Lhokseumawe Friday 13 Nov

3 hr presentation this morning. Raining now (5pm). Net access limited. Tomorrow return to Banda Aceh. Later today will go to the beach, but I'm not allowed to wear shorts.

Iskandar and Raziq.


[Added 19/11 - overcast in Jakarta] ANU work today. Visiting Universitas Malikussaleh. Will talk on ANU and academic expectations. Will talk in bahasa. "Not many of the academics here can speak English," Iskandar lets me know as we approach the campus. The inequalities in the Indonesian education system are plain to see here; I suppose I should be happy that in the state versus religion divide, more resources are going to the Indonesian state system. Travel on a mud road that justifies the use of a 4-wheel drive, cows and goats wandering around the grounds/paddock. Meet the deans and vice-rectors. Asked, at the last minute, to do another talk. Fossick around the memory stick for something that might do. If I was asked to talk about astrophysics, I'm sure I could come up with something. Some of the universities here are so starved of international visitors that, when they do get them, they make all sorts of requests, most of which are difficult to refuse. Call it the pity lecture.

Mentally shot after three hours of presenting and talking. Iskandar helped me out when I couldn't translate a slide from English into bahasa, as well as clarifying any of the lecturers's questions. Main problems here: no money, no access to international journals, limited access to internet. One lecturer said he was more familiar with SMSing than the using the internet.

Afternoon, to the beach. With trousers. Collect Rizwan, another lecturer who had spent a year at ANU. Arrived at his house and he's wearing his ANU baseball cap. Go to a Pondok, a cottage or hut facing the sea. Drink fresh coconut juice and eat fried banana: Iskandar, Rizwan, Yuli, me.

Later that night, learn that azan is the term used to describe the morning call to prayers. That Aceh has syariah law. That thieves' hands can be cut off; this, I'm told, is in the law, but is never used. That gender issues only became a problem with the arrival of NGOs after the tsunami. That it's impossible to have a conversation without the tsunami as its subtext. That at dinner men tend to eat first. That my ability to hold my tongue is better than I thought.

Tired. Heat. Humidity. Going from one place to another. No control over the agenda. Agenda always changing. Fielding more requests. Afternoon naps.