I thought. I think Nina is more nervous than I am. Ha ha. At least this is equal opportunity nerve-wrestling.
Highlights: the morning driver was prompt, Suzuki shop, efforts to track down some Bantul families I helped, American corner, Adi’s 3-min movie, dinner with Nina & Nana.
6:30 on the dot, I was in front of Nina’s Kos with scooter motor running… ready to carry her off to another day of class.
As a way of saying thanks- I took her scooter to the Suzuki motor shop & had it serviced. (oil change, new battery, fixed the started button, repaired a foot peg…) all of which cost under $15. still a lot cheaper than renting a scooter or paying for cabs everywhere! And more fun.
Her class ended early when the pastor threw everyone out for not bringing the right books. Whew,,, moody. She is experiencing culture shock as a Muslim student on a predominantly Catholic university campus (USD),,, even though this is still in the center of Yogya. It’s quite a different atmosphere there. She just transferred from UGM to USD.
After lunch, I went to visit the American Corner- a library on UGM campus dedicated to American studies. A little hard to find- but nice place all the same. Sometimes they sponsor events & speakers to talk with UGM students about American issues.
I succeeded in tracking down some of the Bantul families that I worked with a few months ago, when I volunteered with the SATPAM guys from UGM campus. At the time I just jumped in the truck & got out when we got there. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday I’ll be able to find those homes again & see how their progress is coming along,, cleaning up, then rebuilding their homes.
In the newspaper there are articles about progress being made with regards to local government response & determining who has rights to financial help,,, property owners who can produce some kind of written proof of title & land ownership, or the people who were renting…
After that I set up a meeting with the dean of the Political Science Faculty (for tomorrow) and went home.
Adi (my 20 year old younger brother) just made a 3-minute film for class & showed it to me. I’m impressed! Between 8 of them, it took two weeks to put together a 3-minute film. Lot of work. And for a 1st film, it was pretty good! A comedy,,, about a guy who appeared to be proposing to a girl on a park bench,,, who responds, “I’m sorry,,, but no.” In his pain, the boy turns his head- to find another pretty girl sitting one bench over- smiles & asks her,,, “will you?... help me complete today’s crossword puzzle?” Nice bait & switch comedic misdirection over an effort to fill in the daily crossword. (=
For dinner tonight, Nina & I took Nana (my host family aunt) to the same restaurant we ate at last night. (the finger food place) It was still a fun ambiance, but with a very different dynamic. The girls had a great time laughing,,, possibly at my expense (= figuring out ways to make my trip to Nina’s hometown this weekend as difficult a “meet the parents” experience as possible…
“He’s a Marine right? Make him do push-ups! No, no! run around the biggest soccer field in town. Oh wait! Get him to fix the car in the garage, then clean the gutters, shop at the market, and paint the back room!”
eh, yeah… Thanks Nana. “Don’t let me forget to invite you out to dinner next time!”
I’m glad someone was enjoying the moment for what is sure to be an interesting adventure coming up this weekend! (=
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t nervous about meeting Nina’s parents until the jokes started coming out. They seemed to enjoy that just enough to force the nervous laughter out of me,,, what Javanese ‘prospective boyfriend candidate harassment package” tradition am I about to encounter? (=
The icing on the cake came towards the end of dinner- when I got a chance to speak with “dad” on the phone. I walked out by the rice field & introduced myself,, and we talked for about 10 minutes. I’m wondering how to avoid the 3 landmine subjects you never bring up on first dates: religion, politics & marriage. (not that I have a history of following my own advice here- I usually get sucked into interesting & controversial subjects quite easily) It went pretty well though, I thought. I think Nina is more nervous than I am. Ha ha. At least this is equal opportunity nerve-wrestling.
posted by jonathan adventures at 5:32 AM
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