The semester's teaching is over. The exams are over. The admin is done (I sincerely hope...).

And tomorrow we're off to Abu Dhabi... We're intending to come back, of course. And we're hoping to see out another academic year here in beautiful Yogya. But that depends on -- not hard to guess! -- successfully getting an extension to my visa...

So there seems, at the moment, to be a little bit of a line -- a hiatus -- marking the end of one thing and the beginning of the next (whatever that is).

And it feels like it's time to write up some of the things I have appreciated recently but failed to post:



-- UMY's awesome choir -- I love the full, rich sound these guys make, I love their versatility, and I love their enthusiasm

-- The rewards we get for the rain (which is still very much with us), whether they're in the shape of reach-out-and-touch-it views of Merapi, or bright, cheerful, feel-good skies

-- Quirky things (like the hand-painted snails -- yes, really -- and the swarm of market cats, in all shapes and sizes, which someone regularly feeds)

-- Natural abundance -- there are still mountains of snakefruit on sale everywhere; the rambutans are reddening; we've just had a delicious mango season; and papaya, jackfruit, breadfruit, and durian are covering the trees like enormous Christmas decorations



-- The sunlit patience of the small

-- The photos you can't take (because you're not quick enough with the camera, or because it might be indiscreet) -- the guy with a birdcage backpack, birds in residence, pushing a motorbike that wouldn't start, while the little guys bounce and flutter like they're high up in a tree on a windy day; the dramatic black-veiled women on motorcycles; and the loads, those testimonies to the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of Indonesia's traders (think vast quantities of helium-filled Lightning McQueens or Angry Birds, or spherical loads of baskets)

Much to be thankful for, as we move on out...