I’M STILL ALIVE!!!
I am behindddddd, yes I know. My bad!
I’ve traveled allll the way back home. 4 flights. 48 hours straight. I’ve been at “home base” (Minnesota) for a whopping three days. And tomorrow (yes, tomorrow), I’ll be on the way to Chile.
Needless to say, things have been busy (I’m sure you could’ve guessed). Sooooooo here’s more bullet points! But with headers!
Last weeks in Yogya
- The Gojek drivers (equivalent of Uber) have started recognizing me.
- For context: Gojek has over 2 million drivers and over 40 million monthly active users.
- Maybe I MIGHT have been riding Gojek a little too often…
- For the record: my fav foods/drinks here are rambutan (fruit similar to lychee), tiwul (cassava + coconut + sugar), black sticky rice (in ANYTHING), es campur (a flavored milky drink with shredded ice), and lemongrass tea. And lychee tea. And sate ayam and gudeg and klepon and TEMPE… I guess I don’t really have favorites.
Nasi Padang, an assortment of different foods—you only pay for what you try.
- My favorite hobby here: wander aimlessly and test every coffee shop I see. If I get tired of walking, I settle down in one and proceed to read, draw, or just think for several hours.
Fore, one of my favorite coffee shops in Jogja (they even started remembering my name!). Note: I also LOVED Petik Merah.
- My wandering habit was inspired by how my mom and I got all 50 hours of my driving practice. My mom would pick a place (like Cherry Berry or Lowe’s) and I would have to figure out how to get there. It worked out... sometimes...
- Indonesia has the BEST coffee, I swear.
- I came back here, sipped a cappuccino, and was taken aback by how BURNT it tasted. I literally flinched back and looked at my coffee like "ehh?!?!?!?". I miss you already Yogyaaaa!!!
- We took a tour of Mt. Merapi (LOVE)
- We rode in jeeps, and at the end, purposefully drove through the river (repeatedly) until we were all SOAKED (THROUGH the rain gear!!!)
- Top 10 fav. experiences
Jeep on the Mt. Merapi Tour
- I toured Prambanan, a Hindu temple
- There seemed to be THOUSANDS of stories engraved into the stone walls (called reliefs)
- I can’t wait to tell my world history teacher I was here!
- There seemed to be THOUSANDS of stories engraved into the stone walls (called reliefs)
Prambanan Temple!
- Portions of the temple were in pieces due to the earthquakes; so, there was an area where visitors could try to put the temple back together like a humongous, heavier-than-you-can-imagine puzzle.
- One of the hardest goodbyes was to the little kitten I was taking care of (I named her Runner).
- She followed me around like a cute lil baby duckling and purred SO loud.
- I miss her already.
Edit: She died just over a week later because my host-family didn’t feed her or take her to a vet when she got sick. Am I pissed? Ohhhhh yeah.
Runner, my lil love!
- I continue to despise cockroaches
- I had my first kill
- Top 20 most terrifying moments of my life (IT WAS RUNNING AT ME.)
- My last day with my life-saver (Devoni—my host sister’s cousin)
- First we went to a spa (SUPER nice AND only $7!!!)
- Then we drove to this absolutely LOVELY craft workshop (it even had a coffee shop inside!!!) named Sadean Concept Store
- We messed around with air-dry clay for 6 hours, enjoying the movie-esque ambience of the coffee shop and the kids playing outside.
- I made a mushroom-themed earring holder, a rose, a pinch pot, and a couple very small cats.
- We messed around with air-dry clay for 6 hours, enjoying the movie-esque ambience of the coffee shop and the kids playing outside.
Sadean, one of my favorite stores/workshops/cafes in the world.
- To anyone who needs a small business idea: let me know. I want places like Sadean EVERYWHERE (preferably asap!).
- I got a haircut!
- My hairdresser was 18 (only a year older than I am!!), but she started learning at 4 (?!?!).
- The program entailed 4 hours of language study every single weekday and I have not covered that at ALL in the blog so…
- The teachers were amazing (shout out to Guru Anggun!!!)! Because they teach people from all over the world (usually diplomats, travelers, or people in the military), it seems like they themselves have been EVERYWHERE. They are collectors of stories—making them ridiculously fun to talk to.
- Yes, we studied vocab and grammar structure and yada yada but we also had a LOTTTTT of side conversations with our teachers (in indoglish!) about anything from covid and politics to favorite horror movies and toxic ex-boyfriends.
- After school, there were often cultural activities such as dancing, jewelry making, puppeteering, pottery, etc.
- Some days were SUPER fun. Other days I laid down on 3 chairs and slept until someone woke me up. Most days were a bit of both.
Aight, that’s it for now! I need to go pack... There’s more to come I promise :)
P.S. It’s good to be home ❤️
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Thank you for the wonderful update.
It sounds like you have experienced sooooo much, and have met lovely people. I am anxious to go to Chile with you thru your blog.
Be safe, and have the time of your life.
( we will miss you at the studio this year..... did you find a Piano in Yogya?)