5 days away

Malam! (Night).

It’s 2.30am out here and instead of sleeping I'm emailing! Have been trying to upload some pictures and not sure what else :-)

Well I came back from Yogya yesterday after spending 5 jam packed days with some university students. My solo 9-hour train journey across the island was a good journey and a blessed one. My vision of being squashed like sardines on a basic train, with people hanging out the sides, was far from accurate, though the conveniences were rather ripe! Oh, and I tried Cup Corn, some of the students bought it for me at the station, as a special treat.

I'm glad I took the plunge and took that route on my own, but if I ever come back, I think I'd def be going by plane every time. Having the train delayed by an hour, then stop at some random point for them to pick some herbs or something by the track, made for a looong trip, that though scenic, had me going stir crazy by the end. Add to that trying to get onto the busway with a small case, and I was feeling pretty spent, but proud of meself by the time I arrived back at 8.30pm.

Being in Yogya was a real experience. The students I met were full of life. I was greatly impressed by their passion, creativity and focus. I had SOOOOOOOOO many conversations with SO many students. These convos had me using my limited Indonesian and those who had it, their English, so, you can imagine the brain power used up!

News about me spread through the grapevine. Some assumed I was from Africa, others America, no-one assumed I was from England, unless they were one of those who knew I was coming. Hearing that I have Jamaican parents was a big thing for them, especially those from Papua. I was told how much they love Jamaica, reggae, and you know Bob Marley's name came up right :-)

Meeting people from Papua made me understand why I was told people out here could assume I was from there. - In fact, some of the students greeted me in the traditional way at first as they assumed I was from there. This of course changed when I opened my mouth! - I SO wanna do some research into Papua.
*"Who are the Papuans? One of the oldest human races and cultures... Papuans belong to one of the first human groups to have moved out of Africa perhaps 60,000 years ago." Taken from softpedia.com

I was up early everyday and went to bed late most of the nights, so came back pretty whacked, however it was worth it, and I have some good memories to look back on. I sat in on a cell group, had lunch with some senior Korean gentleman, went to an 8am service, was woken up by loud singing at 4am, had a number of motorbike rides - have basically become like "whatever" when it comes to these, though the speed at which one young person went, did have me internally calling out "slow down!". Went around a little bit of Yogya on Sunday, which included shopping for batik - traditional dress of Indonesians, particularly Javanese.

Oh yeah, and sang O Happpy Day at a big youth event.

Everything is on shut down now for the next 2 days as it is Idul Fitr - public holiday to celebrate the end of the fast, so if I actually go to bed at a decent time :-) I should catch up on some rest.