Emma Bear in Yogyakarta, Java

Friday, January 22, 2010
Emma Bear Writes:

Hello Everybody! I have been having many adventures here in Yogyakarta! First, as you can see, I got to sell some ice cream from a red cart. There are many of these mobile carts in Indonesia- but not just for selling ice cream. Peddlers often use these carts to sell different kinds of foods like soup or rice dishes, or to sell brooms or cooking oil, or even to offer their services to fix broken shoes. Each cart has a different tune, so from your house you might hear the song for fried rice, or the tap-tap-tapping sound for brooms, or a special call for shoe-repair. These carts are called "kaki lima" which literally means "five feet"- two feet for the peddler and three "feet" for the cart! Although in this case the ice-cream peddler didn't walk- he rode his bike. A little tune over a loudspeaker let people know that the ice-cream man had arrived!

I also got to ride inside a bicycle-powered mode of transport called a "bacek" (pronounced "bay-check"). The man in the picture was the driver. He was very happy to have his picture taken with me!

In Yogyakarta I also ventured to a traditional market. I went later in the day so it wasn't very crowded- but first thing in the morning this market is packed! People who sell food in their small food stalls, called "warungs," come to the market in the early morning to purchase their materials for the day. As you can see, bananas are a plenty here at the market! Also for sale are different fruits like salak and rambutan, peanuts and cashews, beans, fish, chicken, vegetables and chips made out of puffed rice.

Ahh, there's nothing like a delicious "lo tek" lunch! This dish contains compressed rice, bean curd, greens, cabbage, tofu, chilis all mixed together in a sensational peanut sauce.

In the last picture you can see that Julienne and I went to Borobudur Temple for sunrise. We woke up at 4:00 in the morning, gathered some flashlights, and climbed to the top of the biggest Buddhist temple in the world. It was quite amazing! This temple was built in the 9th century, 1200 years ago. The monument consists of 6 square platforms and 3 circular platforms. After sunrise Julienne and I walked around each platform in a clockwise direction from the bottom of the temple all the way to the top. Along the way we looked at the different stone carvings- beautiful reliefs of everyday life. I'll attach a link to the wikipedia site about Borobudur in case you'd like to read more about it- AND see a picture of the whole temple.

Traditional Bugis Wedding

Monday, January 18, 2010

Yesterday we were invited to a traditional Bugis wedding in Makassar! One picture shows the bride in traditional Bugis wedding attire. Women in this region have been wearing this clothing for their weddings for thousands of years! Another picture shows the groom dressed up in traditional Bugis clothing along with the Imam, or Islamic prayer leader (he's in the back on the right, dressed in black and white, when looking at the picture). The father of the bride is on the left and the father of the groom is on the right signing documents. Another picture shows Samantha offering congratulations to the groom and the bride.

Visiting a Partner School

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Here in Makassar I am having trouble posting pictures! We will be heading for a new location tonight so I will try to upload some more photos soon.

Today we are going to a traditional wedding and then this afternoon will be flying to our third city, Yogyakarta on the island of Java.

Here is an email that I sent to my students in Warwick a few days ago:

Hello Everybody!! It's Julienne here- I wish I could do skype from here but it is not available! So I'll write you this note instead and you can imagine that I'm reading it to you!

First of all, I miss you all very much! Everyday I see and hear different things and I think about things I'd like to show you- or things that we would all laugh about together. I'm sure you are having a good time in class with Laurel and Laurie and Karen. If you write a note to me through email I will be able to read it here! I'd love to hear about what you all are up to.

Today I visited a school that will be our "sister school"- our penpal partner school! It was very exciting. It's a large school- kindergarten all the way through high school in one building. There are classrooms all around and then an open court in the middle. In the middle part there is a court for playing basketball and places to hang out. Because it never gets cold here their gym area can be outside. There are little food stalls where you can get lunch food- I think some students buy food at the food stalls and other students maybe bring lunch...? I'm not exactly sure.

The class that we'll partner with has a lot of children- almost forty kids! So I gave your pictures with your letters to groups of two or three kids- then those kids can both write to you. They were really excited to receive your letters- and especially to see your pictures! I took pictures of your penpals and will show them to you when I get back. There are two teachers in the class. One of them is on Facebook on the internet, so I'll have to join so that it will be easier to communicate.

Two days ago our Indonesian friends brought us to go hiking in the rain forest. First we hiked in-it was so loud! Why? Because of the insects! I've never heard such noisy insects in my life! It sounded like lots of car alarms going off all at the same time. Then we got to the "canopy bridge." We climbed up, up, up to the top- and there we could see the canopy of the rain forest. We walked across several very skinny swinging bridges about 100 feet up in the air. My heart was beating fast! But it was really fun.

On the way down I could hear some rustling in the trees. I stopped walking and listened- and then I saw a monkey swinging from branch to branch! It turned out it was a family of siamang monkeys. They are a bright orange color. One of the siamang monkeys stopped directly above me and stared down at me while I stared back at it.

Because the cities that we have been visiting are right on the coast, we've been eating lots of seafood. Fish, crab, baby lobsters... and of course rice at every meal! And tea- I've been drinking lots and lots of tea.

Tomorrow we will be visiting some more schools, then talking to the local newspaper about our visit, and finally going on a city tour. I wonder what Emma Bear is going to see?


If you want, you can post comments on the blog about what you read. I'll try to post more pictures when I can.

I miss you!
Love,
Julienne

Visits to Elementary Schools!

Thursday, January 13, 2010

What a wonderful and interesting time we had yesterday visiting two elementary schools in Balikpapan! Emma Bear, Samantha, Mike and I arrived at the first school to much fanfare. First, about 25 girls performed a traditional regional dance for us- they wore traditional costumes from Kalimantan and held decorative batons. After that a small chorus group sang in harmony for us three different Indonesian songs. What a welcome!

After that the whole school assembled in the courtyard of the school and Mike, Samantha and I made short speeches. I gave my speech in Indonesian! I made many mistakes and couldn’t say everything I wanted to, but the children and the teachers were very appreciative that I gave it my best effort.

When the assembly finished many of the children came up to greet me, Samantha and Mike personally. The children would come up to me, take my hand, and touch my hand to their faces. What a sweet and loving greeting!

We visited several of the classrooms as well. I brought with me a book that my students in Warwick had written about life in Warwick and read this book to different classes. The children were very shy, but I think they were really interested in the book! They thought it was so funny that in Warwick right now it is very cold and snowy- they loved seeing drawings of snowmen! Also I found myself explaining a lot the page about Halloween. I think my Indonesian description of the holiday was something like, “Children get dressed in funny clothes, walk around a lot to many houses and receive many sugary food.”

The students here also know Sponge Bob! When the children heard the page a about students in Warwick watching Sponge Bob they giggled because they like Sponge Bob too. In fact, I saw Sponge Bob on TV and here he speaks Indonesian! So does Patrick and the rest of the crew!

At the end of the day we had a special dinner with our Indonesian teacher friends here in Balikpapan. Because we are near the ocean we had a lot of seafood. Delicious! We ate different kinds of fish, crab, and squid. I sat next to the principal of the elementary school and he showed me how to eat my small lobster.

Today we will visit a canopy bridge and then we’re saying goodbye to our friends here and heading for Makassar in south Sulawesi. Emma Bear is packing up her bags and getting ready for the next airplane!

Pictures from the visits to come!

Pictures From First Days

First Days

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

For First and Second Graders (and older students and adults too!):

Selamat Pagi! Emma Bear and I have arrived in Balikpapan, Indonesia! We had easy flights to Detroit, Tokyo, Singapore and finally to Balikpapan, Kalimantan (on the island of Borneo). Can you find those places on a map or globe? Altogether we were in the air for 25 hours. That’s like being in the airplane for three school days!

Emma Bear and I are traveling with Samantha, a high school teacher from Amherst, and Mike, a political science professor from UMass. Yesterday we all walked to a local market and bought pineapple, mangoes, rambutan and salak. Delicious! In the late afternoon we walked to a nearby beach and cheered on some small boys as they were playing soccer. A man was repainting his fishing boat.

Today we woke up early to the beautiful sound of the Muslim Call to Prayer. The majority of Indonesians are Muslim. In the Muslim religion, also known as Islam, there are Five Pillars (parts). One of those pillars is to pray five times a day. In most communities here, a religious leader leads the Call to Prayer over a loudspeaker, so we can hear this singing recitation several times a day. It’s a very beautiful sound.

After we woke up, we visited two high schools and met the mayor of Balikpapan! At the first high school we visited different classes and the students asked lots of questions about life in the United States. What great questions they asked!

Tomorrow we are off to visit some elementary schools. I can’t wait to read the book that I brought to these Indonesian children. My students in Warwick wrote this book about what life is like in Warwick. I wonder what the Indonesian school children would like to share with us about life in Balikpapan!

For Older Students and Adults: (Or for younger children with the help of an adult!)

The second high school that we visited was a vocational high school, where students were learning about hotel management. They also had an extracurricular debate club and we got to listen to the students debate about whether schools should teach about controversial topics in health education. They also debate about other topics, many of which are controversies regarding local and national government.

This was so fascinating to me! When I was in Indonesia ten years ago I was present for the country’s first democratic election. Until that time it was quite taboo to openly question the choices of the government. High school students were not able to have that kind of open debate about controversial political issues. Times have changed under this new democracy.