Fun Times- in Photos

Despite what you might have thought, I haven't given up on my blog yet. I have just been ridiculously busy enjoying the last of my time in Indonesia. So I'll give you a taste of what I've been up to through my photos.

Solo is famous as the city of Javanese culture and identity, and is considered one of the best production centers for traditional batik fabric

Just chillin' in the kampoeng batik (batik neighborhood/traditional center of batik production):

In Masjid Agung, the largest mosque in Solo, which was built when the sultan converted from Hinduism to Islam (this is before I was asked to leave because I'm not Muslim...but that's a story for another time, and is not what normally happens. The last time I visited a mosque, I was asked to give a speech there and everyone was so friendly):

My friend Dina and I in the kampoeng batik:

Dina took me to a restaurant above a pond where you can go fishing for your lunch or dinner. Unfortunately at the time we went, they didn't offer that, so we just watched the fish and ordered a lot of food.

Me looking at the fish:

Dina's adorable daughter also watching the fish:

Last week I gave my final exam, so I'm technically finished with my job as a teacher (besides calculating all the grades). Here's a photo of some of my students posing for a picture after the final exam. They gave me a lovely gift of a batik shirt and some photos of them so I will always remember them. So sweet!

Following are some photos of my trip to Tawangmangu (a mountainous area near Solo that I think I've mentioned several times) with the university president and his daughter-in-law to be.
Just before eating sate kelinci (grilled rabbit meat on a stick). It's a specialty of that area. It was delicious!

Enjoying the lake:

Yes, that's me driving:

Ever since I went to karaoke the last time, I have been wanting to go again. So I asked a couple of my friends to come sing their hearts out with me:

Then we went out to eat together and enjoyed nasi liwet, a Solo specialty

Yesterday I went to Tawangmangu again with some friends who have a plan to climb the mountain (Gunung Lawu). They wanted to scope out the camp sites before they climb the mountain this weekend, so I just went along for the ride (and for the satay)

Sate ayam--don't worry, this one's chicken, not rabbit. And I'm too lazy to figure out how to rotate the photo at the moment, so please momentarily turn your head sideways.



The campsite and starting point for climbing Mt. Lawu:

My friend Angga and I :

I hope you've enjoyed the photos that took me an unbelievable amount of time to upload because of the terrible internet connection I'm experiencing.

My next post could be the most exciting and interesting of them all (ok, well it probably won't be as embarassingly funny as my Merapi post, but who knows). That's because I have a plan to take one last vacation next week, and I'm going to Tana Toraja in Sulawesi. If you don't know a lot about Indonesia, you've probably never heard of it before. But it's quite famous among anthropologists and has become a popular tourist site in Indonesia. Just google it and you'll find tons of information about the traditional ceremonies and rituals in that region. The most famous and most studied are the funeral rituals. I never imagined myself taking a vacation to go observe some funerals--but that's pretty much what I'm doing. I've been dreaming about going there for a long time, and now I'm finally going to do it!