April 13, 2008 – 11:49 am
Yesterday was a black comedy. The electricity went out (not unusual) around 2p. The electricity came back on around 7p, but only for 3/4 of the flats in my building. I ask around and one tenant tells me it’s because the voltage is too low. I don’t really understand how a low voltage will power 3/4 of the flats and not the last 1/4 at a lower voltage (think dimmed lights). I talk to another tenant and he agrees with me that there is some faulty wiring or something to that effect. My computer battery went dead; my mobile phone battery went dead; I started burning my last candle before spending the night in my bed sweating–refrigerator thawing, no fan, no A/C, no open window because of mosquitoes–hearing the buzz of the more intelligent mosquitoes. It was a horrible night’s sleep. There are some VIPs who live in my building, so I’m hoping that they have the pull to get someone to fix it on a Sunday. If not, I may have to spring for a cheap hotel room tonight.
I’m off to Bandung, West Java tomorrow for a conference: Teacher’s Competencies & Qualifications for ELT in Indonesia. The coordinating university is well-regarded here in Indonesia and I’m looking forward to see how various institutions around the archipelago are dealing with the certification of teachers now required by the central government.
Keys to expulsion:
dreams, temptation, affliction—
hard-won carrion.
Yeah, I know it’s obtuse, but indulge me.
One of the highlights of Indonesia is its diversity of food. Some is specific to certain parts of Indonesia, while other have been franchised out (look for the ubiquitous masakan Padang). There are plenty of guilty pleasures of the fried variety as well–bananas, cassava, potatoes, shredded vegetables, et al. It is not these fried confections to which I’m chained; no, it’s for a beautiful thing named terang bulan.
Terang bulan is sold on the side of streets at night. It’s similar to a pancake that has cooked all the way through without being flipped. Once removed from the heat of the pan, it’s slathered in condensed milk and topped with your choice of nuts, chocolate sprinkles, or cheese. I go with nuts and chocolate. It is my guilty pleasure here in Aceh, as beer is verboten through normal channels.
Three flights (Banda Aceh—Medan—Jakarta—Pontianak) Total mileage: 2,553km. As the crow flies mileage: 1,663km. And three flights back.
Luckily, the travel was all work-related and for a two-day workshop in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, famous for being settled on the equator. The workshops went well and our hosts were magnificent, taking us out for a hot pot dinner at lesehan (a sit-on-the-floor-style restaurant), a visit to the equator monument, and dinner on a riverboat. We also found out that it is said that if you drink from the river, you will certainly return to Pontianak. None of us sipped from the river—not because we didn’t want to return, but because the river was, well, muddy and used as the local bathing hole and latrine (a not atypical situation in a developing country).
The equator monument was understated and we arrived after they closed the museum portion at 4p. Nevertheless, we got to take picture of the gyroscopic sculpture atop a pillar. There was also the perfunctory circumambulation in order to get the feel of straddling two hemispheres in an instant.
Then we went home.
A few weekends ago, Indonesia put together a four-day weekend due to Maulid (Islamic holiday commemorating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday) on Thursday, and Good Friday (Christian holiday that I think you can figure out). Pack those two into the weekend and you have a weekend getaway from wherever you are. I chose to meet up with my Fellow colleagues to take a lick at the Thousand Islands.
The Thousand Islands are a popular weekend getaway for Jakartans, as it’s only a couple hours by ferry from the city. The ferry trip was fine as it was a clear day on Thursday. The only wrinkles were the instances when the boats motor started chugging, causing cries of “Plastic!” from a boatworker. We then stopped the boat and waited for the workers to clear the plastic from the boats propeller.
We booked into an all-inclusive island that, on the whole, wasn’t all that bad. The food could have been better for the price that we were paying, but that’s about it. I did some snorkeling along the various islands throughout the two-night stay. The water around the 1000 Islands is a bit murky and visibility isn’t the greatest. There’s also the ubiquitous bits of trash that invariably get blown around the area. It was relaxing to get away from all the hubbub that I’m accustomed to in the cities.
We befriended a French couple who met us for dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Yoshi’s, in Dharmawangi Plaza. It was all-you-can-eat with unlimited beer for about 10USD (they also charged for anything you ordered but didn’t eat). Oh, the sacrifices I make! Since we were commemorating a birthday, we went to a karaoke house nearby and sang some of the night away before pushing on to BB’s in Plaza Menteng (everything is pretty much a plaza here!). It was a classic dive bar with a pretty decent live band. I got into the act when the singer put the mic in front of me for the chorus of “Shake Your Moneymaker.” I’d probably be a regular at that spot if I lived in Jakarta. From there, we migrated to X2, a club at Plaza Senayan area. Eventually, the host of my crashpad and I decided to leave and I fell into bed for an hour’s sleep before having to wake up and go to the airport.
