12: Deathly Tired, Kantina Keren 2.0, Islam in Indonesia and Karaoke!

Greetings, loved ones.

Oh, I am so tired - last night I didn't seem to sleep AT ALL, and when I did finally drop off (contradiction I know, but bear with me), my ear plugs fell out in a malicious plot to force my brain into a lower functioning cycle (oh, it's possible) by leaving my ears naked to the loudspeaker-announced 4am prayers. Garn! Atmospheric, yes. Restful, no.

I briefly considered skipping class to get sleep but with a sigh at the lameness of responsibility I realised that was not what I was here for - and that we have a test on Friday. So I stumbled to class, handing out oranges on the way, and have NEVER prayed for coffee more. Two cups in quick succession later, class was a bit more bearable, although I've just realised I haven't done my homework. Doh!

Lunch was spent in the company of the other ACICIS students and amidst DELICIOUS chicken satay and plans for a trip to one of the closer islands this weekend. I am well keen to get out of Jakarta and see some of the Indonesian country side, and also to hit up a beach, since it was overcast at Christmas and I got no beach time in, uwaaah! I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to shell out a bit of money, but this is something I'm willing to do, especially for the DEFTONES (!!) concert in February, that I'm going to EVEN if it happens to coincide with the open bar the Australian Embassy is putting on as a farewell. I hope that it doesn't, but Helena has a plan of action that includes a cardboard cut-out of me with a mop on my head and a dictaphone with selected suave phrases hidden in her belt. "May I offer you a canape?", "Your armoire is surprisingly heavy" and "Is this 16th century Dutch?" are just some of the phrases being taken under consideration at the moment. Also, anyone who can tell me the correct reference in that last sentence will win themselves a super special present from Jakarta, and also a Pat On The Back.

After lunch was a lecture about Islam in Indonesia which wasn't quite as in depth as I'd hoped, but was still interesting, particularly for its presentation of the views of moderate, liberal Islamist thinkers/advocates in Indonesia today - for those who don't know, Indonesia is around 88% Muslim, and your religion is required for your identity card if you are a citizen. There are a few extremist groups here and there has been a lot of religious violence, generally from these groups, so it was interesting to find out a bit more, particularly about the issuing of fatwas and the gender issues of the religion.

After this, Helena and I returned to the ever-damned mall to buy BINTANG! And headed home, handing out the last of the baby biscuits as I went to a remarkably better looking baby - huzzah! Drinking the Bintang in the evening light on our balcony with the Australians was fun, and I got to hear about some of their travels - they are a globe trotting bunch and I'm very jealous! They in turn were practising their Bahasa on the building manager, Moko, who seemed happy to talk to us. He asked for my phone number but I fielded the inquiry away from such dangerous waters - we've been told that this is common practice in Indonesian males, but not to hand out your phone number unwarily. Anyway, the last thing I need is Moko ringing me to abuse me for our floor's constant usage of the drinking water - we're a dehydrated bunch, I tells ya! Maybe I should look that up in Bahasa, complete with 1930s accent.

Then it was off to karaoke, but due to our South Pacific uselessness, we were late and got lost in a massive 5 floor department store before we found the place, and our head LO, Fikrik, who had been waiting for some 40 minutes, poor guy! We apologised profusely and headed to our private room, and proceeded to bring the house down - Fikrik and his friends were AMAZING singers, everyone was willing to have a go, drink and food flowed and other JPPers turned up for some fun. I managed to sing a Whitney Houston and P-Diddy song (that's right, straight gangs) credibly but my NSync was SHOCKING.

Anyway, I've lost my voice and I have a headache from too much crooning, but seeing 15 or so 20-somethings I hardly know belt out Living on a Prayer while punching the air was definitely worth the morning's inevitable seediness.

So until tomorrow, ave!

LESSONS LEARNT 12:

- Karaoke is an international language

- It's okay to be late, if you carve up at karaoke

- Bintang makes everything go smoother

- Countries that use large denominations like Indonesia's 100,000 rupiah note, are a gigantic pain

- Sleep should never be underrated. Oh, sweet sleep, how I miss you!