Saturday, July 23, 2011

A few photos for the weekend..

Fences are often made of cement with jagged shards of glass poking out. lovely.

The next few photos are of a snake fruit tree (salak)





Squished frog. I love these, they are thin as paper.

During the Friday call to prayer for men..

A bunch of friends at the Pesantren Edi Mancoro.
Kinda like an Islamic boarding house.
I don't have time for anything else!!
except this!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Some general blogginess... and a run..

So this is my run from yesterday morning. I'm getting pretty good at making running paths here with minimal crossover.. So yesterday morning I explored a new road. The scariest thing about exploring is the fact that it messes up my calculation of how much more I need to run if I hit a dead-end. I could probably just come back and run the dead-end again, but ..okay forget it. 

I went down this new road and intentionally passed the road that I knew would connect again because the road was a little longer. There were trees on both sides and little houses. So I got the end of the road and was searching for a way out without going back the way I came. I saw a little path that went into trees toward the main road I live on. At first I was like, oh cool, this road goes through this jungle and its perfect. Then I got to the back of a house and thought I was to the road. But I wasn't. Right as I came around the corner of the house I got a face-full of extremely strong thick web. 

Obviously I panicked and flailed my arms trying to fling off the invisible spiders.

But there still wasn't a clear road out.. and I was in someones private yard. (no way I'm going back past the spider web or screw up my running loop) After a few seconds (still flailing) I  found a small path and started bushwhacking towards the road. After a few more face-fulls of spider web and increased flailing I leaped over a bush onto the road. Mid-leap I had to slow myself down rather than get hit by a motorcycle that happened to be passing by.

So there I was half-stumble/jump-running out of a bush onto the road when an equally thick web decided to make its home on my face. I freaked out for a little while (of course I never stopped running) and I continued to brush off invisible spiders for the next 10 minutes.

The past few days I have been sick. Not anything horrible - my head just feels like its going to explode if I bend it over or change from lying down to standing up. I started on an antibiotic today because the left side nose under my eye is sore, and my chronic sinus infections don't fix themselves. Don't worry mom, I still have probiotics left. I eat a lot of papaya also..

SIDE TRACK TIME!!!

This is the snacks I bought for my trip. It cost me $1.

This is supposedly Beef Stroganoff, I was not impressed.
They try to copy a lot of foreign foods.

I still can't get an amazing picture of this volcano.
This is an example of what my "homestay family" gives me for breakfast.
This is some sort of coconut milk rice porridge with brown sugar syrup.
Then some fried bread. The white bread puff in the middle of the plate is one of my favorites.
Its called 'bak pao' and its steamed bread with a filling. (strawberry, chocolate, chicken, etc.)
This is Opek (Nickname for Faith)
(they pronounce english in funny ways)
I thought his name was Fate for a while.
Here he is helping me demonstrate the filling of 'bak pao'.
Quote of the day (I received this revelation while showering, complete with reference)

Questionable things: Question them so your lack of questions may remain unquestioned. 
-Arcturus the Walrus, Volume 7, Chapter 5

So this week I am trying to hit my max mileage (60 miles). My schedule is like this:
Wake up around 5:30 A.M to run
Shower, eat, then leave to school at 7:30 A.M.
Class until 1 PM, then eat
Study or waste the little time I have till 4
Run again
Stretch, shower, eat, then its time to sleep by then

Somewhere randomly in there I get some core workouts done.

Amen.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Arthur the Vampire


This picture is dedicated to anonymous who wishes to remain anonymous who may or may not be departing from an unsaid program for unsaid reasons.

People are starting to suspect me as a vampire
due to the fact that I'm always gone "running" night and morning.
This means I don't socialize with the others as a normal human should.
Hence I'm called the vampire here.

This anonymous person will mysteriously disappear as of today.

Here's a video of me being excited to get on a roof. I'm obsessed with exploring.
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Now for a few more things about my current life:
Here is a nest of spiders near my house. Unfortunately you can't really tell how big they are.
This is Snoopy. This dog's fur is really soft.
Here is what the public transportation looks like from inside:
Here is the Indonesian version of a Burger. (they roll both r's in burger). Its like sweet hot sauce with balogna and a kraft cheese slice. There is one slice of cucumber and tomato. It might not sound good, but it is. It doesn't taste anything like a hamburger though.
This is one of the industries in my small town. They make sandal straps from the reeds I show in this video. I bought 3 pairs of female sandals.. not for myself.
This motorcycle is made completely from those reeds I showed in the previous video. 
The craftsmanship is amazing.
Here is the inside of the hotel where me Sara, and Stephanie stayed in Jogja. It was infested with mosquitoes. I probably got more mosquito bites that night than all the other days here combined.
Me learning to get water from a well.
I stayed with Garry again. Here is their bathroom and shower. Its so cool. 
All the families living in this alley share it.
So I was travelling all this week to a few other cities. The program is more than half way done. :(
I spent my time interviewing people, mostly at universities. 
Besides students and those working in higher class jobs, I really couldn't get people to talk to me. 
I'm not in the mood to post a lot of words or more pictures today. HA!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Typical morning..

Here is the water basin. They actually have another bathroom with solar-heated water, but I'm usually really hot after running. The water is still freezing.
This is Jenny. (actually spelled Jeanny for some reason).
She was really happy eating her breakfast.
In the video is Jambu juice (they blend up fresh pink guava fruits), fried rice, and some spicy chicken stuff.

End of week 3..

I don't like to write a lot.. (that's a lie)
but here's a bunch of pictures then videos with captions:
Now its week 4 of 9. Time is going by too fast.
Stuff in the city:
This is called the Mosaic house.
I was told that the guy that lives here is insane and changes his yard every year..


Sometimes, like in Jakarta, there are houses made completely of this thin roof stuff.
If they aren't amazing poor they usually have a cement floor.
Carpets aren't realistic, but nicer places, like my university have tiled floors.


The roofs here are pretty crappy for the most part.
Its kinda hard to see, but there is a tiled type of roof at the top and then the thin type. I've fallen through a roof with the thin type before. Its about as strong as a tortilla chip. Underneath is some black plastic, not much else.




Here is an abandoned hotel.
Sometime I'll hop the fence when nobody is looking and take some real pictures.
I like exploring, especially places I'm not supposed to go.
This is a graveyard.
I like wandering around and taking pictures.
This is an example of a food cart. There is actually an english term for this. It's called a CADGER. People walk around with these and either yell out what they are selling or have a pattern they knock that people recognize and know what it is. They walk all around neighborhoods all day. When they aren't selling, they just leave them around. Some people never move their cart. It's really convenient sometimes, usually delicious, some people get sick from these, but I never have.
 I love Graffiti:






 
I met the guy who painted all of this. He was sleeping on the ground on a porch.

The writing at the bottom says "BEWARE RATS WEARING TIES".
and you can see the rest. Awesome.


Another hobby of mine is taking pictures of myself while propping my camera in precarious positions.
Honestly.

This is fungus growing on one of the trees in this new forest. Its bad, contagious, and hard to get rid of.

Wild Watermelon.
Many are yellow inside here.


Grasshopper.. lame.


This is a banana tree.
There are a lot of trails that look like this on all the outskirts of town. The rocks are piled up to be sold later.


This forest is only TWO YEARS OLD and its pretty impressive.

Coconut tree with lots of coconuts.

This is a coffee plant. We went through a forest of them.

Bamboo. I love bamboo.

Coffee Berries.


A blurry spider above my head as we walked through the coffee forest.


This is Pak Sur. Pak is like "Mister".
I couldn't get a picture of this spider so he took it out of its web and held it for me.

This is a spider. I promise. I even saw it making its web.
It has a freaking shield on its back.
This is when it was crawling up my friends arm. Enjoy this close-up of Indonesian skin.

This is a clove tree. Smells really good.

I heart bamboo.

Another banana tree. This one isn't all that healthy.

Coffee beans being dried by the sun.

A good snapshot of Indonesians.
This guy has a crazy sick pimped out "becak". It has like 20 mirrors.
This lady is hauling some propane.
That lad is skipping like a champ.
Most people use motorcycles and pile on as many people as possible. Helmets not included.



This is one of the cool plants here.
This tree is hollowed out but still alive somehow..
Goats. 
i hate them so much.
This is a Durian Tree. It has to grow for 10 years before it bears Durian fruit.
It is a very expensive tree.

A durian tree. So tall.
Bad video, just showing you a bunch of my group.
The guy making a funny face is Paul. 
A glass of ginger tea and a bunch of snacks which I can't identify.

Demonstrating what a cicak is ('chee-chawk'). 
They release their tails to escape.
All over the walls and I love catching them.
Not really an update. Just saying hi.