Slow Week

We've been taking it easy since we got back from Bali two weeks ago. The kids are back in their sports programs, I'm working, Karon's going to Bible study (devil's advocate?) It's been pretty slow.

Slow, like driving around Jakarta. I have three choices for getting to and from work each day: Driver, taxi, and Busway. Of these, the Busway is cheapest and fastest. The buses are clean and well maintained, but crowded. The buses run every couple of minutes, so you rarely have to wait long to catch one. The busway has its own dedicated lane (that's why it's fast). There are designated stations along the route for loading and unloading. A recording announces each stop in Bahasa, then English. I travel 10 stops to the office. I can now recite it from memory: Perhatian berikutnya: Halte Bunderan Hotel Indonesia. Barang bawa Anda, dan hati-hati melanka. Terima kasih. Next stop: Bunderan Hotel Indonesia. Check your belongings, and step carefully. Thank you.

Kecak!

OK, it's not authentic Balinese culture. But it's awfully cool.

Check the picture:

- Ancient Hindu temple on edge of cliff overlooking Indian Ocean

- Sunset

- Live wild monkeys

- Male Chorus (click to hear!)

- Babes in tight skirts

The dance tells the a story from the Ramayana, the longest poem in human literature. Basically, Prince loses princess, and attacks with an army of monkeys to win her back.

Beautiful Bali

Bali has to be the most beautiful island I have ever been to. We took full advantage of our visit by white water rafting down the Ayung River through rainforests filled with bamboo, palm trees, cliffs and waterfalls. It was a wild ride at times with class 2 and 3 rapids.

Later, Derek and I even tried parasailing, flying over the incredible sea and beaches of Bali. It was truly an unforgettable time, the natural beauty of the island mixed with mystical Hindu temples gives Bali a unique blend of relaxation and culture that I have never experienced before. We are anxious to go back again and explore more of the island before we leave Indonesia.

Hindu Cremation Ceremony

We spent Easter in Bali and one of the amazing things we did was attend a cremation ceremony. We were honored to be a part of a very wealthy man's funeral. Our guide explained that he was a business leader who could afford his own bright and brilliant tower (pictured left) for his casket to be carried down the streets in. Later his body was placed into a huge paper mache bull which represented how he would be carried to heaven and then the bull was lit on fire.

The thing that really touched me was that after his body was placed in the bull, the priest blessed it and family members went up and put small offerings into the bull with the man and each person thanked him for his life and what he had given. How different from our culture where if we go up it is more to say goodbye. From now on, I will remember to say a prayer of "Thank You" when someone dies to honor their life and the difference they made in the world.

Volcano!

This is a picture of Mt. Merapi from our hotel window in Yogyakarta on April 2.












Here is the very same mountain exactly two weeks later. How cool is that?

Confessions of a spa junkie

Indonesians seem to have this complete understanding that everyone needs a massage. Beautiful spas are plentiful but even the smallest village will have a sign or two nailed to a tree that says "Reflexology or Massage" with an arrow pointing down the street to some small house. If you know me at all you know I love anything spa related...pedicure, facial, peel, massage, you name it, I will do it. At home it is a treat experienced once in awhile. Here I can live like the Spa Queen I was meant to be! Typical prices for most things are less then $10. I actually have a delightful woman who comes to our apartment every Saturday to give me a one hour massage. But that is not enough for the Spa Queen, if I have any free time at all you will find me laying in some spa with fountains trickling in the back ground, jasmine scents wafting, and someone massaging my feet. Could this be paradise?? At least it makes up for the traffic and the trash.
-Karon

Happy Holidays!

The office was closed today, for the second time in two weeks, and we still have Good Friday yet to come this week. Let's hear it for diversity!

We have celebrated the following holidays this month:
Nyepi (Balinese Hindu) March 30. Balinese Hindus celebrate the coming of the new year with meditation. No activities are allowed to take place. These mandatory religious prohibitions include no pleasure (amati lelangon), no traffic (amati lelungan), no fire (amati geni) and no work (amati karya). Everybody has to stay in their individual houses. No lights in the house, no sounds of radio or entertainment of any kind, just complete silence. Even the airport and ferry service is closed for 24 hours. We celebrated this holiday by visiting the Buddhist Temple at Borobudur. No sense going to Bali, since the airport was closed.
Mawlid al-Nabi (Islam) April 10. This is the celebration of the birth of the prophet Mohammed. The most noticeable effect of the holiday for us was the absence of traffic and the unusually loud early morning call to prayer at 4:30 this morning.
Good Friday (Christian) April 14. This one you know about. We will celebrate this holiday by visiting Bali, where we will have a mini-Nyepi: No work, and maybe just a little entertainment.

If we throw in a Passover seder observance on Thursday night, we can observe each of the major world religions in this two week span - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Indonesian Basketball

Big weekend for basketball at the Senayan Sports Complex next door to our apartment, so Derek and I went. It was the Indonesian Basketball League, the top level of basketball in Indonesia. Observations:
- Venue: Senayan Hall Basket (its actual name) reminds me a lot of the old Brown County Arena before the renovated it. Seats about 4,000 (they probably had 3,000 people at the game we were at. No air conditioning, but the breeze through the two open ends was very refreshing.
- Fans: I'd say 3,000 total, most of them smoking kretek clove cigarettes. They were very vociferous, screaming through the whole game. I think most of them were cheering for both teams.
- Quality of Play: strictly high school. Play is very physical, since the refs don't call most pushing, nor a lot of hacking. Didn't see a single player who could shoot with his left hand. The play is enthusiastic though, and the crowd energy keeps things fun.

Everything you wanted to know about Indonesian basketball can be found here. Try out your Bahasa!

A real MaHOOT!

Got a chance to ride an elephant the other day. Talk about a HOOT! You are not even strapped in on this thing, you just have a handle bar to hold on to. I swear I was going to fall off a few times. Our mahoot, or driver, thought we were pretty amusing as I kept yelling "Wohoo!" every time we walked through a river or up a hill or through a herd of animals. Joel told me later that while he was riding with Claire, he whipered in her ear, "We are on the island of Java, riding elephants." Kinda amazing. Check Derek's blog for a picture of us riding the elephants!

Thanks to all blog responders, it has been another hoot to hear from all of you who check in regularly. Your personal emails and comments on the site have been fun to receive. Thanks for your interest.
-Karon
P.S. Sorry Joel tells all about my stomach ailments, those who know us well, know I can't control him!

A Full Day's Supply of Vitamin C

We get our fresh fruit from the Sogo supermarket. We shop there because the produce section smells the least like durian of any of the local supermarkets (Hero, Ranch, and Kemchicks). It also happens to be closest to us. Karon started out experimenting a lot with the different kinds of fruits - soursop, starfruit, rambutans, salak, duku, and a number of others that she didn't catch the name of. We are starting to settle on some of our favorites now, primarily papaya and watermelon (indonesians love watermelon). One of the other ex-pat wives gave Karon a trick for washing fruit that she uses on the things from the supermarket. It must be working. Karon had a three day gastronomic episode earlier this month, and Derek followed that with one of his own. Other than that, we've all been pretty healthy.

Here is a good web site if you want to check out the local produce.

Joel

Pining

Three months on the road now, and I'm pining for:
Frozen Pizza - OK, I can get Pizza Hut delivered here for cheaper than a frozen pizza back home, but there's nothing as comforting as having a stack of Tombstones at the ready in the freezer.
Eggs over Easy - the yolks are always hard here.
My Name is Earl
The Daily Show
Urban Planning - Bad urban planning is better than no urban planning at all.
Microwave Popcorn - They have this here, but it's over $1.50 a bag. We've gotten very good at making old-fashioned popcorn in the wok.
Twelve Packs - Everything's sold by the can here.


Joel

More Feedback Please!

We had three people send us nags last week about updating our blog. So we did. For a while there, we were wondering who was keeping tabs on us. Now we know.

So, gentle reader, please click on the Comments link at the bottom of each article and leave us a little motivational to let us know who our audience is out there. And for those of you who have left anonymous comments (you, unlike us, know who you are), we would like to thank you personally for your comments. But we can't. Because you're anonymous.

Pengamen

Pengamen are street musicians. We ran into this group at Borobudur. The melodies were recognizable, the style, well, consistent. The lyrics were an intriguing guess at the English words.



I helped these boys drum up some business...

Gave them a little help with the diction as the rains came in. (The band high-tailed it for cover as soon as we left. I hope they weren't standing in the rain just on my account).










Karon, of course, was quite bemused.

Borobordur

Traveling around Yogajakarta

Well we made our first venture outside of Jakarta and further in to the island of Java to Yogajakarta. There we went to Borbordur, an ancient Buddhist temple built in the 700's. It is amazing. Carvings line the stone walls as you travel upwards, showing the stories of Buddha. Each level represents a new level of enlightenment. As you reach the top, the carvings give way to large cones or stupas that each contain a Buddha. A larger single stupa rises from the center. This one represents total enlightenment...and it is empty. I made me think about all the things we want, or expect or work towards and how they really are meaningless or empty. To be content with nothing, to be happy with nothing, could that be perfection? I know that I am a long way from that type of enlightenment. But often as I travel through Indonesia, I am amazed at the smiles and laughter I see on the faces of the people in the street, maybe having less means having less to worry about.
As always my favorite moments as we travel around are the connections we make with the people. Running into a group of school children at the top of the temple who have an assignment to interview people in English and watching them realize they have hit the mother lode by having 4 Americans appear. Watching them ask Derek and Claire tons of questions about their lives and taking pictures of them was really a joy.
Having an old gnarled man take us around on his horse cart to other small temples in the area, having shop keepers literally chase our cart down the street offering us one more souvenir to buy. Going to a traditional wayang kulit puppet show and having a puppeteer show us how they are made and sharing all the different characters with us. Walking around in the Night Market after the show where old midway rides from the 40's still seem to provide the same smiles to it's riders, those are the moments that I love the best.