I always love being with all the family here :)
Arrival: (and a Big, Big Rant): The first time I left Singapore, I left in tears. It’s not that I was particularly sad about leaving the country, but I was extremely sad about my first AirAsia experience as I left. Remember the family gifts I mentioned in the last blog post? In any case, my check-in baggage totaled 45 kilos. AirAsia allows you to pre-purchase 30kg online – I did, assuming you pay a standard fee for extra weight. But when I got to the airport, I found out that excess kilos are charged at $18 per kilo!?! I had no choice but to pay it! Sad and pathetic tears were threatening to run down my cheeks as I signed the credit card slip for $270. My $55 flight turned out to be a lot more expensive than I wanted it to be. To top it all off, they don’t even give you water during the flight – you have to pay extra. Fuck you, AirAsia.
On a brighter note, I was very happy to meet Oom Harto and Tante Wanda after a surprisingly quick and painless immigration queue. The new Terminal 3 at Cengkareng Airport (Jakarta’s International Airport) is nice! We went straight to Sentral, a really good Chinese restaurant in Jakarta. Apparently, I have been coming here for 18 years, since my first trip to Indonesia in 1993. One of the things I love most about visiting Indonesia is the eating however it should be noted that while I find the Indonesian food to be “just okay,” the Chinese food is excellent! (There will be much more on this in future posts!!)
A Buddhist Wedding: Last year, I attended my cousin Siung-Siung’s wedding in Jakarta. They had a Catholic ceremony in a church and an 800+ person standing-room-only reception afterward. This year, I journeyed to Metro for Desy’s Buddhist ceremony and reception. I understood little at the Catholic wedding and probably even less at this Buddhist one. This time, my Mom wasn’t there to translate and my cousins, largely Catholic, didn’t quite understand what was going on at times either. The rundown: The bride and groom walked in followed by their parents and one sibling each (?). The couple sat, bowed a lot, prayed a lot, lit candles that symbolize various things, and at one point, had their hands bound lightly together and a yellow cloth wrapped around them. I wish I could tell you what each of these acts symbolizes….
Independence (?): Towards the end of the ceremony, there was this extremely emotional moment when the bride and groom bowed to each set of parents. This happened last year also and I remember it being just as powerful to watch. An incredibly sappy song heightens your experience of this private, tearful moment; by the end of it, many people in the temple had teared up as well.
I think this is something unique to Indonesians or at the very least, foreign to Americans. It seems like this moment is the one where parents are at long last giving away their son or daughter. I admit that I can’t completely relate. Perhaps it’s that in America, independence comes a lot earlier. Or, maybe it’s that for me personally, I’ve always been free to make my own choices. For example, numerous people have said to me, "Your Mom let you go on this trip?" And each time, I think, "What do you mean let me go?" I know she worries, but she's also been really supportive of my trip around the world. The more time I spend in Indonesia, the more I realize how much of anomaly this is. Thanks, Mom :)
Reception: It was more intimate than the last one I went to, with tables and chairs set up for most guests. The ceremonial stuff was the same: The bride, groom, and their family entered, the bride and groom sliced a knife in the air down the side of a fake cake, they poured 1-2 bottles of wine down a double-happiness thingy,
kissed as confetti rained down, and then sat on stage for the duration of the entire reception. On the left side of the room, there were a bunch of snack stands: Fruit, Es Doger (Iced coconut-jelly-fruit drink), Pudding, Bakso Sapi (Beef Ball Soup), Martabak (sweet and/or savory fried pastry), and Crepes. On the right side of the room was the dinner side: Rice, Soup, Gado-Gado, Chicken, and some other dishes I don’t quite remember. Dinner was just okay or at the very least, not very memorable. All the relatives took turns taking photos with the bridal party and then my second wedding sans alcohol and cake came to an end. Congratulations to Desy and Ivan!
My Aunt says she doesn’t really like parties or weddings because they aren’t so fun in Indonesia. I’m now determined to have her at my wedding and to make sure she dances a turn or two. :) I think she will be scandalized by the garter removal, but I think that will make it even more fun. Speaking of weddings, the family was constantly asking about when Stacy and I were getting married. I probably changed my answer each time... "in a few years..." "we'll let you know..." "someday..." etc. But when my answer was "maybe at the same time," they sternly said it was not allowed. It is apparently bad luck for two girls in the same family to get married in the same year, let alone the same day. Who knew?!
Next Up: Two Bule's (BOO-Lay) in Indonesia! (Or, Adventures with Theo) :)
(Wikipedia: Bule is a commonly used word in Indonesia to describe a foreigner, especially Caucasians.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bule
No comments:
Post a Comment