Crazy Celebrity Situations 2: RAN

RAN was easily the first Indonesian band I ever fell in love with. It happened one day back when I was still living in Australia when a friend got into my car to take a road trip to Bendigo bringing with him RAN's music. Since then I have listened to their music a lot. 

When I was in Surabaya doing my teaching training I saw that RAN was set to appear in Sutos and jumped at the opportunity to see them. On the day of the event I was so excited about it. When they came out on stage I was mesmerised. It was so much fun and they were so cool. At the end of the concert Nino gave me (and lots of other fans) a high five. I got really nervous and excited and when he gave me a high five and grabbed his hand and when he tried to walk away I didn't want to let go so I just kept holding on and he couldn't walk away... That was a bit awkward I guess.

the best photo I got on the day

The next time I watched them was three years later at Colours pub (aka my least favorite place in the world). The billboards advertising the concert said that it started at "10pm sharps" so after I finished work at 9pm, I went straight over completely skipping dinner. There's something terrible about being in Colours sober so I decided to have a few beers, but three glasses of beer on an empty stomach proved to be quite disastrous. 

By the time RAN came on stage I was pretty drunk! I stopped caring about being normal. At one stage I yelled out "I love you" which is probably perfectly reasonable concert behavior but doesn't really look so cool. Later I yelled out at Rayi, "Rayi! Rayi" Rayi!" and when Rayi looked over I just said "hi" because I didn't know what to say. Then he asked "where are you from?" which I replied with "Australia, America and England" which is an extremely unclear way of answering the question (I was actually at the concert with an American and an Englishman so it kind of makes sense). 

That night was the first (and last) time I rode a motorbike drunk because I didn't really think about what I was doing. But while I was riding I realised that I was too drunk to be riding home so it ended up that I was sitting at some traffic lights giving myself a pep talk in my head "Don't crash, you're almost home, there's no traffic, just drive properly" etc. But after awhile  when I noticed that lots of other motorists were staring at me, I realised I was talking out loud. Don't ride a motorbike while drinking! 

Anyway, a few weeks after that RAN were to come back to Surabaya for another event. Because it was there 9 year anniversary of playing together they organised an event called traktiRAN (traktiran means "to treat someone/ pay for their food") in 9 different cities with 9 winners in each city. Of course when I found out Surabaya was included I started working on my entry immediately. I had to make a collage using pictures from their music videos and write a caption. I spent hours on it over the course of two weeks and even after working on it every day I still wasn't satisfied with it in the end.

Seriously my caption was this long and probably full of mistakes but I don't even care because I love bad English grammar and I hope others appreciate my bad Indonesian :D

Somehow, I got kind of cocky about it at one stage and even spent $100 on a new outfit to wear to meet them (this was several days before I could even enter the competition). At the time I thought of that expression "don't count your chickens before they hatch" but I realised that counting chickens was good fun. I told myself if I believed I was going to get it I'd be more ready to deal with it when I got to the day. I was quite confident until the moment my entry was actually submitted at which point I felt extremely anxious. Lucky I taught 6 classes in the just over 24 hour period that they were accepting entries or I would have spent the whole time on Instagram checking if there were 9 entries better than mine. I wondered if I had written enough, if I had written too much (probably) or if my entry would even be noticed in a sea of other excellent entries. Finally when I got the message saying I'd won, I felt like I could get back to my normal activities (why am I so dramatic?). 

My entry

On the Sunday RAN were set to appear at an event with Sheila on 7 and Raditya Dika which I was super excited about because I love Sheila on 7 too and I have read all of Raditya Dika's books and love them too. I didn't really know what the event was about or how it worked (I'm constantly confused in this country) but I went anyway. I'm going to put the events of the day in point form because it's easier that way. 

• The place was so full of people that it was hard to move around (typical Indonesia though).
• We went into a big hall (actually a basketball court) and heaps of people were squished in there.
• I ran into one of my students there and he asked if I was alone and I didn't want to say I was alone but I obviously was. Slightly awkward.
• I quickly started to feel like I was the oldest person there... I may have been.
• After awhile the MC's came on and told everyone to sit down. They spent 15 minutes telling people to sit down. There was literally not enough room for people to sit comfortably.
• I had to sit uncomfortably for 4 hours because the room was so full it would literally be impossible to get out. Literally was in pain for the next two days.
• I hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day and I was kind worried I'd pass out.
• About 30% of that 4 hours was actually interesting- the talks by Pandji Pragiwaksono and RAN were interesting but by the time Raditya Dika came on I was too tired and dehydrated to even concentrate on what he was saying enough to understand it.
• Finally RAN came on the perform and we were allowed to stand up and I felt 10 times better. 

After RAN's performance I left. I felt like I should go home and have a quick shower because I felt pretty gross after being in that room all day and didn't want to meet anyone looking/ smelling like that. I even had to change my clothes! So I didn't even get to wear my new outfit to meet them but luckily months before I bought an outfit for another future plan (that I've realised is never going to happen), so I wore that instead. 

I met RAN at Soto Cak Har. As soon as I saw them I felt so much more nervous than I had anticipated. I felt like I couldn't even talk in the beginning, there were things I wanted to say but trying to get the words out of my mouth felt impossible. The other girls who won the competition were very nice too and far more confident than me. I eventually convinced myself that I had only one chance and that I shouldn't waste it and managed to say a few things. 

Obligatory celebrity selfies.

RAN were really chilled and down-to-earth and the experience made me feel happy to be a fan of theirs. My top three favorite things about the experience were:

1. None of them said anything dodgy or sleazy or weird. For those people who are interested in people saying sleazy things just wait for Crazy Celebrity Situations part 3  (which in reality I can probably never write because I'll get into too much trouble).

2. They mentioned that they like to use Go-jek which to me was really cool because I'm quite bored of rich/successful people bragging about their drivers and fancy cars and lifestyles. So when Asta said "Yea I just use Gojek in Jakarta because it's quicker" I realised he was about 10 times cooler than I originally thought.

3. The other girls at the event asked for a few things- "can you make a video for my friend to wish her good luck on her exam?"/ "can you write me a long letter in this book?"/ "can you guess the password on my phone?". The RAN guys never said no which I thought was really cool because I'm certain those things made those girls really really happy. 

A couple of months back RAN appeared in Surabaya again. I only found out the night before when I was already kind of drunk. When I woke up the next day I was super hungover and almost didn't go to the show. I told myself it may be my last chance ever to see them (it probably won't), took some painkillers and left. 

By the time I got there I felt better and I really enjoyed watching them. The best part was that I didn't have to endure 4 hours of sitting uncomfortably on a basketball court. Towards the end of the show Asta handed me his guitar pick. You know how guitarists usually throw their guitar pick into the crowd? He walked over and put it straight into my hand! That was pretty cool.

His face is even on it!

I'm not sure if/ when I will get to see RAN again but I really hope I do. I just hope I can see them in places that are a bit more relaxing than that time at the basketball arena. But it's often a lot of effort to see concerts here and you've just got to hope it's worth the trouble. But overall, I feel good knowing that the guys in RAN are good people which makes me enjoy their music even more. 

Weird stuff that happened in Singapore

Please don't think I've run out of stories of weird things that have happened in Indonesia... I don't think that will ever happen. Everyday is weird. I just want to recognise that this world is weird, even outside of Indonesia. Even in a country as developed as Singapore, weird things happen.

I've been to Singapore a total of 3 times. The first time was with some uni friends at the start of 2012 and I don't remember anything weird happening. Well, except for Segway Eco Adventure, because segway eco adventures can't be anything but weird (it was literally riding around a track on a segway while reading facts about the environment).

Anyway... The second trip was when things got a little weird. It was November 2012 and I just got my job in Surabaya after a lot of struggle and then a little waiting (which felt like a lot of waiting considering I wasn't very patient back then). Finally, I was on my way to spend a year in Indonesia (which then somehow turned into 4 years). I had to go to Singapore to secure a business visa before going to Indonesia.

I was told to book a hotel for two nights. Basically the flights, hotel, food and visa expenses were to eventually be refunded by work, so it was kind of like an all expenses paid trip to Singapore (well except for entertainment expenses). I felt like a very important businessperson at the time.

When I arrive in Singapore, I was kind of not in the greatest mood because I'd just said goodbye to everyone I loved in Australia and I was depressed about that, and I just had two days to sit alone in my misery before arriving in the place I actually wanted to go to. But I decided not to waste the opportunity and to get out and explore.

this was my hotel, it was a bit old and creepy but it had a bathtub so I quite liked it.

I arrived late at night and crashed at my hotel. The next morning, I had to meet the visa agent. The HR department of my school sent me these instructions: meet the man under the red umbrella at McDonalds at 9:00AM and hand him your money and your passport. It sounded really suss. I don't know why I trusted it at all come to think of it. What kind of person gives a stranger their passport at McDonalds?

A person like me, I guess. But It turned out the HR people forgot to mention that I should bring extra passport photos so as soon as I met the passport man he actually yelled at me really angrily to go get new passport photos done. So I was giving my passport to a mean man at Mcdonalds now...

But in the end, I just had to trust the process and go off and enjoy my day. Basically after dropping my passport off, I got to go and hang out in Singapore for the day and later swing by McDonalds again to collect my passport. 

So after leaving McDonalds I was quite enthusiastic and  I went and explored little India and ate some street food and wandered around the streets. But I was tired to begin with and after I'd walked around little India for a bit I was quite tired, plus I didn't really know what to do because I hadn't really researched stuff to do in Singapore.

So, I ended up just sitting in some random outdoor area to do some people watching. After about 15 minutes, I realised that one of the people I was watching was watching me back! I smiled at him. He said hi. He asked if I wanted to go for a coffee and I didn't have anything else to do, so we went to Starbucks. His name was Rahul* and he was fairly new to Singapore.  

After we finished our drinks, Rahul decided to be my tour guide. He took me to all the touristy places in Singapore. That was a really nice thing for him to do so I was grateful that he helped me kill a few hours. He took me all over the place and insisted on taking heaps of touristy photos which I didn't really want or need.

This seriously felt like the most photographed day of my life!

Then he took me to Bugis market for shopping and gave me advice on clothes to buy. I really thought guys hated going clothes shopping with girls but Rahul was fine with it. And then we went for food at some food court. And then I was starting to get really sick of this random guy.

In the afternoon it was raining really hard. I explained that I had to get back to the McDonalds to get my passport and I thought he'd probably take that as his cue to leave. But he followed me through the torrential rain while I was rushing to get to McDonalds in time. I was actually running through the rain because I was worried about what would happen to my passport if I didn't make it in time. But, we had to wait around because the visa man was late in the end. Rahul spent the time taking photos of me at McDonalds. 

Something to remember my time in McDonalds...

I was pretty young back then and didn't yet know how to get rid of an annoying guy and I felt kind of bad that he'd helped me see so much of Singapore and I didn't really know how to ask him to go away nicely. So that's how he ended up walking me back to my hotel. 

I was a bit uncomfortable when Rahul then decided to come into my hotel room. To be fair to the guy, he didn't actually try anything. He was actually a really nice guy but there aren't many people in the world that I'd want to be around for 8 hours so really it was just too long. We were watching Wipeout on TV and he was again taking photos of me and taking photos of the things I bought that day. I kept hinting that he should leave, but he never seemed to get the hint. So most of the conversation I was making was "so do you need to leave to meet your friend now?" and "I'm actually really tired, I'm about to sleep". Somehow, he seemed to not see that I obviously wanted him to leave.

He insisted that I arranged the things  I bought on the bed to take this photo. 

A great photo of me opening something with my mouth?

Eventually he decided to leave. I said goodbye to him at the door to my room and he went to give me a hug and I wasn't having any of that and went for a high-five instead. So we high-fived awkwardly and he left. The hug/high-five moment was so awkward that it felt like my face was on fire but I was just so relieved it was over. I started getting ready for bed. 

Five minutes later there was a knock at the door and he was there again saying he'd forgotten his jacket and it was even more awkward because I still hadn't fully recovered from the high five and he was there again. I was scared he'd try to hug me again but I think he felt awkward too so he left right away.

So, that was Singapore. I kept in touch with Rahul for awhile. Well mostly he kept in touch with me, even asking me to go travelling with him which I decided not to do. He told me to let him know if I was ever in Singapore again.

And I was- I went back again not long after that to get my working visa. I felt all fancy because I was making an international day trip. The idea of going to a country for one day is quite amazing, especially for an Australian. But actually, the experience was less than amazing because I had to take the earliest flight to Singapore which is like 6:00, which means I had to leave for the airport at 3:00 AM, so basically it means no sleep, and then it's a long day before I got the last flight back in the evening and got home around midnight.

The second visa trip went well though, aside from being exhausted. Oh, and I've just realised now that I "forgot" to tell Rahul I was in Singapore. Oops.

So what do you guys think? Is 'Weird stuff that happened in (insert place here)' okay? Or should I stick to Indonesia? I get the feeling it's going to mostly be about Indonesia anyway.  Thanks for reading guys :).

What happens in Bali...

It's inevitable that almost everyone I meet in Indonesia will ask me my opinion on Bali and then act extremely shocked when I say I'm not a fan. I guess because I'm Australian, I'm automatically expected to like Bali. But in reality it's one of things I have found least interesting about Indonesia. 

Bali is a tourist nightmare where sellers will always follow "I give you good price" with a price at least 4 times higher than a fair price. And no one wants to bargain (everywhere else in Indonesia the bargaining process is even fun) and they don't care that you are speaking Indonesian or that you've told them that your wage is in rupiah, you still a big pile of money to them... People will use tactics like "I need the money because my husband is sick" and whether I think the story is true or not I will ALWAYS fall for it because it makes me feel guilty. And guilty is not a happy holiday feeling.

I just realised I haven't taken many photos of Bali, so you just get this one.

Bali is a place where "transport?" is easily the most common word you'll hear (on the other hand,you'll never have trouble finding transport, I guess?). You cannot walk along a street without being offered goods and services you don't want. It might not always be transport that they are offering. There's also the option of being sold souvenirs, tours, magic mushrooms or anti-anxiety medications (yes, you can buy Xanax by the road, just in case being on holiday was not relaxing enough). 

But these complaints are probably just typical of most tourist places. I think I feel very detached from Bali in general. I feel like just another tourist. I guess I have almost always had more fun while traveling when I've had a local friend to show me the side of the city they know. In Bali I have found it almost impossible to connect with any locals as: 
1. They only seem to want my money, not my friendship.
2. I can't even see a local person because all I can see are a bunch of bogans (sorry to any bogans I offend with this statement).

In saying that, I have been to Bali five times. I've seen Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Sanur and Ubud and I can say I actually did quite enjoy Sanur, Seminyak and Ubud. 

I liked Sanur because the beach was clean, the food was good, the ice cream was cold and the people where not just disgusting Australians (they were Australian of course but not all of them were disgusting). And Ubud is chilled, though progressively becoming overwhelmingly touristy as well. But last time I was in Ubud I took a cooking course and the people running it were easily the nicest Balinese people I've ever met, it gave me hope.

making satay like a pro

Now, let's move on to Kuta/ Legian. For those who haven't been there, I'll try to describe these places as neutrally as I can. Basically both are the same- dirty, over-priced, crime-ridden stressful and full of the kind of Australians you wouldn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole. Kuta Beach is probably the second worst beach I have ever seen in Indonesia (only a small step up from Kenjeran Beach, Surabaya) but it is always full of (Australian) people who seem to think it's cool. I don't get it! And people always comment on the colour of my skin like "Oh, you're so white, you must have just arrived." so I just say "I've lived here for three years but I actually own sunblock" and it isn't even understandable to them, probably because they are too drunk to deal with such complicated ideas. 

My friend Mel and I stayed in a crappy hotel in Kuta once before flying back to Australia. We just wanted something cheap and the rooms were terrible but there was a huge swimming pool in the middle of the grounds and that was really all we needed. So we spent our time in the pool rather than in the room. 

One day we were in the pool with a group of young guys from Jakarta and a middle-aged Polish man. The Polish man was swimming in his underwear which is already super gross. One of the boys from Jakarta who was probably 18 or 19 years old couldn't swim and stayed in the shallow children's pool. He seemed quite nervous and uncomfortable in the water. The Polish man kept trying to push his head under the water calling this a "swimming lesson" which was really annoying me because it was actually freaking the kid out.

I got into a conversation with the Polish dude
Him: Where are you from?
Me: I'm Australian!
Him: No you aren't. Your skin is white. Australian's are tanned!
Me: Haha, I'm very white but I am Australian.
Him: No you can't be. What about your parents?
Me: They're Australian!
Him: No! Where are they from?
Me: Australia!
Him: And your grandparents? They aren't Australian!
Me: They were born in Australia....
Him: No. You are Russian!
Me: I'm really Australian....
Him: Why are you white???
Me: You can't ask someone why they are white!
Him: You are a Russian girl! You are white! I know Russian girls because I live near Russia!

This went on for a long time. He became increasingly loud and rude.

Weirdly the next day we were eating in a restaurant and a band were playing. A random man went up to the band to request a song. As he passed me he said something to me in another language. I was confused at the time. When he went up to the band they asked him over the microphone where he was from. Turns out he was Russian, so I guess he spoke to me in Russian? Maybe I did look Russian back then...

My first trip to Bali in 2011- I didn't realise there was no pollution in Bali to keep me from getting sun burnt. Yes, there is a positive side to pollution.

Anyway during our trip to Bali we went to Skygarden one night. It's a very famous club in Legian. I don't really like nightclubs but as far as nightclubs go, it's one of the worst.

The night that we were there, we got free entry and two free drinks. Any Indonesians that wanted to go in had to pay to enter and weren't even allowed to go up to the top level. I thought that was totally unfair and also I don't see the point of going to Indonesia and not hanging out with Indonesians so I wasn't impressed.

Many of the people in Skygarden were disgusting. The dance floor was full of drunk people staggering around. We met a bunch of Australians who first told us that they'd never been to Mebourne. Next, they told a fun anecdote about how they tried magic mushrooms and woke up with their hotel room covered in blood. Later, they started bragging about how successful the band they play in was and how many people came to their gig in Melbourne. I guess they didn't remember saying they'd never been to Melbourne. Cool... When we spoke of our travels across Java and Lombok people seemed to say the same thing "Oh I wish I could do that!" but actually anyone could do that if they were willing to leave Kuta Beach long enough...

Skygarden had a sign on the wall saying that due to a large amount of theft in the club they had three undercover security guards in the club but considering Indonesians weren't allowed in that area, you could quickly pick out the 3 undercover guards-the only three Indonesians people on the dance floor. We danced near one of those guys, for safety I guess. But, safe to say, we didn't last long at Skygarden and we went home early due to the fact that we couldn't tolerate it any longer. 

But actually, I went to Skygarden again at the start of this year and it was much better (possibly due to the fact that I didn't speak to anyone there except for the people I was with). And the highlight was that I saw a Rhonda lookalike and I think she must have been there looking for Ketut (If you're not Australian, let me fill you in- Rhonda is this really safe driver who saved so much money on her car insurance that she went to Bali. In Bali she met her soulmate, Ketut. I'm leaving out a lot of details but trust me, it's pretty much the greatest love story I've ever heard. Just watch the video... you won't regret it.).

Anyway, the Rhonda lookalike was there with her daughter, and I think Rhonda was looking for her own Ketut but I guess she was having trouble finding him and she had to try speaking to a lot of different guys to find him. The daughter looked pretty embarrassed but I'm pretty sure all the Australians in the room really were rooting for Rhonda to find her soulmate. I did see some pretty questionable characters in Skygarden, but I wasn't annoyed by them because I didn't have to talk to them.

Skygarden- take 2

Last week I went to Bali again, I'd like to say it'd be my last visit but I'm pretty sure it won't. I had a midnight flight to Melbourne so I decided it'd be a great plan to get an early flight to Bali and spend my Friday there. So, I got up at 5AM (which is ridiculous) to get my 7:30 flight. I'd already been having trouble sleeping for about 2 weeks, so safe to say I was tired. The whole day was me being tired. I left my luggage at the luggage storage place at the airport and walked out of the airport to find a Go-Jek. That was pretty easy and I got to Seminyak for 18,000 rupiah ($1.80ish) so that's pretty cool. So I started with lunch at a little cafe, then I went for a massage. The day started well.

Things went downhill when I decided I wanted my nails painted. I chose bright green for my toenails and yellow for my fingernails. I don't really care what colour and just decided to try something new. Anyway, there was one girl painting my toenails and another doing my fingernails. I guess they didn't realise that I could speak Indonesian because they kept talking about me. 
"These colours are bad, they don't suit her at all" said one girl in Indonesian.
They giggled.
"Do you like the nails?" the girl asked in English, "you can change the colour if you want."
"I love the colour" I said.
"Her shirt is red... That's an ugly shirt. And the nails don't match" the girl continued in Indonesian.
They giggled again. I felt a little angry at the girls but I just sat there and said nothing.
"Nice colours" the girl said in English "most people don't like these colours you know".
"Well, I like bright colours." I said and smiled. 
They switched back to Indonesian.
"This girl is stupid and really ugly." The girl said while laughing loudly. Her friend found that comment hilarious.
At that point, I wasn't angry anymore and I found the whole situation quite comical. I felt like I was hiding a big secret and it was kind of funny to just sit and laugh while they were being like that.
"I really like your nails" I said to one of the girls, "you're really pretty."
They spent the rest of the time I was there laughing at my yellow nail polish and I spent the rest of the time laughing to myself because I can't even imagining caring about someone else's nail polish colour so much. 

When it was time to leave I thought about saying something in Indonesian to make it clear that I understood what was going on. I stood there for a moment and tried to work out what to say but I decided to leave because reacting to their stupidity seemed pretty pointless and I realised I didn't really have to care about or respond to what they were saying.

Is it that awful? Was it worth all that trouble? I actually think my nails look cool and they even match my iPod.

I spent the afternoon in Potato Head- eating, drinking and watching the sunset. The day was okay (although it was completely exhausting) but I don't think I'm interested in ever returning to Seminyak. I was actually more comfortable in the airport that I was at Seminyak so that says a lot. 

I apologise for such a negative summary of Bali. I guess Bali just isn't for me? I don't think Bali would be too offended though because everyone else who goes there seems to love it. But even so, I didn't mean to hate on Bali so much and now I can't really think of anything redeeming to say. So, the best I can do is leave on this: a picture of a beautiful Bali sunset last Friday night. 

Thank you for reading guys.

Crazy Celebrity Situations 1: Momo Geisha

I was going to write all my crazy celebrity moments into one post but it would be the longest post and would probably take an hour to read and no one would read it because it's just too long. So I have decided to split my crazy celebrity into 3 parts. If any other crazy celebrity stuff happens there may be a part 4, but we'll see. I don't know when part 2 and 3 will be posted. My crazy celebrities situations with NOAH may not even be over...


Anyway, Geisha. 
Geisha is a pretty cool Indonesian band with some really nice tunes. My friend Bethany introduced me to their music a couple of years back. My favorite song is Lumpuhkan Ingatanku (Paralyse my memories), check it out if you haven't heard it before.




One day in mid 2014, I was eating at Pizza Hut in Delta Plaza with my ex-boyfriend Frans. We started to notice that the mall was really busy around the Pizza Hut area. Delta Plaza is rarely busy and the area that Pizza Hut is in is just a few crappy restaurants, a ladies bathroom and an electronics shop.
"Why are there police here?" asked Frans.
I looked up and finally focused on the people gathered around. They were wearing T-shirts with the writing My Geisha (the name of Geisha's fan club).
"Huh, Geisha?" I said.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw Momo Geisha  making her way towards Texas Chicken with her police escorts. I felt butterflies in my stomach and my hands started shaking.
"Oh my God! That's Momo".
We hurriedly paid the bill and walked next door to Texas Chicken next door to see what was going on. I'm pretty sure it's the most nervous I've ever been in my life, besides the time I had to read the words at a spelling bee in Surabaya with hundreds of people in the room. I was convinced I was going to fart onstage or something just because I'd never been in front of hundreds of people and I didn't know how I'd react. 

It turns out that Geisha were selling their CDs in Texas Chicken and also preforming a few songs. I don't know why in Indonesia there's a connection between fried chicken chains and music here but there certainly is one. A few years back, NOAH released an album and I looked up where to buy it. According to their Twitter account they were for sale in KFC so one day I awkwardly went up to the cashier in KFC and said "Umm, strange question but do you sell NOAH CDs?". And they did. Another complex Indonesian cultural thingy that I don't understand, I guess. 

Anyway, back to Texas Chicken. I got to buy a CD from Momo directly which was terrifying because I didn't realise how pretty she was until I saw her up close and I was lost for words. Frans was laughing at me and my shaking hands and how ridiculous I was being. I don't know why I reacted like that. Momo was very friendly and welcoming but I was a little overwhelmed, especially seeming I'd had no time to prepare for this mentally. 

After people bought the CD's, Geisha played a few songs which was really exciting because I'd never seen them live. When Lumpuhkan Ingatanku came on I started singing along and Momo realised I knew the words and put the microphone in front of me at one point which was super scary and amazing.

After that night, I started listening to Geisha a whole lot more.

A few months later, Bethany visited Indonesia and she decided to get a tattoo. She got a giant map of Indonesia across her stomach with the lyrics to Lumpuhkan Ingatanku written across the middle. True fan right there.

Last year, I got to watch a full Geisha concert for the first time (actually it was the same day I'd been at that terrifying spelling bee). It was outside Grand City mall and I watched alone so the MC's of the event kept talking to me and asking a billion questions to kill time. People watching the concert kept laughing at whatever answer I offered, I guess because they aren't used to foreigners doing Indonesian stuff. When Geisha came on I didn't really care about that anymore. I really enjoyed that concert actually.

I also follow Momo Geisha on Instagram and a few weeks back I saw that she would be launching her fashion line in Surabaya and selling crab for her restaurant the Naked Crab. 
at an event called Kepo Market at Galaxy Mall. The event ran from Friday 29th January until Sunday 31st. The first day of the event just happened to be two weeks before Bethany's birthday so I had a plan to go and ask Momo to make a birthday message for Bethany. I had no idea if she would say yes, but you never know until you try, right? 

So on Friday I went straight home after work at 7:30 quickly got changed, ordered a Gojek and left. I'm pretty sure everyone around me on Friday thought I was crazy and I didn't even know if it would work out so I felt crazy too. On the way to Galaxy Mall it started raining and I was just thinking "Oh my God! You can't meet Momo Geisha if you're dripping wet" luckily my Gojek driver had a rain poncho and I didn't get too wet. 

I headed up to the 6th floor of Galaxy Mall quickly and nervously and impatiently all at the same time and walked around in circles at the fair until I saw Momo. I stopped about 10 meters away from her and  took a deep breath. As I got my iPad out I saw Momo notice me, because I was the only foreigner in there and I was lurking around her stall. I took another deep breath and walked over. This was the incredibly awkward conversation (translated obviously):

Me: Momo.... ummm... Momo yea?
Momo: Hello, how are you?
Me: Um... I'm fine... Uhh, I just want to ask you something.
Momo: Well, today I'm selling crab. Would you like to buy some crab?
(I think this was basically a polite way of saying "If you wanna talk to me, you've gotta buy something" which is fair enough.)
Me: Um. What type of crab is there?
Momo: *points at a menu with 2 things on it*
Me: Uh, I'll try the soft shell.
Momo: With which sauce?
Me: Is there a spicy sauce?
Momo: Do you want a spicy sauce?
Me: Uh no! Ummm.... I mean I want the non-spicy sauce.
Momo: Okay.
Me: Umm Momo I want to tell you something.
Momo: Yes?
Me: I have this friend.... from England.... and she's a big fan of Geisha and she got a tattoo. And ummm.... just look.
(After realising I was still babbling nervously I just  took out my iPad to show her the picture of the tattoo.)
Me: It's the lyrics of your song. See, Lumpuhkanlah...
Momo: (She finally seemed interested) What?! 

She turned to a guy holding a fancy camera. "Film this! Look, this foreigner has a tattoo of Geisha lyrics. Let's make a video!" she said. When I asked her what the video was for she said "for TV" and I thought she was bullshitting. On Tuesday when one of my students told me she saw me on TV, I realised that Momo was serious.

I knew I'd find myself on one of these celebrity gossip shows eventually...

The guy started filming. They filmed a 5 minute video of me explaining the tattoo. Momo then took out her camera and took a photo of the picture on my iPad. I realised it's now or never. "Ahh, Momo can I ask a favor? It's my friend's birthday in two weeks. Can I film you saying happy birthday to her? It'll make her so happy." Momo agreed which made me finally feel relieved and made the video.

"Why hasn't your food come yet?" Momo asked and went over to ask about my crab. Later she returned bringing my crab. It's quite nice when one of your favorite celebrities brings you your dinner. I could get used to that kind of treatment.

I didn't get to eat much before they started filming me again. They asked if I liked the crab and then they asked me to sing a Geisha song. "I'm kind of nervous so can you sing with me?" I asked her. "Sure but you start" she said. When I sang the first line of the song she seemed shocked that I really knew it. So I awkwardly sang the song with Momo Geisha and saw several people filming it. This country is weird.

I look so uncomfortable....

All together I was probably with Momo for a good 30-45 minutes which was really crazy considering all I expected was a 10 second video. I bought a sweater from her fashion line afterwards (kind of felt like I owed her after all that). Anyway, I'm very grateful for her making the video.

I saw Geisha in concert last Saturday. Yes, I left my house on a Saturday night which is actually a big deal and even more shocking was the fact that I dressed nicely and went to a mall. I felt more Surabayan than ever, for real. The concert was literally in the middle of Tunjungan Plaza and I arrived an hour before the show, a little wet from the Gojek ride (seems to be the theme of this story now). 

I just milled around TP3 randomly because for some reason I felt that wearing wedges to the mall was cool but it actually just made me slower and reluctant to shop. So I just stood one level above where the concert was to be, sneakily evading an impromptu "so what's it like to be the only foreigner here?" interview that event MC's usually give me. As pre-concert entertainment there was a singing competition going on and I thought I was being racist because literally every singer sounded exactly the same (maybe it was my own twist on the "all Asians look the same" thing?). Eventually, I worked up the courage to go downstairs and stand actually in front of the stage, at which point I realised it was a lip-sync competition, not a singing competition. I guess that makes more sense than 10 singers sounding exactly the same, but a lip-syncing competition at the mall doesn't make THAT much sense.  

The event was sponsored by a hardware store so some shameless advertising was mandatory before anything of interest came on. This came in the form of an interactive dance with a video going in the background which made it look as if the dancers were building some kind of office building, and then they ran up stairs and jumped off ran through the street and ended up at the very hardware store that sponsored the event. I don't know why the went there after the building project was completed but these kind of questions almost always go unanswered. 

I was standing right by the stage when Geisha finally came on and really I was glad I dragged myself off the sofa on a Saturday to see it. The show was really good. The crowd were really into it. It made me laugh because every time Momo stepped closer to the fans watching, they lunged forward and tried to touch her. Yet just a month earlier I had spent 40 minutes speaking to her and anyone could just walk over and have a conversation with her but no one really did. Now, there were several security guards stopping a crowd from even giving her a high-five. 

Anyway, I think this blog post is long enough. I've probably lost most of you by now. I'll just add that I may or may not ever get the chance to watch Geisha again so I'm very grateful that I got to experience all this. Even if it meant dragging myself to four different malls and waiting around awkwardly every time... in the end it has all been worth it.

Thanks for all the blog views guys even though I haven't posted in a few weeks. I really appreciate it! :)