Every morning, at around 6:00 am, ETA Matt Poissant goes jogging around the alun-alun (town square) in Demak. He has found it to be a very effective way to get his energy up in the morning. Usually the alun-alun is quite empty in the morning but during the holidays it was quite busy. This is likely because the alun-alun is right in front of Masjid Agung Demak, one of the oldest mosques on Java. This mosque received a lot of tourists over the holidays and naturally people would hang around and foto-foto in the alun-alun afterwards. Matt found it interesting to see this spot he would usually rely on for a peaceful start to his day turn into a bustling tourism spot. Even though he jogs past this historical mosque almost every day and knows about its significance, this was the first time he really experienced it as an important heritage site. Matt has enjoyed talking to the occasional local citizen of Demak while on his morning jogs but during tourism season he definitely had to fend off an exaggerated amount of photo sessions with tourists.

Matt Poissant is currently teaching at MAN Demak, Central Java