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!
No comments:
Post a Comment