Selasa @ UKSW 6 Okt

Taught "Prose" today, in Building A, the oldest building on campus according to Ina, who teaches the class. Class text: a fragment from a novel about education in India. After a 5-10 minute comprehension test, done to ensure that the students had read the text, Ina handed over to me. All lessons are in English, but I can get away with sedikit bahasa (a little Indonesian). Although the course is focusing on literature, its main purpose is to train students how to teach literature. UKSW is a university in the sense that, post-Dawkins, all higher teaching institutions in Australia are now universities rather than, say, teaching colleges.

Got the class to examine character formation, the main themes, and how language is used to represent India's transition to modernity and the role played by education in that transition and the role played by culture in obstructing that transition. While teaching, Ina filmed me, as ANU wants to have some video footage of its students in Salatiga. I joked to Ina, if I'd known about the filming, I would have combed my hair (the humidity makes it pretty much uncontrollable). She replied, "I will be filming you next week, so no matter." Near the end of the lesson I asked the students to reflect on why they were forced to read the text or, to put it politely, why the text was chosen for them to read. What lessons were they to take away from the text? What relevance did it have to life in Indonesia? Good discussion ensued.


Lunched with Duncan, who took me to another cafe on campus. For the first time since I've been here, I had rice for lunch because there was chili eggplant on the menu. Hot and delicious. Also got some fruit cut up. Plus Pepsi, following Duncan's lead.

After work, headed to pusat (town centre), in search of index cards. Couldn't find them, so walked back to campus. Saw a great mural, which is where I took these snaps.