Part Sixteen

“And Now We Enter... End Game.”


The end is near.

My original plan was to stick around for about a week after Second Semester ended. This would have put me back in Portland around the end of June. The hefty payday from Merah Putih made balancing the benefits of my studies and the annoyances of day-to-day life much easier, and my mood had drastically improved.

However, something unexpected [and awesome] happened: I got offered A JOB at home. A super-flexible job with awesome guys I used to work with that seems tailor-made for working around projects, finishing school, etc. I enthusiastically accepted and began the arrangements for a mid-May return.

Even though a premature evacuation crossed my mind a few times before, I always put the thought aside because –as hard as living here has been at times- leaving this thing unfinished would just be LAME. The decision to come back for an ideal job situation was an easy one, but misgivings about the LAMENESS of ditching out early persisted for a few days. Until –as so often happens with me- I talked myself out of any problems.

Q: "HAVE I ACCOMPLISHED WHAT I SET OUT TO ACCOMPLISH BY COMING HERE?"

A: Well… I wanted to learn about a totally different type of performance, different way of telling a story, designing characters, a different way of playing music, and how those elements interact. Admittedly, I didn’t learn much about the history/philosophical details about wayang tradition(s) because a) my Indonesian is still insufficient for following a University lecture, and b) that stuff doesn’t really interest me. My goal was a more intuitive understanding of the art form, and I believe I achieved that. In a way, this was a fact-finding mission; I viewed most things here through the lens of my art, noting the relevant/inspiring parts and politely ignoring (or just tolerating) the rest.

And, of course, outside of school I’ve amassed enough ideas for art and music projects to keep me busy for years. So… in the end, my time here has been fruitful in all the ways I’d hoped. And more."


Once I realized I had satisfied my main goals for coming here, my apprehension about cutting out before the end of the semester faded away. Everything, it seems, is looking up. I fly out of Jakarta around 10 PM on May 14th and (through the magic of time zones and long-distance travel) I arrive 18-20 hours later at 8 AM on May 15th. That's it!



Coming next: final thoughts, the Darmasiswa closing ceremony in Jakarta, and a detailed account of my solo voyage to Komodo National Park, the only Indonesian locale I feel a strong, inexplicable need to see.