Batik and Borobudur

Time to close April 2013 \^.^/

I think I will start with some of question words. When? Where? How? What? Why? No! That’s not Indonesian Language lesson for making a good paragraph. Those are the questions that I really need to be answered in my life. Well, I guess you will never know what’s going to happen next.

Sometime, I feel like I’m the luckiest person alive, to be given different and wonderful opportunities :)

When I was in 4^th term, I don’t remember the date exactly. I had a great chance to accompany professor and students from Chubu University, Japan. They were doing some research about Indonesian teenager in Yogyakarta. The research was mostly done within the Faculty of Cultural Science Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). Just as I thought, they came not only for the research but also to have fun in their spare time. Well, I was a lucky second grader to have been assigned with my seniors, whose skill is far beyond my reach, to accompany them. That time, one of my sensei asked me “Sansan, could you accompany Aoki sensei and his students to have some tour around Yogyakarta?” That was an unforgettable request. Of course because I didn’t want to miss the chance, I answered “Yes, I can” with cheerful smile ((:

The first trip was to visit the Batik factory located at Kaliurang. Just for information, on October 2, 2009, UNESCO designated Indonesian Batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Only in the late 19^th century that this art began to reach its finest form in Java, Indonesia, my beloved country!  Thus Indonesian Batik has become very popular throughout the world.

 At Kaliurang, Batik factory

That was one of the most exciting moments in my life, to have the chance to learn about Batik. Batik is a complex art of drawing and dyeing on fabric, and not as simple as your everyday printing. The word Batik derived from Javanese words for ‘writing’ and ‘dots’, which is the art of drawing beautiful patterns with canting and melting wax. The first step is drawing a pattern on the fabric with pencil. By using canting and melting wax, we produce the color by re-draw the pattern on the ones drawn earlier. The wax part on fabric will remain white. That’s how to make one-colored Batik. For two colored-three colored (or more) Batik, you need to dry the fabric and cover all the part with the melting wax, except the part you want to dye. More colors means you need to repeat the methods, and will take a lot of time to make it. That is why handmade Batik worth the price because it’s made by traditional Batik artist and totally different from a modern fabric-printing with Batik motives.

My own made

The second day we went to Borobudur. It’s located at Magelang, Central Java. Borobudur is the oldest Buddhist temple and one of the 7 wonders of the world. The view was so wonderful, that was my second time visiting Borobudur since my high school trip. It remains wonderful despite the incoming heat wave from the sun at the noon.

So sweet :3 With Professor Aiko Sumio

*The legend said that if you fine one particular Stupa with sitting Buddha in it and you can reach Buddha’s crossed feet, any of your wish will come true.*

After we got tired walking around Borobudur, and of course after the photo session with various poses, we went to grab some grub. We went to Jejamuran where all the food made from mushroom, start from tongseng, satay, etc. The foods were really tasty and delightful. Maybe because I was too hungry I forgot to take the picture of the foods. For the dinner we went to Pizza Hut. Yummy :9

Itadakimasu ! Kanpai ~

That’s my exciting days with the good Professor and his friendly students. I learnt many things from Japanese language to Japanese people characteristic. Next time I will tell you about my other experiences with Japanese people.  See you on next post :))

日本人礼儀正しいと考えられています

(Japanese people are considered to be polite)