On Saturday we went to Taman Safari, a half-cool, half-depressing drive-through zoo. Saw animals from all over the world, which was kind of gimmicky, but we also cruised by some locals, including a pit of lethargic Komodo dragons and a jungle gym of equally lazy orangutans. We spent a good deal of the time trying to remember everyone's name from the Jungle Book. I wanted to jump out of the car and get my Mougley on but the spitting alpacas (and pissed panthers) slowed my roll.
Highlight: Sitting spitting distance from my zodiac animal (but not spiritual co-essence, this is a Jaguar, one of which I got equally close to in Guatemala, but without the safety of steel and glass, but more on this another time)(see above)
Low point: Wandering around the zoo afterwards, which featured parrots with clipped wings and chained elephants. These reminded me of Sanchahe Nature Reserve in Xishuangbanna, another depressing elephant gawking park I visited in China, where I got much more out of human than animal camaraderie. I skipped the baby lion petting zoo at Taman.
On Sunday we visited the much more enjoyable Coban Rondo, a waterfall near a town outside of Malang called Batu Kota ("Rock City"). Coban Rondo means "widow waterfall", and it's said if you visit it you and your significant other are soon to part. Luckily I arrived in this country with the single-minded objective of 86'ing significant others from my mental, and at the risk of sounding like too much of a hippie I got a lot out of the water, got into the water that is to say, waltzed as close to the fall as I could without getting crushed and dipped my brain into the brook a ways downstream.
After the fall I hung out with this fire dude for a while while my crew caught a quick bite at the park entrance. I myself sampled the local street fare, a topic on which I'll write (MUCH) more later.
On Sunday night I met my host family, a wealthy Chinese couple with a twelve-year-old son. They were tired after two weeks traveling around Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, but over the course of this week we've broken the ice and started serious bonding. As I'd hoped, Chinese is the only language I have in common with Mei Fen, my host mother (my Bahasa and her English are like negatives of each other), and her constant appeal of "Ta shuo shenme?" at every utterance of my Western housemates has contributed significantly to our budding dynamic. On Tuesday she took us to a Chinese Universist temple called Eng An Kiong. It was the temple's 183rd birthday so there was a huge feast (above) and dragon performance, but unfortunately my camera died halfway through so I couldn't capture the impressive acrobatics (shoot out to my two favorite dragons, though). I received a Mandarin tour of the temple from an old Chinese man, and of the slightly more than 50% of this that I understood I was pretty psyched on the fo jiao, dao jiao, and kong jiao.
On Monday I also started teaching my high school class. I was apprehensive about this at first as I've never taught, but so far it's been incredibly fun and rewarding. This week we talked mostly about music and movies, but they're also interested in politics and I'm definitely looking forward to getting some help from my man here to illustrate my country's bright prospects for the future.
Tomorrow I take off for Yogyakarta, Java's cultural center and the town from which I will visit BOROBUDUR, an ancient Buddhist monument that I'm eager to see both because of it's historical significance and because in more recent times its timeless art has served as a great inspiration to my idol.
So more SOON. In conclusion, a few words about Tigers:
Because Tigers are urgent people and always in a hurry to get things done right, they usually choose to operate alone. Tigers like to work, they are hard-working and dynamic. If you assign a task to a Tiger, the job will be undertaken and accomplished with enthusiasm and efficiency.
Tigers are sensitive, emotional. They are capable of great love, but they become too intense about it. They are also territorial and possessive, if you are a friend of a Tiger, he wants you to take his side against the bad guys and because the Tiger is so adorable, you often do. As lovers, Tigers are passionate and romantic, but the real challenge for the Tiger is to grasp the true meaning of moderation.
-Josh
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