WEEKEND ADVENTURES

My weekdays are falling into a pattern, and I'm still getting used to the unusual setup of my schedule (it's the teachers who travel around to the classes and the students who stay in one classroom for the most part, and what and when I teach varies everyday.) However, I have been able to get out and explore some different areas around Jakarta on the weekends. Any sort of small adventure, even close to home, is fun because it's all new for me. So far I have visited Puncak, Taman Mini, Bandung, and Anyer. There's probably a lot I could write about each of them, but I was talking to Katie just now and she reminded me that it's probably better to just tell my stories in shorter versions, rather than waiting until I have time to write lengthy prose. (Which will never happen...) So that's what I'm going to do. (Or attempt to do anyway.)

Puncak was the first weekend trip. I was there with all of the other Bina Bangsa teachers for a two day retreat at the end of teacher induction. This was the 29th and 30th of June. It was a beautiful setting in the mountains just southeast of Jakarta, and it was wonderful to get out of the city. For those of us who are new, it was our first time outside of Jakarta and I think we all really enjoyed being able to see blue skies and greenery and breath the air. Our days were filled with unexciting lectures and classes so unfortunately we didn't get to go exploring outside of the area where we were staying (a hotel and small campus with other buildings.) Everyone was pretty tired, and many were sick. The night before (the last day of new-teacher induction) the school took everyone out for a seafood buffet. Not sure exactly which seafood the culprit was, but a lot of people suffered digestive mutinies the next couple of days. And not just the expats, but people who have lived in Indonesia for a long time too. So, as beautiful as Puncak was, we were happy to go home. However, there was one more obstacle we had to face before we got back to Jakarta.

We were meant to leave around noon according to our schedule, but

were dismissed at 12:30 with a verbal announcement that we could leave no later than 2pm. So everyone took their box lunch, boarded the buses and ate, ready to go. Everyone except a number of the leaders and veteran teachers, who sat down to eat. When we actually did leave, we only got to travel for about 20 or 30 minutes before we got stuck in a traffic jam. At least that's what I thought it was at first. We inched along, and then got stuck again in an unending line of vehicles down the mountain side. For four and half hours. Turns out they just close one side of the mountain road for about 5 hours or so on the weekends, then open up that side and close the other. And the worst part is that the school organizers knew this was going to happen! Grrr!  So, it was frustrating, but on the other hand... being stuck for nearly five hours, we climbed out of the bus and strated to explore. There were roadside stalls (warungs) all up and down the roadside. Their presence along the roadside and not in a town had been a mystery on our ride to Puncak, but now it was clear why they were

there. I had wonderful fried noodles (mie goreng) and corn cooked on coals out in the open. I also tried a popular sweet-tea drink called Teh Botol and encountered (and conquered!) a truly authentic pit toilet for the first time. I would be very happy not to get stuck in another 4 1/2 hour traffic jam again. Ever. But, it wasn't so bad because of the exploring it lead to.




The next weekend adventure to share is Taman Mini, which is in south Jakarta. "Taman" means "park," and the mini part refers to the theme of this park, which is to represent all the different regions of Indonesia. There are buildings and houses in traditional regional styles, and you can go in and see artifacts and clothing from the given region. There's even an artificial lake with little chunks of land that are a scale model of the major Indonesian islands. The best however were the traditional dances that we happened to come across when we first arrived at the park. They were beautiful and mesmerizing. We also went on a ride over the park in a slightly creaky sky trolley thing. Another interesting aspect of our day (I went with Lynsey and Kristina, who both teach at my particular school campus) was all the photographs people wanted to take with us. We felt like regular celebrities, which was both good and bad. Mostly it was 20-something year old guys who wanted pictures. One big group of guys asked us to hold up their favorite soccer team's scarf with them. They would take a couple pictures, then another friend would run and join the group and more pictures were snapped, and then a couple more would come over and decide they wanted a picture. Eventually we just had to say, thanks, we're moving on now. With another group I joked that the picture would cost them 5000 rupiah. I've decided that when this happens from now on (I count five or six times total this has happened in different places,) I'm going to ask for a picture on my camera too so I can start a collection of my friends and I with random Indonesians.

Third weekend adventure: Bandung! Lynsey (my flatmate,) Nicole and Kristina (who are also flatmates) and I went to the city of Bandung for a three day weekend from the 20th to the 22nd. Compared to Jakarta, Bandung feels like a small city, but it's still about 2.5 million strong. We tried especially hard to do nature-y things during our weekend because in Jakarta there are pretty much no trees and no greenery.  : (

The first day WE CLIMBED INTO A VOLCANIC CRATER!!! Granted this wasn't the crater with the smoking, belching, rumbling, sulfuric gases escaping from the ground - we walked around that one - but it the whole thing was beautiful and breathtaking. We also tried ziplining for 20,000 IRP ($2)! The next day we attempted to find hot springs with so-so success. We found them, but not exactly what we were looking for. Still, we got to stick our feet in a hot springs pool. We went to the hot springs north of Bandung, but if we go back we decided to try south of the city, where apparently there are also abundant strawberry fields.

On Saturday it was the first day of Ramadan and everything looked like it was closed because the warungs put sheets up in front their stalls, but really it's just to keep things quiet and to block out the sight and smell of food because everyone is fasting. We learned from our driver (yes, we hired a driver; odd as it still seems, it was very convenient) during the Ramadan fast (which lasts until 6pm each night) you are not even allowed to drink water. I don't know how people do it. On Saturday night we met up with a friend of a friend of Lynsey's and his girlfriend. They have been in Bandung for 6 months and are teaching English through the English First program, which sends them to local schools. They have their own house and invited us over after we ate dinner out. It was great to hear their insights and travel experiences so far. The next day they took us for one of their usual walks through the market. The weekend had various ups and downs (the downs were mostly frustrating moments when plans fell apart or got complicated) but overall it was really nice to take a break from Jakarta.

The last weekend adventure was just this past weekend. This one, I promise, I'll keep short. I went with two others (a teacher at my school and her husband) to check out the beaches on the west coast of Java. It was about a three hour drive (again, we hired a driver; it's just what you do) and part of the long trip was due to horrible roads and construction. We stopped at a couple of places in the town of Anyer and just south. I was wary that the resorts there might charge an entrance fee and be too touristy, but fortunately they were free and gave us great access to the ocean. I got to so swimming in the Java Sea! I tried to body surf but was unsuccessful because the waves were so small. But the water was warm and it was a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll go back again sometime. Another reason to go back to that area is that it's very close to Krakatoa and you can easily hire a boat to take you there for the day. I'm determined to do that before my time here is done.

I doubt there will be any weekend adventures in the next couple of weeks. Or if there are, they'll be small ones. In two weeks a big group of the North American teachers are going to Bali for our two-week Idul Fitri break at the end of Ramadan!