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Category Archives: Photography
Bali / Culture / Indonesia / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Religion / Travel
Sunset Silhouettes in Ulu Watu Temple, Bali
Bali is only a few hours from Java, but culturally, it is a whole world away. The people are primarily Hindu, so small baskets of colorful flower petals and incense—and the occasional cigarette—line streets, sidewalks, steps and cars’ dashboards as offerings to the gods. In Bali, I saw no mosques and heard no call to … Continue reading
Bali / Culture / Daily Life / Indonesia / Language / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Religion / Travel
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Kuta, Bali
As Peace Corps Volunteers we are forbidden to travel away from our sites overnight during our first three months at our permanent site. September 15th marked our group’s three-month mark, so we are finally released from our gilded village cages. To celebrate this, 13 volunteers and I headed to Southern Bali for the first time … Continue reading
Culture / Daily Life / Indonesia / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Travel
An Epic Beach Battle
At a beach side warong, there was once an epic battle between two little island boys with the sea in their blood and the sun in their hair. Continue reading
Culture / Daily Life / Indonesia / Peace Corps Training / People / Photography / Travel
Indonesian Wedding & Preparations
Back in training, I had the opportunity to attend many, many weddings. Based on this, my language instructor constantly joked about how much I like parties—which is true. Yet, an Indonesia wedding isn’t the type of event one imagines in the West. First of all, the actual wedding ceremony takes place at another time and … Continue reading
Bondowoso / Culture / Daily Life / Indonesia / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Religion / Teaching / Travel
Welcome to Ramadan
To kick off Ramadan all of the schools in my area participated in a “Welcome to Ramadan” parade, which started at 7am, Wednesday morning. The younger elementary and middle school students led the parade and the high school students— which includes my school—ended it. As a teacher at the school, I was asked to walk … Continue reading
Indonesia / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Travel
The Indian Ocean & the Java Sea
Once upon a time, according to legend, lived a Javanese king who killed a sea snake, which became a rock in Batu Ulo, a beach on Java’s south coast lining the Indian Ocean. In Javanese, Batu Ulo literally means Stone Snake. Here are some photographs from there and from Pasir Putih, a beach in the … Continue reading
Indonesia / Peace Corps / People / Photography / Teaching / Travel
Permanent Site: Bondowoso
(I am posting this from a beautiful hotel near the sea, where I am having a workshop with all of the teachers in my school and with the principle. Not what I had pictured when I joined the Peace Corps…and it’s not helping the “Beverly Hills” image I will describe…but it’s pretty awesome.) After ten … Continue reading
Sunset Roof Party & the End of PST
To celebrate the ending of Pre-Service Training, two new languages under progress (bahasa Indonesia and bahasa Madura), new friends and a successful initial integration to my Indonesian culture and host family, I asked my ibu if I could have a pertemuan—a meeting—on the roof. Continue reading
The Malang Bird Market & Other Adventures
Last weekend we finally had one day to explore Malang. Using the Lonely Planet Indonesia book as a guide, another volunteer and I hit up Malang’s main attractions, which included the Pasar Senggol (Bird Market), Pasar Bunga (Flower Market) and Hotel Tugu, which has an extensive collection of Asian art. Though birds in cages are … Continue reading
Arema vs. Mitra Kukar – Our Indonesian Football Experience
Last Thursday, May 16th, about 22 volunteers ventured to an Arema vs. Mitra Kukar soccer game. We had to endure the hottest bus ride and pretty bad traffic in order to get to Stadium Kanjuruhan, but the game turned out to be pretty exciting and ended with a score of 5 for Arema and 3 … Continue reading
One Month in Indonesia in Pictures
Teguh and Mike at the pesar tradisional – Yes, Mike’s hat says Bamboo Banger – and there’s a panda banging bamboo sticks. Continue reading
in the land of dragons 