Life in Jogja

Well, we have arrived in Jogja. We moved on my birthday, perhaps not my first choice for things to do on my birthday. But the opportunity was there and we had to take it or wait till later in January.

Because the move was very sudden, the house was not exactly ready for us. Many of the screens on the windows were either damaged or simply gone so the house was a bit buggy. It took about two weeks to have the screens repaired and so during that time we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. We live beside a field with lots of garbage on it, so there are plenty of mosquitoes in the area. We have tried to clean up our backyard so at least in this area we can be outside without too much trouble.

Our house is very nice. It has quite a bit of open space so we can get a nice breeze going through. It also lets the kids play inside when it is raining. We have three bedrooms, storage room, smallish kitchen, an office, and a dining room/living room. Our washroom has both a bak, a traditional Indonesian water reservoir for bathing, as well as a shower with hot water. The house came with a water heater but it is only for the shower. The back yard is walled in. It isn't large but there is enough room for the kids to play. Because it was neglected for a while, we are still trying to fix it up. We also have a guest house that is not attached to the house. It has one large room and a washroom.

We haven't been communicating as much as we would have liked over the past month for several reasons. First, we spent a week in Bali. We spent five days in the north of Bali, at a hotel near Lovina. The beach there was a fishing beach and not really suited for swimming. However, the area was beautiful and not nearly as developed as around Denpasar in the south. Our hotel was right by the ocean with a nice Balinese restaurant by the beach. The pool was great and the kids made full use of it.

Speaking of the pool, the second reason why communication has been limited is that our camera went into the pool. Early in our stay at Lovina, we were coming back from supper when Sara fell into the pool. I jumped in after her and she was fine, but the camera went in with me. The camera has not recovered so I only have a few pictures from the very beginning of our trip and no pictures of our house. I had hoped to be able to repair the camera but the nearest service place is in Jakarta so I am afraid I will have to buy another camera.

Back to Bali, we decided to spend the last two nights in Sanur, near Denpasar. We were in a small hotel a few minutes walk from the beach. The beach was much nicer but the kids preferred the pool. Sanur/Denpasar is very developed for tourism and I didn't like it nearly as much as Lovina. However, others didn't share my opinion. Sanur has a very nice boardwalk along the beach with small shacks set up to sell tourist stuff. If one isn't firm enough, the sellers can be quite aggressive and annoying. Sanur/Denpasar is also more expensive and so we were almost paying Western prices for lodging and food. In the end, we had a very relaxing time and wonderful recovery from months of language study. We will be back to Bali in March for MCC team retreat.

We returned to Jogja and began to organize our life here. Katie is now attending Yogyakarta International School (YIS). YIS is much smaller than Mountainview in Salatiga, with all classes being combined. Katie's class is gr.3-5 combined with 16 students. The school uses an Australian curriculum and most of the students are children of business people. The school has a much lower profile than Mountainview. Mountainview is set up like a walled compound with multiple security gates for entry. YIS, on the other hand, is made up of several renovated houses, so that it is difficult to even recognize it as a school. Because it is an international school, there is security, but with a much lower profile than Mountainview. We aren't sure whether this makes YIS safer, but one thing in its favour is that there are much bigger more inviting targets than YIS. Mia started pre-school last week. We had thought of holding off till September, but it was obvious that she was ready for school. Both Katie and Mia are enjoying YIS and making friends there.

Lori's position was never clearly defined. However, she has decided to help Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana (Christian University Duta Wacana) with the administrative aspect of developing a Master's program in theology. Lori will be using many of the skills she developed at U. of Toronto and is excited by the prospect of working with faculty. UKDW is a small university with a peace program that MCC has been supporting.

I have just started teaching at Universitas Islam Negeri (State Islamic University). UIN is a large university that offers degrees in a variety of disciplines including the hard sciences, social sciences, as well as in Islamic law (Sharia). My appointment is in the graduate program, which is primarily oriented towards Islamic law, Islamic economics and philosophy. This semester I am teaching a doctoral course called Global Issues. A Muslim professor will teach the first half using an Islamic perspective, focusing on issues like globalization and human rights. I will teach the second half, starting in April, focusing on the relationship between religion and politics and society. I am also teaching in the undergraduate faculty of Islamic Theology, an Intro to Philosophy course. I am teaching this course with another professor, Dr. Fatima, who has her Ph.D. from an Australian university. We get along well and our first class was a wonderful experience. It was also obvious that my understanding of Indonesian needs improvement. Many of the students come from pesantrans, or Islamic boarding schools. I am very interested to find out how they respond to me and what I teach.

Finally, we just had internet access installed in our house. Our application had been in some mysterious process for three weeks, but it eventually happened. Hopefully Lori and Katie will be moved to contribute as well to this blog. I am also hoping to have a new camera soon so we can put up pictures of our new home and Yogyakarta, but for now I will post a few pictures from Bali.

Phil