Detritus

The rainy season is over. I suppose it was over a couple of weeks ago when suddenly the humidity dropped by about 20 percent and the evenings were cooler. We still had rain occasionally, but it has pretty much stopped now. The days are still hot, getting into the low to mid 30s, but a regular breeze has started. Most importantly, it is drier and our clothes dry the same day they are washed.

The bad side of things being drier is that Indonesians now start burning all the vegetation that wouldn't burn during the rains. One can't walk anywhere without seeing and smelling burning leaves. I have heard stories that Singapore and Malaysia regularly complain to the Indonesian government regarding the smoke that drifts over. I don't know of any reasonable alternative. Leaving the growth on the ground encourages pests and snakes.

I am appreciating the more comfortable weather since my walk to work has gotten longer. The university has locked its front gates so that all traffic now has to enter from a different street on the other side of the campus. The reason I have heard for closing the gates was that since there has been an increase in theft on campus, having only one access point will deter thieves. The logic escapes me. Both entrances had security posts and since closing the front gate, security has not been tightened at the remaining post. If the thieves walked out before, they walked past the same level of security that is in place now. It would not be unreasonable to suspect that a bureaucrat felt the need to demonstrate that they were doing something about the problem. Personally, I think the gates were closed to give me a hard time. Instead of 20 minutes at a brisk pace, it now takes me 30 minutes to get to work.

My Intro. to Philosophy course finished last week. We had a good group of students and I really enjoyed the discussions. I finished the course with three classes on Nietzsche, Freud and Wittgenstein. Those classes were hard work. I am midway through my Religion and Democracy grad course, which will finish the beginning of June. The students are now giving seminar presentations and I am learning quite a bit about Islam and politics in Indonesia. In June, I begin teaching an intensive summer course at Gadjah Madah University in the Center for Religion and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS), which is the Master's program for Religious Studies at UGM. The course will be on Post-Modernism and I will teach it with a fellow MCCer who is seconded to CRCS. The class should be really interesting but it also leaves me with a very short break before classes at UIN begin in August.

Finally, I preached my first sermon here in Indonesia. Today is Trinity Sunday so I decided to do a teaching sermon on the Trinity. I gave time after my 'sermon' for questions and discussion, and there was some good interaction. What made it memorable was that as the worship leader came up to the front, she loudly announced 'Well, that was confusing.'

Phil