To Semarang and Back

Last week I gave an invited presentation at Universitas Diponegoro. As I was thinking about what to say from our distressed place in the hotel in Jakarta, I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic. But by the time I got there (after we were settled back into Solo), I was so glad they invited me. The presentation was on Monday last week. And then also included here are a few pictures from a presentation I gave on Thursday last week at my home university in Solo.

We left Solo at 5am to get to Semarang by 8am for a 9am presentation. We stopped at a gas station along the way that seemed like it placed a high priority on animal husbandry.

I was so glad we stopped too. The only gas station I've been to that was more dedicated animals on display is a gas station in Utah that we've sometimes needed to stop at, going south, that keeps a petting zoo.

Everyone says it take three hours to get from Solo to Semarang. But it only took two hours for my taxi driver and me.

It wound up being a pretty big crowd. On the front row, left to right: the session moderator, the dean, and the other presenter at the event.

After my presentation, I received a plaque, a sarong, and three boxes of lumpia. One box was full of lumpia that was already fried, and the other two boxes I was instructed to take home and freeze before 7pm until I was ready to fry them. (We ate the box that was pre-fried and gave the other to boxes as oleh-oleh, one to our becak driver's family and one to our landlord's son for his high school graduation.)

Afterwards we went to a restaurant and I got bakmie goreng (fried noodles) and es campur durian (mixed ice with durian).

I got home by about three and showed everyone what I got in Solo. S was so impressed with how pretty they had made the inside of the box that my plaque came in. Such nice, red, crushed velvet.

Then here are a few pics from the presentation on Thursday, back in Solo.