This weekend has been so much fun. Yesterday my boyfriend Alexi and I went to the Ben and Jerry’s Sundae on the Common. We ate so, so, so much ice cream. Caramel Chew Chew is still my favourite! Over the course of the day I also tried Chocolate Fudge Brownie frozen yoghurt, Jamaican Me Crazy sorbet, Mango Berry Swirl sorbet and Fossil Fuel. There were also some pretty decent bands.
Florence and the Machine
She’s a reaaaalllyyyy good singer!
The Delays put on a pretty decent live set.
We didn’t stay for all of the Charlatans’ set, but what we saw was good!
There were also bunnies!
And duckies! And other farm animals!
I must say though that Florence and the Machine were a happy surprise! I’m already a fan of Lightspeed Champion and other related acts but Florence’s voice is something else. She’s endearingly loopy and dances a bit like me after a glass of wine, but boy can she sing!
Then today we went to the Thai Food Festival in Battersea Park! I love Battersea Park. I spent a lot of time there as a child (my childhood pet Trixy the hamster was even laid to rest there) so it was nice to go back after such a long time. The festival was a lot of fun.
This guy made such amazing things out of fruit. So detailed!
Needless to say, the food was delicious. I really was that happy.
We had these for dessert and they were soooooooooo sweet and refreshing on such a hot afternoon.
The ladies who served me food and later dessert kept speaking to me in Thai! It’s understandable as I’m half Indonesian so I must have just looked like one of the second generation half-Thais running around! It was a bit confusing though as I can’t actually speak a word of Thai! I’d love to learn it though!
This evening I went for a bike ride with Alexi through Ham (the part of Richmond where he lives). We ended up outside Ham House.
It’s such a beautiful building. It was built in 1610 and is still in amazing condition because it’s well looked after by the National Trust. I’m going to have to visit it during the day and take more photos!
We’ve had a small breakthrough in the Ghana project campaign at Stand Up For Africa. A second massive oil company wants to send one of their representatives to visit our project in Ghana and talk about funding. After all the e-mails sent and websites trawled for contacts, there is something to get excited about. Very good stuff. It was so time-consuming researching every big company to see if they had operations or at least prospective operations in Ghana, but it’s starting to pay off. We’re in talks with two big oil companies now.
What’s also exciting is that I may have an awesome supervisor for my dissertation next year. Awesome as in I’ve been using his books and articles since I started at SOAS and he’s pretty much the best person to supervise the subject I’m writing about. I’m writing about the relationships between Islamist groups and the state in Southeast Asia (probably with a focus on Sumatra, Indonesia). A very interesting subject that I chose because I can’t see myself getting too sick of it by the dissertation deadline. I’m starting my research now and there’s just so much that I could cover. This dissertation is my opportunity to use SOAS facilities for what they’re really there for which (geek to the core that I am) has made me really look forward to the coming academic year.
In general I’m starting to feel as though I’ve wasted the last two years in a number of ways. There’s no point wasting three years and thousands of pounds to do a degree while putting in minimal effort. I might as well really push myself next year and see what I can come up with. Considering the hand I was dealt during exams this year, I guess I should be thankful that I came out with a high 2:1. But there are always some aspects of my secondary school which I suppose I’ll never be able to shake off: the perfectionism and the inability to cut myself some slack. At least if I work my ass of in the coming year, I’ll know that I worked for whatever grade I get and I won’t have to consider what might have been. The only way to calm my brain down at the moment is to start reading and researching for my dissertation, as there is no other way really to prepare for the coming year. So reading and researching is what I will do.
Reret Marongge – Sundanese dance, song sung in Bahasa Sunda.
My own photo taken near Ubud, Bali.
Tari Saman – one of the most famous Acehnese dances and also the best dance I’ve ever seen performed live. I really want to see it in Aceh one day.
Tari Jawa.
Tari Taruna Jaya – my favourite Balinese dance.
Wayang Kulit – Javanese shadow puppets.
I’m having quite a nationalist evening (haha). I dug out some of my mum’s old gamelan tapes but realised that we no longer have a tape player so I had to make do with youtube and mp3 downloads! I miss Indonesia so much. It’s my family that I miss the most, really. The cousins that write me and my brothers cute songs about how much they love us. The aunties that insist on measuring me there and then and reappear a week later with beautiful dresses. But also the amazing meals for 50p. The unfaltering aroma of clove cigarettes. The becak (rickshaws) and bajaj (like tuk tuks in Thailand) which zip through the streets. The unrivalled politeness of the people.
There is also the rather harrowing and eye-opening side of Indonesia and indeed of many post-colonial and developing countries, which is the disturbing level of poverty. My limited experiences of slums and under-funded orphanages in Jakarta gave me only a glimpse of it, but that was enough to strike a chord that’s still ringing in the ears of a person privileged enough to visit areas where the majority of people have never left their own islands or regions. So many tourists list beggars and sellers as familiar sights in Indonesia but fail to realise that the very fact that they are even there is an indication of their comparable wealth and the reason they attract so much attention.
The moment I feel sad upon seeing people living in poverty is immediately followed by anger and the feeling that I am only patronising these people. People are not lifted out of poverty by sighs and mutterings of ‘Oh, how sad’. They want to make their own successes and take pride in their work and it is by giving them the opportunities to do this that we can really help them.
Having undertaken an undergraduate degree which lasts for three years, I have only become more affirmed in my belief that studying is one of the most selfish things a person can do. I’m reasonably healthy and I have two hands which have so far been strangers to hard work. A lot of the time I resent having to do a degree. However, I figure that if I’m going to move past the financial struggles my parents have experienced and be able to have the freedom to work at something I really believe in, a degree is a good place to start. And at least my subjects are interesting enough and I love my university enough to really enjoy the three years.
To try to balance this feeling of utter selfishness with the need to benefit someone other than myself, I’ve decided to sign up with a few volunteer programmes after I graduate. Because I have good knowledge of Indonesian and a reasonable command of German, I’ve been looking at programmes in various locations in Indonesia and inner-city areas in Germany. I figure it’ll be slightly easier to start off on programmes where I have at least a passable knowledge of the language. Then perhaps I’ll go somewhere where I won’t have a clue what anyone is saying and I’ll be forced to learn another language. Maybe somewhere in Latin America or Central Asia. I want to travel and see so many places but I want to lend the use of my hands to worthy causes along the way.
In a job interview I had last week, the idiot of my two interviewers asked me, ‘So…why do you do all this Stand Up For Africa…stuff?’ and tried to make me feel stupid for wanting to go into charity/international development after I graduate. I gave him an answer which was perhaps too honest but it was true, at least. I did have extraordinary opportunities for someone from my background and I feel I owe it to people who do not have the opportunities I had (and will have) to fight to put structures in place to make sure they have a chance at success in whatever they want to do. These structures include increased access to education and aid for small businesses (see Africa Now for a fantastic charity which does just this); they are achievable.
I’ve never brought these thoughts together before. Now is the sound of the gunshot, the moment I sprint from the starting line.
