Life in Indonesia!: Jogja photos, part 1

Once again, I returned to Jogja(karta) this year for a few days for Christmas, but this time, it was to take a language course. (AND, more importantly, I did NOT return to Sentul as sick as a dog!) I'm glad I went back to give the city another chance, because my perception of it was pretty jaded from my sickness.
Jogja is located in the central area of Java, an hour's flight away from Sentul, in the western part of Java. Jogja is much hotter because it's brighter there because there aren't mountains in that part of Java, so the constant heat bearing down on us was exhausting! Elise and I took naps each day because it was necessary. :-P
She and I have wanted to improve our limited Indonesian-speaking abilities, and other expat girls have recommended the language course training in Jogja, so we decided to give it a try.
It was very helpful and well worth our money and time! I did learn a lot, but I forget much of it now because I haven't read my notes for a few days...
In the mornings, Elise and I would go to the center and work with an instructor. Elise and I were taught together instead of having one-on-one instruction, which was beneficial in the long run. We'd take an hour off for lunch, and then we'd come back for 2 more hours.
In the afternoons, we explored the areas and took advantage of some cultural activities, which you'll see photos of here.
(She and I want to go back to Jogja someday for the night trek up Mt. Merapi- the volcano!) :)

***I've also included some web links. This is the first time I've done this in a blog post, so if someone could let me know if they don't work, that'd be great. Thanks!***

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This is Ibu Liana. We stayed at her house after a misunderstanding with our alleged reservations at the center's guesthouse, but it was ok.
(She was sooo cute!)

With Ibu Ninsigh, in front of our training center

On Friday night, Elise and I went with some random Australians, who were also taking the language courses, to see wayang kulit, or a shadow puppet performance.

(pronounced "why-YANN koo-LEET")

All shadow puppet performances are about the epic of The Ramayana, which is a Hindi story about...I'm not really sure, other than murder, violence, and marital devotion. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

If you have a burning desire to read a brief summary, you can click on this link to read it. (I found this on the Internet, and its Google disclaimer said it can be easily read to children. I don't think so!)

This is what the audience saw at the puppet show. It was soooo cool, in a creepy way! It was the one thing in Indonesia that I've ALWAYS wanted to do, and I was in bliss watching it.

However, Elise and I left after an hour because she was getting a headache from the gamelan music. (More information about that down below.)

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I don't know what this thing was, but it might have been to divide the scene performances, because I saw it used once in awhile. It's pretty, though.)

A fiery monster shadow puppet!

There were dozens of shadow puppets lined up behind the screen, from smallest to largest, with the largest ones on the outside.

The puppets stood in a log until the puppeteer needed them.

Here's a good-looking guy!

I think he was a giant or something in the story.

These men are playing the gamelan ("GAH-may-lahn"), which is an orchestra of ancient Javanese instruments, like gongs, drums, and xylophones.

Oops...his eyes are closed!

A mother and 2 future gamelan players :)

Shadow puppetry is a dying art in Indonesia, which is too bad, because it's so fascinating, and it's an art that represents this country. Judging from what others here have told me, the only place on Java to watch a shadow puppet performance is in Jogja. Lucky me!

If you want to see a 1-minute-long shadow puppet presentation, you can click here to see one from YouTube. In the video, you can see the violence we saw and hear what the gamelan and other instruments sound like. (Imagine listening to this for hours!)

During our morning course sessions, Elise and I learned several phrases and grammatically correct rules for ordering and buying food. Most of the content we learned could be applied immediately to activities in our surroundings.

One morning, Elise and I walked around the block to find food she could eat- she's a glucose-intolerant vegetarian- and so I could take more photos. We found this happy little man running a fruit market with beautiful, fresh fruit.