Monday, December 23, 2013

And many thanks in advance

Lots of things have had to come together to get this trip up and running. I want to send a shout out to all the people on campus who have supported us from the international studies office to finances. Most importantly, I want to recognize the incredible generosity of our sponsors without whom this trip simply would not have been possible:


Terima kasih di atas kesempatan ini (thanks in advance for this opportunity).

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Two weeks and counting!

Two weeks from today, we'll be somewhere between Dallas and Dubai (much closer to Dallas), a route sandwiched by its start and end in Cleveland and Jakarta.  I'll have welcomed my wonderful mom and step-dad into their long-term visit with the grandkids, prepared my family for my 3-week absence, worked ahead in my job so I'm not as far behind as I could be when I come home, had a date night with my spouse, and packed. Most people think that leaving my three small children for three weeks is what will worry me the most.  Wrong. Packing, packing, packing is causing me conniptions.

Packing has never been my strong suit.  I really hate it, usually playing the role of "follower" or "list maker" for my family. I prefer to travel very light; when I go to my professional conference, I usually have only a backpack for my three-night stay. I prefer to use the toiletries provided for free by the hotels I stay in. I borrow my families' coats and sweat shirts rather than bringing my own.  I hate clutter.

I don't have many of these options for this trip.  And it's a little worse because I don't seem to have the right clothing on hand. And I might need more than one set of clothes a day.  And things aren't going to dry quickly after they're washed (or sweated through). We're going to be near (on?) the Equator during the rainy season. Yuck! And Indonesia is a country home to the largest population of Muslims in the world.  And we want to be respectful.  As a non-Muslim, I normally will not be expected to cover my head. However, as a group, we have written and agreed to a dress code that prioritizes respect for a different culture over our own American sense of comfort.  That seems good and right to me, but the combination of all of it is stressing me out a bit.

Here's the dress code we wrote for the seven women on the trip:
Public situations, women. I will choose respectful clothing using these guidelines: long pants, long skirts, blouses with ¾ sleeves or longer are good; pants should not be tight; I will display no midriff and no cleavage.

I keep going to online sites looking for wicking clothing. Wicking clothing that's not form fitting and is long sleeved is not easy for me to find so far. When I do find it, I wonder if I'll ever wear it again after this trip.  Then I switch to a different tab to do something different.

Luckily, I put away some laundry tonight (another thing I'm not the world's best at doing) and took some time to look at some of the tags of my shirts. Turns out I have a lot of 100% cotton clothing.  Also, today I finally had the presence of mind to buy a pair of pants, two tunic-y shirts, some unmentionables, and a pair of Keene-like shoes. I'll be headed to the stores for the after-Christmas sales, hoping to pick up a few more nice essentials.

Given today's revelations and successes, I'm a little less anxious about packing and can focus more on what is super exciting. The list of things that excite me about this trip is long and varied, ranging from getting to live within (alongside?) a society that lives and practices Islam, being exposed to new musical practices, traveling far away from home, getting to know an amazing group of students, seeing new things, thinking new ideas, bringing new musics into my pedagogies, and, generally, having a life-changing trip.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Ready. Set....

I first traveled to Indonesia in 1994 for research when I was heading into my last year of college. I got hooked. Now, twenty years later, I am heading up a group of ten undergraduate students who will travel there in January for Oberlin's Winter Term, some of them traveling abroad for the very first time in their lives. I am joined in this adventure by a dear friend and fellow faculty member.

With almost 250 million people, Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world. With almost 90% of the population professing Islam as their faith, the country is home to more Muslims than any other, though it is not an Islamic state. Indonesia is culturally diverse with more than 300 different recognized ethnic groups, each with their own language, cuisine, architecture, customs, and musical practices. We will encounter just three of these.

We will spend 18 days in the country, exploring music, Islam, and disasters in three provinces spanning from the western most tip of the archipelago in the province of Aceh, down to West Sumatra located midway on Sumatra's southern coast where I conduct my ethnomusicological research, to one of the cultural centers of the country, Yogyakarta.

I've been dreaming about such a trip for years, introducing students to the complexities of a fascinating country I have come to consider one of my "homes": taking them off the beaten track into small villages to meet musicians, witnessing the lived experience of Islam, and viewing performances far outside the usual tourist fare. We'll visit a famous Islamic boarding school in the highlands of West Sumatra; learn how to perform in a range of genres that mix sound and movement;  and explore the aftermath of, and cultural explanations wrapped up in, devastating so-called "natural" disasters, including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2009 West Sumatran earthquake, and the 2010 Merapi volcanic "eruption." I put "eruption" in quotes because the locals don't think about it that way: stay tuned to the blog for that story!

The planning, simply put, has taken over my life in the last year: writing grants, making contacts with the partner institutions in Indonesia in summer 2013, buying tickets (we have some 12 flights!), organizing accommodation and transportation, visas, immunizations, complicated budgets, insurance, packing lists, coordinating with institutions and individuals on the ground, recording equipment, gifts for partner institutions, and so on. This trip will expose the students to new sights, sounds, concepts, and ways of being. It will be exhilarating, challenging, and rewarding. For some, it may even be life-changing!