Might be easier on my anger management if I semi-dot point rather than spin verbose tonight. Keep having to copy and paste as the connection drops, then I have to wait for a minute redialing before it picks up again. Anyway, enough whining about the internet!
Firstly a few fun typos...
When Tari was speaking at the conference she noticed on the microphone that the label called it a crodless microphone. It was totally without crod apparently. No crod.
Oh, and speaking of AV stuff, is it about the time of year to give you a Happy Birthday Daveboy!? If it is, then Happy Birthday Dave! If not, well, just read this again at the appropriate time. Oh, and thanks for the shirt offer, but I'll do okay =)
They have a function centre here where among other things they can perform weeding ceremonies. With this ring I do thee weed? Maybe they pronounce you gardener and gardenette.
On the laundry list it appears that they wash undergarments and shocks. With the heat not yet abated, my socks probably would be shocks to an unprepared launderer.
It's also somewhat disconcerting how much of the artwork has erupting volcano themes. On our wall is a Jackon Pollock style volcano erupting. Very soothing. Not!
As for a snippet into the last few days...
At night (like right now) when it cools down to the low 30s - feels so much nicer than during the day - students congregate outside to do stuff. The main entrance to the university is a long divided road, maybe 400-500m. The middle of the divided road is a 5m wide grassy aread. Our room looks out over it, although this picture is looking too high. It was a great sunset shot, but I don't think it came out well at all. I really tried to get a shot without a car on the road, but the traffic is unceasing, mostly motorcycles. If you've not experienced S-E Asian traffic, read one of my blogs from the last trip!
Right now outside there are the sounds of a loud marching band, drum music. We thought it was many practicing drummers, but it's actually a martial arts group. They're doing something with swords and kicking. There's a group juggling further down. And beyond that there is a brass band. They're practicing. They really need to.
Anyway, we've been really trying to get to bed by 9:30-10PM because the call to prayer is at 4AM (sunrise). At about 6AM spaced about 10 minutes apart three jumbos come down really low over the roof, enough to make the room shake, which gets you up if you managed to get back to sleep after the 4AM wake-up, which isn't easy given the temperature. Here's a shot of a minaret that looked to the eyes like it was glowing golden in the sunlight, but just looks kinda ordinary in the photo sorry =(
Last night we were taken out to dinner at a fancy place. It was for the visitors, Tari, a lady from Belgium looking into their educational documentation and a gentleman from Sweden trying to get more inter-student exchanges happening. Oh, and me I guess!
Some of the food cost about 10x what we've been paying here at the university restaurant. (Not that beating $1.50 for a main meal is that difficult I guess!) It was really good food, but the ice-cold drinks were worth any amount (especially when I wasn't paying hehe)!
Semi-outdoors location, open wall into a nice little garden/pond enclosure. Lots of tropical plants, beautiful artwork (for once not volcano related) on the walls, the table was enormous and had a marble top! There were fans on the ceiling, and many fans of the fans sitting around the table. As always, the Indonesians were polite beyond all rationality, just so welcoming and nice. There was gently 80s music in the background but (fortunately) no karaoke.
The power went off about half an hour into dinner, the staff didn't blink (it happens so often anyway) they just brought out more candles. The worst part was the fans stopping! I noticed after a minute or two that the music was still going. That's right, it was a live band playing what sounded to me to be the "tragic love songs of the 80s megamix".
Dinner was a bit of beef, chicken and fish with three types of rice. The rice was white, yellow (saffron) and red. We were educated about the red rice. It's not coloured artificially or with a sauce, it's a red rice, I expected it to be gritty or rough like brown rice, but it wasn't. Just a sort of, hmm, I dunno, richer almost brown rice flavour, but in a smooth white rice package. (Gee, wouldn't I make a great ad maker.)
The chicken was deep fried, the beef sort of rendang style and the fish was a solid block of salt effectively. I mean SOLID, couldn't cut it so just picked it up and gnawed at it. Was really yummy in a fishy, salty kinda way (anchovy lovers would LOVE it!) There was soup too, good for having with the rice. No hands this time (except the fish) but there were, like, two spoons and three forks. I just took my cue from the others which one to use when. (I need one of Dad's old airforce etiquette lessons I guess.)
The conversation worked from work related stuff to ping pong (a favorite sport) to more work related stuff to the weather to some work related stuff. The climate has been shifting here for the last 5 or so years, the wet season comes later and later and the temperature gets hotter and hotter. It's been over 40 degrees during the day here for a while now and even though they're used to heat, they're not used to that level. Usually by now it's been raining for a month, which keeps the peak temperatures down.
Without the money and resources for proper meteorology they're still using models primarily based on past history, which means that every day the forecast is 30-35 and thunderstorms even though it's always over 40 and dry. Anyway, I can feel a long boring discussion beginning so I'll move on!
Last night was warm again, but the morning was really nice and cool, 28 degrees. Coolest we've felt since leaving home, although some shops in Singapore were quite cool from the airconditioning. Had breakfast with TJ then walked her to work. Must have been about 1/4 to 8 when I left her office and the clouds had cleared in the 5 mins I was indoors. By the time I got back to our room it was 35 degrees and climbing.
This shot was of one of the university buildings in the morning. Some of the buildings are quite grand, but there's a part of my brain that equates that roof shape with Pizza Hut. Sorry, apologies to an entire culture for that.
Spent some time with the TV on just sitting in front of the A/C while I dried off. The days have been hot, I've still been walking, but it's hard to keep it up. Mostly I try to walk for an hour (to the shops and back) but it's dry and 40+ degrees so it's not all that fun. If I try for more than that the old foot really flares up, but in smaller doses it's bearable until bedtime. On returning it's cold shower time and then drinking litres of water.
TV game shows still cut to an ad break just when something is about to happen (even if I have no real idea what it is that they're doing!) The main difference seems to me to be that the audience members are allowed to use musical instruments. Yup. One guy has a tambourine. Another has a sort of recorder thing. Some just have noise-makers.
The ads are so similar to home that it's kinda creepy. If you want to learn advertising principles, just watch ads in other languages. You're not distracted by what they're saying so much and the products are different, but the methods used and stories told are all the same. (Less sexy over here though, the people all wear decent amounts of clothing.)
- Good mum doesn't like bacteria
- You can get the perfect man/woman if you use the right beauty product
- You have lots of fun and can even get proposed to if you have the right phone/camera
- You can develop super human sports reflexes/strength if you eat the right cereal
- Your kids will love you if you get them food that pretends to be healthy (but we all know isn't)
Scary ad then for earthquake friendly food. Real food - real fresh! In a sachet that you can pull from rubble and drink. I thought it was an ad for sending money for relief agencies or something, it had that sort of start to it!
Ads for super low power consuming air conditioners were about the only appliance type ad I saw.
Haven't seen any "pretending to give you brand advice from a professional" type ads yet.
Just about all the ads are food/beauty product related. Almost none for vehicles, electrical goods, shopping chains (like Myer etc.).
It might just be the time of day I was watching, so I'll endeavour to do some "further research" for you all =) Watching TV in the name of your intercultural enlightenment. Wish I had a USB TV thingy so I could get screengrabs for you all!
And on that TV related note, it's time for another West Wing episode!
Take care all,
Happy Birthday Dave if I'm right.
Give the dogs a hug from us Juni! (And yourself one too while you're at it.)
Dean, one of the guys at dinner spent a few years as a kid in Kansas, we asked him what he thought. He paused and then said. Flat.
Mum and Dad, hope you're just about up to the relaxing beach part of your holiday.
Paul, don't forget that you can use my steam account if you want. I've played a bit of Trine, Mass Effect and Evil Genius now as well as re-playing Plants vs. Zombies and Defence Grid. Evil Genius is lolworthy sometimes, but I must admit I used a faq on the net to help get started.
C&M, hope the twins are letting you sleep a bit, played Settlers any?
Nicole, (I dunno if you're reading or not) I know you're jealous of the food, so when we get back I'll let you cook us dinner. (I'm so generous.)
To those of you with exams looming, what the heck are you doing reading this?? Get back to work!
Anybody else that I've missed, hope you're doing well too!
Thanks for the comments again, I'll get someone to take a photo with me in it again soon so you can see the attire.
Tomorrow is Friday, almost another week down! (Yay!)
4 comments:
Hey mate thanks for the Happy Birthday. It was on Wednesday. Stay cool. Dave
Charlotte and I were reading your blog, but all the talk about food was too much for us and we had to stop reading and go and have something to eat!!
The heat must be so exhausting...hoping you get some rain soon!
We have played a few games of Settlers and are going to attempt the Seafarers expansion soon!
I love the fact that despite the heat, despite the language barriers, despite any homesickness you might have and despte the fact that you are admiting you are watching daytime television - that even then you are prepared to sacrifice yourself to watch even more Indonesian TV for our edification.........is that the Pope I hear calling to make you a saint? "Saint Simon - the Saint of Infotainment!"
Am sometimes a bit behind but definitely reading your blog! Be more than happy to cook dinner when you're back!
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