Catching up: Kendari, Tana Toraja, and Ambon

Enormously Long Post Below!!

After I got back from the trip to Ijen Crater with Nina and Ellen, I headed off the following Thursday for "work". I really shouldn't put work in quotation marks because it makes me look bad, but...it certainly didn't feel like work! 

Kendari

First, I flew from Surabaya to Kendari, a pretty small town located in southern Sulawesi (Eastern Indonesia). I was headed there to be a counselor at a camp for the Access camp there, similar to the one I did back in November, but scaled down, since we were only putting it on for the kids at that school--16 in all! And we ended up with about 10 Americans on hand, as it turned out. So, other than leading the workshop I'd planned for about an hour, I didn't have too much to do. Which made for a lot of quality time catching up with the other Americans, happily enough. 

The site was right on the beach. 

Jackie brushes her teeth right next to the jungle.

Adorable baby goat (kid, I guess) and cat chillin' under a car. 

Hermit crabs! 

Deirdre and Autumn looking for hermit crabs. 

Enjoying the beauty. 

"My group" (the girls who were assigned to me) and their entry for the sand castle competition. Pretty nice, huh? It's actually modeled after a temple in Jogjakarta, Prambanan. 

Mid-day relaxing under one of the cabana-like structures. 

Making balloon dogs and balloon hats! Aren't they adorable? 

Tana Toraja

After the camp finished on Sunday, we took a short flight to Makassar, the biggest city in Sulawesi, and spent the free afternoon getting cream baths (eight of us at one time!) and eating dinner at a nice restaurant recommended by one of the Fellows who lives there, Ron. 

Cream bath action shot. (Jackie, Deirdre, and Christen)

Pre-head massage.

View from our dinner spot. 

The group at dinner. (Deirdre, Jen, Liz)

After dinner, we rushed back to catch our night bus to Tana Toraja. The bus left at 10pm, and arrived in Tana Toraja, a remote region in north Sulawesi, at 6am. We had tried to purchase VIP tickets, but they were apparently sold out, so we had to go with the regular price. We didn't think it would be too big a deal until we saw our seats...crawling with little cockroaches! You're allowed to eat on the night bus, and apparently all the dropped food led to a minor cockroach infestation. Gross. So since we had 8 hours to drive, and attempt to sleep, we did the best we could, putting on coats and trying to cover our faces in case they crawled on us. I actually managed to sleep quite well, thanks to the nice reclining chairs, and I didn't wake up at all to bugs crawling across my face! 

We arrived to Tana Toraja at 6am, and were promptly picked up and taken to our hotel, where we were thankfully able to check in immediately and shower. We decided we weren't too exhausted, so after getting breakfast, we hired a guide to take us around to all of the cool spots, and also to see a funeral.

So now a little background on Tana Toraja. It's a pretty cool area. Actually, that's an understatement. It's REALLY cool. So according to Wikipedia (yeah), Torajans are an indigenous group that has really unique, ancient funeral and burial traditions. Basically, as Lonely Planet says, the Torajans' lives revolve around death. So the big things to see there are funerals and burial sites. February is not the high season for funerals, so we were lucky (I guess? I'll explain why later.) to get the chance to attend one. 

The first place we visited was a site that felt like Disneyland. I don't know why, but it just did. Maybe the pictures can show why we felt that way. I'm honestly not really sure what it was; maybe it was just set up for tourists to see the traditional Torajan houses. But in any case, it was really pretty. 

Our cute hotel, Hotel Indra. (That's Christen waving across the way.)

In front of Disneyland. 

Beautiful intricate carving on the front of the houses. Yes, people actually live in there! 

Craftsman working at the gift shop. We all got suckered into buying stuff. It was so cool! 

There are almost always roosters carved at the top of the houses (see picture above). Roosters are a big deal, I guess! 

One of many water buffalo we saw. 

We walked to another area, where we could see some of the burial sites of the richest people in the community. Apparently they are buried above ground, since they have such elevated status. They also have wooden effigies carved of the people who died, which are typically painted and dressed to look like the deceased person. 

Recent effigies (finished three months ago, according to our guide.)

Wooden grave sites. 

Graves hung on a cliff. The graves periodically fall down, once the wood gets too old, so there are lots of human skeleton bones lying around! 

When we were walking back from this site, a human skull rolled by us, bouncing down the steps. We didn't know where it came from, and thought at first our guide might have thrown it to creep us out (he was kind of odd), but Jon was behind the guide, and didn't see him do it. So that was a pretty macabre event! 

After leaving this site, we stopped to buy a carton of cigarettes ($12) to give to the family whose funeral we were visiting. We then drove to the funeral, which was being held for someone who had died three years ago. Because it takes so much money to hold a funeral (multiple water buffalo (each costing about $5,000, according to our guide) and pigs are slaughtered, a new funeral site has to be built especially for the occasion), they aren't usually held until years after the person has died. 

I think was the members of the family walking up to their seating area. 

View from where we were sitting for the slaughtering. 

Yup. We saw animal get slaughtered. Well, I say "saw," but really, I just covered my eyes and my ears and looked away, and a few of the others did that as well. First they just brought out the pigs and a water buffalo. Our guide told us that they wouldn't be killing any animals till after, in a different area. And we told him we didn't want to see any animals sacrificed. But, wait--here comes a guy with a big machete! It looks like he's gonna slaughter them... yep... OK! Cover your eyes!! 

Going on minimal sleep, a few of us shed some tears. It was so surreal. Right after the killing was completed, we left. I'm not sure what we missed of the rest of the ceremony, since we didn't see all that much, but I was just happy to get out of there and see something else. 

Next up: Baby graves! Much more uplifting! 

Actually, it was pretty interesting. If a baby dies before it has any teeth, the parents dig a hole in this tree (or another tree, but I guess this is the traditional one), and put it in the hole, standing upright. 

Finally, we saw a few more interesting grave sites. 

One in a big cave: 

A big cave with human skulls. Smile!

View looking out from the cave. 

Walking to the cave. 

Wooden effigies inside the cave. 

Hanging grave sites. 

So yeah. A pretty great day to say the least. We were able to admire it even through our half-awake state. 

The next day, we just hung around the town, going out to lunch at a local Chinese food restaurant, and then shopping around a little for local fabrics. 

On our third and last day, we hired a driver to take us part of the way up a mountain to a little coffee stand, and then we walked the rest of the way along a road up to a nice hotel/lunch restaurant, where we could look out at the view a bit more. 

Beautiful views of rice terraces. 

Had to leave a mark that I was there. Can you spot it? 

Drinking tea while looking at the view. (Holly, Jackie, Deirdre, Christen, and Jon)

Hilarious English on the menu. I always expect my food to be coodled. 

Vicious (yet cute, of course) kittens waiting for table scraps. No really, if you even put your hand down there, you got clawed. They were desperate for food. 

At the end of the third day, we took the night bus back to Makassar, directly to the airport. No cockroaches this time! Hooray! We got dropped off at the airport at 5am, where we made a beeline for the Starbucks and immediately set up camp, piling up the luggage belonging to all seven of us, since it was too early to check in. From there, I flew with Jackie and Jon to....

Ambon

Last leg of my trip. I arrived to Ambon at around 1pm, and immediately found out from my ETA host, May May, that the class I was supposed to teach tomorrow (in order to use my program allowance for the trip) was cancelled, because she had just been told there was no class that day! Despite us planning this three weeks in advance, and telling all the staff there, no one decided to let us know there wasn't school until the day before. Ah well, so it goes. 

Thankfully, another opportunity came up: another ETA, Ben, on an island nearby, needed another judge for his Words competition (an English speech contest). I could do that and it would still count as work (hopefully!). 

So I stayed for the night in the house of May May and Leah, two very sweet girls. They live RIGHT on the water. With an amazing view from their patio: 

Leah standing on the porch of their house.  

View of the sunset from the porch. 

I should probably add a little information about Ambon. Ambon is pretty freakin' far east in Indonesia. It's the farthest east I'll get to go, since Papua isn't safe, and we're not allowed to go there. Ambon is part of the Maluku islands, which were the original islands colonized by the Dutch. These islands were the original Spice Islands, since nutmeg, cloves, and mace all originally came from here. These islands have also had a lot of civil unrest recently, since the Malukus don't actually want to be part of Indonesia anymore (similar to a lot of Indonesian islands, actually, like Papua and Banda Aceh). But right now, it's apparently safe enough to station four ETAs there to teach English. 

Anyway, the next day, I took an hour-and-a-half ferry ride from Ambon to the city of Masohi on the island Seram, where Ben lived, to spend the night before judging his Words competition the next day. 

View out of the side door of the ferry (they wouldn't let us on top). 

Masohi is a very small town, despite its being the biggest town on the island. You can walk or take a becak (pedicab) anywhere in the town. As Ben said, pretty much the only thing to do is go to the internet cafe or drink sopi (the local alcohol) on your stoop. Yes, alcohol is acceptable there! Crazy. 

The English teachers at Ben's school wanted to welcome me and Leah, so they were kind enough to invite us over to one of the teacher's houses, where we had a traditional Malukan meal. The highlight (I suppose one could call it that) was papeda, which is the white-ish substance that looks kind of like porridge at the top of the table in this picture: 

There's a much clearer, and more unappetizing, picture of it on Wikipedia if you're interested. Anyway, it's this glutenous stuff that they scoop up onto your plate, and you put colo-colo, a pretty good, vinegary spicy sauce on it, and slurp it all up, ideally without using utensils or even your hands. Thankfully, because I was the foreign guest, I was allowed to use a spoon to eat it. Sorry, no photos of that! 

After dinner, Leah and I went to Ben's house to try sopi. I was so amazed that we were allowed to drink it in public, with all his neighbors around! It thought it was pretty gross. But I was still excited to do it! 

After spending the night at a hotel, since no women are allowed in Ben's house, we walked to his school in the morning to judge. It was a lot of fun. There were thirteen contestants, who were all supposed to speak on the topic of "What can Indonesian Youth Teach the World?" 

Leah and me being Important Judges.  

The winner. He made a tear-inducing tower of "Indonesia's Dreamers," with him and his classmates at the top. 

Ben took all the contestants out to lunch afterwards. Delicious fresh fish! 

Ben's school, with one of the more camera-loving students illustrating. 

I had to take the ferry back by myself, since I had to had back to fly home the next day. I took an ojek (motorbike you jump on the back of) all by myself! Don't worry Mom, I wore a helmet. Most of the times. But man, traveling by motorcycle is a pretty great way to see the sights. You can look all around. 

The last evening, May May and I took an angkot (a little public van) to the local beach, where we got fresh rujak and coconut juice. Rujak is essentially fruit salad (pineapple, starfruit, mango) covered with a spicy, sweet peanut sauce. SO GOOD. 

Lady making the rujak. 

Howbout another beach shot? 

May May eating the rujak. 

And why not a couple more beach shots? 

The next day, I flew back to Surabaya. And with that, my trip around the islands of eastern Indonesia ended. Looking back, I'm pretty amazed at how much I managed to do in the span of little more than a week. And how lucky I am to have this job! 

Catching up: Ijen Crater

A lot has happened since December. First, nothing happened. Or at least, it felt like nothing. I had about three weeks where I wasn't working (yes, I'm still on semester break at the university here, yes I feel guilty about it!), and just a few presentations/workshops here and there in local Surabaya schools. So a lot of time was spent in my room, watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. (I just got five seasons of it from a local ETA.)

I got so fed up with hangin' around Surabaya that I finally decided to try and organize a road trip with a few ETAs to somewhere of interest that was far, but not too far away to be a huge hassle. I looked in my Lonely Planet guidebook, and unfortunately, a lot of the cool touristy sites, like nature preserves and hiking areas, are not accessible during the rainy season, because it's just too dangerous. But Ijen Crater (Gunung Ijen) was supposed to be pretty hike-able even during the rainy season. So we decided to go there. It was supposed to be about a 5 to 6-hour drive, so we had to find a car and a driver to take us. My wonderful counterpart, Bu Wahju, made some calls, and was able to get us the university's car to use, free of charge, and then a friend of her husband's to drive us.

We were set! Me and two ETAs, Nina and Ellen, headed off on Friday afternoon, January 25. We drove five hours to a town near Ijen crater called Bondowoso, where we met up with a friend of my counterpart's, Bu Lia, who showed our drive how to get to Ijen, and also helped us find lodging and a place to eat dinner. She even paid for our dinners! Sheesh. The kindness of strangers, as my Fellow friend Deirdre would say.

We got up at 4am the next morning to drive the final 2 hours to the crater. On the way, we got to watch the sun rise over the nearby mountains.

Memories of Land Before Time. 

It turns out that another thing Ijen Crater is famous for (besides the cool crater) is its sulphur, for which men hike up the mountain several times a day to hack it out, carrying it back on their shoulders with a basket like this: 

According to my guidebook, these baskets typically weigh between 120 and 160 pounds!

We started up the trail, which, though not that long at 3km, took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. It was really steep most of the time, and that combined with the higher elevation forced us to stop every fifteen to twenty minutes to stop and catch our breaths. We were also really lucky that it hadn’t rained in a few days, since as you can see, the trail was mainly just dirt, and steep dirt at that! 

Nina and Ellen

Cool surrounding landscape. 

Finally, we reached the top! We were told to wear masks over our mouths to keep from breathing in too many sulphur fumes, but I took mine off for this lovely photo op. 

Me, Ellen, and Nina

The crater itself. Pretty cool, no?

We stopped on the way back at this little shack/stand to buy some cookies and instant coffee. It was nice to take a break and have some sort of breakfast before heading back down. 

There was also a weigh station for the men to weigh their sulphur loads. I tried to pick one up when the guy wasn’t looking….

After we finished the hike, it was only about 10am. We still had the whole rest of the day, and another night before heading back to Surabaya. So we decided to leave Bondowoso (a beautiful area, but there just wasn’t much to do there) in favor of driving part of the way back and spending the night in Malang, a fairly big city just two hours south of Surabaya. In that town, we got dinner at a nice restaurant connected to the Hotel Tugu (the nicest hotel in town!) and met up with Iris, the Fellow in Malang. She took us out to a nearby lounge, where we had fried banana and watched Rihanna music videos (more entertaining than it sounds!).

Fellow love. 

The next day, we drove to the town square, which is quite charming, got some Dunkin Donuts for our (second) breakfast, and then went to a spa place recommended by Iris to get massages. I got my first full body massage in Indonesia! $6 for one hour! I had to tell the lady literally three separate times to not massage me as hard, but I survived it pretty much intact and generally feeling better. I’m not so big on massages, but it seems like it’s a shame not to get them in this country, where it’s so common and so cheap!

Beautiful countryside. I miss this so much in Surabaya. 

More countryside out the front window of the car. 

"Alun-alun" (town square) of Malang.

So overall, I think everyone had a good weekend. Organizing this little trip was honestly more stressful than any of the workshops/seminars I’ve had to host here, but I’m glad we got to do it. 

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?