Friday,Oct 15 2004, 08:47:28 AMPART 33: Cultural Explanation in Malang OCT....

PART 33: Cultural Explanation in Malang

 

 

OCT. 10, SUNDAY

 

I went to Malang for the fourth time. This time Im travelling alone.

Agung picked me up from the bus station and brought me immediately to Brawijaya University.

I met the LC (local comittee) and the newbies.

Rico, the LC President, asked me to sing – Again!!!

 

I stayed in Bagus’ house with Agung and had a beer with Rico before going to sleep.

Have I mentioned that the tap water is cold? So I only took a quick shower in the evening.

 

 

OCT. 11, MONDAY

 

9 am – woke up. You dont wana know whose face is on my face, whose arm is under my shoulders and whose legs are on my thigh with a ‘hard stuff’ between it. Miss you, Rico, honey!!! HAHAHA!!!

 

10 am – we went to SENGKALING PARK

 6 pm – had a “Cultural Explanation” at Brawijaya University, Economy Faculty

 

            from Alex, German CEEDer

            from Robert, Filipino Trainee

            from Indonesia, EB LC

 

Im suppose to go back to Surabaya but they asked me to stay.

 

11 pm – had a drink with Alex in a bar with Wily, Agung, Ocok, Bagus and Rico

12 mn – had a drink again with Rico in Bagus’ house

 

 

 

OCT. 12, TUESDAY

 

11 am – woke up. I wont tell who's hugging who. HEHEHE!!!

1 pm – stayed in LC office and chit-chat with everybody

5 pm – went to Plaza Dieng with the girls to have a studio photo

6 pm – Farewell Party for Alex. He is going back to his country.

 

Then they asked me to stay again for another night.

 

11 pm – stayed again at Bagus’ house with Agung, Fajar and Andri

 

 

 

0CT. 13, WEDNESDAY

 

I really have to go home now to Surabaya. I only brought 1 set of clothes coz i plan to stay only for 1 night. I have been recycling clothes. Whhhaa!!!

 

I didnt asked for a leave from school this day. I only asked permission for Monday and Tuesday. And starting tomorrow is holiday until Saturday coz its the start of the Ramadan fasting month. So, 1 week I am not working again.

Starting October 18 is half day only until Nov 6.

November 8 – 22 is Idul Fitri... another 2 weeks holiday!!!

Friday,Oct 15 2004, 08:10:18 AMPART 32: AIESEC NATCON (National Conference)...

PART 32: AIESEC NATCON (National Conference)

 

 

SEPT. 30, THURSDAY (DAY 1)

 

I went on a work’s half day and Dianika picked me up. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! by the way.

 

AIESEC University of Surabaya hosted this National Conference.

 

I met my new friends from Malang LC (Local Comittee) and Semarang LC again.

 

I met Mia, Aiesec Indonesia MC President (over all)

 

I was introduced to other groups from 2 Universities: Jakarta and Bandung

 

I met “Newbies” – recently joined freshmen who will become an LC someday

 

 

 

OCT. 1, FRIDAY (DAY 2)

 

Pajama Party!!!

Mom, Ive got big boobs!!!

 

 

 

OCT. 2, SATURDAY (DAY 3)

 

LCs and MCs are always on a meeting

 

I joined IS group to Supermall in the afternoon.

 

I joined the newbies in the evening.

 

11 pm – We all went to Citra Land (a village – The Sigapore of Surabaya)

 

Its was nice and clean compare to other parts of Surabaya.

One street has food stalls and restaurant like the ‘warung’ and ‘depot’ but this is a bit for Upper Class people for the same price.

 

3:30 am - we started drinking coz its hard to find beer and wine at this time in this city

4:30 am – we going to sleep now -- and the moselms are just starting to pray

 

 

 

OCT 3, SUNDAY (DAY 4)

 

More talking-talking in the morning.

 

After lunch we all gathered up in the Plenary for the closing ceremonies

 

Each LC president reported all plans for the next 6 months

 

Each group of University made a roll call

 

I sang an Indonesian song by Peterpan Band… Again – by requested-popular demand

 

 

Say ‘good-bye’ to everybody as they prepare to leave back to their respective hometowns.

Damn! It is always hard to say good-bye to people that you have known recently and spend time with even in a nick of time.

Saturday,Oct 9 2004, 08:54:16 AMPART 31: MOONCAKE FESTIVAL SEPT. 27, MONDAY I

PART 31: MOONCAKE FESTIVAL

 

 

SEPT. 27, MONDAY

 

I tried to watch an Indonesian movie for the first time: “Ada Hantu di Sekola – Ghost School”

Well, its literally translated as “there is a ghost in the school”

 

Its not scary, its funny actually.

Its about a girl who died in the school, accidentaly killed by his boyfriend, and he buried her inside the library. Now the girl haunts this group of teen-agers even in outside the school.

 

One guy is an MTV Indonesia VJ, who is, by the way, old enough to portray the role of a Sr. HS Student.

Another guy is tall, commercial model acts gooffy and eats alot.

One fat girl always faint or pee on her skirt.

And one guy fell off the cliff and died then he visited his ‘crush’. They used the song “Semua Tentang Kita” (All About Us) sung by my favorite Indo band – Peterpan. Well, its the same story in their video for this song.

And the lead actress is just new.

 

Its all about revenge. Just like in other Asian Horror films: The Ring, The Eye, The Phone, Wishing Wells, etc. You know what I mean?

 

 

 

 

SEPT. 28, TUESDAY – CHINESE MOONCAKE (Mid-Autumn) FESTIVAL

 

Well, I took a picture of the Full Moon.

I went to Kya-Kya (Chinatown) to eat dinner and see some dragon dance.

Then to the Chinese Temple to see people praying.

 

About this temple, like an other Chinese Temple in Indonesia, is for Buddhist, Confucius and Taoism. Yes, the temple is divided but open for every worshipper. I mean, 1 side of the wall or one room for each religion.

 

Buddhist are more accepted than the last two. So the two religions lesser than a minority, they are recognized “so-so” by the government and not being taken care of when it comes to legislative. Less benefits and privilages and freedom. So what the latter two religions do is to merge with the Buddhist in order to survive their practice. Plus the followers, may and might tell a ‘white lie’ if they are asked about their religion when filling up a form. They would say they are Buddhist, Christian or Protestant and take an Indonesian or English name.

 

 

 

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Moon Cake Festival: A Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu),

the third major festival of the Chinese calendar, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month. This festival corresponds to harvest festival s observed by Western cultures (in Hong Kong, it is held in conjunction with the annual Lantern Festival).

Contrary to what most people believe, this festival probably has less to do with harvest festivities than with the philosophically minded Chinese of old. The union of man's spirit with nature in order to achieve perfect harmony was the fundamental canon of Taoism, so much so that contemplation of nature was a way of life.


This festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy.

 

Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city's populace. When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor-to-be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cake of course, became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really known.

The moon plays a significant part of this festival. In Hong Kong, any open space or mountain top is crowded with people trying to get a glimpse of this season's auspicious full moon.

First lady on the moon: It is generally conceded that Neil Armstrong , the American astronaut, was the first man on moon ( he made that historic landing in 1969). But that's not necessarily the truth to Chinese, who believe that the first people on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC)

This somewhat complicated moon-landing story goes like this: A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou-Yi of the Imperial Guard. General Hou was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. His marksmanship was richly rewarded by the emperor and he became very famous. However, the people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven (Wang Mu) to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the emperor, his progeny and the country. Their wish was granted and General Hou was given a Pill of Immortality.

Another version of this story notes that Chang-O, the wife of the Divine Archer, shot down nine of ten suns plaguing the world and received the Herb of Immortality as a reward.

Whoever the hero was, Chang-O grabbed the pill (or the herb) and fled to the moon. In some versions it is uncertain whether she ever actually got there, because Chinese operas always portray her as still dancing-flying toward the moon.

When Chang-O reached the moon, she found a tree under which there was a friendly hare. Because the air on the moon is cold, she began coughing and the Immortality Pill came out of her throat. She thought it would be good to pound the pill into small pieces and scatter them on Earth so that everyone could be immortal. So she ordered the hare to pound the pill, built a palace for herself and remained on the moon.

This helpful hare is referred to in Chinese mythology as the Jade Hare. Because of his and Chang-O's legendary importance, you will see - stamped on every mooncake, every mooncake box, and every Moon Cake Festival poster - images of Chang-O and sometimes the Jade Hare.

 

A slightly different version of this legend says that Hou Yi became emperor after his amazing feat but the glory of success turned him into a tyrant. His arrogance brought with it a desire to rule forever and to attain his goal, he required the elixir of life. To stop this calamity from taking place, his wife consumed the elixir herself and floated off to the moon with her pet rabbit. This also gave birth to another legend called 'The Lady of the Moon and Her Pet Rabbit'.

 

Saturday,Oct 9 2004, 08:52:24 AMPART 30: MALANG SEPT 16, THURSDAY I didnt go...

PART 30: MALANG

 

 

 

SEPT 16, THURSDAY

 

I didnt go to work coz I’m still so tired and sleepy from the travel. So I just stayed home and cleaned my room and clothes.

In the afternoon, I accidentaly watched the first episode of the funny Taipe tele-series entitled “Secret Garden”!!!

It is dubbed in Indonesian but I can understand most of what they are saying.

So I started following the story. Right after work, i come home straight coz the show starts 4:30 WIB.

 

 

 

 

SEPT. 17, FRIDAY

 

I went back to school for work. See the look on their faces – they missed me a lot.

 

 

 

 

SEPT. 18 to 20, SATURDAY – MONDAY

 

I went to Malang (90 kmm South of Surabaya) and stayed in Marshel’s place.

I have been here before and this is the third time. This time, I have a camera with me.

 

MALANG is the most popular among East Java. Far above the steamy lowlands, the mountain resort of Malang, with an elevation of about 450 m above the sea level provides a cool relief from the tropical heat, is the best choice for relaxation. The remains of old colonial buildings from the Dutch are well presernved in the city.

 

Apart from the city, BATU and SELECTA towns are popular hill resort with breathtaking vistas and spectacular views. Locals are growing flowers and apples.

 

Across Batu, through the mountains, leads a road to BLITAR where you can find the tomb of DR.Ir. Soekarno (the First President and Independence Proclaimer).

 

But I didnt reached there. We went only to NGANTANG, two towns away from Malang, after Pujon, but still under the regency of Malang. Taman Wisata Blendrang is a small park facing a lake. Well, the lake is a dam as well. It is exactly located in Dukuh Kauman, Kaumrejo, Ngatang.

 

 

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Monday also was the Second Election for the President and Vice-President. They are the top 2 from the 5 candidates previously. Both parties made a lot of effort in campaigning. They had debates and dialogues on television.

 

President Megawati image was tainted with the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

Immediately in the afternoon, the country starting counting the votes. It seems like Susilo Bambang Yudhono is starting to get by Megawati.

Monday,Oct 4 2004, 10:37:56 AMPART 29: CULTURAL DAY SEPT 15, WEDNESDAY 8...

PART 29: CULTURAL DAY

 

 

SEPT 15, WEDNESDAY

 

8 am – Well, I dont have to tell the detailed story coz the pictures tell the stories itself.

 

In short, we all have had a good time. Until now, I can still feel the excitement.

 

 

 

2 pm –  I went home to Galih’s place to rest for a while.

 

7 pm – went to Ciputra Mall to meet the Japs for the last time and say good-bye. Im leaving for Surabaya so that I can go back to work tomorrow. They are still gona stay till Friday.

 

            I said good-bye to everybody and it was hard for me to leave. We have been together for 1 week and I had my chance to get to know each one of them. And some have become close to me already like Nina, Rie, Mariko, Asami, Risa, Yu and Nao.

 

Time flies so fast and we all have separate lives. But all the good and bad experiences, feelings, excitement, thrill, laughter, and mind-opening “Eco-Tour” will be remembered forever.

 

Thanks to Adi of BINTARI FOUNDATION and Fauziah AIESEC U.D.

 

8 pm – Asti and her friend took me to the Travel Agency and it was raining so hard. It has been months since Ive felt heavy rain.