Jogja on my mind

Yogyakarta, or Jogja as it's widely known, is a city in central Java.  A few days after I made it to Bali (which I'll get to in another post soon!), I jumped over to Yogyakarta for a friend's wedding.
Much different than Bali, the major religion here is Islam and there's fewer foreigners - tourism isn't their bread and butter so to speak. It's a much bigger city than my little town in Bali; things move faster, the traffic is heavier, it's urban in a uniquely Indonesian way.  This is evident through everything from style, food, clothes, prices (it's delightfully cheaper here) and even sounds as you can hear the call to prayer from the mosques drifting through the equatorial heat and buzz of motorbikes.

Jogja is also home to most of Indonesia's art universities and the energy here reflects that. Street art abounds with the smells of delicious street food making for a colorful, sensory experience.

Here are some snaps from my trip so far:

Well hello there!

Soto Sapi - Lamb soup with rice
Es Jeruk - Iced orange drink

Driver on a break

Irises on the street

Show your colors

Picked up this jumpsuit for $8US

Street food

Waiting for the green light

Gelato cappuccino shake 

Motorbike passenger selfie

Java Sawa - Rice Fields

Pedicabs

Ibu is always watching

All the fruits

Sate Ayam - Grilled Chicken
This man grills skewers of chicken on an open charcoal flame 

Change the ordinary

Buy the ticket, take the ride or One Night Only

I started seeing posts and getting messages on my facebook last night.. Rinjani's erupting again, flights are being cancelled.  Friends and acquaintances waylayed at airports around the world.

So I call Virgin Australia when I got home for work and they confirm, some flights have been cancelled, but mine's still a go.  I'm flying from Christchurch to Brisbane to Bali.  I think, OK, this ash cloud is going to blow over, I'll be there tomorrow night, Bintang beer in hand.  

I called again at 4am before my 6:30AM flight.  No they said, my flights still a go.  So I take my bags and my wonderful flatmate, and we haul out to the airport.  Upon arrival I'm told my flight's still a go, but the leg from Christchurch to Brisbane has been bumped to an afternoon flight run not by Virgin Australia, but Air NZ (of which I conveniently received an official email from Virgin Australia stating this change when we return from the airport at 6:00AM.)

I also call the travel agent I've booked with, Escape Travel, and am told to wait until we hear from Brisbane, where "ash cloud meetings" are held to determine whether flying conditions are OK.   Additionally they inform me that not only can they generally only notify of changes during their business hours, but my Bali flight is still a go and I should WAIT UNTIL WE HEAR AFTER THE MEETING TO CHANGE MY FLIGHT. 

At 2pm, when I hadn't heard, I called Virgin Australia.  They confirmed that Rinjani's still going, and the second leg of my flight, from Brisbane to Bali was cancelled, but that my flight from Christchurch to Brisbane was still all systems go.  

Thinking this was pretty weird, I asked why they wouldn't just postpone the whole thing and I could stay in Christchurch until it's all sorted.  

This is where a very fun little game of "buck passing" comes into play...

I was told yes, that is odd, but the travel agent booked the flight so any changes had to come through them.  

I then called the Escape Travel again and they informed me that it was too late to pay to change the date of the first leg of my flight, and if I DIDN'T GET ON THE PLANE TO BRISBANE I would be treated a s a no-show, and forfeit the cost of my entire booking.  

At this point, I thought, this is some sort of bureaucratic loop, it does't logically make sense.  Why would Virgin Australia fly me to Brisbane only to make me wait indefinitely (LITERALLY DAYS) for an ash cloud to move instead of just changing my booking?

So I head to the airport again thinking this is ludicrous, I don't know very many people in Brisbane.  Why would they waylay me in transit without support?   

Low and behold, when I check-in for my first flight (it was operated by Air NZ but Virgin did officially book me on it from a Virgin flight with a forwarding itinerary to Bali!) the Bali flight was cancelled, and I was told they couldn't check my bags through to Bali, but Brisbane should know more about the whole situation, they're closer to the action, etc...

Virgin Australia even KNEW ABOUT THIS as the agent from AIr NZ couldn't fine the additional baggage I added to my ticket, so went over to the Virgin Australia counter to confirm the booking.  

I thought, OK, this could make a little sense!  Maybe they've sorted it, or have a system in place, or are grouping people together from streamlined destinations to reduce the disruption to service.

Unfortunately, that is not the case, and the Brisbane branch of Virgin Australia were somewhat horrified to find that I'd been put on a flight at the risk of either losing my entire booking or being in limbo until a volcano stops erupting.  

Logically, it would seem that you either change the flight, or accommodate those that are in Brisbane until this whole thing blows over (literally) and yet I was told they could either fly me back where I came from and further delay my arrival at my destination, or cover my accommodation for ONE NIGHT ONLY when I've been booked on a forwarding flight 3 DAYS FROM NOW!  

As tempting as it was to hop on another 3 1/2 hour flight back to exactly where I came from, I opted for the hotel, and will be in Brisbane for the next few days.

I'm lucky enough that a bunch of people stepped up via a facebook post I put up, and I have friends and places to stay until I leave.

It's really mind-boggling that I was forced to choose between either losing my entire flight or showing up to a place without plans, without knowing if I had any people here, only to be told that I wasn't supposed to be here in the first place and that I'd only have a guaranteed place to stay for a night (when they re-booked me for 3 days later!)

Between Escape Travel and Virgin Australia, it looks like I just can't win, and that's a shame because when these things happen that's when a company really has the opportunity to be flexible, accommodating and at least cover a girl's hotel when she's told by literally every company representative to get on a flight to limbo!  

Love,

Norma Jean 

Let's Go Home Together

There is always a bee in my bonnet about something, lately it's been about riding my bike, which happens to be a 10 year rusty old cruiser handed down to me by Norma Jean before she ran off to be the lead in her own drama in the Southern Hemisphere. 

With Korean classes finished I decided to get my butt back in the seat and start riding home from work. Kind of ease myself back into it. A great idea on all accounts, except that I forgot the important of science in daily life.  Like, when air changes temperature it changes pressure... which meant I faced my first ride home with bike tires that were dramatically under inflated... dramatically.

It was as if I was peddling backwards, I had it is first gear and could hardly propel it forward.  Huffing and puffing with all my might, I thought, "Oh, my god! What has happened to me? I can't even ride a bike." At which point I asked myself, "Why am I kicking myself in my own butt when I peddle?" Thus jogging my memory that I had recently loaned my bike to someone a great deal shorter than myself and they had lowered my seat. Since this was one thing I could fix in the moment, I did and the ride went from feeling like I was going backwards, to just feeling like I was pedaling through think mud.  A drastic improvement. 

Once I was on the road I was elbows out, head down, huffing and puffing like the wicked witch of the west except my outfit wasn't black enough.  With my knitted pink and brown wrist warmers, fuzzy ear muffs, and big puffy navy and orange jacket - I was a red clown nose away from the circus. 

In the end, the trip took 1.5 hours due to the tire situation.  The next day, with tires fixed and seats raised, it only took 50 minutes.  Which really isn't bad on an old beater. It looks like this will be my new mode of transportation until the roads ice up in a few months.  Here is a bit of what it looks like on the road home.

A Tale of Two Cities

I'm moving again.  Moving countries, changing visas, swapping out cultures, food, friends, climates, and generally shaking everything up.

The good news is, I've done this before.  I could say I know what I'm doing, but it's more like I know what not to do, how to be graceful, grateful.  

I don't want to hold on
I want to love
everything
everyone
everywhere
and I do

They'll just never be in the same place.
And that's OK.

Leaving Christchurch is bittersweet.   It's not goodbye but see you later, come visit, stay in touch, who knows! I've made friends here, started building a community, and a life. A life that I'm consciously giving up to follow my heart, feel the wind on my face as I ride my scooter through a throng of traffic, eat spicy street food, leaving the security and pure beauty that is New Zealand behind for a freedom the west wasn't built for.

I'm going back to a place that I've lived, where I have friends, community, and generally know my way around.  That's not to say it will be the same.  That's not to say time won't have passed and my friends, community, and very town that I know in Bali won't be different, but I'm different.  Nothing is ever the same.  And that's OK.

Love,

Norma Jean

You can view all of my doodles, with everything I love on my website, Norma Jean Loves