September 23, 2007
my cousin D
On Friday night I dreamt about my cousin D. Gue ngga hadir di pemakamannya, dan gue belom pernah ke rumah ortunya, tapi this dream landscape is definitely one I've had before, dan dalam konteks yang sama yaitu rumah ortunya. Lucu yah, rupanya subconscious gue mempunyai sebuah image of what his parents' house is like, dan memori gue ingat bahwa I've dreamt about this before.
In any case, I couldn't stop thinking about D. He was my second cousin, and counting all the years I've been away, we'd hardly seen each other. My memories of him are few, but vivid.
Like that one rainy afternoon with a family party going on and I escaped the clutches of genuine-yet-choking family warmth, seeking refuge in the empty terrace overlooking the small fish pond (a malaria source, if anything!). Not long after, D came to join me. We didn't speak, much. We sat there in our silent understanding that family gets too much for us sometimes. I was glad for his company.
I remember the pitter-patter of the gentle rain, the light of the approaching dusk desaturating the colors of the day, our bare feet on the tile floor, the tip of his cigarette glowing orange in the semi-darkness, the smoke dissipating into the air like ghosts of our past, his white teeth as he smiled, the breaths we took almost in synch.
I wish I could have captured that moment, tangibly, somehow, and then D would be alive in more than just my heart and mind.
Posted by Yasmina at 05:02 PM | Comments (1)
March 23, 2007
sementes
I found this on Flickr whilst looking for papaya images. See sometimes, when I'm hit with a certain memory, I have to quickly get a visual reference and savour the emotion.
In this particular case, I was IMing with a friend in Indonesia, talking about fruit and I remember the breakfasts my father would make for me.
My father would slice papayas into blocks in a bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar and squeeze fresh lime over it. Sometimes he does this before I even wake up, so he chills it in the fridge. Sometimes the bowl of papaya is already waiting for me on the dining table, but nothing really beats this feeling of opening the fridge and discovering there is this delicious bowl of papaya specially made by my father for me.
Oh man, I'm really homesick right now.
Posted by Yasmina at 02:54 PM | Comments (1)
February 02, 2007
VOX QotD: Next On My Itinerary
What's the next country you want to visit? Submitted by Schomer.
Braziland India. Japan is pretty high on the list, too.
However, this year, we are already planning+booking trips to:
1. Hungary in June: I've been here before, but the husband hasn't been, and we're going for the wedding of our friends, Laszlo, who's Hungarian and Lesh, who is British-Indian.
2. Turkey in June: we both have never been here, so we're excited to come; also for the wedding of our friends, Anton, who's British-Turkish, and Kata, who is Hungarian.
3. Indonesia in August: family visit to fulfill our duties as daughter and son-in-law, but we are also hoping to travel a bit rather than just seeing family and friends in the city.
4. Singapore stopover in August: how can we go to Indo without visiting friends in Sing?
5. India in November, still tentative: the continuation of the Hungarian-Indian wedding of Laszlo and Lesh.
Sounds like a good year.
I wish every year I can visit at least 2 new countries. It's hard because we're in Europe now and we've been to most places here. I am getting a bit sick of Europe, although I love Italy. Scandinavia is definitely interesting, but I see them as more of city-weekend breaks, rather than a place for holidays.
I feel terrible about Brazil because one of my good friends, João, lives in Rio di Janeiro and he comes to visit us nearly every year. The visiting score right now stands 4-0. We keep putting off Brazil for other travel plans. I really hope we can go soon to Brazil for a vacation there and see him.
Posted by Yasmina at 04:34 PM
October 03, 2005
bali bombs :(
my heart goes out to the victims of saturday's bali bombings, and their families, and to all those affected. what a tragedy.
i'm sick of all this violence; violence everywhere, not just indonesia. i'm sick of all the religious groups or individuals justifying their actions in the name of religion or whatever cause, and playing God to everyone else with different beliefs and opinions. where is the humanity?
*gila yah, di satu tempat, kita berusaha menyelamatkan nyawa orang, dan di tempat laen, orang malah buang-buang nyawa orang laen*
Posted by Yasmina at 03:18 PM | Comments (3)
March 23, 2005
last week in indo
boo hoo, this week we got stuck in bureaucratic hell for the wedding papers so could not get away to kalimantan at all. i'm so disappointed and i also hate to disappoint tante isti and tante lita who has arranged all the trip to kalimantan, personalising the trip for us and everything :-(
we have time to go to the beach though, we'll be at the beach house for 3 days or so, since it's a long weekend this week, yay! beach beach beach.... sun sun sun... jetskiing... eating fresh seafood... we got our own beach hut by the sea :-)
robert's back is peeling from last week's bali sunburn, and you know i'm one of those people who cannot resist peeling dead skin or scabs. i was the kid who was always picking at dry skin and scabs, gross, i know, it's one of those irritating habits like biting your nails or twiddling your hair.
Posted by Yasmina at 03:15 PM | Comments (4)
March 19, 2005
week in bali
we spent a beautiful week in bali. robert's parents, ron and tilly, and a couple of friends, remco and gerard, came along to bali. it'd be a shame if they came all the way to indonesia and only saw jakarta, bogor and the mountain estate, so i invited them along. *although robert and i are thinking of taking another trip, either to kalimantan or flores, where we can be alone*
the villa
the villa, just outside of ubud, was amazing; private, secluded, and we had full occupancy of the property and its three staff were at our beck and call. it was decorated in true balinese style, the dragons on the edge of the roof, the high ceilings, the roof lined in wooden carvings, the doors to the bathrooms all in the wooden carved-style of balinese doors.
the chef cooked delicious meals for us on request, ranging from authentic balinese dishes such as bebek bali (smoked balinese duck) and tum ayam (spiced minced chicken steamed in banana leaves) to fresh homemade pastas. robert is now addicted to fruit juice, because freshly-squeezed fruit juice is all he'd drink.
we claimed the master bedroom upstairs, that overlooked the villa and the rice terrace on the other side. a river ran next to the property, and the sound of the water was extremely soothing. it's pitch black at night and we can hear crickets and frogs and lots of other creatures we cannot see. the sky is amazingly clear, the stars really bright in the velvety sky and i would float on my back in the swimming pool and watch the stars.
the swimming pool was cool during the day, warm during the evenings. we went for swims all the time: before breakfast, after dinner, in between trips, at night close to midnight, where we'd sit in the water and drink wine. robert and i have turned a nice shade of bronze now; actually my bule husband is quite sunburned on his back and shoulders but the rest of him is nice and brown.
the sunset
ku de ta in seminyak is famous for its sunsets; best is to reserve a table on their beach front terrace, and i intended to take the group here for a sunset but shame we did not make it. we went to tanah lot instead for sunset, and you can't go wrong with tanah lot really. the temple was cloaked in black with the horizon colored in all the imaginable shades on earth. we sat on the edge of the cliff, drinking cocktails and enjoying the spectacular view.
the first time i saw a balinese sunset, i was eight and i cried because the beautiful moment was over and i felt there would never be another moment like it. i wonder if seeing amazing sunsets at a young age made you a sunset snob? i mean, if you grew up watching sunsets in bali or greece or hawaii, you'd probably not think much of sunsets in noordwijk. remco was talking about sunsets in noordwijk and i really thought it was laughable to compare sunsets in the netherlands and sunsets in indonesia.
the culture
they say you go to lombok for its beaches, and go to bali for its culture. we saw a performance of a barong dance one morning. it was more of a play rather than a dance, and it told a little story from the mahabarata epic, the eternal fight between good and evil.
gerard sat next to me and he was literally watching the entire thing through his camera viewfinder; he was snapping photo after photo. he's an amazing photographer though and i am glad he had all these opportunities to shoot.
we also saw a kecak dance one evening. the story it told was of rama and sita, from the ramayana epic. the kecak dance has no accompanying music, the music is made by 50-60 male dancers chanting and dancing, and it can get pretty trancey.
i was thinking of laszlo and lesh and suddenly i missed them, thousands of miles away, i thought of how much they would enjoy the dances, and i wondered if the ramayana and mahabarata epics were interpreted the same way through dance in india.
this week was the week between hari raya nyepi and kuningan, which is the biggest hindu holy days in bali, so there were always things going on the temples, even more so than usual. i loved the sesajen, offerings, that were put on the temples. the women walked on the streets carrying on their heads plates piled high with stacks of fruit. they were dressed in something similar to the javanese kebaya but with a wide sash around their waist, very pretty and colorful. some of them minded having their pictures taken though and i didn't want to intrude on them whilst worshiping.
i much prefer to stay in places like ubud or candidasa, rather than the busy touristy westernized areas like kuta or seminyak. the ubud area is considered the cultural capital of bali, lots of dances, artists with their painting galleries, wood and stone carvers, jewellery makers in their workshops. it was good to have a look around and certainly some of the work displayed is really exceptional.
the balinese spa
hokay, i'm being such a girl here but you can't go to bali and not experience a balinese spa. i went for a half-day treatment and came out feeling so relaxed and pampered. i had a body massage, with frangipani oil that smelled heavenly. then i was scrubbed down with a milk scrub and body mask. i really felt like a chicken that was being marinated before getting roasted. a warm bath was prepared for me, and it was just like in all the books about the tropical spa; it was covered in flowers and i soaked in it until my skin was soft and glowing.
i also had manicure, pedicure, a facial treatment *i fell asleep during this* and a hair creambath where they massage aloe vera into your scalp and massage your head, shoulders and arms. it was so so good, even better than the usual spa places i go to when in jakarta or bogor. will definitely go for another session next time i'm here.
the husband
the excellent news is that robert has completely fallen in love with indonesia. yay!
it's really weird referring to robert as my "husband". all week i kept saying "boyfriend". i keep putting the wedding band on my left hand, as if we're still engaged, and not on my right hand. we had some private moments together though, a day trip to uluwatu, a magnificent cliff-side temple in the southern tip of the island, followed by a delicious seafood lunch on the seaside at jimbaran bay. staying in the villa and swimming in the pool when everyone else was out. taking midnight swims *but then remco and gerard jumped in the water too, aarrgghhh*
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this week we need to figure what we're going to do. whether we're going to kalimantan again (my idea, plus the da silva's gift to us was a honeymoon to kalimantan, all expenses on them), or to visit flores (again, a honeymoon gift from the regent of flores, my dad's friends are so so generous, i am so thankful) or to visit some volcanoes in java (robert's idea), or to my uncle's mountain estate (robert's idea).
i wish we had time to do all of that. i wish march 29 wasn't so close, that we didn't have to go back to NL so soon. :-(
updated the blog but not so much images as my internet connection sucks big time.
Posted by Yasmina at 10:03 PM | Comments (6)
March 12, 2005
man and wife
happy happy, joy joy... :-) off to bali tomorrow, but right now, we are having dinner with the entire haryono family, then off to hit the clubs *robert's parents want to go to karaoke for a lost-in-translation moment* we had a fabulous day today, thanks to all family and friends who made the day truly special for us...
Posted by Yasmina at 06:46 PM | Comments (22)
March 10, 2005
strange fruit
tuesday we went to the family estate in the mountains. my uncle and aunt were hosting for the day. thank god for my multilingual family, my uncle's dutch is amazing, my dutch just deteriorated after a month of being here :(
we had a really great time tuesday, we spent the entire day up there, walking around the gardens, the rice paddies. it felt like a botanical lesson, as my uncle went round pointing out the different trees and the fruits. we had a barbecue lunch, grilled fish from the fish pool and fresh plants from around the garden.
then we had a fruit session where we sampled durian, mangosteen/manggis, markisa, salak/snakefruit, papaya, peanuts, cempedak (which is between a durian and a jackfruit), belimbing/starfruit; all these fruits came from our own garden. my uncle and aunt also have coffee on their land, from which they make their own roasted beans.
robert said he had never eaten 80% of the food we ate on tuesday. hihi, i'm still trying to get over the fact that robert, remco, and robert's parents ate durian! and lots of it too! omg...
oh and i was splashing around in the stream to cool down because it was so hot. actually, i like to swim in the stream better than in the swimming pool there, and i've been swimming there for years and years. except this time while i was in the water, my uncles started to jump up and down waving their arms. apparently they were giving me snake warning because there were snakes in the water now.
robert was upset that i'd gone swimming with snakes, but anyhoo i think snakes are more scared of people. i mean, when i go into the jungle, i always make lots of noise so the animals know i'm coming so they can run away. somehow that argument did not work with robert *i swear i'll sing while swimming, please please let me stay in water* and he dragged me out of the water back into dry land :(
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anyway, gerard arrived last night, picked him up at airport then dinner at pasaraya grande, blok m. today i'm going to have a spa day with robert, heheh, and everyone else is going to jakarta kota, to museum fatahillah, and the old dutch part of batavia for a historical visit.
omg, 2 more days to go...
Posted by Yasmina at 07:52 AM | Comments (5)
March 07, 2005
(very busy) countdown to wedding
omg, five more days to go. got up at the crack of dawn to pick up robert's parents and remco from airport today. took 2 hours to get to airport from bogor lakeside because of the monday morning traffic. :-S
tomorrow we are going to the mountain house to chill out, have a barbecue, have a cooling swim, and we're also going to sunbathe the bule-bule *biar ga pucat-pucat amat pas wedding* my kalimantan suntan is fading *already!* and my sunburned back is peeling *eww!*
still loads and loads to do this week, eek, but i'm looking forward to friday and saturday, when we can just enjoy the day itself, seeing friends and celebrating. sunday we are off to bali for a week, yay! :-)
Posted by Yasmina at 06:43 PM | Comments (3)
February 27, 2005
back from kalimantan
Got back from Kalimantan this afternoon. I managed to get a flight back to jakarta; my dad was getting upset because I stayed so long here. Was sad to leave as it's such a beautiful place. Back to smoggy "macet" Jakarta again... *sigh*
February 26 2005
I am writing this in Kalimantan, not knowing when I will be able to post it online.
I've been here a few days, and I'm loving it. Walking, mountain-biking, swimming, sunbathing, taking photographs, doing amazing latihan kejiwaan with the others. I am thinking of taking Robert here after our Bali trip, and we'll stay at the Eco Village, and then take day trips down the river, where it really looks like the Amazon in all the documentary movies. Here I am surrounded by lush green scenery. Fresh air. The sun is much much stronger here than in Java or Bali. This place is amazing. It's a very special place. What an experience it is to live here and to grow up here.
The da Silvas
It has been good to see Hamid and Isti, and Ema and Lucas again. I stayed with them in Rungan Sari.
Isti has lost a lot of weight due to her month-long stay in Aceh; she had a difficult time there, and sometimes when I see her, I feel that she is so fragile. She's been busy running around organizing the Subud congress so I haven't chatted to her all that much.
Lucas is so tall and so handsome! Still quiet, but he'd walk with me in the afternoons when I need company. Ema as pretty as ever. Hamid only arrived today although he'd been in Jakarta earlier during the week, having business meetings, I guess, with my dad. I asked him to be the witness at my wedding and he said yes! Yay! He will be in Portugal next week but promised to be back in time for the wedding. :-)
Emalia
Em is so great, she needs a subchapter all about her. She picked me up at the airport, saw me, big hug and kiss, then laughed at how pale I am. "Dasar bule loe," she said in perfect Indonesian whilst showing off her tan.
*ema dan gue tuh hobi banget cela-celaan... kalo elo ga ngerti background keluarga kita, elo mungkin mikir kalo kita berdua tuh rasis abis, abis kita emang suka nyela each other dgn kata-kata seperti yg diatas*
As usual, after I arrived, Ema goes through the clothes in my suitcase; she picks my Diesel kickboxing pants and pink Bollywood flip-flops that João bought me in Rio de Janeiro and goes out to meet her friends. Typical. She is just like Yacinta; invading my wardrobe and borrowing my clothes. They're my sisters though, and I cannot imagine them any other way.
Ema is the girl who went trekking in the Borneo rainforest wearing my Evisu jeans! My special limited edition kimono-lined Evisu jeans! I only found out because she posted a picture in her photoblogof her wearing my jeans in the forest :-S
Ema then proceeds to go through my iTunes collection; she decided she liked most of my music and transferred them into her iBook and she's been playing them constantly. She also hijacked my digital camera for a couple of days because her dad had not yet arrived with her new camera. She made me the best brownies ever though and we stayed up late eating brownies and drinking milk, listening to Hamid's stories.
The Creepy-Crawlies
There is plenty of creepy-crawlies. The bugs here are way bigger than the European ones. The bees are the size of my thumb. The milipedes and centipedes are fat and look crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The beetles all come out at night and they are huge; their bodies are the size of my index finger, but they are pretty stupid and are always flying into things. I really hate the thought that one would fly into my hair and get tangled up. Eek!
It's scary walking in the dark, because you have to watch where you are going. Ema stepped on a snake when she was looking at bats in the sky and the snake bit her. Oh but don't worry, the snake slithered off before it could release any poison. Ema was also stung by wasps yesterday at the swimming pool. Poor thing.
Meeting New People
As with any Subud event, you're bound to meet new people. I met so many interesting individuals during my stay in Kalimantan. Gaye Thakvisin, who runs Kalimantan Meeting Centre and has been in Kalimantan for 3 years. Stephanie from Devon, who's teaching at the international school in Rungan Sari for 6 months. Mas Madji and Mbak Amy, Mbak Lita, all of Tante Isti's family. Ani and Manda Geiger.
There was not a lot of Subud youth present, in contrast to the European events when there is always a lot of young people around. I was kind of disappointed as I was hoping to meet more of the Indonesian Subud youth *abis dari dulu kok kaya'nya subud youth yg gue kenal ga ada yg orang indonesia deh*
Also at the swimming pool I met Ethan, an American guy living in Bali. He teaches tai-chi and wing-chun and makes wooden dummies and sparring equipment for export. He speaks bahasa Indonesia very well, after living here for 11 years. We are going to take a boat trip down the Sei Gohong river today.
*oh ya, keluarga disini udah pada tau gue mau nikah, jadi mereka suka ngeledekin gue dan Ethan. istilah mereka tuh: nyari selingkuhan terakhir sebelum nikah. yeeee.... tadi aja pas gue lunch di latihan hall bersama Ethan, Mbak Amy was making googly eyes at me*
Getting Sunburned;
Ethan and I got pretty sunburned at the pool. I hardly ever burn and just to be safe, I put on sunblock twice all over, and still I succumbed to the Kalimantan sun. Ethan was in the kiddy pool, sunbathing in shallow water, and he's very used to the Balinese sun, but really, the Kalimantan sun just turned both of us bright red. I could not even sleep on my back last night. I've put on some cooling aloe vera on my skin, and after-sun lotion. My arms and legs are a very nice bronze, but my back is a bright red and is very sore.
When I got home and Ema saw how sunburned I was, she said, "Dasar bule loe, emang ga tahan bermatahari-ria." Aaarrrggghhhh... sebellll....
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More stories later as I update the visual blog. I'm a bit busy this week as we get closer to the wedding date. Robert arrives on Wednesday. Yay!
Posted by Yasmina at 10:30 PM | Comments (4)
February 19, 2005
ladida dida dida dida
*blog gue sepi pengunjung yah?*
nothing new to report. same old same old. updated the blog. going for a fitting for the wedding clothes tomorrow. delivering the invitations. my dad is having the bulk of the invitations sent by courier instead of the postal service, but in the old days, it was custom for the wedding couple to go and deliver the invites themselves.
nice excuse to pop to friends' houses for a cup of tea :)
next week something is going to happen that has been making me a bit nervous. okay, not a bit nervous, but a lot nervous. i'm feeling like i need monica or laszlo or robert to tell me i'll be okay. but on the other hand, i'm quite excited and looking forward to it. and no, it's not related to the wedding.
oh, and i am off to borneo next week for 5 days or so. i don't know yet, i just bought a one-way ticket, hihi, in case i decide not to come back to jakarta. i'll be running around the borneo rainforests. will take loads of photos but i'm not sure how my access to the internet will be...
Posted by Yasmina at 12:27 AM | Comments (9)
February 16, 2005
sadness on wednesday
my parents' new house in bogor lakeside is in a very green, hilly residential area. we don't have very many neighbours, so it's pretty quiet, cool breezes sweep through the house all day, we hear frogs and crickets and sometimes birds at night. it gets very dark at night so it can get creepy, but security guards patrol the area regularly, and you feel pretty safe.
public transport is scarce in this area; everyone drives their own cars and no one ever comes here unless you live here, or visiting someone here.
as soon as you leave the private property of the housing complex, just a few hundred meters down the road, you will see small wooden roadside stalls. in these simple buildings, people make their living, selling food in warung nasi, or pondok bubur ayam, or simple warung selling basic goods, like flip-flop sandals, kerupuk, cigarettes, aspirin, matches, fruit.
this morning when i drove by to get some bananas at the fruit stall, they were still standing. however, a few hours later, when i drove into town again, everything had been torn down. the wood of the stalls and zinc plates of the roofs were all lying in a heap. on some of the buildings left standing, yellow police lines were put up to mark off the area.
the only thing that was not destroyed was a couple of stalls, selling plants and flowers. i suppose because it wasn't really a stall, it was a bench with a roof, kind of like a gazebo and the plants the man was selling just blended into the roadside, a pretty natural display.
i saw cooking utensils, boxes of goods, and other belongings all on the side of the road. people were still poking through the remains of their shacks, i suppose looking for anything else they could salvage. they looked really sad. it was really hard to watch; a guy was collecting his things and handing them to his wife who stood nearby and watched with an uncomprehensible expression on her face.
i felt so so bad for them. the shacks were probably illegal, built on the side of the road like that with no trade permission. still. the people were trying to make a living. they weren't bothering anyone. actually, i can imagine the security guards of bogor lakeside finishing their shift and grabbing something to eat at the warung nasi before going home. or students from universitas pakuan nearby having their meals there.
i dunno. it just bothers me. i mean, in general i hate these roadside stalls that block the street or the sidewalk so cars and pedestrians need to swerve out of their way. they create traffic jams and leave a lot of trash behind. but these guys were really on the side of the road.
*well, ok, so they should pay a small fee for trash removal and using public property*
i hope they are getting moved elsewhere in the city, and not just getting removed and having their shops taken down. :(
Posted by Yasmina at 07:13 PM | Comments (3)
February 11, 2005
a lesson on kebaya and batik: part 1
what a horrible title. part one. so you know there's more coming...
this week i have been to the wedding stylist and the kebaya man. the kebaya is the traditional javanese blouse for women, which is worn over a batik cloth, accompanied by a matching batik sash. the modern kebaya has many variations, made from different materials and having different style cuts, adorned with hand-sewn sequins or embroidery, and can be worn over skirts, dresses, even jeans.
robert loves kebaya on me so in the summer i wear kebaya over trousers with sandals to work. i love wearing kebaya, it's so feminine. for the wedding, i will have two kebayas made: the first one for the religious ceremony, the second for the javanese ceremony and reception.
the kebaya man is a guy who makes the kebaya. the guy i went to is fairly well-known for his creations, and has his shop in south jakarta. i went with my cousins, who are also getting their kebayas made to wear at the wedding.
the kebaya man and i talked about the kebaya styles i liked, the cut that would flatter my shape. he looked at the material i brought, analysing the pattern and he drew several sketches for me before we agreed on the final design. he will make matching shoes as well and will fill all the motifs in the brocade with sequins *bhs indo: payet*
*omg. how heavy is that going to be? i'm trying to imagine this poor person trying to hand-sew all the sequins, and then i imagine myself wearing this really heavy kebaya during the reception, and the kebaya man assured me that it will look gorgeous, so i must be a woman after all, since i'm willing to suffer to look good*
next stop, the wedding stylist. the consultation was like going to history lesson. it was really interesting. i learned about the different batik patterns and the history behind it. truntum is a pattern that only the parents of the wedding couple can wear. the word truntum is derived from the javanese "turun-menurun" which roughly translates to generations/generating.
in the old days, weddings were held at home and we didn't have a stage or pelaminan on which the wedding couple and their parents would stand to greet their guests, instead they would socialise amongst their guests. so, by wearing the truntum batik cloth, guests can distinguish the hosts of the wedding, who are usually the parents of the wedding couple, from the other guests.
before the wedding of my father's oldest brother, the first of my grandparents' six children to get married, my grandfather commissioned an artist to make a truntum design for him and his wife. my grandparents wore this truntum batik for all six weddings of their children, and they wore it to their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. to this day it is still kept at my grandfather's house, wrapped in crepe paper, and aired every once in a while.
my father is considering wearing the truntum batik cloth of his parents at my wedding, but we must first check if it is still ok to wear. it would be cool if they could use it.
more batik lessons next blog update. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 10:15 PM | Comments (4)
February 10, 2005
life under the bridge
i thought i saw a wooden man today. or rather, i mistook a man for being a piece of wood. i was looking out the window of the car and saw him lying on the grass, on a patch of green on the side of the road. he was lying on his side, not a young man, an old man, his body wrinkled and sinewy. he was dark brown and shiny, like polished wood, and lighter brown on his joints and where his bones protruded under his skin, his ribcage, his hips.
i remember thinking, what a beautiful carving. then i realized it was man, not wood. he appeared to be sleeping. then i also noticed he was naked. i wondered if he was working and got too hot, so stripped naked and took a nap. or whether he was insane. or whether he was homeless. or both. i didn't even know if he was alive.
anyway, it made me sad. life under the bridge.
we were under the inner circular ring road that circled jakarta. the ring road around jakarta is a raised toll road, about 25 meters off the ground, allowing dual traffic on the toll road and on the road beneath it. so it's not really a bridge as such.
when you're driving on the toll road, you're presented with a view over jakarta; that is, if the smog doesn't get too thick. you can see the rooftops of the dilapidated wooden shacks, the office buildings, the gleaming towers of the financial district.
the road beneath is a lot more interesting. people build their shelter beneath the road, simple wooden or cardboard shacks. street peddlers at the traffic lights, selling everything from cold drinks, cigarettes, plastic globes, gorilla masks, etc. motorcyclists weaving in-between cars. they're a pain in the ass, motorcyclists, they search for death, and they're one of the reasons i don't drive in indonesia.
beggars and street musicians also gather at traffic lights. when i got to indonesia in 1992, i couldn't get used to seeing them. their eyes bore holes through the car, i felt. i didn't know how the others, my cousins, my family, could wave to them away nonchalantly; now i find that i do the same.
sometimes you see more interesting people though. the other night, there was a transvestite, dressed in a dress so tight it was like second skin, his makeup applied more expertly than when i put on make-up (!!!), his hair teased back into a bouncy puff. asian men make perfect transvestites; smaller body build, less facial and body hair, beautiful arms.
he danced in front of cars, playing a tambourine and sang along. he would get turned away, but occasionally, a car window would scroll down and a hand handed him some money.
anyway, anyway, anyway. life is good. been busy. doing family stuff, wedding stuff, and eating indonesian food, glorious indo food. it's a little bit overkill actually.
so yesterday, after getting measured for my wedding costume, i was craving a nice big fresh salad. my cousins drove me to pizza hut pondok indah nearby where i could binge on their salad bar.
i'm going to get ready to go out now. my sister turned 24 today. hooray! we're going out to celebrate... hooray! :-)
Posted by Yasmina at 04:15 PM | Comments (2)
February 02, 2005
getting here ok
the flight was pretty uneventful. i was reminded again of how much nicer SQ is than the other airlines.
i'm at my dad's house now, at bogor lakeside, where everything is still a mess because they're just moving in. i saw a gorgeous sunset from the bedroom window this afternoon. everyone has been trying to feed me. which is very nice!
conversation goes as such:
mom/dad/granddad/relative: it's good to see you! how are you?
yasmina: fine, thanks.
mom/dad/granddad/relative: did you have a good flight?
yasmina: yes.
mom/dad/granddad/relative: have you eaten? what would you like to eat?
yasmina: *pulls out long list of food from her pocket*
repeat this conversation with every indonesian relative i met so far.
i'm heading to jakarta tomorrow i think. drop in on a couple of friends. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 07:31 PM | Comments (11)
July 22, 2004
hot in the city part 3: update
wow, nice to read that my boyfriend has been productive and creative while we've been apart. ;)
last sunday had a nice family meal at my granddad's in kedoya, west jakarta. yummy food, lovely relatives. belly full of love.
afterwards, went to my cousin ine's house in bintaro and met up with this guy. hehe, business transaction. *ngga deh, cuma nyampein titipan, hehe, gue dikasih buku undiscovered territory, seneng deh, bukunya bagus*
then i dashed across town to PS to meet these guys at the foodcourt. for the full story please visit here. for the photos, you can visit nuniek's photo album here. she documents these things way bettter than i do, more descriptive too. ;)
monday i met up with mas godot of godote.com and mas yoel of creativebehavior.com. gee, citos really is much better during the day when it's quiet and you can enjoy a nice lunch, and have a chat, and browse through the bookstore before sitting down in the many coffee shops with your recent book/CD purchase.
tuesday morning, my parents, sister and i took the first flight to surabaya. which meant i had to get up at 3 am. and we spent 5 days there. but that's another story. ;)
Posted by Yasmina at 05:48 PM | Comments (2)
July 17, 2004
a new lesson on eels
so we're in the mountains of cijeruk, west java, where my mother owns some land with some of her siblings. my mom's sister and her husband have put a lot of work into building a mountain cabin, fishpools, garden gazebos, fruit orchard and garden on their property.
so my uncle starts telling me a story of when he got the bright idea of farming eels. see, in his fishpools, he farms a variety of fish. so when the kids are up there for the weekend, we have to fish for our dinner, and it's so goood to have fresh grilled fish that you've just caught. eaten with hot steamed rice, and sambal and cucumber slices on the side.
*of course, sometimes my cousins and i are a bit naughty and we end up bringing our remote control boats and chase the fish around the fishpools, instead of fishing for food*
anyhoo, back to the eel story. so my uncle and a couple of his men (they help him run his property, i'd call them gamekeepers but that sounds rather posh) went to the nearby sawah, the rice paddies so nice and muddy, and got about 50 eels to put in the fishpool.
my uncle thought they'd check a month or so later and see how the population has grown. see, if you've ever tasted eel, you'd agree that they are quite tasty. eaten in a sandwich, smoked eel dutch-style, gerookte paling, or in the chinese-style of kung-pao eel or just plain fried eel sprinkled with chillies. yumm!
i imagine that my uncle was already counting how many eels a piece his family was going to consume that night for dinner.
however, they only found onemale eel left. so they got really confused as to how the rest of the eel population disappeared. he went to the bookstore and bought a book on eels.
apparently, all eels start out as girl eels. then after they reach a length of 30 centimeters (12 inches for you non-metric-conforming people), they become boy eels. then, if these boy eels don't have enough to eat, they start eating other eels. eek! they're cannibals!
anyway i thought that was a really funny story to share with you. that was the super-alpha male my uncle found in the fishpool existing all by his lonesome self with no one else to eat. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 01:11 PM | Comments (2)
July 14, 2004
hot in the city part 2: the new school year
*my guest blogger robert seems to have shyed away from blogging, so i am writing about my adventures here*
so today i ran some errands with my aunt and her son. she is my father's younger sister, his only sister, and her son, denny, who is maybe about 12 years old. he's just finished elementary school and starting junior high. first we went to his school, labschool which is located in rawamangun near our houses in the east jakarta area.
denny also went to labschool's kindergarden and elementary school. his parents intend for him to continue his junior and highschool education there also, since it is a very good school and saves them a lot of hassle of registering him to other schools.
now, i spent less than 7 years in indonesian education and i hated half of my time in indonesian schools. plus, the last time i was educated here was over 10 years ago. so i'm no expert on the indonesian schooling and education system. my aunt enlightened me on this subject.
the amount of schools decrease the higher up the school level goes. so there's less junior high schools than elementary schools, less highschools than junior highschools and so on and so forth. you can imagine this gets pretty problematic. it somehow solves itself since some parents can only afford to educate their children to a certain level.
so the way to get into the next level is to get good grades. the top 275 students of an elementary school are pretty much guaranteed a place in the junior high. they also look at the report cards of your last 2 years of school, and listen to recommendations of teachers. so at least they have a better impression of the student. my aunt tells me they are looking at children's profiles in a better way, to get a good mix of kids together. if a kid has potential but didn't get particularly good marks at exams, he/she could still get into the school.
also there is a waiting list of 75 kids. so if people register to other schools and get accepted and pull out of one list, the people on the waiting list move up. the waiting list people also have a chance to take another exam to get into the school. this is an exam on top of the national school exams.
then there is always the "magic letter" kids. kids who get into schools through their famous, powerful relatives, say the governor of the city or a member of parliament, who will write to the school board about this kid wanting to attend their school. or, parents bribe their children's way into an expensive, good schools.
and all that is just getting accepted into a school.
remember, there are registration fees, tuition fees, all sorts of school contribution fees, buying new school uniforms, new books; the figures just add up. especially, lots of indonesian parents really have this method of "bribing" their children with prizes. they say, "oh, if you pass the exams and get into a good school, i will buy you a new mobile phone/car/digital camera" or whatever latest expensive trendy gadgets.
ok, maybe bribing is a bit harsh, but i hardly can call it a present.
it seems that education really is a business over here. :(
Posted by Yasmina at 06:15 PM | Comments (3)
July 13, 2004
hot in the city part 1
dear everyone,
while i am away, the delightful mr robert k will be resident blogger and fill us in with interesting details of his daily adventures.
a few words on jakarta:
it's hot in the city. a cold shower is really the best thing for the heat. oh, and opening the freezer door and sticking your face in front of it. :) i've been running around town in skirts and light linen clothing to keep myself cool.
my belly is full of delicious, glorious food. pempek palembang, soto betawi, nasi goreng kambing pedas manis, avocado juice, dendeng paru, sambel cabe ijo, and i've been eating a fruit salad for breakfast every morning, with fresh papayas and melons. yumm!
i have also been for a facial and a creambath, as well as a shoulder massage and a feet massage. i love getting pampered, and all soooo cheap too. although, it was not a nice sensation to get my eyebrows plucked. ouch!
i have forgotten how insanely crowded jakarta can get. one saturday night i went to citos (abbreviation for cilandak town square) and it was jam-packed, smoky as hell and some obscure band was wailing their way through a sweaty set. it was unfortunate that i went on such a weekend night. i can imagine that citos is a comfortable place for a lunch date, as the things on offer look really tempting.
you can see photos of my citos night out with cousins, uncle and aunt over here, here, there and there.
today i spent 4 hours traipsing the muddy market of blok m and melawai with my mother and her sister buying school supplies (shoes, uniform, books) for orphaned students. apparently my mom and her sisters sponsor orphaned kids and the elderly in the mountain village where they have their mountain cabins. so i donated some funds and shopped with them today. :)
more stories and photos later on.
*gee, i wish the delightful mr robert k is here with me--he'd go nuts at the food*
Posted by Yasmina at 04:27 PM | Comments (2)
July 08, 2004
leaving on a jetplane
so today i am taking my sister to amsterdam schiphol airport where we will together board a flight to jakarta via singapore.
and in 24 hours time, i will probably be posting from my parents' house in jakarta, and moaning about the dial-up internet connection, the long-haul flight and missing robert.
see you on the other side. ;)
Posted by Yasmina at 02:28 PM | Comments (4)
