PhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucketPhotobucket

Monday, October 27, 2008

News from The Long Lost Moo

Guess where we went this morning?
I'm going to try and attach the picture [editor note: photo to come later], but the large smoking volcano behind us is Mt. Merapi, one of the world's most dangerous and active volcanoes! Yay! We went there with Carolus, The Geologist's adviser's student from 10 years ago---who's now a professor at the second largest university in Jogakarta. The last eruption was in 2006, and so we're standing on the reminants of the pyroclastic flow (the 'avalanche' of super heated ash, and gas and rocks and boulders). Jojakarta was originally built several centuries ago by the first sultan here in a way that it has never been in direct danger of the volcano. The Geologist asked Carolus if it smoked all the time, and he said "Yes.If it is smoking, we are happy." I take that to mean that a lack of smoking volcano indicates something is wrong and going to happen? The Rock, the mining engineer will now fill in with suitable knowledge. I will pester The Geologist later.

Ah, you should see this place. It's crazy. They drive better here than in Ambon or Saumlaki or even Kisar. Ambon driving is enough to give me anxiety attacks. Drivers honk to keep you from walking in front of their cars, but they like to wait until they're right behind or next to you. Then it's like playing live human Frogger to cross the street---not here though, so don't worry---since there's no such thing as pedestrian right-of-way, and no one exactly uses their headlights after dark. It's fantastic! They also drive on the left side of the road, so I have to remember to not look the wrong way. And to think I used to make fun of my British trainer [editor note: trainer as in, missionary trainer].

So, here, the average price for a whole pineapple is only 5,000 rupiahs---or 5 cents. It's amazing. We had to go buy shirts for church last Sunday and, a tshirt I bought was 2,900 rhp ($3) at full price. CRAZY! It's good quality too. KFC is the big restaurant here. They have several within a few city blocks of each other, and each seats 100+. They're much larger than the typical American KFC, and there's no mashed potatoes---just rice and french fries. The average person orders the rice though. They also have a lychee fruit float, and ooh tasty.

We're doing great. We have lots of stories for when we come back. Right now we're being hosted by the university, and Carolus put us up in a 'homestay' hotel--which is a bed and breakfast/grandma home typehotel in a large old Dutch house in the middlish north part of
Djojakarta. The only really lasting influence of the Dutch here is in the architecture. No one speaks it anymore. Only Muluku, the eastern province we were in, sympathized really with the Dutch, and nearly all of the Indonesians in the Netherlands are from those islands. The
Church isn't there yet, but the majority of the people are Protestant, and are ready for the gospel.
Ok, I best be off. We're going to see the basement rock for the island in the morning along with one of the largest of the Buddist temples here. Or it's Hindu. This city has a complex history. I recommend reading about it. Forgive my mixed spellings of Djojakarta. They spell it at least 3 different ways for various purposes. It's the 'Boston' of Indonesia with 100 universities.
We're coming back on the 4th.
I have been writing now for 30 minutes, and The Geologist has shut himself up in the wardrobe. He says "no." as in no I haven't. He needs attention. So I'm off. --Moo

1 comment:

Carrie Nation said...

I want a five cent pineapple!