On Sunday [Was that two Sundays ago? Three? Four??] I send a text message to my classmate Haryonto, asking about the Sunday practice session at Mas Aning [our teacher]’s house. He replies quickly, telling me to meet him on campus ASAP. I do! I arrive in such a hurry that as I speed through a puddle on the road to ISI my bike strikes a bump in the concrete and suddenly becomes extremely difficult to pedal. [In the morning I will examine it and find that while the pedals, gears, chain, and wheels are fully intact, the part of the frame running from the pedals up to the seat has snapped apart. Like a pretzel stick.]
Anyway, I meet Hari, Danang, and some others. We ride motorbikes into the leafy depths of Bantul [the village to the south where I saw the all-night wayang show mentioned here before]. We reach our destination and there are lots of people there. Too many people. No Mas Aning. And a full stage setup.
“Hari”, I say as politely as I can, “Is this the practice? This looks kind of like a show.” His eyes get big and he begins apologizing. Apparently he’s been having girl troubles! He forgot to tell me we were NOT in fact going to a practice session, but were instead going to another all-night show. Whoops-a-daisy!
Since I missed his wayang orang show, I had promised Danang I would see his kethoprak [stilted Javanese theatre] show the following Tuesday. We arrived late after some confusion about the venue (we rode all the way to Rumah Budaya Teman only to learn that the show was happening at Taman Budaya! Classic comedy, that!) we made it in time for the show.
Most of the show involves actors sitting on stools on either side of the stage, having long discussions in Javanese. [Booooooor-rinnnggggg!] However, the battles are pretty cool. And at the end they stab the wicked king in the gut and he fights and snarls right up until the moment he dies. Good stuff.
After the scene shown above (where arrows come flying across the stage from both sides), these archers retreat and the enemy general enters from the right, angrily taunting them. After a few moments, there’s a sharp noise a giant silver arrow flies along a line of monofilament, hitting him directly in the chest.
Once he dies, these women file in on either side of his corpse:
He stands dazedly and they all exit together. With the women and the trailing fabric like a river, it's a really elegant way to usher a character offstage, into the afterlife. Other than that, though, the show was pretty lame.
FINALLY! After some delays and uncertainty, Jeannie, Carla, Carla, and I all get moved into the new house. We agree: it's the nicest (or at least the biggest) house we're likely to live in ever again.
Midway through my moving process [I got it all in five quick bicycle trips!] I finally get a chance to talk to my landlady about how much of the year's-worth of rent I paid for my old place I might expect to get back. As it turns out, that amount will be something in the neighborhood of NOTHING. Because she ALREADY SPENT IT and refunding any of that money "doesn’t fit into her monthly budget."
This is disappointing to say the least, but not a total lost cause. I might see some of that 5 million Rupiah (<$500) again when I am able to find a sub-letter. As of this point, no takers yet.
To describe the sound of this thing another way, it sounds the way this dead rat looks:
[I was compelled to take this photo a couple months ago, on the street where I now live. FYI: Rats are the #1 roadkill I've seen in Jogja (followed by frogs, then snakes at a distant third), but they're ordinarily found as flattened and sun-baked rectangles of fur. The freshness and sheer volume of materials -at least two rats, by my estimation- were remarkable.]
Anyway, the amp is exactly like that. Two rats' worth of guts splattered across the pavement of your ear. I love it.
Speaking of dead rats! On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have this charming fellow:
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