Week 3 @ UKSW (Senin, Selasa, Rabu) 12-14 Okt

Been so busy getting the Semarang weekend up that I've fallen behind with the posts on what I've been doing at work. Will combine three days, highlights only.

Senin
Judging by the crowd, smaller than last week's, Kebaktian Senin may be obligatory in theory and optional in practice. Seems to have been hosted by Faculty of Economics, given the powerpoint slides that were titled Aktivitas Manajemen dalam Organisasi and Kepemimpinan dan Manajemen (Leadership and . . .). Despite these titles, difficult to follow the sermon. As for the music, the voices were very good; choice of material, though, was too traditional, either something with a real gospel inflection (complete with choreography matching the words. For example, the line "trumpets sound out, bells ring out" was accompanied by literal gestures, the song concluding with the choir swaying and handclapping) or something that, if eyes were closed, you'd think you were in an English cathedral listening to a choir doing something in Latin.

"Cross-cultural Understanding" is a class I look forward to. Petrus is a nice bloke, funny, and a good teacher. Students did a presentation on direct (Oz, US) and indirect (Indonesia, Japan) communication. The issues that cropped up were relevant to my experience here. Learnt, too, that Indonesians/Javanese rarely use "Apa kabar?" ("What news?" - a greeting equivalent to "How're ya goin'?") when they meet someone. Yet this, I told the class, is one of the first things students studying Indonesian at ANU are taught to say! I've been asked "Apa kabar?" by Indonesians, but maybe they ask out of politeness because they know that Westerners, for whatever reason, are taught to ask this when they meet someone. Frpm now on, I'll be using "Mau ke mana" (we were also taught this in Indonesian 1A) as a greeting.

My reputation precedes me: catching the angkota home, the driver and his assistant referred to me as "Mister Gang Enam" (Mr Lane no.6). Word gets around!

Selasa
Joined Frances' "Speaking" class, over in the Language Teaching Centre. Played a card game with students, picking cards at random then looking at a matrix filled with quotes that lined up with each card. Had to figure out when would be the most appropriate time to use the quote in a formal setting (funeral, birthday, sales meeting, graduation ceremony, etc). Great fun. And the room was air-conditioned!

From there, I had to go to the oldest building on campus, sans air-conditioning and teach "Literary Appreciation." Today's story - "The Management of Grief" by Bharati Mukherjee - allowed me to flex dormat literary critical analysis muscles. First, though, the ten minute test to make sure that the story had been read. Then, extended discussion on the significance of the title, group work on character analysis, and, at the end, a discussion of the story's first sentence. Homework for next week was set also. Enjoyed the classroom experience.

Lunch with Duncan. Timing was off, because by the time we arrived at the cafe, just after 1pm, all the mushrooms were habis (sold out) and, horror of horrors, there was no nasi (rice). Which was a pity, as eggplant sambal was on the menu. Settled for fruit and a blue Pepsi.

Rabu
Went to a Thesis Proposal session, the first time one has been held at FBS. Students had 5 minutes to talk about their topic, their method, their research question. Lecturers gave feedback, sometimes extensively. Often students were asked to repeat sentences loudly, clearly and slowly, though I didn't really experience any difficulty following what was being said. Mandatory sweet tea and snacks were served. After listening to this (2 hours), it became clear that the faculty really is a linguistics program. Not one proposal had literature as its focus. Which is fair enough, I suppose, given that the faculty's main purpose is to train English language teachers (rather than English teachers).

Pleased to be involved in "Drama" in the afternoon, with today's focus being interpretation and intonation. Acted out a short scene with Annita, the teacher. Then moved onto subtext analysis of a scene. More my style! Students had 10-15 lines of minimalist dialogue, and from that they had to create a scene and the subtext. Wonderful to watch the students work on this task, as it was a difficult one. Spent a lot of the lesson walking around the class and talking with groups about the play they were developing. Next week:blocking.

Blogged for an hour and a bit. Poured (as it is now as I type - a thick torrent making it difficult to see the landscape beyond 200 metres). Didn't have a brolly. The one I've been given is a long one, inconvenient to pack. Waited for a break. When it came, hoofed it to the angkota.