Saturday in Salatiga - lunch and Skype at Duncan's

Morning spent with Freud, watching the emergence of the Oedipus complex in his theoretical framework, as he interprets Greek myth and does a little something with Hamlet.

Mail arrived - The Monthly, with Julia Gillard on the cover. Two magazines in the one week.

Arranged to meet Duncan mid-morning in the city centre, then catch angkota 9 to his place. Got to see another part of Salatiga. Eleven people in the angkota - a record! Every available centimetre taken up with shopping, huge bundles of produce. Very squeezy. Duncan up front with the driver, me in the back with the shoppers and schoolkids. Despite the numbers, the driver still stopped and beeped for extra passengers. Where they'd fit, I don't know. Today's experience was much like the episode from Happy Days where Ralph, Potsie and Richie get involved in a how many people can be in a phone booth competition.

Duncan's place is up an incline, the exercise good for uncramping the muscles. Lives opposite an Islamic education institution. Met his family - Allison, and two daughters, Evie (5) and baby Ella. They're here for a three-year posting as part of a Christian organisation placement. Evie, a livewire, excited to have an Aussie visitor. Most of their English-speaking visitors are American. After a refreshing glass of water, Duncan invited me to use Skype and call home.


Absolutely fantastic to see the family. Felt a surge of love as their images came up. Each day I scroll through the 100 or so photos that Tallulah and Delaney uploaded onto the iPod, but it's not the same as being face to face. Being able to see them and chat in real time - what a treat! Caught up on their going-ons, explained about life here, the food, my plans to go to Yorgakarta next weekend, work, and how I'm coping. Tallulah updated me on her Mighty Boosh fixation and Delaney, a little quiet, talked some too. Had 22 precious minutes.

Great lunch. Overdid the sambal! Rice, green beans, and fruit soup. Enak sekali. Spent the arvo chatting about life in Indonesia, the impact of being here on Evie, teaching, Brisbane, Canberra, what the future will hold for Duncan and his family, and, of course, our struggles and triumphs learning and using bahasa. Had my first coffee in three weeks! Been off it, my ascetic streak surfacing, again. A lot of instant here. And, given the heat, water is my preferred beverage, followed by teh hijau (green tea, lukewarm). It was a really relaxing conversation, one where I didn't feel as though I was a representative Australian and had to backfill context and history all the time. No need to feel like an authority on all things Australian, which sometimes happens here when I'm having conversations with my host family or with students. If I say something about Australia, it must be true because I'm an Australian.

Home by 4.30pm. Returned to Freud and some of the contentious elements of his theory. Pak and Ibu away, which means Priscilla has to do the cooking tonight. Worked on buku harian.