Finding Beauty in the Mundane
By Mia Bird ‘24, Gadjah Mada University Fellow 2024-2026
Since arriving in Indonesia, I have spent the last 6 months harnessing the mindset of taking life moment by moment. This has meant being present and finding joy in the small details of each day. I don’t intend to sound as though I am some all-knowing sage, but I cannot share my Shansi story without discussing the new perspective I have gained during my first quarter of the fellowship.
Admittedly, I do not completely credit my own genius, monk-like wisdom for this shift in perspective. Life in Jogja moves slowly. And coming from Oberlin, a place where monumental achievements and ‘doing it all’ is praised greatly, moving to a slow-paced city has been a bit of a shock to the system. Here, the rhythm of life is different. People still work toward their future goals, but there is a greater focus on simply living for each day as it comes.
To best illustrate what it means to live in a slow-paced city, consider the cafe culture I have observed in Jogja: people, especially university students, will sit in cafes chatting with friends, sipping on coffee, and doing work on their computer for hours at a time without worrying about their plans for the rest of the day. This stands in contrast to my semesters at Oberlin where I would fill my days with classes, work shifts, dance rehearsals, and social activities, with barely enough time to grab lunch. I was rarely not thinking about what came next in my jammed packed calendar.
Besides grappling with my adjustment to a slower lifestyle, I have also been confronted with how each small, daily task, such as grocery shopping or using public transportation, has become an entirely new challenge. Living in a new country means that there are many normal day-to-day activities that I have needed to learn and adapt to, all while also facing a language barrier. I have learned to give myself space to make mistakes and be confused in my new environment. And, because every little task is a bit harder, I feel a sense of accomplishment after fulfilling them. It doesn’t matter if I didn’t use perfect grammar when ordering coffee or if I took 30 minutes to find pasta sauce at the grocery store because I followed through with it anyway.
Adjusting to both the slow-paced lifestyle of Jogja and the new challenges that have come along with moving to a new country has prompted a shift in my perspective of simple moments in life. I have become more appreciative of mundanity, and have begun to romanticize the ordinary moments that make life full.
Some of my beautiful moments of mundanity:
1. Hanging out with neighborhood cats.
Jogja is a city of cats- you will see neighborhood cats when going for walks or working in outdoor cafes. There’s even a club at UGM dedicated to caring for the stray cats who live on the UGM campus called “kucing UGM” (translation: cats UGM). They are the chillest cats you will ever meet, which means you need to be careful not to run over the ones lounging in the middle of the street.
2. Viewing street art
Whether you are walking through small neighborhood alleyways or driving on the highway, you will inevitably come across street art and murals in Jogja. Sometimes, I go on lazy walks or drives simply for the purpose of finding new street art.
3. Eating delicious mango straight from a mango tree.
When I lived in a house owned by UGM, there was a mango tree in the front yard. The housekeeper taught me how to use a stick with a basket on the end to pluck perfectly ripe mangos from high up in the branches.
4. Going for a night ride to eat at my favorite ice cream shop.
No matter my mood, the time of day, or weather (although Indonesia will never be too cold ), I could always go for some ice cream. One night early in October, I drove my motorbike to an ice cream shop for a pick-me-up. After sitting down with my cone, a lovely girl came up to me and started chatting; she is now one of my closest friends in Jogja.