XB07

At dawn, an Indonesian man adopts the preferred mode of transport as Gunung Merapi steams away in the background.

2007 was quite a year of acronym-based trips for me. Beginning with the highly anticipated SB07 (spring break) followed by the gargantuan and tremendously successful WAC07 (week after college). Both trips explored the magical realm of pristine beaches, fish tacos, endearing canines, and omnipresent sand that is Baja Mexico. As a capstone to the year 2007, and in homage to these epic trips, Elliott Vanderkolk, a seasoned Baja veteran and beloved friend, came to visit Indonesia to chalk up one more memorable acronym-07 extravaganza. This one, XB07 (X-mas break) earned a well-deserved place next to the other 07 trips—we even made a token hat (as is tradition ever since FB05).

Well, the past month has been another flurry of official and unofficial travel throughout the great and gorgeous nation of Indonesia. December 3^rd through 10^th was a reunion for all other Fulbright scholars. A conference of sorts where we “shared resources” and basically took comfort in the fact that we were not alone trying to adjust to teaching in this foreign land where sometimes everything seems the opposite of what it should be. It was great to talk to everyone, rekindle friendships and create new ones. This is a great group of people overflowing with profound and influential ideas, and the whole week renewed my confidence and sense of purpose for being here in Indonesia on this grant. Also, I can’t lie—one of the highlights was spending 6 dollars at the western food store to get my long-overdue chips and salsa fix. Hooray!

This is the quintessential Javanese countryside.

From Jakarta, Jane and I took the overnight train to Yogjakarta. “Jogja,” as it is affectionately called by locals, is touted as the cultural capital of Indonesia. As such, it is a rare gem of a city for this country, teeming with an uncanny amount of self-expression. Artful graffiti is everywhere, live music opportunities abound, public plays, concerts, fine restaurants, the works! This type of collaboration and vibrant artistic activity is what I find to be of value in a city (if it weren’t for that, why wouldn’t I just live closer to the mountains and rivers?) Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of public artistic culture in my home city of Makassar. Not to say that culture is nonexistent here, you just have to look harder. Living in Makassar, for the first time in my life, I am genuinely excited to ‘discover’ a new mall. I shamefully admit this, but really, going to the mall is THE activity for the Makassarese.

The stoic Jane assumes her meditation pose next to the ancient Buddha statues of Borobodur temple.

Elliott, fresh from solitary pinballing around the Bali climate change conference, was relieved to meet me in Yogjakarta and offload some of his amazing presents all the way from the USA (thanks everybody!). We went back to Makassar for 3 nights of teaching, meeting, and eating. Elliott got a first-hand look at the inner workings of Meester Jon’s classroom, and a gastronomical voyage around Makassar including stops for grilled fish, prawns, calamari, and the infamous beef-gut stew (Elliott temporarily retired his vegetarianism for the expedition to a country where this dietary choice is not well understood or catered to). Three nights in Makassar is too much for any tourist, so we continued the epic tale of XB07 from Medan, Sumatra.

Sumatra offers a wealth of beautiful views, both great and small.

Again, I will let the pictures tell most of this tale. If you want details, I will have to reveal them on a case-by-case basis. Only the cursory summary should be revealed here to the general public. We started in Berastagi with a good routine of early bedtime, early wake-ups (Elliott had a hard time sleeping through the call to prayer at 5AM…for me, at this point, it sounds like a lullaby) a diet of great tropical fruit, mountain-climbing, and finally ending the day with a hot-spring soak in view of the active steam-spewing volcano.The well-arranged and very delicious fruit market in Berastagi. Famous around the country. Free samples!

Negotiating the thickness of Sumatran jungles. Luckily, the heavy rains have carved out huge gullies like this one where we can stay underneath most of the thick brush.

Happy jungle trekkers.

Then it was on to Lake Toba, where we rented a motorcycle and spent the days cruising around the lake, absorbing the beautiful views and equatorial sunshine.

The Sipiso-Piso waterfall plummets of this cliff about a kilometer from its intersection with the north end of Lake Toba

A Batak style traditional hut near Lake Toba. The Batak people are famed for having recently been cannibals! Now they are just sort of Christian and have an affinity for arak palm wine.During our triumphant ride around the lake, we ran out of gas. Partially due to poor planning and partially due to a wildly erratic fuel gauge. No problem though. After a short hitchhike, we were sold this "bag o' gas" that Elliott is holding in his left hand. In his other hand you see our brilliantly improvised funneling system. We were back on the road in no time.The countryside around Lake Toba includes the omnipresent rice padi punctuated by perfectly cloudy skies and lush green mountains.

We still hadn’t had our fill of the jungle, so we took a hellish bus ride to Bukit Lawang where we encountered a great number of primates and other noteworthy jungle creatures (snakes, insects, leeches, a monitor lizard, giant birds that sound like helicopters, etc.) We spent Christmas day camped in the jungle, on a river, playing cribbage and calling our families with my cell phone. Yep, cell phones are such a huge part of this culture that the government has provided service virtually EVERYWHERE…even to jungle campers. From there, Elliott started his long, 4-day journey back to Maryland, which included many modes of transport from a short rafting trip on the river to international air travel.

Orang-utan (literally means forest person in Bahasa Indonesia)

Another of the many inhabitants of the jungle.

After Elliott left, Pesantren IMMIM was still on vacation and I was in no hurry to get back to Makassar, so I met up with fellow Fulbrighters once again at the hub—Bali. More specifically, Matt’s house in Bali. Matt is the one ETA with the good fortune to be placed at a school on the outskirts of the crazy tourist hullabaloo that is Kuta beach. Kuta is very “westernized,” which is to say standardized, by which I mean it could be anywhere in the world. The beach is okay, but I have heard that Bali’s other beaches are far more spectacular. I went with the other ETAs to Gili Trawangan, a small, party-oriented island off the coast of Lombok. We passed the time until New Years, which was a purely social occasion and I did not see any sights of particular note. After a grueling 20-hour boat-bus-boat-bus-airplane-taxi ride, I made it back to Makassar at 3AM on the 4^th.

I thought teaching was scheduled to resume again on the 5^th, but here I am, now it is the 14^th and I still haven’t entered the classroom (except to pose in a picture for the local newspaper). All of the students are here taking exams, and I spend most of my time in the mornings being confused about why we aren’t teaching, and what exactly I should be doing. The gust of wind in my sails from the Jakarta conference has faded into a slight breeze, and again I feel like a mere fixture here—a beacon of white skin and native fluency that conveys bragging rights for the Pesantren, but little else. I have been here a little over a week and I already want to leave again and continue exploring. Especially so because I am not teaching, and my only real interaction with the community occurs between the hours of 8 and 10 PM when I make my rounds walking to peoples’ houses on the Pesantren campus. Hopefully, as the teaching picks up, so will my attitude.A small creek we encountered in the middle of the jungle near Bukit Lawang. I proudly tout this as the cleanest body of water I have seen in Indonesia to date.