Alien Encounter
Some of my friends and I that journey overseas (most notably Jason Ryer) joke of interacting with the "aliens" on a strange planet wherever we travel. Sometimes it can feel like you are in a totally far-away galaxy where everyone talks, looks, dresses and eats quite differently than you are accustomed.
Well in the city of Yogyakarta (pronounced: Jogja) the residents turned the tables on me. As I am now traveling alone it seems that I am much more approachable. Lots of people are still trying to sell me stuff but quite a few genuinely want to be my friend. On a tour of the city's most prominent attractions: Borobudur (Buddhist) and Prambanan (Hindu) I was asked to take a photo. "Sure," I said "I'll take your photo." Nope. "You photo" Wait, I'm a photo? And as I was trying to comprehend what he was saying a group of 6 people huddled around me and smiled. What could I do but smile for the camera? This wasn't the only occurrence that day. After an uncomfortable few seconds of trying desperately to get out of a lady's shot, and her equally shuffling to keep me in it, I finally succomed to pretending to know this nice woman for her scrapbook. I'm still not sure why, but I saw another Western couple posted up across a monument with a gaggle of locals. It was strange to say the least.
Over the course of 3 days residing in town, I was interviewed 3 times by separate groups of school children taking a tourism class in their high-school. Then, I had to grade the youngsters! They wanted to know where I was from, why I was there and what I had seen. All interviews went well save the three 17 y/o girls that I couldn't shake after the interview was WELL finished. Perhaps they wanted a photo!
Well in the city of Yogyakarta (pronounced: Jogja) the residents turned the tables on me. As I am now traveling alone it seems that I am much more approachable. Lots of people are still trying to sell me stuff but quite a few genuinely want to be my friend. On a tour of the city's most prominent attractions: Borobudur (Buddhist) and Prambanan (Hindu) I was asked to take a photo. "Sure," I said "I'll take your photo." Nope. "You photo" Wait, I'm a photo? And as I was trying to comprehend what he was saying a group of 6 people huddled around me and smiled. What could I do but smile for the camera? This wasn't the only occurrence that day. After an uncomfortable few seconds of trying desperately to get out of a lady's shot, and her equally shuffling to keep me in it, I finally succomed to pretending to know this nice woman for her scrapbook. I'm still not sure why, but I saw another Western couple posted up across a monument with a gaggle of locals. It was strange to say the least.
Over the course of 3 days residing in town, I was interviewed 3 times by separate groups of school children taking a tourism class in their high-school. Then, I had to grade the youngsters! They wanted to know where I was from, why I was there and what I had seen. All interviews went well save the three 17 y/o girls that I couldn't shake after the interview was WELL finished. Perhaps they wanted a photo!
posted by bdvankeuren @ 4:00 PM
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