It's the final week of Ramadan. In the Muslim tradition, God brings the moon up if he wills, so you can't predict scientifically when Ramadan will end. Instead, the evening before, religious leaders gather to determine what God has decided for this year's moon cycle. Once they announce the ending date, people know when Ramadan will be over. "It's usually 30 days long, so probably Thursday," our Muslim friends say.
Families and friends gather together (as we already did with Dr Hanna) to eat special foods. This year is especially difficult for families. The annual pilgrimage home (mudik) is forbidden by the government, trying to prevent the migration of COVID from hard-hit cities into rural areas. We pray for all those missing their families at this time.
Saturday, May 9, 2021
My lower retainer fell into the garbage beside the nightstand years ago - and was tossed before I noticed. My bottom teeth are getting crooked so I go to an orthodontist near our neighborhood. Our dentist and friend DrGati recommended DrEvi. She's nice! as she takes a model of my teeth. Braces again. Ugh. When the appointment is over, I wait outside her gate for our car. Look at that tree! (that's a 6' /2-meter-high fence.) The Bunyan tree is popular within folk religions in the tropics: the locals think spirits may live in them so are reluctant to chop them down, even when the road has to weave around their massive roots.
Monday
Our friends are hosting a 24-hr prayer marathon (10am today to 10am tomorrow). We join at four different hours, praying this year's theme: God's blessings on the women of Indonesia. May God care abundantly for them and their families, giving them good children, meaningful work, godly peace, and an understanding of how much God values and loves each one.
We meet both online and in a typical house, bounded by walls on all sides. The staggered tile roofs shed tropical rainfall and shade the windows and doors from the hot sun overhead.
Tuesday
Our date breakfast is at Nara on the Pino Terrace. We enjoy Maystar's dim sum, Pino's nasi kuning (yellow rice) and baso goreng (fried shrimp balls), along with our favorite China tea.
Heads up for foreign interns who work with various organizations: what can you expect in Bandung? There's no way to describe the many differences between Indonesia and the West. There's staggering beauty: simple guava trunks are knotted into patterns that rival abstract art.
We have good weather days (85-90o) and nights (68-75o), so bring cooling clothing: pack cottons and rayons, not polyester! Of course, you can sit on the porch at any time. You want to be off the streets after darkness falls at 6.
You need to be aware of your feet at all times - the pavement is uneven, to say the least. Here's an example: someone put down cement to broaden a public road. The striped pattern is from the handmade broom used to beat the wet cement. That way, when it rains and moss grows on it, it won't be too slick.
While the cement dries, plastic bags and cardboard pieces are strung on plastic twine to keep people and cars off of it. Of course, the cement is hand-mixed in a wheelbarrow, too. (This is road expansion on a popular, well-traveled street.)
The electric plugs have 2 prongs and are 220 volts. Bring an adaptor but no 110 hair dryers or other appliances.
On another note, I miss movie nights. I look in the kitchen cabinets where baking and cooking supplies are lined up and ready to go.
The canned goods used in recipes for 70 people sit waiting. When can we meet again? We miss you, our movie night family and friends!
Wednesday
Every morning, I apply sunblock. Morning and night, I apply insect repellent. When I skip a spot, I put
minyak gosok on the bite. This local oil stops the itch upon contact (provided you haven't scratched them and spread the poison.) It's also used to heat sore joints.
We visit the organic farm and aquaponic center of a friend. Wow, they've gotten a lot done in the two years since we were here. The padis are full of rice at various stages. The tilapia swim in huge barrels. The vegetables are abundant. I think I've just found my new weekly supplier.
There are other typical Indonesian inventions: instead of a doorbell, you hit a hollow bamboo stalk with wooden stick. The hollow "tek tek" is loud enough to be heard a long distance.
To keep people from zooming through the property on their motorcycles, they're created their own security gate. A long bamboo stalk is painted with black and white stripes and weighted by a rock or other heavy item at one end. You lower the security gate across the road by pulling the long rope fastened on the opposite end of the bamboo. The lowered gate is clamped in place under a simple cross-bar (below, it is closed when the cross-bar is poked through holes in 2 bamboo stakes driven into the ground beside the road.) Pull out the cross-bar out and the security gate rises as the stone pulls down the far end. Ingenious.
Lunch under a bamboo shade shelter is amazing. Others have joined us to eat takeaway dishes from a nearby shop. The rice is done just right, the beef skin is gelatinous, sweet and sour, and the chicken breast and tofu are tender. There's so much that I can't even finish.
Pak Danny points out papayas, breadfruit, jackfruit, and rosella (used to make red tea).
We pass someone wheeling one barrow full after another onto the field. He dumps and rakes it to make a new pathway. Manual labor is still done by hand here.
Wednesday
The helpers are getting an extra day of vacation. In this pandemic, the mood is low rather than joyful. If you can't see your family, it's hard to get excited about the holiday. It's a bit like cancelling American Thanksgiving or Western Christmas. So the house is quiet.
On the COVID front, if you're going to catch something, it might be at a big center like the place where we go for our second vaccinations.
There is a sea of workers' motorcycles at the front of the center. Hundreds of motorcycles!
We proceed through registration and the jab without incident. It's well-organized. There's one section for seniors and another for young people and factory workers. We are taken to the front of the line, maybe because W looks old with his white hair? He has his picture snapped with a young volunteer. Our blood pressure tests good, our temperature low. They ask us, "Do you take any medication?" (no) Do you have an existing illnesses? (no) Is your heart healthy? (yes) ... etc."
When we're done, we wait 15 minutes in the big hall with the other seniors. The staff makes sure no one has serious side effects before sending us home. Reactions are expected; side effected are unwelcome.
The young assistants are helpful and polite throughout. Before long, we're done. I have trouble understanding the furor over vaccines and COVID: there have always been illnesses and flus sweeping across the planet. Millions have always died - and we have always tried to get well. Vaccines have saved many lives in the last 100 years, haven't they? (I have a little smallpox scar as well as avoiding measles, mumps, rubella, and polio as a child.)
Before we get home, a friend of a friend delivers a huge bag of plant trimmings. We pass them on to Danny's farm. I get dropped at the office, where a friend meets me for tea and a chat on the balcony.
Afterward, I join others for an online study. W walks me home for lunch. As I finish cooking, the dogs start barking. Someone must be at the gate. They sound very fierce.
Oh wow - what a beautiful lunch DrH sends over. The boxes are full of traditional dishes which are cooked in this combination for Lebaran (the end of Ramadan.)
What a feast! We heap our plates. This is the kind of food you'd move to Indonesia for.
The flavor I love best and leave for last is always
Rendang, a hearty beef and coconut stew. But DrH's family recipe of
opor (coconut chicken and tofu) is marvelous, too.
The
ketupat is rice boiled for 2 hours after it is packaged in woven strips of leaves. The box is only filled 1/4 full of rice because the grains expand when it's boiled. (Thanks, Pak Gum, for that info!) I cut my rice cake into blocks and heat it in the microwave. Yum.
W's arm is sore, he has a headache, and his stomach is heaving. He doesn't know if it's from the spicy meal yesterday or the vaccine. The food is so good that he pops a stomach-settling pill so he can enjoy his portion of lunch.
I have no physical response, but I had a nasty bout with Covid that lasted a few months last year. Probably I"m already naturally immunized. My arm's not even sore from the needle.
Angie drops by. It's her son's Ben's 4th birthday and he wants to say hi to his foreign Oma and Opa. (We just love him!) The little guy is all worn out and falls asleep in the car. His mom brings the sweet treats inside for him. We feel totally spoiled by love and kindness this holiday.
The afternoon wraps up with a team meeting. W has a 7pm online meeting. I have 2 that I both need and want to attend: 11pm-12:30am. Hopefully at least one is recorded.
Tonight is the loudest night of the year: there will be fireworks, chanting, neighborhood parties, and other festivities. No sense in trying to sleep. We're happy to stay in rather than party.
Read more:
*You who live in the shelter of the most high, who abide in the shadow of the almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14
Moravian Prayer: Defender of the defenseless, hear our prayer. Safeguard the vulnerable in our society from predators seeking to exploit them. Provide a refuge for all who need shelter, grant courage to those who face hardship, and spiritually feed all those in despair. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
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