It's the rainy season

I have no photos to post, because they don't do the scene justice, but it is POURING here right now. Like, the sky is dark grey and there are sheets of rain and wind.

I was told the rainy season started in November, and I was really looking forward to it, since Surabaya was kind of dusty and desert-y and really hot (in the 90s every day) when I first arrived in August. It honestly didn't rain at all until about late November. Then, it started to rained about once a day, but just for a half hour or so, and not that much. I was a little disappointed.

Now, I think it's safe to say that this city is in full rainy-season mode. The rain still hits once a day, but it's always a downpour, it lasts for at least a few hours, and often includes thunder and lightning. I just look outside my window and feel thankful to be indoors. I'm glad it's finally the rainy season. I just have to time my day around it carefully!

If it ends with martabak, it's OK.

Last Friday, January 11, as a favor for a friend of a friend, I went out to visit a pesantren (Muslim boarding school) in Lamongan, which is about two hours outside of Surabaya. While I wasn't especially looking forward to this trip because I knew it would take all day (I was doing two presentations, one for the students and one for the teachers), I figured it would be a good chance to explore a little outside of Surabaya. And in fact, the trip turned out better than I expected.

First of all, I got to try some local specialties: ental (the seed-looking things) and jemblek. The ental apparently comes from a palm, and it is peeled and eaten like a kind of gelatinous, flavorless fruit. I only had one bite. That was enough.

Ental and jemblek

Legen

 Then I got to drink legen, which is apparently made from the juice of the flower (?) of the same type of palm as ental. It was interesting--super sweet, and borderline alcoholic. Apparently if you let it ferment for a few days more, it becomes alcoholic.

Here I am, holding jemblek. As you can see, it's wrapped in palm leaf, which you have to unwrap to eat what's inside. What inside is...a brown, gelatinous, sweet goo. I was able to eat about three healthy bites before putting it down. I watched as local teachers wolfed down the sweet in seconds.

At this point, I'm sorry to say that I am less than impressed by Indonesian desserts. They are generally weirdly sweet, and almost always gelatinous. My favorite dessert so far is brem cake, and even that is made from something fermented. What gives?

Anyway, back to the story at hand. I had some local treats, and then ate lunch, which consisted mainly of seafood, since Lamongan is on the coast.

The black stuff is squid, there's some obvious fish in there (which is apparently a type of fish that's very common in the area), and the yellow stuff is shrimp mixed with coconut milk and...other stuff. It was all quite good! Had some difficulty with the bones of the fish, but I think I managed it alright.

Then, after lunch I got to meet some of the star students. These three girls were apparently the best in English from their class, and they were amazingly cute and sweet. At first they were shy, but after about ten minutes we were talking about music, classes, and marriage traditions. Ha.

Then came the actual presentation itself. Apparently the director of the school decided that I should only speak to the girls, since I'm a girl. Okay. Can't argue with that! Or can I?

Anyway, let me just say, that I have never felt this much like a rock star. I came on stage to this group of approximately 100 girls:

Who literally started screaming and shrieking as soon as they saw me. When I did the presentation, I asked for volunteers (NO ONE wanted to volunteer, argh), but when I walked into the audience to look for someone, they all started reaching out for me to shake their hands. So I started shaking their hands, and they all started screaming again. Whaa?? Is this how Justin Bieber feels at his concerts?

At the end, there was (as always) a question-and-answer period, and one group of girls in the front really wanted me to sing Adele's song "Someone Like You." This song is probably the most popular song in Indonesia right now. And somehow I still haven't learned it! So I kept saying no, sorry, until finally I decided I could attempt the chorus. So yes, I sang a, uh, passable, cover of Adele for this group, not to mention all the other random people who had gathered on the sidelines. Good times. At least it wasn't the Titanic song, I guess.

My last moment as a rock star occurred at the end, when I was almost attacked by girls who wanted to stand next to me for a photo. They were pushing and shoving each other, and I was getting jostled and squeezed, and almost fell over! Man, when the teacher who coordinated this told me that his students would be excited to meet a "Native Speaker," he wasn't kidding. I just hope made enough of an impression on a few of these adorable kids to push them to continue studying English and hopefully travel abroad someday.

On our drive back to Surabaya (a full eight hours after leaving it), we stopped for a quick photo shoot with the Java Sea. I've now been to the Java Sea (and I didn't even know it existed until I went there)!

Post Script: Before they dropped me off at my room, my hosts took me by a martabak stand to buy both one regular martabak (like an omelette--it's like an omelette, with egg and green onions in the middle) AND one sweet martabak (I had one of these in Bandung at the beginning of my stay; it's like a crepe on steroids). All for MEEEEEE.

Reflections on watching Les Miserables in Indonesia

This was my first time seeing Les Mis in any capacity. Warning: very minor spoilers below.

- First of all, Indonesians are known for starting everything late. Apparently not so with movies. I bought the ticket about two hours in advance, for a 16:30 (4:30pm) screening. Got there at 4:25, and the film had already started, past the credits and everything! My only guess is that the theater owners suddenly realized it was at 2 hours 37 minutes, and decided they’d better just start it now.

- Had to chuckle to myself when one of the guards asks Jean Valjean “Where are you traveling?” and the Indonesian subtitles were “Mau ke mana?” This is the question I am asked almost every time I go outside. For Indonesians, this is a common question to ask strangers; it’s similar to “How are you?” for Americans.

- Vive la France! = Hidup Perancis! Kind of loses something in translation….

- The scene where Jean Valjean is speaking in whispers to a gravedigger (I think?) because Javert is about to find him, and suddenly starts singing in a normal voice. The whole audience cracked up, and I couldn’t blame them.  The realism of a film makes it that much harder to suspend your disbelief.

- Main takeaway: Hugh Jackman’s haggard, extremely close-up FACE. Honestly, that’s the only image I can still clearly recall from the film. Oh, and I guess Eddie Redmayne’s annoying fish-mouth. Sorry, Eddie, that was harsh. 

Just booked

Five flights. All in the month of February. It's gonna be fun! Assuming I don't die in a fiery plane crash, as all of these airlines are most definitely NOT up to code.

Back from Bali

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook (all of you?) will have already seen my photos from the time I spent in Bali (December 21 - January 6). Two whole amazing weeks! The trip was basically as good as I'd hoped it would be. The following is a very unpoetic summary of how I spent those two weeks, written mostly so that I have some record of it. For the pictures, click here.

December 21 - December 25:

1. Flew in to Denpasar (the main airport in Bali). Met up with Holly, Tabitha, Jackie, and Jon (the other Fellows).
• Tabitha, Holly, and I were supposed to be picked up at the airport by the owners of the bungalow, so when no one showed up, we weren't really sure where to go. After more and more stressed-out searching, Tabitha finally found it! Although it was a little shabbier in person than the pictures, it was a very cute little spot, with our own (sort of murky green?) pool and tiny kitchen. 
2. During our time in Seminyak, we mostly just ate (at our favorite restaurant we discovered on the first day, Lanai--huevos rancheros!! Mexican food??!!!), swam in the pool, swam in the ocean (which was pretty polluted, sadly), and chilled on the lounge chairs reading books and trying to turn away vendors who kept coming by. Although I did end up buying a sarong and a manicure/pedicure. Yes, you can get a pretty decent pedicure on the beach! 
3. One foray that was more cultural: we visited Ulu Watu temple, which is a Balinese temple located right on a the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the ocean. It was a REALLY hot day, but the beautiful view made up for it. And the monkey that stole Tabitha's water bottle out of her hand and drank it like a human. 
4. Spent the last night in the Seminyak area at a different hotel, since the bungalow was booked for Christmas night. Pro: an actually clean pool to swim in. Con: we had to split up into different rooms.

December 26 - 28:

1. Moved to Oka Wati Hotel (a little tropical paradise in itself!) in Ubud, away from the coast, but more of the "cultural center" of Bali. SUCH A COOL SPOT. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a totally new place (whereas Seminyak had still felt kind of like Indonesia, despite the increased number of scantily-clad bules). 
2. Did practically nothing except walk around the streets, shop a little, get caught in the rain a little, and eat lots of delicious health food (wheatgrass juice, tofu, semi-healthy pizza).

December 28:

1. My friends left super-early this day, while I stuck around to meet my parents the next day. Signed up for a jewelry-making workshop at silver store, for $35. Didn't realize how much work goes into making a ring! But glad that I essentially got to make exactly what I'd wanted: three narrow rings, one plain, one with a stamped triangle pattern, and one with a small peridot gemstone on it. The teacher may have been a little frustrated with me (although he didn't show it) because 1. apparently putting a small gemstone on a ring is kind of difficult, so he had to help me a lot, and eventually did it himself, and 2. when I polishing one of my rings by holding it up to a really-fast spinning buffering machine, I accidentally let go of the ring, and it flew out of my hands, and the teacher had to take apart the whole room looking for it. Oops. 

December 29 - January 3

1. Morning of parents' arrival: paid to be part of a guided hike up to the top of Mt. Batur, one of the more famous peaks of Bali (other than Mt. Agung, which turned out to be way too high for me to attempt). Got picked up at 3am, and met the other members of my group, which were all coincidentally single travelers about the same age as me! One French guy now living in Melbourne, one Canadian, and one Singaporean girl also living in Melbourne. We had a great, relatively-fast-paced hike up in the light of a full moon and amazingly clear skies. Watched the sun rise over Mt. Agung at about 6:15am. 
2. PARENTS ARRIVE! Woo hoo! They checked in to the Oka Wati, where they booked a family room, which meant that I have to sleep in a separate, tiny bed meant for a child. 27 years old and sleeping in the kid's bed with my parents. Ah well.
3. Highlights from their trip:
• Went to see a dance/music performance three nights. First night: Legong (Balinese) dance and music. Second night: Shadow puppet performance at the store where my mom took a Balinese instruments music class. The puppet show was hilarious because it was definitely adapted for the foreign tourists; a lot of it was in English, and it was only an hour long (traditional puppet shows go literally all night long). Third night: Saw a children's performance of Legong dance, with an all-female gamelan orchestra. 
• Took an all-day eco bike tour around Bali with my dad, where we got to eat breakfast at a lookout of Mt. Batur and Mt. Agung, then bike to a "kopi luwak" (civet coffee) farm and sample lots of varieties of coffee and teas and fruits. Then biked down to get a tour of a typical Balinese home (where the people were still living and working, weaving bamboo), then walked around a gorgeous rice paddy and helped harvest the rice a little, and then saw a banyan tree. Finally, we chose to take the last leg of the ride uphill (you can choose if you want downhill or uphill for the last leg) and nearly died biking uphill in direct sunlight about at 2pm in the afternoon. 
• Visited the ARMA (Agung Rai Museum of Art), an art gallery of traditional and modern Indonesian art. Took a batik-making class with my mom, who I talked into giving it a try. Her batik turned out gorgeous, and mine turned out OK. She did a Japanese-inspired pattern, and I did a picture of an Indonesian cat (with the stubby tail). 

January 3 - 6 

1. Took a taxi to Sanur, a coastal city on the southeast tip of Bali. Arrived there in a HUGE downpour, and had to run into our hotel room and hide out until the rain stopped, a few hours later. Went to a delicious legit Italian restaurant, called Massimo's, where we had two dishes of pasta, pizza, and tiramisu and gelato. YESSS. At dinner, we walked to a restaurant that sold, according to Lonely Planet, the best banana smoothie in all of Bali. It was pretty darn good. AND they had live jazz! that was good!
2. Went snorkeling in the partial sun, saw some beautiful fish just 5-minutes' boat ride from the shore. Sadly, because the weather was pretty cloudy, they didn't look quite as vibrant as one might hope, but we were still satisfied after an hour of snorkeling. 
3. Walked around town and had a few meals right on the beach, including a traditional Balinese meal of fried snapper. It was aiight. (I still preferred Italian--my parents indulged me and we went back to Massimo's on our last night.)
4. On our last day in Bali, we tried to go snorkeling again, because the sun seemed to be stronger, but after taking the boat out for about an hour and not finding anywhere good to get out (the waves were too choppy), we gave up and came back. And then caught the flight back to Surabaya! (I use an exclamation mark here, but in reality, we were all a little bummed to leave Bali.)

January 6 - 8

1. Back at the Surabaya Sheraton (lap of luxury!), we shopped for a batik for my dad (it's REALLY hard to find batik patterns that don't look ridiculous back in the States), then got pretty decent Japanese food at Sushi Tei, a chain upscale restaurant in the huge mall, Tunjungan Plaza. 
2. On our only full day together in Surabaya, my mom unfortunately had a flare-up of her eye infection that she'd had before leaving the States, so she wasn't up to people seeing her with red eyes, and chose to stay home. My dad and I went to my school to get a tour of the campus and meet my two counterparts, Bu Wahju and Pak Milal. They then took us to see the second-largest mosque in Indonesia, Masjid Al-Akbar, where we got to go up in the minaret and see a pretty decent view of the city. My counterparts even drove us all the way back to the hotel, where my mom was able to come down and meet them briefly.
3. On the last night, we all went to see a ludruk performance (the traditional East Javanese music performance that tells a story), where Steve, the Fulbright researcher, was playing in a live radio broadcast for RRI (Radio Republik Indonesia). 
4. At 4am, my parents left the hotel room to catch a flight at 6am, and safely flew home. And I went back to campus. Sniff. Back to reality. But first I got to eat the all-you-can eat meal at the hotel and use the free gym. 

Mom and Dad, I had a wonderful time with you! Come book soon, OK?