Batu Adventures!

"The earth has music for those who listen." --George Santayana

This weekend, I headed off for an adventure in Batu: a nearby town that is famous for it's orchards, water fall, and gorgeous scenery! The place was absolutely beautiful, and I had so much fun visiting a local artist's studio, walking through fruit orchards, hanging out with a baby goat, painting, and feeling the power of a giant waterfall.

Our first adventure was to the artist's house/farm. Every single wall in his house was filled with beautiful paintings-many of them surprisingly about very controversial and political ideals. During the question-answer time with the artist, one of my classmates asked if the government ever tried interfered with his work because it was controversial, which he sadly affirmed.

After about an hour in the painter's house, we walked around his farm and orchards. We were able to taste locally-grown strawberries and guava, which were sooo delicious! The strawberries were much smaller and more sour than the ones back home, but I loved them! We were also able to pick "sweet oranges" and clementines off the trees in the orchard--soooo cool :)

Next we visited the goat stables and we got to hold these two baby goats. They were sooo tiny and still had their umbilical cord attached! We were also able to try goat milk and yogurt while we were there. The "milk" was much thicker and sweeter than the milk back home, it seemed to be a combination of milk and yogurt instead of straight milk. I thought it was funny that almost all of the Indonesians who accompanied us were terrified of the goats! But all the Americans loved them! Maybe it's a cultural thing, maybe it's just the sense of adventure in a foreign country--I don't know.

Afterwards, we went back to the painter's studio and tried our own hand at painting. I was so excited with Pak helped me with my painting--when will I ever paint with a renowned Indonesian artist ever again? I loved watching him work. He rarely used the class paintbrush, but instead used knives, crumple newspaper, and his fingers to turn a basic painting into an abstract work of art! He "keren-ified" (cool-ified) about 6 or 7 paintings for people, and I am so lucky and excited to have one :)

Visiting Batu was so exciting, and I'm so glad I had the chance to go! For the rest of the weekend, I spent time exploring Malang, and went to the Sunday market, town square, traditional market, and a traditional mask shop! The mask shop was amazing--I was able to see artists carve masks that took 3-7 days to create. The detail was amazing, and I bought a small mask to take home with me :) Some fellow CLSers special-ordered some masks to pick up in 2 weeks--but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle for me to do that too. It's strange to think that I've lived in Malang for 6 weeks now and yet have seen so little of it. Lately, I've been trying to try out different shopping areas and cafes--I feel like I have so little time left here! The more I look, the more enchanted I am with this city. There are so many nooks and crannies to find adventure in. Last night, I stopped by a little cafe because they had a free wifi sign up, and had some delicious lemon iced tea as I did my homework. But, my favorite shop so far is still Baker's King donut shop at the MX mall--it's delicious and I can never get enough of their oreo or mint-flavored donuts!