August 2012
3 posts
WatchKota Pelajar
Yogyakarta is home to over one hundred higher educational institutes of different religious denominations, specializations and degrees of public ownership. We profile female students from the community of Krapyak in Yogyakarta at different stages in their education. Astri Larasati (Laras) has just graduated from SMK Negeri 1 Depok, a vocational public high school, and is choosing a...
WatchJalan Tengah
Developing a unique understanding of moderate Islam, preserving Indonesian culture and working as agents of social change, members of Pergerakan Mahasiswa Islam Indonesia (PMII) at Universitas Islam Negeri-Sunan Kalijaga employ the philosophy of ‘rahmatan lil ‘alamin’ (Blessings of all Creation) as a fundamental tool of moral navigation. Exploring the manifestation of this philosophy...
Watch
Wayang Gaul
In the village of Tembi, wayang, traditional Javanese shadow puppetry, has long been considered to be a central part of educating, entertaining and sharing heritage with younger generations. Many children of Tembi however, find the wayang performances long and tedious, making it difficult for the elders to pass on the traditional stories and values. In order to bridge this gap, Mas...
July 2012
14 posts
“If I had learnt one thing from travelling, it was that the way to get things...”
– Alex Garland, The Beach
Reflections from London...
…though I’d much rather do my reflecting perched on rock on Parangtritis Beach…(Photo by Kevin Michael Briggs)
Now that I’ve been back at home for a little over a week and sufficiently bored my family to tears with anecdotes that begin, “In Indonesia…”, I figured it was time to try and consolidate some stray thoughts on this summer into one final (or...
On travel.
The last two months have affirmed my views on how I want to travel in the future. I’ve always said that visiting a place means little to me, I want to get to a know a place and make myself at home there and that’s exactly what I did in Yogya. I loved it. The moment I realised that I could independently navigate the city, that I had it mapped out in my head, was a personal triumph and I...
Bali - a list.
Things one should do (and that Kevin and I did do) with a few final days in Bali and a couple of motorbikes:
accidentally run into, and be recognised by, someone you met for 30 seconds in a club in Yogya, because Yogya feels that small after two months there
spend a day beach hopping around the Bukit Peninsula, taking time to settle on a rock to read and search rockpools for the perfect...
Kelimutu
You know what’s worth flying to the beautiful island of Flores, catching a 4-hr bemo ride up the steep, winding, motion-sickeness-inducing road to the quiet village of Moni, waking up at 4am the next day so that an ojek can drive you halfway up the side of a volcano buried in mist and so you can stumble up the rest of the way in complete darkness?
A truly spectacular sunrise over...
Kita Belajar
Last night, at the trendy Kedai Kebun Forum, our weeks of cultural exchange, long days of filming and all-nighters spent editing culminated (though that word really is too final for my liking) in a screening of the three films produced as a result of the Nourish International/Kampung Halaman collaboration.
After much deliberation, we’d titled our series ‘Kita Belajar’ (or,...
“You look Indonesian - except for your nose.”
– Librarian at UIN
Kepuhan
Most of you reading will be quite familiar with my incredible ability to procrastinate any and every task. It will therefore come at little surprise that, when Kevin invited me along to Kepuhan for the day so he could grab some final shots for their film, I did not hesitate to take him up on his offer, despite the fact that I should have been editing my own film with our official screening just...
Kota Pelajar
Just as it said on the tin, this blog has mostly functioned as a record of some of the more entertaining and ridiculous anecdotes from my life in Indonesia with a few touristy, envy-inducing photos and the occasional update on our work with Kampung Halaman thrown in. Alongside our antics however, Jen and I are in fact also working hard to produce our short film.
Unlike the other two groups, who...
Panjat Pinang (aka The Hunger Games - Part 2)
Pictured: one “tribute” about to take out his competition.
Since our arrival in Krapyak, Jen & I had been privy to the ongoing discussion and planning of the Independence Day Games amongst the community’s youth. Though initially described to us as tree-climbing competition, details about the upcoming events slowly emerged: there would be prizes at the top of the tree, the...
June 2012
16 posts
The Hunger Games (Part 1)
Not really, but close enough.
The aspect of living in Krapyak that I’ve enjoyed the most is the incredibly close knit community. One fantastic example of this were the set of Independance Games held in the village (Independance Day is actually in August but the games were moved up for our benefit) this past Sunday.
The series of competitions and races, ranging from the more standard (to...
Princess Soul
I’ve grown up knowing that my first name, Amirah, is Arabic for princess (thank you parents!) but it wasn’t until I was in a travel agent on Gili Trawangan booking my flight to Yogya that I realised that my last name, Jiwa, meant something too.
Since then however, I’ve been told consistently by any Indonesian who finds out my name that Amirah Jiwa is an Indonesian name, and that...
Ikan, Udang and Kepiting
When deciding what I wanted to spend this summer doing, the very first thing I ruled out was teaching english, or teaching anything at all for that matter. Of course I’ve ended up teaching English (sort of) alongside filming here in Krapyak but it’s turned out to be a lot of fun.
Jen and I started out by holding a conversation/grammar class for Cici, Laras, Ayi, Angoun, Ozzy and...
Martabak (alternatively, the greatest thing on...
It started a few midnights ago. Jen and I were on our regular run to the local Indomaret to pick up tea biscuits, bottles of water, faux cheetos, apples and oreos to help us through our lengthly, enlightening conversations, when we spied the cart manned by two young boys.
All I was craving were a couple of pisang goreng (or banan fritters) but they weren’t selling that so I just ordered...
Breakfast in Magelang...
Accompanied by Astri, Philipp, Cici and Laras, and running on very little energy after staying up till 5am only to see the Netherlands’ devastating loss to Portugal, Jen and I had an early start today as we spent the morning filming at Laras’ high school. Ravenous, we quickly agreed when Astri suggested grabbing breakfast at a ‘traditional market’ after wrapping up our...
Notes from the road
Stats from this past week:
No. of collisions: 0
No. of external freak-outs while driving despite running over a snake, a rat, and a lizard on three separate occasions: 0.5
No. of kickstarts: too many to count
This past week Jen and I have been successfully zooming around Yogya on our beloved motorcycle. Saturday and Sunday both saw drives through the busy city and then onto country roads as we...
Soegija
Today, for the first time ever, I watched a movie entirely in a foreign language without English subtitiles.
Soegija is a historical movie directed by Garin Nugroho - who I’m told is one of Indonesia’s greatest directors - that tells the story of Mgr. Albertus Magnus Soegijapranata SJ, a national hero and the first native archbishop of Indonesia.
Jen and I decided to go see Soegija...
A stalker, an accident and a bribe...
It is nearing midnight and I am currently sitting in the Kampung Halaman offices. Though I would love to tell you that I am hard at work, the truth is that I, along with some of Krapyak’s football fans, are enjoying some UEFA 2012 with the England v France match! I thought, however, that I might be somewhat productive during the half-time break and hammer out a quick blog post…
Jen...
Kampung
The Indonesian word ‘kampung’ seems to be one with many meanings. The most common usage translates to village and Jen and I have relocated to a ‘Kos’, or boarding house, in a ‘kampung’ called Krapyak which is located in the Northern part of the province of Yogya.
Though only a ten-minute motorbike ride away from a main road in Yogya, Krapyak has a somewhat...
Introducing Solenna Serdetchnaia Jiwa...
Our (mine and Jen’s) beloved ‘sepeda motor’. I picked the colour and Jen chose the name. Jen is planning to learn how to drive her tomorrow and I’ve only fallen off once so far!
Greg had a “personal moment” where he laughed, head in hands, for a good few minutes at the idea of me driving around Yogya on Solenna with Jen sitting on the back.
Last night...
Geography of Yogya
Indonesia is made up of more than seventeen thousand islands divided up into thirty-three provinces. This summer we are working and playing on the island of Java and within the province dubbed ‘the ‘Special Region of Yogyakarta’ as it is the only province to be governed by a pre-colonial monarchy. Yogya is the the cultural capital of Java and the heart of higher education in...
"Are you even working? Everything you report on is...
A text from my UNC roommate Safiyah (who is currently in Nicaragua and writing about her experiences here) reminded me of the post I have been meaning to write explaining my work with Kampung Halaman - it is after all, my real purpose for being in Yogya this summer.
Kampung Halaman is an Indonesian NGO which uses media in communities across the country to enrich the education and foster personal...
May 2012
16 posts
Alam Bahasa
In preparation for our work with documenting and facilitating multimedia workshops with youth within various Yogyakartan communities, the NGO we will working with, Kampung Halaman has organised for us to spend a few days in Intensive Language Training at Alam Bahasa, a local language school.
Besides this group of UNC students trying to pick up a little Bahasa Indonesia before trying to integrate...
Yogya: First impressions
Unsurprisingly, I’ve fallen in love with this city. I had few expectations, all I knew before I arrived here was that Yogyakarta is Indonesia’s cultural capital - its soul if you will - and that, home to 700,000 people and located on the island of Java near the famous temples of Borabodor and Prambanan, it attracted some tourists but nowhere near the numbers that flock to Bali or...
Back in Kuta
We just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave Gili yesterday - we were having too much fun. Instead we traveled back to mainland Bali this morning. Though we left the island at 10am, thanks to traffic we didn’t arrive in Kuta until past 3pm.
We’re planning to spend the remainder of today missing island life whilst running errands in preparation for our departure to Yogyakarta...
First 72 hours in Indo
I fell in love with Indonesia while my flight was landing. Bali’s airport was just so close to the sea - one second we were flying over clear blue sea with no land in sight, and the next we had hit the tarmac. Grace came to meet me at the airport and after a short taxi ride into Kuta we checked into the sweet Suji Hostel where we got our own little bungalow by a beautiful pool for the cost...
"Try to pull a Graham and pack BEFORE you get on...
With just a little over 60 hours to go before I board my flight at Heathrow for a 17 hour journey to Bali, I’ve decided to take my friend (Kilo)Graham’s (follow his adventures in India here) advice and start packing.
Uncharacteristically of me, I’m not leaving this to the morning of my flight, but, in classic Amirah fashion, I’m having real trouble packing light. My bed is...
'Bahasa'.
The Indonesian word for language which comes from ‘bhasa’, the Hindi word for language. ‘Kopi’. The indonesian word for coffee which has origins in the Dutch ‘koffie’. ‘Apa Kabar?’. The phrase used in Indonesia for ‘How are you?’ which literally means ‘What news?’ - ’Kabar’ is the Arabic word for news.
With only...
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.”
– Herman Melville
Selamat Datang!
Or, ‘Welcome,’ in case you aren’t conversant in Bahasa Indonesia (as I hopefully will be this time in two weeks…)
For those of you who don’t know me personally: (a) well done for stumbling on this blog - I’m not quite sure how you managed it, and (b) by way of introduction, I am a rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from London...
“Don’t tell me how educated you are; tell me how much you’ve...”
– Prophet Mohammed SAW 