Above is a video I took last semester.. I finally got it to load! The 3 boys are the sons of a teacher at school (the one who has 6 sons!). One day when I was in the teachers' room I heard lots of laughing and cheering outside so I ran out to see what was going on and I found these little kids playing around. I ran downstairs to check it out! They struggle at first.. but they finally get the hang of it!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Just being kids
Above is a video I took last semester.. I finally got it to load! The 3 boys are the sons of a teacher at school (the one who has 6 sons!). One day when I was in the teachers' room I heard lots of laughing and cheering outside so I ran out to see what was going on and I found these little kids playing around. I ran downstairs to check it out! They struggle at first.. but they finally get the hang of it!
Prambanan & Borobudur--Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta) is one of Indonesia's most famous places due to the rich culture that exists there. It is located in Central Java, so in the middle of the island I live on. Just a short hour plane ride away and I found myself in Yogya with my friends for a long weekend filled with delicious food, lots of laughs, and breathtaking and mystical temples. Ohh and not to mention 100s of photos taken of us, since a group of white, American girls are celebrities here--blonde hair adds more glam of course (Barbie status).
We spent our days relaxing and enjoying each others' company and easy conversation that we usually don't get so easily at all of our sites. It's funny, we all met briefly over the summer at our pre-departure orientation and then again we were together for 3 weeks for orientation in Indonesia before all heading to our sites across the vast and diverse archipelago that is Indonesia--and yet, whenever we see each other, which is rather infrequent, it always feels like we pick up right where we left off and that we have been friends for years. We also took advantage of the amazing restaurants in Yogya that have delicious organic and fair trade food.
Below are photos of Prambanan, the 9th century Hindu temple located about 30 minutes from Yogya. This temple is so amazing and truly so beautiful. It's hard to imagine that people can craft such grandeur with their own hands. While we were there we met some students from a local high school who offered to give us a free guided tour as part of their tourism training. The girls were so thoughtful and cute and charmed us with the American slang they learned from their teacher, who coincidentally was a teacher in our program a couple years ago! After the Prambanan photos are photos of Borobudur, a 9th century Buddhist temple about and hour outside of Yogya. Both temples are incredible..so enjoy!
I spotted this kid wearing a Celtics jersey and had to get a photo!
Note the volcano in the background!
Our wonderful tour guides! We gave them comments in their batik notebooks.
We spent our days relaxing and enjoying each others' company and easy conversation that we usually don't get so easily at all of our sites. It's funny, we all met briefly over the summer at our pre-departure orientation and then again we were together for 3 weeks for orientation in Indonesia before all heading to our sites across the vast and diverse archipelago that is Indonesia--and yet, whenever we see each other, which is rather infrequent, it always feels like we pick up right where we left off and that we have been friends for years. We also took advantage of the amazing restaurants in Yogya that have delicious organic and fair trade food.
Below are photos of Prambanan, the 9th century Hindu temple located about 30 minutes from Yogya. This temple is so amazing and truly so beautiful. It's hard to imagine that people can craft such grandeur with their own hands. While we were there we met some students from a local high school who offered to give us a free guided tour as part of their tourism training. The girls were so thoughtful and cute and charmed us with the American slang they learned from their teacher, who coincidentally was a teacher in our program a couple years ago! After the Prambanan photos are photos of Borobudur, a 9th century Buddhist temple about and hour outside of Yogya. Both temples are incredible..so enjoy!
I spotted this kid wearing a Celtics jersey and had to get a photo!
Below is Borobudur!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Christmas in a Tropical Land
This year Christmas was definitely different. I stayed with friends in North Bali for a few days before heading to Kuta, Lombok, the island east of Bali. North Bali was so beautiful and peaceful and exactly what I wanted for Christmas. We drove from North Bali down to the port in Padang Bai to catch the ferry that would take us to Lombok. The drive was the most beautiful ride ever! Ocean views, mountains, rice paddies, palm trees. It was simply beautiful and it was so nice to see the Bali landscape. The ferry only
took 3 hours but we ended up waiting 2 hours at the port in Lombok
before we could get off. Luckily I was with a great group of friends so
it didn't matter! We also got to see one of the most amazing sunsets I
have ever seen.
Life in the Ring of Fire: volcanoes in the distance (East Java)--photo taken from Bali port.
Resort life: We stayed at this beautiful resort right on the beach for Christmas.
Christmas Eve Dinner--Balinese dance performance to follow!
There was a Christmas tree!
The path to our bungalow! It had the coolest outdoor shower!
Cute facets
Ferry ride to Lombok. Lombok is much less developed than Bali so not as crazy and touristy which was wonderful.
Matt manning our bags
So model-esque: motorbike attire at it's finest.
On the ferry we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of all time. I took tons of photos ..here are a few. The photos simply cannot capture just how incredible it was.
The first place we stayed in Lombok is below. It is about an hour from the Lembar Port. There were many beautiful shells washed up along the shore.
A temple in the water
Kuta, Lombok (a little over an hour from where we stayed the first night). The beaches are divine. Turquoise water, mountains, palm trees, warm water..heavenly. We had a great time in Kuta! I also ate the most delicious ikan bakar (grilled fish) I have ever had.
There was a Christmas tree!
The path to our bungalow! It had the coolest outdoor shower!
We ended up staying at a different place each night. Each with its own character. Here are some photos of the place we stayed at on Christmas day night.
Ferry ride to Lombok. Lombok is much less developed than Bali so not as crazy and touristy which was wonderful.
So model-esque: motorbike attire at it's finest.
On the ferry we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of all time. I took tons of photos ..here are a few. The photos simply cannot capture just how incredible it was.
The first place we stayed in Lombok is below. It is about an hour from the Lembar Port. There were many beautiful shells washed up along the shore.
A temple in the water
Kuta, Lombok (a little over an hour from where we stayed the first night). The beaches are divine. Turquoise water, mountains, palm trees, warm water..heavenly. We had a great time in Kuta! I also ate the most delicious ikan bakar (grilled fish) I have ever had.
Making friends
Kuta Beach in Lombok is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to and I cannot wait to return with Sean when he visits!
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