Wrapping Up

Firstly, forgive me for taking so long to post!  I’ve been working on a film for AIESEC UGM and will post it to this blog as evidence that I haven’t been blowing you all off!  I’m posting extra pictures to make it up to you all, I hope you enjoy.

So as this project is wrapping up, I’ve finally figured out my presentation.  My last school was probably the best school, in terms of my presentation.  I went to SMA K2, which is a technical school in Yogyakarta.  The students have been working on a project on HIV/AIDS, so my presentation was not my usual powerpoint + fun activities.  I had a discussion with the kids, with help from Riando as my translator! (Thanks Riando!)  When I asked the students what they thought of a person with HIV/AIDS (something I use to show people about prejudice), a girl responded to me, “we must fight the virus, not the people”.  I think she said it better than I could have.  My discussion with those kids really touched me, I was inspired by their knowledge, and impressed by the depth of their project.  I think one thing that makes HIV/AIDS such a challenging disease to fight is that people don’t really feel connected to it, there are no signs of it, and most people don’t talk about it.  I am very happy to see how the people that I’ve been working with have a drive to fight this virus. 

The project that I’ve been working on with UPN and UGM has finally come to an end.  The AIESECers here held an event to close the project, inviting some of the high schoolers to participate.  It was such a fun event!  One of the high schoolers preformed an East Javanese dance, my friend Dana and Cipta sang, and others spoke a few words.  

Now that the project is done, I decided to take a short holiday in Bali.  Whoohoo!  Cipta, Dana, Charlah and Tyo have been trying desperately to teach me how to drive a manual motor bike.  And I can finally say, that after 5 weeks, I finally feel comfortable diving one!  I think the two of my friends were preparing me for my Balinese motor bike extreme travel adventure… but… little do they know that the motor bike I rented is automatic. YES!  I flew into Denpasar a few days ago, made my way to Kuta, found some friends, and had some late night drinks for Christmas Eve.  On Christmas day I began my adventure, finding my way fairly easily with the help of a GPS my friend gave me in Yogya. 

I’ve spent the majority of my time in Bali in the area around Ubud.  Ubud is a very creative, fun, and colorful place.  I enjoy driving through the small town, finding my way to places like Monkey Forest, watching the monkeys play on the temples or try and scare me while I’m taking a photo.   

 

 

Bali is a very spiritual place.  Temples are everywhere!  Even traditional Balinese homes have temples in them.  Today I went to Goa Gajah, blessing myself with the water and entering a cave to find Ganesh, next I went to a sacred spring, bathing myself and taking some time to make a few prayers and offerings, then I went with my friend/tour guide to visit her family in a small town near Ubud. 

Tomorrow I have another big day.  I will travel to an area just outside of Ubud to see another temple before making my way to Mount Agung.  From Mount Agung, I will then travel back to Kuta to meet up with my friend Samantha, an Indonesian blogger and friend of mine, to finish my travels through Bali. 

Keeping the spirit up

A few days ago I got a late night text from the New Zealand EP, Ronnie, that was visiting Yogyakarta for the weekend.  Ronnie had only the weekend in Yogya and wanted to take an adventure to Borobudur!  Ronnie and I met early the next day to catch the bus to the world’s largest Buddhist temple.  Merapi exploded a few hundred years ago, covering the area in ash, killing many people.  The Dutch then rediscovered Borobudur.  Ronnie and I climbed the steps up Borobudur admiring the scenery around us, trying to piece together our knowledge on Buddhist thought.  After our trip, we arrived back in Yogya hungry and sunburned!  I met up with Dito and asked him about Borobudur.  He explained that there is a lower level to the temple that is underground because it is too vulgar to show.  I finished the night with Denise and Cipta at Kopi Joss, relating my Borodubur experience and learning about local street side food.     

As for the project, HIV/AIDS seems to be a difficult topic of conversation no matter where you are.  This week is my road-show around high schools in Yogya to educate youth about HIV/AIDS.  My first presentation did not go too well… I met up with some AIESECers to find ways to approach the topic in a better way.  I learned some Indonesian jokes, and made my presentation a little more lighthearted.  I was surprised that most high schoolers knew most basic facts about HIV/AIDS.  I had a portion of my presentation on HIV/AIDS in the U.S.  One girl asked me about Twilight and the impact “free-sex” has on youth in my country.  It was a difficult question for me to answer.  Her question forced me to think about how notions of sex and relationships may be very different cross-culturally.  A person in the U.S. may feel pressure to have sex before they enter University, while an Indonesian may be given a bad rep for having had sex before marriage.  Sex is complicated, no matter where you are.  What makes this experience so unique is that by working on an HIV/AIDS project, I have the opportunity to at least try and step into an Indonesians mind on their thoughts about sex, drugs, and pregnancy.  I am also working closely with a transgender organization here in Yogya, giving me a look at LGBTQ culture in Indonesia.  I know that these experiences, although very challenging, will make me a better person and a better advocate for social change.      

    

Cold Air

Dito, Mimi, Dephu, Anes, and I decided to take a weekend trip to Dieng, to escape the heat of Yogyakarta and experience some mountain air.  Dieng is in the highlands of central Java, and about a 5 hour car ride from Yogya.  A few needed food stops were also made along the way.  Dephu drove, and as a survivor of the ride, can attest to her abilities as a professional Indonesian driver.  Our road trip consisted of jamming out to an array of international music, with an occasional gasp on my part with our many close calls to large trucks speeding down the curving road.  We arrived in Dieng making our way to Anes’ home, had some hot tea, and went to the Hindu temple close to her home.  Exploring the area at night, we took our time enjoying the mountain scenery and fresh air.  We ended the night exchanging stories around a small coal fire, going to bed early as we planned to wake up at 4am. 

I was surprised at our ability to wake up fairly easily at 4am, having had less than 5 hours of sleep.  We wanted to experience sunrise in Dieng, with mountain top views, only if you can manage the hike at 4 in the morning.  It was worth it!  We made it up the cliff, just in time to see the first rays of light break the horizon.  Although there was a lot of cloud cover, we could see Merapi.  We spent some time on the cliff while people exchanging stories of Merapi’s recent volcanic eruptions.       

World AIDS Day

December 1, 2011 was world AIDS day!  Here in Yogya, AIESEC and some local NGOs got together to raise awareness.  We spent the day listening to music, having people perform, and also passing out HIV/AIDS ribbons.  It was fun!  Shelly and I went up on stage to introduce AIESEC.  I was a little nervous, and of course, Dito and the others loved pointing out how awkward I looked on stage! Haha!  Shelly helped me out by translating my short introduction into Bahasa.  The days antics were of course not short lived.  While grabbing lunch in the mall with Yoana and others, I heard, “Di Mana Alex?,” (Where’s Alex?) being called from the stage.  Apparently I was suppose to do an improve dance on stage.  I hid from the MCs and avoided my on the spot improve dance show.  However, the visiting AIESECers from Thailand were not as shy as I was.  At the end of the day, they got on stage and preformed a dance wrapping up the days events.

Sumatran Dance & Avocado Smoothies

One of my favorite things about Indonesia is the hospitality people have for foreigners, making it easy to find new friends.  Today my friend Charlah called me and invited me to UPN to watch a dance group practice for an upcoming performance.  Charlah had her friend come pick me up at Dito’s house.  My usual motorbike ride through the city was composed of hanging on tight to the back seat of a fast moving bike, weaving in an out of cars, and getting absolutely soaked by the daily thunderstorm in intense traffic.  It wouldn’t be an adventure if it didn’t include a little danger!  

After arriving at UPN, I met up with Charlah and the dance group.  Some of the dancers were also AIESECers that I had met at a meeting in the University a few days prior.  They were practicing a traditional dance from North Sumatra.  They seemed very prepared for their upcoming performance and decided to ask me, the bule (foreigner), to join in.  We clapped our hands together as they sang, and picked up the beat, faster and faster.  Our dance ended in laughter as some of us got confused with the fast tempo. 

Tyo and some others drove me back from UPN to my host families house.  I asked them if they wanted to come to Garden Juice, a local fruit juice bar near my house, to join me for a smoothie.  In Indonesia, avocado is considered a fruit and often mixed with chocolate and milk to make a fruit smoothie.  I was a little nervous about my first avocado smoothie, but it turns out, it’s now my favorite!  We all ordered a round of fruit smoothies, and enjoyed picking rambutan (a hairy fruit) from the tree above us, of course ending in throwing the seeds at one another!              

Project

Here in Yogya I'm working with AIESEC, an international student run organization.  Yogyakarta is known as a university city, full of many students from Indonesia's many islands.  The project that students are working on here is HIV/AIDS education/awareness.  I'm specifically working with two universities, UGM and UPN, as well as several NGOs that work at targeting at risk populations for HIV/AIDS.  So far our project has been centered around preparing for a high school road show to present information on sexual health.  The idea is to have a peer-led project.  High schoolers will present the information to their fellow students with the help of local NGOs.  I will be working with these student leaders to help them prepare their presentations and encourage them in their leadership role.  My role will be to provide information on HIV/AIDS in the U.S., to show how different countries approach disease transmission.  There will be several difficult aspects of this project.  So far I've been trying to understand my own thinking on HIV/AIDS, my own prejudices and judgements.  I think it is important to understand one's own thinking before diving into educating others.  The AIESECers here have been good at providing me information on cultural notions of sex, drugs, and disease, all of which are important to HIV/AIDS education.  The last thing I want to do is make people uncomfortable while trying to provide awareness on STDs.  One thing I'm impressed with is the motivation most youth have, it is humbling to see how active people are, whether it is HIV/AIDS or conservation of tigers in Sumatra or Oragutans in Kalimantan (Borneo).  I know that people here will push my thinking, something that I will take back with me to the U.S.  

Indonesia

I've arrived to Jakarta, 11 hours by plane to Istanbul and another 11 to Jakarta.  I hopped off the plane to find myself in a city of 11 million with no where to stay, speaking absolutely no Bahasa Indonesian.  I wasn’t feeling well either and luckily stumbled across a very caring Jakartan taxi man who was willing to take care of me during the ride.  I went straight to bed, trying to adjust to the 12 hour time difference and eager to get to Yogya.

When I arrived to Yogyakarta, Yoana and Cantya picked me up at the airport.  I was nervous to meet my new host family, unsure of what to expect.  I was happy to realize that Dito would be my host brother as he is an AIESECer and the one who interviewed me 3 weeks prior to my departure.  Dito helped me settle in to my new home for the next 7 weeks.  Dito’s mother is the owner of a catering business here in Yogya, and lucky for me, Dito explained that I would get home cooked meals, many of which, better than my own mothers home cooking, and that’s saying a lot!  From then on, I knew I was in good company.