hi.
sorry i havent posted in awhile, while im away im finding it difficult to upload photos to my server space. but ive been posting some stuff on my flicker account, which you can see here. anything posted before this entry is backdated. hope all are well and more to come after sept 3rd.
cm

first indo sighting...































so much water, hm? unlike huge tracks of land with little blips of water in them,
huge tracks of water with little blips of land.
no big things yet, just orientation photos -
from the cab, airport to my hostel.





































































the street near where i live. this is the big tourist district of jakarta, jl jaksa.



















this is where i ate breakfast this morning.


















i was sitting by the door and eating when a local camera crew saw me, and asked if they could interview me for jakarta television about my views on the upcoming holiday (thursday is indonesia's independence day). so if anyone has cable and gets jkk tv, tune into the local news tonite - its a short clip of me trying to fgure out what the guy interviewing me is talking about in indonesia, having just eaten a super spicy breakfast and i think answering questions about how tis a great idea for local to organize games on thursday and invite the foreigners to participate.
more later...

japan in 18 hours or less.
from the plane



















to the train


















to go meet friends.

































































then to rippongi



















oops, forgot about these.



















this bar that used to be in someones garage maybe...but that doesnt give any credit to japanese ingenuity. but why a 1972 volkswagon minibus?



















and why did we end up closing that bar sitting in that bus?



















where were we?



















right, need to eat.



















then karayoke in this place that designed like an hr geiger...something.































the fog machine was turned off by the time we loaded in there, but we were told that itd be turned on at 10am the next morning if we wanted to come back.
i never sing karayoke...but i do when im in japan.
they had 'maggie may, a song i had heard not 18 hurs earlier in kat's car, and we both sang a bit of it then, so i figured id throw one out there in rememberance.



















then to a cab to get breakfast.



















my friend kept telling the driver "fam-e-ree res-ter-an". and somehow he understood.



















then to the airport.
we have a trend in the states where people wear anything with japanese symbols on it, without really knowing what it means.
or do we?


















are you wondering why i have so many pictures of the airport? funny thing that, just cant seen to stay away from narita, every time i go. but with shower facilities that you can rent by the hour, why would you want to leave?


















also, totally forgot about these - rice triangles for a couple bucks with misc. stuffings ranging from egg to fish to pork etc etc. one of my absolutely favorite things about japan. viva...

the day before i left, i talked with my friend kat about how sometimes i feel like i cant ever really stop to look at my life and what im doing until i get into those periods of both uber motion and simultaneous stasis. i.e., moving from madison to ann arbor.

a 7 hour car ride















that ended up taking something like 8 because of traffic
but with some nice tunes in between.



























a sort of blur though - how do you go over 70 mph but sit completely still for 8 hours?


























and why is it only here that i can think about my life?
why only in this grey space?

so my teacher and i were talking and i said
"kalau ini satu hal itu saya seharusnya tahu sebelum saya pergi ke Indonesia, apa ini?"
(If theres one thing i should know before i go to indonesia, what is it?)
she said "ya."
("yes.")
So I asked again, with different words.
She said "Terima Kasih".
("Thank you.")
So I asked a third time. Before I figured out she was just telling me I should know the word for "Yes" and the word for "Thank You".
I think I've been nervous about leaving, not becuase I'm worried about anything, but because you never quite know whats going to happen sometimes, you know? And I forget that you never really know whats going to happen at any given time, its just that we fool ourselves into thinking we have a plan.
But I forget that theres so much to language that isn't verbal. We just finished this shadow puppet show where in ten minutes in a room full of people who speak english, indonesian, hmong, khamer, thai, laos, and some other things I dont even know what they are, we told a story that everyone got
using only visuals.
My teacher (Ibu Nona, in her amazing voice that means everything is fine) told me "Tidak kuotir. Anda akan menpunyai waktu baik. Tidak apa-apa."
("Dont worry. You will have a great time. No problem.")

Ive been listening to this before I sleep at night.
its a song from a traditional hmong new years ceremony. the people involved wear these amazing costumes with small silver coins and trinkets sewn into them, and while one person sings, several others play a game where they throw a ball back and forth to one another, standing in two lines. thats what the silvery sound is, the sound of someone's costume as they catch and throw the ball.
the woman who sang this is great. and if you listen close during the second part, you can hear as one of the balls flies off and hits my friend ethan in the shoulder. as he picks up the ball and returns it to the woman who dropped it, there are whispered giggles and "thank you"s.

if nothing else, first year indonesian has finally taught me the important skill of how to tie a sarong. very comfortable, that.


















my sister visited this weekend. we didnt really do anything. just looked for ways to stay cool.


















got an excellent package from my friend kelly the other day, with a great picture that kat's parents inspired me to use as a scarecrow, to keep out the burgalars.
























not much else doin, here in madison.