Jogjakarta Hello to the 5 people who read this blog!

I'm on an exasperatingly slow internet connection in Jogjakarta right now, so please excuse me for giving you the following task:

go to google earth, look up "mount merapi," then zoom out or in until you can appreciate how close it is to jogjakarta. next, go to google and read about how it is about to blow up any day now.

of course, jogja is supposed to be safe, but i'm going to witness my first live volcanic eruption! awesome! maybe i can get RI to let me start a volcano relief program.

I've come out to Jogja because it's Indonesia's main university town and consequently also the hub of Bahasa Indonesia courses for English speakers. I'll be here for 3 weeks trying to develop a basic understanding of the language which i can hopefully build on my own later on.

While here i'm staying in a kost, which is a boarding house for university students... no ac... no flush toilet... mosquitoes... roaches. BUT, rp.300,000 for the entire month. So the price is very right. also, i've find a couple of cool warungs where i can get an awesome dinner for somewhere between rp5000 and rp8000 (nasi goreng, sate ayam)... i love indonesian food.

anyhow, the idea behind coming out here is that everybody i know in Jakarta speaks english to me, so this way i can focus on my studies... and the idea behind living in a kost is that i'll have more to discuss with a 22yr old student than a 52yr old mother of 4. we'll see.

i want to go to lombok and climb to the peak of the volcano... i'm waiting for mike george to come first, though...

and i'm going to WORLDS... indonesia is sending a frisbee team to Perth in November for WORLDS, and ii've been invited to go... awesome! ok, that's about all i've got... send me questions because i am bored.  ¶ 2:07 AM