Thursday, October 1, 2009

Keluarga Pak Agna/ Pak Agna's family

In Salatiga I'm doing a homestay with Pak Agna, who is one of the unversity's vice rectors. We'd been in plenty of email contact prior to my arrival here. He lives in big house on Jalan Dlikosari.


He is married to Ibu Wewein, who stays at home, and has two children: Aaron (17) and Priscilla (20). Aaron is studying at high school, as well as going to a special school to study astronomy, and Priscilla studies at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, studying English. Western names, apparantly, are becoming more common in Indonesia, due to the impact of Western cultural products (a polite way of saying "American films").


The family are excellent hosts and have made me feel very welcome. I have an Australian breakfast: bread/roti and egg/telur. For dinner, Indonesian food. My room is on the second floor, with a bathroom next to it. Each morning I bathe Javanese style: pouring cold water over myself, using a big scoop.

To go to work, I catch an angkota, sometimes with Pak, sometimes by myself. This is the preferred form of travel, other than motorbike. Angkotas are not built for Australians, so it's a little cramped inside. It costs 2,000 rupiah and it drops me off at the unversity. Probably takes 5-10 minutes. At the end of the day I cross the road to catch an angkota home; no need to wait, as soon as one picks up a passanger and leaves, another one is behind it. There are no bus stops like in Canberra. All you need do is stand beside the road and motion to the angkota. If it goes past you, it'll simply back up 50-100 metres to pick you up.

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