Last 5 days on Java
We took our SST students to the airport in Bali on a Sunday night. We returned to our hotel to spend Monday relaxing and beginning to write up final reports. Tuesday morning we returned to Yogyakarta for final farewells there. Thursday morning Andrea and Evan arrived and we packed in a lot of visiting, touring, and talking in the next 5 days.
- arriving!
We visited one of the suppliers for Ten Thousand Villages, APIKRI. We visited the office, saw their showroom, and observed an accounting training session in process. APIKRI has many different producers located around Yogya and they took us to visit one. We saw a woodworking shop where women were decorating wood bowls and several men were cutting various wooden products. The two women took us to a rural restaurant where they served traditional village chicken. A special meal.
- in Apikri office
- batik on pottery
- power saw – no safeguards
- sanding
- traditional meal
- delicious!
We also visited UKDW to introduce Andrea to various staff there that we had worked with and to say more farewells to them.
The following day we went to Borobudur and Prambanan. These are the famous ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples. We had earlier visited these temples with our students and more description is on that blog (https://www.goshen.edu/indonesia/2019/01/27/week-2-religion-and-interfaith-cooperation/) It was an interesting but hot and tiring day.
- Borobudur
- Buddha
- Borobudur
- Borobudur
- students surrounding Evan
- Prambanan
- detail
- detail
- temple to Shiva
On Saturday, we needed to pack up Goshen College household items which we had bought and want to save for the next leaders and MCC books which we had borrowed from the Intermenno Office. In the evening we attended Ramayama Ballet at Prambanan. We had attended this Ballet with the students but it had been performed inside. This time we were lucky to see it performed outside with the Prambanan Temples as backdrop. The setting was beautiful – and the rain held off! More photos and info about the ballet is also on our SST blog. (https://www.goshen.edu/indonesia/2019/02/16/week-5-environment-and-the-arts/)
- beautiful backdrop
Sunday morning we said goodbye to our home for 5 months and drove to Salatiga to have lunch with our MCC friends there. We drove on to Drono to spend the next two nights with Reti. Here again is a place we have visited with our students but also spent our Christmas here. (http://rsjwaltzing.com/?p=13833) (https://www.goshen.edu/indonesia/2019/02/10/weeks-3-and-4-education-and-the-arts/) It gave a good introduction of village life to Andrea and Evan. We walked around the village and observed everyday activities. We visited a tofu production spot and also saw rice chips drying. Of course, the women wanted to give us some.
- in front of our home
- friends in Salatiga
- tofu
- tofu
- rice chips
- household staff in Drono
- leaving Drono
- with Reti
Tuesday we drove back to Yogya and flew to Bali.