Did you expect it to be cold here? (6/19/11)

Alright, another day of ups and downs! What is with these bipolar days? Can we not just pick an emotion and go with it? Oo doggy! Well, the day started off very promising. Sunday was supposed to be our trip to Thousand Islands to go on a boat ride and snorkeling and partake in other water activities. But once our group found out that we’d have to take a boat ride to get to the island they opted out of that adventure. (Seriously…I’m not making this up. They were deterred from going to an island..because we had to take a boat to get there…How did you think we were going to get to AN ISLAND?! Oh, those kinds of things just mystify me). But I had to “roll with the punches” and decided to make the most of this itinerary change. I had done some research the past weekend and found that the Jakarta Fair was going on; it’s the national celebration of Jakarta’s founding. 2011 marked the 484^th year of the city. I also read about Batavia, also called Jakarta Old Town located in Central Jakarta. It is a representation of what life was like during the Dutch invasion and colonization of Java. (I figured since I like Living History Farms and Colonial Williamsburg..I’d like this!) Needless to say, I was WAY excited about both of these possibilities and proposed them to the group the night before so we could make a plan for the following day. Everyone seemed gung-ho with the plan so we chose to do both the Fair and Batavia. When we got to the fair, it was packed! We had already spent 1.5 hours in a hot car ride and most of the group was a little agitated. That wasn’t going to stop us undergrads from having a good time. J We walked around the entire park and loved the whole atmosphere. The Ph.D students were “over the whole fair thing” from the minute we arrived and wanted to turn around and go home. But we pressed on and stayed and (the 3 of us) enjoyed the festivities while they lasted.

Here comes the REAL point of frustration for me. Some could say that I “snapped”. As we were leaving the fair and getting ready to make our trip to Batavia, the group started complaining about the heat (yeah…it tends to get hot here people). And the decision was made to not go to this famous historical landmark because A) it’ll be outside and B) we’ll have to walk. (Just let that sink in for a moment). That’s right folks! Frankly, I don’t understand either. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to go explore the great city of Jakarta and we're letting the heat dictate our plans. The undergrads were pretty upset since we had been looking forward to these visits on our only day off. We, instead, went to sit inside an air conditioned mall to “get some internet.”  I was beyond peeved at this point. I’ll save my ranting and raving for another blog so ignore that one if you’re in a peppy mood :P The stop at the mall DID give me the chance to update my blogs and get my Father’s Day post out, which I was thankful for. But I just wish that our group had been more adaptable to these adverse conditions.