From Beirut to Indonesia…

For the past month, I’ve been in touch with the Indonesian Embassy in Lebanon about the possibility of offering scholarships to students from the American University of Beirut to study in Indonesia. Today, I received confirmation that graduating students from AUB may now apply for a scholarship funded by the Indonesian government to spend a year in Indonesia studying language, Islamic studies, gamelan music, masked performance, shadow puppetry, art, cuisine, or tourism. When I was a student, I studied the meditative music of Java, and I’ve been performing Indonesian music in concert ever since–from Lincoln Center to Java. Being immersed in the performing arts of Indonesia has changed my life on many levels, and this past summer I had the opportunity to live in Indonesia as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar. I’m so happy that students from Lebanon will now have a similar opportunity to learn about Indonesian culture, while living in Java or Bali…