This Time of Year

Ramadan began last week. This is what I think I know about Ramadan and anything I write here is a huge simplification and may in fact be bad intel.  With that said, this is the Muslim fasting month- yes, I said month. Generally, everyone rises between 3 and 4 am and has a large breakfast followed by prayers.  From sunrise until sunset (here about 5:50 pm), they must not eat or drink- not even water. The usual prayer times are extended somewhat throughout the day. At 5:50 pm approximately, they break the fast with lots of sugar. There are traditional sweets, but one of the most common uses fruit, drenched in a sugary fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk. There is a whole list of things to break fast. And of course, water may then be taken. There are prayers. From 7-8 or 8:30 there are more prayers (attendance at these isn't mandatory) and then the evening meal is eaten. Many will shift their work schedules to start earlier in the morning so they can leave earlier to get home to break the fast with family. During Ramadan one should develop compassion for the poor and needy who feel hungry every day. This is a spiritually and physically cleansing experience. Just as in other world religions, fasting is seen as an opportunity to separate yourself from the things of this world and to concentrate on your relationship with God. Fasting allows you to become closer to God by contemplating his will in your life and builds self-discipline and to become a better person.

One of the things B has to watch at the office is that people use different approaches to resolving conflict as one should not anger people who are fasting as it annuls the purification process for that day. This also includes not eating or drinking in front of people etc.

Ramadan will end with Idul Fitri. It begins with a mass prayer gatherings in fields. It is common to see hundreds of people all wearing white.This is the time when there is a mass exit from town. Millions leave and return to their villages to spend time with family (The newspaper predicts 20,000,000 people will travel during that period). Many people are given time off in which to do this.  While with family and friends you ask for forgiveness for anything you've done during the year.The purchase or creation of new clothes is a frequent activity during the month of Ramadan leading up to Idul Fitri. Gift giving during Idul Fitri is a major thing as well. There are gift baskets/boxes to be purchased everywhere!  And the cookies and other sweets! All sorts of special cookie tins, boxes, baskets in special displays all over every grocery. Stacks of cartons of fruit flavored syrups abound. I am really tempted to try either the markisa (passionfruit) or sirsak syrup. So far we are just looking in wonder!

 

It is a federal regulation that you pay your household staff an extra month's wages at this time of year so they have extra money to buy these new clothes as well as gifts for family, friends at Idul Fitri. Everyone that returns to the village is expected to bring gifts to everyone. Gifts of course may include simple items like basic foods: rice, oil, coffee, etc. There is also an obligatory poor tax (which is supposed to be paid to your mosque --I think-- for the poor). There are apparently a lot of fireworks displays during Idul Fitri. We shall see as we will be here.

There are a couple of side effects especially regarding traffic. Traffic is much worse than usual late in the afternoon as workers rush home early to break fast with family during Ramadan.  However, around Idul Fitri, so many people leave town, the traffic is briefly better. Here's the "macet" around 4-5 pm weekdays during Ramadan. It can come to a standstill.

Back to the fasting. With so many people fasting what about restaurants?  Some will not be open during the day, but open after sunset. If restaurants are open, they may cover the windows or in the case of our nearby grocery, pull a door mostly shut. This is a food court type place inside the grocery. Normally, tables spill out halfway to the registers, but for Ramadan, they've removed a lot of tables and closed the normally very large open area with the temporary beige "wall" leaving only a few tables behind the wall.

Restaurants in the ex-pat type malls are usually open, especially for lunch. During dinner, apparently people will arrive way before sunset and select a table and wait so they are there and ready to eat when it comes time to break fast. This of course would mean no one else could sit there and eat. Hmmm. We may eat out less during Ramadan. We will have to see how it goes.

Bead World

I actually don't remember when I was lucky enough to tag along on a visit to Yekti Beads.  This is where all jewelry makers in this town must end up. It's not a storefront, but a home where everything I saw except the bathroom was dedicated to space for beads. Our group of ladies was first invited to learn about the bead making process that provides many of the beads she stocks. Recycled glass materials are melted down and new beads are created. They copy venetian glass beads among other things. The "shiny" beads are cheaper than the beads that are fashioned to mimic vintage (I often prefer shiny beads so that works for me!) More work is involved to de-shine the newly minted beads.  All very interesting. All shapes, sizes, colors, though not a lot of reds. The ones she had are rather muted. We were next given bead boards and turned loose in the "shop" to select beads to make a necklace, bracelet, whatever you wanted. You were charged per bead, but the prices are very reasonable. After figuring out what you wanted, one of two staff members would string the beads for you and add findings. That labor and supplies is included.

At first I tried a color palette, but ultimately, just couldn't decide. Simply too many choices. I ended up with a black and white palette. I didn't have them put together the earrings, but did purchase the matching beads so I could pull the earrings together myself at home. Here is just one section of one area.

All strung beads like this are on cotton cord which is tied. If you want to actually hold a strand for comparison you had to have a staff person cut the cord right then. Or try to remember where you saw that strand you wanted to see. With a dozen ladies and only the owner and 2 helpers, this was difficult at times.There are also a bunch of cases with drawers with individual loose beads. I will go back there. You must call and make an appointment, however, because as I said, it isn't a storefront but her home. The home itself is interesting. It is a traditional Javan house. She moved it here from a field somewhere. There is no foundation, but the roof structure is supported by huge columns. Built to withstand earthquakes, the columns move around a little and the roof floats and it all settles back down after the quake. The design and structure itself though made the interior very dark. Thank goodness for technology. Quite a few of us were using the flashlight app on our phones to see the beads better. I didn't take a photo of my necklace and earrings yet. Sorry!

The last couple of weeks or so...

First, I must point out that the "rainy season" is over. However nobody bothered to tell mother nature. We had a sudden, and not just brief, severe storm with heavy rains.  Naturally, my office wall leaked again. This was actually a good thing as we confirmed that the leak is not yet fixed.

Second,  we were talking about movies and movie theaters with our Bahasa Indonesia tutor. I have now learned how to say "I am having popcorn at the movie."  Here goes:  Saya memiliki brondong jagung di bioskop. The English word popcorn is also acceptable: Saya memiliki popcorn di bioskop. Ah! A little easier.

Third, we've had mini fauna invasion.  We had this pigeon sitting out on our balcony for several hours one day. I even opened the door and yelled at it but it just sat there on the table. Did it hit the building and get injured? Perhaps one of the other building residents feeds it and they are away for the summer? I have no idea. All I know is that it left its calling card in a couple of places on the table and balcony floor and eventually left, but not before I got a photo.

The mini-invasion continued. We have an indoor "common house gecko" as it is known here. It's called cicak (pronounced chee-chak). They apparently make a noise that sounds like this word. I haven't heard it yet.  I discovered it one night high up on our bedroom wall. I'd seen it out on the master bedroom's balcony quite a few times. I had seen it scurry out from beneath the door several times as I opened it. The raised threshold apparently gave it a nice place to hide under the door. I suspect that on a recent opening of the door the little guy got in.  So now what do we do? Really not sure, but I have learned the phrase "please catch the gecko" in Bahasa Indonesia. In case any of you need the phrase, it it this: Tolong nangkap cicak. Ibu Tin says if she sees it she will catch it and put it back outside. I do wonder just how easy they are to catch. I spent my one encounter with the little guy just looking at him and taking pictures. Then he disappeared.

Last, Ibu Tin (our household helper) was away for 2 weeks which meant I had to take on additional household duties. Shortly after Bu Tin arrived back in her village, her mother passed away. There is a 7-day mourning period after which Bu Tin returned to town. She might have opted to stay in the village longer, but she wanted to be kept busy she said. There is also the lure of the paycheck I suppose. She arrived back in town the day before the start of Ramadan. More on that in another post.

New home decor

We purchased a wooden bowl and some wooden fruit to fill it. The bowl is really neat of course, but the fruits are a real find: belimbing, jambu merah, rambutan, salak, srikaya, jambu air, sawo, markisa that I can see in the photo. These are all fruits we've eaten here in Indonesia.  A few of them are available for a steep price in the US. One of them is easily obtained in the US: a lemon.

For me there is confusion here about the difference between a lemon and a lime. Yesterday at the grocery I needed a lime. The one I purchased was labeled "lemon juice."  But then there are the tiny little limes which are different still. How did I determine it was a lime? I used the scratch and sniff method. I should also point out that many of the oranges sold here look just like limes. I will also say that all citrus is referred to as jeruk and often the only word on the sign is jeruk, whether it's an orange, lemon or lime. I submit they are not interchangeable so the signs should be more specific to help me out. I think I will have to wait on that.

RC Drift Competition

We happened upon a remote control drift competition in a local mall.I have never heard of this but it is a remote controlled car race competition. The drift in the title seems to come into play because the cars seem to slide all over (drift) as they go around corners.

There are frequently competitions of some sort in malls on weekends. We also ran into a basketball tournament one time. It was either a one on one or a two on two competition. Obviously space is an issue so there was only one basket. Loads of young men were signing up for that one.

For the Drift competition, I expected the competitors to be children for some reason, but the participants we saw running the cars were all younger adult men. We had a really good view from several floors above. Sorry the videos are so short but the files get large quickly. Remember if you're viewing this on a hand held device you probably won't be able to see the videos.

Out and About in the car

Here are a couple of photos taken under one of the flyovers. A flyover is what they call the raised roadways that carry vehicles over the city street roads and, in theory, reduce traffic congestion. Often the flyover is just as jammed with traffic as the street roads, but they do help move traffic. I seem to spend a lot of time under the flyovers. Note: there is no cell phone signal under flyovers! I'm always trying to get on my phone just as we head under a flyover.

There are many, many small shops along the roads I travel. They sell everything in these shops from used toilets to phones to caged birds—all in very small shops. How would you locate a specific shop? I have no idea, but I suspect people shop in their neighborhoods as there are the same types of shops all over, repeated in different areas.  Here are just a couple of photos.

I think this shot was outside a mecca for people who sew and craft in Pasar (market) Mayestik.

Here we are waiting to turn down this street!

Here is a mango tree right beside the road filled with cars and scooters. They are all over, the mangoes that is.

Going to the movies, Premiere Style

Last week a friend invited me to join a group of ladies who were going to the British Women's Association Bazaar, to lunch, and then to a movie.

The bazaars are supported by the various women's associations in Jakarta and are held to raise money for the charities they support. There are special raffles to raise monies in addition to the fees paid by vendors. The raffled items are typically donated by association sponsors or bazaar vendors. I bought 2 raffle tickets and won two door prizes! They were calling out first names of winners and all they put on the ticket was my name and my hand phone (cell phone) number.  I went to find out if it was me. And it was! After all, there is at least one other person with the same name here. First, I had won a lovely white cotton blouse. Second, I received a large voucher for a salon that does cream baths (has something to do with a head massage with very good stuff for your hair but I've only heard about it, never done it), reflexology/head massages, manicures, pedicures in addition to haircuts, etc.  Not sure how I will use the vouchers. Might share with B if they let men in the door. He might like the reflexology/massage. Have to find out.

After the bazaar and lunch, my friend and I headed off to the movie theater. There is an option here called "Premiere." The weekday cost is only Rp 75,000 ( about $6 US).

Once you pay for your ticket, you select your special seat from a digital display on a screen while being helped by theater staff. There are only about 25 seats in this special theater. It is not a separate section but an entirely separate theater. From discussions I've had, many of the theaters here have this special type of theater.

Now about the seats:

They are plush, fully-reclining chairs. There is a table and a drawer between the seats in addition to a cup holder. In the drawer is a clean, sealed blanket if you choose to use it. You can buy your own popcorn or a drink (there are a lot of options) outside the theater or you can order it and they bring it to you. There are two types of popcorn, sweet and salty or caramel. They do love sweet things here.  My friend ordered an iced cappuccino and a sweet and salty popcorn. I was too full from lunch to get anything.

Interestingly, there are no previews. The movie just starts at the start time. We had gone to see "Spy." I really hadn't gone for the movie, but for the experience. The movie, however, was better than I expected it to be.

There will hopefully be more weekday opportunities for movie-going through the summer. In this shot I've got my feet up, but I've not yet fully reclined.

The theater wasn't full (not unexpected since it was a Wednesday matinee). There was our group of 5 ladies and one couple.

Weird food, more green drinks, Kinara

We were tempted at a burger place to order this very odd dessert. It's called a PB&J but they've made it look like a burger and fries. It has a white chocolate flavored "bun" with a peanut butter ice cream "patty," mint leaves as lettuce. The "french fries" are doughnuts. There is a raspberry sauce acting as the ketchup and a vanilla sauce filling in for the mayonnaise. The "fries" are sprinkled with peanut brittle. Our conclusion? Very odd. The sauces were good.

Wait for it....... a couple of green drinks: First is a Kiwi Lemonade. Second is a Lychee, Mint and Lime Freeze. This was really tasty.

I've eaten at a marvelous Indian restaurant here named Kinara a couple of times but hadn't gotten the chance to visit with B. On a recent Saturday we were looking for lunch and happened to be not too far from Kinara so we went. B ordered one of their specialties, a dal dish. Yum! In addition to being really delicious, it is served in a brass bucket. Many of their serving pieces are very interesting as are their teapots.