First Week of Workshops

The past week has been mentally and physically exhausting. Every day we have learned something new, starting with our Bahasa Indonesia lessons on Monday and Tuesday. I have been asked to explain why I say ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ instead of ‘Indonesian’; it’s basically because there is no such language as Indonesian – every region of Indonesia has a local language, and ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ is the language all Indonesians learn in school and use to communicate with people from other parts of the country. I’m picking up the language quite fast – I’m learning new words every day, but putting them together in sentences is still difficult for me. Here in Bandung people also speak the local language of Sundanese. It’s tempting to try and learn words from this language too but I think I’d get too confused, it’s probably better to stick to one new language for now!

Our second lesson on Monday was our first Pencak Silat class. Silat is the martial art practiced in Indonesia and Malaysia, but it’s especially popular here in Bandung and the surrounding areas. I really enjoyed the lesson, although it was exhausting and there was a lot to remember!

Then on Tuesday, after our second language lesson, we had our first session on learning to play the Angklung orchestra, which is called Arumba. Arumba consists of lots of instruments made of bamboo, but mainly various sizes of Angklung put together to make different instruments, for example the Angklung Accord plays chords, then we have a bass Angklung as well as melody and rhythm Angklung sets. These are put together with marimba-like instruments, as well as the Kendang, the traditional Indonesian drum which is also used in Gamelan. Angklung can also be played individually, with each bamboo instrument sounding one note.

On Wednesday we had our first traditional Indonesian dance class. We were learning a local Sundanese dance called Jaipong, although our first lesson was just getting to know the basic moves and steps, rather than the actual dance.

Sundanese dance seems to be more rhythmic and energetic compared to the dances our friends in central Java will be learning – the music and dance in Solo and central Java seems to be altogether more reserved; very slow and controlled. Every region has its own traditions and styles which are still very much practiced, all children seem to learn traditional dance or Pencak Silat.

Each week we will have two classes on a specific aspect of traditional culture, and this week’s class was on learning how to make the decorations used for various ceremonies and celebrations. A janur is an elaborate decoration made out of palm leaves, used for wedding ceremonies. I forget the name of the other thing we learned to make, but it’s a small woven basket that people fill with rice in order to cook it. In the coming week we will have a day of making batik which is the art of decorating cloth or clothes with intricate patterns.

On Friday we had our second Angklung and Pencak Silat classes. We have four hours of classes per day, and although that doesn’t seem like a lot, they’re moving at a very fast pace so we always have homework or practicing to do to make sure what we learnt has actually gone in. I am really enjoying the challenge so far!

First days in Bandung

Our schedule here over the last few days has been very relaxed; we've had a lecture about Bandung and  the things it has to offer, we've been watching the numerous performances at the arts centre, and the people of Saung Angklung Udjo have taken us out for some day trips, but we've had a lot of free time and we've all been adjusting to the slow-paced, relaxed way of life, as well as bonding as a group and getting to know the arts centre and the city. The real work starts tomorrow with a Bahasa Indonesia lesson in the morning and a Pencack Silat lesson in the afternoon, and from then on we will have two lessons per day on various things. 

Yesterday we were taken to the zoo by the organisers here at SAU... the zoo on the whole was disappointing and the animals were kept in pretty bad conditions, but I had expected it to be that way so I wasn't shocked. When adapting to a new country and a new way of life, there are some things you just have to accept. The main thing that I took away from the trip to the zoo was a kind of empathy with the animals, as there had been times during the day that I had felt like one of the exhibits!  Our group attracted a lot of stares as we were the only non-Indonesian tourists at the zoo, and several times we were asked if we would pose for photos. Except sometimes they didn't even ask, we were just grabbed and pulled in front of a camera with a local family or group of friends. I didn't feel entirely comfortable with the attention, although some members of our group were loving it... this picture sums this up perfectly:

So that was my first strange experience of the day... the second occurred in the evening when I was invited to go and see 'some music' and found myself in the middle of a three-year-old boy's circumcision party. The family had gone all out, closing off the street and putting up shelters from the rain so that the guests could stay dry while watching singing, dancing and comedy. One of the organisers from SAU was friends with the boy's aunt, so the invitation was extended to us as well. We went to congratulate the boy and were immediately offered seats in the front row, and then invited up on stage to dance! Again I was feeling slightly uncomfortable - this party was to celebrate the boy, but we had arrived and now we were getting all the attention. After subtley and politely edging to the back to watch the dancing from afar, our friend from SAU told us that actually it would have been a big honour for them if we had joined in the celebrations; Indonesians love to see non-Indonesians appreciating their culture and taking part. 

So I'm learning about what's expected and what's acceptable, what is polite and what is disrespectful. I'm also learning more about the city of Bandung and its idiosyncrasies, for example their angkot system. An angkot is a cross between a taxi and a bus; it's the size of a small minibus and can be flagged down anywhere; you then squeeze in amongst everybody else who is going in the same direction. Although they follow certain routes in certain directions, and can apparently be differentiated by their colours, there appears to be no logical system as to which colours of angkot go where - you just have to know your route and know your colours. Today, while trying to navigate Bandung with one of my friends, we found it easiest just to flag down an angkot and tell the driver where we wanted to go, he would then nod and we'd get in, or he'd point to another angkot on the street which we would then have to chase down (fairly easy because of the traffic jams) and see if we'd struck lucky. It's hard as we still have extremely basic language skills, so communication with the local people generally involves a lot of gesturing and looking things up in my newly purchased Indoneisan-English dictionary. However angkot is by far the cheapest way to get around the city, with a half hour journey costing around 20p per person.

The last few days have been spent like this - immersing ourselves in the language and the culture and trying to fit in. I hope that my next blog post will contain more details about some of the actual lessons we're going to have, on learning Angklung, Pencack Silat, and Sundanese dancing! For now though, I'd like to dedicate this blog post to my amazing dad as it's father's day in the UK - I know he would absolutely love to be here - I get my passion for travelling and learning about new cultures from him and he encouraged me to apply for this scholarship in the first place! Happy father's day!

Saung Anklung Udjo

Well, I have so much to write about! The 70 people I have been living with for the last week have all been split up and sent to separate cities and art centres to study various aspects of Indonesian art and culture. I am now living in Bandung with 11 other people from India, Austria, Thailand, Naru, Samoa, Figi, Turkey, Germany and Kiribati, and this will be our home for the next three months!

The place we're staying at is called Saung Anklung Udjo, and it is a haven of peace and community in the centre of Bandung (which is nearly as crowded as Jakarta). It's a centre set up to educate people about the art form of Angklung, a traditional Indonesian musical instrument made of bamboo which is extremely versatile and sounds incredible when played well. They also teach Silat, a tradtional Indonesian martial art, which we will also be learning during our stay here. The centre has 500 visitors a day, with two daily performances and lots of workshops. The volunteers and staff live in and around the centre, and the IACS participants are staying in a beautiful little house all together. Here are some pictures!

Our shared living area with my new housemate from Figi

My lovely bedroom!!

Saung Anklung Udjo is exactly the kind of place I was hoping to be sent to in Indonesia! It's a centre which teaches music and harmony through community, as well as teaching Indonesian people about their local culture. There's always activity and music happening here - I woke up this morning at 7am to people rehearsing for this morning's performance. There is a huge performance area with a stage with lots of instruments we're free to use in our spare time when the performance area isn't being used:

The performance space and the morning show (just for locals in Bahasa Indonesia, the evening show is always packed and is for the visitors, in English)

A scary looking ram who lives here with us

A huge bat with massive teeth!

Making the Angklung - it's all made by hand and we will learn to make our own while we are here.

I have been playing violin a lot over the last week, it's been great because I haven't played much at all this past year. Before we all left to go to our separate art centres, each group had to come up with a 10 minute performance to show to the rest of the groups at our big farewell party. We discovered that each person in our group had a talent, whether it was music, dance, or martial arts, and we incorporated all of these into our performance with myself and the guy from India providing the soundtrack on violin and drums. Afterwards we won the prize for the best group performance, and I'm so glad we were able to do this as I missed my end of year performance at university but this kind of makes up for it.

The girl from Thailand in my group plays the saw duang, a Thai stringed instrument, which she has tuned so that we can play together. We've been teaching each other simple tunes and learning each other's instrument, which is great, I hope by the end of the three months to be able to be able to play it! I am going to learn so much here; as well as learning how to play Anklung and learning Silat, the Indonesian martial art found in this area, I will be learning Bahasa Indonesia, possibly some traditional dance, maybe some Indonesian cookery and the art of Batik, and lots of phrases in Thai and German because my friends have promised to teach me more of their languages. 

Oh and I get to visit volcanoes!

Opening Ceremony!

Today we had the opening ceremony of the Indonesian Arts and Cultures Scholarship. It was a very grand occasion, and we had all been asked previously to wear our traditional national dress for the ceremony. Here are a few of the outfits which were worn by my friends:

 Indonesia, Greece, Serbia, Germany, Russia, Suriname, Kazakhstan.

 Thailand, Indonesia, Thailand

Austria, Suriname

I had been wondering for a while about what I should wear for this ceremony, and I came to the conclusion a while ago that the UK has no national dress! I’m not especially patrotic, but when it comes to an occasion like this where I am representing the UK among so many other countries, it’s kind of embarrassing that we aren’t more proud of our traditions and culture. I settled for a formal black dress in the end, with a red rose to symbolise England:

(I'm standing next to a portrait of the first president of Indonesia)

I felt very boring compared to the rest of the group!

Later on, talking about food in our different countries, it struck me again that we don’t really have a traditional dish… unless you count a roast dinner or fish and chips. Maybe it’s because I come from the UK, but I’ve been comparing our culture to many different countries and cultures over the last couple of days and I can’t help thinking that we’re actually fairly boring. Conversations with my new friends usually contain ‘In Denmark we do this…’ or ‘In Indonesia we eat this…’ but it seems as though Britain prefers to adopt food and traditions from other parts of the world rather than be proud of their own. 

The same goes for language. I am truly embarrassed that I am the only person on this scholarship (apart from maybe the two people from the USA) who only speaks one language. Luckily for me, the entire program is conducted in English. Everybody here speaks their own language, English, and in most cases one or two other languages as well. I don’t know why we find this acceptable in the UK. I have seen over the last few days how knowing more than one language can open up a whole new world of communication and opportunities, and I don’t think that people in the UK should just not bother to learn another language, just because ours is the one spoken widely throughout the world. I am learning Bahasa Indonesia – the language spoken throughout Indonesia, and I hope that by the end of the three months here I will be good enough to communicate with local people.

Anyway… a quick update on my bizzare food for the day – grass jelly! 

This is basically jelly flavoured with grass (this was the translation I understood from the guy who convinced me to try it), floating in lumpy milk flavoured with ginger. Another weird and wonderful desert I tried today was fried banana with grated cheese on top. Indonesians often eat sweet and savoury foods together. They’re giving us so much food here and I want to try everything!
In a few days’ time we will find out which city we have been allocated to for the next three months. Then we will be divided into groups of 12, and sent off to study different aspects of local Indonesian music and culture!

Food!

Here are some observations I have made about Indonesian food:

They eat a lot of rice. They have rice for every meal, including breakfast. Every meal, every day. I actually quite like rice for breakfast, but they have it with chicken curry and steamed vegetables too. At 7 in the morning. Indonesians don't actually seem to differentiate between the three meals of the day, it's generally rice, curry and steamed vegetables for every meal!

They like to hide chilies in things. A few times, over the last couple of days, I've bitten into some unknown item of food to find a concealed chili, a tiny whole one which burns so much that chewing is impossible, it's best to just spit or swallow as soon as you can. I'm not the only one this has happened to - I've seen a lot of people suddenly jump up from the dinner (or lunch or breakfast) table with streaming eyes, and run towards the water dispenser.

They have these:

It tastes a little like rice pudding, but with the consistency of jelly. Very strange. I've been making a point of trying everything new, even if it looks pretty questionable. I think this is the strangest so far!

They are quite fond of having chicken, fish and tofu on the same plate, even in the same curry! Back home I eat meat maybe once a week... here they have it for every meal! There are a couple of vegetarians on this program and I'm not sure how they're coping! This is just the food in the hotel we're staying at though - in a few days we're moving to various art centres across Indonesia and the food might be different.

I have done so much in the last two days but I have very little time to write! I'll try and give a proper update of my activities soon!

Arrival!!

This was my first view of Java's volcanic peaks as the plane began to descend over Indonesia...






I finally arrived in Jakarta at about 10am Indonesian time, although it felt like four in the morning to me! Jakarta is every bit the chaotic, stiflingly humid, traffic-laden city I’d expected. Although my experience of the city so far is only what I saw during the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel, it reminds me a lot of the bigger cities in India, complete with rickshaws (here called becak), and ramshackle stalls crowding the pavements, selling bottles of fizzy drink and street food, not to mention the multiple echoes of the call to prayer ringing out over the city every few hours.
I can't wait to experience some of Indonesia's stunningly beautiful tropical countryside, or the tiny, remote islands I saw from the plane (you need to look closely to see these!):

So for those of you who are still a little unsure about what I'm doing here... I've been awarded a three and a half month scholarship to study Indonesian music, language and culture! I've been a big fan of Indonesia and its music for a couple of years now, and the chance to study here for three months, with everything paid for and with a whole bunch of other people from around the world, seemed like an opportunity too good to be true! It's all put on by the Indonesian government in an attempt to promote Indonesian culture and Indonesia as a country, as well as establishing good relations with other countries. There are 60 people taking part, chosen from 44 countries around the world.

It's been a bit hectic over the last few weeks, as we were notified that we had actually got the scholarship very late, and the committee in Jakarta who have been putting this programme together seemed to be terrible at letting us have any information at all! But I'm here now, and I can't wait to get started!