Endless forms most beautiful

So I finally arrived back in Seattle on Sunday...it's been really weird coming back home. I love Seattle but I was really getting used to my life in Jakarta as well. I'm sure there's some kind of psychological term the used in that FIUTS orientation seminar about coming home after time spent abroad. I'm still in this weird in-between stage where I'm re-realizing the differences between Seattle and Jakarta. Anyway, the last few days have been spent overcoming jet lag (for the first two days I couldn't get up before 3 p.m.) and catching up with friends and family. I have a slew of pictures to post as well from my trip to Cerita and Krakatau, as well as random Jakarta pictures and some from Bali.

I wish I had been able to update this blog more often from Jakarta. Aside from the terrible internet connection, I was really busy in my last week or so finishing stories and tying up loose ends before my Bali trip. I was able to do one really cool story about the director of the Q! Film Festival, the only gay film festival in Indonesia. The director, John Badalu, was graciously candid in his interview and I ended up spending almost 2 hours with him. From that I was able to put together a profile of him and his work, and I also talked to a colleague of his and an Indonesian film director about the impact of the Q! Film Festival on Jakarta's queer community; that became a separate article that ran alongside the profile.

Overall, I'd have to say my internship at the Jakarta Post was disappointing. It had its moments, like with this last profile piece, as well as with the other stories about Miss Indonesia and Uplift International. But I felt that a lot of my time was wasted there, mostly because of poor communication about my arrival in Jakarta. All the editors I worked with had no knowledge of my arrival, and thus I had to be worked into their existing schedule instead of them having set aside assignments knowing they would have an extra reporter to use. I didn't just sit back though, half the stories I wrote were enterprised ideas. Toward the end, the assistant features editor, Chisato, gave me a steady stream of work and encouraged me to find ideas myself too (which resulted in the John Badalu piece). She's one of the best editors I've worked with in a long time.

I just don't understand how this could have happened. I corresponded with the chief editor, Endy Bayuni, for months before I arrived in Jakarta. That should be plenty of time to at least tell some of the editors that they would be getting an intern in July. They also fucked up my housing search, which resulted in me staying with my uncle (which wasn't terrible, but it was far from work). Staying in a foreign country requires a certain amount of independence, and I would have much rather stayed the whole two months in an apartment or homestay. I would have to say that for a company that desires to attract native English-speaking employees and interns, they sure do a shitty job helping them acclimate to their host country. How am I supposed to know where to find affordable housing in Jakarta?? Why doesn't anyone in the office know who I am? Why do all the editors look at me like I'm a crazy person for soliciting story ideas from their section? Maybe you should tell everyone that an intern is coming to make everyone's lives a bit easier by wanting to write some stories!

If the UW sends another student to Indonesia (which, despite everything, I would still encourage), there needs to be a lot of changes made in terms of how the internship is set up. I'm not totally blameless; I should have specified ahead of time what sections I wanted to work for instead of assuming that I would be doing general assignment reporting. But even then, the person in charge of managing the interns (who no longer exists; he was Soeryo Winoto, but he quit shortly before I flew out to Jakarta) should give the intern an idea of what sections would be appropriate or what sections most of the interns have worked previously; again, I was given no indication of this. From there, I would recommend the next intern to request speaking with the editors directly instead of communicating through Endy. He's a lovely man, but far too busy to do anything about arranging internships.

Aside from the internship. I don't regret in the least going to Indonesia. I had a fantastic and amazing time traveling the country in my spare time and met some truly great people as well. Now I can say that I have friends from Indonesia, Germany, India, Austria and Australia that I wouldn't hesitate to call upon if I should visit those countries in the future.

Oh yes, and Bali...unfortunately I was sick during the four days spent there, but I still ventured outside Kuta to visit Uluwatu, where Dreamland Beach is. I also spent some time at Padang Padang Beach, but mostly I stayed in the Kuta area (aka the biggest tourist trap in Bali). Next time (and there will be a next time), I will definitely go to Ubud and to more northern parts of Bali. Most disappointing was that I didn't see any of the temples while I was there; I just wasn't in the spirit of any strenuous hiking or bicycling anywhere with my enormously disgusting cough and depressed lungs. The beaches were fantastic though and I will miss laying in the sun, feeling happy and at peace.

That about wraps things up. I'll post more pictures soon!