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Want to have a super weekend in Banda Aceh?! Here's how!

It was a busy weekend in Banda Aceh this weekend. And like the best weekends it lasted for three days. Sunday was Indonesian Independence Day so a public holiday was observed on Monday.

Friday was the 3rd anniversary of the cessation of conflict between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. There were public events all day and I quickly dropped in on one in the afternoon to see one of our NGO partners perform (they have a band). All I found was the Deputy Governor giving a rather long speech...and a sign telling me where I could stand.
Pria (men) to the left and wanita (women) to the right. Sex segregation in the middle of the day? Really? When I first saw the sign I hoped it was directions to the bathroom...

Later that night at the same location there was a concert with the very popular and very awesome Acehnese performer, Rafly. The segregation plan failed and there were boys and girls sitting wherever they felt like it. Standing was strictly forbidden though. I guess it might have led to...dancing! Gasp! Rafly really knows how to rock your socks off so it was a killer to remain seated when the music was telling you to shake your bootie. Occasionally some boys lost control and jumped up to dance...but they were very quickly reminded by crowd control to sit down (crowd control=military so you actually have to listen to them).

On Sunday, Independence Day, there were all kinds of festivities around town, including panjat pinang where groups of men from the local area climb a slippery pole to grab the loot at the top (the loot consisted of electrical appliances at the one we saw). A few of us headed to a local park to watch as groups of men tried with varying levels of success to reach the top of the pole. There were two poles, each was smeared in grease and was the height of maybe 6 or 7 men.

Here are some men at the base of one of the poles.
This group have almost made it to the top.And this guy was the first to reach the top.
He proceeded to detach the boxes and throw them down to the ground. Fortunately the boxes were symbolic. The appliances had been removed before being attached to the pole. A friend of mine saw one of these competitions in which the victor threw down a blender from the top of the pole and it smashed.

On Monday a few of us decided to go for a walk to the secret secret beach. I call it the secret secret beach to distinguish it from the regular secret beach, which is not a secret at all because everyone knows where it is and it's easy to get there. The secret secret beach actually deserves its name....we walked for a few hours and couldn't find it.

Here is the wholesome hiking troupe making our way along the track. At this point we were pretty sure we were on the right track because our GPS told us so (that's right...we even had a GPS and we still didn't make it!)
We continued along the track but eventually arrived at a cliff that was very clearly a dead end. Fortunately this was the view at the dead end:
Can't be too sad about finding a view like that.

At this point we were low on drinking water and it was very hot, so like sensible little hikers we turned back. We had received some guidance (relating to both navigation and life) along the way from an old man who stayed in a hut along the track. On our way back we stopped in at the hut for a chat. He was deaf so our communication was limited, but he did give us some life lessons (because what else is an old man in the forest going to do?)

Life lessons from the old man.
1. get married
2. have babies
3. getting married and having babies is good
4. Hedgehog is tasty and good for virility

I was pretty much ready to sign up for marriage and babies by the end of the hike.

Here, Simone and Marcus are sitting in the man's hut.
Here, Cat is talking to the old man.
A little further on from the old man's house is a natural well he collects water from. It's salty so you can't drink it but it's perfect for pouring over your head, as demonstrated so beautifully by Simone.
After making it out of the forest we stopped in at the easy-to-find-secret-beach for a quick swim and then headed to Joel's for drinks and pizza. Marcus ordered our drinks while Simone and I used the showers.

We came back to the table to find (each):
1 big bottle of water
1 pocari sweat (isotonic drink)
1 coke
1 pineapple juice

We were pretty thirsty.

This weekend was probably as good as they get... I reflected on this as I had a hot shower (it was truly glorious) at Marcus, Simone and Cat's place after returning from the beach. How can you beat that?

On blogging

As you might have noticed I've been messing my blog up a bit. Playing with the layout of my blog is one of those things that starts small and eats hours away without me realising. The slow internet connection doesn't help either because I wait for a few minutes for every little change...and then decide I preferred it the old way. This got me thinking about another entry for:

THINGS I WANT TO DO WHEN I'M HOME. PLEASE HELP

No.2. Overhaul my blog.
I can't let myself start this now because I will make a mess of it and neglect some fast approaching deadlines in the process.

I have to keep it simple (I already spend a bit too much time writing posts so I don't want to spend too much time maintaining the layout), so if you have an inkling of inspiration for a simple blog design, or can help me make a design I choose a functioning reality (ahem...Benjamin) I would be eternally grateful for suggestions.

I don't really need a fancy looking blog because I suspect my readership of 20 will tune in anyway but it would bring such joy to this simple heart if I had a pretty blog.

All this blog talk has got me thinking about what keeping this blog for a year has meant for me. I started the blog as an alternative to sending group emails about what I'm up to, and as a way to keep thinking about what I was seeing and doing. I'm terrible at keeping a journal even though I see great value in it so this is a bit of an alternative. There are obviously things I can't/won't share on this blog for reasons of being work-sensitive/personal/boring, so it's far from a complete replacement for a journal but it does seem to working as a recorder of my experiences even if there are giant gaps.

But I think the most surprising outcome of keeping this blog is that it helps me to feel connected to my life outside of Banda Aceh. I didn't necessarily expect that because the communication is mostly one way (apart from comments received). And I write to a mixed audience so I don't particularly tailor my content to one group. But I suppose that as I write a post I think of the people who might be reading, where they're sitting when they read it, who will like a particular youtube clip, etc...and I feel connected.

By the way, ramping up the frequency of my posts has made all the difference. Seems like my "9 Things to do Before 2009" list, including the posting target I set for myself, is actually doing some good then.

Aceh in the news today

Gah, my Aceh Google Alert has so much news today! (google alerts+me=BFF)

Links to the best bits:

I'm trying to recall if I ever met this guy from New Zealand at a party in Banda Aceh. Hot new destination!! Banda Aceh! Sun, surf, relative anonymity!! Perfect for relaxation and police evasion!

A less shady New Zealander residing in Banda Aceh is a HERO! We all knew that about Cas already....But now the Red Cross and the newspaper have confirmed it! (Cas also gave me tips on how to fall asleep once for which I am eternally grateful: Cover your eyes with your hands, lie on your back with your legs against the wall. Both instructions sound ridiculous but I'll show you in person and it will make sense...and it works).

Andrew Bolt said some stupid stuff about Papuan refugees. The link to Aceh is minor, but I'm glad this ended up in my inbox. It's like a jolt of caffeine first thing in the morning! Oh Andrew Bolt...I just want to scruff your hair up and give you a Chinese burn.

Care for another reason to dislike oil companies?

Humanitarian aid workers killed in Afghanistan. More here.

Things I want to do

Now that I know when I'm getting back to Melbourne I've started making a mental list of all the things I want to do while I'm home (a very different list to the one of all the things I must do when I home, e.g., tax, moving out of Gore St).

To spread the word I've decided to post a few hints on my blog in the hope that my friends and family (i.e., readers of this blog) want to come along...with your car (no, I didn't miraculously learn how to drive while I was here. sorry).

I will call this subtle hinting:

THINGS I WANT TO DO WHEN I AM BACK IN MELBOURNE: PLEASE HELP

These posts will appear whenever I think of something else I want to do.

No. 1. Go to Sassafras.

I had some lovely pictures of a trip Lara and I took to Sassafras last year sometime but I can't find them. So I stole this image from Google images instead. I think we stopped at this cafe/grocer for drink. The photo is hyperlinked to the blog I stole it from. I also want to go to the toy store, lolly store and flea market with the records and books. If anyone reading this blog can say no to this trip I can't imagine why we get along.

Please feel free to suggest other things I should do while I'm home.

The Pen Has Been in Their Hands

I just finished reading Jane Austen's Persuasion and I will admit that it's the first Jane Austen novel I've read. I guess the BBC series' don't count, do they?

I think Jane Austen's feminist credentials have been discussed/debated at length in various places, so this might not be earth-shattering for some. But I read a passage in Persuasion that perfectly captures an idea that's come up a few times this year in my work. When Sarah writes about it she get wordy and needs to qualify it, and gets caught up with using the appropriate term of the moment etc etc. When Jane writes about it...well, from now on I will just refer to Jane.

To introduce the following passage, Anne is arguing with Captain Harville about whether men or women harbour heart ache longer. Captain Harville insists that men don't get over heartbreak easily ("and that as our bodies are strongest, so are our feelings"). Anne argues that women are more fragile and thus suffer more. Keep an eye on Anne's response to Harville.

Harville says:

'as I was saying, we shall never agree, I suppose, upon this point. No man and woman would, probably. But let me observe that all histories are against you--all stories, prose and verse. If I had such a memory as Benwick, I could bring you fifty quotations in a moment on my side the argument, and I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon women's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs all talk of woman's fickleness. But, perhaps, you will say these were all written by men.'

Anne:

'Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.'

It reminds us why it's so important for women to tell their own stories (and to report on the world too, as journalists, historians, academics etc). In Aceh there is a huge gap. I'm working on a book at the moment that is the first collection of essays written by Acehnese women to be published. My organisation was motivated to publish this book because there is so much written about Aceh but very little of it is written by the women of Aceh, who will give unique perspectives and reflect a whole different set of issues to the men of Aceh, or people coming from outside (men or women). We often think about 'what issues are being written about', but sometimes overlook the important question of 'who is writing about the issues'.

Sunday is also a great day for the beach

I spent another lovely day at the beach this weekend. I know I should be posting about the millions of things that happen in between beach trips but it takes more time than I have today to prepare those posts.

I was supposed to go on a boat trip on Sunday. Some of you may recall me writing about these trips here, and they are without fail a really great day. But I woke up on Sunday feeling tired and unwell so I stayed home and Sas cooked me a breakfast burrito.

Fortunately, there were a few other boat trip rejects (illness, work and other things got in the way of their participation), so around midday Simone, Cat, Azeemah and I went to beach, wandered and collected shells.
Later in the afternoon we met Marcus and ate crab with noodles for lunch. So delicious. I forgot to take a photo of the crab but you can see in this photo of Simone the remainders of our feast. We stayed at the beach for a looooong time. It was so great to be out there for the whole day, although I am now quite burnt (but only on the very few bits of skin that see daylight. I was wearing a high-neck, long sleeve shirt and a long skirt).

As you can imagine by looking at the photo below, we were a group of very happy and chill people by the end of the day.
Oh! I almost forgot the greatest moment that happened after this last photo. We went for a swim as the sun went down and the undercurrent was so strong that my legs were pulled from under me and I was dragged out to sea...only to be thrown back to shore a couple of seconds later...and then dragged out again...thrown back to shore. I had no control over this process at all. I don't really know how I broke the cycle but it wasn't without effort and getting tangled in my own skirt while doing it. Ahhhh, funny.