BLARGH!!!

FML!!!!!    

Do you ever feel as if you just want to stand up, flip the little table in front of you over, spilling all its contents onto the floor and then screaming in frustration until your lungs give out, and one finished just glare at anyone looking at you just incase they might think about making some smart ass comment to you?  That is exactly how I am feeling today, that is how I have been feeling for the last month, and I am very tired of feeling this way.  Oh, and incase you have not understood it I am going to just plainly state that this blog post is going to be one where I whine and bitch my little heart out. 

I just have to start at the beginning so that you can try to understand the frustration that I am actually experiencing.  I arrived in Jogja around the 6^th of December and immediately got sick and basically lay in my room for a week.  During this time I contacted the professor that I had met in Norway and who I would be having as a supervisor while here.  He was unable to meet me until about a week and a half after I got better.  I thought the meeting with him went quite well, he told me that he knew of someone who could be my assistant and translator and that they would be back in town in about a week. I was also given permission to use the research center for the department as a work place.  Sounds great right? 

Well, a week passes and no sign of this person who is supposed to help me.  Christmas rolls around and I take four days on Bali and come back, still no sign of the person that is supposed to help me.  I therefore contact the professor I had met two weeks ago who then goes on to put me in contact with this mystery person.  I meet him the next day and it turns out that I have seen him wandering around for the past week even said hi to him without knowing that it was him who would be helping me.  We have a nice little talk and I tell him that I am about ready to start doing interviews and I talk with him a bit about where I could hold my interviews. He also tells me that he would like to take me out on a trip to see some different places before I start with the interviews.  At the time I think this sounds like a nice thing and we could maybe hold a few interviews while on this day trip.  Well, a few days later I am ready for going out on this trip and he tells me it will be another week before he can do this since he was busy with other things. 

Finally on the 16^th of January he has time and we set out.  He also tells me this day that we wont be able to do any interviews since I do not have my letters and papers in order through the district offices. So I sit down on the back of our moped and think “WTF why has he not mentioned this before now… I have been waiting on his ass for weeks.” At this point I would also like to mention that I had received a letter of invitation from the university down here and I honestly thought this would be enough. So, after quite a nice day of looking at Merapi (this was really a nice day and I will try my best to upload some pictures of this in a blog update soon) I find out that I can expect the letters from the research center to be done by the end of the next week. This was because the one person that could actually write the letter was sick and the one person who could sign the letters was out of town.  Great!

So I wait for the letters and finally get them around the 26^th of January and head off to start on my interviews.  My spirits were high and I have a friend with me that would help me with my interviews since the guy that was helping me was not great in English.  We arrive at the village office and our letter is rejected. Apparently we need some other letters. So heading back to the research center (it had been a long day, driving for about 3 hours on a moped, getting a bit lost and having a flat tire). At the research center we talk with the administration there and find out that he professor I met during the beginning of my trip had kind of just pushed me off onto the center and told them to help me without saying much else.  They were unsure of what they were supposed to do, none of them were that good in English so I could not understand what most of them said either way, I had no idea the whole center was supposed to be helping me and I had not had any contact with said professor. Either way we are told that the right letters will be made for me but since it is Friday it will have to be next week. 

On Tuesday my letter are ready and we are able to go to the Province office to apply for permission to do research.  After an hour or so there and a bit of twisting of the truth I get my golden letter and we are off to the Regency office to get some more letters.  We go there and after about an hour and a half we have those letters in hand and take off to deliver like 12 different letters to different offices that will need them.  Once this is in order things go quite well.  I get in a few interview and then it is the weekend and my translator helps me find a new translator since she has prior engagements that she will have to fulfill. 

So this past Thursday I meet my new and third translator and am ready for Monday and to get started.  On Friday evening I happen to look into my passport and see to my surprise that my visa has expired. This came as a bit of a shock since I was very sure that it was to last for my entire trip.  So I have either just not noticed that I would have to renew it or I have seen it and then it has slipped my mind again, something that is very possible considering how stressed I have been lately. This evening I also get a text from my translator telling me that she will not be allowed to help me because her father is not allowing her to go into the area where I will be doing translations.  Something about the area being too dangerous. 

So now I am very much looking forward to Monday and hopefully getting my visum in order, meeting translator number 4, and trying to extend my stay her in Indonesia for a few more weeks! 

Yes, I know some of these problems are my fault, like the problem with the visum and yes I probably should have been a little more aggressive when it comes to meeting and staying in contact with the professor. So if you read this and have the urge to write me some smartass comment then please go break all your fingers (this was the nicest thing I could come up with).

And I leave you with one the pictures of Merapi.  Will try to post another happier post soon!  

Merry unChristmas...

This is a bit late coming up, sorry about that!

So I finally met up with the professor that I have been in contact and had a nice little talk, and he promised that I would receive some help from the University.  After a bit of tea we headed off to the University’s Center for Disaster where I have been given space to work during the day. It’s a pretty nice place to go and I get some peace away from the temptations of the swimming pool. The only down side is that it is quite far away from the hotel I am staying in.  The 6km or so stretch can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes by taxi. Not much fun that. Here are a few pictures of the University and the place where I sit and work.

             

Besides spending quite a bit of time working I also decided to head off to Bali for Christmas.  Sadly I do not have that many pictures from there.  I spent most of my days relaxing. Lying in the sun, reading, swimming in the pool, and getting massages. I think I got 3 during the four days I was there and they were fantastic! Christmas eve I spent the evening alone. I ordered dinner in and sat on my bed opening the three presents that I had taken with me.  Thank you aunt Bente and Jessica!  To be honest though the entire evening was depressing as hell and I doubt I will be spending Christmas all alone any time soon!  Hehehee…  Christmas eve was quite a bit better. I met up with some guys staying at the hotel and ended up eating a very nice Christmas dinner down by the beach. 

A few days later I headed back to Yogjakarta and had a week of trying to work on school things.  It wasn’t all that easy but I made it through the week somehow.  The days I did not go into school I spent working in my hotel room.  The little receptionists are too cute and funny though when they comment on my strange habits. I believe they think I spend all day sleeping in my room. Hahaaa….

Sadly though, I might be moving out this week and into a place that is much cheaper and closer to the University.  I also think I might try to rent a moped, which I am sure will be very interesting when you consider the fact that they drive on the “wrong” side of the road and the insane amount of traffic!  Hahaa, watch out Yogja! You have been warned!  :P            

Temple Tourism...

Saturday morning I met the wonderful Danielle, a Dutch backpacker, while eating breakfast. We exchanged stories and spent the morning together by the pool talking and reading. Some time after lunch we headed off to do our own thing. I was going to go find an Indonesia mobile phone while she went on a shopping trip.  Before leaving though we decided to sign up for the temple tour that our guesthouse offers. We would be leaving out the next morning at 5 am, visit the Borobudur and Prambanan temples and then be back before the hottest part of the day.

With my sleeping habits still out of whack it was surprisingly easy to get up and ready to go at a quarter till five in the morning.  We were given a packed breakfast by the guesthouse and then jumped into a van with 5 other tourists. Our first stop Borobudur was about 47 km out of town and we spent about an hour and a half getting there. Not surprisingly there was quite a lot of traffic on the road at that time of morning and with all the stop and go it was impossible to sleep. But we arrived at Borobudur at around 8 am and headed in to take a look.

This temple is Indonesia’s most visited tourist attraction, and I thought the more beautiful of the two. It was built during the 9th century and is a Buddhist monument made up for 9 levels. The first six were square and I believe symmetrical while the top three were circular. Danielle and I walked around on some of the lower levels looking at the carvings and statues.  Apparently they tell different Buddhist stories and represent Buddhism by becoming more pure as you reach the higher levels.  

Walking around on the higher levels was a bit of a challenge seeing there were flocks of school children and we were instant celebrities. A wave of small children would follow us around asking to be taken pictures with and in some cases adults would too.  I really felt as if the Indonesian paparazzi were after us!  

Once our time was up we jumped back in the van and set off on what must have been a two-hour drive back and through Yogyakarta and onwards to Prambanan. This temple was also built around the 9th century, but is a Hindu temple. We visited the main temple area, but there were apparently a lot of smaller temples in the area.  We were allowed to enter into some of the "towers," most of them were empty while others had statues within them.  

By this time we were also approaching midday and the heat was unbearable. We practically ran from shady spot to shady spot.  The only problem was that every time you stopped for more then two minutes a crowd of people would start targeting in on you. Wanting to talk a bit and take pictures of you.  Towards the end we started specifying that we would only do group photos and even then we were getting good at catching sight of them and heading in the opposite direction. Finally we met up with some people Danielle knew who were also doing the tour that day. Heading back to the van we joked about what we thought Indonesians do with their pictures of us.  Maybe they show us to their grandchildren and explain that this is tourist #54 from the year 2011 or maybe children collect and trade us like cards.  Who know!  

We had to push start the van to get it started. Thankfully it was only a 30-minute drive back to Prambanan guesthouse and the swimming pool.  I spent the rest of the day by it and went out for dinner with Danielle and a friend of hers.  Lovely day as a celebrity-tourist!  

Week One...

Well my first week has gone by here in Yogja. To be honest I cannot really say that it has been the most exciting week of my life, mostly because I have been sick most of it.  I arrived here last Saturday and was et by cute little Rizka at the airport. Rizka is a friend of some friends and also works as a research assistent for one of the professors at UIA. She fixed us up a cab which brought me to Prambanan Guesthouse. After that I took her out to dinner at the nearest restruant, Hani´s. We had a nice evening talking and I decided to accompany Rizka and two of her friends on a trip the next day.

The next morning I was up and about quite early considering the 12 hour time difference and I met up with Rizka and her friends and headed off to see the volcano that I will be studying, Merapi. About 30km north of the city Merapi, Indonesias most dangerous volcano sits brooding. The peak was shrouded in clouds for the most part, but we did get lucky and catch a glimpse of it on our drive there as well as later during the day. We drove until the road disappeared beneath us and found oursleves about 4km from the peak. It was easy to see the destruction. Great patches of forest and parts of villages were covered in rubble. After looking around a bit we headed back down for a lunch break at the Norwegian house and then we were off again.

After lunch we headed out again and stopped by a village called Desa Kemadang (Kemadang Village). Rizka had a few things she needed to do in the area, but when done we made a surprise stop at a beach called Watu Kodok (The Frog Rock). Needless to say it was beautiful!

The next day I woke up sick... and while it was not the worst I had ever felt it was pretty bad when you walked out into 35C. I therefore spent the next few days in bed. Thankfully though, I am now on my feet again and off an another adventure tomorrow. :)

Frequent Flyer?

On Tuesday my time was up. I had done my shopping, said my good-byes, and that evening my sister and Thomas saw me off at the airport. Yes, I was a bit stressed, scared, and excited about going to Indonesia. But I was also very sad to be leaving my family, especially little Thomas who is fantastic in so many ways.

But yeah, I was setting off on the trip from hell! Five airplanes, four days, three continents, two sad hearts back in the USA (my sister pointed this out to me), and one little lonely me. Everyone, including me, has asked, “What were you thinking?” Four days of airports, hotels, waiting, planes, plane FOOD! Oh, I admit that it does seem quite hopeless, but I really didn’t have a choice in the matter price-wise or time-wise. This was the cheapest way for me to get to both the USA and to Indonesia in one go… yeah, we are talking about a large price difference…. 8000NOK (1370 USD) versus 18000NOK (3080)? As for the time part, flights into Europe arrived after relevant flights to Asia had left, so there goes three to four days.

Until now though, all my flights have gone well. The extremely small plane from Myrtle Beach and down to Atlanta calmed my nerves quite a lot and the long haul over to London was a smooth as ever. Getting to London and kicking yourself in the ass for not finding a hotel before hand was not as fun. I had planned to just find a hostel or something but once I got there, dead tired, I found out that I wanted a real room. I ended up taking a “cabin room” (closet room) in a small, but clean hotel in South Kensington.

The next day I was off to Riyadh with Saudi Arabia airlines. Again I have had people shaking their heads at me for this, but for the most part it wasn’t bad at all. The 5-hour flight down was in the biggest plane I had ever been in. The food was some of the best airplane food I had ever had, there was lots of space. I ended up watching three movies and getting a bit teary-eyed with all three. No idea what is happening to this cold heart of mine! Hahhaaa…. Arriving at the airport I was told that I would be getting a free meal during my layover there. Again, the food wasn’t bad at all.

Boarding to Jakarta I knew that this flight would be nothing like the last. An ocean of people surrounded me; most of these were Indonesian women who I found out later were seasonal workers returning home. The plane was again bigger than anything I had been on before, packed full, and very old… meaning there were no tv’s for the 8-hour flight it would turn out to be. I ended up sitting by an overweight man who kept me squeezed into one side of the seat and who stared after all the women going to the bathroom. Surprisingly many of these women knew how the bathroom doors worked and very rarely locked the doors after them! Hahahaa…

As I left the plane in Jakarta I was hit by a wave of heat and humidity and began to wonder as to how sane I really am. Cleared customs easily enough and talked a bit more to a flight attendant who I ha spoken a bit with on the plane. She asked for my telephone number and if I were married, not for her but for some of her co-workers. Hahahaaa…. I honestly almost died from laughing, but eventually got off the hook!

It took forever to get my baggage, but I was happy. I had booked a decent hotel for the night I would be spending in Jakarta. Only 30 dollars and it was only 7 miles from the airport. So you can imagine my surprise when the taxi driver told me it would take nearly two hours to get there because of traffic and he would be charging me around 40 dollars one way! This resulted in me trying to catch an earlier flight to Yogjkarta and failing, then checking the airport hotel to find out that their rooms were 120 USD a night. A guy working there was helpful though and he drove me to a hotel that was both cheap and nearby. Ended up losing 30 dollars because of my pre-booked hotel, but ended up getting a night and drive to and from the airport for less than the taxi drive to my first hotel! Not going to complain about it. Hahahaa…

So now I sit here waiting for my last flight! Hoping that Yogja will be a bit quieter than Jakarta!

UPDATE! I found out this post also needed a picture. Sadly I only took one picture during the flights over and that was of the safety sheet from Saudi Arabia airlines... :P I am sure you will understand why I liked it!

Family Time...

Family Time The day after I got home was a me day. I took a trip down to the beach and ended up buying two new pair of glasses. One regular pair and some subscription sunglasses, which I love! Dad came home that evening so I spent the next day with him running a few errands and playing a game of golf. We both sucked miserably at it but we got to spend time together and laugh at one another a whole bunch! Hehheee… Here is a picture of dad hiding from some players that passed us by on hole 4.

Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays was wonderful. Dad and I arrived a few hours before we sat down for the big meal and I was able to help my sister with the food and cleaning a bit. She did a fantastic job with everything, her turkey better than perfect and as always the sweet potato soufflé and pecan pie were heavenly. For all you non-americans who might wonder what we eat for Thanksgiving here is a list of what we had for dinner. Hopefully I won’t forget something Dinner: Roast Turkey Stuffing Gravy Broccoli Casserole Cooked Corn Green Bean Casserole Macaroni and Cheese Croissants Sweet Potato Soufflé Cranberry Relish Dessert: Pecan Pie Sweet Potato Cheesecake Sweet Potato Pie

After eating and resting a few hours my dad, Jessica (sister), Daniel (brother-in-law), and Thomas (the nephew), and I loaded up into the minivan and headed out! My sister and I had decided out that this weekend would be a perfect time for visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a place I had never been before. For those that do not know, the Outer Banks are a small strip of island chain that protects the coast of the state I grew up in. It is home to the famous lost colony at Roanoke, wild horses that are believed to have survived ship wrecks along the coast, the largest sand dunes (some up to 100ft)on the east coast of the USA as well as being the spot where man flew for the first time. Here are a few pics from there...

West of the Mississippi

Early thursday morning I left out of Myrtle Beach. A small stop in Charlotte, NC and I was on my way to Phoenix, AZ to met up with friends for a Phoenix/Las Vegas weekend. Our first evening was spent catching up, exploring Kelly's sex shop, and waiting for the straggler to arrive. The evening ended with mexican food and margaritas! The next morning we set off bright and early for the four hour ride up to the grand canyon. Our first pit stop was also a combined tourist attraction and we spent about an hour or so wandering around the Montezuma Castle Park. It was amazing to see how the native americans had been able to build structures in the cliff walls and the fall colors were just amazing.

A few more hours of driving through the desert plateau of Arizona brought us to the Grand Canyon, which in my opinion was absolutely fantastic! Its immense size and the variation of brown and red colors were overwhelming. We walked along the southern rim, chatting, taking pictures, listening to the rangers, and trying to get close to the fat squirrel that lived there!

We arrived in Las Vegas that evening and I was again overwhelmed, but in a totally different way. Driving down the Las Vegas strip was indeed a sight. The lights, signs, crowds of people, and constant bombardment of stripper (sex) advertisements by very small, old non-americans (mexicans) really set the mood. We spent the next few days exploring the different themed resorts, which were dressed up to a tee. It was so strange to spend a half an hour walking through the egyptian styled Luxor where many of the decorations seemed so real and then walking back out into the chaos that was Las Vegas! We ended our last night in Vegas watching the beautiful light and fountain show at the Bellagio.

The next morning was an early one for me and some of the others. We had another early morning walk to explore some of the casinos we hadn't made it to yet and to take some fun pictures. After meeting up with most of the group for breakfast at Treasure Island we loaded up and headed back to Phoenix with a quick two hour stop at the Hoover Dam! :P