The past few days have been so eventful that I will inevitably leave out some of the things I did. I’m also trying to add pictures to my blog in order to make it more enjoyable, so bear with me!
My last two days in Jakarta was pretty awesome actually. Some friends and I took a taxi to the Monas National Monument in Merdeka Square, the last monument/statue built by Sukarno when his people were starving in an effort to show a united front to his people and the rest of the world. It was started in 1961, but was not opened until 1975 by Suharto. We also went to Mesjid Istiqlal, Jakarta’s primary place for Muslim worship. It was huge and very beautiful. Like other mosques, it has a lot of Islamic symbolism involved in its architecture (it has five levels symbolizing the five pillars of Islam), but its dome is also 45 meters across, symbolizing the year of Indonesia’s independence in 1945. We also went to the Grand Indonesia Mall for some well needed AC. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t planning on going out on the town after getting my KITAS papers in order (the Indonesian equivalent of a state ID), but I got talked into it and was unprepared to properly document my day (as well as being in heels the whole day, ahh!)
The next day we traveled to Bandung, but before that a group of us went to Obama’s school in Jakarta! Apparently he went there in 4th grade. There’s a little statue of him in the courtyard which we posed in front of:
Me posing with Polly’s Obama campaign sign
Polly, Brandon, Eric and Jack reaching for the future (we couldn’t get butterflies to land on their palms).
Our ride to Bandung was really scenic and was a nice break from the smog and dirt of Jakarta (these were taken from the bus):
Leaving Jakarta
Closer to Bandung
I thought this was really pretty – rice paddies and mountains.
Paige, Polly, Emily, Brandon, and Eric are happy about getting to Bandung.
Kelsey, Polly, Brandon and I get ready for our first Bahasa class.
Grace, Rachel and Erin see-sawing between AMINEF group photos.
Our hotel in Bandung is so beautiful, and also largely unnecessary. Apparently there are certain standards that are applied by the State Department when making arrangements for us to live during orientation, which are far beyond the standards any of us expected or need (ask me more about this later in person if you’d like). I still feel largely unsettled because we keep moving and I won’t have a place to call home until mid-September, but I really like it here so far. Next: a trip organized by ETAs, volcanoes, and adventure!
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