Ramayana Ballet

Last night I joined other Indonesian students at Realia plus a couple of teachers, at the Ramayana Ballet. Pictures are here. I was curious to see the differences between this version of Ramayana and the performance I attended last year in Bangkok. Here, the dance/story is held weekly at “Prambanan”, an ancient Hindu temple near Yogya and the biggest of it's kind in Java.

When we arrived at Prambanan, the first thing we noticed was the temple, which was spectacularly powerful as it loomed over the outdoor stage. We were a bit late to the show but it didn’t matter since the performance was three hours long. The dancers were dressed in colorful costumes – often with headdresses – and true to the Ramayana story there were too many characters to keep track of. Dancing was similar to what I saw in Thailand, with women taking very small steps in long skirts, while men had bigger, bolder movements. All the dancers were very expressive with their hands, although right angles seem to be the hand style (as opposed to the perfect curves of Thai hands when doing traditional dance).

The ballet was danced to traditional Indonesian music – gamelan – played by a group of musicians sitting on an elevated stage behind the dancers. Gamelan is beautiful, though it has a very different aesthetic than western music. Often the band sounds discordant to my classical and jazz-trained ears, but somehow the total result is emotional and beautiful.

The Ramayana story is long and complicated, and you can learn more about it here if you are interested. Although most Indonesian people are not Hindu (the religion was strong here many centuries ago) the ballet which originated in India has remained an important part of Yogya culture. Perhaps the most spectacular part of the performance was when they burned two large piles of straw on the stage – although my group was sitting perhaps 200 meters from the flames, we could feel the heat from the fire. This sort of thing would never be allowed in the US because of the fear of burning down a building. For once I happy about the lack of (enforced) safety regulations in Indonesia – this country never fails to remind me how “safe” Americans can be!

Fasting

Most of my friends are Muslim and fasting right now. Currently I’m living in a rumah kos which houses all-Muslim students (except for myself, of course). They wake up at 3 am every morning and eat breakfast together, and then pray. At about 5 pm they gather again to buka puasa. Given this arrangement, I decided to try fasting today, just to see what it feels like. I woke up at 3 am and wandered drowsily to the eating area, where I unhappily (because eating at 3 am after sleeping for four hours is not a nice experience) consumed some rice and a breadfruit-chicken concoction that is a specialty of Yogya. Knowing I would not be able to drink for the next 14 hours, I consumed at least 5 glasses of water and fell back into bed ready to sleep again.

I woke up and was immediately thirsty. Perhaps this was just my imagination or extra-sensitivity to water on this fasting day, but it was not a good way to begin my fasting experience. I went to Indonesian Language class all day, and was okay in the morning but in the afternoon felt extremely thirsty and could not concentrate in class. For some reason hunger was not a sensation while fasting – maybe because the thirst was so overpowering? After class finished I decided to take a walk and distract myself from the thirst. This was a good tactic because the last two hours of puasa flew by. At 5:40 pm, after a quick bath, I joined my friends in my rumah kost and drank the best glass of tea I’ve ever tasted. The sensation of tea on the tongue and in the throat was amazing after no liquid for so long. Surprisingly, I only wanted to eat a little (but drink a lot). My analysis of puasa? I think restricting liquid intake is not a good thing for body processes, and I will not do it again. However, restricting food intake is an interesting and possibly positive experience, especially when a group of friends are supporting and joining me in this experience. After fasting all day and eating a bit I felt very relaxed and happy. I may puasa again, but only with food – being thirsty for 10 hours is a very unpleasant experience! I also have incredible respect for all Indonesians who fast for a month, I don’t think I have the willpower to do it!

Ramadan: The month of fasting

In Indonesia, about 85% of citizens claim Islam as their religion, and many of these people observe the fasting month of Ramadan. In the Indonesian language, the word for fasting is “puasa”. The Ramadan fasting tradition has very specific rules: people cannot eat, drink, smoke, drink coffee, or have sex from before sunrise (around 4 am) to sunset (around 5:30 pm). The purpose of the fast is manifold and main reasons for fasting include a need to clean oneself in the eyes of Allah, to learn how to control desires and emotions, to understand the feelings of hunger and thirst, and perhaps most important the belief that a person is truly Muslim only if he or she observes the fast each year. The result is that many restaurants are not open during the day, and everyone is even slower and more relaxed than normal since they are dehydrated and perhaps have low blood sugar during the workday. The slow-down effect includes government workers – a few weeks ago I read a report about government employees who were reprimanded for shopping at the mall during office hours! Apparently this is a common problem during Ramadan. Because the majority of Indonesian people cannot eat during the day at this time of year, it is considered a bit rude to be seen eating or drinking on the street. I must be careful to eat only in restaurants if I go out for breakfast or lunch, and then only if the restaurants cover their windows so that diners cannot be seen from outside.

Children learn how to fast around age 7, bribed by treats such as trips to McDonalds or toys. Often children are only expected to fast for part of the day, until 10 am or noon or 3 am. By the time they reach high-school age, most practicing Muslims are fasting throughout the day. The hour of breaking the fast or "buka puasa", at about 5:40 pm, has become my favorite time of the day because it is filled with such excitement and is (of course) highly-anticipated. When the fasting breaks, mosques announce the moment with joyful chanting and there is very little traffic because everyone is eating or drinking. Typical food for buka puasa is fruit with syrup, hot sweet tea, fried bananas, and other treats rich in simple sugars and fats.

Yogya Dua

Back in Yogya! I'm here for a month to get a better handle on the language. The minute I stepped off the plane from Ponti I had a good feeling about this place (and not because the weather is dryer and cooler than Kalimantan, but that helps too =). Currently I'm staying at a very traditional Muslim rumah kost with my friend Dessy. The kost is run by a wonderful grandmotherly woman who feeds us constantly with sometimes-delicious, sometimes-strange Javanese food and who has surprisingly good english skills. I'll be going to school full time (6 hours of one-on-one training per day) and also working on some grant proposals while here. school starts tomorrow so I have to get my beauty sleep (and find some dinner in the form of super-spicy javanese food that I'm in love with). Sampai jumpa!

A Hell's Angel

Well, at least the first step in that direction. Today I learned how to ride a motorbike! I've been bugging my friends for about a month now, asking them to teach me how to use a "motor" as they are called in Indonesia. Four of my male friends (and coworkers) took me to a deserted parking lot at the local university and showed me the basics of bike riding. First, I should mention that just like cars motorbikes come in two flavors: automatic and manual. Manual transmission is usual here, and the bike I learned on was manual.

After going over the basics of motorbike operation (how to start the bike, how many gears (4), how to work the kickstand, how to stop) one of my friends sat behind me on the bike as I inched my way forward in second gear. Balance on a motorbike is surprisingly easy -- more so than a bike -- and the braking system is reassuring with a front AND back break. My confidence high after successfully navigating around the parking lot, my friends decided that I should drive around campus, on REAL streets with other cars and people. Eek! I soon discovered that motorbikes are actually very safe -- they are incredibly easy to control and steer, and SUPER FUN to drive. I'm a convert. Too bad New Haven is cold and snowy most of the year, or I would sell my car and trade it in for a motorbike in a second.

I haven't yet attempted driving on a big street (the drivers in Pontianak are crazy, even by Indonesian standards) but my friends promise that future lessons will include heavy traffic lessons.

Enough for now. Tomorrow I'm flying to Yogyakarta for a month of language lessons. I'm half happy, half sad to leave Ponti -- I've been here for two weeks straight now, and its been very nice to stay in one place for a relatively long time. On the other hand this place can be terribly boring, and Yogya is a young city with plenty of nightlife and activities, so it promises to be more fun than Ponti-land!

No Earthquakes In Borneo

For all of you who have emailed me concerned about tsunamis/earthquakes here in Borneo, thanks for the concern but don't worry!

Borneo is a very safe place because it is in the middle of a tectonic plate (thus no earthquakes) and is protected from tsunamis by the neighboring islands (at least this is what my Indonesian friends tell me). The two biggest dangers to my life here are man-made: motorbikes and airplanes.

If you have friends living in Sumatra you have reason to be concerned, as a big earthquake hit the area wednesday night and there have been tsunami warnings issued for the region all week.

Vacation! (sort of)

Ramadan starts tomorrow. Muslims fast from 4 am to 6 pm during this holiday, so physical labor is hard to swallow, and since most of my co-workers are Muslim we will not go to the field during this time. Thus, a holiday for Kim!!

I will go to Yogya for a couple weeks to study language, and then the totally typical tourist thing: Bali, baby. Yoga, massage, snorkeling, and hopefully some kayaking as well. And as little bahasa indonesia as I can stomach.

I'll be in Pontianak for the next week (no traveling for a week? crazy!) writing and doing data entry, and will try to post more regularly from now on.

Western vs. Eastern Medicine

People here don't know much about modern medicine, and don’t have access to adequate medical care. Today I witnessed a very disturbing scene: a girl age 13 got in a fight at school and was kneed in the chest. Dessy and I stopped by the house where she lived about one hour after the accident. She was on the floor of the common room surrounded by family and villagers. Someone had smeared red color on her bare chest and forehead. She was supported by her mother and sisters, who were massaging her hands and feet. She was breathing quickly in small gasps and every five minutes or so she would go stiff, arch her back, and scream, apparently in lots of pain. The nearest medical facility is about one day travel from Pankalan Jihing, and the nearest medical officer (not a doctor) about 2 hours away. Luckily the girl recovered, but more serious health emergencies usually end in death due to the lack of immediately available medical care.

Western medical knowledge, even among my friends from the city, is limited. My coworkers believe, for example, that tuberculosis is a genetic disease because if a mother has the disease the children may also have tb. They also don’t know what antibiotics are for (what? You can’t treat a virus with antibiotics?), and think that rashes are a result of being cold. All of this is very disturbing to me, and I hope I can send the SIMPUR staff to first-aid school upon return to Pontianak.

On the other hand, traditional knowledge about medicinal properties of local plants and animals is incredible. Almost every day, a village guide will point out a new plant that has some medicinal property - prevents headache, calms rashes, helps treat malaria symptoms, is a sleeping aid, etc. On the boat on the way from Mensubang to Ketapang a few weeks ago, a man gave me bees' nests, which when ground up and taken with water are supposed to help treat cancer. I'm sure the effectiveness of these treatments varies, but I'm also sure some of the treatments are effective and also perhaps unknown to the western pharmaceutical industry.