Living By The River

I had an amazing morning. We've had a replacement driver while Iwan is on his honeymoon and I found out yesterday that his grandmother lives in one of the houses on the Musi River. We went there this morning and explored the entire area. Its a completely different way of life yet again.

We parked the car outside the housing area and had to wind our way through a maze of narrow lanes to get to the house. And then, we had to cross this partially submerged bridge. Here's a photo of Aini, crossing first.



The men of the house run a business there. They charge batteries and make ice for the fishermen around the area. They were extremely friendly and had as many questions for me as I did for them. We stayed there for sometime, just watching them work and watching all the activity on the river.





This is the front of the house, facing the river.



Side view of the house:




Now here's something 'interesting'.....Do you see the arms sticking out of that low box? Yup....floating outhouse.



Further downstream...


I had such a fascinating time exploring the area. The people we met along the alleyways were extremely friendly.

The lady on the left in the photo below invited us to walk with her back to her house. I'll post about that tomorrow.



It is obviously a poor area but the place was joyous. People were full of smiles and proud of their homes. The trip turned out to be a truly uplifting excursion.

Iwan's Wedding

We went to Iwan's wedding yesterday. It was as hot, noisy and crowded as every other Indonesian wedding I've been to.

The wedding ceremony start at 7am but I think that portion is more for the family members. We arrived at about 10.45pm and a quarter of the guests were there. The majority of the guests came about 15 mins before lunch was served (12noon). To show Iwan that we care and that we were happy for him, I thought it would be nice to arrive early. In fact, we were so early that he had not even emerged from the house yet.

The rituals are performed inside the house and then when everything is done, the couple and their families walk out and onto this raised platform. They sit there while prayers are said, words of wisdom imparted by various imams, dances are performed and singers deafen the guests. Take a look at these speakers.



I learnt something new at this wedding. Almost every wedding couple will cry at their wedding. The bride AND the groom. When Iwan walked out, his eyes were red and there were still tears on his face. He looked so distraught that I had to ask around. It turns out that the ceremony that takes place in the house not only officiates their marriage but also breaks the ties with their families. They stand alone now, no longer under the umbrella of their parents. And supposedly this causes a lot of newly weds to shed plenty of tears.

Take a look at this photo. Its not just that I caught them at the wrong instant. Look at the next photo.




They didn't look happy until the very end. Maybe they were also tired from carrying those heavy headdresses and glad that it was over.

Here's a look at the crowd.





I liked the experience of attending the wedding but I can't say that I enjoyed it while I was there. When we were saying goodbye to Iwan, he seemed genuinely happy that we had attended (and arrived early). So, that makes up for the incredible heat, chain smoking men and UNBELIEVABLE noise levels we had to sit through. Its a happy ending :)

The Way To My Heart

Valentine's Day isn't a big deal to me. Its just another day. Maybe a tiny bit more special than other days but not something that I count down the days to (like Christmas).

Having said that, this year, Richard has definitely used it as an excuse to go out and get something special for all of us.

20 Fruit Tarts for all of us to enjoy. I think Aaron got the most out of it!

Photostory Friday - The Roof Over Their Heads

I had to go fix my visa at the immigration office yesterday. It was located right on the other side of town, in the outskirts of Palembang. The drive, as usual, was interesting.

Here are some homes directly opposite the office.






We purposely turned around again to get this photo because I was too busy staring and imagining what it must be like to live in that little back portion. Forgot to take the photo the first time around.




Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thursday Thirteen - 13 Reasons I Like Thomas & Friends

At the beginning, I couldn't understand the attraction Aaron had to Thomas & Friends. After 2 years of reading multiple Thomas stories daily, I'm finally getting it. In fact, I am grateful for the first book that was gifted to Aaron because Thomas has turned out to be a "really useful engine" indeed. So, here are the 13 reasons why I like Thomas & Friends.


1) They keep Aaron entertained and quiet during Mass on Sundays.

2) They were instrumental in teaching Aaron numbers.

3) I also used the faces on the engines to teach Aaron about the various emotions.

4) Aaron is starting to read the names of the engines.

5) Drawing engines is what taught Aaron how to use a pencil well.

6) It has been great for building Aaron's vocabulary.

7) The videos are usually no more than 6 minutes so its easy to use as short distractions throughout the day.

8) I genuinely like the melodies to a lot of the songs. My favorite is "Patience". Its great as a positive way to ask Aaron to wait.

9) The songs usually only have a single verse and chorus. Very important for when your toddler asks you to sing sing sing.

10) While there are plenty of accidents in the stories and videos, they don't appear as violent and "crazy" as those in some other kids cartoons.

11) The idea of engines that have faces and can speak is far fetched. Yet, the setting and stories are realistic and detailed enough to interest Aaron in real life stations, quarries, docks and of course construction equipment.

12) Some of the books are small enough to fit in my handbag. Whenever Aaron gets antsy, I just whip one out and everything is solved.

13) I love sitting back and watching Aaron make up his own stories with his engines. His imagination is really taking off!

A Surprise Visitor

I'm not entirely sure but I think that in the West, people usually call first before visiting someone at their home. In Asia, there is no need for this. Sometimes people do call but very often, they just show up. It isn't considered rude at all.

For someone like me, with only a handful of Indonesian friends, it is a rare occasion that we have any guests, announced or unannounced.

We had a pleasant surprise this afternoon when Linmas and his mom came over. We haven't met up with them for quite awhile because Aaron no longer wants to go for his morning walks.

I was so happy chatting with Ibu Tika (the mom). She is always shy for the first 5 minutes but then she relaxes and has all sorts of local information to share with me. Linmas and Aaron play together very easily. The only strange thing is there is absolutely no conversation between them. There is some low level collaboration on Lego projects but they mostly just play side by side.

The main topic of today's conversation was Ibu Tika cutting back on houses (she's a cleaner) to spend more time at home with Linmas. He will start primary school in July and she needs to teach him how to write the numbers 1 through 10, the ABCs and teach him to read by then. This is worrying her endlessly because if he doesn't pick all of that up, he won't be accepted into any schools.

I thought it sounded a little extreme. Don't you GO to school to learn those things. Linmas didn't go to any pre-schools because his mother couldn't afford it. And, I'm sure there are plenty of other children that are in similar situations.

Anyway, the irony of this is that our maid, currently studying for her high school certificate, has made it all the way through school without learning something as simple as one minus half equals half. So, why the high standard for entering school when it doesn't matter what you learn once you're in?

We all had a fun time this afternoon but somehow, I felt that Ibu Tika left a little more worried than when she arrived. As if the outing was supposed to be a fun one but instead she was reminded of this looming entry exam for Linmas. On the other hand, my day was certainly brightened with her visit.

The High School Meme

I got this meme from Bilbo's blog. High school certainly was a long time ago! Looking back, I neither enjoyed nor hated high school. Its just something that had to be done. I went to All Hallows' School in Brisbane.

1. Did you date someone from your high school? – No. I went to an all girl's school.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? – No. I married someone from the office instead.

3. Did you car pool to School? – No. I don't remember anybody driving to school. I took the 7.28am train each morning. Students had a train pass that allowed free travel from the suburb you lived in to the suburb your school was in.

4. What kind of car did you have? – No car until my first year at university. It was a yellow mitsubishi station wagon with no power steering.

5. It is Friday night then; where are you? – At home reading or watching TV.

6. It is Friday night now, where are you? – At home reading or watching TV. Oop! Something needs to be done about this! I am comforted that after high school and before motherhood, I did do other things on a Friday night....

7. What kind of job did you have in high school? – On weekends, my brother and I cleaned the office areas and bathrooms at the warehouse my mother managed.

8. Were you a party animal? – Not at all.

9. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? – I played the violin in the school orchestra. Also, I took music as a subject in Grade 11 and 12 and our class regularly entered choir competitions. We won a few and had a lot of fun.

10. Were you a nerd? – Not really. I think I was right in the middle of the nerd to rebel spectrum.

11. Did you get suspended or expelled? – Nope. I never even went to detention. The worst I ever got in my entire school life was a light whack on the bum with a cane. This was back in primary school in Malaysia.

12. Can you sing the school song? – Yes and I really like the melody. Just don't ask me what it means because its in Latin. Angeli, archangeli.....angels?
Hmmm...Its been 17 years since high school and only now do I find out, after Googling, that the school anthem was not an original for the school. Its some sacred motet from the 1500s.

13. Who was your favorite teacher? – I don't have one. None really made an impression on me.

14. Where did you sit during lunch? – We had a canteen (called tuckshop in Australia) to buy food but no designated area for eating. There were benches around the school and lots of grassy spots. One of the regular lunch spots I remember is the walkway joining the convent to the main part of the school. Its the area under that long red roof in this link.

15. When did you graduate? – November, 1992.

16. What was your school mascot? – I don't think we had one.

17. If you could go back and do it again - what would you do?
Lots...
a) Don't pick German or History in Grades 9 and 10
b) Learn the cello instead of the violin
c) Understand instead of memorize
d) Pick some of the business subjects
e) Mingle more. I tended to have one group of friends for lunch. One for orchestra. One for classes. Etc, etc, etc... I wish it was more free flowing.

18. Did you go to the Prom? – Yes, except its called the school Formal in Brisbane. All I remember is an embarrassing moment when my heel got caught in the bottom bar of a stool when I stood up (yes I'm a klutz) and I nearly went splat! Unfortunately, no knight in shining armour rescued me, just my girlfriends.

19. Do you still talk to the person you went to the prom with? – No. I honestly can't remember his name.

20. Do you still talk to people from your school? – Up until November of 2008, I have been in constant contact with only one of my friends. But now, thanks to Facebook, I have found many many many more of them. Still looking for one particular girl. (If your name is V. Wu and you graduated from All Hallows in 1992, leave me a message!)

Alright, its your turn.