Leaving tokyo in an hour

We are once again on the move and this time we get on an Air Canada flight first to Vancouver and then TO. Funnily enough we are flying at 7 pm and arriving at about the same time in Toronto on the same day Tuesday.

We composed a whole posting in the Tokyo Reference Library only to have it evaporate when we pressed `publish post`. So this is a recap. If this post is a bit wacky we blame the keyboard which is basically set up for characters not so much for alphabet.

Thursday and Friday in Sigli were significant in that the Vice Bupati (Vice Mayor) invited us out to a dinner he hosted - and awarded us with the Sigli official plaques. At the restaurant it was hilarious when due to the size of the group it was deemed that a wall partition should be removed in order to accommodate the entourage and then the nails sticking out from the floor were hammered down with a handy rock. So that was a big wow.

We are very pleased to have the help of the translator Iwan, while we are away this time as he transitions into a local resource for the library project. So basically we spent a couple of hours teaching him everything about the project and bob is your uncle. What a great guy - we are blessed.

Let`s face it we travelled a lot this trip and Saturday was no exception as we went from Banda Aceh to Jakarta and then overnight to Tokyo arriving at 7 am. We really lucked out on the flight and each had 3 seats over which we could sprawl out.

In Tokyo on the way in we saw one of the dressed up `maid girls` with the frills and high heels. Little did we know the shots of her shoes would be some of the best we got of weird getups。 We valiantly attempted to do Tokyo in 36 hours - shrines, temples, shopping, fish market, museums, sushi, and mastered the transit system in the process. Or so we claim.

The post would not be complete without a nod to the bathrooms, specifically the toilets. They are amazing - what can be achieved with technology. O.k. they have heated seats, various bidet options, the sound of gurgling water and even an odor button which we didn`t try. Given the context of coming from Indonesia where all bathrooms have pools of water on the floor and the usual squat, we were so enamored that we visited more than our fair share of washrooms around the city.

Right now we await our flight in a business lounge and we are crossing our fingers that indeed time will fly and get us home in less than an hour.

Emperors palace looked great in the winter

Unexepected trip to Banda

Just when we were getting used to the idea of being in one place for more than a few days, we got a phone call inviting us down to Banda for an evening reception. Turns out that there were a lot of FCM Canadians in Banda and it was felt to be a good opportunity for people to get together and network and talk about the different projects. There was also a lot of members of the Banda FCM team too, so it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces. There were a couple of birthdays thrown in the mix too. So our day ended with a nice dinner in Banda.

But we still had our two sessions at the library and we had Yuni and Yurni over to the house for lunch.

In the morning Katherine delivered a presentation on 'Children's Services'. It was a chance to really get behind the nuts and bolts of why libraries program for children. We ended the morning by handing out all sorts of puppets that we brought from Canada...many of the animals are found in Indonesian folk tales. In fact Dawna found a deer and there is a trickster figure that is the little deer. We thought that was mighty nice to have found that. I think the tortoise was the favourite....they called it Johnny.

At lunch Yurni and Yuni came over to the house. They wanted to send a picture of the library to OLA for the superconference and the bandwith at the library just couldn't manage sending a photo. While we were at the house Yurni also got a Facebook account. It is a marvel to see how much technology has become part of the routine now.

Then we went back and talked about the layout of the library and brainstormed ideas about how to make displays for teens. It was a good afternoon.

We left the library and headed directly for Banda. It was a crazy drive...there are road works going on and not much coordination among the road crews. At one point we were inches between the edge of a cliff (let's just say a drop) and a HUGE truck....we all breathed a sigh of relief when we got past. I was glad of my I-pod which we all could enjoy through the car speakers...(Thanks for the Cake Alex.)

First day in Sigli

We got to the library and had a quick look around. It is so different! The layout has changed, it is tidy and inviting. The shelves are clean and you can feel a sense of order when you walk in. The morning was spent reviewing what has been done since we were here in August and then some brainstorming about what was learned in Sleman and Singapore.
At the break the staff wanted us to see the library. It was FULL of people, 90% students. I mean people were everywhere. It was quite a contrast to the sleepy place we first visited in June. They are averaging about 150 visitors a day…compared to less than 50 when we first arrived. We credit much of this to Mukhtar’s leadership, the increased hours and the welcoming environment. Kudos all ‘round.

In the afternoon we worked on some skills training. We wanted to ensure that all of the staff have email accounts so they are able to communicate with the contacts they have made during the exposure tours. There is a new staff member named Nufina…she had never used a computer before…she now has a gmail account and has sent 2 emails. Other work involved creating a brochure to promote the library…we picked up a lot of samples during the tours and with a template they will be able to create something for Sigli. We also discussed the ‘Thank You’ letters going over step by step the content and structure. These letters will be sent to both Sleman and Singapore libraries. We will work on the draft tomorrow.

We talked about how the library can connect with the community and gain further support from the government. The library is very low on the awareness scale for the local politicians.

There is an easy camaraderie now amongst us and we are getting asked a variety of questions. We spent quite a bit of time today talking about motivating staff to work, stating expectations and the role of the supervisor. It seems that some staff were blaming others for work not complete- imagine.

Back in Banda and then on to Sigli

We had two flights to get to Banda…by this time we feel like old hands at the process. Once we got to Banda, the Sigli staff went on to Sigli, while Katherine and I stayed on in Banda. It was good to get to the hotel, where we know the staff and felt quite welcome. We booked massages and took it easy for the rest of Saturday. We met up with some other FC volunteers (Jim, Mansur and Ted) and caught up on the various projects.

On Sunday we drove to Sigli. We have a new translator this time…Iwan….pronounced E1. He had spent 4 months in Alberta through Canada World Youth; his English is perfect, complete with Canadian idioms. We got to the house, chose our rooms (we are sharing the house with E1 and two other FCM/Indonesian staff), ate the pizza we got in Sigli and called it a day.

Singapore – Day 2

The day began at the Library Supply Centre, where all of the materials are processed for all of the library’s internal and external clients. We were given an overview and then a tour. It was fascinating to see the conveyor belts and assembly lines…the staff process 5,000 items each day. They use an automated system, complete with cherry pickers to select specific titles that are stored on the myriad of shelving throughout the warehouse. It was a site to be seen for sure.

The Sigli staff were able to see materials being processed and ask questions first hand and get demonstrations of how it is done in Singapore. The Singapore example showed the precision system that may be far removed from what the Sigli staff were going for, but they still were able to take some good ideas away from it. For instance, maybe they won’t want to drill the books like they saw in Sleman and perhaps they will opt for some reinforcement tape to do the same thing.

Since it was Friday, the next stop was a mosque where the men could pray. The women were free to go shopping…which we did. Yurni and Yuni wanted to buy fabric. It turns out that they make most of their clothes for themselves. Katherine and I opted for some ready made clothes and found a kinda sweet Persian designer shop. Lunch was in an Indonesian takeout restaurant….which was a welcome change. Dinner the night before was in an Indian restaurant and felt to be ‘too spicy’ by many.

Next stop was a neighbourhood library, Bishan. It had 5 floors and special attention was paid to the youth and children’s floors. The collections were full and immaculately shelved. A storytime was being held and we were able to quietly observe it. This all helped the puzzle pieces fall into place….we had been talking about Children’s programming and now they could see it happening.

The final library we visited was Woodlands library, where Roy works. He was able to give us an insider’s view of the collections. It was a spectacular library, complete with a theatre space, reference floor and the largest Children’s department I have ever seen. There was space dedicated to community exhibits, which is something we are wanting to develop more in Sigli. Just like in Sleman, it was good to see so many of the concepts that we have been talking about in action.

We were given an hour break for dinner and then we went to the Night Zoo in Singapore. (Nazir missed the zoo…ask us if you want the long version….) The night zoo was fun. There was a show and then a tram ride in the dark where you get to see the nocturnal animals - lions, elephants and of course water buffalo which are a common sight throughout Sigli. We got back to the hotel by 11:30…and reserved wake-up calls for 4:30 a.m. the next morning to get us on our way back to Indonesia. We were completely beat but we still managed to have a glass of wine and a beer in the lobby…we couldn’t believe how long this day was.

Day One - Singapore Tour

We all met in the lobby and made our way to McDonald’s for breakfast..yep you read that right. We made this choice since it was close to the library, affordable and halal. We were able to have a meeting in the McD’s before we started the tour and gave everyone a chance to ask any questions.

When we got to National Library of Singapore (NLS) we were met by Lian Geok and Shankari and given an overview of their structure and the steps they have taken to achieve their current level of success. It was nice to see TPL’s statistics along with NLS’s. The Sigli team were quick to point out ‘Toronto’ when the word turned up on the Power Point screens.

We were then given a tour of the many of the floors of the NLS. The focus was on the many galleries and Asian collections. The staff were quick to point out items that were familiar and ideas that they could apply to Sigli. The highlight of the tour was to see the circulating collections on the basement floor. The place was abuzz with people and it was colourful and welcoming. Special attention was given to the Children’s section where the furnishings and contests received a lot of attention from the Sigli staff. They were able to see the different ideas that Katherine and I have been talking about.

Roy took us to lunch at an Indonesian restaurant….we were slow to leave and got caught in a torrential downpour. The ever gallant Roy borrowed my umbrella and dashed across the street to the NLS and got us all umbrellas. We then walked through the Raffles hotel complex and then on through the shopping complex maze and made our way to the community library called the Library@Esplanade that was located in the Esplanade performing arts centre. The Esplanade is akin to Hummingbird Centre and is a focal point for the arts….Broken Social Scene are performing there in March.

The arts library focused on four villages: music, dance, theatre and visual arts. We were shown the collection, including an incredible array of scores. There was an amazing view of the harbour, as there was from the pod of the National Library. These downtown libraries take full advantage of the highlights of downtown Singapore.

We then went to the Merlion for the classic tourist shots. BY then there was a lot of walking and we were a bit concerned about the footwear…but the Sigli staff charged on. We had the sense that the SIgli folks were not used to this kind of all-day walking. So we generously gave them one hour rest at the hotel before taking them off to Little India that night.

Roy accompanied us on the MRT (two transfers) and they got their subway experience, complete with getting their own tickets from the automated machine. We ended up taking a city bus too. All new experiences. We shopped at Mustafa Centre, luggage seemed to be the main items purchased…they didn’t seem to enjoy the Indian food…too hot. Aceh food is really not that spicy…Simon was OK with it because it was similar to the Padang food from his region. We then piled into taxis to get back to the Pan Pacific for the night.

Wednesday – travel day

We headed out to the airport to make the to trip to Singapore. We were all on the first flight together and then for the flight from Jakarta to Singapore we were on separate flights. Due to the late departure of the flight from Jogja, Katherine and I had to make a mad dash to get to the next flight. We made it with about 5 minutes to spare…time enough for Dawna to buy Dave a magnet, but not for Katherine to get a coffee.

When we got to Singapore we were happy to see Roy Won at the airport. Katherine and I had met Roy in Toronto in November when he came to tour TPL for a couple of weeks. We discovered that our flight flew into one terminal and the Indonesian team was on a flight coming into a different terminal. It was actually the first day that this new terminal, T3 was open. We took a couple of trams to get there and meet them.

When we got there the Indonesians were nowhere to be found. The luggage carousel for their flight had stopped and there was no one left to come off the plane. We paged for Simon, the FCM staff person who was traveling with the Indonesia team. We waited and waited. Katherine and Roy went back to our original terminal, thinking that perhaps we had missed them and they were trying to find us. Four hours passed!

Eventually another fight from Jakarta came through and the team was on it. We had used Roy’s cell phone to call Simon and we were able to get through to Simon once they had landed. Our relief was palpable and it was so good to see them after the long wait. Lesson learned – we should all travel together and we should have cell phones to keep in touch when plans go astray. We were so thankful to have Roy with us, logically working through the steps until we were all reunited.

We taxied to the Pan Pacific hotel. It was a tremendously grand hotel and we were all in awe. The elevators were liked jewelled globes going up the interior and exterior of the building. We checked in and had to explain the rigorous no smoking laws and the fact that one would be charged for even touching a bottle in the mini-bar. (There was an electronic sensor in the mini-bar…you had to call room service to get it deactivated and emptied in order to use the fridge to keep your own stuff cooled.)

Roy took us all out for a walk and orientation around Singapore. We were able to walk from the hotel through a maze of shops and covered walkways to the MRT (subway system). He gave us an overview of how to use the MRT and also walked us to the National Library where our first scheduled meeting was set for Thursday. We walked back to a food court where we had our dinner and then found a money changer.

By the end of the day we were all exhausted but keen to get ready for the days of touring in front of us. Katherine and I stopped by Club Sev (7-11, where you can buy beer at a price much cheaper than any bar or restaurant) and had a relaxing drink in one of our rooms before we called it a day.

Day 2 in Jogja

We were taken to a community centre that the Sleman library staff had strong connections with. This centre had a variety of supports for the community, including a small library funded by the Coca Cola Foundation. It was interesting to tour the various rooms and spaces and see how the community made use of the space. There was a music room, that was really quite something, with traditional instruments, big gongs. They said that quite a few men came in to use that space. They had a bakery and a room with sewing machines, along with the library.

The next stop was to visit a bookmobile stop. There were a lot of children making use of the bookmobile and it was a good opportunity for the Sigli staff to see how another library handles bookmobile stops. They even had a computer on the bookmobile.

We got some great photo ops with Dawna doing ‘Round and Round the Garden’ with the local children. The kids got a big bang out of it and it demonstrated immediately the benefit of this for early literacy because the kids tried to mimic the rhyme. Later in the van Yurni showed us a similar Indonesian rhyme. So it seems universal that there is a benefit to link tickling with early literacy

We ended the day with a temple tour, this time it was a Hindu temple. Earthquakes had caused substantial damage to the area and we were not able to walk too closely among the ruins. Because of the damage we weren’t able to enter the temple or closely tour it like we could Borubudar. Truth be told, we were really beat by the end of the day…we may not have been able to truly appreciate this spot because we were all so tired.

First 24 Hours in Jogjakarta

We didn’t know what to expect with the exposure tour in Jogja….we just knew that we were going to visit the library that won the ‘top’ library award in Indonesia.

The day began by us being a half hour late….traveling in a group of 8 means you don’t get anywhere in a hurry. We were met by about 12 staff from the Sleman library. (Slemen is the district that the library is in, just like Pidie is the district the Sigli library is in.) It was really quite a formal morning; there was a head table for the Vice Bupati and Mr.Mukhtar, along with the head of the Sleman library. There were microphones and it took place in a community hall, that wasn’t part of the library. There were a lot of formal speeches, all in Indonesian, with no translations. They seemed very long and there didn’t seem to be any jokes. We had to follow along and nod whenever we heard our names mentioned.

Both libraries gave power point presentations. Sleman library had a video describing their services. It was pretty cool (Katherine just told me this was sounding pretty dry so I added the word cool) because the videos helped with the language barrier for us. It was great to see Mukhtar’s presentation….the bar graph showed that between October and December the number of visitors to the library shot up. December was ten times higher than October. The difference seemed to be that in December they increased their open hours, by two hours…so they are now open some days until 4:00. The best part was that the Sigli staff was thrilled about this growth, almost as much as we were. It was really exciting news.

It turned out to be so good to visit Jogja because the size of community that they are responsible for is almost the same as Pidie. It demonstrated that a lot of the ideas that we are proposing are almost the same as what Sleman is doing and for which they are winning awards. We then drove about 500 yards to actually visit the library because it was in the middle of a torrential down pour. We toured their ‘technical services’ room where they process and load the book information on to their catalogue. They are semi automated but for reasons we couldn’t get answers for….they are still hand charging items at the desk. You’ll laugh, but they drill all of their books with holes along the spine and then sew them together for extra protection. And, very much like Sigli, they have never withdrawn a book from their collection.

The library had several rooms. Two notable spaces were the Children’s room and the Computer Centre. You take your shoes off to go in the Children’s room. There were a few shelving units for children’s books, but they didn’t have enough money for shelves. There was a computer station in the children’s room and while you couldn’t borrow any movies or music, they did have them for kids to enjoy while they were at the library. They had several programmes for kids, including storytelling.

The computer centre was also pretty cool, well it was sorta cool. They had a photocopy machine, for which they were charging. They were also charging for the use of the internet. It looked like an internet café with cubicles. There was a point of interest, the room had a metal grill that was pulled over the door at night, along with a CCTV for branch video surveillance. The room had somewhere between four and six work stations. The room was about 8 x 10..maybe a little bigger but not that big at all.

The most significant thing about the Sleman group, was that all of the staff were involved. A number of staff gave presentations. There was a real pride in their work. The whole structure of the system was community based library service.

We all went out for lunch to this really snazzy place with separated eating huts and a little waterway ran through it with koi. There were rice paddies in the background and still there was the proverbial motorcycle noise and trucks roaring by. Nevertheless it was a delightful place and it was very amenable. We were all seated on the floor around tables. The food was a bit scary at first…pretty much all whole fishes (with their heads on) but there were familiar dishes too, like calamari. There was no cutlery and Katherine had to remember to use her right hand to eat (she is left handed). She ended up sitting on her left hand. We took the plunge and just started tearing into the fish with our hands and were surprised at how good it was.

What was really special was that after the meal there was a group discussion with all the staff, and everyone was free to make comments and asked questions. The best part was that the Pidie staff and the Sleman staff really connected. Very little translation happened, which was fine…it was all about them talking to one another, learning and networking.

There was gift exchange…which actually happened pretty early on. Interestingly, the Pidie people brought a plaque with the insignia of the District. The Canadians gave maple cookies! And it should be noted that the Protocol office of the City of Toronto supplied pens, calculators and pins with the Toronto logo.

In the afternoon we were able to do some touristy stuff. We drove to Borubudur, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The building of it began in the 8th century. Dawna bought a book about it if anyone wants to know more. It was tremendously beautiful. The day was overcast which made hiking up the many stairs and around the different levels enjoyable. There were thousands of images carved in relief in the brick rocks that made up the temple. It was clearly a spiritual place and the relief work was stunning.

We just left the cerebral peaceful walk among the Krishna carvings. Katherine commented on how serene it all was…then as we stepped out of the gates we were overwhelmed with hawkers. The kind of hawkers you had to be rude to, just to be able to step forward. They were insistent on us making a purchase. We ended up buying masks and puppets and even two huge patchwork bags. We had to run to the car and the hawkers even pushed their hands and wares into the car through the window. It was too much! The funniest story from the hawkers was about the patchwork bags…I really liked the look of them, they reminded me of my family of quilters. The price began at 150,000 rupiahs…we said no. They kept following us and they brought the price down to 50 rp….Katherine told me not to weaken, that I didn’t need a big patchwork bag. Finally the bag man shouted through the car window…30 rp! Katherine said, “We’ll take two!” Now we have these big honking patchwork bags. Katherine has loaded hers with stuff already. And for the curious…they ended costing us $3 each.

Getting the blog going again

We haven't had internet access beyond what we can scavenge at the airport terminals....so today we worked at trying to capture all of the excitement, ups and downs but MAINLY huge ups....that we have been expereiencing over the past week or so.

I will make up several posts, breaking the trip down into various parts.

I hope you enjoy it along with us.
Dawna.

more about Singapore

I'm throwing in this picture of Borobrudur - outside of Jogyakarta, hope I have the spelling right. We didn't get much in the way of pics posted this time so am doing after the fact but can't always put them in the right spot.

We didn't really note the slogans and sayings this time in Singapore. Went to the National Library, a regional and community library and the Library Supply Center. This shopping obsession here really hits everyone. It seemed every arrangement revolved around when and where the shopping would be.

Hit the Night Zoo last night and had a very brief visit with my friends in Singapore.

The Indonesian group weathered the culture shock quite well really - and we were in a very fancy hotel and the libraries were so beyond anything they imagine to be possible.

We'll get to Banda today and hope to see our friend Sosi who was our translator last time.

Singapore **WOW**

It was intense..the library was fabulous, amazing...so much for our group to take in. We did have a bit of 'herding cats' sensibility working with a group that couldn't speak English.

We only have a few minutes as we are about to board the plane and will post again once we have more time.

We can't say enough about our guide from the National Library of Singapore, 'No Worries' Roy who troubleshooted and got us through various wrinkles and semi-stressful moments. All's well and we're just getting ready to hit Medan.

More later,
D&K.

Arrived in Jogjakarta

We had been hearing about Jogjakarta (or Jogja as most Indonesians call it) since our first trip here. Turns out they also have an award winning public library here too. So this mission we are visiting the Jogja library along with four staff from the Sigli library and the Vice Bupati (like a vice mayor).



Our morning began in Hong Kong. Even though we were at the airport 2 hours early, the line ups were such that checking in took over an hour and a half....we had to get expressed through security and then do a MAD dash to get on the plane. We had about 5 minutes to spare. Good to start the day with a cardio workout. We flew to Jakarta where we met up with the Indonesian team. It was great to see them again but hard to catch up because everyone had things to say and there was only one translator. We all kept wishing we were more fluent in the others language.



We checked in to the Novotel and had dinner out at a street restaurant. The food was so-so...beef satay, prawns, rice and local beer. At the restaurant we were serenaded by different street singers, singing and wanting some money. There were some street youth with piercings and tattoos and even a tranny singer. Somehow, singing 'Leaving on a jet plane' seemed to be a popular choice. We hadn't seen this diversity in Indonesia before. Jogja will prove to be an interesting place to stay for the next few days.

Enroute and in Hong Kong

The long trip gets longer, but hey, upgrades can make all the difference. We discovered that our 'Elite' travel status with Air Canada has real benefits. Dawna's suitcase weighed in at 65 kg which would have meant a $75 surcharge, but as 'Elite' there is no cost and we each could have 4 bags! It gets even better, when we got on the flight from Toronto to Vancouver we were bumped up to Executive class and each had our own sleeping pod. Man was that great!

Sadly, we didn't get that treatment for the second flight, which was 14 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong. The flight was ok, long but manageable. We are at a very nice hotel and will sleep a bit and head out for the final two flights tomorrow.

We have our traditional first photo taken at Vancouver....we don't know if we get any better at taking our own photo but we have a lot of fun trying.