Misc. and Yogyakarta

some of my students (the girls really outnumber the boys)

Things have been going well. Ramadan is underway so the pace of things is a bit different over here. Since the Muslims are fasting, there has been a special schedule for school. Basically they are not supposed to put anything in their mouths from sun up until sun down. Most people wake up at 3am for breakfast (and then go back to bed until they need to wake up). Then they are not allowed to eat again until 5:30pm when the sun starts to set and they hear the call to prayer. Many businesses have special hours and close early during this time.

Teaching has been going well. With the special sched. this past week, I had class from 7:30 til 10:30 everyday, they called it "English Club". I had one group of students do skits about tv shows or movies, and one group picked Tom and Jerry (tom and jerry and Spongebob are pretty big in these parts). The cutest little girl (jilbab and all-jilbab is the head covering), she's such a peanut, was Jerry in her skit. The skit was going really well, until the end...she ran up to Tom, flipped him her middle finger, and said f**k Tom! And then they continued their skit. No one in the class flinched when she said it, the other teacher did not even seem to notice. At the end we applauded the group, and I had the tricky task of explaining that we don't use that word haha, they were like "ohhh". Another funny thing was I was asking them about what they did during their time off last week (they had some vacay for the start of Ramadan). They kept saying they went to the mosque, but they were pronouncing it mos-q, like mos and the letter q. I was confused, because the Indonesian word for mosque is masjid, but I thought maybe it was another Indonesian word. No, it is how they thought mosque was pronounced. So I have been working on mosque with my students (and teachers), I say that it may look like mos-Q but it sounds like mosk. English is so weird.

Last week I went to Yogyakarta! That was really cool, Yogya (also sometimes spelled Jogjakarta) is supposed to be like the cultural capital of Indonesia. It was really fun because about 15 of us ETA's were able to go there to meet up! I went to Borobodor (below).

One of the main streets is Yogya (for tourists anyways), is called Jalan Malioboro (Jalan is the Indonesian word for street, it is also the word for walk...). There are many street vendors lining the street and wanting you to buy stuff from them, there is sooooo much cool stuff! You have to bargain with them though, which is no easy task. I think I am pretty good at bargaining now though (either that or I just think I am and I paid way too much for my gifts). It was really nice to hang out with the other ETA's for a few nights and compare experiences so far. While in Yogya, I was also able to meet up with my friend Chozin's sister Monic (Chozin is a friend from OU who is from Yogya), it was fun going around with her also.

these are becaks (pronounced bay-chak) lining the street, they are little carts pushed by bicycles attached to the back, they are all over Indonesia. The drivers sometimes rest and sleep inside when they are not peddaling around, it is hard work I think. They are pretty fun to ride, a little slow, but I think everyone should ride one at least once. I also would like to ask a becak driver if he will let me drive his becak...I think driving one would be quite an experience also.

Other than all of that, I have officially begun riding a motorbike on my own! Don't worry I have a helmet, it is pink :)

have added more pics on facebook:

http://ohio.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165708&l=1e0d6&id=12311763