My new house

  Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Saturday, December 1, 2007

From Bali...

I felt very anxious while packing in Bali and making the journey to Java - homesickness was starting to kick in, and as I was packing I realised I wasn't coming home after a pleasant two months, but about to start my placement and whatever that might throw up.

Full frontal

But as the plane descended towards the runway over Yogya and I saw the lights below, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be here, and I started to feel excited about moving into my new home. I flew in on Friday 23 November at about 8pm.

Yogya

The excitement continued, with a certain amount of uncertainty, as I tried to remember which turn-off the taxi driver needed to take in order to get to the house!

The plan...

I did recognise it when I saw it, and there was a brightly-shining full moon which seemed to add to the significance of it all. I paid the rest of the year's rent, and enjoyed a cup of tea with the house owner, Ibu Sri, before going into the house for the first time as tenant, and shutting the door behind me.

My feelings were only slightly dampened when I found a cockroach that looked to be in rude health running about in the sink.

Reception area

After 15 minutes of dealing with that, I turned my attention to the proper tasks awaiting a new tenant, such as walking around the house wondering what on earth to do next. I was feeling quite tired, but the floor was quite dirty, so I set to with some cleaning. I didn't have any cleaning things so I improvised with some water and a couple of socks.

I slept in the front room, which had no curtains, and I was a little concerned that I might wake up to find a line of neighbours looking in at me.

Front room

Happily that situation did not transpire, and I enjoyed an uneventful wakening after a good night's sleep. But within 30 minutes of waking, two friends turned up to help me find some of the essentials, so we went into the centre and found a fan, a hot/cold water dispenser, cleaning things, crockery, cutlery, milk and teabags. By 6pm I felt like Challenge Anneka, the place had a few more necessities, the neighbours had donated some material for curtains, and I was lying on my mattress having a well-earned cup of tea.

Meet the neighbours

Late in the morning of the next day, I decided to open my door:

Front room 2

a brave step, as there's nothing safer than a closed door, but I thought it would do me good to show myself to the neighbours, and most Indonesians have an open-door policy unless it's raining or they're out. The open door seemed to do the trick, and my immediate neighbours brought some lunch round for me. An hour later, I was sat on the doorstep with five adults and surrounded by their children, and a few more to boot.

There are some essential questions that people like to know in Indonesia, and volunteers quickly get used to them. What is your name? Where is Nick from?

Inner sanctuary

What is Nick doing here? How old is Nick and when is Nick's birthday? Is Nick already married? If not, is Nick looking for someone here? What is Nick's agama (faith)? The most common question here is Mau ke mana? - Where are you going? - which is literally the way people say Hello here. But happily they usually only ask that question when it looks like you might be going somewhere - if you're at home, it's not as common.

I answered all the questions, and I was really happy because from the beginning, they all wrote questions down in a notepad, which made communication really easy - they have been so helpful in doing that.

Kitchen!

They also all said that if I needed help, I could just go and ask them, which was very friendly. About an hour seemed to be enough, and each of them apologised and told me why they had to leave, before they left. All very polite, and I shut the door feeling like I had achieved something!

Where am I?

The house is in the village of Berbah, about 11km from the centre of Yogya, and not too far away from the road to Solo, which means I'll be able to get to the two organisations of mine there.

Garage room 2

I'm also near the airport, which means I have a flight path going straight over, with very low flying planes ahead! But there is no noise for me, and not too much noise for guests. I do feel the vibrations occasionally, and they cause some brick dust to come through the cracks between the ceiling tiles. I have attempted to sort that out with sellotape, we'll see how that goes...

As you can see from the plan I have drawn, there are five rooms, ranging from quite large to quite small. There's a front room, and my bedroom, which feels a bit like an inner sanctuary.

Wetroom

There's a reception room by the main entry door, and there's also the garage - a large space with lots of potential (I haven't decided quite what to do with that yet, so I've been focusing on getting the other rooms sorted out). There are lots of doors and windows along the front of the house, but they all face my neighbours, which makes me feel more secure. Finally, there's the room I call the wet room (shower and WC) - and things do get very wet in there!

The thing I love about the house is that although it's near Yogya, it's in a village.

The view from the door

I have cats, hens, chicks and cockerels roaming around, and there are rice fields and country lanes near. The neighbours have been very helpful (they get my washing in for me if it rains while I'm out!) but they have let me settle in and get on with things, so that's been perfect.

Ibu Sri (who owns my house) with children

During the day, the men tend to have a job, while the women have a lot to sort out at home - they base themselves in front of their houses, sweeping, sitting down or in-and-out, while looking after any babies and young children or grandchildren. The older children are at school in the morning, and play in the afternoons.

I also love sweeping the ledge in front of the house (which always manages to give the appearance that it's never ever swept) and putting my washing out - I have always enjoyed doing these things, and in a house of my own as well, that makes me feel very happy.