radiance

is it my new hair-do? did i stop wearing make-up? have i changed my clothes, or maybe my weight? what is it that is so different about me now? the sources of this change i cannot precisely tell, but apparently my radiance has revived. i look fresher, more natural, they said. it's undeniably true. i feel it, too.

two people used the word radiance to describe my new glow. i really love to be in one sentence with the word radiance. i will hold onto it forever.

moët & chandon grand vintage rosé 2002

ik was net een lege lijst en hij kleurde me in en everybody else disappeared

Thursday 86 2002


When I made up my mind I changed position and faced him.
There was music and I smiled at nothing in particular;
from my reflection in the window, he could tell.
I wore my old sandals, something purple and no lipstick, perfect 86.


The girl then came and went, she was a prop in our play.
We needed her input, but she was of no importance
to any of our feelings, and so – we let her out.


Is there anywhere you have to be, he asked. I said no and paused the music.
No one waiting for you at all? I denied again which left him slightly puzzled.
We didn’t have glasses but we couldn’t be bothered.
So at the bench we sat, we drank and we confessed.


And when all was finished, we still continued.
And when he held my hand, I cherished those steps.
And I was like an empty frame,
And he brought the colours,
And everybody else disappeared.

st kilda pier

The case you are making is accurate, zei Nicholas de Griek toen ik constateerde dat hij al beet had voor de lijn was uitgeworpen.

Meneer Nick komt naar de pier om frisse lucht te vangen. It regenerates.

Toen ik erachter kwam dat ik was vergeten hoe ik moest denken, kon ik me op niks anders meer concentreren dan te proberen het me te herinneren.

En ik at een heel veelvoud van driekoekjes.

♪ anai leu ita - welcome to mentawai! ♪

After a beautiful two weeks of island hopping, jungle trekking and cave sleeping I am back in Yogya. I was picked up from the airport, I extended my visa, I rented a motorbike, I decorated my new room with an explosion of colours, and then I sat on my balcony full of ants and plants. My gecko made a sound and I looked up: it was peacefully hunting a bugging insect. The sun was setting while Indonesian television filled my head with my newest language. Planes flew over, heading to destinations where I don't even have to think about, because I am at home.

The thought of living in Yogya for another three months isn't bothering me at all. The rainy season has now definitely started and I feel fresh. The falling drops of water make a comforting sound, the sight of a threatening sky is always marvelous and everything is covered in ultimate freshness after yet another tropical shower. For many people it will just continue to be a necessary inconvenience, but I realised that I still love the rain. Someone asked me to teach him how to do that, but it cannot be taught. The rain just soothes my senses.

Waiting on the wobbly water for the ferry to take off

I was happy however, that during our visit to Siberut Island the skies were blue and the trees were green. From blue to green and back, and all the colours in between, that is Mentawai.

It started on a ferry in Padang. Together with Pak Rachmadi we had to wait for a storm to pass in order to safely make the 10-hour journey to the island. When the high waves calmed down and finally disappeared, we took off and this is what that looked like (click on the link and check 9:35) Carlijn and Marieke on Indonesian television!

The next day we were welcomed in Muara, the main town on Siberut and a good starting point for both jungle trekking and boat trips to bounty beaches. Pak Vincent, whom we met via Pak Rachmadi, was going to be our local guide for a week. He made it possible for us to stay away from tourist packages when he opened the doors of his humble house in Muara. We met his family and took on their daily rhythm, which mainly consists of hanging around in the uma, the communal space to gather and relax. He also brought us to the in-lands of the island by speed boat, where we visited a jungle school. The waterways that took us there connect the sea to the in-lands, and we were surrounded by beautiful mangroves. Traveling for hours and hours to reach the most remote destinations is a common activity on Siberut. Sometimes, when the engine refuses to take you any further, the only option is to wait and relax. Santai aja (just relaxing) is often the answer to the question Apa kabar (how are you), and it sounds much easier than it actually is ...

Our house in Muara, Siberut

Andi and Ditto from TransTV were filming our trip

Sekolah hutan, jungle school in the village Magosi

Pak Vincent is preparing cocoa to dry in the sun so that it can be sold later

Local kids looking at a pom-pom (traditional boat) that just arrived 

The road to the next village ...

... where we played volley

The mangroves of Siberut are just so mysteriously stunning ...

Getting ready for the jungle shower ...

Thursday 8 December, scribble. "Is it still morning? There is no signal here, no time, nothing to do, a dead chicken, nothing soft. We have been sleeping on the floor for a week now. Hard, everything sakit. In the middle of the jungle, far away from everything, we are on Siberut. Siberut is derived from Sabirut, which means 'many mice' in the local language. I haven't seen a single mouse yet, just an enormous and friendly beetle, yesterday. 'We play with it', said the boy who was holding the giant bug. It tickled on my arms."

Later that day. "Our friend Pak Rachmadi is always talking, banyak cerita. Everyone is listening to stories without a clue. Same old jokes are repeated and everybody laughs. I'm learning some Bahasa Mentawai, asit magele means sweet pineapple. We ate the most delicious asit magele in a village named Gotab. People are smoking kretek cigarettes and everything is going extremely slow. We'll go fishing on the way back to Muara, later today."

We then took it to the land where we ate it

We caught one!

On our last day Pak Vincent took us up the hill to show us his disaster preparation project. Mentawai is a disaster-prone group of islands, and although Siberut never experienced a tsunami like on the southern islands Sipora and Pagai, the threat is always there. Some years ago Siberut suffered from a rather severe earthquake -6.9 on the Richter scale- and people still clearly remember that day. Experience is the best teacher, and many islanders learned an important lesson: to be prepared for natural disaster in an area like this. Recently, the Indonesian government constructed a jalur evakuasi (evacuation route) so that the villagers can immediately run up the hill in case of an earthquake. Temporary shelter is not provided, so Pak Vincent showed us the house that he built there on his own initiative. 

His shelter is just as equipped as his ordinary house

Yet, much more progress can be made in the implementation of DRR (disaster risk reduction) as a significant element in local development, something that Pak Rachmadi is working on through the organisation YCM. Above all, he advocates for the protection of indigenous right of the Mentawai people. Together with Siberut communities, Pak Rachmadi works on capacity-building and local participation in development projects on the island, while trying to keep the traditional culture alive. For successful implementation of their projects, volunteers such as Pak Vincent are much needed. I have experienced the two as a great team, two people who know how to santai aja but who always end up where they are supposed to be.

Pak Vincent on the hill near his shelter

Pak Rachmadi in the sekolah hutan

It was a real blessing to get to know Pak Rachmadi and Pak Vincent, they added so much fun and knowledge to my Mentawai trip. Surak sabeu kepada Anda berdua!

Tentu kamu juga sayangku! Pengalaman yang luar biasa, surak sabeu!

merapi and me

My first sight of Merapi - it was a grey and green day

Gunung Merapi, Indonesian for Mountain of Fire, is one of the most important symbols in Yogyakarta (or Yogya). The volcano is located on the border between the provinces Central Java and Yogyakarta, 25 km from the city of Yogya. When the clouds are willing to cooperate, I can see it from my place! Merapi is the reason why the fields are green and fertile, and it is of great spiritual importance to the people who are living on its flanks. Also, the sunset gets just a tiny little bit more exciting when this miraculous fire mountain is involved. Breathtaking, really!

The '10 eruption was much bigger than the ones before

But there is a price to be paid. Late October 2010, after four years of sleep, Merapi starts to yawn. On the fifth of November the volcano wakes up and shows its devastating power once again with the strongest eruption since 1882. Hot lava, sand and ash cover the region around Merapi. Fields where vegetables were grown to provide the landowners an income, bridges to connect remote villages to the main roads, houses, livestock, nothing stands a chance against Merapi. The lava streams reach up to 18 km from the top and even in the city it is hard to breathe because of the ash. Even today, more than a year after the eruption, Merapi is still a common topic. Especially with the start of the rainy season: the loose volcanic sand which is still on top of the mountain will mix with the rain and create streams of cold lava. Many bridges have already broken down as a result of these powerful streams, and January and February will surely bring a lot more trouble.

Javanese dancers at the Merapi Museum

Still, people consider Merapi as their friend, I have heard some people literally say. There is an obvious danger of living on the flanks of a volcano. Having to evacuate your family as a result of an eruption is a terrible experience. It takes time to rebuild and to recover. Yet, there is a special connection between the mountain and the people, their history and their future, their community spirit and strength, and their willingness to stay. Hopefully these sentences will make more sense to me in a couple of months, when I’ll be writing my thesis on the social impact of the eruption.

Learning a culture starts by learning the language, and Indonesian is not quite as easy as I imagined. Sometimes I just wish I was fluent without having to put in all this effort. Now thát is not going to happen, but I díd finish my language course last week! On the certificate it says Fluent, Natural Communicator of General Indonesian. Although it is not really true, it motivates me and I am learning new words every day. Having Indonesian friends helps a lot, and if it weren’t for my Dutch roomie Carlijn, I wouldn’t have already met so many nice people here in Yogyakarta. Carlijn and me are doing the same master’s program, NOHA International Humanitarian Action. Carlijn and five other NOHAs have been living in Yogya while I was in Melbourne. Four of them have moved to different parts of Indonesia for their internships, and I am going to meet them all in Sumatra next month! Six NOHAs will be reunited surrounded by orangutans in Bukit Lawang. Oh yeah (:

Carlijn and me are happily having a Bintang beer

Alright, a little bit more about this exciting upcoming trip then. On Wednesday, I’ll be taking the plane to Padang, a fishing town on the southern border of Sumatra. From there, Carlijn and me will take a boat to one of the remote Mentawai Islands where we will spend one week. Last year, at the same time as the eruption of Merapi, a tsunami took place near Mentawai, wiping away big parts of the islands while killing a number of its inhabitants. Many might not have heard of it, as natural hazards are very common in Indonesia. The country is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is therefore vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding and volcanic eruptions. This does not take away the fact that every disaster, as small as it can be, has an impact on the affected population. Local organisations, sometimes in cooperation with (inter)national NGOs, work hard to prepare those communities for possible threats, provide relief in emergency situations, and recover and rehabilitate when the worst shock is over. Together with one of those local NGOs, Carlijn and me will visit the Siberut Island, where we will be learning about their disaster management and hopefully experience the local culture. That is why we like to call our week on this tropical island a ‘learning experience’. We will also do some empirical research on the credibility of the beach pictures that Google provides.

The Three Musketeers in 3D!

Then, on the 15^th of December I will be back in Yogya to settle down for another 3 exciting months. If I am lucky, I’ll rent a motorbike, I’ll find an internship, I’ll have dinners in rice field restaurants, I’ll sing more karaoke, I'll go to the cinema, and I’ll practice Bahasa Indonesia with anyone who wants to listen to my stories because A Fluent & Natural Communicator in Bahasa Indonesia I Will Be!

Maybe I can go up to Merapi several more times, together with local volunteer Pak Edy. He is a little man of about fifty years old, always willing to help where he can. When Carlijns friends Lorijn and Gerbrich were visiting Yogya some time ago, we all went up to some villages on Merapi where we donated several water tanks. Because the eruption covered all water sources with lava it is now difficult to access clean drinking water. Pak Edy arranged to have our names on big posters attached to the tanks. Also we brought some bags of cement so that villagers can construct shelters for their water tanks to keep the water clean during the rainy season.

Our names on the water tank

Refilling already existing water basins

Here a shelter will be built for the blue water tank in the background

Maybe I can experience some more Indonesian rituals up-close, like the slaughtering which took place for Idul Adha, after the end of Ramadan. We did not expect this at all, and the whole happening was rather straightforward and unusual, but the cause was a good one. Rich Muslim families provide cattle to the mosques, which then ritually slaughter the animals and distribute the meat to the poor. We witnessed the whole process from beginning to end but I will save you the details, also for a good cause. So maybe I wouldn’t necessarily want to see another slaughtering, but a wedding would be nice. Or New Years Eve.

And maybe I can even learn to sit still and enjoy another meditation ceremony with the medicine man. Last week, Carlijn and me had the privilege to join one of these ceremonies that took place at a graveyard in the middle of the night. With a small group of seven people we entered the sacred place of the graveyard, close to the grave of the first Sultan of Yogyakarta. We were sitting there for almost an hour, and my legs started to ache and my mind started to think many thoughts and the little kitty that walked around us started to get my full attention. In other words, it was very hard for me to concentrate and to let go attachment, ignorance and aversion, which are our biggest enemies in the journey to mindfulness. They say. But during the Javanese sentences that the medicine man spoke out when we were seated there, I heard him say my name three times… I was involved in the ceremony, my name was spoken out loud in a sacred place in Yogya, I am really here!

The holy temple of Borobudur

Together with Pak Edy and his wife

Singing the Dutch national anthem for some Indonesian wedding guests

This is how we conquer the rain Indonesian style! 

Alun Alun: whoever succeeds in walking through the trees with a blindfold is a good person ... I am not

Yogyakarta also has a Vredeburg :D Dutch influences all around

Perfectly posing cow on the flanks of Merapi

A rice field under a threatening sky, region of Seturan

Check out my future little balcony! ... This is where I'll be living when I come back from Sumatra 

You've made it through! I'd love to see your comment (:

everydayism

Somewhere between lunch and Indonesian language exercises I watched the weather paint the skies. Everydayism remains the world's greatest style.

Before the rain ...

... and after