Today was a very uneventful day, so much so that I feel silly writing about it. I'll just try and up the waxing lyrical in order to fill in the narrative gaps.
Monday schmonday meant it was back to 8:30am starts for language school, which was pretty hard to manage after a weekend of sleeping in, but we got there in the end, with me once again devoutly thanking the catering crew for the mid morning coffee and snack energy boost. After we found out we have a one hour test on Friday, and we have to finish our entire booklet by then, we tried to put the hard yards in to get some Bahasa engrained before the end of the week. Ay me!
At lunch time I was so tired, due to another night's interrupted sleep, that I headed to the library to have a nap for the lunch hour, missing out in doing so on the excellent lunches offered by the Uni canteen. The library at Atma Jaya is very small - just one room of bookshelves and another room with about three long tables stacked together. I found a chair and read the newspaper until my eyes closed, and then curled up in the chair in a most uncomfortable position, with one leg propped against the table join, one leg laid ontop of that, and my arms wrapped around my body in order not to smash them against the arm rests. Despite the utterly ridiculous look of the position, I did manage to grab a catnap and felt marginally more refreshed for our afternoon talk by Dr Acie Armando of the University, who also used to be a journalist, about media ownership and concentration in Indonesia - it was again an interesting lecture, notable for its revelations about the pornography law in Indonesia, which was basically passed to allow certain forms of pornography in this Muslim-oriented state. What is allowed will seem very tame for Westerners - things like bikinis, g-strings and intercourse where no body parts are shown (under the sheets, etc.) No full nudity, graphic intercourse or any of the other indecencies (paedophilia etc) are allowed to be sold or distributed BUT if you made or possessed the video for your OWN use, and not for distribution, you are allowed anything - including paedophilia. There are in fact no formal laws criminalizing paedophilia here in Indonesia and recently an Islamic cleric (with apparently a very small following) married an 11 year old girl and couldn't be penalised (although apparently the rest of Indonesia was disgusted). Anyway, this was a fairly disturbing revelation.
After the talk, Helena and I headed to the blasted mall to pick up groceries and then I had an early nanna dinner at a local eatery we quite like, where I ordered Bihun Ayam, or Chicken Noodles. It was very nice but didn't seem to agree with my stomach, unfortunately. On the way back to the kos, I handed out two oranges to the beggars on the bridge - and the lady with the baby, version 1.0, was back, but this time the baby was awake and sitting up, so yay! Maybe the formula worked a miracle, or maybe she has been looking after him, but it was good to see.
Back at the kos, I pretty much just disappeared into my room to read Hunter S. Thompson's Kingdom of Fear (brilliant if erratic - what a guy!), chat to friends in NZ, watch DVDs and generally have a quiet night. The Ozzies offered a trip to see N.E.R.D. play live but considering it was a) $40 and b) not a band I'm hugely fond of, I declined, feeling pretty wrecked from the lack of sleep as it was.
I forgot to mention! The other day I managed in true form to smash a huge plate of glass that was part of a chemist's display and take a chunk of marble out of the door when my massively overloaded school bag (such a nerd) caught it as I was passing. I tried to pick up the pieces and kept saying "Maaf!" (Sorry!) over and over, but the harrassed store assistant waved me away and said it was fine. Much embarrassed I left the store, only to find out the manager had appeared five minutes later and forced Helena to pay 50,000 rupiah for the damage! Poor Helena. I paid her back of course but felt very bad.
So tonight is a quiet one, but tomorrow I will try and see if I can get up to some mischief - maybe finally check out Sarah's kos and have a cook up or some such trouble. Considering I would have to buy a pan, maybe I'll just go out for dinner! As for now, it's time for Bahasa homework and then bed.
Ciao!
LESSONS LEARNT 11:
- DEFTONES ARE COMING TO JAKARTA! Tickets are about $66 NZ, but I mean, come ON! Well keen! The only hiccup is it might be on the farewell night at the Australian Embassy = open bar, free wine, national insult if I don't attend...
- Pornography is a complex thing
- Sometimes chilling is fulfilling (see what I did there?)
- Gonzo journalism is epic, but Thompson made the right move, years too late
- Learning Bahasa in two weeks is like convincing Americans to buy the Eiffel Tower for scrap - do-able, but only by talented individuals!
chilling is fulfilling? What?
ReplyDeleteI laughed very hard at your shop-destruction. Poor Helena!