My first few days in my new place in Yogyakarta were a little rocky. But, I’ve come to accept some of the quirks, chalking them up to personality of this place. The water heater tends to “pop” with a flame that I narrowly dodge with each use. I am pretty sure I have some unwanted company in the form of beg bugs, and my electricity goes out every time I use my electric teapot. But, really, overall it’s a great place with beautiful grounds, a quaint neighborhood, and AC. I love it. In the evenings I walk down a narrow street to a café where I join a crowd of teens who check facebook, drink coffee, and smoke. I pretty much fit right in, minus the smoking.
Our complex provides for a nice little community. We’ve already said goodbye to one character, who I wish had been here long enough for Todd to meet. He’s a Swedish professor who assigns different types of liquor to the various days of the week. I met him on Saturday before he went out for beer (Sunday is whiskey and Monday is wine, that’s all that I remember). A large, white 'boule' (slang for white person), his field is the psychology of religion, and somehow he manages to research the psychology of extremism by interviewing fundamentalists in Indonesia. He commands attention, not just by way of his size, but through his humor and candid self-assuredness (this is why I think Todd would find a match in him).
My neighbors to the right, Paul and Nancy, are incredibly kind and hospitable. They have introduced me to a lovely pizza place that serves thin crust pizza (the way pizza should be) and a clutch market which sells imported goods such as Grana Padano cheese, Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream, and muesli. We’ve enjoyed a few porch conversations since I’ve been here.
When Todd comes to stay in June, we may move upstairs to a larger place. While the larger apartment has a deck, it lacks all the lush greenery that I see from my porch downstairs. I was glad to hear that Ibu Sudarno, our landlord, is planning to buy plants if we move. Apparently there were potted plants there, but some neighbors had a mischievous pet monkey who came and threw all the plants from the porch to the courtyard below. The monkey is no longer around, so I think she feels the new plants will remain in their proper place.
Beyond the flora and fauna we enjoy at “Bu Darno’s” place, we also enjoy the company of Tom, a sweet doxon who moves from porch to porch in search of affection. There’s some discussion, even debate, about Tom’s religious affinity. The property is located across the street from a mosque. Certain tenants are worse off than others in terms of being disturbed by the calls to prayer, which come five times each day, beginning at 4:30 a.m. I am often a little jolted by the first sound from the megaphone. As it turns out, so is Tom. He begins a low wailing, as if he is the distant accompaniment. He continues howling, pausing to catch a breath, before beginning again. The Swedish prof believes this is Tom’s rant and protest, concluding that Tom is a Christian canine. I happen to think he is in fact a Muslim. I am pretty sure he faces Mecca, but I am not totally confident in my sense of direction just yet. Another neighbor, who happens to be the expert or guru (Indonesian word for ‘teacher’) for religion on Java, reminds me that Muslims consider dogs to be unclean. Oh well.
Bu Darno is a darling little lady who loves the company of her tenants. Today she met me at a nearby university where I can take more language classes once my intensive course is over. From there we rode the bus to the mall and went grocery shopping. We concluded our outing with McFlurries. I am finding all the comforts and company I need at all the right times.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
KL
Prior to leaving the U.S., it wasn't looking like I was going to complete my immigration paperwork in time to attend the Southeast Asian Regional Fulbright conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fortunately, with the help of AMINEF, my paperwork came through in time for me to leave the country on the proper permit.
Batu Caves, Hindu Shrine and tourist attraction [where I had the unexpected and unfortunate experience of performing a Bollywood dance]
The conference pulled together the research grantees and the senior scholars who are teaching in the region. Projects range from research on myopia (near sightedness) in Singapore to the correlation between the health of people and the environment in West Papua; from the role of art in nation building in Laos, to the over the counter stock market in Vietnam; from the significance of the dhole (wild dog) in Thailand to involuntary resettlement in Metro Manila, Philippines. I met the other grantees in Indonesia and we shared some stories. I am the most recent arrival, so I gleaned a lot from people who've been conducting research for some time.
KL struck me as a quieter, more pristine city. But, I was very glad to return to Jakarta.
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
The Petronas Towers that are featured in the film "Entrapment"
Batu Caves, Hindu Shrine and tourist attraction [where I had the unexpected and unfortunate experience of performing a Bollywood dance]Monday, March 16, 2009
Celebrating a Belated International Women's Day
This is a better-late-than-never post on the celebration of International Women’s Day (March 8). I celebrated by way of a few events last Wednesday.
At the conference on advancing women in Muslim societies, the audience warmed to the remarks of Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Director of the Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Aceh. He scrapped the carefully crafted speech his staff wrote for him on the topic of gender in Islam. He opened with an anecdote instead, one that conveniently celebrated the role of women in communities in the developing world, in this case, Aceh. He described water use and the need to maintain clean water supplies. He said, if you want to see something done for the community (and I am paraphrasing here), you turn to the women. I am very intrigued with the reasons why this is a reality. It seems, in the world of development, this is a given.
Sitting next to me at the conference was one of the foreign service officers from the U.S. embassy. She invited me to reception for a women’s social club, Soroptimist, at the home of the Deputy Chief of Mission (U.S. Embassy, Jakarta) that night. Fortunately (again this is Jakarta), he lives in the general area where my hotel is located. The event marked International Women’s Day with a short program and time to mingle with prominent women in Jakarta. Among other things, I learned a very important lesson—“casual dress” in Indonesia is not the same as “casual dress” in the U.S. Fortunately I had opted for a decidedly “snappy casual” black dress pants, printed shirt, and heals.
The DCM shared briefly about the success of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Indonesia in mid-February. While there were some protests surrounding her visit, I am told most people were very excited that she came. I heard from someone else that her visit here was the most successful of the trips she made. The DCM quoted the refrain she repeated at many of the events here in Indonesia. “If you want to know if Islam, democracy, modernity and women’s rights can coexist, go to Indonesia,” (story). It’s no wonder that the U.S. would be interested to see what happens here and how these things may coalesce elsewhere.
There's still room for growth, as there is in any democracy. As Indonesia nears a legislative election (April 9), it’s that clear representation of women in the political sphere is lacking. There is a law that states that 30 percent of the candidates running must be women, but it’s not likely this will amount to women actually filling seats in the legislature.
After meeting a good number of women and men who are advocating for the advancement of women, I am feeling very encouraged and grateful to be in a place where progress is visible, if slow at times. Here's to women everywhere...
At the conference on advancing women in Muslim societies, the audience warmed to the remarks of Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Director of the Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Aceh. He scrapped the carefully crafted speech his staff wrote for him on the topic of gender in Islam. He opened with an anecdote instead, one that conveniently celebrated the role of women in communities in the developing world, in this case, Aceh. He described water use and the need to maintain clean water supplies. He said, if you want to see something done for the community (and I am paraphrasing here), you turn to the women. I am very intrigued with the reasons why this is a reality. It seems, in the world of development, this is a given.
Sitting next to me at the conference was one of the foreign service officers from the U.S. embassy. She invited me to reception for a women’s social club, Soroptimist, at the home of the Deputy Chief of Mission (U.S. Embassy, Jakarta) that night. Fortunately (again this is Jakarta), he lives in the general area where my hotel is located. The event marked International Women’s Day with a short program and time to mingle with prominent women in Jakarta. Among other things, I learned a very important lesson—“casual dress” in Indonesia is not the same as “casual dress” in the U.S. Fortunately I had opted for a decidedly “snappy casual” black dress pants, printed shirt, and heals.
The DCM shared briefly about the success of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Indonesia in mid-February. While there were some protests surrounding her visit, I am told most people were very excited that she came. I heard from someone else that her visit here was the most successful of the trips she made. The DCM quoted the refrain she repeated at many of the events here in Indonesia. “If you want to know if Islam, democracy, modernity and women’s rights can coexist, go to Indonesia,” (story). It’s no wonder that the U.S. would be interested to see what happens here and how these things may coalesce elsewhere.
There's still room for growth, as there is in any democracy. As Indonesia nears a legislative election (April 9), it’s that clear representation of women in the political sphere is lacking. There is a law that states that 30 percent of the candidates running must be women, but it’s not likely this will amount to women actually filling seats in the legislature.
After meeting a good number of women and men who are advocating for the advancement of women, I am feeling very encouraged and grateful to be in a place where progress is visible, if slow at times. Here's to women everywhere...
Monday, March 9, 2009
On the road in Jakarta
Jakarta is right up there among the most populous cities in the world, and getting around is often a learning experience in itself. I’d like to describe some road-related phenomena I’ve come to appreciate.
Jockey anyone? Much like LA, Jakarta is known for its traffic and congestion. Indonesians have some creative, indeed ingenious ways to manage this. If you are alone in the car or with only one other person between those brutal commuting hours (7-10 am or 4:30-7pm) you might see men waiving at you as you pass them on the road. They are there to be hired so that you can travel in the lanes that require three or more people in a vehicle. You pay them to fill a seat so that you can use the carpool lane. They are called "jockeys." Brilliant. Given the push for job creation in the US, I hope to see such a workforce develop for the 134, 210, and 405. Jump on it.
Back it up This is one that I could have benefitted from on Allen Avenue. My neighbor (who happens to be named Allen) and I backed into each other while we were trying to avoid cross traffic. Unfortunately, it happened twice. Uh, yeah. It doesn’t help that our driveways nearly align and our street is pretty busy. Needless to say, I was particularly taken with the notion of paying someone to stop traffic so that you can back up and safely enter the flow. Once you’ve backed up, you just hand over the rupiahs. I’m not sure what this service goes for around here. I will look into that.
Sleeping Police I was riding with Ibah the other day and noticed we had just passed over a speed bump. I asked her what these are called in Indonesian. She said “polisi tidur” or “sleeping policeman” because even though they are just lying there, they still disturb you. Awesome. We need more a more creative name in the US. [Incidentally, I suspect this would make for an interesting coffee table book--Bumps, Humps, and Bothers around the World: images of a global predicament. Todd, note that for your list of photo projects.]
Mostly, I ride in taxis and most of the time this works out okay for me. More on that in another post. In the meantime, I realized I took a short video of the street in front of my hotel last week. Todd, this was before your helpful critique that I should make longer videos and put myself in them. So, while this is longer, I am not in this video. But, you’ll see the variety of means of transport here. I also have since learned the vehicle I note in the video is called a bajai (pronounced with an "i" at the end rather than an "a")...my how much has changed since last week.
Jockey anyone? Much like LA, Jakarta is known for its traffic and congestion. Indonesians have some creative, indeed ingenious ways to manage this. If you are alone in the car or with only one other person between those brutal commuting hours (7-10 am or 4:30-7pm) you might see men waiving at you as you pass them on the road. They are there to be hired so that you can travel in the lanes that require three or more people in a vehicle. You pay them to fill a seat so that you can use the carpool lane. They are called "jockeys." Brilliant. Given the push for job creation in the US, I hope to see such a workforce develop for the 134, 210, and 405. Jump on it.
Back it up This is one that I could have benefitted from on Allen Avenue. My neighbor (who happens to be named Allen) and I backed into each other while we were trying to avoid cross traffic. Unfortunately, it happened twice. Uh, yeah. It doesn’t help that our driveways nearly align and our street is pretty busy. Needless to say, I was particularly taken with the notion of paying someone to stop traffic so that you can back up and safely enter the flow. Once you’ve backed up, you just hand over the rupiahs. I’m not sure what this service goes for around here. I will look into that.
Sleeping Police I was riding with Ibah the other day and noticed we had just passed over a speed bump. I asked her what these are called in Indonesian. She said “polisi tidur” or “sleeping policeman” because even though they are just lying there, they still disturb you. Awesome. We need more a more creative name in the US. [Incidentally, I suspect this would make for an interesting coffee table book--Bumps, Humps, and Bothers around the World: images of a global predicament. Todd, note that for your list of photo projects.]
Mostly, I ride in taxis and most of the time this works out okay for me. More on that in another post. In the meantime, I realized I took a short video of the street in front of my hotel last week. Todd, this was before your helpful critique that I should make longer videos and put myself in them. So, while this is longer, I am not in this video. But, you’ll see the variety of means of transport here. I also have since learned the vehicle I note in the video is called a bajai (pronounced with an "i" at the end rather than an "a")...my how much has changed since last week.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Getting down to it
As many of you know, my project is designed to survey young Muslim women to determine the factors that undergird women’s involvement in peacebuilding and interfaith dialogue. It sounds broad, and it is broad. I came expecting to narrow and hone my research questions as I began life on the ground.
On Thursday I visited with my friend, Ibah, who I met at the East West Center in Hawaii a few years ago, as well as my assigned counterpart at the State Islamic University (UIN) here in Jakarta. I walked away with a list of more contacts for my research and an opportunity to attend an upcoming regional conference “Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Societies” this Wednesday. I rode with Ibah to her house in East Jakarta and enjoyed further discussion on Indonesia’s world of faith-based activism.
Months ago, Ibah initiated a bi-weekly gathering of lecturers who meet to present on various topics in English with the aim of developing English skills. While they speak English with relative ease, they are interested in gaining even stronger competency in comprehension, writing, and presentation as these skills are particularly valuable for their academic pursuits. If they can publish in English, they are able to share their research with a wider audience. I had agreed to participate in these discussions when she told me about them back in the fall.
On Saturday I had a chance to present my project proposal to this group and they in turn gave input, answered my questions, and confirmed or corrected my assumptions. Ibah invited people on faculty in various schools at UIN who have background in theology, peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and gender studies, and all of whom are associated with Nadhaltul Ulama, one of the two major Muslim organizations in Indonesia (the second is Muhammadiyah). I picked up a bunch of definitions, distinctions, and suggested reading. We also laughed a lot. I think my contribution for the night was the word “ascends” to describe what happens when the Prophet Muhammad or Jesus returns to the sky. That should tell you something--truly, I was on the receiving end for the majority of the discussion.
I had some knowledge of feminist or pro-gender readings of the Quran in Indonesia and the organizations advancing these hermaneutical stances, but because I don't know Indonesian, I have been missing out on a world of scholarship. I feel like I am walking into a room where hundreds of people have been conversing for the evening. I’m weighing which conversation to join and what kind of contribution will be realistic. Fortunately, they are making a spot in the circle for me.
We meet again tomorrow and I am looking forward to it.
On Thursday I visited with my friend, Ibah, who I met at the East West Center in Hawaii a few years ago, as well as my assigned counterpart at the State Islamic University (UIN) here in Jakarta. I walked away with a list of more contacts for my research and an opportunity to attend an upcoming regional conference “Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Societies” this Wednesday. I rode with Ibah to her house in East Jakarta and enjoyed further discussion on Indonesia’s world of faith-based activism.
Months ago, Ibah initiated a bi-weekly gathering of lecturers who meet to present on various topics in English with the aim of developing English skills. While they speak English with relative ease, they are interested in gaining even stronger competency in comprehension, writing, and presentation as these skills are particularly valuable for their academic pursuits. If they can publish in English, they are able to share their research with a wider audience. I had agreed to participate in these discussions when she told me about them back in the fall.
On Saturday I had a chance to present my project proposal to this group and they in turn gave input, answered my questions, and confirmed or corrected my assumptions. Ibah invited people on faculty in various schools at UIN who have background in theology, peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and gender studies, and all of whom are associated with Nadhaltul Ulama, one of the two major Muslim organizations in Indonesia (the second is Muhammadiyah). I picked up a bunch of definitions, distinctions, and suggested reading. We also laughed a lot. I think my contribution for the night was the word “ascends” to describe what happens when the Prophet Muhammad or Jesus returns to the sky. That should tell you something--truly, I was on the receiving end for the majority of the discussion.
I had some knowledge of feminist or pro-gender readings of the Quran in Indonesia and the organizations advancing these hermaneutical stances, but because I don't know Indonesian, I have been missing out on a world of scholarship. I feel like I am walking into a room where hundreds of people have been conversing for the evening. I’m weighing which conversation to join and what kind of contribution will be realistic. Fortunately, they are making a spot in the circle for me.
We meet again tomorrow and I am looking forward to it.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
In the neighborhood
The past few days brought a whirlwind of visits to various offices--police, internal affairs, ministry of research and technology, and immigration. I am still following up with these offices this week. Here are some photos of what I have seen of Jakarta thus far. The photo below was taken from the roof of my hotel.
Between the rain showers yesterday I visited Obama's childhood school, here in the vicinity. As you can imagine, most every taxi driver in the city knows where the Besuki school is located. Beyond the plaque on the front gate, there's nothing screaming "US president attended this school," which is what I was I was doing (in my head).
Between the rain showers yesterday I visited Obama's childhood school, here in the vicinity. As you can imagine, most every taxi driver in the city knows where the Besuki school is located. Beyond the plaque on the front gate, there's nothing screaming "US president attended this school," which is what I was I was doing (in my head).
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Departure and Arrival
For all the planning and preparation this trip has required, you'd think I'd know to plan for the actual departure. Todd and I arrived at LAX around 6:35 Friday morning so that he could drop me off before work. He needed to leave just after 7. I had falsely assumed that I'd be flying out of Tom Bradley, the international terminal, when I really needed to be at United, terminal seven. We had already parked, unloaded, and walked to Tom Bradley. In our pre-dawn rush Todd reframed the situation, suggesting the confusion was a welcome distraction from our departure from one another. Let's hope our parting was a little quicker, and perhaps less painlful.
It was somewhere over the Pacific in route to Tokyo that I had what felt like a small panic attack, but may have been attributable to typical discomforts one feels when flying. I think the symptoms resemble one another. My watch was still set for California time (another mistake), and I kept imagining Todd returning from work, the piles of items I left behind, and the cats' food dish that might need replinishing. I guess I was grieving a loss of the familiar and fearing the unfamiliar. I got up from my seat, had a little pep talk in the bathroom, and took Tylenol Simply Sleep (in case you are wondering this is only a sleeping agent and is not a pain reliever).
In some ways travel time allows for a transition of mindset. A layover in Singapore helps too. I arrived in Singapore around midnight Singapore time. As if I needed more reasons to love Singapore than my dear colleague, Leslie, the Singapore airport gave me another. I checked into a transit hotel (rooms in the terminal that are booked for 6 hour slots) where I slept horizontally again. In the morning I drank a cafe vanilla at Coffee Bean thinking it might be my last (but I later found out they are in Jakarta too). I decided to exchange my US dollars to rupiahs before flying to Jakarta. After I handed over the bills the conversation began:
"Miss are you a millionaire?"
[I was expecting some personal questions from Indonesians, but not of the financial nature and not from a stranger in Singapore] "Um what do you mean?"
"I am just asking about your financial background," he said slightly sheepishly.
"Oh well, no, I am definitely not a millionaire." [Where is this going?]
"Now you are," he said grinning.
Relieved, I started laughing and he did too. Rupiahs hit the million mark when you exchange $100. Not only did I feel like a millionaire after rest and coffee, I was one. I felt ready to depart for Jakarta.
Flying over the islands that make up Indonesia, I remembered the things that excited me about this trip. I remembered that there is often joy in the unfamiliar and the only way to know for sure would be to try it out. Now in Jakarta, I am still feeling pretty good. With the help of Nelly from the Fulbright commission, I have tended to some errands and acquired a handphone. These tasks alone would have taken a day if I had attempted them. Leaving one place and merging into another will continue to be my task for the days and weeks to come. I am not sure what that will mean, but so far the early mishaps have been met by more recent fortunes. And for that I am very grateful.
It was somewhere over the Pacific in route to Tokyo that I had what felt like a small panic attack, but may have been attributable to typical discomforts one feels when flying. I think the symptoms resemble one another. My watch was still set for California time (another mistake), and I kept imagining Todd returning from work, the piles of items I left behind, and the cats' food dish that might need replinishing. I guess I was grieving a loss of the familiar and fearing the unfamiliar. I got up from my seat, had a little pep talk in the bathroom, and took Tylenol Simply Sleep (in case you are wondering this is only a sleeping agent and is not a pain reliever).
In some ways travel time allows for a transition of mindset. A layover in Singapore helps too. I arrived in Singapore around midnight Singapore time. As if I needed more reasons to love Singapore than my dear colleague, Leslie, the Singapore airport gave me another. I checked into a transit hotel (rooms in the terminal that are booked for 6 hour slots) where I slept horizontally again. In the morning I drank a cafe vanilla at Coffee Bean thinking it might be my last (but I later found out they are in Jakarta too). I decided to exchange my US dollars to rupiahs before flying to Jakarta. After I handed over the bills the conversation began:
"Miss are you a millionaire?"
[I was expecting some personal questions from Indonesians, but not of the financial nature and not from a stranger in Singapore] "Um what do you mean?"
"I am just asking about your financial background," he said slightly sheepishly.
"Oh well, no, I am definitely not a millionaire." [Where is this going?]
"Now you are," he said grinning.
Relieved, I started laughing and he did too. Rupiahs hit the million mark when you exchange $100. Not only did I feel like a millionaire after rest and coffee, I was one. I felt ready to depart for Jakarta.
Flying over the islands that make up Indonesia, I remembered the things that excited me about this trip. I remembered that there is often joy in the unfamiliar and the only way to know for sure would be to try it out. Now in Jakarta, I am still feeling pretty good. With the help of Nelly from the Fulbright commission, I have tended to some errands and acquired a handphone. These tasks alone would have taken a day if I had attempted them. Leaving one place and merging into another will continue to be my task for the days and weeks to come. I am not sure what that will mean, but so far the early mishaps have been met by more recent fortunes. And for that I am very grateful.
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