Borobudur

I first came across Borobudur during high school. It is in the textbook of my favourite subject, History.
And then I was there, at the Borobudur itself.
For real.

Rumah Islam. Part 1.

I only have as much as heard of the name - Rumah Islam.
And I only found out few hours after arriving that I, am in one.
It still did not wash away my amazement of the concept before I know it is a Rumah Islam though.

First thing when I set eyes on the property, I ohhh-ed and wahhh-ed over their front yard. They have a fruiting papaya tree in their front yard. papaya! (excuse me, but I have been away from dear tropic for a good deal of time)
The next hour saw me being introduced to the house
- a massive hall overlooked by study room 1. its function is like common room. and when them girls are not there, they stow their scooters (no less than 5) in here.
- a praying room. where we prayed together and recite al-Matsurat together
- a kitchen.
- a room for clothes you wear at home. clothes, in all sizes you can find, even the size that fit me (I, am vertically prosperous by Asian standard)
- a room for clothes you wear when you go out.
- study room 1.
- study room 2.
- a bedroom. for all 14. "I beg your pardon?". I thought I heard wrong, but no I did not. My logic is, when you have so many rooms, why would ALL 14 of you sleep in one 3x4 room?
- 4 bathrooms

It took a while for me to register everything. They stow their books together. meaning the books are at everyone's disposal. Same goes to
- any food unlabelled on the tables or in the fridge
- almost all the clothes in those 2 rooms
- the toiletries and vanities
But then, how are you going to know which is whose?
You can see that I am not that bright to be wondering like that.
I mean why would people put their things mixed up together if they only want to use it for themselves and not share it.
You see, sharing almost all of your things rid you of your sense of strong ownership. it rid you of your selfishness. it nurture you to be the one who keeps giving, without any feelings holding you from giving what you have.

and the chores, which includes washing dirty laundry and fold them clean clothes, are divided.
on a side note, they have a backyard with clothes line (bless the tropic sun) and people, they grow their lemongrass. how rad can this house be!
and yes, up to this point I still have no idea I am staying in Rumah Islam.
But one thing I gather from the introduction is that I hardly need to open my suitcase before I move to University Club Hotel.

I went to help prepare food for iftar jamaie (iftar together. that evening, it means iftar together with other ~20 ppl. ~20 people that I have never known). In between meeting all new people and remembering their names and washing the chicken and raving about how fantastic it is that they are cooking tempeh and tofu (again, please excuse this Asian absents from Asia for too long), I told them that their living arrangement impressed me very very very much. Albeit the fact that I lived in hostel for 5 good years, I am now, a more individualistic person. thus the concept of the house is very humbling to me, about how people can give so much space and materials to share. and that is when Faramie said the sentence "kalau akak nak tahu, ini la Rumah Islam" ("if you want to know, this is rumah Islam"). And, I, asked the obvious question "like, really?". and she went on to explain the concept of Rumah Islam and I went on to be amazed by every single thing.

I was fresh from 3 days of travelling with my suitcases. and in those 3 days, I made a new acquaintance in Munich airport, layover in Dubai for 8 hours, overnighted in KLIA, had one hell of a morning in LCCT and landing in Indonesia for the first time in my life. and not to forget, skipped home that I have left since the previous summer. and it never crossed me that I will find myself in Rumah Islam, even more staying there. The ball really gets rolling, and man, I am ever so glad that I embarked on this journey.

Ramadhan

1. The shouts of sahooorrrr. lasts 2 hours or so. starting from 3 AM.
2. takjil. something like meal pack, for breaking fast, gave to people, for free?
3. once on our way to Keraton, there was a long line leading into a shop. you can see that the people lining up are the ones in need. The Indonesian students said, in Ramadhan, shops open their door to the needy
4. discounts. discounts in every supermarket.
5. tarawikh, was not able to join the mass. but I heard it's a unique experience
6. banners everywhere wishing people Ramadhan Kareem
7. covered dining area.
8. not many are used to the rukhsah (keringanan) concept in Islam in Malaysia, it is more or less the same in Indonesia. One of the rukhsah is traveller is exempted for fasting (but have to replace it anytime before the next Ramadhan. In the days where Islam is still novel, conditions were harsh, so traveller is exempted from fasting etc. But Islam flourished in Madinah, that was when the sahabah (companion) asked prophet Muhammad pbuh ~ should we still apply the concept of rukhsah now that the conditions are not that harsh anymore? Allah said, it is a mercy from me, so be grateful of it.
anyway, when we went to Goa Pindul, I fulfill all requirement to not fast, so I did not fast. I am quite apprehensive about eating in the public but I wanted to try the bakso. So I ordered one anyway from the vendor, only to be greeted with "ngakk puasa!" duh! hahahaha.

Gudeg

We went to this Gudeg place on the second evening for dinner.

Sat down to the combo menu listing among others, ayam kapala (that is chicken head for you) and krecek (and that is dried cow or buffalo skin cooked in spicy sauce)

I double checked with the Indonesian student if kapala is actually the neck (we Malaysian and Indonesian speak mutually intelligible language to some extent), but no, kapala is kapala, the head.

Well, I love chicken feet but chicken head?what if the eyes are still open and are looking my way?

So I settled for a combo of rice+gudeg+thigh+krecek

premise 1 : gudeg (and the chicken) are cooked for hours in palm sugar and coconut milk

premise 2 : them people in Jogjakarta has been known to be sweet tooth bunch

conclusion : thanks Allah for the spicy krecek. I am no sweet tooth person. I downed 2 drinks to wash off the sweetness. Well, at least I have tried the food icon of Jogja.

I was told gudeg is essentially jackfruit, so I was confused throughout my dinner trying to find the jackfruit *silly*

try to find the jackfruit
credit : Chris

On another note, when I was paying, I notice the lady is cutting up the banana leaves. Loads of them. I never appreciate the luxury of eating on a banana leaf until I found out it cost a thumb here in Czech.

Accommodation

We stayed at the University Club Hotel. (included in the fee)
It's smacked inside the main campus.
A good place to stay in I must say.

Entrance to the main campus

I've never been to the university mosque despite it being Ramadhan.
Missed out big time. I read somewhere that it is beautiful. *cue going back to Jogja

Hotel is okay.
Breakfast is on the house. I went to breakfast once. There were western breakfast and you can request for omelette. though there is only one type of bread - white loaf without crust.

dining area. spot them 2 girls there ;)

Since it was Ramadhan, sahur was on the house too. I got down with Hadeer at 3am and stayed there until it was 4am almost everyday.
The spread was Indonesian food - rice, 3-4 different dishes, krupuk/crackers, cut fruits, soto, and guava or soursop juice. My stomach was partying all the time. I never settled for less than 2 helpings.
It was really nice. On some days it was raining and I can hear it and I can also hear the frogs. Bring so much memories from childhood. Once there was ash rain sotime during sahur time but of course I had no idea until Kea told me about it.
The people going down for sahur changed every three to four days and the last 2 or 3 days, they send the food to my room instead. Well, it makes no sense to have sahoor buffet for only 2 people.

I am salivating looking at this picture. photo by me.

We stayed at 2 single beds room ensuite.

the room. photo by me.

Rika came on the third day and it was my first time having a foreign roommate (well, I have had foreign housemates but never roomamate).
Rika is a sweet, polite Japanese and I have a lot to learn from her.
Rika-san if you are reading this, I am very sorry for my imperial march alarm that punctuated your sleep at 3 am everyday.
I never tidied my bed up (my mom will chase me if she knows this) because the housekeeper did that.
Towels got changed everyday and they replete the bottled water everyday too. what a life (cant blame me, I am a student thus I have been staying in hostels when travelling)

On a clear day we can see the Merapi.
There is a bank with ATM right outside the main gate of the main campus and Mirota campus, a supermarket is a walk away (though, I must admit I am glad I went there with Indonesian students first before I master the skill of crossing the road in Jogja)
It does feel university like (excuse me, I dont even know where our main campus is. pathethic I know)
- students practising tae kwan-do
- students in marching band practise
- students doing everything students should be doing, together





and they also have campus bike. how rad is that?
and I missed it! *2nd cue to go back.haha

credit : Shintaro Tanaka

Disclaimer : all photos are credit to Alicia unless stated otherwise.

Disaster Simulation 1

Naturally, lectures are, well, almost boring.
Good things are there were bunch of practical things we did.
After the opening ceremony, there was a simulation.
We walked down to where it was. In our beautiful attire for such formal ocassion.
I would say 2 things
1. them Indonesian are natural actors and actress
2. they sure have a lot of crazy people around. because for every simulation, I counted there were no less than 2 loonies among ~20 ppl. well if u ratio it, that is a lot of crazy people.


So here were how we looked like before the sweating party starts the first evening into the course.

Before opening ceremony.
Credit : Alicia

It was a fun night with good food.
Credit : Stella

very sharply dressed rescuers.
credit : Stella

There are 2 victims here
Credit : Stella

loonies
credit : Stella

I know, looking very 'attractive'. I was sweating buckets.
Credit : Stella

Thomas seems to have the gift of talking loonies into behaving themselves.
Credit : Stella

Them people in beautiful dresses saving the world.
Credit : Stella

Still alhamdulillah, that was all that. At least they did not put the victim on the tree, in the middle of the bush in the dark for the rescuers like what I had to do in National Service.

Ullen Sentalu

On our first day, the Indonesian students drove us up to the foot of the mountain. Our first trip in the programme is visiting the private museum depicting Javanese culture and art.

Here is something for first impression

There were some locals selling salak fruit by the roadside leading to the museum. It is one of my first looks into this scene, the scene of very common people trying to put rice on their table. and it is very respectable.

salak fruits
credit : Chris

We paid the fee to get in. a whopping 50 000 rupiahs, because we are not Indonesian (they have to pay a fraction of our price) and because it is not in our programme. I personally think it worth my money though (and you will find out why)

Entry is only with a guide. We got a female guide. She kept switching between English and Indonesian, even in a sentence that it drove me to the verge of having epilepsy. Still, I gather quite a lot from her. The two I remember most are the batik with parang/machete motif which is for the royal family (I couldn't even wear sarong properly, so what does that make me?that makes me unbefitting to be royals.) and there is this one beautiful princess from the kesultanan(the royal house) that reject Bung Karno proposal.

A large part of the museum tells about the royalties of Yogyakarta. There are a lot of potraits depicting royal ladies in the beautiful sarong batik and kebaya with their hair raised. There is this one room full of letters from families ~ most of them are poem and they are consoling the princess about ahem, love matters. There are the musical instruments, the batik with different motives which are totally different from what we have back home (theirs is much more intricate and beautiful), the portraits, the portraits and the portraits. Alas, camera is not allowed inside the exhibition (or was it flash is not allowed. I don't remember. I may be demented)

Behold the inside of the museum (well, part of it)

The thing about living in the tropics is that if you are passionate enough, u will have very beautiful gardens.
The visit was capped off with drinking jamu drink in a beautiful room with many wooden carvings. alas, I missed the jamu drinks hence the opportunity to stay younger because I was fasting. (Idk if you can take away the jamu. sorry I did not ask about it)

Nominals

We were in Jalan Malioboro for the umpteenth time.
I was running out of rupiahs (yet no one have any idea where I can change my Euros) but still havent get the hang of the multiple zeros on the notes.
and I was craving for some sweet drink (happens when u are on empty stomach) so off to the department store I went zooming in.
I stopped at the cold section. There are so many exotic drinks in front of me and I was having a tough time comparing the prices.
I settled for two types of drinks and went to pay.
I changed my mind and switch my drinks.
My bill came out to be below 11000 rupiahs. fuhh. lucky got enough money to pay. Me and my skyhigh confidence at the most inconvenient times (-,-')
I paid but she returned one of my notes back. I counted the zeroes. It was a 1000 rupiah note.
I gave up one of the drinks. Said my apologies and got a cold treatment back (she did not even give me a death stare).
I think my skin must have grown inches in layers but I kept telling myself that I most probably wont be returning.
Sad story.