Kite Fighting

On most afternoons the sky is full of fighting kites. It’s a national past time to watch them dart and chase each other across the sky. These pictures are from the front porch of our apartment. Kids fly their kites from roof tops (sometimes two or three stories high) because they are the most wide open places in the kampung. They cut each other’s lines using special string made from glass ground up from old light bulbs and mixed with paint. They hand make each one using thin paper and bamboo, so they only cost pennies each. Even if you can’t afford to buy or make one, usually one person’s loss is another’s gain unless a tree or power line snags it on the way down.

Men & Rocks

We took Crissy to the local volcano a few days ago. It is a great place. The ladies usually comment about the interesting flora and beautiful views while the guys (or guy in this case) amuses himself by picking up rocks and throwing them into the craters. Nothing like really light volcanic rock to bring out the primordial in the less than hugely statured man.

Papuan Predator

Not sure when this is coming out, but I don’t suppose there will be any denying the negative impact of Westernization on indigenous cultures after this bad boy hits the box offices. Maybe the plot has something to do with a lone, disgruntled, Papuan soldier who goes postal after seeing, “I’m Indonesian, I’m Loven it!” in the window of the local McDonalds. Do you think this is what Arnold meant when he said, “I’ll be back?”

Our Local Y

Just this morning I captured a twice a week event for me – aerobics in front of our local mosque with my neighbors – it’s great! At the end of this clip, you’ll hear the instructor’s voice saying “Mana suaranya?” which means “where’s your voice?” & then the women all respond excitedly – very fun :)

Happy Birthday to You

So a few days ago was the funniest language study day yet . . . I (Elissa) was asking my teacher about the cultural practices surrounding birth in Indonesia. (If you get grossed out by birthing stuff, read no further) Little known fact is that here an important practice when losing something from your body is having it offered back to you for safe keeping. In the case of birth, this means the placenta. (sorry no pix this time)

Now, my teacher explained that often people bury the placenta in a pot in the ground near their home. They also usually put a little lamp or candle on top that must stay lit for 40 days to keep evil spirits away. His neighbor in front of him had just given birth & the burial site was in front of her home. My teacher looked out his window one afternoon & saw his 4 yr old sitting down cross-legged on top of the burial site facing the candle . . . singing “Happy Birthday to you . . . “ & then blew the candle out! He quickly ran outside mortified, grabbed her & reignited the candle. He said “Whoa, thankfully to this day nobody knows . . . “

Call to Prayer in our Kampung

Now that we've figured out how to post video clips, I thought I'd post a video of a common experience for us here in our neighborhood. This clip is shot off our front porch during part of the Friday call to prayer. There are usually 5 calls to prayer a day with the first one starting at 4:30 am and the last one ending about 7:00 pm. Friday calls to prayer are longer and often include a broad casted sermon.

Cats at War

We are cat-sitting for Crissy (Elissa's sister) for two months. See has been teaching English at the National Islamic Univeristy in Jakarta for the last year and is getting ready to head to the States for a couple of weeks

How hard can cat-sitting be right? You feed it, you water it, etc. Well everything was going fine until the neighborhood tomcat showed up (we affectionately call him BigUgly). Since then it has been sofa scratching, cat calling, and peeing on walls. It seems it is time to take Bob Barker's advice...

Elissa captured this video of the latest cat war through the screen door. It starts off pretty normal, but when they get wound up, it is a thing to behold.