"Dem hooligans again.."

Everyone knows when there is gonna be a football game. Except for me. Well, I used to not realize it. You don't even have to hear from someone. You can see it. Seem them rather. All the football hooligans. The rascals. It seems like the whole of Bogor's youth and those rom all the villages surrounding it come out to see the event. I've seen them before many times I just didnt really understand who they were or what they were doing. I would see em lining the roads just standing there with flags and strange hats resembling dinosaurs. I thought they were protesters or something. I was a tad confused. But then a friend of mine told me about some crazy stories of football riots. "of course. They are football supporters"
Bogor's team colors are yellow and green and so all of em were decked out in whatever they had. Shirts, shorts, hats, the dinosaur hats, flags, facepaint anything. Of course this doesn't sound that wild. There are die-hard sports fans everywhere in the world. But these ones, Indonesian supporters are special. Alot of them come not bringing or owning a vehicle of anykind so they hitch rides from whatever they can find seeing as all the games are either in Jakarta or just ouside of central Bogor. So I was standing there, waiting for a 32 angkot to show up so i could get home on a rare hot afternoon, looking fairly ridiculous in my white oversized friday school uniform when they started gathering on the corner across the road. Just a tromp of them, hanging out waiting for something. I dont know, other friends or maybe a new truck or angkot to drive by. They kinda have a reputation for being rioting anarchists so few people pick them up. Most angkots dont pick them up and when they do there is never enough room so a few courageous kids end up on the roof, hooting and waving flags. There are alot of them now, rolling by on motorcycles, on trucks and in and ontop of the angkots. the group on the corner is bigger. Then a huge oil truck drives by. And there are kids hanging on to every inch of the thing all of em fired up and ready to go raise hell at the game. Which they do sometimes. When ive watched the games on TV ive seen the whole field is surrounded by a very tall chailink fence too keep the spectators from chucking shit onto the field. I've seen things get nasty on TV, to the point of a burning car outside of the Stadium. Guess they get pretty passionate.
I finally found an angkot and hopped in. There is another man already inside. Hes watching the hooligans muttering under his breath. He says something about recklessness. He's obviously got his opinions about them. I watched the game later. I fell asleep before I found out who won.

This NY sound

Hes got some New York radio station blaring on his computer speakers. The guy who owns this computer. Its funny sitting in an Indonesian apartment, the street below bustling with morning life and the sounds of new york mixing in with the motorcycles and the voices of children. New York, wasn't T.I. from the south? I don't recall.
I'm sitting in my host cousin's flat. He used to stay here when he still studied at the university that is close by. Now he shares it with another student even Fandra (the cousin) has already graduated. He was in Sumatra working now he's back in Bogor looking for a job so he crashes here and at my house. Hes a good guy. The funny thing a haven't been to this place in forever. In 6 months almost. Last time I was here was the second or third day I was in Indonesia. I've been here forever. But it feels like nothing. Kinda wild how fast time goes by. But everyone knows that. It's kinda like sand or something.
Its sunday. We already went jogging at the campus track field and kicked a ball around. Then we came back to the flat for a shower, some crackers n a cup o tea on the roof watching the angkot, motorcycles and people passby. A good morning. Though i have a sore throat. But that's okay. Just swallowing is kind painful.
What should I do today? At some point I have to get a ride back into town from Fandra because the campus is kinda far away from anything. in the outskirts of Bogor. But hes asleep. And I dont know for how much longer he will be. He looks out. Probably beat after the jogging. Its allright. The morning atmosphere is fine. Though I be craving some food. Perhaps some Bubur Ayam. The ultimate breakfast food alongside eggs, toast and sausage.
I dont have any particular thing or memory to write about. Just this. Sitting in this flat, using this guy's computer, relaxing after some physical exercise. Fandra is still out cold. actually no wait he's half awake. Ok well I think we might go grab some food. cheers! oh and remember, buried treasure is only in the movies. We can find treasure anywhere around us. Dont gotta go looking under the ground. Thats for moles and worms.

Plans? ha...

Its been a long time since that odd Bali post. It feels incomplete. I might try and summarize it.
My bali trip: Rain, Beaches, Coughing, AUSTRALIANS so many, Tannah Lot, some other places, cheap souviner stores and trying to surf with over-priced god awful boards. But I guess that's Kuta for ya. Bali was nice. Probably the weather and my being sick ruined its image of heaven-like qualities. But I'll be back. So much left to explore. So different than Java yet similar.

My more recent endevours. School started again! whoop. That's slightly sarcastic but it was nice becuase I got to see friends again. Physics however will never catch my eye I think.
So far the new year has been good. Though I and some others got off to a slightly bad start. Me and the other Americans plus one Indonesian had been romping around Jakarta till the wee hours of the morning, us being obsessed with seeing the new year sunrise. We did and hung out in Omar's bedroom watching it rise above the rooftops. Of course then we all fell asleep. To make things short, boys n girls should not sleep in the same room, so the host parents were slightly miffed about that. To make things a tad worse we forgot to thank the host parents for hosting us which I was our bad seeing as we kinda left in a rush, eager to get to our own beds. We came back and thanked them. But the whole morning felt like a butchery of the new year. Whatever. that was ages ago. We learned from our blunders.

Now, my more recently.
I've been really enjoying myself. I find myself eating so much and food is so good. I've discovered at least 10 new delishous places to eat and for not much more than a dollar. It's absolutely ridiculous and awesome at the same time. I dont think I will be able to go back to expensive food.
I've also found that people can be very kind and very friendly despite the newness of a friendship. I was in Bandung last weekend with an AFS volunteer (for those who dont know his name its stephan) and after the first day of watching gorgeous countryside from a train, having a taxi driver drop us off now where near our hotel (after overpaying him considerably) tromping around the sketchy alleys and streets surrounding the bandung train station looking for our place to stay, we decided to climb a mountain to see the massive crater at the top. And indeed it is massive (i will post pictures to show). We were a wee bit famished so we got some Mie/Baso in a little shack at the edge of this crater. And as Stephan warned about an hour before, it started dumping, in massive quantities. The outside seating quickly turned into a small lake and everyone joined us in the shack, a couple and a family. One man decided to stay out protected by a umbrella. It was quite the image, the rain pouring down and this old man smoking a fag and sipping his tea, sitting cross-legged on his chair so as not to get his feet wet, seeing as the ground was covered in at least a couple inches of water.
The rain continued for a couple hours and eventually the young couple decided to introduce themselves by buying us a couple glasses of this spicey tea which was nice. It was genuinely cold on the crater top. We chit-chatted for a little while and eventually he offered us a ride back down the mountain after us telling him that we intended to return to Bogor by bus that afternoon. He was like "sure ya, ikut!". we ended up being stuck for two hours in traffic going down from the mountain back to Bandung. and of course they didn't know where the bus station was. Bless em for being kind people but they were from a different city. We spent another three trekking around the city looking for the bus station. We finally got there and we tried to pay him for his genorosity. He wouldn't accept it and even walked us onto the bus making sure we got home safely. And we had just met him that day. me and stephan were fairly amazed.

Bali impressions

Bali. The land of surf, sun, rice patties and Hindu temples. Even the flora is greener it seems. A paradise. Of course when I went I was met with polluted ocean water and an endless amount of rain. And the place has been invaded by the Aussies seeing as Bali is like Mexico to Americans, a next-door neighbor where responsibilities go out the window. I guess 80% of the bules that come here are Australian. Not that this is a bad thing. Just something I noticed. Anyways me having a cold didn't help either. To top it off I got an ear infection. That's not to say I didn't like it. In the few short days that I was there I learned alot, like that the Balinese calender is different than the rest of Indonesia. A month is closer to 35 days and a year somewhere around 14 months. Not sure how it works. I also found out that Balinese Hindus do it beef, cow whatever, while those in India do not seeing as the cow is sacred to them. Balinese Hinduism is a combo of the religion and local beliefs which result in a very unique and intriguing result. MORE LATER. I promise

Masuk Angin

Masuk Angin. Is AWESOME. Not at all. It quite possibly one of the most uncomfortable predicaments to be in. They describe it as a bad wind that enters your body. Masuk means enter and Angin means wind i believe so it translates to something like the wind enters or the entering wind or something. You get the picture. Anyway, for the past two holidays I had a rather nasty case of Masuk Angin making Christmas and New years eve a tad unpleasant. Most Americans would probably just call it gas but here its Masuk Angin. It's the crazy thing that you dont really understand cuz most indonesians dont know how to describe it. At first I was under the impression that it was something to do with nausea and throwing up. Well no frankly, it is air, wind and gas that builds up inside you because (as I have heard) you missed a meal so your stomach is empty, therefore it fills up with this nasty wind sent from Satan. It can even make you throw up as I experienced. Do not throw some mediocre cheese and bean burritos from a extremely expensive mexican restaurant ontop of some pre-existing masuk angin. It will create for some nasty stuff later in the toilet. But there is hope! In soda! Soda does what, it makes you burp therefore making for an easy and effective way of getting rid of all the wind.

Anyways, that was my little rant on Masuk Angin.

As for me myself I have been good apart from Masuk Angin and a little cold. I am on vacation right now which is very nice after several months of very long school days everyday. The weather is pretty much the same as it was. Still in the rainy season. The hot season doesnt start up again until...maybe june? maybe? i forget. Anyways break, break consists of what a normal school vacation would be like actually. Of course i got sick on the first few days of break, got better and then hung out with friends, explored a bit, bought a new pair of shoes and went on a very random trip to Jakarta. I pop down to the small school where the two Germans in Bogor work at, Jascha and Stephan. They teach English at a very small school for poor children. I go down there, grab some food hang out or play some futsal with the boys. Usually afterward i follow Jascha and his friend to the local gym and try and get a little exercise. its pretty crazy trying to get there. One has to navigate back alleys, small rivers and narrow walkways to get the the place. I like it, the alleys, the winding twisting paths that lead up a hillside. And that is only on place in Bogor. The gym. Its very tucked away and if you didnt know it was there, you probably would never spot it. All the fellas there are extremely friendly. It is like a ritual to go around and acknowledge everyone in the gym before you begin your business. I like it, makes it feel more friendly. A interesting tidbit from the gym.

More to come later. Using someone else's computer. Can't use it for too long.

Selamat Tahun Baru Semua! Happy new year to all!

Watch out for Masuk Angin.

Impressions

I have alot of things in my head. Images over the past few weeks, and even months are whirring about my head and my lack of blogging isn't helping me put them into words to satisfy my need to do so. So here we go.

We were driving today. North Jakarta I believe. On a freeway but one of those high up ones on pillars and everything. What are they called again? freeway i guess is the only name. anyways i saw these things in the air. they looked like slips of paper being battered about in the wind. I leaned forward in my seat and asked Heru in the front what was going on. I imagined a truck stuffed full of the things losing a few on the way to it's destination. Heru looked around for a bit trying to find what I was talking about.

"apa?"
"lihat! itu apa?"
"oooh. They are kites!"

Of course they were. But they were plastic. Made out of blastic bags it seemed. As we drew closer I could see the strings attached to various ends of the bags. The strings led down under the overpass (is that the right word?). The highway curved and I could finally see the source of the strings. At first all I saw was a filthy futsal court and piles of rubbish. But then I saw people. Children, running about the pillars that supported the moving metal animals above. Some were playing ball and some had the kites, watching them get bumped about by the passing cars. Then I saw more people, food carts, vendors small shops shacks, a minature world from this distance. And some of those people might stay only in that world, have no means of going anywhere else. that is where they live what they know. Their world. A strange concept not to know what other places look like or feel like. It's probably the case for many many many other people in this world.

The mountain. Shit it's big. Like the watcher of Bogor, a sleeping one at any rate. It's a inactive volcano. But it could become active again. The last time it erupted was sometime in the era of ancient kingdoms and wild mystical gods that hovered around the clouded mountaintops, such as the mountain I am discussing now. Most of the time you cant see it. It stays hidden in the clouds most of the time, unseen. Or you can only see the bottom of it, it's jagged peaks invisible. But on some mornings, the sky's are clear and you see it, bold and forboding. It's so big, you really got the scale of just how big it is. I stare in awe everytime I can see it in this state. My face is glued to it. My friends think its funny. Yeah its the mountain, it's big so? Well I guess in PT I live next to the water. Yeah i live five minutes from a bay. So?

I find that simple things here can be so much fun. Like cheering on your school team at a Futsal competetion. The place was gretty grungy. Trash was everywhere and it stank of sweat and ciggeretes. Flickering lights lit up the makeshift Futsal courtt. It kinda reminded me of a boxing ring oddly enough. A fair amount of students showed up to watch our team play. When it was finally gametime we clapped and cheered and bellowed the YPHB song. The ringleaders of the moral support had us stand in organized rows and clap. I sang and cheered, trying to sound like a actually knew what I was saying which I didn't of course and I was too lazy to ask. It was a blast, cursing when they scored and whooping when we did. Sure we lost, but that didn't stop us. Danar and the other players jumped up from the court to the stands and joined in, shouting at the top of their lungs despite the defeat. No matter. We still got spirit. We're YPHB. And we will be coming for you next time around.
That is if we get our act togeather and start training seriously. I've got alot of kinks to work out in my playing. Jadi latihan, latihan latihan! Practice.

Lunchtime again. Sorry that they are sooo short. Its all i have time for.