Adventures in Southeast Asia

These have been our final two days in Yogyakarta.  I wrapped up my time with the ICSD conference on Thursday and on Friday we did a full day tour of two temples near Yogyakarta. I'm grateful to have been here for the ICSD conference.  I made several new professional contacts and strengthened existing relationships with folks I typically see just a few times a year at social work conferences or events.  My final day of the conference was spent in two different workshops about human rights and social work practice, both of which provided me with a lot to think about as I head into the Fall semester. After the last session on Thursday, I scooted out with hopes of enjoying our rooftop pool again.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  The skies were sort of overcast and it just wasn't hot enough, so I settled for an hour and a half on the couches with a good book.  It was a beautiful view all the same and the skies cleared out close to sunset. Land...

To be honest, I can't believe that I'm typing this second post and it's already Thursday morning here.  This trip has been such a whirlwind with the 11 hour time difference from home and the mult-leg flight.  BUT, we are here in Yogyakarta and it's been a great first few days here. We arrived on Monday morning about 11am and from the moment we landed we knew we were in a very different environment than the bustling cities of Singapore and New York, where we'd been just prior.  The plane landed and we exited it down a stairwell to the tarmac, walked just a few yards over to the airport terminal, and immediately waited in line for immigration processing.  The room was quite small and from the line we could see signs behind the immigration counter for both baggage claim and customs.  The entire airport terminal was no bigger than an average sized one-bedroom apartment.  I was surprised by this given what I'd read about the size of Yogyakarta and it's impor...