Ends tied

I've been waiting for my student loan for the last 10 days, and it still hasn't come yet... I was supposed to have it on the 20th of this month.. I did get an email today tho, saying that it should be in my account either tonight, or on Monday!!

There was an add on facebook about NAB doing an offer where you pay $12 a month and get unlimited transactions on any atm / eftpos WORLD WIDE!!! :D so I made an account with them today... usually its about $5 per transaction when you're overseas!!! So that should save me a bit!

In other news, I paid for my flight insurance today... now everything is paid for!! My flights, the insurance, everything! Just need to wait for them to call me so I can go in and collect the tickets! I did forget to ask about excess luggage tho... but there's still time. Also, I am now passport-less as well, sent it off to get my visa processed! :D

It's all starting to feel so damn real now... I actually am going to Indonesia!!

Accidental Flights

Class ran over time by an hour and forty minutes today, thats insane!! anyway.. I planned to come straight home to start the essay that I have due tomorrow. Of course, the thing with plans is, they don't always go the way you want them to. After class I found myself walking to flighcentre... There was nothing I could do about it, my legs were just taking me there, I knew I should go home and start my essay, but I just couldn't.

Before I knew it I was sitting in front of a consultant and explaining where I wanted to go and when I wanted to arrive. Soon I had a one year ticket waiting for me, great times, costing less than I thought... I ran away to call David and check the semester dates, everything was fine... so I made a quick stop in at Erika's to transfer some money to my account. Went back to flightcentre and put a deposit on my flights.

It was kind of crazy, cause I didn't plan any of it... It kind of didn't feel like I was doing it..I wasn't thinking about what I was doing... it all just kinda happened.. it didn't feel real.. and then when I came home, I still had a travel itinerary..

Anyway, I fly from here to Denpasar via Melbourne on Tuesday the 22nd of January, stay there for a couple of days, I hope Rocky and Arie are free then, or I'll have nothing to do for 2 days!!!! ... then on the 24th I fly to Jogja.

I really cant wait, I have a month off here, then I'll spend a month in Queensland with Dad over Christmas, then a week after that, I'll be in Indonesia!!!

It still hasn't sunk in yet tho...

The day I've been waiting for... Kind of

I got home from Erika’s just after midnight, and there on my computer keyboard was a letter from ACICIS!!! I was accepted!!! Well… the letter inside wasn’t actually addressed to me, but there is a contact list of everyone else participating, and my details were on it, so I guess that’s good enough!! The girl I was talking about earlier, Lara, well she was on the list too!!! Maybe I can get in touch with her before we leave!!

The orientation is a little earlier than I thought it would be though, it starts on the 24^th of January, so I’m hoping to be in Bali on the 22^nd, so I can spend a day or 2 with Rocky. Bad news tho… I was hoping to visit Erika in Malaysia before I went to Indo, but that’s looking almost impossible now, cause I don’t get back from Queensland until the 15^th of January, so it wont leave much time, and also getting my passport back in time may be troublesome.

Anyway, I want to remain optimistic and pumped about it, so the point is…

I AM GOING TO INDONESIA!!!!!

Lestari Widyastuti

Two days ago, I received a text from Louise telling me that Lestari had passed away. I didn't know her, but I was still saddened by this news. Lestari was a long time employee of ACICIS, she had been working with them for over 10 years. I had heard about her from various people who had already had the ACICIS experience and also read about her in past students blogs.

"Lestari was ACICIS, could anything really have run without her? " ~Wayne Palmer

After reading the things people had to say, I realized that Lestari didn't just work for ACICIS, she was like a second mother to the students. She provided support and assistance when students needed it most, but not only that, she was a friend to them.

"Senyumnya Lestari adalah senyum pertama yang aku lihat waktu aku tiba di Yogyakarta...Senyum itulah yang menanamkan sebuah ide di otakku: mungkin saja ada sesuatu yang bukan asing di tengah tempat yang asing ini." ~ Luke Arnold
(Lestari's smile was the first I saw when I arrived in Yogyakarta... It was that smile that planted a thought in my mind: maybe there's something thats not that different in the midst of this foreign place.)

I was looking forward to meeting Lestari next year... It truly is sad to hear of such an amazing woman and to find that she has passed away, especially at the young age of just 39.

"Lestari was one of the greatest friends I made in my time over in Jogja, and this news is just devastating." ~Willy Kornoff

These quotes are taken from just a few of the condolences sent to ACICIS. Upon reading them, it is easy to see how much Lestari meant to not only the ACICIS program, on a more personal level, how much she meant to the students, staff and anyone who came in touch with her. Many more condolences can be found on the ACICIS website,

"In every end of semester student survey Lestari was always rated the highest of anyone at ACICIS. Always." ~David Armstrong

There is no doubt that Lestari will be greatly missed by all

UGM Symbol

Meaning of the Symbol

• The rays of the sun and the golden kartika (five-angle star) represent the University's nature as a Pancasila University, a national science and cultural center for higher education founded on Pancasila that promotes science, reality, loftiness, and righteousness.
• The center of the Symbol is a surya binolong (a sun with a hole). The word surya (sun) symbolizes "one" while the word binolong symbolizes "nine", hence "19", Also, each ray of the sun consists of nineteen beams, both of which represent the date on which the University was founded..
• Surrounding the hole, at the center of the sun, are two circles arranged as twin suns inside the five rays that constitute the kartika. The kartika symbolizes "one" while the twin suns symbolize "two", hence "12", December, the month in which the University was founded.
• The five songkoks (official hats of military commanders) and five spears reflect the University's struggle and heroic nature that keeps the University prepared and alert. All the songkoks and spears are penetrated and absorbed by Pancasila; this reflects the nature of the University as a monument to the national struggle founded on Pancasila.
• All the five rays of the sun, the five-angle star, the five songkoks and the five spears represent Pancasila; this reflects the heroic foundation, nature, and objectives of the University, i.e. national struggle for Pancasila.
• The white color represents holiness and purity. That the golden color surrounds the white color symbolizes a sengkalan memet, i.e. a concept that implicitly concludes the relationship between the white color and the golden color. The concept reads murining suci margining kanyatan (purity and holiness are the path of reality). The word murni symbolizes "nine", suci "four", marga "nine", kanyatan "one", from the back they read "1949" the year in which the University was founded.
  
  

http://www.ugm.ac.id/eng/content.php?page=0&display=4

*sigh* ... relief

I kinda knew it would get there, but there's always that feeling of uncertainty.

And now... I wait

Broke again...

I sent off my application and last week I got an email from David, the ACICIS secretariat saying he got it, and everything looked ok...but there was one thing... cause I was so eager to apply, I started organising everything so early, and the price had gone up since I downloaded the application forms.. so I posted another $100 money order, and requested they send me an email when they recieve it.. but I am yet to hear anything, so I hope it gets there :S

Money Matters

I'm supposed to have my placement today, but I've had a stressful week and haven't even thought about the questions I want to do for my educational study essay thingy... So I rang and cancelled, means I'll finish on Tuesday week, rather than this time next week.

Not going gave me a chance to relax for a couple of hours, but more importantly, go back to the international office. I went to ask about my OSHELP application, he went to look for my paper work and said that I put the 1st of January on the form... so I wouldn't be getting it until 6 weeks before that.... I said.. "oh... I just came to see if I had been approved or not"... he kinda laughed and said "yeah, all I had to do was tick a box.." haha... how awesome!! So I've been approved for centrelink!! AND I have my student loan!!! :D .. which is great! Cause without it... I probably could have still gone... but it would have been HEAPS harder, and I might have had to ask mum or dad for some money. But yeah, the loan will easily pay for my application fees, my flight and my travel insurance!! .. and whats left will pay about half of a laptop!! Which is also awesome!! Cause I really wanted to get a laptop for when I'm there!! Still gotta save as much as I can tho, just means I'll be able to pay for it on my own! :D so happy about that!!

I have three things left to do now...
- Go to the post office and get a money order for the application fees
- Post my application
- Wait til the announcement in October

:)

Finally there..

I should be studying for the Japanese test I have in 2 hours... but I just wanted to say

Centrelink Approved!!

Application complete!!

:D

byeee

$79 and one sore arm later

Oooohhh yeaaah! :D

Doctors DONE!! My blood tests came back good, he said I had the lowest cholesterol he'd ever seen! (which is quite amazing given how badly I can eat sometimes) everything else was pretty normal... except I have liver disease... yes, I am dying... but so are we all! haha... get this.. its called "Gilbert's disease" and it doesn't do ANYTHING!! .. except apparently I may turn yellow on occasion.. what a crazy thing to have! haha... so he said I was healthy and signed my "letter of good health"... I was stabbed by the nurse and I just need one more jab before I go.

インドネシアへガジャマダ大学で日本語とインドネシア語をべんきょに行きたいです。and it looks like I'll get too!! :D ...I emailed ACICIS, even from Yogya Phil (the Resident Director) replied instantly! He basically said that its impossible to get a course outline for any subjects in Indonesia.. So Shoko spoke to her people and said we can work around it... I'll just have to do a placement test when I get back.. :D which meant faculty approval and a form signed by Vicky, and the lodgment of my application for OSHELP... dunno how long it takes for them to let me know if i can get it or not... hopefully I hear from them soon..

I went into Centrelink today as well.. much more helpful this time, she sent the stuff for YA off and they will get back to me with in 2 weeks.

Japanese doctors and clarity

The three last things are still left unticked... but I somehow feel like I've still progressed :P haha.. The doctor didn't do anything really.. I asked him about signing the 'good health' form and getting immunised, he said I had to get a blood test done first and then said I should get Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Typhoid immunisations, before sending me on my way... that's over $200!!! So I've made another appointment for this Wednesday... Hopefully by then the pathology results will be in, I'll get my form signed and I'll get jabbed.

Still no news from Shoko... She said she'd get back to me on Monday (about getting credit for doing Japanese)... I hope I can get credit transferred!!!! After speaking to Rossy I got an email address of a guy who works at UGM (Universitas Gadjah Mada) so I've sent him a message requesting the course outline for Bahasa Jepang (Japanese), which should, hopefully, give my lecturers an idea of the standard of the course and allow me to do it :D

Ooo.. also.. when I was with Linda and Rossy (2 Indo lecturers) someone came and asked about ACICIS!!! So maybe I can get to know someone who is going on the exchange before I leave, which would be great!! Hopefully she doesn't give up on the application... but it shouldn't be too bad for her.. hehe.. I've already had to push my way through, so now there is a path...lol

Speaking of which.. I found out why it has been so much trouble.... UofA wasn't a member of the consortium until this year.. all past students who have followed the ACICIS program have gone though Flinders membership.. Flinders has done all the organising.. Flinders has sorted out credit transfers.. EVERYTHING... but this year my uni decided to get membership... so I'm the first student to do the program with my uni's membership... no wonder no one knew what the hell was going on!!! hahaha

Rude people + stress + confusion = a freaked out me

Ok... so yesterday was possibly an overreaction by an overly stressed and freaked out me :P

Now that I've processed all the extra things that need doing I can get back on track once again and finish this thing!!! haha

All the not so little things

I feel like I’m going backwards… Every time I start to think I’m almost there something else comes up, grabs on and pulls me all the way back down. I feel like I’ve put in a months work and got nothing for it. Yes, my ACICIS application is almost complete... But it’s all the other little things… or not so little.

I went to Centrelink this morning to sort out Youth Allowance while I am away. I was repeatedly asked for a form I was already trying giving them, but they wouldn’t accept it for some reason. They couldn’t tell me why they wouldn’t accept the form or what I had to do to get an “appropriate” form. They then proceeded to treated like crap, ignore me, cut me off, degrade me and were extremely blunt. This might (and I really stress MIGHT) be acceptable if I were scamming the government in someway, as many people do, and seem to get away with it. It seems to me, that Centrelink are a great organization if you know how to scam the system, but for the innocent people like me, who are just trying to get through uni; or the people who are legitimately unemployed and seeking work, the system sucks!! (I didn’t mean to go on a rant about Centrelink… but it really got to me today, I found myself outraged… I have never been treated so badly, especially in an apparently professional environment)

My day did start to pick up from there, but it did take me a while to get over the feeling I was going to explode.

Rang the doctor and have made an appointment for Wednesday, I’m not sick or anything so hopefully all turns out well with that.

After I got off the phone from the doctors, I was still so annoyed with Centrelink I decided to ring them. They are the nicest people over the phone, but go to see them in person and you had better be prepared for the worst! I told them what had happened in the office and read word for word what was written on the form, she proceeded to tell me that the form should have been accepted, I AM eligible for Youth Allowance and the only thing she could recommend would be to get ANOTHER letter drafted up.

So I got to uni and went to see Lin, who somehow managed to calm me down, without her even realizing how stressed and annoyed I was. I told her what Centrelink had said to me. I had to explain that “Yes, I do know the forms she gave me states exactly what Centrelink asked for, and I need a letter saying the exact same thing”. So hopefully I’ll get an email this or next week saying she has a new letter for me, with yet another signature from the head of the School on it.

From here it was down to the accommodation services to get an authorized copy of my passport with the on campus JP, which was the first thing that went right all day.

So then I was off to the Oliphant building for some information about OS HELP (a student loan that is granted to people going overseas on exchange), 6 flights of stairs later I was on the 5th floor (don’t ask). I was given some basic information before being told that I shouldn’t be going to Indonesia… there are political issues there… the university does NOT support students going to Indonesia… Flinders should not advocate the ACICIS program and should defiantly NOT be telling students that it is ok to go to Indonesia!! …I am yet another student who has found a loophole in Uni of Adelaide’s Indonesian studies program… if the Uni of Adelaide had their own Indonesian program, then they wouldn’t get students like me exploiting the system, they could simply tell me I cant go… and finally, I was told that I should stop considering going to Indonesia and that I should focus on Japan… it’s much safer and better of course, just ask her!!... What kind of person would consider going to Indonesia??!!

Ok, so at this point I have been given some forms, told that I am eligible for the loan, (even though I am exploiting the system) and I finally got some useful information at the end, I needed Vicky's approval and guarantee that I would be getting full credit for what I would be doing in Indonesia… Apparently the schools approval wasn’t enough, I needed faculty approval as well.

I met with Vicky and came to realize, that this was the same person who told me a few weeks earlier, that she had NOTHING to do with the exchange program and I needed to organize everything through the school!!! She seemed to know what she was talking about now, maybe she just couldn’t be bothered helping me before. Vicky drew up a plan for my course and said I would need to speak to the Japanese people in Asian studies to see if the level of Japanese in Indonesia is the same as that in Australia.

So, back in Asian studies, to see Shoko, but on the way to her office I see Linda, and she has the evaluation and recommendation forms… another two items to check off the list. Shoko has no idea… but she is the kindest, sweetest person and says she will ask her superiors and get back to me by Wednesday.

This is how it seems with everything!! Take the above example… I need approval from Vicky, to get approval from Vicky; I need approval from Shoko… Shoko has never been asked anything like this before, so she needs to go speak to her colleagues to see if it’s possible… I always need to see 3 or 4 people just to sort out one thing.

I had a couple of hours till class, so decided to go to the travel agent at uni and see how much insurance will cost me. They had 2 plans, ranging from about $800 to $1200 for the year of study… I had no idea it would cost that much!! They checked flights for me too and gave me an estimate of about $1600 return… hopefully I can get it cheaper though.

So I had a rather stressful / ‘interesting’ morning (and am still alive to tell the tail… just) but luckily I had Indonesian this afternoon, which I love, so it took my mind off things.

So now, my for ACICIS application there are only three boxes left that need checking:

1: Personal evaluation (but that’s from Laurel, so not so hard to chase up)
2: Letter of good health from the doctor… will be done by Wednesday
3: Travel Insurance… I think I’ll wait till I’m accepted to take out insurance, I’m not sure how else to do it… just means they will have to process my visa a bit later.

After those three ticks, I’ve just got to organize Centrelink and OSHELP.

I still feel like I'm never going to finish organizing this.

Sorry for the long post.

Back on track

Woo!! Back to my normal excited self about ACICIS!! :D I went to their website and had a look around, then found an awesome blog by Adelle which helped me to realize why I was so excited about the trip in the first place. I am a little worried about getting Youth Allowance while I am over there though…After reading the blog... I rang centrelink to see what they had to say, and apparently all I need to do is provide them with a letter from my uni saying that I am still enrolled in Australia and all the classes I do in Indonesia will count towards my Australian degree… but I think that’s a little too good too be true, its sounds too simple.. and as far as organising ACICIS this far, its been anything but simple! Haha but anything worth having is worth working for :D

I went and got my transcripts today... cost $20!!! Thats the most I've ever paid for four pieces of paper!! haha..

By monday I should have my references back! :D and I'm going to try and get an authorised photocopy of my passport, get some passport sized photos taken, make an appointment with a doctor and finish off my statement of purpose!

Its all starting to come together!!

Bitter Sweet

Yesterday, and almost three weeks since I had heard anything, I decided I should go see Lin and see what was happening, only before I could, she found me first... she told me to come see her when I had some free time, she finally had some more information :D

Great News!!! I've been told that my trip will be approved by the uni!!! I saw Lin today and had to sign another form, which now needs to be signed by the head of the school and also by the Dean. But she said I would be approved!!! Tuition is still being paid!! I can get full credit for the courses I do over there!! Which means I can still get Youth Allowance :D

Although on the down side, since starting uni again, I've become better friends with everyone, or at least its easier to talk to everyone... and I know, that hardly seems like a bad thing, but its making me less excited about Indonesia... Maybe I was so excited about going cause I thought I didn't really have anyone here... now I'm finally starting to make friends in Adelaide after a year and a half of having no one.. its good to have people to talk to again.. but its gonna be hard to leave at the beginning of next year and start all over again... again.

But it's something I really want to do.. and well... something I need to do... It doesn't have to be now, I guess... But if not now then when... If I want to be a good Indonesian teacher, I'm gonna have to live there at some stage... You can't learn everything out of a book.

1 step forwards 2 steps back

So... I was thinking today that it has been over a week since I went into uni and left all the forms with my lecturer and the travel forms with the head of the school, so I was going to send an email and find out whats going on..

I open my uni email, and there is one there waiting for me, from my school!! "GREAT" I thought... that is until I read the first sentence!

"I spoke to John with regards to your ACICIS application, we unfortunately need to hold it off for a little while because of the recent DFAT 'imminent attack'/travel warning."

I just wanna point out that Australia is the ONLY western country which has upgraded its travel warning to "do not travel". This warning only applies to Maluku and the Central Sulawesi Province, neither of which are anywhere near Yogyakarta, which is where the ACICIS program is run.

From Jogja (Central Java).. Sulawesi is over 1300kms away... and its over 2200kms to Maluku ... so if Jogja is considered to be under threat, and being situated so far away, should there be a travel warning in place for Darwin, which is within 1500kms from both places...

Anyway.. enough dribbling for now.. I thought I'd finished jumping through hoops to get this thing organised... but I guess not.

Organised Chaos

I always planned on making a blog for my trip to Indonesia, but after reading Louise's blog (a past ACICIS student... bet you cant tell where i got the layout :P) I thought I'd make a Blogger account rather than just using my myspace account.

I'm probably getting a little a head of myself, because I haven't even been accepted yet, in fact, I'm still in the application process, but I'm pretty determined to go! So, most of you are probable thinking "What the hell is he going on about?? Trip to Indonesia?? And what the hell is ACICIS??!!" ... Well, early last semester we had someone come into uni and talk about this unknown "ACICIS", it stands for the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies... Basically, it allows me to go and study at an Indonesian university for either 6months or a full year. If you don't already know, I'm studying Teaching/Arts at Uni and I'm majoring in Indonesian and Japanese. The ACICIS program is a great opportunity for me to study in Indonesia, I think the best way for me to learn about all aspects of Indonesia is to go there, not just as a tourist in a hotel, but rather live like a local. Anyway, I'll talk about the program when I am accepted (not IF :P)

So far the application process is a little muddled, for the last two or so weeks I've been running around trying to find out as much as I can, but ACICIS is run through Murdoch University in Perth, so naturally, no one at my uni knows anything about it (even though several students went last year). Half the ACICIS forms cant be used, so I've had some trouble finding out what needs to be done and I've finally managed to get them edited by the school. The current travel warnings prevent my uni from granting me permission to go, so I had to sign away all of my rights witnessed by a JP... but it finally all seems to be underway... Now I'm just waiting on an email from the head of my school and my Indo lecturer. Once I get those, I can finally start to put my application together!!